Bridal Shower BINGO

My daughter's teacher is getting married in July and before the end of the school year I threw her a SURPRISE bridal shower with a couple other moms.  First, I've never thrown a bridal shower and second, I've never thrown a surprise party.  Especially one that involved 40 kids!  I was a bit nervous.  Long story short...It was a successful surprise and a GREAT party!

I looked all over Pinterest and didn't find a lot of ideas for throwing a bridal shower that involved kids so I had to get creative.  Kids love games so we played two games to start: Bridal Shower BINGO and Pin the Veil on the Soon-To-Be Bride.

I looked everywhere online and couldn't find a Bridal Shower BINGO game that I liked and could afford on our limited budget.  So I made one instead.  It took some serious time but in the end I was so happy with how it turned out!  I made 20 unique BINGO cards using 24 different wedding images.

BINGO Card

BINGO Caller Cards

We used BINGO Cover Chips but you could also cut up small squares from cardstock to use as covers.  And I bought a few prizes from Dollar Tree for the winners too.

If you'd like to purchase the PDF BINGO files for $5 you can pay my PayPal account and I'll edit the name on the files and email them to you.

Click this link: www.paypal.me/CReeves/5

Be sure to leave the following information in the comments:
1. Your email address
2. The files you're requesting (i.e.; Bridal Shower Bingo)
3. The bride-to-be's married name (to personalize the BINGO cards)


My turnaround time is 1-2 days :)

Next we played Pin the Veil on the Bride-to-Be.  We enlarged a picture of the bride-to-be, gave her a sticker tiara, and laminated the picture.  Then we made small tulle veils to "pin".  Sorry I don't have pictures of the veils.

Lastly, we had the kids write their words of wisdom for the soon-to-be bride and groom.  

We also put together these cute centerpieces.  I can't take credit for any of it.  Another mom who's super talented did all the flowers and Ring Pops and they looked amazing!  We were allowed 30 minutes to set up for the party so this was no small feat!  PS - She also made the "Pin the Veil" game :)

If you want to see some of the other ideas I considered, check out my Bridal Shower Pinterest board.  There are some cute Wed-Libs printables and coloring pages.

Best of luck!

Portable North Pole Christmas Videos

I'm so excited to share with you the super fun and magical Portable North Pole videos and phone calls this year!  Christmas is such a magical time of year, especially with little ones. You can make it even more special with personalized video messages and phone calls from Santa Claus, delivered directly from his North Pole village! It's a great family tradition that my girls (and I!) look forward to every year.

And the best news ... one of you will receive a voucher for a FREE Gold Pass!! The Gold Pass costs $12.99 and allows you to create as many premium videos and phone calls as you'd like.  You can also download your videos in HD.  Keep reading to find out how to enter to win an Gold Pass!

VIDEOS
Last year I created free PNP video messages from Santa for each of the girls.  I even did a free grown-up video for Tim :) The girls still remind him about how he was on Santa's naughty list!  This year I created unique premium video messages for each of the girls. There are 7 storylines to choose from so each of my girls will receive a different message from Santa.  Click here to see some examples of the premium videos. Portable North Pole donates 5% of all proceeds from online sales to children’s hospitals around the world. Since 2012, PNP has donated over $100,000!

PHONE CALLS
There are 17 different phone calls to choose from and one was perfect for my girls - the "Not home for Christmas?" call. We are living at my parents' house right now because our home looks like this...

Ava wrote Elvis, our Elf on the Shelf, a note with detailed instructions on how to get to Nana and Papa's house in the hopes that he'd relay the message to Santa :)  I can't wait for her to get Santa's phone call on Christmas Eve!!!  She's going to FREAK OUT!

MOBILE APP
Don't forget to check out the PNP Mobile App.  You can create, watch and send videos and calls from your mobile devices.  Your kids will love the exclusive kid-friendly section with fun games and activities!

ENTER TO WIN!!
Leave a comment below by Saturday, December 19th and I will randomly select a winner on December 20th.  Be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you with your voucher code for your GOLD PASS!

Merry Christmas from my 3 little elves!

And thank you for all your support in 2015!

Back to School Shopping

We have 5 weeks of summer left.  There are days when I can't wait for school to start back up, but thankfully there are more days when I find myself wishing time would slow down. 

Back to school shopping is the perfect activity to transition the girls and myself out of summer-mode.  I am an unapologetic organizer and I look forward to this ritual.

I just happened upon this nifty little Target & Walmart Cheat Sheet for back to school shopping.  Thank you Passionate Penny Pincher!  It's totally going to enhance my back to school shopping organization!  Click here for your free printable cheat sheet!

Have fun shopping!

First Days of School & Lunch Containers

School's back in!

I decided to revamp Ava's school lunches this year.  I saw this post on 100 Days of Real Food and decided to try out the Ziploc Divided Containers.

After looking all over online and finding them way overpriced on Amazon, I happened upon them at Target! Yay!  Then I took them over to Toys R Us and found lunch bag that they'd fit into (with an ice pack and sippy cup).

These containers have saved me a ton on snack baggies.  They also keep the food from getting smashed in her lunch bag.  Bonus: Ava loves them too!

Now I just have to figure out some fun lunch ideas...stay tuned!

Rainbow Loom

I took a blogging break over the holidays to hang out with my family but I'm finally starting to get back into my routine.  It was a fun and crazy Christmas with three little ones under the age of 5!  Santa sure had his work cut out for him this year.  Ava and Sidney asked for "real witches" for Christmas (or as Sidney said it "weal witches"!).  They are still having Halloween withdrawal.  I wasn't sure what Santa would come up with but I knew he'd better pull through!  Here's what the girls found on Christmas morning...

 Witch costumes, a cauldron and potions!  Oh my!

 According to Ava and Sidney, the green potion turns you into a frog and the pink potion turns you back!   The pom pom balls make it look like a bubbly potion!

To top it off, the girls got to make actual potions.  This was the coolest part - we made potions all morning!  But I refuse to post pictures because Tim and I are in them in our PJs with bed head!  Sorry!

The girls also got a Rainbow Loom.

It all began when a friend of Ava's from school gave her a Rainbow Loom bracelet...and then Sidney lost it.  You haven't seen tears until you see one sister lose another sister's prized possession.  It was a good excuse for me to head over to Micheal's to buy our very own Rainbow Loom and see what all the fuss is about.

I have only made the fishtail bracelet but I can see how it can become addicting.  

Ava wanted a dog collar for her puppy.  She and Sidney are obsessed with all puppy related things ever since they discovered Paw Patrol!

Now I'm looking up YouTube videos to figure out how to make the more complex bracelets. Click here to access the Rainbow Loom YouTube channel for instructional videos. I think I'll try adding charms (or maybe a dog tag!) to my next bracelet/dog collar.

I hope you all had a very Happy New Year!

Christmas Traditions for Families

I love the weeks leading up to Christmas.  There are so many fun holiday traditions to create with your family.  Here are my family's favorites:

Elf on the Shelf – Elvis arrives with the Elf on the Shelf book the day after Thanksgiving and stays with us through Christmas Eve.  Tim and I love to come up with new places for Elvis to hide.  Pinterest has tons of great ideas.

Letters to/from Elvis – The girls always have a lot of questions about Elvis (How old is Elvis? Does Elvis miss his Mommy and Daddy when he’s at our house all day?).  So we started writing him letters to get our questions answered.  He always answers back on fun Christmas stationary!

Decorating the House – We bring up the Christmas tree and decorate the house over Thanksgiving weekend.  We bought a second Christmas tree at an after Christmas sale last year.  We wanted the kids to have a fun tree to decorate with all their homemade ornaments and the ornaments they receive as gifts.  So far, the tree only has lights, a tree skirt and a few ornaments, but the kids LOVE it.  The especially love that they can take off the ornaments and play with them all the time.  Needless to say, it's a pretty bare tree!  We're hoping to get some more decorations after Christmas this year!

Mini Christmas Trees – I bought the older girls mini Christmas trees for their rooms this year.  Click here to see how they turned out!

Wrapped Christmas Books each day during Advent – Each child takes a turn opening a Christmas book each night for 24 nights that we read before bedtime.  The first book is The Story of the Nativity.  Each day during Advent, we read a new passage from this book.  The last book we open is The Night Before Christmas.

Good Deed Manger – During Christmas-time, anytime the girls do a good deed we write it down on a piece of paper attached a piece of yarn and the girls can put it in the "manger" (aka; a Christmas basket).  By the time Christmas comes, we have a nice, soft manger for the baby Jesus.

Christmas Music – I absolutely love Christmas music.  I have TONS of Christmas CD’s that I downloaded to my iTunes library so I can play my Christmas music all day long!  Some of my favorite songs are:
- Ave Maria by Chris Cornell
- Baby It's Cold Outside by Dean Martin
- Carol of the Bells from the Christmas Carols for Children album
- Children Go Where I Send Thee by Natalie Merchant
- Please Come Home for Christmas by the Eagles
- I Saw Three Ships by Sting
- It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year by Andy Williams
- Jingle Bells by The Brian Setzer Orchestra
- O Holy Night by Josh Groban
- Santa Claus is Coming to Town by The Pointer Sisters
- Silent Night by Stevie Nicks
- Star of Bethlehem by The Judds
- God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/We Three Kings by Barenaked Ladies & Sarah McLachlan
- 12 Days of Christmas by Straight No Chaser
- Bells Will Be Ringing by Kelly Clarkson

P.S. - My guilty pleasure is the Jessica Simpson Christmas Album, Rejoyce - don't judge!

Christmas Shows – I love to record all the Christmas shows that come on TV between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Click here for the 2013 programming guide.

Christmas Events around town – There are always fun things to do around town.  Click here for a list of events around St. Louis.

Christmas Cards – I love to send out Christmas cards to our family and friends.  And I love to receive Christmas cards (hint, hint)!  We display all our Christmas cards in the kitchen.

St. Nick’s Day (December 6th) – The kids leave their shoes out before bedtime on December 5th in the hopes that St. Nicholas will come and leave them some money to buy a gift for a child in need (see “Toys For Tots” below).  They may get a special treat too.

Gingerbread Man Cookies – We make gingerbread man cookies and while the cookies cool we read the book The Gingerbread Man Loose in the School.  Sure enough, our gingerbread men cookies escaped while they were cooling just like the gingerbread man in the book.  We searched all over the house looking for our gingerbread men and finally found them on the kitchen table ready to be decorated.  Phew!

Visiting Santa – The kids love to color pictures for Santa so that we have something to give him when we visit him at the mall.  Getting their picture taken with Santa is special too.

Toys For Tots – A couple of years ago we started the tradition of having the girls pick out a toy to donate to Toys for Tots.  This year, the girls have earned money by doing chores around the house that will go toward the purchase of the toy.  They will also contribute their St. Nick's Day money.  There is usually a Toys For Tots donation bin at the mall by Santa.

Letters to/from Santa – Before Christmas, we help the girls write a letter to Santa about how they've been and what they've been up to over the past year.  When the girls wake up on Christmas morning, there is a letter from Santa waiting for them.  Click here for a link to some cute, free Santa stationary.

Portable North Pole Video from Santa – Santa sends video letters to the kids (and sometimes to Mom and Dad) before Christmas.  Click here to make your own video.

The Legend of the Candy Cane & Candy Cane Cocoa - One of the books that the girls open during Advent is The Legend of the Candy Cane.  We drink Candy Cane Cocoa while we read the book.  Click here for a yummy Candy Cane Cocoa recipe.  Click here for a free printable PDF that tells the Legend of the Candy Cane story.  Also, if you need a dairy-free hot chocolate, Target sells Archer Farms Dark Chocolate hot cocoa mix that is dairy free!

Baking Christmas Treats for Family, Neighbors and Public Servants – I love to bake Christmas treats but I can’t (or rather, I shouldn't) eat them all by myself.  So we give plates of treats to our neighbors or bring them to our families’ houses that we visit over the holidays.

Neighborhood Lights – We are so lucky that there are many families in our neighborhood that decorate the outsides of their houses for Christmas.  We love to drive around at night and admire all their hard work!

Public Light Displays – We love to drive through Tilles Park to see the Winter Wonderland lights display.  Santa’s Magical Kingdom is a bit more expensive, but still lots of fun!

Gardenland Express – The Missouri Botanical Gardens has a great indoor holiday train display that the girls love to see each year.

Magic Reindeer Food – We sprinkle reindeer food and glitter in our lawn the night before Christmas so that Santa’s reindeer will spot our house from the sky and stop to drop off the girls' gifts.  Click here for a recipe for magic reindeer food.  You can also print out a free poem and tag for your bag here.  Also, Ava made this cute container for our magic reindeer food when she was in preschool.

Milk and Cookies for Santa/Carrots for Reindeer – We put milk and cookies out for Santa the night before Christmas on our “Cookies for Santa” plate.  We also put out carrots for Santa’s reindeer.

A Christmas Story – After Tim and I put the girls to bed on Christmas Eve, we start watching A Christmas Story while we wait for the girls to fall asleep so that Santa can come.

Stocking Stuffers – Kids love those little junkie toys that make great stocking stuffers.  I go to Dollar Tree or the dollar section at Target before the holidays to find our stocking stuffers.

I also found some more fun traditions that other families do to celebrate Christmas:
- Write out a Christ-centered goal to start early for the New Year
- Bake a cake for Jesus’ birthday
- Advent Calendar – Do a special family activity each day during Advent
- Adopt a Child / Adopt a Family
- Special Christmas morning breakfast
- Christmas crafts and Christmas coloring pages
- Take the whole family ice skating
- Host a White Elephant gift exchange
- Hang Mistletoe around your house
- Go see The Nutcracker or another Christmas-y production
- Make Thick Hot Chocolate and watch a family Christmas movie
- Host a Christmas Sweater Party
- Donate canned goods to a food pantry
- Make a Christmas wreath
- Make a Gingerbread house
- Open one gift on Christmas Eve (i.e.; Christmas pajamas)
- Decorate Christmas sugar cookies
- Attend City tree lighting event
- Have breakfast with Santa

What is your family's favorite Christmas traditions?

Mini Christmas Trees

I wasn't sure if we would be able to put up our Christmas tree this year.  Clara is going through the phase where she tears everything apart - my desk drawers, the kitchen cabinets and drawers, bathroom cabinets, the pantry.  Anything that is not child-proofed is fair game for Clara.  She is her own tiny path of destruction.

So I bought Ava and Sidney these little Christmas trees to decorate and keep in their rooms. They LOVED having a Christmas tree all for themselves!

The trees came from Micheal's.  All of their holiday stuff is marked down 30-40% off and they've had a lot of addition 25% off coupons on sale items lately.

Then the girls got down to decorating.

I found the ornaments in the picture above at Dollar Tree - they came 4 to a pack.

Most of the other decorations came from Hobby Lobby.  All of their Christmas stuff is 50% off! I bought tiny jingle bells and 1/16" red ribbon to use as ornaments.  They also had cute mini tree lights strung together (the lights don't actually work).

I found the tree skirts in the dollar section at Target and the little presents under trees came from Hobby Lobby.  They were meant to be ornaments so we just cut off the strings.

Here's one of the decorated trees!  I think this will become a new, fun Christmas tradition! Check back soon to see my Family Christmas Traditions post.

Pumpkin Pie Fondue Dip

I love holiday get-togethers!  It gives me a chance to try out some new dessert recipes without feeling like I have to eat it all myself ;)

I haven't used my Little Dippers in years so I knew this recipe was THE ONE.  It combined two great things: the Little Dipper and pumpkin!  Anyone who followed my blog last year knows my obsession with pumpkin treats.  I was worried about trying out a new recipe on people other than my family, but not to worry - this little gem did not disappoint!

If you don't have a Little Dipper, don't worry.  There are other ways of making this tasty treat.  See the Notes below the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 cup canned pumpkin pie mix (NOT 100% pumpkin)
4 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup sour cream
Walnuts (optional)

Things to dip:
Apple slices
Pretzels
Graham crackers
Ginger cookies
Vanilla wafers

Instructions:
1. Add the cream cheese to the Little Dipper then top with sour cream.
2. Pour in the pumpkin pie mix.
3. Cover and cook for an hour, then stir well.  If the cream cheese isn't fully melted, cook a bit longer.
4. Garnish with chopped walnuts if desired.

Notes:
If you don't have a Little Dipper, you can put an oven safe dish in a crock pot and cook on high for an hour or cook on low for two hours.

Kindergarten Halloween Party

Ava's Kindergarten party was a success!  Take a look below if you need party ideas!

The party was broken into three parts.

Part 1
To start the party off, one parent read the book, "The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything" by Linda Williams while the other parents set up and decorated the room.

We set up 4 tables: two tables for the craft, one table that held the snacks and drinks and one table for eating / drinking.  We decorated the tables with orange plastic table cloths and paper pumpkins.

Part 2
After the story, we split the kids up into 3 groups: Ghosts, Vampires and Witches.  One group went to the snack table, one group went to do the craft and one group went to play the game.  Every 10 minutes, the groups rotated to a different table.

For the snack, we had 5 Halloween bowls with:
- Skittles (Cat Eyes)
- Mini Marshmallows (Ghost Guts)
- Raisins (Bat Brains)
- Pretzel sticks (Witches Broom Sticks)
- Candy Corn (Chicken Toes)

We labeled each of the bowls with their Halloween name on a paper skeleton bone.  The kids scooped out their snacks into Halloween baggies labeled with their name.  Click here for more Halloween snack food ideas.

For our craft, the kids made spider hats.  We also added googly eyes on the spider.

For the game, we played Mister Bones Relay Race.  

We split the kids into two teams and the first team to correctly assemble Mister Bones won. Click here to download the printable skeleton template.  I cut out all the pieces and then laminated them.  I also put together and example for the kids to follow.  Some of the leg and arm pieces are tricky!

We played the game twice and everyone won a prize (from the Dollar Store) at the end. While the kids waited to move on to the next station, they did a Pumpkin Connect-the-Dots and a Pumpkin Maze and then colored them in.

Part 3
For the last activity, we brought all the kids back together for a game of "Hot Pumpkin".  

To play "Hot Pumpkin" the kids sit in a circle and pass a small pumpkin as Halloween music plays.  When the music stops, the child holding the pumpkin is "out".  When they are "out" they get to come pick a Ghost Lollipop from the pumpkin.  The kid that wins gets to keep the "hot pumpkin" and pick a ghost lollipop. Click here to see how to make the Ghost Lollipop pumpkin.

I hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Back to School Shoe Shopping

I loathe shoe shopping.  For me and for my girls.  We all have sensitive feet and nothing really ever feels good.  When I'm buying shoes for Sidney and Ava, I always know that it could be a big waste of money because after a week Ava will complain that the shoes no longer feel good and Sidney will have huge blisters on her ankles and heels.

We are now facing another hurdle.  Ava's new school has very strict rules about shoes.  The two that are going to be tough are: 
    1) Ava must wear socks and 
    2) the shoes have to be color-less (i.e.; only solid white, black, gray or brown)
First, Ava hates socks.  She honestly hasn't worn socks in over 3 years except for a couple of times this past winter when she went out to play in the snow.  Second, finding a color-less shoe limits our options considerably.

Knowing that Ava will need a lot of time to get used to these socks and shoes, I started the search at the beginning of summer.  There is one brand of shoe, Tsukihoshi, that Ava loves.  

If you have a kid that doesn't like tight shoes, I highly recommend Tsukihoshi,.  This particular style (with the large Velcro strap) especially.  I found a couple of pairs that should work for school (Ava chose the gray pair). Keep your fingers crossed for me...today is Ava's first day of school!!

Also, I recently discovered Brooks tennis shoes for myself.

These shoes fit like a glove.  I could sleep in them and be comfortable.  I loved them so much that I bought two pairs.  Check them out if you have bad feet like me.

And if you have any other good shoe recommendations (kids or adults), please share!