As you may know, kids in school equals lots of friend birthday party invites. I have a philosophy of not spending a lot of money on friend gifts... especially if I don't know the friend well. Because of this, I have GIFT BINS. I find things on clearance or super inexpensive and then put them away in a Rubbermaid tote, until a party pops up.
Just recently, my GIFT BINS have been getting low and my gift funds, even lower. So when Treyson was invited to a birthday party a few weeks ago, we made the gift. We put together a MAGIC TRICK set. I got on the internet and looked up simple magic tricks, then printed them onto cardstock, cut them up and bound them with a metal binder ring. Next, we gathered all the supplies needed for each magic trick and put them into a little plastic carrying tote. To top the kit off, we made a magic wand. I painted a wooden dowel black and then added glitter to one end for that magic sparkle. His friend's mom loved it...hope the friend did too. :)
Treyson was again invited to a friend's birthday party this week. Funds still being low, we decided to make another gift. The theme of the party was Harry Potter.
I went onto the internet and looked up "homemade Harry Potter gifts". I found a site that showed how they made a Harry Potter wand with a wooden dowel and hot glue. First gift idea, CHECK!
Next, I found a site that had all the Harry Potter Spells listed. This was a detailed list. It had the pronunciations, descriptions, where the spell was used in the movie or book and some even had the Latin roots to the spell's name. Second gift idea, CHECK!
I took the wooden dowel and sanded down one end to make it tapered. Next I hot glued around the dowel to give it some texture and make it look wand-like.
Then I spray painted it brown and called it done.
For the cover of the Book of Spells, I used an empty cereal box and paper grocery bag. I sprayed adhesive to the box and bag and then trimmed the bag around the cardboard. Next, I used brown ink to "age" the cover. I also burnt the edges with matches in some places to give a worn look. Finally, I took a cool metal button and some red ribbon and made a closure for the book.
For the inside, I copy and pasted the spells from the internet sight, printed them off in brown ink, then "aged" the pages with more brown ink.
I thought about many ways to bind it, but decided I would try and machine sew the 24 pages together.... and it worked! Then I hot glued the group of pages to the cover.
It wasn't exactly what I had envisioned initially. It was more of a Spell binder/folder, than a book, but I think it turned out fine.
The mom of this birthday boy loved the gift and emailed to tell me. Hope the birthday boy loved it as well. If not, at least I'm scoring points with the moms. :)
Team name:
Chocolate inside! :)
These green mesh bags may seem like a weird gift, but they are actually very useful. I have several sets. I've used them a lot when traveling. I put my toiletries, hairdryer, flat iron, medications in one, so they stay all together in my suitcase. I've used them to pack our travel snacks in...easy to see, but contained. I've also used them to put the kids clothes in, so they stayed sorted and together in their suitcase. Some other uses... wet swimming gear, beach toys, camping mess kit storage, paper dining picnic supplies and more.
I got the bucket from the Dollar Spot at Target (Easter 50% off), found some floral foam in my craft stash, printed some Disney images from the internet and made up some congratulatory words in Print Shop.
When I put it all together, this is what I got.
Hopefully this treat will make coming back to the reality of life, a little SWEETER. :)
I took the wooden dowel and sanded down one end to make it tapered. Next I hot glued around the dowel to give it some texture and make it look wand-like.
Then I spray painted it brown and called it done.
For the inside, I copy and pasted the spells from the internet sight, printed them off in brown ink, then "aged" the pages with more brown ink. 
We ate Taylee's birthday dinner request (BBQ chicken shepherd's pie casserole), then she opened her presents. She received lots of artsy type gifts (surprise, surprise), a make-up bag, mascara, swim goggles and some food items. 
I asked Taylee if she wanted something other than cake, since we had cake at the party. She was indecisive and indifferent, but finally said, "Surprise me."
Treyson's tongue turned Bronco Blue.
I think the red dye has gone straight to Abree's brain.
Ewww, Taylee has a BLACK tongue!
We chose Merrill Park because it has a rock climbing wall.
Taylee was surprised at the size of the hand/foot holdings... small.
Don't know where Abree learned it, but she likes to give me peace signs now.
We didn't stay long, because it was so windy and COLD. We decided to head back home, get our jammies on, snuggle up and watch a movie together. It was a nice evening.
This year I decided to make "flatbread".
I don't know if you're familiar with flatbread, but it's not "unleavened" because it does contain yeast. I didn't really know what I was doing, but the family seemed to appreciate and enjoy it.
Our Jerusalem dinner, minus the variety of figs, because no one really likes/eats them. Also minus the grapes and olives, because I forgot to buy them. Oops.
The beloved goat cheese WAS there, so hopefully the forgotten food was forgiven.
Another new idea this year was to talk about Christ's week, leading up to Easter (Palm Sunday, cleansing of the temple, etc.). My idea was to show a picture and read scriptures each night. With a busy week and too much going on, we got through the first 3 days, but fizzled out. So on Sunday we made up for lost time and talked about the additional days. This was an especially good discussion.
