Ring in the New Year with Toddlers

Gone are the days that I go to a New Year's party and stay up until midnight drinking way too much caffeine and junk food. New Year's has always been one of my favorite holidays. My best friend growing up and I spent many New Year's Eves plotting our plan and toilet papering this boy in the neighborhoods house. We would always have to take her dog for a walk the next morning with hopes to catch a glimpse of him cleaning it up. One year he caught us and chased us down the street and made us help him clean it up. I remember New Years 2000 all to well with our matching shirts that said 2000, Millenium and New Years printed all over them, except hers was blue and mine was red.

New Years is still one of my favorite holidays even with little ones. How will you spend your evening? This was last year. I can't remember all the activities we did, but scroll down to find some ideas with what we have planned this year!

The eve before New Years Eve once the kids are in bed, we take all the tree decorations down and replace them with balloons, fun glasses and hats, streamers, etc. All found at the Dollar Store or a party store. It is such a fun surprise for the kids to wake up to. They immediately know that the day is going to be special! 

You will also want to plan your activities and type/write them out on paper and put one activity in each balloon with a time counting down to your "midnight". Our midnight is 7pm.  (see picture above for balloons with times)

Here is a list of activities, not in any particular order. 

dinner- we have made it a tradition to go get pizza at The Pie Pizzeria 

balloon painting- we did this last year. 

material needed: balloons

                                paper plates

                       paper

                      paint

blow up balloons (don't fill them up too much), poor just a little paint on paper plate, dip the balloon and stamp onto paper. it makes the most fun marble look. 

paint nails (just the girls of course! ;) we will have to come up with an activity that dad and brother can do together while we paint nails. maybe shoot some hoops or make paper airplanes? )

funfetti playdough

find the recipe here - we are excited to try this! 

bake and decorate cookies - in all honesty we will probably just do slice and bake sugar cookies this year, but here is a good recipe if you are up for baking some up from scratch! (I just took a look at the recipe myself and we just may  need to make them! we'll see if i'm up for the challenge! ) And here is my favorite cream cheese frosting recipe! It's a rule to eat one right away, but save one for "midnight". Find plastic "champage" glasses at the Dollar Store and balance the cookie on top. "So darling" as my 3 year old would say!

make a noise maker

follow the link here

or make these! 

blow bubbles

We love these bubbles from Gymboree. 

dance party- The station Kidz Bop on Pandora provides some fun dancing music!

make snack necklaces- use anything with holes in the middle- cereals, pretzels, cookies, lifesavers, candy such as peach rings

Make it fun! Ringing in the new year with toddlers/children isn't so bad! :)

Stocking Stuffers

Stocking stuffers are so much fun. I always looked forward to seeing what St. Nick put in my stocking. Without fail I remember always having an orange at the bottom (It fits perfect in the toe). I don't believe stocking stuffers need to be anything expensive or elaborate. That is what is so much fun about stuffing stockings... being creative to fill it without breaking the bank with things that will fit inside. The possibilities are endless.

Some of my favorite places to find things are:

• Target dollar spot
• Michaels Craft Store has dollar bins as well
• Dollar Store
• Joannes Craft Store- I love getting craft items there that can't be found in the dollar bins and better quality than the Dollar Store because they have an awesome coupon policy that allows you to use competitors coupons. You can use several coupons in the same transaction as long as they have different barcodes. With 40%-50% off coupons you can get fun craft items for just a few dollars.
• Be aware and on the look out that Children's Place has $1 doorbusters on their hats, gloves and scarves usually sometime after Thanksgiving. 

Practical Parenting  has put together an awesome list of 50 stocking stuffer ideas. Some of these items are a little pricey for stocking stuffers in my opinion (you wouldn't find many of them on my above mentioned list of places to find stuffers), but it is worth checking out! 

Clarks Condensed also has put together a fabulous list on inexpensive stocking stuffers for toddlers.

Mother's Niche also has one of my favorite stocking stuffer lists that I personally referred to as well.


Here is my 5 favorite stocking stuffers for my little ones this year:

1.  Melissa and Doug On the Go Water Wow! I did a review on these here. Buy them at Michaels or Joanne's Craft store and use a %40 coupon!

2.  Hot Wheels Cars

3. Scarves, hats and gloves- remember this for next year! 

4. Frozen Watch

5.  fun socks

Teacher Christmas Gift Ideas

Are you in need of a teacher gift? Here are a few of my favorite ideas. 

I think this is the cutest idea! An App(le) for my teacher!

I would love this gift! A movie and popcorn! Maybe throw in a some chocolate too! 

Warm cozy socks, nail polish & lotion. I couldn't find a link to this "warm & cozy mistle toes" idea, but think it is adorable. I created the printable below to go along with the idea. You'll want to right click and save the image and then print. 

Or if your budget is a little less than the above idea this is cute with just the nail polish. 

Isn't this idea amaz'on! :)

We never have enough cozy blankets in our home. I love the cute printable for it. Check it out here.

Christmas Story Lesson & Game

It is important to us that we take time to remember the true meaning of Christmas. Our family is doing this lesson and activity for a family night. We were gifted the Fisher Price Little People Nativity Playset and it has been the greatest gift. We bring it out with our Christmas decor and always tell the story of Christ's birth with it. 

This year we wanted to make it even more interactive for our little ones, so we created a little game to go along with telling the story. We use the book My First Story of the First Christmas, which features New Testament as well as Book of Mormon stories. You can find the book on Amazon here. There are so many books, so find one that you like! 

Ahead of time you will want to write out clues describing Jesus, Mary, the Angel Gabriel, the shepherds and the wise men. Here are the clues that I made for ours. Feel free to copy and paste them or write your own! Here are the clues we wrote and used:

• I am the Son of God and Savior of the World. I was born in a manger. Who am I?

• I came to Mary and told her that God had chosen her to be the mother of the Savior. Who am I?

• I am a young woman who lived in the small town of Nazareth. Heavenly Father sent an angel named Gabriel to visit me. I am the mother of the Savior. Who am I?

• We were watching our sheep on the hillside when an angel appeared to us. We were afraid, but the angel told us to fear not. We hurried to Bethlehem to see the baby and worship him. Who are we?

• It took us a long time to travel to Bethlehem. When we found Jesus, we knelt down and  worshiped Him. We gave him gifts of gold, frankinscense and myrrh. Who are we?

I typed mine out and mounted them on red cardstock, but you can simply write each clue out on a piece of paper. 

After telling the story we sent our little ones on a hunt for the pieces to the nativity. After they returned with all the pieces we read each clue and had them pick out who we were describing. Afterwards, have them retell the story of Christmas using the playset and enjoy playing together! 

Fall Wreath Inspiration

I cannot wait for Fall! I made this coffee filter wreath last Fall and love it so much it is hanging on the inside of my door as part of my every day decor. So, this year I am looking to make a new one. Below are a few of my favorites with links to tutorials. 

I love the simplicity of this wreath. Fall Wreath Rosettes- follow this link to find a tutorial . 

This one just may be my favorite. I love all the different textures. Fabric and Felt Fall Wreath tutorial here. 

I can't decide which wreath I love more! This wreath may be the one to grace my door this Fall. Find the tutorial for this Ruffle Wreath here. 

Easy and colorful. Check it out here! 

Displaying Kids Art Work

Are you ready for the endless pile of artwork now that school is starting or maybe you have a toddler like me that loves to color and already have a pile? Here are a few solutions for artwork! 

Magnetic Fridge Art Frames from Positively Splendid

Frames with cork make it easy to rotate artwork

Clothesline and clothespins 

Fun Frame Display

Frames for a more permanent display.

Visit  A Little of This, A Little of That blog for this DIY display.

Love this idea from A Bowl Full of Lemons. Each child has a binder with sheet protectors to keep all their artwork. 

6 Super Breakfast Ideas

1. Smoothie Kits- in a quart size ziplock freezer baggie add two cups of frozen fruit and 3-4 cubes of pre-made cubes of yogurt that have been frozen in ice-cube trays. You can buy bags of frozen fruit  or use these tips to freeze your own fresh fruit. 

2. Frozen Breakfast Burritos

3. Homemade Instant Oatmeal Packets from Super Healthy Kids (one of my favorite sites) Save money!

4. Breakfast on the go- peanut butter/banana roll up!  Take a tortilla spread Peanut Butter first then the jelly place banana on one end then roll, then eat up!

5. Breakfast Bites (5 minutes or less!) 

6. Muffins- great to make ahead! Serve with a banana or some fruit and viola! Love these homemade blueberry muffins from Our Best Bites