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!

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!

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)

Today i was able to whip these suckers out. It was easy and went quick. I tested them on Anabel and they fit her, so hopefully they will fit Abby just as well. I made two so both girls could play if they wanted. Maybe one a doctor and the other the nurse :)

THEN yesterday i had this idea about x-rays. I looked online to see if they sold any but they didn’t. I mentioned to Bob my idea and how i was bummed they didn’t have any and that i was thinking of just printing some on regular paper since it was play.

Then he said '”I have a ton of that kind of paper at school, you get me the pictures and i could print a few off'”

And i was like ”OMGosh!!! And we could use them on the light table i made!!!!”

So i found some and he brought them home this morning:

 

I’m so excited about these LOL

Pretty cool ha?

To see a bit of the rest of the kit i’m putting together check out my other posts:

Abby’s Present (1)

Abby’s Present (2)

Made her a name tag tonight for her doctors outfit. I hope it prints and looks good.

Might have to make my own title instead of copying those words off a real hospital logo because right now the words look a little blurry. We will have to see.

So for awhile now i knew i wanted to get Abby a pretend doctors kit. She would try and put a rag over her mouth and come to me saying ‘I’m a doctor!’ and pretend her dolls were hurt.

Well like usual i kept forgetting i needed to order it for her for her birthday. So last night i remembered and got on Amazon (were i tend to do all my non grocery shopping since we have a prime account and the amazon credit card which earns us 3x the amounts of points if we use the credit card on amazon…. so earning free money is always a plus)

Well i found small cheap kits for like $15-18 and there was an ok one for $25. Then there was the Melissa and Doug Deluxe Kit that was normally $79 marked down to $39. Came with a doctors costume plus the doctors kit. We thought we were going to do that. I started reading reviews on the items because i try to read everything and look at everything before i make a choose. One comment mentioned they decided to buy a kit with a real stethoscope instead of one that made fake sounds. So i started looking for kits with real ones cause i thought that was a great idea. Didn’t find a pretend kit with one in it but i did find real stethoscopes for WAY cheaper then i would have imagined them to be.

So this got me thinking… could i find real doctor/nurse items and make my own kit for about the same price or cheaper? Oh the searching rolled on.

After three hours and it being almost 1am i had finally pieced together my own kit. I’m still lacking a doctors bag to carry it all in but i think i will stop in the thrift stores and see if i can find something that will work.

First here is a glimpse of the pretend kit i almost bought:

Here is what i pieced together:

First the outfit:

I bought a plain white button down shirt. I know it’s not as fancy but i’m hoping to use my skills and make it a little more like a doctors shirt. Like my husband mentioned, a doctors shirt would have a lower collar so i’m hoping to fix that. I bought it as a 4t, so it will be kinda big on her but i thought that was kinda the point and this way Anabel can use it and they still have some growing room in it.

Then i found this:

  It is a ‘Medical Organizer Kit’ which is suppose to slide onto a belt loop for nurses. Well since it is fabric i’m planning to sew it onto the bottom of the doctor shirt for extra pockets like the Melissa and Doug shirt kinda has. I think the girls will love the pockets and clips on it.

It also comes with: ‘Diagnostic Penlight, Pen, Scissor, Keys and Other Accessories’

I will take the scissors out of it because that is not a toy. But the Penlight i think they will LOVE

Then:

This is a ‘Nurse Pin Brooch Pocket Watch’ I’m guessing this is to count for blood pressure or something but i thought it would add some flare to the outfit.

I also plan on sewing a couple face masks, so both girls could play…. one the doctor and one the nurse maybe? Anyways they should be uber simple to make.

I also grabbed this:

I thought this book would be great to include… give them some ideas for play :)

 

Now on to the kit!

Real pediatric sized stethoscope and blood pressure band. Now i might have to poke a whole in the blood pressure band so they can’t get enough air in there to make it to tight on the arm… we will have to test that out. I’m so excited about these two pieces!

Real reflex hammer. Says it’s 7in big and rubber hammer head. Bob was a little worried about this but i’m sure if the girls can learn how to use a hot glue gun like they have been, then they can learn about this…. but we will see how hard it is before we give it to them.

And a real thermometer.

I was looking at baby health kits like this one:

But i remembered i have multiples of most all this stuff (except the thermometer) and could spare a set for the kit. I also have a ton of medicine syringes from child medicines that i will give her as play needles.

Then we have ACE bandages from Bob’s football days so i think i will cut a few down to child size and sew some velcro on the ends to make them be able to clasp and that way they will have plenty of bandages.

 

I’m hoping she will love this and it will turn out as cool as i’m picturing it. Real tools! And it costing just as much as these kits i was going to buy that were all plastic!

Oh i hope it’s cool! I got such a headache trying to figure it all out…. hope i made good choices!