This shop, Jungle Scavenger Hunt has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #WelcomeToFamilyNight #Jumanji #CollectiveBias
Nearly every weekend, our family has a tradition of having a family movie night. This special tradition was created sort of accidentally, and became a cherished night for our family.
Truth be told, it originated on Sundays when we needed to find an excuse for the kids to wind down so they would be ready for their early “school night” bedtimes.
Popping popcorn and snuggling together under a pile of blankets while watching a family-friendly movie was all the motivation the kids needed.
Letters for Kids to Write Summer Camp, pen pals (Free printable)
I don’t know how your summer is going, but ours has been crazy-fun, but largely unproductive. We’re not getting super far on our summer bucket list, but we ARE enjoying all the fun days of playing in the sun, VBS, swimming, boating, and visiting a ton of parks.
It all started when my son – my oldest and least crafty of the crew – announced he wanted to DIY his valentines this year. This boy not only NEVER requests to craft, but he also wanted to re-use the Minecraft valentines I’d created for him last year. This, even after I offered to buy the store bought kind. Be still my crafty heart! This called for a celebration!
I decided that over the weekend I’d surprise all the kiddos with a sweet valentine breakfast and then have a crafting workshop. Okay, I have a way of getting a little carried away…but food is my son’s love language and I wanted to have a little fun with this rare opportunity.
It’s official – only 10 days remain until Christmas! Next week children will be knee deep in the magic of Santa, generous grandparents and loved ones. So buckle up, parents: it’s time to talk etiquette.
DIY Gifting wine for the holidays? You’ll love these DIY ideas for stepping up your gift wrap game. A big thanks to GiftsForYouNow for sponsoring this post.
Wine. There’s a reason it’s a universal holiday gift. It can be inexpensive or pricey; red, white or sparkling. It works as a casual hostess gift, a super last-minute gift, or a more lavish gift for your bestie.
No matter who you’re giving to or what kind of wine, don’t skimp on presentation! Check out these DIY ideas for gift wrapping wine for the holidays.
Go Glam – This is my new favorite way to gift wine. Using a scrap of craft fur and an old brooch, I created a little shrug for my “chilled” bottle of wine. I’m always finding inexpensive brooches like this at the thrift store, and they are perfect for putting the finishing touches on any gift wrap. Continue reading →
Earlier this week, I shared some of my favorite Advent Calendars from across the interwebs. Today, I’m going to share a meaningful activity that will inspire the whole family to focus on the spirit of the season.
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.
My free lunchbox printables are always super popular this time of year – the one time we moms *actually* feel organized enough to do things like print cutesy lunchbox notes! In the spirit of mom unity, I’ve added another lunchbox jokes printable to my offering so we can all score an A+ in “Pinterest Mom: 101.”
Thanks to my girlfriends who tirelessly pumped their kids for their best jokes to help create this fun collection. Happy back to school season, fellow moms! We can do this!
Download your free Lunchbox Jokes printable here. (Psst..Don’t forget to share this free resource on your favorite social channel to help me continue to offer these fun freebies!)
Any serious blogger hoping to work with brands and advertisers needs a solid media kit. But if you’re fairly new to this game, you might be wondering where to start? Never fear! Today, I’m providing a free media kit template for bloggers.
I recently just made my first media kit. After a few years of casually blogging, I decided it was time to get serious – and no better way than making a media kit for working with others! I customized mine in design, color and content to match the branding on my blog.
It’s that time again! Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and today I’m sharing some of my favorite ideas with a Valentine’s Day printables round-up round-up .
I can’t help it – I’m a sucker for retro inspired candies. When I stumbled across candy wax bottles the other day, I had a retro Soda Shoppe Valentine’s Day idea I couldn’t get out of my head.
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!
Need s’more (sorry) Valentine’s Day ideas? Just grab a box of graham crackers, a bag of mini Hershey’s chocolate bars and some heart-shaped Peeps or marshmallows, print out one of the free printables below, and you’re in business!
Merry Christmas! Hopefully yours was spent with loved ones creating new happy memories. If your kids were fortunate to receive gifts this season, it’s time to start those thank you notes. I love using templates to keep it a bit more manageable for the kids, especially with Eve just learning to write this year.
Here are the thank you notes I whipped up to use this year, and I’m offering them here as a free printable. Enjoy!
Family is important to us and we live a little too far from the kids’ grandparents for our taste. Now that both Dub and Eve are writing I want to encourage them to work on their letter writing and communication skills via snail mail. To help them (and your little writers), we use letter writing templates for kids.
Letter Writing Templates
I’ve searched high and low for letter writing templates that will work for young writers and have struggled to find a template with prompts that are appropriate for casual letter writing.
Many are specific to summer break (we lovethis one, especially for non-writers), summer camps and travel which is great but doesn’t work year round.
So, I created these letter templates that I’m really happy with.
The friendly letter template includes writing prompts that cover the things we talk about at home at the end of each day: what they’re learning at school, their feelings at the moment, and the best and worst part of their days.
I also added a “weather today” section, just for fun, and an area for them to just draw, which is their favorite part.
With different writing prompts the kids don’t feel like they are writing the same letter again and again.
You can find our letter writing templates for kids below.
More Letter Writing Ideas
Grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins are the obvious first choices when thinking about who your kids should write letters to but don’t forget about friends that live close by.
Start a neighborhood pen pal program when your kids are preschoolers. It was so great for them to have friends their own age in the neighborhood that they could easily walk to visit. When they get older, they can write letters about shared interests, weekend plans and stories about school.
Another idea is for the kids to list things they want to do with their grandparents when they visit. This way, they can start thinking about and looking forward to their next visit!
If your kids are hesitant about letter writing, have them start with a postcard. They can be found almost anywhere (we even have some from our travels that the kids love to send) and are less intimidating than a full sheet of paper.
Another great way to ease into letter writing is with a fill in the blank letter. These are great for younger kids or those just getting started.
You can also hype up the writing process with cute kids writing paper, special stamps and some washi tape.
And don’t forget that you can always encourage your kids to write letters by writing a few yourself!
I hope these templates help your young writers and that you enjoy getting letters in the mail as much as we do!
Do you have friends and family members who live far away? Are your kids starting to interact with pen pals, or heading off to summer camp? This template is for you! I’m sharing themhere for my subscribers. Enjoy!
I’ve always loved this book by Bernadette Rossetti-Shustak, and all of my kids have, too.
It’s hard to believe this little ‘ol blog is more than two years old now. I created it shortly after my third baby was born as a creative outlet for my craftiness. Today, my baby is a toddler and will be transitioning into her “big girl” room soon!
Recently, I converted the design I created for Baby ‘Belle’s baby announcement to create this printable artwork for her current nursery / soon-to-be big girl room.
When I see this hanging in her room, it reminds me of the baby she was, and of course these sweet words I want her to remember always.
In celebration of the two year anniversary of my blog, I’m making this art available by free download to my readers! If you take the time to print this for your sweet little girl’s room, please take a moment to tell me about it below. Even better – share your snap with me! I love to see my artwork in your homes!
Free Trick-or-Treat sign for Beggar’s Night: Take one and run!
Every year for Halloween (also known by some as Beggar’s Night) I’m faced with the dilemma of leaving the house to trick-or-treat with the kids, and being unable to hand out candy to our fellow trick-or-treaters. I can’t be the only one with this issue right?
We’re gearing up for Back to School around here, which is why I was thrilled when BzzAgent recently sent me two free boxes of their new Chewy Girl Scouts Thin Mint granola bars. Talk about a beautiful marriage of foods! Each year we buy Thin Mints in bulk and hoard them until the next cookie selling season, so I’m thrilled to start seeing Thin Mint flavored goodies popping up in the grocery store year-round.
BzzAgent is an organization that works with brands and provides its ambassadors with samples and coupons in exchange for trying products, sharing their honest opinion, and spreading the word. In this case, the task is easy, because these granola bars are super yummy and kid-approved. When Dub took his first bite he proclaimed it “Ahh–mazing” and asked if he could have it as his lunchbox treat at school. No problem!
I love to slip little notes and jokes into his lunchbox daily to let him know I’m thinking of him, so I made a few super simple granola bar wraps to add a special touch to his treat. Of course, I couldn’t leave Evelyn out so I made a couple of girly-girl wraps as well.
Want to try these granola bars for yourself? They can find at your local grocery store. Want the wrappers for your kid’s lunchbox? Click here to download your free granola bar wrap printable!
This year, Dub wanted his birthday to be all about Minecraft. He’s also really into Legos, so a Lego Steve seemed like an appropriate favor for the goodie bags.
I did a lot of research trying to find an easy way to to this. To be honest, I was hoping there would be a sale of Minecraft Lego lots on ebay that would allow me to phone this one in, but it was not to be.
So, I ended up making Steve myself using the Lego Pick-A-Brick feature.
While you can do this in-store if you have a Lego retail location near you, they have a varying selection, so I saved myself the trip and did my shopping online. This is where I insert my Lego PSA – I found out after I placed my order that Pick-A-Brick orders can take up to 18 business days! That’s almost a month! So, this favor only really works if you are planning out by at least a month to ensure your Bricks get to you in time.
Here’s what I ordered to make 15 favors:
Item#, color – quantity
300423, blue – x30
4113915, yellow – x15
4155708, yellow – x15
4163696, light blue – x15
4179833, light blue – x15
4211210, brown – x15
4243821, green – x15
4271949, brown – x15
4579260, yellow – x15
For the pick axe, I had to go to ebay where I got a great deal paying $1.47 total for 15 axes. That brought the total to $26.21 for 15 favors, or $1.74, each. (I didn’t see any swords or pick axes in the Pick-A-Brick section when I was ordering. They do have a “mini Fireman’s axe” or a “warrior weapon,” though.)
Then, I went to work making a face for Steve in PhotoShop. I measured it to the size of the 2×2 Lego and then I printed it on Avery label paper. Removing the paper backing first, I cut down each face sticker to the exact size and then replaced it on a small square of the paper backing to place in the favor bag.
I took a photo of the complete Steve to include with all the kits.
I placed the Legos in a small jewelry ziplock bag. Then, I made a simple tag that I stapled to the top of the sealed bag as a finishing touch.
This was a huge hit among the 6 and 7 year old crowd!
Thinking of making a Lego Steve for your Minecrafter’s party? You can get a head start by downloading Steve’s face here (compatible with Avery 5260* labels), the finished Steve image inserts here, and the favor tags here. Enjoy!
MORE FREE MINECRAFT PRINTABLES: Like these printables? Be sure to check out my other free Minecraft Printables here and here.
Find my other Minecraft Birthday Party posts here:
