Yesterday I had to take our little kitty Ellie to the vet to get spayed, shots and nails trimmed. I had to be there between 7:30-8am and the place was 45m away from us, so I have to get everyone up early!

Since I don’t make it to the big city very often, I decided to make a day of it. After I dropped the kitty off we picked up some breakfast and waited for the Dollar Tree to open.

I adore the Dollar Tree. I find so much stuff there that I can use for several things. I love finding school supplies there. Check out my post on my homeschooling blog about what I found this same day that I could use in the school room HERE

 

I have been wanting to get to the Dollar Tree to find things I can use in busy boxes/bags for when the new baby comes.

Here are some things we got:

• Two girl coloring books
• Two boy coloring books
• Two activity books with paper dolls in them
• Two puzzles
• Two metal contraction sets
• And a game.

Here they are separated and put in zip lock bags.

I still would like to figure out some more activities for them. Trying to come up with some more.

 

Then I found some things I decided to use as gifts for the two kiddos that is coming up.

Matthew ADORES Curious George and I was excited to find some Curious George items at the Dollar Tree. Then I found this minion activity pack and since their party is Despicable Me themed then I had to grab it.

Then I grabbed these things for the Rabbit House I want to make the girls for Easter. You might not be able to tell in the picture but the brown tube there is actually wood grain contact paper. I’m going to use that for some flooring in the house. I also want to use the carpet piece as flooring too. The other two contact papers I was thinking could be wall paper. The fabric will either be curtains or pillows or something. The little coaster I thought could be cute rugs! And last but not least the moss rocks, want to place them in the ‘yard’, think that will be cute!

I have been also planning Abigail’s ‘mermaid’ party that will be in July. I looked up shells and man are they expensive! I saw these are the Dollar Tree and while her party is a long ways away, I know that the Dollar Tree’s stock changes constantly so if I wanted these while they had them.

 

Then at Wal-Mart I hit the jackpot on Lalaloopsy dolls! Mark down from $10 to $2.50. I got one of each color they had. I’m stuffing this in my gift storage and going to give these to Abby on her birthday. She loves Lalaloopsy! So she is basically covered, gift wise, for her birthday! Yay!

 

The invite I made for the party.

 

I have done so much searching and planning! I think this party will turnout super cute!

I’ve made up little signs that will be printed and put in stand next to the food:

(Aka cheetos)

(Aka donut holes)

(Aka cotton candy)

Then for table decoration I worked and worked on this idea. First I thought about buying some despicable me stuffed animals to have set on the table as decorations but I figured that was far to expensive. Then I moved to creating my own super large minions out of poster board. I still think that idea would have turned out super cute, but with all the things I have to do and the baby coming and such, well both me and Hubby thought that would be to much work.

So I found a solution! I found wall decals that I decided I would cut out poster board in the shape of the decal, adhere the decal and make a little stand so they sit up. I found on Amazon a set of 31 different decals for less the $12 on prime. The came today. Yes two months in advance but I figured I was going to need to start way ahead if I was going to get everything done!

I’m so excited! I can’t wait to start making these! I figure the bigger ones with go on the main dessert table, then a few on the craft table and then the littlest ones will go on the tables that everyone will sit at.

I’m hoping they will turn out cute >_< Because if so then I think I will do the same idea for Abigail’s party too.

 

Then on ebay I found these cloth Despicable Me bags that I thought would be perfect to use as gift bags since they are cloth and can be used after the party as well.

I always try and do some sort of outfit for the birthday person. This year I think Matthew will be just in a yellow shirt and jean overalls, but for Anabel I bought her this outfit:

 

I have several games planned that go along with the theme as well and little grab bags for all the kids. I have other décor items in my shopping cart waiting to be purchases on Amazon as well but I don’t have to rush on those.  My plan is to keep this party at about $100. For a double party I think that is cheap, for décor, games, food, piñata and grab bags. I’m hoping I can pull it off >_< Not sure if I can. Maybe with money from surveys and such I can pull it off!

I think it will be super cute!

Today i made the fairy wand favors. Got the idea from:

I got my dowel rods from Wal-Mart 1/4” 36” long for $.57 i do believe. I sawed them in half making them 18” long. I bought 3 different kinds of ribbon and then i had the butterflies on hand.

I also painted my dowel rods. Doesn’t take much paint and it was very fast.

Here is mine:

   

I also ordered the invitations. The invitation graphic i made i thought would work best as a post card so i hoped online to walgreens.com to get some printed but their site wasn’t working right so i went to wal-mart online and it was actually cheaper.

The front:

And the back:

It says:

“Rumor has it, that there is a secret treasure that contains Captain Hook's most valuable plunder. During her time on the Jolly Roger, Wendy thinks she might have figured out where to start looking but she needs help! She sends this request in hopes that you will come to her aid and promises to share all the plunder that you help her find! Hope to see you there!”

Excited! I think these will be cute :)

Neverland Party Planning (4)

Hubby pulled through and made me some vector imagines i can use on the invite and cupcake toppers ect. Excited! Not going to show the actual invitations yet but here is a sampling:

Neverland Party Planning (3)

Next graphic I'm working on is the favor bags. First up is the boys.

My inspiration:

My graphic:

have a bunch of I made an outline of each layer so i could print it onto colored construction paper to give a thicker feel. Here they are for you if you want to print them for yourself:

(Click image for full page)

(Click image for full page)

(Click image for full page)

I printed it out and tested it:

(Left – supplies) (Right – Putting it together using foam circles as spacers)

Neverland Pay Planning (1)

Neverland Pay Planning (3)

So when planning for the Neverland party i decided i wanted to do a treasure hunt where inside the treasure chest was gold bricks (filled with candy). I found on amazon.com these gold brick favor boxes:

It’s a 12pk for $5.36 No candy just boxes and the review said they were a great idea but really to small to be good favor boxes

So i decided to try and make my own. I searched for a DIY box outline that would work for me. I couldn’t find one but i did find one that you could purchase and it just so happened to have a small snapshot of what the outline looked like but it was far to small for me to actually use to make my own. Then i got this bright idea to use that idea but make my own in Photoshop and that is just what i did!

Here it is:

(Click to get full size)

 

My brick is about 1” tall, 2” in width and about 7 1/2” in length

 

Here is a picture of the one i put together. Pardon all the lines on it, i accidentally printed in ‘portrait’ view when it should have been on ‘landscape’ and since i was just trying it out i wasn’t about to waste a piece of card stock lol

Now I'm going to make them with cardstock and then use gold foil gift wrap from Hobby Lobby to wrap them and make them gold and shiny

I’m excited!

For the last few days i have been working on Matthew/Anabel’s birthday parties that are in April. Me and Bob heard a talk show on the Christian Radio last night talking about addictions (mainly they seemed to be talking about video games) but they that anything that makes you think about it even when you aren’t doing it is an addiction. Well i guess i have been addicted to party planning here lately because I've been thinking about it constantly! LOL

The house has been being forgotten, in between homeschooling, taking care of an infant, cooking dinner, party planning ect. I've had little time for house work except for the bare minimum.

The last days of planning I've gotten almost all the party thought up but this morning i worked on getting the details worked out and it put into a party ‘outline’. I also made a list of the DIY projects i plan to do, figured out what supplies i have on hand and what i needed to get. Then i used my OneNote and by using tables worked out my shopping list per store, and about how much it should cost me. Some things are variables that i won’t know the price until i get to the store like on food and candy but the other stuff i worked out. There is a ton of DIY!

Since it’s Matthew’s first birthday we are combining it with Anabel’s since they are only 6 days apart. Later when they are older we will probably do them separately. Our theme is ‘Never Neverland’ so there is a good girl theme and also boy theme. I’m pretty excited about it. Now lets just hope i can get all my DIY projects done in time!

So far all my birthdays up until now i drop the ball on. Like last birthday was Abby’s and i planned a craft and games and when we actually got to the party i totally forgot about the games and crafts. I felt like such a failure!

This time i made myself a party outline, outlining all the activities and which ones should go first. Hopefully this will help me keep everything on track! I’m still learning!

 

Then i decided to switch gears and work on the house. The girls helped me with this a lot by picking up the clutter.

After lunch Matthew woke up from his nap him and the girls went into the girls room for quiet time while i cleaned more. I:

• Did the dishes
• Cleaned the bathroom counter, sink and toilet
• Swept bathroom, hall and dinning room
• Mopped living room, bathroom, hall and dinning room
• Vacuumed living room and dinning room
• and started laundry

i feel good about what ive done so far but my brain is still going on what i should do next!

So today i finished up the kits by doing a tad bit of sewing on the doctors shirt and printing off her ID badge.

I sewed the color back because Dad said that is how doctors shirts are and then i sewed the organizer on there. I admit i was expecting the shirt to be made out of the regular button down short material but the shirt actually it more like a t-shirt type material, so the organizer stands out more then i thought it would. Uber picky Bob said he thought it looked fine so I'm relieved. Bob wasn’t so hip on the homemade kit idea because he thought the doctors shirt would look stupid so with him actually approving this, it make me happy. Now I'm the one not so hip on the organizer since it stands out as a different white. But after all it is just play right?

I threw a sweater on Abby and took a quick picture of her for her ID picture. Yes she is wearing a princess outfit under the sweater hehe. Look how long her hair is? She is just to cute!

 

So here is the kit:

    

It will end up being a 28 piece once the reflex hammer and the nurses watch for the doctor shirt. But looks like she will have to wait on those things.

So this morning i made a run over to the Salvation Army in hopes of finding some sort of bag or container that would work for a doctors bag for Abby’s doctors kit. It was so nice because i got to go all by myself, no kiddos in toe. Haaaaa

I got really stressed out because i could find a bag that would work and i was trying to brain storm about how i could take one of the bags with a good basic shape and then recover it. I knew i didn’t want to try and make a bag from scratch because me and sewing bags don’t have a very good history together.

Then when i gave up i saw out of the corner of my eye, a black lunch box for $4.50.

I thought it was the perfect thing! I got so excited and soooo relieved! I didn’t know what i was going to do if i didn’t find something.

While i was at the Salvation Army i looked through the scrubs section. All red tags were 50% off today and i found a scrub with a red tag! Ended up costing $1.25 for it.

So i bought it and after getting home i went to work on it to make it smaller.

So it here is it originally:

Then cut down:

And finally sewn:

It actually was really easy and fast to do. So far this project has been easy.

Anabel trying it on for me:

So now i have a soon to be doctors outfit and a nurses outfit :)

Also i took our ACE bandages and cuts them and added some more velcro so she actually has 4 bandages.

I got the syringes put through the dishwasher. Also found and empty pill bottle.

 

Can’t wait for the stuff i ordered to come in the mail tomorrow so i can get to work on them and finish this sucker!

Other posts:

Abby’s Present (1)

Abby’s Present (2)

Abby’s Present (3)