How to Host the Ultimate Thanksgathering

This shop, How to Host the Ultimate Thanksgathering,  has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #Prep4Gathering #CollectiveBias

Be the Hostess with the Mostess this Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is just days away, and with it comes the anticipation and joy of the holiday season, and the task of hosting the family gathering.

I think a lot of families, mine included, are a lot like fudge – sweet, with a lot of nuts! It certainly makes for some interesting holidays, but that’s no reason to stress about your upcoming hostess gig.

Prep like a pro with these simple, yet impactful tips for being the hostess with the mostess at your upcoming Thanksgathering celebration.How to host the ultimate Thanksgiving with free printable favor tags | Five Marigolds

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Peppa Pig Picnic Birthday Party

Peppa Pig Birthday Party Ideas

Plan the ultimate Peppa Pig picnic party with these Peppa Pig birthday party ideas.

When planning my youngest’s 3rd birthday, it was a no-brainer to choose a Peppa Pig theme. She loves the show and her favorite outfit has Peppa on it.

After researching lots of Peppa Pig birthday party ideas, I came up with a picnic theme. Since her birthday is in March, we brought the outdoors indoors for the celebration!

When guests entered our home for the party, they were invited to try on a pair of rain boots for size to jump in muddy puddles.

I used inexpensive craft paper for the puddles and wrote, “We LOVE jumping in muddy puddles! Try on a pair for size and play with me!”DIY Peppa Pig Birthday Party | Five Marigolds

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Make Your Own Custom Cookie Cutter for less than $1

Today I’m sharing how I made my own DIY custom cookie cutter, for my daughter’s Peppa Pig birthday party, for less than $1.

I’m planning a Peppa Pig birthday party for my youngest, and knew she would get a kick out of themed cookies. There are some great Peppa cookie cutters online, but I didn’t want to pay for a cookie cutter I planned to use just one time. Instead, I decided to make my own DIY custom cookie cutter.DIY Peppa Pig Custom Cookie Cutter Tutoral $1 | Five Marigolds

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Sip-ly Sweet Lemonade – Themed Valentine’s Day Printables

Pink Lemonade Valentines

Today’s sweet Valentine’s Day printable is brought to you by my daughter’s upcoming birthday party.

You see, in brainstorming her pink lemonade party favors, I couldn’t help but think they would also make great valentines. Since I’m all about pulling double duty on party planning, I’m offering these Pink Lemonade Valentines as a printable for you today!

I think you’re sip – ly sweet, valentine!Simply Sweet Pink Lemonade Valentines Printable | www.fivemarigolds.com

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Minecraft Birthday Party

This year, Dub wanted his party to be all about Minecraft. I didn’t want our home to look like it threw up Minecraft-licensed decor, so I went with something that we all could get excited about. We weren’t having a big celebration at home either, so I wanted to keep this simple and fairly inexpensive. Minecraft Birthday Party | Five Marigolds

First: the centerpiece du jour: his Minecraft cake. Kind of a boring concept, but this is a representation of THE pixelated cake featured on the video game. I was more than happy to outsource this portion of the party and Dub was in love with how it turned out. It was exactly what he wanted!

Minecraft Birthday Party Cake | Five Marigolds

Next, I created the theme using a brown dollar store tablecloth and some tissue paper “grass.” Super inexpensive for one package to cover this table, and the kids were fascinated by this!

I created a simple and inexpensive tissue paper bunting that added some visual interest in the party theme color (tutorial here).

Finally, I like to decorate with party favors, because it’s the decoration that cleans itself up as the guests leave.

I bought some green lunch bag sized paper bags and cut felt into the shape of a Creeper face. Really, this would have been so much easier with black construction paper and my Silhouette SD, but black felt was what I had on hand so that’s what I used.

Minecraft Birthday Party Favors | Five Marigolds

I filled the bag with goodies like gold and silver ore, Mike & Ikes, a growing green bug, and I repurposed my Minecraft Valentine printable to wrap boxes of Nerds candy.

The highlight of the goodie bags was a Lego Steve creation I made with the help of Pinterest and the Lego Pick-A-Brick tool.

Minecraft Birthday Party Favors. | Five Marigolds

*This post contains affiliate links. Please read the full disclaimer on the right sidebar. Thank you for your support!

Find my other Minecraft Birthday Party posts here:

Minecraft Birthday Party Tinsel Tassel Banner Tutorial | Five Marigolds

Minecraft Tinsel Tassel Bunting Tutorial

Minecraft Lego Steve Favors | Five Marigolds

DIY Minecraft Lego Steve Favors

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easy, Inexpensive Favor Bags

Paper Bag Party Favors | Five MarigoldsDress up a common paper lunch bag to be something extra special!  EClaire needed to take favor bags to school for her half birthday (summer birthday problems!). I had a few awkwardly shaped items so I needed a decent-sized bag, but I didn’t want to spend much.

As usual, I headed to the Dollar Tree fro some paper lunch bags and doilies. Then, I secured them with these tiny craft clothespins that you can get at Hobby Lobby or here on Amazon. I love how these turned out, and you can make 40 for just $6. Next time, I love the idea of trying these for birthday party favors with colorful doilies and clothespins.

These would be great for Valentines, Birthday parties or even for quick and easy gift wrap for small gifts.

Paper Bag Party Favors | Five Marigolds  Paper Bag Party Favors | Five Marigolds Paper Bag Party Favors | Five Marigolds


Star Wars Birthday Party, Part II Party Favors

Growing up, we didn’t really “do” favor bags. I suppose that’s why I’m really into them when planning parties for my kids. Presents for everyone, just for attending?! I wish grown-up parties would adopt this practice!

I wanted to do something fun for these Star Wars birthday favors, with at least a few items that would get used beyond the ride home from the party. But, of course, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money.

I created these goodie bags for around $3 each, total.Free Printable Star Wars Birthday Party Storm Trooper Favor Bags | www.fivemarigolds.com

Free Printable Star Wars Birthday Party Storm Trooper Favor Bags | www.fivemarigolds.com

To create the actual bag, I used inexpensive white paper bags from the grocery store. I searched for the keywords “storm trooper silhouette” and found an image I like. I downloaded this free Star Jedi font and added the words “You’re a trooper” to the 5.5″x10.5″ template I created in PhotoShop. Read to the end of this post for the free printable!

I printed the image directly on the bags. To do this, you need to go into your printer settings and create a custom paper size and paper texture. I used a small piece of painter tape to secure the base flap to the bag so it wouldn’t jam in the printer.  It took some trial and error before I felt like they were printing a clean image, without a lot of extra printer ink. I was going for inexpensive though, so despite a few rough printouts, these captured the look I was going for.

Here are the bag contents:

Star Wars Lego Birthday Favors | www.fivemarigolds.com

Knowing all the boys are really into Legos at this age, I really wanted to include some. I explored a lot of avenues, but almost everything was going to be a budget buster. I’ve heard of some creative moms creating their own little sets using the Pick a Brick section at the Lego store, but at $14.99/bucket, it was going to be a little more than I wanted to pay, and I wasn’t even sure if I could really build a believable spaceship.

I found my solution on ebay and Amazon: there are tons of people looking to unload Star Wars Advent Calendar kits or individual toys. I was able to score a lot of 11 for $1/each including shipping. Even better, each little kit came with building instructions – far better than what I would have been able to do myself using Pick a Brick. For those of you who have messaged me about being unable to find these deals on ebay, you can still find them here for less than $2 per favor!

I created my own hangtag using the same Star Wars font with a message from Yoda, “Do or do not, there is no try” along with a thank you message.

Star Wars Lego Advent Calencar Birthday Party Favors with Printable Tags| www.fivemarigolds.com

In addition to the goodie bags, we had a Jedi Training academy. We gave each little guest a Jedi vest made with an unused bed sheet we didn’t need and clothesline rope.

Star Wars Birthday Party Jedi Costumes | www.fivemarigolds.com

We also created the pool noodle lightsabers that are all the rage on Pinterest. We cut pool noodles in half using a serrated bread knife and decorated the ends with black and silver duct tape. Each little guest was given one to defeat some balloon storm troopers and then take home.These were the biggest hit of the party (literally, there was one bloody nose incident!).

Star Wars Birthday Party Jedi Training Course with Balloons and Pool Noodles | www.fivemarigolds.com

No party is complete without a little craft, so we also had a Build A Droid work station that they seemed to enjoy. But not quite as much as the pool noodle light sabers, of course.

Star Wars Build a Droid R2D2 Craft | Five Marigolds

Build a Droid Star Wars Craft

I had a lot of fun creating a fun party all the kids would enjoy. Planning a Star Wars party for someone special? I’m sharing the free printable Storm Trooper Favor Bag Design to my subscribers!

Free Printable Star Wars Storm Trooper Favor Bags | Five Marigolds

 

Star Wars Lego Birthday Party Favor Bags | www.fivemarigolds.com

UPDATE: Due to so many requests, I’m making the Storm Trooper Party Favor Bags available as a free printable: Download Storm Trooper Favor Bags Template

Are you planning to use them for your upcoming party? Please take a moment to tell me about it, below!

See also:

R2D2 Star Wars Cake | Five Marigolds

Star Wars Birthday Party, Part I

Star Wars Darth Vader Invitation | Five Marigolds

Star Wars Part III: Custom Invitations and Thank You Postcards

Super creative ideas for Star Wars Birthday favors with Legos