Category Archives: Holidays

Holidays, kids, Smart Living Strategies

Non Candy Valentines

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valentineswithoutcandyValentine’s Day and kids, you don’t even have to mention the candy to know it is there. Many kids want to give there friends something special but that doesn’t mean you have to hand out candy! There are some great, fun alternatives out there. I found a few fun ideas for this year!

1. You Rule rulers: Pick up some cheap rulers. Then print out the You Rule PDF. Then cut out the strips and tape them around the ruler.

2. You Make My Heart Bounce bouncy balls: You can pick up a ton of bouncy balls either at the Dollar Store or in the favors area of any party store (or store section;). There is a pdf and directions over at The Crafty Chicks.

3. You Make My Heart Glow: What kid doesn’t like glow sticks/ bracelets? Mine love them!!! I saw a tip that you don’t actually put the bracelets in the strips of paper until the morning of just in case it cracks and activates. Then it will be glowing that night still. The PDF is over at Kommunicated!

4. You Make My Heart Race: You can go out to the Dollar Tree and you can pick up little cars for a steal! Paloma Paper Designs has a great PDF ready for you!

5. You Are a Cutie: While this is a sweet treat, it isn’t candy! You can pick up 5 lbs of Clementines (or Cuties) for less than $5. Then just plop them in the cellophane bag. Cut and staple my You Are a Cutie to the top and they are done.

crafts, Holidays, kids

Kids’ Christmas Crafts

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The NerdFamily Kids got their Christmas craft on over the weekend! They were all really fun and pretty easy! I will do a quick walk through of each one along with materials sourcing!

Snow Flake Wreath:

I bought a whole bin of foam snow flakes from Michaels years ago. So I have 10 million snow flakes and this is a great use! All this wreath is composed of is snow flakes, white glue and ribbon. Just take a stack of snow flakes (I recommend alternating fat and thin ones) and glue them up and under in a circle. Then we just put a ribbon through it! You could do a few and hang them in your front window. Very pretty!

 

Craft Stick Stars/Snow Flakes:

Depending on which kid you ask this is either a star or a snow flake;). It is just 4 thin craft sticks that came colored (I picked them up on clearance at Michaels). Just glue them on top of each other going different directions. Being the nerd I am, we do perpendicular first then 2 45 degrees;). I recommend after each level you apply pressure for a 5 count to help it grab. Then you can put little fuzzy pom poms on the ends if you want. You could also do jewels or glitter. I picked up the pom poms at Joanns.

Poinsettias:

I totally stole this version of the construction paper poinsettia from All Kids Network, including the petal/leaf template;). Construction Paper from the Dollar Tree.

Gingerbread Men:

I found these gingerbread forms at Target in the dollar bins for, you guessed it, a dollar;). I got 10 in the pack so there will be more gingerbread person making around here;). I had little foam pieces left over from the kids’ foam gingerbread house kits. But there were also googlie eyes in the dollar bin at Target. We took a cotton ball and pulled it apart to make the white hair and they drew on them with markers. Anything goes! For the record, the bald one is a cop. The little colored in gingerbread man on his chest is his badge;).

Do you craft with your kids for Christmas? What are their favorites?

 

gift worthy, giveaway, Holidays

Hallmark Christmas Fun Giveaway!!!

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I recently received some awesomeness from Hallmark for Christmas!!! And now that it is officially December, I wanted to give you a chance to get some too!!!

First up is Tell the Elf Game! I always loved Mad Libs growing up and this fun game reminds me of it. The Elf will ask you a series of questions. Once they are all answered it will tell you a story them all! Elf’ed of course;). One person could answer all the questions but I think it is more fun in a group! Maybe passing it around the car when driving to Grandma’s house? So fun!

We also have Merry Okee. I mean who wouldn’t love Christmas karaoke to begin with? It comes with a songbook and you can sing as your own voice or as an elf voice! That can lure even the most self conscious person into participating!

These are so much fun! We are going to be having a ball with them all season. And how would you like your own set?? Hallmark has decided to give one of my lucky readers an early Christmas gift!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Holidays

PaperDirect for Halloween!!!

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I can not believe that Halloween it speeding toward us so quickly! So if you haven’t started planning everything yet you should now.

Having a party? Then make sure you order your Halloween invitations from PaperDirect ASAP. If you wait to long you can even buy printable templates that you can access immediately. If you are doing a larger scale Halloween project, like a fair or a festival, PaperDirect also has a variety of Halloween banners that you can hang.

I love that you can not only get traditional Halloween things but you can also get more fall festival designs. You can also get design help if you aren’t quite sure how it all gets laid out. You also get it printed and shipped within 3 days. Which is fabulous if you are a huge procrastinator like me;).

So go! Get your Halloween postcards, banners and invites bought! Hurry!

 

This sponsored post was made possible by Mom Spark Media. I was compensated for my time investment and work on this campaign. Thoughts are my own.