Valentine's Day Playdate

Well, I lost my bet with my husband. We all know he had fun with that...for a few seconds until he realized that his winning the bet wasn't all it was cracked up to be. It just meant I spent more money!

I didn't go too much over my $50 budget, but I did go over. Bleh. I was able to stay under $90, which brought the smile back to my other half's face. See, it all worked out in the end. He won a back rub out of the deal, and I was still able to throw the kind of party I wanted!

Let's start with the decor. I made all of it myself to save money and probably spent about $12 on it all. First up, I made these super easy paper fans using scrapbook paper I bought on sale at Hobby Lobby.. They took me less that 10 minutes to do a piece and I think made a huge statement. You'll be seeing more of these at my parties for sure!


Next up, I bought .99 cent packs of tissue paper from Walmart and made fun tissue poms to hang from my curtains. Again, another super simple project that costs next to nothing to make! I don't know why I didn't get a better picture of them, though. You can sort of see them here.


In between the groupings of tissue poms, I hung this heart banner that I made using coordinating scrapbook paper and string left over from the pirate party.

I made another pennant banner to add to the staircase, just above the dessert table, using more scrapbook paper and left over string.

Speaking of the dessert table... no party is complete without giving the kids a complete sugar high (and then sending them home)!


I used a free Valentine subway art printable and stuck it in a frame I already had. All of the sweets on the table were store bought (gotta love Litte Debbie Valentine cakes and brownies). I also filled a bowl with heart marshmallows, which were a huge hit with the kids.


The glittery pink banner on the bottom of the table was left over from Emma's princess party.





The drinks were red HEB sodas that I made a bit cuter by adding drink labels I whipped up in photoshop. The kids LOVED drinking their Love Potion. And guess what, no spills! My carpet breathed a sigh of relief!






My friend over at Giraffe Doodles & Design monogrammed the aprons for me! She will soon be offering party packs of monogrammed aprons in her store. So much fun for art parties, cupcake parties, and baking parties!


And here are where my pictures end. :( I had my hands full with the party and my baby!


After the kids ate, they each decorated heart sugar cookies that I made with pre bought white and pink icing and sprinkles-- told you I sugared them up!

Each kid was sent homw with a boxf candy hearts that I spent about 10 minutes making a bit cuter. I used a punch I had to cut out scalloped circles and then my three year old put a heart sticker (bought at the Dollar Tree)on each one. I used tulle leftover from the princess party and tied a bow around each box. Then I used a glue dot and stuck the scalloped circle in the middle of the bow.

And that is how I do a party on a budget!

Blowing Kisses

Since I shared N's Valentine, I thought I'd share E's too! They say, "Blowing Kisses Your Way" and are filled with little bubbles and Hershey Kisses, two of my baby's favorite things! Oh, and don't under estimate how hard it is to get a pic of your kid blowing kisses! That was the only decent picture out of a bunch. She is a silly goose!

May The Force Be With You

My son is OBSESSED with Star Wars. In fact, I think that may be an understatement. It consumes his life. I think he has a little Lego Star Wars minifigure in his hand during ever waking minute. And don't even get me started on the 3D movie that came out this weekend. He has talked non stop about it!

So, I knew we had to do something that showcased his love. These were inspired by all the Valentine's Day cards out there with the kids holding out lollipops. Instead of lollipops, though, I used glow sticks to look like light sabers.

I took a pic of Nathan against a black blanket. He is holding the base of one of his lightsabers, but it is pushed all the way in so that all you see is the base. I added the text and then printed them out as 4x6 prints. Then I cut a little slit at the top of the light saber handle using an exacto knife, stuck in the glow stick, and taped it down in the back.

My kiddo is so excited to hand these out (and I am, too!)!

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Valentine's Party

I have given myself a challenge--to throw a SMALL Valentine's Day party for $50. I am keeping my fingers crossed that I can do it, but my husband is betting against me. The nerve!

So, over the next month I am going to show you how I am going to prove the Hubs wrong. Fifty bucks, and not a cent over!

I started out by deciding that this party has to be small. We can't invite everyone, as much as I really, really want to. I told each kid that they can invite three of their friends. This party is going to be on a Friday afternoon, so that already limits who can come. After much deliberation, each kid chose three of their friends.

Next up, I designed my own invites and made them pretty simple. I needed them to be free, so I used clipart and backgrounds that I already had. I came up with two different invitations and let the kids choose which one they wanted to give out. I printed these out on white cardstock and am sticking them in pink envelopes that I had left over from Emma's birth announcement three years ago--see it pays off to be a packrat!

I wanted our party to be sort of like a playdate with friends, so I came up with two fun activities--cookie decorating and painting on canvas, hence the wording on the invites. I'll give you more details about the activities later.

Here are the two invites I created in Photoshop. If you want a copy of them, leave your email address in the comments below and I will send them to you! I blurred out my address and phone number, obviously!

Reindeer Gift Tags

The weather today is horrible and rainy, so I was trying to come up with something fun for the kids to do. I ran across this idea a while back and can't recall where--It was obviously before my obsession with Pinterest!

All you need are some willing kiddos, brown paint, and gift tags (or even paper will do).

Paint a kiddo's finger and let them press it wherever they want. Don't tell them where, come on step back, I know a few of you want to! Let this be their creations!

After they are done, let them decorate! You could even pull out the glitter, jewels, red fuzz balls, or whatever else you have in your art bins! We weren't able to get too crazy because my llittlest little woke up!

Ta Da! You have the cutest gift tags under the tree!

Elf on the Shelf Breakfast

George made his first appearence of the year this morning and he brought with him a yummy North Pole Breakfast, complete with snow covered donuts, snowballs, candy canes, and treats for the kiddos. They loved it!

I found the idea for this breakfast over at Little Pumpkin Grace and borrowed the idea from her and put my own little twist on it!

That sneak George the Elf even cut out snowflakes that hung from the ceiling. These took a lot longer than you think, though, because George sort of forgot how to make them! A lot of paper was harmed in the making of these!

George decided to hang out on the sled that was filled with little baggies of snowballs (mini marshmallows) that came straight from the North Pole! I love his little mischievious grin!

He laid out snow covered donuts on his favorite Santa Plate. Apparently, these are one of Santa's favorite treats!

George even brought Nathan and Emma their very own little treat bucket that was filled with a fun Santa Pez dispencer, a Christmas shirt, a North Pole puzzle, and some warm, toasty Christmas socks. Nathan's shirt said, "Jingle Bells, My Sister Smells." That George, he has a funny sense of humor!

He left a little note for each kid, also, letting them know how proud he was of their good behavior. I loved watching their little eyes as I read the letters to them. Christmas is such a magical time of year and it makes me all sappy.

George left little cups of hot chocolate to drink. Ems and Nathan decided to throw some of their snowballs in their cups--floating glaciers!

Our first annual North Pole Breakfast was a success and I can't wait to make this a fun tradition for our family, one that our kids will do with their kids, and that they will remember for years to come. Thanks Little Pumpkin Grace for the inspiration!

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Under the Table and Dreaming

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Princess Storybook Invitation

I'm still alive, just swamped! We had my daughter's princess birthday party a couple of weekends ago, so I have a lot of projects from there to share. But first, here are her invitation! These were definitely a labor of love, but I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out!



I started out with chunky board books and 5x5 prints. Then, I modgepodged the prints onto the pages and let them dry. I added a bit of pink scrapbooking paper to the spine of each one as a finishing touch. Love.