superhero party games.

Last up: Super hero party games!
We had the party at the field house at our park and the weather was kind of iffy that day, so we didn’t know how much time the kids were going to get to play outside. So we planned some indoor and outdoor games.

When the kids first arrived, I had them decorate their goodie bag with superhero stickers.

We played musical chairs to get the kids warmed up.

Then we played freeze dance. Here, they had a chance to freeze and do all kinds of superhero moves.

We then went outside and put a mask on my husband. He acted as the villian and the kids had to chase after them, wearing their masks of course, and if they tagged him he threw candy at them.

We planned a water balloon toss, but since it was chilly, we just had the kids run inside, grab water balloons and chase the villian, trying to hit him with water baloons. THIS was a HUGE hit. The kids were going crazy, having a blast!

Last game before the pizza came was “tie up the villian.” we had four dads sit in chairs and gave the kids each a roll of toilet paper to tie up the bad guy.

we didnt do winners/losers, since these kids are all around 3-5, and get their feelings hurt easily when they lose. During musical chairs if they lost, they got a turn to start/stop the music. We made sure we had plenty of candy for everyone so it felt like all the kids got alot. During the water balloon throw, each kid got to throw a few water balloons each. And during the tie up game, no team “won.” we just celebrated everyone and gave the kids lots of candy to take home!

superhero masks.

Instead of party hats, I made all the kids superhero masks using this pattern. They also doubled as a party favor….All you need is some felt, hot glue, a sewing machine and some thin elastic.

Felt is in credibly inexpesnive, and I was able to fit three masks on one sheet. I purchased about a yard of elastic on etsy. I didn’t do them double sided, like she did in the pattern; I just used hot glue to affix the different colors and used my sewing machine to sew on the elastic.
These were great for all ages – we had babies wearing them, all the way to teenage brothers and parents!

superhero bunting.

This weekend we had a superhero themed birthday for my little guy, who turned four. It was a huge success, and I’ll share with you some of the DIY elements I did, as well as some of the games we played throughout the week.

First up: Comic book bunting.

I went to half price books and bought six comic books for 25 cents each. I also spray mounted comic books on the back of the invitation.  But for the bunting I just cut out a bunch of triangles, folded them over some yarn and used hot glue to keep them in place. We hung these from the ceiling above the tables and they made the perfect decor. It was super easy and inexpensive and something you can whip up in no time!

crocheted kitty hat.

I feel like I know ALOT of pregnant people as of late. So i got a head start on some baby gifts and crocheted this adorable little kitty hat in no time, plus I needed a break from blankets. (sorry granny stripe) The pattern is found here and its really easy to do! Pretty sure I’m going to need to do a boy version too. I didn’t use very much yarn, maybe a 1/4 of a skein? So this is a great project to use up random balls of yarn colors. Get to it!

superhero silhouette.

I made a silhouette once before; and I still had one more frame to use from when I scored these two for 10 cents at a garage sale this summer. I saw something like this on pinterest, and knew I had to make one for milos room. I found the batman art here; spraypainted the frame black (it was a gross brown color before); then used mod podge to affix the batman to the map paper. I used a heavier cardstock for the black batman because regular paper wilts and wrinkles when you use the mod podge on top of it. I originally thought of using a page from a comic book, but when I put the art on it, it didn’t stand out enough. You definitely want something that will make the black stand out.

I love this! I think its whimsical and fun, and it works perfectly in milo’s room.

coffee filter butterflies.

I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely starting to get over winter and am ready for spring…Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the winter, I’m just ready for warmer days ahead. That being said, Milo and I worked on making these simple coffee filter butterflies in anticipitation of the first day of spring ahead. They are super easy to make and will keep your toddler or preschooler entertained for a bit.

You need
Coffee filters
Watercolor paints
Pipe cleaners

Lay the coffee filters flat, and paint the whole thing with different colors using the water color paints. Make sure to let the paint absorb the filters. Let them dry, and then accoridan fold the filter, about 1/2 an inch, each fold, and then secure with half a pipe cleaner. Display and hope that spring is on its way…

granny stripe blanket….complete!

the granny stripe blanket is complete! (see progress, here, here and here). I’m so happy; this is my biggest yarn project to date. The pattern I used is found here. Although it looks like its an intimidating project, it really is super easy. Any beginner can do this. I ended up buying 15 skeins of yarn total (three skeins of each color) and used about 2 1/2 of each skein. I used black for the edging, and just did 2 rows of single crochet around. I’m so so happy with how it turned out. Special thanks to milo, who pushed the button on the timer to help make the photo about possible; training them young

So what are you waiting for? Get started on making yours and show me your progress!

raw brownie truffles.

I’m intrigued by raw deserts, but they seem like they can be kind of expensive, considering all the ingredients and time that goes into them. I have been pinning a few here and there lately that have peeked my interest and might start giving them a try….These were a simple treat to make, made with ingredients I had on hand. ( I seem to have alot of almonds on hand currently so I used those!) They are fairly healthy for you too, considering they have no refined sugar! They should satisfy a craving for something sweet and chocolatey. And you can roll them in all kinds of goodness – and make a whole variety of truffles.

Place 1 cup almonds in a food processor ( i used my vitamix) (you can also use any kind of nuts or combination of nuts here) and get them chopped up (not too fine). Add 1 cup pitted dates and mix until it starts to stick to the blade.  Add 4 T shredded coconut and 5 T cocoa powder and mix. Then add 2 T agave and mix until combined.  Roll into walnut size balls and then roll them into your topping. I rolled mine in cocoa powder and cinnamon.

dinosaur hoodie.

Every kid needs a dinosaur hoodie! These are so easy to whip up! All you need is a hoodie and some felt, and a sewing machine (although you could probably easily do this by hand, it would just take a little bit longer). I had this thrifted hoodie sitting in milo’s closet, and I dug into my felt stash to make the spikes.

I glanced at this tutorial, and then I went to work. You can download a template for the spikes here, or you can just wing it. Fold on a seam, and cut enough spikes to cover the back of your hoodie. ( I ended up using only one sheet of felt for this 3T hoodie)

1. Fold your hoodie in half. You can iron it to make a nice crease – you will be using this as your guide to pin the spikes.
2. Pin the spikes to your hoodie – the middle of the spike should line up with the crease.

3. Once all your spikes are pinned, sew each one down the middle of the spike.
4. Once all your spikes are attached to the hoodie, then fold the spikes in half and sew up the sides of the felt.

granny stripe: another update….getting close!

Here we are almost the end of two skeins…As you can see from the last update, I more than doubled what I left with…I’m definitely close to finishing, but thinking of going a bit more. i probably wont do a FULL three skeins, but thinking about 10-15 more rows.  Then I need to think about if I’m going to do edging or not (opinions? experiences? do share!) …I probably would have gotten this done on the recent trip to china – but on our way home our 6 hour layover became almost no layover thanks to a very kind United ticketing agent who got us on a direct flight back to chicago almost immediately after landing -  Happy to be home – but a good chunk of crocheting became void.  Hope to have a finished blanket very soon though….I’m hoping to at least do 2-4 rows a night…Stay tuned!