GIRL SCOUT COOKIE TIME

This morning I got up early to go help deliver over 55,200 boxes of cookies to the troops in our area.

That's a lot of cookies!

It was so organized and everyone knew just what to do though, so it went very smoothly.

The cookies were counted and matched up to the orders and counted again.  Then the girls formed lines and loaded them into the cars.  After the order was completed and signed for, the went and got the next order ready.

They were right on time and got them all packed up into the cars without a hitch. 

Way to go Girl Scouts!

Don't forget, that even though the cookies taste great, each box of cookies that you buy helps the girl scouts to pay for outings, meetings and teaching young girls to grow up to be strong women.

So please, support your local girl scout troops and buy a box or more.

 

IDEA'S FOR VALENTINE'S DAY

One thing I love to do is to go around town and try to find fun holiday items I can come home and make myself or teach my girl scout troop to make.

I thought I would share, a few of the Valentine's Day items I've found this, with you.

First is a darling way to give someone you know a candy bar to tell them how "sweet" they are.  Rather then just hand them the candy, use a heart punch on some scrapbook paper and then add some ribbon to.

Much cuter then just the candy wrapper, don't you agree?

Make a cute banner by printing out red X's and O's on some paper and then punch holes in the top to weave through some ribbon.  Don't forget to print out some pink hearts too. 

What a perfect way to give someone some kisses and hugs on Valentine's Day.

Also, making some tissue paper pom poms to hang with your banner is a great idea.

We have all seen the paper mache heart boxes at the craft stores.  How about coating them in glue and then sprinkling red glitter on them.  To the top of the box, print off a picture of a vintage Valentine's Day postcard, cut it to fit the box and glue it on the top.   Use a red pipe cleaner to outline the picture and if you want you can even highlight some spots on the picture with a little bit more glitter.

You could use real vintage Valentine's Day cards if you want but I personally wouldn't unless the card is already in poor condition and then you could cut around the bad parts. 

I love this idea.  It's almost like the hanging cones I've seen many times but rather then just hanging, you can punch out a piece of heavy card stock, cover it with glue and glitter and then you can add the cone to it so it stands.

Don't wrap the cone as tight as the ones that hang up.  The bottom should be opened so it will be able to be glued down to the base.

Use crape paper, ribbons, pipe cleaners, tinsel or what ever other types of embellishments you like to finish off your cone.   Fill it with candy and you are sure to make a loved one feel very special.

These little cups would be so easy to make. 

As you can inside, the base starts with a little paper cup.  Then just wrap the outside with some crape paper.  Here they sewed it together so the ruffles were nice and even.  But, you could just glue it on.

You could add a handle to the cup if you like or leave it without one.

I would also add a little heart or flower or something to the cup to fancy it up a bit.

These would be perfect for a party filled up with candy hearts.

There are so many wonderful ideas if you just look.  A lot of what is out there can be made at home for pennies on the dollar.  Who doesn't like to save money?

However, if you don't have the time to make your own, you can always buy them.  Or buy one and save the idea for later next year.

VINTAGE PICNIC BIRTHDAY PARTY PART 2

We sat up one picnic table with tons of candy for the kids to snack on while we waited for everyone to show up. 

They were going to need a lot of energy for all the games coming up.

Once most of the people showed up we started to eat.  There was tons and tons of food for everyone to enjoy.

We had several kinds of sandwiches to pick from, fruit salad, potato salad, macaroni salad, a veggie tray, lots of different kinds of chips to pick from, snack mix, chocolate covered Oreo cookies and lots more. 

The kids really enjoyed being able to pick the food and drinks they wanted then wonder over to a blanket or quilt to eat at.

I was happy to see they all ate a lot and didn't just fill up on candy or junk food ahead of time.

The parents all ate at the picnic tables but the kids spread out and I could hear laughter and giggles from all over.

Let me tell you, these kids can eat and eat a lot.  I think they really like being able to pick whatever they want and be able to go back for as much as they like.

After eating it was time to play some games.  Keeping with the vintage picnic theme we did a sack race.

We used old pillow cases as the sacks.  It was funny because some of the kids had never played sack races and they thought it was so fun.  Simple, cheap and fun!

We also played tug of war.  Another vintage game that they loved!

Each side pulled and pulled with all their might.  They had no idea they were not only having fun but were getting some great exercise with these games as well.

When one side could no longer hold on, there were screams and moans on one side...

and cheers and screams of joy on the other. 

But, there was laughter and excitement from both sides.  It didn't really matter who won and who lost.  They all just had fun.

They also had a blast playing egg toss. 

 Every one picked a partner and then they would toss the egg back and forth to each other.  Every time the caught the egg without it breaking everyone would take a big step backwards.  If the egg broke, the team would be out. 

The last team standing won.  Thankfully, none of the eggs broke on the kids. 

But, soon the park had lots of broken eggs all around.  We could not leave them there for others to step in so the kids all pitched in and picked up all the eggs.

My favorite game was a scavenger hunt in the park.   Why was it my favorite, you ask?  Well, by this time I was tired.  So, I picked several teams and sent each time off with the list of what to find.  Each team had a parent with them and they had to photograph each item and bring it back to show me.

This meant the kids were all gone for over 20 mins and I could pick up some and even got a little rest time until they all showed back.

Everyone ended up getting several prizes though out the day and when they got back from the scavenger hunt they all got more as they were all winners!

Trinity opened up all her gifts and took pictures with everyone as she did so.

One of the great things was Trinity not only invited her friends but she also welcomed their little brother and sisters too.  She didn't want them to feel left out.  She has such a big heart and is always so kind to everyone. 

It was then time for cake!  We had a white cake with a cheesecake filling, chocolate cupcakes and red velvet cupcakes to pick from.

Everyone sang happy birthday to Trinity.

She blew out the candles.  Oh no, that boy in back of her looks like he is ready to push her into the cake!  He wouldn't do that would he?  No.

But, one of her other friends would smash a pie into her face!  Everyone had a good laugh over that.  Even Trinity!  What a good sport.

After she cleaned up and everyone had their fill of cake, it was time to say good bye.  Another year down.  Trinity is now 11 and each year she grows up more and more and just when I think she couldn't be any better of a kid, she is. 

I know the party was hit with the kids because many of them said they wanted to have the same kind of party.

I only wish I took better pictures.  Trying to take photos and run a party is hard.  I forgot to change the setting on the camera so they didn't come out that great. 

Even though I only had two weeks to pull it off, I think everyone had a very good time.  I know I did.

Happy Birthday Trinity!  I love you more then words can say!

A VINTAGE PICNIC BIRTHDAY PARTY

So sorry I've been gone for so long.  I've been supporting several friends who had some major problems in their lives. 

Then, I was given two weeks notice that my great niece, Trinity, decided she wanted to have a birthday party for her 11th birthday.

Last year she said she was done with having parties and she only had a few close friends celebrate with her.  They went to spend the night at the Disney CA Adventure Hotel and had a blast. 

Before, I always had a full year to plan, shop and get ready for her parties.  So, only having two weeks was pretty stressful.

She always let's me pick the theme and this year I went with A Vintage Picnic.

We used vintage table cloths, mason jars tied with strips of shabby chic material, paper straws and cut glass beverage containers.

I was a little worried about having glass outside being used by kids but not one item broke. 

The big hit was the paper straws.   All the kids thought they were so fun.  When I told them that all straws were paper when I was their age, they all said how "lucky"  I was and thought it was funny that when straws started to be out of plastic everyone thought they were wonderful.

We had tons of food!  Again there was a mix of using plastic bowls next to a cupcake stand dripping in crystals, a white lace plate sitting on top of a milk glass bowl for added height.

I had made the pink cookies.  I just took Oreo cookies and dipped them in pink chocolate and then sprinkled with mini white nonpareils.  I got several compliments on them. 

I wanted the water bottles to be cute but I didn't want to use the normal labels that are out there.  They are cute and can be printed to say whatever you want on them, yet, I still wanted something different.

So, I prettied them up with scrapbook paper, paper flowers and rhinestones.  I made two different versions.  They came out cute but because of that, many people didn't want to use them.  I had to tell people to drink these and that they were not just for looks.

I knew all the kids were all going to be "winning" prizes at the games they played, so, we really didn't need to have party favors for them.  Even so, I wanted them to have a little something that Trinity could give them as they said good bye.

I took empty bottles of Starbucks coffee drinks, (thanks to my friend Susie for saving these for me) and took all the labels off, washed them up good, spray painted the lids (3 coats were needed) and then once again got the scrap booking paper out and prettied them up. 

Each bottle got filled with gum balls that were fun flavors.

There were little touches of homemade items, like the paper chain and paper flower fans at this table.

Also, picnic baskets were see throughout the area.  Like the little one used to hold the plastic silverware.  I loved how they looked like real silverware.  Until you looked close, you couldn't tell they were plastic.

I tried to buy as little as possible for this party.  When I did buy something I tried to find things either at the thrift stores, discount stores and even the Dollar Tree. 

The little picnic basket was found at a thrift store, the silverware and doilies came from the Dollar Tree.   The white chicken wire basket came from TJ Maxx.  I found three different sizes in the clearance section.  They were brown and while they were cute brown, I wanted them to be white, so out came the can of spray paint.

The location we picked at the park had three picnic tables.  However, they were not together and could not be moved. 

We ended up using the tables for the adults to eat at and sit to watch the kids.  Plus, all the extra "supplies" like food, plates, cups and so on.

The kids all ate old quilts and blankets.

Of course there were also balloons.  After all, it is a birthday party.

Here are the two other chicken wire baskets.  They were used to hold chips and snack mix.  The snack mix would have fallen through the chicken wire so I used some material that came from an old sheet.  It was the same material I used on the mason jars.  I also used the top sheet to this set as the back drop to a photo booth we had and the pillow cases were used in the sack race we had. 

 I made little framed signs to say what the items were and little clip on butterflies were also used throughout the area as was clip on flowers.

Before we knew it, the kids started to show up.  It was party time.

While we were waiting for everyone to show up, the kids had fun going through all the photo booth props and getting their picture taken.

Sadly, the backdrop didn't really show up in many of the photos because the sun was shinning through and so the print didn't show up.  But, it really didn't matter.  There were still many, many laughs going on at that photo booth.

Even some of the adults got into the fun!

There was a little bunny with her pet snake.

A silly nerd and  all sorts of funny get ups.

Trinity was so good about making sure even the little ones got into the fun. 

I love picture!

Even the babies had pictures taken with props.

The fun was just starting.  Once everyone got there, the party really kicked into action. 

Tomorrow, I'll post the rest of party.