Giver’s Log has a fantastic tutorial to make some amazing looking, personalized liquid hand soap.
All About The Packaging: Kids’ Art Hand Soap
Reply
Category Archives: tips
Party Time: A Princess Tea Party inspired by Dora
We were delighted and fortunate to help Selina celebrate her 3rd birthday with a Princess Dora-inspired tea party. The party was to be held at Gymboree, so we decided to coordinate with their “Princess Playhouse Party” theme. The party itself was led by Gymboree’s own wonderful Nicole, who led the royal guests through songs and fun activities.
We had our work cut out for us in trying to transform the space into a royal venue for Princess Selina, but we managed to turn this:
Into this:
We took streamers and made a curtain to cover the sink area.
Paper flowers hung from the ceiling and we used a garland, more paper flowers, and lanterns to create a little sitting area for parents.
Real Green Toys tea sets were used along with safe LED tea lights to set the mood for a “royal garden tea party among the columns of the castle.”
Bloquets stood in for real flowers on the table for double duty as party horns and decoration. Dora made a small appearance on the table in the form of a ring used as a napkin ring.
We made a simple banner with satin ribbon and beautiful handmade paper to decorate the dessert table, which was filled with both treats to eat and celebrate. A large 3 balloon left no question as to how old the princess would be for her birthday!
The petit fours were from Dragonfly Cakes and just delightful dusted with a pearl luster. We also found chocolate and yogurt star cookies that would have made Dora happy and fit perfectly with the theme.
You may be wondering where Dora is in all of this. Selina’s mom wanted the essence of a Dora party, so we decided to use “Dora colors” to represent Dora, Boots and royalty. Dora did make an appearance on the invitations and in the goodie bags in the form of a doll.
The envelope also held a crown for the princess sealed with royal sealing wax.
We also based activities around making flower “Dora” bead bracelets and royal jeweled maracas as children arrived and before the actual party started.
Easy DIY: Party Frames
Here’s a super easy way to dress up your walls.
You’ll need:
*metallic ribbon or confetti
*double glass picture frame
*scissors
All you need to do is cut your ribbon into your desired length and sandwich between the glass. If you use curling ribbon like we did, you’ll need to run your scissors across them to straighten them out.
You could use a larger frame and use it as a serving tray for drinks.
Easy DIY: Tissue Paper Wreath
A super simple project to do with your kids.
You’ll need:
* a wire hanger
* two packs of green tissue paper
* ribbon
Take the wire hanger and pull it into a circular shape. The hook will be used to hang your wreath.
Cut strips of tissue paper into 8 inch strips. No need to be completely accurate with this step. Then take each strip and wrap it once around the hanger and twist together. Repeat with all the strips; pushing them close together each time.
Go all the way around. Once finished, fluff up the pieces to fill it out and trim any pieces that are too long.
the hanger and then finish it off with a ribbon. We made one out of tissue paper just to keep with the feel.
Easy DIY: Christmas Crackers
Here’s a quick and easy way to use up those random toilet paper rolls you have lying around. Traditional crackers contain a paper crown, a small gift and a little joke; we used candy, confetti and party favors.
We also skipped including the snap since the kids don’t always grab the ends perfectly, so they don’t really end up “cracking.” If you do want the snaps, you can order them at Olde English Crackers.
You’ll need:
- toilet paper rolls
- wrapping paper
- glue stick
- curling ribbon
- party favors and candy
Cut the wrapping paper into 8 x 12 pieces.
Place a toilet paper roll in the center of the 12in side of the paper.
Roll the paper around the tube. Place glue on the edge of the paper and seal.Then tie one end of the tube close to the base of the roll.
Fill the tube with goodies and treats. Then tie the other end shut and curl the ribbons.
Easy DIY: Chocolate Acorns
Lipstick and Laundry made these fabulous acorns out of frosting, mini Nilla Wafers and Hershey’s Kisses. Adorable and delicious!
Easy DIY: Bean Bag Ghosts
Whip up a few of these ghosts either for decoration or use them in a bean bag toss game.
All you need is:
*cheese cloth or gauze
*white fabric (we used an old t-shirt)
*dried beans
*ribbon
*marker or black fabric for the eyes
Cut cheese cloth into 6×6 squares. Cut white fabric into 4×4 squares. Place white fabric on top of cheese cloth.
Place two tablespoons of beans in the center of the stack of squares.
Wrap fabric around the beans and tie with some ribbon.
Draw on or cut out eyes from the black fabric to glue on and you’re finished!
Easy DIY: Rice Crispy Monsters
Here’s an easy Halloween treat. All you need are:
*rice crispy treats
*tubes of icing
*sprinkles
*candy eyes (optional)
You can either make your own treats or use the ready-made ones. When we make our own, we like to mix brown rice crisps with regular ones. Then just cut them to the size you want, spread on the icing in the colors you desire and decorate.
All About the Packaging: Make Ghost Pops
Here’s a fun and easy treat to make. All you need are donut holes, fondant and lollipop sticks.
Take a walnut-sized ball of fondant and roll it out. No need to worry about making the edges perfect for this. Cover a donut hole with the fondant and place on a stick.
Add the eyes and you’re done! We used fondant with a little food coloring but you can also use sprinkles or food markers.
All About the Packaging: Candy Button Punch Box Tutorial
We created this punch box to use for the Candy Button Trivia game we played at our Maddie-licious party. It’s pretty easy but does take a little bit of time.
You’ll need:
4 white poster boards
a circle cutter
tissue paper in the colors of your choice
glue
18 paper lunch bags
prizes
packing tape
ribbon
First, start cutting circles on your poster board. We set our circle cutter to 5 inches. This let us make three columns of three circles each per poster board. You can choose to make smaller or larger circles.
Your poster board will look like this after you’ve finished.
Repeat the process on the second poster board. Now start cutting out the tissue paper and gluing the squares over each circle. We cut ours into 6×6 inch squares as our circles were 5 inches.
We recommend cutting individual squares since punching out one hole may pull the paper off the others. Once you have all the circles covered, tape them together to form one long strip. You should then have something that looks like this.
Next, take the remaining two poster boards and cut them in half length-wise.
Then fold each piece in half length. These will be the side panels of the punch box.
Lay the smooth side of the poster board (the edge you didn’t cut) next to the poster board with the cut-outs. Line up the top edges and tape together.
Next, take your lunch bags and cut off the top 6 inches. (We saved the tops and made small snack bags by gluing and folding the bottoms shut.) Take the bottom half of the bag and start making 1 inch cuts along the top and then fold them over. These tabs will be what you use to tape them down. Repeat with all the bags.
Lay out the board and place a prize on each circle so the prizes are evenly distributed. Then cover each one with a paper bag and tape down.
Once all the bags are attached, fold over the side panels to cover the bags. You may have to tape the side panels together across the back. Thread some ribbon across the top, hang it up and you are ready to go!
