I was going to wait til’ Monday to share this with you, but I couldn’t wait any longer and I wanted to give everyone enough time before Halloween to make this happen in your neighborhood if you wanted to.
We wen’t “boo”ing in our neighborhood all morning and it was a blast!
Two days ago we were surprised by a basket of Halloween goodies on our doorstep… I still don’t know who did it but it was so fun!
Whoever “boo’d” us colored jack-o-lantern faces on oranges, gave us two little craftivities, jack-o-lantern stickers, pencils, gummies, glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth, and bib for our baby girl. They did a great job! The little seasonal sticker activity was so cute…
I couldn’t wait to keep this going because I knew how much fun we would have putting the little treat baskets together and delivering them.
But, I couldn’t find the template so I made my own, and wanted you to have it!
So, Sean Patrick helped me pick out some little pumpkins and then we went to family dollar and got a jack-o-lantern bucket, a little scarecrow, some spooky ring pops, and colorful sharpies (to decorate the pumpkins).
Then I encouraged Sean Patrick to carry the goodie basket to their door, knock, and tip toe away and watch from the car so it could be a surprise.
We had so much fun…he was running!
And if friends caught us outside it was fun too!
I hope you make the time to do this… It doesn’t have to be fancy…. You could drop off a little ziploc of something with the printable and it would still be fun for the whole family! You still have time before Halloween!
Disclaimer: the friend already had the chalked word “Boo!” but I would totally ask a neighbor if they wouldn’t mind and do that because it looked so cute!
HEAD’S UP, MOMMY TEACHERS! This Sunday is Grandparents Day! My kids love their grandparents so much and wanted to make them a special gift for their big day!
My 4-month old niece, Marley Kate, recently sent me a cute letter and it inspired our Grandparents Day gifts.
Since our printer is broken, I decided to hand paint ours, and leave a spot open for my niece, Abby, to stamp her foot, too. This one below is on its way to Oklahoma right now.
Then I thought it would be a great idea to make a few hand print art templates for you to purchase and download so your children can make beautiful art for their grandparents too!
In addition to a “You Are My Sunshine” template for your baby/toddler’s footprints, I have also made a “You Are o-FISH-ally My Favorite” template for a sideways hand print and an “Owl Always Love You” template for a palm hand print and thumbprints for wings.
These templates are available to download this week for just $1 for all 3! Enjoy!
Happy Grandparents Day to all of you Grammy and Grampy Teachers out there!!! Thank you for all that you do! Your grandchildren love and appreciate you!
Father’s Day is a big deal in our house because my husband’s birthday is on Christmas Day which, let’s face it, is never ever about him. So for Father’s Day we like to think of it as a mashup of FD and his birthday to make it extra special.
So, the kids wanted to show their daddy how much they love him…
Yup, that’s pretty much how the first round of pictures went. Let’s try this again to show Daddy that we REALLY love him and are so excited to spoil him tomorrow!!!
July 19th is my oldest son’s 6th birthday – OR as I like to call it – my 6th anniversary of becoming a MOM! Birthdays are a BIG DEAL to us mommies, too – mostly because of the HUGE milestone ::tear:: of our babies becoming a whole number older – and partly because of the huge expense on the bank account of throwing a birthday bash. And with 3 kids ::YIKES!:: it can be downright brutal to the piggy bank labeled, “parties.” This is why I spaced my kids out evenly throughout the year (joking… I mean, not even I could have planned that one out)… but we do save up for each party… February-April for Baby Girl’s spring birthday, May-July for Big Bear’s summer birthday, and August-October for Little Man’s fall birthday… so, yup… we spend all year SAVING for birthdays, yet we STILL party plan on a small budget.
Now, let’s see… 5 + 3 = 8 boy parties (plus that one year where my oldest got two parties… so make that 9 boy parties and this year I got to throw my very first GIRL party… but before I share with you the details of the latest party I just threw, I want to give you a great way to plan on a BUDGET! You ready?
Plan around what you already have!
Now sometimes it takes a little bit of creativity to see trash around your house and figure out a way to turn it into an awesome party detail, but open your mind and you’ll be surprised what you come up with!
Here are a few examples:
I introduce to you, the magical party power of trash!
Cardboard Boxes
Cardboard Box turned Sailboat High Chair
Cardboard Box Piggy Fort for an Angry Birds Party (Notice all of the FREE diaper boxes on that fort!)
Contact your local appliance store for extra large boxes for a Super Why Super Readers Book Club!
Plastic (dollar store) Table Cloths
Black table cloth + masking tape = road for snack trays cars! (Cars were found at a local diner that serves kids’ meals in cars)
Plastic table cloths can add colorful, weather-proof decor to your outdoor party!
An Unused Croquet Set
Add some pink paint to a croquet set and you are ready to go for an Alice in Wonderland themed party! (the giant cards for wickets were purchased at a local party store)
Brochures
I used a John Deere brochure to cut out pictures and put them in dollar store frames to use as decor around the food and cake tables for a Tractor-themed party.
and my personal favorite,
Weeds!!!
Having a broken lawn mower for a few months led us to discover that hundreds of tiny oak trees were growing in our yard – perfect for a Wall:E party!
Speaking of the Wall:E party, we reused the colorful watering can decor from the Angry Birds party and planted the trees inside (seen above). Recycle what you can from one party to the next!
I painted this backdrop for my husband’s company picnic and for some reason it found it’s way back home with us. A month later, I was able to reuse it for my son’s Angry Bird party by just painting a few Angry Birds on it and changing the words on the banner! It was easier than making a whole new backdrop!
Last week, we celebrated my baby girl’s FIRST birthday! (Fastest year of my LIFE, I’m telling you!) The day could not have been more perfect! And though I wanted to do every single little thing I saw on Pinterest for her first birthday, I had to stick to a strict budget.
I kind of lucked out, though. See, a few years ago when my sister and brother-in-law got married, we decorated the whole wedding with BURLAP, so what do you do with BOXES of burlap lying around your house? You throw a Southern & Sophisticated party for your daughter!
I always make my own invitations on the computer and upload them to Walgreens.com. 4×6 prints are .19 cents each regularly and sometimes they have sales for .10 cent prints or 20% off all photo orders! Easy and cheap!
And a special THANK YOU to all of my friends who collected white and pink Mardi Gras pearls for me… and to my mom who collected all of my grandmother’s old doilies and crocheted table cloths… along with my sister who donated mason jars and burlap from her wedding… I was able to use the money I had budgeted for decorations to buy flowers to really make the party beautiful and southern and sophisticated!
Jess Roberts of Barefoot Photography photographed the entire party and my daughter’s 1 year photo shoot, and made the incredible storybook sitting on the table! She is located in Opelousas, LA, and I HIGHLY recommend her!
If you have ever planned a birthday party then you know why it has been so long since Casey and I have posted…. We have been planning birthday parties for our kids 🙂
Well, we survived them and I’d like to share a great resource with you if you need some help planning a party for your little one….
Lauren Haddox Designs Etsy shop and her facebook page will have you in awe of all the beautiful themes and graphic designs that are perfect for all you pinterest peeps. She has sooo many great packages & files of DIY printables for parties. I loved her train theme that I used for my 3 year old’s party yesterday and she took some great shots of her design in action. I want to share and I’m hoping super-mom AkA Casey will share her pics from her party here soon too.
Getting ready for the party was fun too. Sean Patrick helped me paint cardboard boxes the primary colors which was great teaching him how to paint on something that would be used at his party. We cut black circles for the wheels and used the cute play on words “chew chew” to decorate each cart.
My 8 month pregnant self having a paint party with my birthday boy before his big day.
I got to teach him more about environmental print when we made the railroad crossing signs. Making kids aware of “writing” on signs is a great pre-reading reference and geometry lesson too as you observe the shapes all around.
The Party favors: Sean Patrick loves my school whistle that I wear on my lanyard so I got whistles for the kids that I wrote their names on with a sharpie and passed out as soon as the kids got to the party.
And the highlight of the party: the train!!! The kids had so much fun riding on the trackless train that Sean Patrick has been telling everyone about his “super-fast” train at his party. Adding an expense like that can make a party overwhelming unless, like me, you let all family members know that if they want to chip in a little for the train in lieu of presents then it makes it more affordable (and then you don’t end up with lots of extra plastic in your house ).
Please comment with a link to your blogs if you have cute kid parties to share because I love the inspiration now that I have been converted by my friend Lauren to a party-planning mom… which is a small miracle because I avoided it like the plague for so long 😉
