Spring Time Kids Table

Spring Time Kids Table

I've started working on my kids spring time table. Any time I decorate a table for my kids I use things that are easy to clean, sturdy and fun. I started by creating the floral centerpiece. Start to finish. this cost under $15 to make and maybe took 15 min.

1. All items were purchase from Michaels. I started with 4 Large felt flowers, 4 large flowers with stems, green Easter grass, floral foam and the picket fence base.

2. Pull the flowers from their stems and glue them to the center of each felt flower. Then Take the stem and glue each one to the back of the felt flowers.

3. Fill the inside of the picket fence container with the floral foam. Stick each flower into the foam.

4. Cover with green grass to hide floral foam.

To finish my table. I used a plastic floral tablecloth. Multi-colored flower chargers, bright colored place mats, plastic Easter plates and finished with spring napkins and napkin rings.

To the center I added a few colorful lanterns, springtime garland, a flower table runner, and place card holders folder bright colored flowers.

Bring on Spring!!

Candy Land Party

Candy Land Party! The more I have thought about this party the more I want to throw one. The ideas are absolutely endless. I found a few pics on the web to get the wheels turning.

On Etsy, the cutest lines for the Candy Land theme I found were on Tom Kat Studio and Sweet Metel Moments. Both, of these stores will create wonderful custom party supplies at reasonable prices.

These invitations also be found on etsy and at many online party supply stores.

Making huge candy is an instant way to add festiveness. These lollipops above are easily created by using colored plates or poster board cut into circles. Add a large dowel rod painted white and finish with clear cellophane. Create gumdrops... Blow up solid color beach balls, cover with clear cellophane and tie at each end. These could be hung from the ceiling, trees or sat around on tables.

Life size candy and houses are the ultimate touch. There are multiple sites on the web that have theses available. I love shindigz.com for great backdrops and cardboard stand ups. FYI...give yourself a little advance time for assembly. These normally come in pieces and can take several hours for completion. Think a step further and cut out large squares to lay on the floor to look just like the game board. You could also incorporate your games this way. Have the kids follow the colored path and make stops long the way to do different games.
Obviously, the cups, plates, napkins, etc are a Must. I found the above supplies at several party stores online. Finally send the kids off with their own Candy Land game. Or, if you really want to them to have some fun, create a candy bar. Fill lots of jars, baskets and containers with the brightest candy you can find. Give each child their own colorful sack and let the fill it with candy from the buffet.

Easter Tags

After a class party each of my boys come home with a sack full of treats and gift sacks. So, I always try to find cute inexpensive ways to make ours stand out or ad some cuteness. One of the easiest ways is to start with a cute sack and make sure you have a cute tag to say who it is from. This year I ordered tags and stickers to finish of their treat sacks. The paper pieced tags I found on etsy at Sweetly Scrapped Art.

I also order stickers to place on the back of each of these tags from Etsy. I ordered mine from Berry Cute Party. She has great holiday and party stickers that she can customize for you.

Next Week is Party Week!

Just FYI that I will devote all of next weeks post to kids parties! I'm very excited to share some of my ideas for parties, ways to make them unique and custom, and go into to detail about some of my own kids parties! I've been compiling information, uploading old party pics, creating new decorations and have some great websites to give out that will make party planning much easier.

Creating a Quick Easter Wreath

Today I created two Easter wreaths to hang on my double doors. I divided all my supplies into two groups and completed one before starting on the next. It took me under an hour to complete both. I will give step by step instructions to make one wreath. Gather up all your supplies before starting so once you start creating you don’t have to stop to find something you might need. You will need the following:
1 Grapevine Wreath
1 Round Top Easter garland (or similar)
1 Round Top Bunny w/ Egg (or similar)
2-3 Bunches of fake Flowers
1 roll of Pink Tulle or ½-1 yd of tulle cut into strips
1 bunch Berry Pick
1 bag of pink straw Easter grass
1 bag of glittered Styrofoam eggs
I also used fabric flowers that I purchased from a fabric store that was going out of business.
1 roll of Skinny Mesh Pink Ribbon
A glue gun
A small amount of Floral wire

As with every project if you don’t have or can’t find it, use what you can.

Step 1:
Wire the garland and Bunny w/ Carrot to the Grapevine wreath

Step 2:
Pull all the flowers from there stems and glue them on the wreath. I normally space them evenly around the wreath and then fill in from there. The more flowers you apply the fuller the wreath will be and the better the base. Cover until there are a few spaces of grapevine visible.
Step 3 : Gather 3-4 6” long tulle strip together and tie them throughout any empty spaces on the wreath. This here is about personal preference. You can add lots of tulle to give it a whimsical and fluffy look or just a little to fill the spaces.
Step4: Add the Styrofoam eggs throughout the wreath. Continuing to cover any parts of the wreath that are still visible.

Step 5: Stuff bunches of the Easter grass and picks in between the flowers.
Step 6: Tie a bow with the Mesh ribbon. Leave a long enough tail on each end to run it around the wreath. Tuck parts of the tail into the wreath to give it fullness.

1st Stages of Easter Decorating

I started unpacking and my beginning stages of decorating yesterday. It normally takes a few days for me to figure out where things look best. Also, with three small boys I have to figure out where I can put things that are out of reach or less tempting to grab. However, with every single holiday there are some of my decorations that get broke, go missing, or seem to lose pieces. With that said, if you are like me decorate with things that are pretty easy to replace. I have come to realize that there are just some things in my collections that will just have to stay boxed until my kids are a little older.
Yesterday I listed some of my favorite places to get affordable decorations. So, last night I made a quick trip to Hobby Lobby and picked up the Easter platter (pictured). It was originally $17.99 but was on sale yesterday for $10. This will be prefect for a tray of treats or cupcakes and looks great on my side bar. In my second picture I took my entry way planter and filled it with fern plants, robins egg nest, and metal painted eggs. With each holiday I change this planter out. For Christmas I filled it with ornamnets, etc. The last picture is one of my hallway cabinets that I added a little festiveness to by decorating it with an arrangent I made (all items for this came from Michaels), a few of my favorite bunnies, and for some extra spunk I added some paper pastel grass. Well I'm off to make my front door wreaths and decorate my formal dining room.

Planning for Easter

Although Easter seems to fall late this year, it will be here before we know it. After a long weekend of 22 family members staying at my house I am ready for some decorating therapy!! So, I am going to start pulling out the Easter Decorations. It's aways a challenge in a new house to figure out where everything will fit and look the best. I also have to start planning for my kindergarden and preschool kids parties as I am the room mom.

My gift bags and games will be in a future post. I already order their labels and gift bag tags from etsy and they turned out super cute!! But back to Easter planning decorationing. I always like to add to my decorations each year. Some of my favorite places to aquire new items are:

Hobby Lobby...They have really started caring some of the cutest decorations over the last fe years. You can get boutique inspired items at a fraction of the price. Plus each week they put some part of their holiday merchandise on sale. So, if its not on sale this week it will be next. I never pay full price for anything at Hobby Lobby! Next is Target...Yes it's normally hit and miss and not always cute but for those of us with kids there is no better place to stock up then target! For my plastic plates, kids place mats, gift bag fillers and other fun toys this is where I go. Also, everyone knows that the day after it is 1/2 price and if you have the storage space, stock up for next year!! As far as the kids bag fillers this is my favorite time. By the time I fill 40 bags it will cost a small fortune. So, I find ways to fill them for 1/2 the cost. Next is Etsy...for custom made or unique you can't find a better place. If you haven't checked out etsy.com you are missing out. I have bought things like custom boutique kids clothes, address labels, premade scrapbook albums, floral arrangements, pictures, etc. Next....Although these aren't stores, I love the lines of Round Top Collection, ESC, Raz And Bethany Lowe. Most of these can be found in online stores, local boutiques and even ebay. With that, I am off to start unpacking. Look for picture soon!