Some of you may recall a couple months ago when I posted about redoing a headboard for my little man to show off his love for superheros. I used the wall clings that you can find at several stores (Menards, Walmart, Target to name a few).
I recently purchased a couple red bucket totes from Walmart ($6.84 each) to use for toys and such that would continue the superhero theme. Red. I like the red with the grey headboard and of course it is a great superhero color (Spiderman, Captain America, Superman, etc love red too.)
The other day it dawned on me that I had some of the wall clings left from the headboard and frame projects. So, I put a few of them to good use! I stuck them right to the buckets! Love, love, love them!
And no where else will you find Spiderman buckets like these! I am really loving these clings! They would make for the perfect uplift to any tote or all those clear storage containers I have around the house!
Let us know what fun things you have done with wall clings, besides sticking them to the wall. Leave a comment below or feel free to send me an email with a picture!
I have been brainstorming and searching for ideas to keep the kids active in learning and exploring this summer. Knowing how much my kids love to be outdoors, I decided it would be fun to add a twist to our trips anywhere we will be outside.
These fun colored compartment containers (or "partment tainers" as my 3 year old calls them) are simple and cheap to make and can be utilized in so many ways. Here are just a few ideas that the kids and I have come up with so far while heading to great outdoor places:
*Explore all over for items to put in each compartment, based on the color.
*Search for bugs that may fit the color of each compartment
*Type up a scavenger hunt to have kids search for specific items to fit in the container (great for kids who are learning to read, to keep them active on reading this summer)
*Ignore the colors and just use them as fun collection containers
*If you are working on counting with your youngster, you could ask them to find "3" brown items, "3 black items", etc. This will help them count out the number of items you want to work on.
*On rainy days, use indoors searching the house for items to put in the the different compartments based on color or again, create and indoor scavenger hunt
You can make many of these ideas just a leisurely and fun trip, or team up in pairs and compete (maybe for older kids).
And here is how to make your very own "partment tainers":
It all starts with a trip to Dollar Tree to grab the twice a day pill organizer, for you guessed it $1. (If you want fewer compartments, you can grab the 1 a day pill organizers they offer.)
These are great containers with 14 compartments that each snap shut to hold their goodies inside. Don't have a Dollar Tree around you, I have seen the pill containers sold in many other stores like Walmart, Target, etc.
The next step is to color each compartment with different colors. If you want to make a couple compartments the same color you can do this as well (for example: brown is a popular outdoor color, so you may want to make 2 compartments brown for the kids to grab a couple things that are brown), since some of the colors I have shown are a little harder to find. :-)
To color the compartments I used paints I had on hand to save on cost. You could also use permanent markers.
One of the compartments I chose to paint white and added some silver glitter to it. This is the compartment to use if they find something sparkly. And one of the compartments I left "blank". The kids are encouraged to put a surprise item in there to show us when we are all done. They can talk about where they found it, or why it was special to them, etc.
My kids have had so much fun with these. It has also sparked some interaction with other kids while at the park (my kids are a bit shy at meeting new friends, so this has been great).
Some of the fun things the kids have found to add to their compartments:
walnut pieces
feathers
penny
weed flowers (all different colors)
sand
grass
rocks
tree bark
ants
sidewalk chalk :-)
and so much more!
I hope you enjoy! Be sure to come back and share your stories!
Are you looking for some quick and easy things to do last minute for Valentines day? I thought I would share with you a few things we have been up to lately. I think they are all things that you could do yet today just in time for that special day!
Handprint cards
The kids made handprint cards for their grandparents! I just remembered that I need to get these in the mail today! They are pretty simple. Have your child put their paint-filled hands facing down to form the shape of a heart with their thumbs and pointer fingers. Then cut out a heart and tape it down. Add whatever saying you want! It is cute and memorable!
Dipped Oreo Cookies
Simply add a stick to an oreo cookie and dip in white (or to be festive try pink or red) melted chips. Add sprinkles and let dry. Easy peasy! And I think the kids will love these!
Personalized Valentines
Elizabeth did these last year and I thought it would be fun to give it another try this year to compare all the cute changes.
She had fun posing, I must have about 30 different ones, but the one below is what we decided to go with. And of course, heart suckers were a must! :-) To do this, just simply have your child hold out their hand as if they are holding a sucker. Once developed, cut 2 small slits in the hand area of the picture to stick the sucker stick through. So fun!
Please share your easy and fun Valentines ideas in the comments!
My little boy is obsessed with Spiderman. And no matter what store we are in he always seems to spot something Spiderman with his keen Spider-sense! I mean, he is amazing at spotting Spiderman items.
Long story short, he noticed Spiderman at Kmart yesterday and I stopped to look what he was talking about and it was some great Spiderman party supplies! All 50% or more off. Needless to say, we stocked up for his birthday coming up in January!
They also had Tinkerbell on clearance. I thought it a little odd since these were two very popular characters to be on clearance, but am hoping others that have little ones around will score on this clearance find as well.
Frugal Tip: I opted to forgo the Spiderman plates 8 pk for $1.50. I figured the napkins and cups will go nicely with some plain blue plates I already have on hand. I also have blue and red reusable plates that I thought about using with them. This allowed us to grab some Spiderman masks that the kids will enjoy!
Note: For those in Sioux Falls, I found these at the Kmart East store.
Was out shopping today to grab items for my daughter's upcoming 5th birthday party. She has asked that her theme revolve around rainbows this year (she says that her favorite color is rainbow + pink!). So I have been trying to decide if I wanted to go all out with getting several different color plates or if I should just stick to my frugal ways and get one and incorporate the rainbow in other ways.
Well, luck would have it I ran into this fun clearance at Walmart today. There were red, blue and yellow plastic plates 4-pk on clearance for $.50 each! I picked up 6 packs for just $3!
So not only will I have the start of a rainbow theme with the plates, but I will be able to use the plates over again! I see these plates being a great alternative plate for the kids to use at supper, we can use them outdoors this summer in our backyard or at a picnic in the park....or we can always use them for the next time we have both sides of the family together again! Making my little girl happy, making my wallet happy AND making the Earth happy! :-)
I just love finding great deals that you can incorporate into your needs, even if it wasn't what you initially had in mind!
Do you have any fun and frugal tips for throwing a birthday party? Feel free to share them in the comments!
One of my resolutions was to get more organized and keep working towards it, no matter how bad it gets! ha! Part of my organizational flaws have been keeping my calendar neat and tidy for our family. When did you say you go on-call for work? When is that birthday party? Can we fit a dental appointment in on Friday? I don't know, I don't know, I don't know! Ugh!
I figured a nice planner would do the trick and was a sensable first step to acheiving organization. But then it hit me, I am not going to spend a bagillion dollars for a nice planner...remember, I am frugal and the idea of spending (did I say a bagillion?) money on a planner was not on my priority list. But, I did resolve to become more organized. What was this frugal, unorganized chic to do?
It was time to get creative! Don't you find that one of the most fun things about being frugal is that you get to test your creativity frequently?! And when you succeed, it is just as rewarding (or maybe even more so) as saving 50-75% or more at the store with your coupons!
So here's what I did....
Remember the Carolina Pad free notebook deal I told you about here? Well, I dug my free notebook out along with a few other supplies and this is what I came up with.
A cute, fun and made-to-order planner! I am able to see a month at a glance with these monthly cover sheets.
I can also write out a to-do list or additional information to what I have written on the monthly at a glance pages here.
Plus, for those pages I get from Preschool, birthday invites, directions to an appointment or whatever miscellaneous papers I get for a month I can easily paper clip them to the back of the monthly calendar page. They are readily available and easy to find (uh-em, the goal was to get organized right!) :-)
Okay, so it may not be the most impressive do-it-yourself project but it is one that I feel so incredibly good about. I used things I already had around the house, PLUS I am still doing good working towards my resolution! Am I organized? No. But I am certainly getting there.
Want to do this yourslef?
What you will need:
*Find a notebook you want to use, this can be any notebook really. Even the $.15 back to school notebooks! (You could dress up the cover with a fun picture of your family or kiddos and then place a laminate sheet over it to protect it!)
*12 separate sheeets of paper to designate one for each of the months
*Markers/Crayons
*Calendar template (I used Microsoft Word)
*Paperclips 2-3
*Tabs (I will be adding tabs to mark the monthly pages, definitely optional)
*Double sided tape
What to do:
*Use your calendar template to print off the 12 months of the year, one per sheet.
*Place 'January' on the first page of the notebook with double sided tape.
*On the next page, draw out sections for each day of the month and add the date. I have 5 days per sheet in mine. I simply drew them out with markers using the lines as my guide.
*Place 'February' on the next page following the sectioned out days of the month for January.
*On the next page, draw out sections for each day of the month.
*Repeat until you have gone through the whole year.
*Add a paper clip to a few of the monthly pages so that they are available for adding stuff as you get it.
*Add tabs to mark out the months, if you choose to add these.
*Enjoy!
What about you? What tips do you have for getting organized on a budget? How have you expressed your creativity lately?
