A most excellent egg hunt birthday

My big girl, Mim, turned 4 on April Fool's Day (such an awesome birthday). It was the day after Easter, so we decided to have a big Easter eggs hunt as part of it. We have a pretty big piece of property (that feels even bigger than it is because our bitty house is just in one little corner of it) and I've always wanted to host a big neighborhood Easter egg hunt. There was one just up the street from me when I was growing up and I LOVED going there every year. Anyway, I was thinking of this as a step up to that. We've done cousin ones for the last 2 years (that were also part of Mim's birthday celebration) that I kind of considered a warm up to this one. Baby steps.

Mim wanted to invite her preschool friends and her church class, which are about 14 and 10 kids, respectively. And the cousins that were her age, which was another 3 kids. I was like, "Sure, why not? If we invite that many, it'll probably be about a dozen that show up." I was very wrong. We had about 2 dozen kids that came. Apparently the 60% attendance rule does not apply to kids. Good thing I'm a paranoid over-preparer and we had just enough of everything.

So, the first thing the kids did as they got there was decorate their Easter "baskets."

I set up a few tables in our living room (after I rolled back the rug) and scattered supplies down the center, thusly:

I tried to give them a really wide variety of stuff to work with because I wanted this activity to last for a bit so everyone would have time to show up. They had pom poms, pipe cleaners, googly eyes, cut out shapes (including but not limited to: dinosaurs, butterflies, super heroes, flowers, stick figures, lobsters, fish, and animals) and tape and glue sticks and SOOOO many stickers and NO GLITTER. I'm not insane.

{Around $20 of dollar store stickers- I planned on having extra and I needed to restock the girls' sticker supply anyway.}

After they finished their bags I gave them all one balloon in their requested color. They chose one sticker to put on it and then we wrote their names and threw it downstairs. More on that later.

{Some of the finished bags. We had them wait in the kitchen while we rounded everyone up and put shoes on- it was pretty crazy.}

Then it was time for the big hunt. There were over 200 eggs, so even though we had many more kids than I expected it still worked out just fine. I told them to stop when they had 10 eggs and help somebody else. That kind of worked. My sweet niece got a bunch of eggs, then came up and showed me, asking "Is this more than 10?" It was about 20. I told her it was a lot more and she totally started re-hiding some and I sent the kids with only a few eggs to follow her around and gather them up.

{Almost everyone.}

We came back in and did presents and then cupcakes- the cupcakes were rainbows with clouds on top.

{Don't mind the tupperware lid serving platter. My husband is a problem solver, what can I say?}

The rainbow cupcake idea came from here (if you follow the link you can see that I obviously didn't care to much about actually layering them- I just plopped in all the different colors and let things happen), but the marshmellows on top were my idea. Anyway, the cupcakes were a big hit with the kids and I decided to not even bother with the ice cream I had bought for the occasion.

After they finished their cupcakes they got to go downstairs and find the balloon they had put their one special sticker on. The twist was that there were 130 balloons downstairs in the family room and we had mixed the marked ones up with those. When they found their balloon they took it to Mike and got a little prize, then they got to play in the balloons some more.

I can not describe 20+ kids amongst 130 or so balloons. It was amazing and loud and crazy. I just let them run amok for the last 10 minutes or so until parents came and picked them up.

It was my first party for my girl and I am marking it down as an awesome success. It was happy faces all around. There are a few things that I think were crucial to making the party work and having be as low stress as possible for me:

1. Preparation. Duh. This is true about anything. I did most things as far in advance as I could, like rolling back the rug and setting up the tables the night before, making all the decorations earlier in the week, buying most things early in the week, and making the cupcakes 2 nights before. Most of the egg stuffing happened earlier in the week, as well.

2. Helpers. I had two of my sister in laws there helping as well as my husband and my little brother. My little brother and his wife totally saved my butt the morning of- I hadn't found plain white or brown gift bags at any of the other stops I'd made (or had my husband make) and so planned on getting them the morning of the party. That all kind of fell apart so I called them in a panic to see if they could get them and they came through in a big way. They even brought chairs, since Mike was delayed on his errand and couldn't pick up the ones he'd planned to. My sweet neighbor also saved me in the chair department. I went over there in the morning when I realized Mike couldn't get the chairs and she sent me home with her kitchen table bench. Love her.

3. Keeping it simple. We only had three activities in the whole hour and a half. Decorating bags, Easter egg hunt, and balloon finding. I had some other backups in case things didn't take as long as I thought they would, like letting them all feed the chickens and a few balloon games, but we didn't need them.

Here's a few more shots of the party fun, since I feel like I've kept it reasonable so far:

{They couldn't wait to dive in}

{So many helpers with her presents.}

 That's how the party was, here's what I actually did:
First, rainbow streamers and tissue paper cloud pom poms every where:

 Second, a basement filled with balloons (I really recommend using an air compressor to blow them all up):

 The picture on the left is 130 balloons, which I thought sounded like a ton, but in reality it was much sparser than I had envisioned. For Mim's actual birthday, Mike bought over 200 more balloons that we blew up the night before. It was much more like what I had mentally pictured and Miriam was just delighted when she woke up on her birthday and saw how many balloons there were. Simple and fun and hours of entertainment.

Third, (and no pictures, sorry) eggs filled with temporary tattoos, stamps, some candy, the entire contents of Mike's change bowl he keeps on his dresser, plastic animals, bouncy balls, and tiny containers of goo. It was really fun to think of things to go in the eggs that weren't candy. I've seen a bunch of lists out there, but it was really simple and easy to just go to the little party supply store and grab a variety of tiny toys.

I also made a big cake for her actual birthday and let her help me decorate it with sprinkles. Fun stuff.

Best aunt ever

Well, probably not, since my niece's birthday was in December. These are her combination late birthday/kindergarten graduation gift. I was going to make some fabric strap flip flops, like THESE, but then I found all these little jewel beads (that actually used to be my daughter's dress up bracelets, but she broke them) and inspiration hit.

 Little bejeweled flip flops. So cute, right? Here's how I did it:

First up was gathering supplies. My daughter helped me sort out the pink, purple, and white ones.

{Upholstery thread, scissors, needles, the beads, hot glue. }

 The beads had two sets of holes in them, so I threaded them like this.

There they are. I had measured the flip flop straps before, so I knew how many beads to thread.

I used hot glue to keep the beads down at first, but knew a little extra something would be a good idea if I really wanted these to wearable. 

So I wrapped more threads around the threads that held the beads together. That sounds confusing. Here's the picture:

And then I was done. I sent them off one at a time and I can't wait for my niece (who is 6) to get them.

Easy zippered bags

These have been on my to-do list for awhile. I first decided to make some for my daughter's Polly Pocket things (so so tiny) and then I was like, hey, it'd be nice to have one for her crayons, too. And then I was like, hey, I want one for my make up. And then I told my friend I'd do a boutique with her, so I was finally motivated (a deadline!) and I made a bunch. Nothing sold (ahwell) and so now I have a bunch of pouches (over 20). I have several in use around the house and they're handy little things for sure.

So here's what I did:

First, cutting fabric. Most of what I used was quilting cotton, but I also used other materials I had on hand, like some vintage sheets and scraps left over from other stuff.

I made 2 sizes, a 5x9 and a 7x9. I cut everything an inch larger in each direction to give me plenty of room for seam allowances. For each pouch you need 4 rectangles, two for the lining and two for the outside.

After cutting, add whatever embellishments to the front. Some I sewed stuff to, some I freezer paper stenciled.

Then you make your first zipper sandwich- the front piece right side up, the zipper upside down, then a lining piece face down. Sew them all together along the top, staying right next to the zipper (use a zipper foot).

After that, do the same with your other lining and outside fabric pieces (you'll have to fold the first two out of the way in order to make the same sandwich).

Then you can open it up and make sure the zipper is in the right place and everything.

Then fold the front pieces right side together and the lining pieces right side together.

IMPORTANT: unzip your zipper at least half way. If you don't, it will make trouble when you try to turn the bag right side out. Sew almost all the way around that rectangle. Leave a gap of about 3-4" in the long side of the lining pieces. Clip your corners.

 Turn everything right side out through the gap

 Take the gap....

 

And sew it closed.

{Sorry to switch bags on you again.}

Stuff the lining back into the bag and TA-DA!

 Very easy. It gets even easier after you make about 25 of them:

{I had kind of a really fun time matching linings to outside fabrics. Like, it's kind of weird how much fun it was for me.}

Some freezer paper stenciled (tutorial from HERE).

{My favorite one is the alligator. Makes me smile every time.}

 Some I sewed embellishments to:

Here's most of what I did:

 

Anybody need a zippered pouch? If you need one (and even if you don't) and you're related to me/good friends with me, guess what you get for your next birthday. Go ahead, guess.

I hope you guessed zippered pouch, because really.

Even if you didn't...you will still get one anyway.

Not a party blog

So, I had thought I would take some pictures of the little party we had for my daughter's birthday.

NOPE.

{At least there werre still a few left.}

I got some of the important stuff: my daughter, her cousins, unwrapping presents, etc. But so far as decorations and craftiness and whatnot, the picture above is the only one.


And that's why this isn't a party blog.

Here's where I learned to frost the cupcakes- it was faster than spreading it with a knife.

DIY Building Blocks

I try to focus on giving my girls classic toys. At least things that I consider classic, which I guess means anything I loved as a kid. And one thing I loved- my family's building block set. My parents still have the remnants of it (everything that wasn't lost/buried/destroyed) and Mim always loves playing with it when we're there.


She turned 3 on April Fool's day (I still can't get over what an awesome birthday that is) and we gave her some galoshes and some books. Then I thought about how we hadn't given her any toys, which just seemed kind of sad. So I made some blocks and gave them to her at her birthday party, which was just last Saturday.

I looked at buying block sets first, but it seemed like all the ones I thought were really cool were all over $100. This one from Land of Nod was my favorite. I love the colors. Anyway, I got to thinking- I mean, blocks are just cut up wood. We have tons of that. All I would need to do is cut it, sand it, then paint it. I got hung up on the painting idea- it would take forever, plus baby Elle would just be chewing it off in a few months (if she would ever get teeth instead of just acting like she's teething for months on end). Then I had a brainwave-

I could dye the wood!!

I've used dye on fabric plenty of times before. Like on these onsies. And I'd seen a pin where Rit Dye was used to dye buttons.

Here are the blocks:

{The alphabet blocks are not ones I made, if you were wondering.}

 She's played with them every day since she got them.

And if you care, here's the how:
1. Collect wood. I used some 2"x4" and 2"x2" scraps, some dowels (2 round in different sizes, 1 square one), and a 1"x12"x5' board.   I only had to buy the dowels.

2. Cut it. I went to my in-laws house to use the miter saw and my father-in-law ended up just cutting everything for me. I would measure, then hand it to him to cut. We had a good little system going on and it only took us about an hour and a half to cut 114 blocks. I'm really glad he helped- it would have taken more than twice as long by myself.

3. Sand. I used my little hand sander and got it done during my baby's morning nap, so about another 1.5 hours.

{Sanded, sorted, waiting to be dyed.}

{Before I dyed them, I decided what each color each block would be. Most sizes had 2 colors. Setting them out like this really helped me decide what colors I needed more or less of.}

4. Dye them. I used Rit brand. It's what I already had on hand and they seem to have the largest color collection. Plus, if you're brave (I didn't do it this time) they have this chart on their website to mix all the in-between colors.
The colors I used were scarlet, tangerine, golden yellow, kelly green, royal blue, teal, and purple.

{I used the stove top method, same as I do for fabric.}

{Rinse, rinse, rinse. I didn't want any excess dye coming off these babies when I handed them over to my daughter.}

 5. Dry.

 6. Play!

So here's what this 114 piece block set cost me:

$6 worth of dowels
$12 of dye, and there's leftovers. I already had about half the colors I needed- I'm not counting those in the cost.

About 5-6 hours of doing stuff. The dyeing took about 2 hours (still so much faster than painting would have been). If I did it again, it would be even faster. I wasn't expecting the colors to take to the wood so strongly and I was expecting more to rinse out, so I left the blocks in the dye baths for much longer than I needed to (I didn't want the colors to be quite so intense).

Not bad. 

I totally think it was worth it.

{This was at her little party- she opened them and then dove right in. I couldn't get her to look at me for a picture.}

Some miscellaneous things:

*All the stuff I used was pine/douglas fir, except for the dowels. I don't remember what they were made of.

*If you do this, use non-treated wood. Most dimensional lumber is, so it's not a problem, but it can never hurt to double check!

*Try to keep your sizes as fractions of each other- like this size of block is twice as long as the next size down, this size block is twice as thick as these others that are the same shape. I put some thought into it before we started cutting, but I wish I'd written down exactly what I wanted.

*Each of my dye baths was a couple quarts (I didn't really measure) and I used about half a package of powdered dye for each (like I said, I wasn't really expecting the colors to take very strongly, so I made a VERY concentrated dye bath). If I ever make a supplemental block set, I'll cut the amount in half, at least.

*To make arches, use a hole cutting drill bit. This is a note for me, for the supplemental set I bet I make in a year or two.

*Be prepared to make a big mess when dyeing. The picture doesn't do the disaster justice, but here's my kitchen after:

The sink was terrible, too.

Thanks for reading!