Teacher's Gifts

This is a easy, inexpensive, summery gift I put together for the end of the year teachers gift. The watering cans are from the dollar store ($3.00). I picked up some annuals at the garden store with pots that fit into the watering cans to save the trouble of repotting and then they can plant it wherever they want. I decided to personalize it a bit by putting the teacher's initials on the cans.

I used my Cricut to cut out the letters but any vinyl letters would work. I made a stake for the card by gluing a paper clip to a skewer. But I was thinking that if I made them again I would use a pencil just to make it a bit more school themed. In the card I wrote "thanks for helping me bloom!"

Cute, fun, practical and personalized does it get much better than that?!!

Dora the Explorer Birthday!

 

I admit I have been a bit tardy on posting this but I guess it’s better late than never.  My daughter planned her fourth Dora the Explorer birthday for months so I did not want to disappoint.

Backpack Invitations - For the invitation I cut a piece of paper lengthwise and folded into three to resemble Backpack and rounded off the corners. The size of the invitations worked well because they were able to fit in a regular letter sized envelope and didn’t require extra postage. I found a coloring sheet of Map online and cut out and coloured it in Backpack colours. I glued some purple ribbon on the back for the straps.  The invitations read: 

Grab your backpack!

Let’s go! Vamanos!

Where are going?

Lia’s house

Why are we going?

Lia’s 4^th Birthday party

When are we going?

Saturday, March 30 from 12-3pm

RSVP by calling or texting xxx-xxx-xxxx

 

Decorations

 

“Map Says”  - I stuck a poster over the mirror to greet guests in the entry way the read “Map says Lia’s 4”. 

Centerpiece -  I used a Backpack toy that the girls had for the centrepiece.  Stuffing it with colourful tissue, curly pipe cleaners (twisted around a pencil) and little flower lollipops (that were handed out as part of the goody bags).

Dora Banner - The girls had a deck of Dora cards that was missing a few so we punched holes in the top and strung them on a ribbon to make a banner.

Piñata - We found a Dora piñata and it played double duty as both a decoration and a party activity.  I chose not to fill it with candy but rather with little trinkets that became part of the loot bags.  I was able to stuff it pretty inexpensively (about $7) some items included Dora stretch bracelets, sheets of Dora stickers rolled up and tied with a ribbon, little balls and mini slinkies.

Boot and Dora - Lia requested pictures of Boots and Dora.  I found coloring sheets on line and used them as a guide to draw and color larger versions onto Bristol board.

Party Hats – To make the party hats a little bit more special than the ones available in stores.  We glammed up plain purple party hats by attaching a picture of Dora and Boots printed from the internet and by glue gunning on green feather boas.

Swiper! No Swiping! – I found this idea on Pinterest and was  surprised at how much the kids enjoyed this. The presents table was decorated with a banner that read “Swiper! No Swiper! I drew and colored a large version of Swiper onto a piece of Bristol board and pasted is onto a piece of foam core to make it a bit sturdier. 

Activities

Glitter Tattoos – Lucky for me my talented friend Robin gave the kids glitter tattoos throughout the party.

Piñata – Like I mentioned before we had a Dora piñata and inside I placed a little Map with a clue to the next activity a scavenger hunt to find the loot bags.

Scavenger Hunt – I made little Maps that had clues leading the kids  to visit Dora’s friends that I had placed around the house.

The Food

I tried to give the menu a Mexican feel but to still stick with foods the kids would enjoy. We served mini chicken tacos (Costco),  seven layer dip and chips along with veggies and dip, and crackers, meat and cheese.

Little Star Cookies -  Lia isn’t a big fan of cake so I made these Little Star cookies.   I found the Icing Recipe online and it dried hard and was delicious.

 

Loot Bags – I found some cute little purple canvas bags at the dollar store.  Using the same template that I used for the invitations I cut out Backpacks face from felt and glued it onto the bags with fabric glue.  The loot bags were filled with Dora coloring book, crayons and stickers, as well as the lollipops from the centrepiece.  It also gave the kids a bag to put there goodies from the piñata.

It was a great party and can’t wait to start planning the next!

S’More Making Kit

This year we put together S’more Making kits as the year-end gift for my daughter’s preschool teachers.  It was easy, inexpensive, fun and summer themed.  I chose glass canisters because I thought they  would be useful to them after the gift was devoured.  I created the labels and directions in word and they stayed in place with the static on the inside of the jar.  To create a kit that makes eight S’mores you’ll need: 1 large Hershey milk chocolate bar (2 squares for each S’more)/ 8 large graham wafers/ 8 marshmallows (I placed the marshmallows in a plastic baggie just to keep them from drying out too much).
Card – To continue the theme we made cards spelling out the teachers names with letter pretzels (Superstore). We made a campfire using strips of brown paper and flames cut out of yellow and orange tissue paper. The marshmallows were made out of a piece of cotton ball glued to a toothpick.  My daughter has just finished the first year of a two year program so inside I wrote “I love preschool and can’t wait to come back next year for S’more!” (Corny I know but kinda sweet too!)

Lauren Turns Two with Toopy and Binoo!




My daughter loves Toopy and Binoo so we chose them as the theme for her second birthday.  It did prove to be a bit of a challenge because there is not a lot of Toopy and Binoo products available.  But with a little creativity it turned out to be a great party!

Decorations :

 Since Toopy & Binoo items are so hard to find I decided to go with a "Toopy & Binoo" feel rather than being too literal. I used colourful plates, napkins etc from the Dollar Store. 

Centrepiece - For the centrepiece I was excited when I found the bucket at Kernel's. I just printed pictures off the Internet and made some stars on my computer with "2" and "Happy Birthday Lauren" on them and taped them to skewers. I stuck them into floral foam and filled in the empty spaces with colourful tissue.



Banner- For the birthday banner I just glued colourful stars onto a ribbon and placed felt letters to spell happy birthday. On each end I glued pictures of Toopy and Binoo that I found on the Internet.



Party Hats- I found two different sizes of New Years Eve hats on Clearance. On the small hats I glued little felt "Binoo" cat ears and on the larger hats I glued "Toopy" mouse ears.



Toopy and Binoo Cut-outs - Using a colouring sheet as a guide I drew these larger images onto Bristol board, It was a great place for the kids to get their pictures taken.

 

Activities:

Face Painting - Luckily I have a talented friend, Robin, who did some face painting for the kids (Grandpa even got in on it!).

Necklace/ Keychain Craft - I made some little Binoo's and Patchy Patch's charms out of FIMO. Together with pony beads and plastic cord the kids made key chains or necklaces to take home with them as part of the goody bags.

Colouring Sheets - I printed some Toopy and Binoo colouring sheets off the Internet and had a little table set up with crayons for those kids who felt like a quieter activity.



Cake - For the cake I figured Binoo may be easier to tackle than Toopy.  Using two sheet cakes I cut the pieces out using an  outline i had sketched on  paper, I stuck all the pieces together using icing.  It wasn't perfect but Lauren was happy so that;s all that matters.

 

Party Favours - Since items with Toopy and Binoo are so hard to find and Lauren's birthday is really close to Valentine's Day I took the easy way out for party favours.  I made Valentine's inspired chocolate suckers with a little note attached thanking the guests for attending. 

Cookie Monster & Elmo Costumes

Happy Camper!

My husband loves the outdoors (a passion we do not share).  So this year I decided to go with a camping theme for his birthday.  I was really happy with the results and the cake was one of the easiest I've ever made.  All you need is:
Stones: Bridge mix (I like the different sizes and colors)
Campfire: Cut a hole and sunk a tealight into the cake and it doubles as the birthday candle.
Tent: Graham wafers stuck together with icing and trimmed with pretzel sticks.
Letters: Alphabet pretzels available at Superstore
Trees: Icecream cones trimmed to desired size and decorared with icing using rosette tip. 

With the help of my three year-old we made this birthday card.  She's not quite at the cutting stage so I got all the piece ready and she glued them on.

Gluten Free Birthday

We have some people in our family with gluten sensitivities. So instead of making a traditional  cake for my mom's last birthday I made a gluten free rice krispies bouquet!  The kids thought it was way more fun than regular squares and everybody got to enjoy a treat!

For her gift I assembled this family collage.  Using family photos I collaged them together to spell FAMILY.  Everybody loves searching through the pictures trying to find themselves and remembering special times.  I  did it in word and it was pretty painstaking so I'm sure there has to be an easier way.  If anybody has any ideas on how it would be easies I would love to hear them.