Kids Party Idea - Building Kits

Last weekend I was walking around Lowe's and I noticed a sign that said Kid's workshop - build a bird feeder. I've seen the sign before but my daughter was always too young so I have sort of blocked it out for years. Well my daughter is seven now and that sign screamed our name..so we went for it. We packed up last weekend and went to Lowe's to build a bird feeder. It was a great time. It took about 30 minutes to complete and she was given a little patch that said bird feeder to put on an apron. Apparently they give a patch for every project (such a cool idea). We have already signed up for the next 2 projects online. I highly recommend this fun free activity. Although I can tell you the thought of my daughter hitting her finger with the little hammers they provided did cross my mind...but she did it all herself and didn't get hurt or anything. I guess I must admit that she is growing up :). While we were there a group of scouts came in. What a great activity for them to do together...did I mention it's free...How cool is that! Here is the link where you can sign up for the Lowe's build and grow clinics yourself: http://lowesbuildandgrow.com/ . Next week we are building a school house and the week after we are building a garden trellis. They also have a few kits you can buy online and here is the link to that: http://www.lowes.com/pl_Kid%27s+Building+Kits_4294825296_4294937087_ So which brings me to my point on how this could be a kids party idea. I went to the home depot website and searched for kids workshops and it brought up a link that has bulk kits that you can buy (12 sets in each kit and a little home depot apron for each child). How fun would it be to have these kits at a construction party as an activity or even a garden party (for a bird house). The price is $95.00 for 12 kits which did I mention contains the cutest litttle orange home depot aprons. The price seems a little steep until you figure out these are the favors for your party too. So you would get a great activity and a favor all in one that isn't junk(I just hate giving junky favors that will end up in the trash). I think it's fabulous! To find the kits just go to http://www.homedepot.com/ and search for kids workshops. They are having one this weekend. I'm not sure if we will have time for both but it looks like a great project. Even if you don't do this for a party I hope you will get to go to a workshop and have a great time! Happy building and partying! Please let me know if you know of any other places that offer free workshops and things like this for kids - we've got the bug now.

Christmas Party Favors or Gift Tags

.............................

I love felt. It's cheap and you can make so many things out of it. In these examples I used felt to create a penguin and snowman ornament. The could be used as favors at a christmas party or as gift tie ons. Wouldn't it be cute to have a penguin themed party in december and use these little guys to dress up the food table, favors, christmas tree? I think so. Use your imagination and come up with some felt designs for your next party. These cost about $3.00 for about 25 of them. You can't beat that for favors for 25 people.

Party - Favor Ideas

Here are some ideas for some fun favors. The first is a tissue cozy for your purse. I found a tutorial for this particular version on www.craftster.org but you can do a search for tissue cozy tutorial and several versions can be found. These take very little fabric and can be sewn in approx 10 minutes. I gave these as gifts at Christmas for people that I wanted to pick up a little something for. I have one in my purse now and it comes in handy. The second pic is a crayon roll. I think this would be great for a birthday party favor. These take a little longer to make but are very useful. I love useful favors :). I found this tutorial on www.skiptomylou.org . I made 24 of these for my daughters class for Christmas. If you have an assembly line it takes about 15 to 20 minutes each to make these. These are great on road trips also because the crayons don't keep falling in the floor. The last pic would be a great favor for a teenage birthday party. It's colorful and who doesn't like gum? I love to take candy and decorate it for favors. If you were having a bird theme, a candy theme, even a luau this would ge cute. What ideas do you have for favors?

Nacho Trays

Did you know how useful Nacho trays are when you are planning parties? They are really cheap at the warehouse clubs. I have used them for a halloween party for Nachos and cheese but I have also used them for 2 kindergarten class parties this year to help divide up food items for the children. For Christmas we decorated sugar cookies with the works. We had icing, sprinkles, m&m's, etc. I used the nacho trays to easily divide up the sprinkles. I also found some great liners in the candy section at Michael's to further divide the sprinkles and pre measure the icing so everyone would receive the same amount. Since the party is only 45 minutes at our school it is essential to have everything organized so we can get the party started. These containers help us out!!!

For the Valentine's Party we used the nacho containers to hold the fruit and fruit dip for our fruit pizzza ingredients. This was a little healthier alternative(ok..lol, not much healthier but still :) ) to the all sugar cookie and icing at Christmas. We had strawberries, blueberries, grapes, and bananas(cut these while the kids are decorating their pizzas or they will go brown and not look pretty).

So run to the store and buy you some nacho containers for your next party. I still have my first pack and have used them for 3 parties and they were only $5 bucks. That's a deal!

Party Favors - Baked goods - Unique

I love to plan and attend parties. Among my favorite type of favors is something unique and tasty. When I plan parties I try to come up with ideas that won't break the bank, are unique, and are useful or tasty. At this particular party it was for a young couple and the only thing they gave me was their wedding would be in purple. I saw a version of this idea a long time ago and have been wanting to try it a long time so I went for it. Another thing was it had to be pretty cheap to make because my dh throws a fit if I spend too much on these types of things :) So I went to Big Lots to look for my supplies...yes I said Big Lots. They have great stuff at cheap prices. I found the blank white cd cases 100 in a pack for $4.00. Wow! What a bargain. I figured I would need approx 60 favors for this event...so it's perfect I now have plenty of cases for my cd's as well. I bought two spools of purple ribbon for $.50 each and thank you charms for $4.00 at Michael's(in the bridal aisle). I asked the couple for a picture, printed it out on my computer and used my punches. I did back the cases with scrapbook paper that I had on hand. You could also use wrapping paper. I also used labels that I bought at Walmart for $3.00 and used my printer to print a thank you sentiment. You could handwrite the sentiment on the cd case but my handwriting stinks to say the least :). I bought the cookies to fill the cases at Krogers for $8.00. So there you have it 60 personalized favors for approximately $20.00 and very little effort.