DIY Christmas Gifts

So in an effort to save some cash and put more effort into gift giving I decided to DIY some presents this year.  

If you need some ideas, keep reading.  If you're done getting gifts keep reading anyway, what else are you doing for the next five minutes? ;)

My first project was courtesy of your favorite and mine - Pinterest.  The oh so famous DIY handprint reindeer (full tutorial can be found here).  Ever since our bundle of joy has entered our lives my husband and I have come to realize how crazy our parents are for her.  Head over heels, proud, bursting with love, obsessed.  Whatever you want to call it.  So what better way to make the grandparents happy than a little  ornament made by hers truly bearing her teeny, chubby little handprint?  And since it's Christmas and all, might as well slap some extra paint on that and make it a reindeer.  Thank you Pinterest.  (You can follow me on Pinterest, just click the button at the top of the page).

My second DIY was much simpler - homemade chocolate chip cookies.  But I didn't just want to simply put them in a tin and send them on their way.  I wanted them to look cute and pretty.  Like the Pinterest ones.  F****ing Pinterest! 

My last DIY project was more overwhelming. Homemade hand salve.  I was not familiar with the ingredients or how to use them, but I found the simplest recipe I could and crossed my fingers.  And said a prayer. And threw a penny in a fountain and made a wish.  Ok, I didn't really do that last part.  

I headed to Michaels excited to cultivate  my inner Martha Stewart. When I got there however, I realized how not crafty I actually am.  I wandered around Michaels like a lost puppy studying different kinds of paint and markers and stickers.  Oh my! Do you know how many different kinds of labels and stickers they sell??? Yea, me neither but it's a lot.  

I managed to find washable paint, ribbon  and a piece of oak tag for the reindeer handprints fairly easily.  Then I walked the whole store before stumbling onto, or rather into, the baking aisle.  I picked up some mini plastic baggies in an hourglass shape and some ribbon.

And then the confusion ensued.  I needed tins to hold the lotion, beeswax, coconut oil, essential oil, and sweet almond oil.  The coconut and almond oil I had to get from the Vitamin Shoppe but the rest was from Michaels.  I eventually found everything I needed in the candle making/bath area.  Did you know Michaels sells bath salts and other random bath products?? I studied the beeswax for about five minutes before my daughter started begging for the Minnie Mouse book across the aisle.  

I headed home to begin.  

I knew the reindeer might be the hardest in terms of cooperation from the little one so I laid down some garbage bags and made us some garbage bag smocks.  She rocked that garbage bag if I do say so myself.  And they worked like a charm! No paint on our clothes or floor.  

I mixed up some red and green to make brown, rubbed it on her hand and patted it down all over the oak tag before she even knew what was happening.  Then I gave her the part of the oaktag we hadn't used and let her go nuts finger painting it. She had a blast and so did I! I glued some googly eyes on, painted a red nose, punched a whole, tied some ribbon and wrote my holiday message. On the back I wrote the year, and my daughter's name and age.

Next, I baked some cookies using the Nestle Tollhouse recipe, put them in baggies and tied them up.  

But I decided they just didn't look cute enough.  I tied ribbon around them and made label in MS Word to tie onto each bag.  

Much better.

Lastly, the hand salve.  Using a double boiler I melted equal parts almond oil, coconut oil and beeswax. 

This is where things got tricky.  I discovered the hard way that I'm allergic to one of those oils.  As the oils heated up and melted, my throat was shrinking in size.  

I began coughing and wheezing so I ran and opened the windows which helped a bunch.  Except I was an icicle by the time the oils had melded together.

I think it's the coconut oil because this has happened once before at Benihana in Hawaii. On our honeymoon.  On the first night.  I had to leave the restaurant and order a $31 burger from room service and my husband got his food to-go and had to eat it on the balcony alone outside because just the smell of it made my throat start acting up all over again. Romantic right??

But I would not be deterred so easily.  Once melted, I took the bowl off the heat, added a vanilla and lavender essential oil and poured it into the tins I bought.  Then I washed my hands, changed my clothes and got out of the house as quickly as I could while it aired out.  What better way to spend a morning out then visiting Santa? So that is just what we did.  (I forgot to take a picture, but they look pretty cute if I do say so myself.)

I will be delivering my goodies tomorrow so I hope everyone enjoys them!  I never got to test out that salve so I hope it is silky and soothing.  But I guess I'll never really know.  Stupid allergies!

Doing something meaningful and thoughtful brings joy to others but really giving just feels darn good.  Happy Holidays!!!!

~And that my friends, is worth a glass of champagne.~

1st Birthday Party

Did anyone else begin planning their child's first birthday party months in advance?  I never thought I'd be that person, but once March rolled around I began to feel as though I was falling behind on planning.  My daughter's birthday is in June.  June(!)  That's almost four months from March.  Oh boy.

Most people believe first birthday parties are really more for the parents than they are the child.  Odds are the kid won't remember who was there, what she got, or what the theme is.  But does that stop us?  Heck no!  And I don't know about you but after carrying her for nine months, going without sleep, leaving my career, and figuring out how to be a mom I think I deserve to share in a party!  My husband has also given up a lot, so party for him too!  Luckily, we willingly made these sacrifices and we couldn't be happier we did.  Every sleepless, fussy night and day were worth the little mini-me that happily wobbles around our house spreading joy wherever she goes. I cannot believe how fast this year has passed.  And how much has changed from a year ago - mentally, physically, socially, and every other -ally there is.  

I decided to commemorate all this change and progress with a Garden Party.  My challenge was to plan this on a budget since we only have one income right now.  Browse Pinterest for just a few minutes to see the amazing first birthday parties other parents have thrown for their little ones and it's hard not to feel outdone or that your love is somehow conveyed by how coordinated, cute and how diy your party is.  It looks more like a set for a photo shoot than a baby's birthday party.  Unfortunately this realization did not stop me from pinning my little heart out - tiered ombre ruffle cakes, homemade cookies with those little edible pearls in the shape of flowers and butterflies, an explosion of flowers in antique vases, and furniture that belongs in the house out on the lawn delicately and perfectly distressed (in the correct color scheme of course).  

{Her party dress}

How am I going to do this I wondered?  Well for those of you looking for advice and ideas I will share with you what I did so perhaps your life becomes a little eensy bit easier.  

I had to pick and choose what I was willing to diy, what was just plain unnecessary and what was out of budget.  I wanted it to be a shabby chic, elegant garden party.  Did I mention this is for a one year old?  I know babies are rarely elegant.  They're more like the Michelin man covered in food.  

I wanted to diy a few things but I didn't want to be overwhelmed.  I'm not crafty so taking on too much would have been a total mistake.  

My first project was to order a bunch of photo prints of my daughter's first year and make them into the shape of a number one.  I had a coupon code from Snapfish for 300 prints at a penny each so it was perfect.  I cut a piece of oaktag into the shape of a one and then pasted the pics onto it in that shape. 

Narrowing them down....

  

I got some clothespins and clothesline and hung the rest of the pics around the yard for everyone to see how much she's grown and changed over the past year.  (It's amazing to see!)  Snapfish is also where I got the invitations for the party (which I also had a coupon code for, yay!).

I did half a diy project for the party favors.  Since a one year old doesn't really have friends yet, the only kids at the party were her cousins.  I decided it would be nice to give each kid a terra cotta pot filled and seeds to grow their own marigolds.  I got the mini pots from Lowes for $0.97 and bought some stickers from Michael's so I could put each child's name on his or her pot.  More about these later...

Almost ready

My last diy was to make signs inspired by ones I saw on Pinterest.  It took FOREVER but I'm really happy with the way they turned out.  I used MS Word for all my signs, specifically the Word Art feature.  Having a picture to model mine off of made it much easier to do.  Like I said, I'm not crafty.  So I cheated a little bit by using Pinterest.  Shh. I won't tell if you don't.  ;)

DIY is great and all, but what's a party without food, right? That's one of the most important parts! I decided finger foods served buffet style would be easiest and cheapest.  Pop the warmed food into sternos and let people pick all day.  As for apps I make a killer healthy salsa that is super easy and tasty, served with Tostitos.  Chop up some fresh tomatoes, combine with canned corn, red onion, parsley and italian dressing.  It goes great with lime flavored Tostitos but not everyone is a fan, so for the party I stuck to plain chips.  I made ants and butterflies on a log for the kids. Take celery stalks, fill with peanut butter and top with raisins to make 'ants.' For the butterflies do the same thing but add two mini twisted pretzels on either side of each raisin to create the butterfly's wings.  It's a hit with the kids every time.  (Note** Just be sure no one has a peanut allergy before you go making and serving them!!  Substitute hummus for pb if necessary)

The main dishes were chicken fingers and pulled pork sliders with corn on the cob, a green salad with veggies and chick peas, and sweet potato fries as the sides.  The chicken fingers and pulled pork were pre-cooked so I could save time and energy.  All I had to do was heat it up.  So easy.  I purchased all of the food from Costco to save some dough because the guest list was about 35 (we have a big Irish family). 

In our family there are no start or end times to parties.  You come when you want and leave when you want.  This is great for quality family fun time, but makes it difficult to plan a party.  You never know who  will be there, who will be hungry when or how many meals you will be responsible for feeding them.  This is normal to me so I planned on serving snacks throughout the day - since I'm sure this party will last well into dinner and after.  I made extra apps and used those to serve later as snacks, but in addition I had a candy jar that I filled with goldfish.  To add a little fun, the kids used a mini shovel to serve themselves into plastic cups.  The kids loved it!

Now for the crowning glory of every birthday party. Dessert.  I figured I should actually cook some of the food so I picked the thing that would be the most fun to make - cupcakes.  Instead of the ruffled, pink ombre cake I really wanted to get, I thought cupcakes would be just as fun but cheaper.  And way less messy.  Then I don't have to cringe at the exorbitant amount of money I spent on a cake as my daughter  smears it all over her face, body, and anything else within her reach.  A cupcake is cheap, one serving size and always tasty!  

A freezing cold glass of milk is a necessary accompaniment to cake of any kind, so a glass of milk it is.  Have you seen Pinterest?  A glass isn't good enough (scoff).  I saved Starbucks Frappuccino glasses, took off the stickers, and washed them.  I re-purposed them for the kids' milk and served them with these adorable retro straws I found on sale at Sur la Table.  I also made fruit skewers in the color of the rainbow (idea totally stolen from Pinterest).  A healthy option to make us feel better about the cupcakes.  

For the decor I wanted all pastel.  I saw Party City was offering 15% off your order so I went nuts.  I bought tons of fluffy paper balls in pink, white, lavender and blue.  Floral tablecloths, napkins, plates and cups really tied everything together and made it look more planned and coordinated than it really was. To save a little money I ordered plates and cups in a matching pink because printed plates cost more.  It also broke it up so it wasn't too 'matchy matchy' because I really hate when things match too much.  Is that crazy?  Does anyone else feel that way?

I usually hate party favors.  Most of the time it's just junk you don't want that the host felt obligated to provide because you took the time and effort to attend their party.  This is especially true for weddings.  Kids parties are a bit easier but still challenging if the kids vary greatly in age.  I found myself in this very scenario and eventually got a great idea.  Mini flower pots so the kids can grow their own flowers.  I chose marigolds since they are almost kill-proof.  And if mom happens to become responsible for my party favor she can pop them in her garden to keep the pests away.  I bought stickers from Michael's to place the kids' names on the pots so there would be no confusion or fighting.  I got the same pots and same seeds for that very reason.  There will be no 'She got the red one!' or 'He got the better dirt' here!  

Dirt and kids are great together, but not in the car on the way home from a party.  I put the dirt in a plastic baggie and placed it in the pot with the packet of seeds on top.  That way if it happened to tip over there wouldn't be dirt all over the car, or the kids, or mom.  Or all three!  Maybe it's the teacher in me, but I thought this party favor could teach them a little bit about responsibility and nature.  My hope is that they water it, watch it grow and feel proud of themselves for having accomplished something great.  

All in all the party was a success.  My daughter enjoyed herself and we loved watching her officially turn one.  I wish we could do this year all over again but at the same time I can't wait for what's to come and who she's going to be.  No matter what, we love her and this party was simply a celebration of that love.  

They're even more fun the day after!

We enjoyed some fun in the sun, some food and games, but most importantly we celebrated our first daughter's birthday with those closest to us.  And that my friends, is worth a glass of champagne!  Cheers and Happy Birthday, AB :)

"Oooo, more people came to celebrate!"