My goody bag solution (a mini-tutorial)

A last minute decision by Miss I has caused me to have to re-think the goody bag contents for her Sofia the First birthday party. For the longest time the party was going to be a "Girls Only" party, until the day the invitations went out and she decided to invite all the boys in her class. No problem when it comes to activities, however the goody bags I had planned were pretty girl/princess-centric. Mini tiaras, bubble rings, heart bracelets, amulets, and a sucker. So I did some thinking, and came up with this- Sucker, tiaras, bubble ring "potions", heart bracelets, jumping frog, and miniature wooden Knight's sword. Where in the world did I find a mini wooden Knight's sword you ask???? My craft cabinets of course! I had seen ideas of Knight shields and Bubble swords for the boys floating around, but I needed something small just for the gift bags, so I decided to make my own mini swords! Here's how you can too!!

Materials

Popsicle sticks

Hot glue/wood glue

Acryclic paint (colors of your choice!)

Paint brush
Wood cutter of some sort (I used rose bush pruning shears)

Instructions

1. Cut one popsicle stick into thirds

2. Glue a small piece onto a full popsicle stick approx 2.5 to 3 inches from the end

3. Let dry

4. Paint handles the color of your choice (I used black)

5. Paint the "blade" in the color of your choice (I used metallic white, followed by a coat of gold glitter paint)

That's it!! You just made a popsicle stick sword! Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Since they are, in fact, popsicle sticks, the ends are rounded so the worst injury anyone could actually receive from these is *maybe* a splinter. But I figure if they're safe enough to be licked by 4 year olds then they should be safe enough to be held by them. So there you have it, an easy idea for boys' goody bags at a girl's princess party! (And I'm guessing the girls will have just as much fun with them!)

DIY- Noodle Horses/Pegasus (Flying Derby Ponies!)

I have finished 13 Flying Derby ponies for Miss I's birthday party. They turned out so super cute!! I got the idea from this pin and decided to make them a reality. It took me a little while to find pool noodles and then when I did, places like Wal-Mart wanted close to $4 a piece. The local dollar stores finally got them in stock and I was able to find them for a $1 each. So, now I'm going to give you directions on how to make them yourself!!!

Materials

Foam Pool Noodles
Ribbon/String/fishing line/etc

Felt sheets

Scissors

Low Temp Hot Glue and Gun

Fairy Wings

Googly Eyes (optional) - I did not use these however you can if you'd like

Rubber bands (optional)

Instructions

1. Cut ribbon in 2 1/2 to 3 foot length. (enough to make a "halter" and "reins")

2. Fold Noodle down to form the horse "head"

3. Secure fold with either a rubber band or ribbon

*Note- the ribbon will be used to cover up the rubber band if you choose to use it. The rubber band simply makes it easier to hold the noodle in the right position, while you tie the ribbon/string*

4. Tie Ribbon tightly around the folded noodle and tie in a double knot on the horse's back. Be sure to leave some extra for the reins. (I hot glued the ends together so it was large loop)

5. Cut two 1 inch strips from each side of the felt.

6. Discard one of the inch strips.

7. Cut points on the ends of the remaining strip

8. Fold the larger piece of felt in half and cut a wave or zig zag pattern along the edge.

8. Tuck one inch strip into the fold of the noodle and pull each side up tightly.

9. Hot glue the "ears" in an upright position

10. Place your fairy wings into the position you would like them on your horse. The wings I used (from the dollar store!) had elastic straps that I used to tie them on into position. You can also hot glue them if you need to. Cut any extra elastic that's hanging.

11. Place your remaining piece of felt (the one you cut in a wave pattern) on top of the horse's back. Cover the knot from the reins (but keep the reins loose!) and use the felt to hold the top portion of the wings in place. Hot glue it into place.

12. Add eyes. You can glue Googly eyes or you can use a sharpie to draw the eyes on. Miss I was my official eye drawer for these horses.

*Optional Step: Spray fairy wings with hair spray to keep glitter (if there is any) from falling off.*

Ta-dah!! You have just made yourself your very own Flying Derby pony!!

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Party Planning...

Birthday season has arrived!! Miss I has gotten so many birthday invitations and we are booked every weekend with a party or gathering of some sort until the end of April!! Holy smokes! Her birthday party is on one of those weekends and I think we are all excited about it! She decided to have a Sofia the First themed party for her fourth birthday. So, with that decision made, I took to Pinterest of course! There wasn't a ton of ideas posted yet aside from the store bought items from Disney. Being the DIY type, I didn't really want the generic packaged stuff so I did a little thinking and some more Pin-searching.

If you are unfamiliar with the animated Disney show, it follows young Sofia in her journey of being a princess after her mom marries the King. "She's finding out, what being royal is all about!" (If you've seen the show, I know that you totally just sang that last line ;)

I thought about the episodes of the show that have aired already and tried to think about how I could interpret them into a party. I also tried spelling "Sofia" differently in my Pin-search. (Sofia, Sophia, Sopheea)

 **Tip- If you are ever coming up short with Pin results when searching, try a different spelling**

I came up with a few ideas for my princess's royal 4th birthday. The main party event will be the magician! In the show, there is a character named Cedric who is the Royal Sorcerer, so I thought a magician would be a great tie in so that all the little Princesses could enjoy the same kind of magic that Sofia does. 

The magic show will start about 30 minutes after the party is supposed to start, so while the kids are waiting/or waiting on all the guests to arrive, they'll be able to color some Sofia pictures that I found on Pinterest. I'll be buying a couple of boxes of crayons from the dollar store for the girlies to color with and share.

After the magic show is over, they'll be able to pet and meet the animals he used in the show (which ties in well with Sofia's animal friends!), and then the Flying Derby will commence. In one episode, Sofia tried out for the Flying Derby team at Royal Prep Academy. Its basically a horse race with obstacles, but the horses are actually pegasuses and fly through the track rather than run. I saw these noodle horses on Pinterest and thought they would be perfect for our Flying Derby! I am adding fairy wings from the dollar store so that our horses can "fly"! The winning racer will get a special prize and the other racers will get a ribbon. They'll all get take their race horse home with them as well!

We were going to make amulets, as Sofia's pretty purple necklace is a big part of the show, but Miss I and I ended up making them all already. They were easy to make, but did require parental help, so we  decided that they would just go in the goody bags for our fellow princess guests. You can check out the DIY instructions here.

I'm still working on the invitations. I'll be making those myself on the computer and Miss S has been helping with design ideas. Not sure exactly how we want them just yet. We will be sending them out 2 weeks prior to the party, so I had better decide what they'll look like quick.

My friend Amie from The Treat Retreat in Spring, TX will be making the cake. I can't wait to see the final product! Here is the Pinspiration for our Sofia cake :)

I am still planning and plotting and most likely will be right up until the party. But you can follow my plans and ideas on Pinterest and check out my Sofia the First Party board.

I can't wait to be able to show you all the finished products and end result of this party. Its going to be so much fun! And when this one is over I'll be able to jump right into planning a certain special someone's 8th birthday party!

Do you have little Princesses in your house? What was the theme of your last birthday party you planned?

 

DIY- Sofia the First Amulet

If you have Sofia the First fan in your house, like I do, then this DIY post is perfect for you! We were originally going to make these at her birthday party coming up in April, but ended up making them all ourselves. It was quick and easy!!

Materials Needed:

1 inch Bottle caps
1 inch Bottlecap Gemstones (color of your choice)

Metal Punch

Jump rings

Jewelry glue

Cord/chain/necklace of some sort

Instructions:

1. Place some jewelry glue on the inside of the bottle cap

2. Press gemstone onto glue- let dry (this won't take long!)

3. Punch small hole into the edge of the bottle cap

4. Adhere the jump ring through the hole

5. String onto a necklace

Voila!!

See? I told you this was easy!! You can make these with any colors of bottle caps or gemstones. I got all my supplies at Hobby Lobby.

Edible Easter Baskets - A MOPS Craft!

I absolutely love going to MOPS (Mothers Of PreschoolerS) for the fellowship and friends I have made there. They try to have a craft once a month, and this month our craft director, Krissy, came up with a super cute Easter craft!

Edible Easter Baskets

I can't get over how cute and easy these were! And the best part is that they are completely edible!

What You Need:

Sugar cones

Cake balls (your choice of flavor)

Almond Bark
Coconut
Food Coloring

Jelly Beans
Sour Punch Straws

How To:

1. Make your cake balls. Our lovely director, Krissy made ours and supplied them for us. 

2. Freeze cake balls

3. Cut the tips of the sugar cones off, so that you have a hollow and flat edged cone.

4. Dye your coconut using 2-3 drops of food coloring. We had purple, yellow, green, pink, and blue "Easter grass".  

5. Melt Almond bark (we used the white!)

  6. Dip your cake balls into the melted almond bark. Be sure to cover the cake ball completely.

7. Slide your covered cake ball into your sugar cone "basket". You can spread a little extra coating on the top afterwards.

8. Place a Sour punch straw into the cone and coating to create your basket handle.

9. Decorate your basket with your colored coconut and jelly beans (we also had Sweet Tart bunnies and chicks...you can use any candy you'd like)

10. Let dry (not very long!) and then either use them to decorate for Easter or do like I did and let your kids eat them!! Miss I thoroughly enjoyed hers!!

 

  Ta-dah!!!

 

With a little prep work from Mom (or Dad!) this would be something even the kiddos could do! A big thanks to Krissy for the instructions on how to make these!!

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We all know that with the Spring comes a lot of cleaning. Cleaning the house, the vehicles, and a need to clean our blogs. Let's face it, we've probably got more junk on our blogs than our kids have shoved in their closets. But who has the time to clean up their blogs when they have so much else to do? I know I don't. That is what makes this giveaway so awesome. Why not let someone else clean up your blog while you sit back and relax. Not only are we giving away a whole new blog design, but we are also giving away 3 books to read while you are relaxing and a set of wine glasses to sip on some juice, wine, water, whatever helps you to unwind. This is PERFECT for any blogger, even someone who is thinking about starting a blog. See below for the details on the prizes.

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Disclosure: I did not receive compensation for this publication. My opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. The Pinspired Mom is not responsible for sponsor prize shipment.