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Showing posts with label on a Budget. Show all posts
Showing posts with label on a Budget. Show all posts

Guest {Cousin} Krista: Dinosaur Party

>> Monday, March 7, 2011


 Happy Birthday Boy with his crown


As soon as I saw Paper & Cake's dinosaur party, I knew I had to have it for my son's 5th birthday party. I love the colors, and the dinosaurs are perfect!


The Invitation:



Here's the invitation (totally customizable so you don't even have to write in the information...just type it in once and you're set!) I found these envelopes with a set of stationary at - $10 for 100 flat cards and envelopes in assorted colors. I figured I would use the fun envelopes in the future, and I like to have flat cards around to use for other crafts, so I'm sure it will come in handy.


The Decorations:




Customizable banner

I added streamers for a little something extra (about $1 per roll at Party City). Then we added balloons in two shades of green.



Door Sign


The Activities:



As the kids were arriving, I put out paper lunch bags and a bucket each of markers and dinosaur foam stickers. Each child decorated their treat bag with their name and some dinos. I then stuffed these with a sheet of dinosaur stickers, a few dinosaur tattoos, and some fruit snacks. (I added a couple of plastic dinosaurs after we did our fossil activity as well.)

After they decorated their bags, I took photos in our little dinosaur photo booth! We had dinosaurs on sticks, hats, magnifying glasses, and mustaches. I also borrowed a large dinosaur toy from a friend and hung up a sandy colored backdrop.






Then the kids all sat at the table and we made fossils! A good friend of mine who teaches kindergarten gave me the idea and it was a huge hit!!

Materials: crayola model magic clay, a pail of plastic dinosaurs, a pail of rocks, some plastic shells/shell-shaped beads, a square of cardboard for each child, and some watered-down brown tempera paint and a brush.



Each child got a ball of clay that they flattened onto their cardboard. Then they press dinosaurs, shells, rocks, etc into the clay leaving an imprint. once they finish then they painted it with the brown wash to make it stand out a little bit. The kids loved it, and my mother-in-law (a former art teacher) did a great job telling them what fossils are and helping the kids while I made lunch.





The Food:
For lunch, I served dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets (from costco), apple slices for herbivores, and dinosaur bones (pretzels). I loved using the treat bag toppers as food labels! (I used them on the bags too, but forgot to take a picture, of course!)






The kids loved that their juice boxes had dinosaurs on them!




After lunch, we did a T. Rex excavation using plastic sand molds.  I had originally planned to have the party outside, but rain prevented that. I traced the molds onto a piece of poster board, and  ended up hiding the bones in my living room before the kids got there. I showed them the picture, told them that they were paleontologists looking for dinosaur bones, and they went hunting. They placed the bones on the board once they found them. They loved it!


The Game:



Finally, we played pin-the-horn on the triceratops. You can buy this game, but since my mother-in-law is so talented I asked her if she could paint a triceratops. I was in awe of what she created! I traced the horn onto some white cardstock for the kids' to play. They were so funny. And I'm hanging that triceratops in my son's room now!


The Wrap up:



Finally, it was cupcake time! Looks like they had fun!




There are so many game/activity options for a dinosaur-themed party for almost any age - I liked this one and this one. Have fun partying!


Discover more about Krista, at Krista Lucas Photography

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Guest {Star} Courtney: DIY Garland Wreath

>> Tuesday, November 23, 2010



These DIY wreaths are perfect for a party because they're fairly inexpensive, and it's easy to find garlands in fun colors like pink and teal! Get creative with different ornaments and ribbons. Hang three wreaths above a party table or make small wreaths for your neighbors. They take 5 minutes to make and can last for years!


What you'll need:
  • Styrofoam wreath
  • hot glue gun
  • garland
  • ribbon or ornament




What to do:
1. Glue one end of the garland to the inside of the Sytrofoam wreath.





2. Wrap the wreath with the garland all the way around until it is completely covered.




3. Using glue, secure the end of the garland.




4. Adorn the wreath with a favorite ornament or large ribbon.




5. Hang with extra ribbon!




Discover more about Courtney Dial at Pizzazzerie.

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Before & After: Photo Booth

>> Wednesday, November 17, 2010



Okay, I will TRY as hard as I can to give you all the condensed version of the story. This is Jack, two years ago when he was 3. The preschool he attended had a parent ed component that required all of us mommies to go to a parenting lecture once a week. (Really. And I did for 6 years. I would like a gold star please.) ahem. Anyway, one of the semester projects was to build a toy for our child - something age appropriate that reflected what our child was interested in.

Well, my little guy was into performing. Performing with his little wooden banjo - and singing at the top of his lungs! Adorable right?

Fast forward a couple of years....

At the School Carnival parent volunteer sign ups... "Who would like to be in charge of the photo booth?"  "Um, me? I guess? Since no one else is raising their hand?"

Why do I always do that?!?! How am I going to pull this off?!?!?! and then, it hits me... the Stage. YES! All it needed was some updated fabric, balloons, cute signage and printable photo props.








To set the "stage" for your School Carnival, check out our Customizable Printable Photo Booth accessories. Just print, cut and say CHEESE!

Included in this collection are:
Printable Photo Props
(Mustaches, Lips, Alien Eyeballs, Superhero Masks, Comic Book Expressions, Pirate Eyepatches, Princess Crowns and Sunglasses)
• Pennant Banner (editable - type in your own info)
• Signage  (editable - type in your own info)




Need to make a booth too? you will need...
  • 3 3/4" PVC pipes
  • 4 3/4" three way PVC connectors
  • PVC pipe cutter or hacksaw
  • 8 3" PVC couplings (for the footing)
  • just about 5 yards of fabric (that is if you want to make a little table cloth for the prop table)
  • pre-cut 1/2 sheet of 3/4" laminated mdffor the base
  • strong glue (construction adhesive)
  • 1 inch Drill bit

Drill 1 inch wide holes near the four corners of the wood base (not to the very corner!). Glue 4 of your couplings on the bottom of the base directly over the drilled holes. Adhere the other 4 couplings on the bottom of the base to the center front, center back and on either side of the center (space them out to carry the load). Cut 2 of the four PVC pipes in half, stick them into the drilled holes. Attach your 4 three way connectors to the standing pipes. Measure the length across each of the three spans and cut the remaining pipe to fit.

Make curtains for each of the three sides to be enclosed. Sew, glue or staple to finish them.

Tie balloons to the top corners of the booth. Print out props, banners and signage to complete your photo booth! 

diagram of the structure - note the pvc pipe uprights touch the ground through the center of the 3" coupling




left: 3/4 schedule 40 PVC with 3 way connector  right: 3" coupling glued to bottom of base


A Success! Over 130 people at our tiny school had their photo taken!








a line was forming before the Photo Booth was even ready!

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Guest {Cousin} Krista: Birthday in the Park

>> Tuesday, November 16, 2010

For my son's second birthday we decided to hold his party at a local park - there are two play structures (one geared toward smaller kids and one for the bigger ones), lots of grass to run in, and a nice covered area with picnic tables. I also love that a park party is easy to clean up, and can be held rather inexpensively!



 

Toys we brought: buckets/shovels/trucks to play with in the sand and some soccer balls and frisbees.

Food: pizza, goldfish crackers, chips/salsa, soda, juice and cupcakes






Activities: the park! I also bought some beads on clearance at Michael's (50 cents for a package, and I bought 8 packages) and found some ribbon in the dollar section at Target for the kids to make necklaces if they wanted to.

Favors: I found these cute little pails in Target's dollar section on clearance - so they were 50 cents each! I added a little package of fruit snacks, some small bubbles (from Party City), and a squirt toy ($1 for 5 in Target's dollar section). The favors cost me about $1 per child.







Decorations: I do so love Paper & Cake's printable banners and cupcake picks. Add some balloons, colored table cloths and crepe paper and the park looks festive! I also made two cupcake stands since I didn't want to drag my nice glass one to the park - I found some plates and bowls ($2 for 4 of each) and hot glued an upside-down bowl to the plate. Easy and cheap! I also found the little plastic tubs for the kids' drinks in the Target dollar section. I tend to wander through there each time I go to Target, just in case they have something I can use for a future party.







The birthday boy's shirt came from a friend who custom made it.




Discover more about Krista, at Krista Lucas Photography.

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