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Gingerbread Castles
Here is a completely edible twist on the classic gingerbread house. After many bouts of tears over heavily decorated rooftops that have collapsed, our little family started to make gingerbread castles. I made a template that is free to download below. The castle is a very basic and simple design. Feel free to add brick marks with a butter knife before baking to fancy them up. This template is best printed out onto white cardstock, cut, and used as a guide to cut out the shapes from your rolled dough. We used this recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction. I like it as there isn’t an extra step of having to…
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DIY Christmas Ornaments
We have been busy getting our house ready for the holidays and as usual my kids have been right by my side helping me to decorate. Recently we were able to visit a tree farm and found our Christmas tree. My kids always love helping to decorate it with our growing collection of ornaments. We have some that have been handed down to us, gifted to us, as well as many made by them through the years. Here are some of their favorite ways to make ornaments for our tree and home. Hoping these ideas can be useful and fun for your family as well! I purchased these plastic disc…
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Thanksgiving Decorations Kids Can DIY
Today I wanted to share with you three printables I have made to help my kids decorate our home for Thanksgiving. My kids love all holidays and really enjoy helping me to change up our house decor for all the seasons. There is a Happy Thanksgiving coloring banner, fingerprint art activity, and turkey craft template that can be used for a variety of crafts. Hope they can help to add some calm and festive charm to your home as well! This file is best printed out onto white cardstock. Two acorns print per page. Kids can be offered crayons, pens, or even paint. The wide outlines are very forgiving for…
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Disney Countdown for Kids
Are you getting ready to go to Disneyland or Disney World or are planning to go in the near future? I made a few printables for my little family as we recently had the opportunity to visit Disney World this fall. If you have never experienced Disney World in the fall, I would highly recommend it. The decorations were nice, the crowds a bit smaller than in the spring, and it was much less hot. I didn’t feel like I was melting all the time! I made a countdown for my kids to help count down the days to our vacation as well as a few to take along on…
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TMNT Birthday
Cowabunga! My oldest recently turned eleven and requested a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle pizza party for his family and friends. Here is how we celebrated using simple supplies, little expense, and not much time (as his little sister’s birthday was just around the corner). I also made some printable crafts, photo props, banners, and food labels that are free to download below. Hoping these ideas and printables can be useful and fun for your ninja fans! Decorations: We stuffed the arms and legs of a TMNT costume with pool noodles and added a green balloon on top to create Leonardo doing the splits above our fireplace. My kids helps me…
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Moon Festival Lanterns
Today I wanted to share some simple paper lanterns I recently made with my kids to help decorate for the Moon Festival (also known as the Mid-Autumn Festival or in Vietnamese, Tet Trung Thu) which begins today. The three lanterns feature a happy moon, moon cakes, as well as a silhouette of Vietnam. All you need is some white cardstock, the free printable templates below, scissors, and glue. Hope it can help to add a little fun to your family or classroom celebration as well! This file is best printed out onto 110lb white cardstock. Your kids can color their lanterns using crayons, markers, or even paint them with watercolors.…
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Fruit Birthday Party
Recently my middle daughter turned 6 and requested a fruit themed birthday. Bright, sweet, and very orange-inal, it was a fun theme that reflected my daughter’s personality. Here is how my kids helped me to put together an absolutely pear-fect, easy, and inexpensive birthday party to celebrate with her family and friends. Hoping these ideas and printables can be helpful and fun for your family too! Decorations: I really loved these ballon fruits from Oh Happy Day. She makes the funnest things out of balloons. My kids helped me to blow up various balloons we had leftover from past parties and cut out leaves from construction paper to make these…
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Easy Fourth of July Activities for Kids
Sharing some low prep, last minute printables and crafts for the fourth. Hope they can be helpful and fun to you and your family as you get ready to celebrate Independence Day! The cute star and stripes and happy grill coloring page is free to download here. The USA birthday cake is available for free download here. My kids love coloring. It’s calming, therapeutic, and fun. We always make sure to have a coloring corner in our home as well as some sort of coloring activity set up at all of our gatherings. Simply add a tray of crayons, markers, and stickers, and you are set! I found star shaped…
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Timber Rattlers Party
Recently, we threw an end of the season celebration for my son’s little league team. They were the Timber Rattlers. Here is how we quickly set up a simple, inexpensive, and fun party in our home to celebrate a group of 10-year-old little leaguers. Hoping these ideas and printables can be helpful to you if you are either celebrating a baseball team or hosting a snake or reptile theme party. Decorations: We made large swirly snakes out of poster board. I purchased this pack of poster board from Walmart and used an extra black piece I had. As a child, I used to make swirly snakes from paper plates by…
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Derby Party
Here are a few easy, quick, and affordable ideas to celebrate Derby Day. Hoping these ideas and printables may also be helpful and fun for your classroom or home as well! Decorations: My kids helped me to create these easy and fun rose suncatchers to decorate. I made a template for the roses that is free to download below then printed them out onto black cardstock. I cut the insides out, overlapped the circles and then placed contact paper over everything. Here is a quick video tutorial of how to make them: The kids went to town adding cut up pieces of red tissue paper for the roses and green…
