Back to school Must Haves for Boys
Since I’m on a roll about all-things BTS lately, I decided to share a few of my back to school must haves. These are items I’ve found that work especially well and make my life easier…or just more attractive :).
Tag: boys
Back To School Wardrobe for Boys
Capsule Wardrobe for Boys Under $150
Every year I try my best to create an inexpensive capsule wardrobe for back to school on a budget – which for me is $150 or less. I’m sharing what I’ve pulled together for my big boy this year in the hopes that it will inspire you to shop some stylish looks for your little big(ish) guy, for less.
I Think You’re “Soda” Great Cola-themed Valentine’s Day Printable
If you need a fun classroom-themed Valentine for your child to give to their friends, this free printable is for you!
Are you a fan of the Soda Shoppe Valentine’s Day printables I shared earlier this week? I have one more soda-themed valentine for you. My son loved the idea of giving candy wax bottles to his buddies at school, but he was kind of hoping for a more cola inspired theme and wanted it to read “soda great” instead of “soda sweet.” You don’t want to send the wrong message in 2nd grade, apparently.
When you need to send some Valentine’s treats for your kid’s classroom party, how often do you turn to the usual boxed ones, and just add a small box of candy or a sweet lollipop? While this is fun and very acceptable for us busy moms, I have a fun printable for you that will help your child stand out in the crowd.
The best part is that you can use this with different kinds of “soda” candy, from candy bottle caps, wax bottles, or cola gummies and it’ll be great. Simply bag your candy, add the printable, and you are ready to go!
I love that this printable will work for any age. It’s great for a teacher gift, neighbor gift, or anyone else you want to share the day and love with. The best part is that it is FREE for my subscribers to download and use!
What kind of candy will you use with this Soda Great Valentine’s Day Printable?
If you like Valentine idea, you might also like these Soda Shoppe Valentine’s Day printables. You can download this, and all my free Valentine’s Day printables, by subscribing here!
Shop your Kids’ Closets for Halloween Costumes!
DIY HALLOWEEN Costumes FOR FREE
Looking for last-minute Halloween Costumes? Look no further than this inspiration for shopping your kids’ closets for these super cute looks!
Star Wars Jedi Luke Skywalker: All it takes is a Karate uniform top, a bathrobe or bed sheet (or you can buy a Jedi cape inexpensively here), some khakis and a pair of boots – and a blue light saber, of course. Here is how I envisioned the costume:
Shop your kids’ closets for Halloween – Star Wars Jedi Luke Skywalker| Five Marigolds
And here’s how it looked on Dub.
Sock Hop – I love this look for a brother and sister! The boy look is super easy, of course. For the girls, I paired a pink tutu pettiskirt with a cardigan, scarf and some black Mary Janes. Either cut out your own “poodle’ or grab a really inexpensive one online. Add some cute glasses for a final touch!
Here’s how it looked on my little one (Yeah…that was before her hair was done, but the only happy look I got. Toddlers!):
Baby Jazzerciser: This goes down as my favorite costume yet and it’s super easy. Just pair a baby onesie with a bright cut-up onesie, legings or tights, some baby legwarmers or Baby Legs (or cut up some old socks) and use a knit baby headband for, well, the headband. I actually cut the elastic tops off of some baby socks for the little baby wristbands! My mother sewed an adorable boom box to complete the look. You can get something similar here or here.
Here’s how my little one rocked it:
Baby Kitty Cat: This one can’t get any easier. Combine a black baby onesie with black leggings or tights, and maybe a cute matching fur vest or black tutu pettiskirt, and you’ve got yourself a kitty cat! Add the finishing touches of a black nose and whiskers using eyeliner, and don’t forget the kitty ears! You can currently buy kitty ears headbands at the Target Dollar Spot, online here, or you can make them on your own. Use a thin feather boa from the dress up pile, and cut it up to make “fur” wrist cuffs and use as the tail.
Pink Poodle: Similar to the black cat costume above, this costume starts with a pink leotard and tutu. I completed the look with a DIY Poodle Headband and faux fur cuffs.
Shop this look: Pink top or leotard, tights, tutu pettiskirt, ballet slippers
Looking for more last-minute Halloween Costume inspiration? Find more ideas for shopping your own closet here and here.
Free Back to School Printable: Minecraft Lunchbox Jokes
It’s almost time to send the kids back to school! And while that may be an exciting time for moms, kids sometimes need a reason to smile during the school day. Enter these sure to make ’em giggle lunch box jokes. If you have a Minecraft lover in your family, print this free Minecraft printable out today!
Why I Love These Lunch Box Jokes
Dub just loves clever jokes and puns. When I asked him what he most wanted me to pack in his lunch box for his first day of school, he told me he wanted a Minecraft joke. Your wish is my command, kid.
I love the idea that my guy is enjoying a laugh at lunchtime with the Minecraft characters. Maybe he even shares them with his friends and they talk about how hilarious they were. I don’t know, it could happen.
Lunchbox: Happy Jackson
Minecraft Printable Lunchbox Jokes for Kids
After searching Pinterest I found there aren’t many options out there for Minecraft lunchbox printables, so I created one on my own. And today I’m sharing it with my wonderful subscribers!
Here’s a few of the “punny” jokes included:
Q: How does Steve chop down trees with his fists?
A: How wood I know?
Q: Have you heard of the creeper who went to a party?
A: He had a blast!
- What is a cobblestone’s favorite music?
- Rock music!
Okay, okay. Even if you don’t get these hilarious jokes (humble brag), your little Minecraft lovers will. Let’s be real, anything we can do to make their day go a little better is worth its weight in gold. Or is it goldfish? You get me.
How to Make Minecraft Lunchbox Jokes
To use these kids’ lunch box jokes, just click the link below and save the file to your computer. Then print the cards out and trim them.
If you want your printable lunchbox jokes to be a bit more sturdy, and be an excellent weight for a mini airplane for the playground, use cardstock to print them out.
Add one of the jokes to your kid’s lunch and voila! Mom of the Year!
They also make great notes for afterschool snack time, to tape over the bathroom sink, or for a long car ride. Jokes are always appreciated.
Click the above image or use this link to grab your copy of the Minecraft lunchbox jokes freebie.
Want to see more printable resources like these? Let me know in the comments below!
Minecraft Printables and inspiration:
Like these printables? Be sure to check out my other free downloads and inspo:
DIY Minecraft Lego Steve Favors
Be Minecraft Printable
DIY Minecraft Birthday Party
Rustic Industrial Boy’s Room on a Budget
Make a Statement with Inexpensive Palette Art & Shop Lights
This week we finally finished my vision for lights and feature art above Dub’s bed.
Back to School Wardrobe for Boys – On a Budget
For many, it feels like school just got out for the summer. But in our neck of the woods, summer is already more than half over! Every year I scour summer sales to help build our back to school wardrobe on a budget. I try to find a variety of mix and match pieces to maximize our budget in style. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:
Shopping information:
1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12
What do you think? Do you shop sales early for back to school season, or do you wait for the fall sales?
Thanks for stopping by!
* In addition to being featured in the fabulous blogs buttoned up in the right sidebar, this post was also linked up at The Scoop and The Turquoise Home.
*This post contains some affiliate links. Please see my affiliate disclosure in the sidebar.
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. 
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!
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.
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.
*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 Tinsel Tassel Bunting Tutorial
DIY Minecraft Lego Steve Favors
Star Wars Birthday Party, Part I
When Dub predictably requested a Star Wars theme for his 6th birthday, I’ll admit I was a little excited. I’d already been brimming with fun ideas for his party, but when he insisted on his first “friends” party, I was stumped. Our home just isn’t big enough for entertaining larger crowds, and I didn’t really want to do a Chuck E Cheese type of party. So, we decided to hold it at his dad’s industrial garage. I’ll share the details of this party in a series of posts. This post will focus on the Boba Fett Buffet. First, I started with the settings. I bought inexpensive tablecloths from the Dollar Store and I bought a starry sky backdrop that I used behind the buffet and for a photo booth.
I downloaded a light saber paper craft from starwars.com (the handle for Yoda’s light saber) and used it to roll up the plastic tableware in red and blue napkins. I got the kids involved here, assembling the proper tableware and rolling it up, and I finished it off with the handle.
Next, I designed some creative table tents in PhotoShop to label the food: Yoda Soda, Death Star Salad, Hunger Destroyer, Vader Veggies, DroidDrink, and more. For the Droid Drink, I bought the mini water bottles from Costco. I used this free download to wrap each bottle with an R2D2 label.
Since my husband’s business is a limousine company, we decided to leave in their limo party bus and play Star Wars on the sound system. On the outside, we set up a little table with popcorn in festive containers to create a movie theater experience, which the kids loved. The bus has a music synchronized laser show that really added a little something to the Star Wars experience.
While I admit, leaving the bus in the garage was mostly practical and was helpful for setting the theme, I didn’t have high hopes that among all the activities that 15 6 year old boys would sit down and watch a movie. I was so wrong! They loved this feature and spent a surprising amount of time watching the movie. Finally, the creme de la creme: the R2D2 cake. A very talented friend (who just opened her own restaurant!) made this for us, and it was as delicious as it was spectacular to look at. The kids waited for me to cut it up, as they all had very specific parts of R2D2 that they wanted to eat.
That concludes the food portion of our Star Wars birthday party. Stay tuned for more on our photo booth and Jedi Training activitites! Looking for more Star Wars birthday party ideas? Find my Pinterest inspiration board here.
See Also:
Star Wars Birthday Party, Part II Favor Bags
Star Wars Part III: Custom Invitations and Thank You Postcards
Back to school for boys – on a budget
UPDATE: Find my updated Back to school wardrobe for boys here and here. Since this is an older post and continues to get a lot of Pinterest traffic, I do my best to link to similar items from this set, below. Thanks for stopping by!
Little Dub is going to be in kindergarten this year. He’ll be going full days, every day. I have to admit I’m a little nervous for him – it will be a huge change, but one that I think will be good for him. He will be wearing a uniform this year which is pretty uninspiring fashion-wise, but I was pretty happy when I scored his full wardrobe during the Old Navy uniform sale for only around $110!
Even though Dub will be in uniform, I had fun laying out a back to school wardrobe for boys. My goal was to put together a minimum of 10 outfits for $150. I failed – mostly because the pants alone accounted for around $60 of the budget. However, if you chose a less expensive brand for the pants and denim this set would be much closer to $150.
Where are you finding the best wardrobe staples for boys this fall?
Puppy Dog First Birthday Party
For Dub’s first birthday, I knew I wanted to do a puppy dog theme. Now, I just love a good themed birthday, but really we don’t go overboard for parties. This was especially true for his first – we just invited a few family members and held at his grandma and grandpa’s home, near where most of our family lives.
We made puppycakes using this tutorial from Family Fun magazine. My photography at that time leaves very little to be desired, but you get the idea.
And, of course, gave puppy chow as party favors with hangtags that read, “It’s been dog-gone fun!”
