Easy Homemade Lip Gloss Tutorial!

So yesterday my 7-year-old asked if we could start planning her birthday party, which is coming up in a few weeks, and I told her no, since I hadn't blogged my lip gloss recipe from her birthday party last year. Seems reasonable, right? Not to her, apparently. So I guess I'd better get going.

Need a simple, fun craft for a birthday party or a rainy day? Here is the absolute EASIEST way to make homemade lip gloss.

I was inspired by the most at Meet the Dubiens, but needed something easier for the format of a birthday party. My daughter was having a pajama party/spa night-themed party, and I wanted the girls to make the lip gloss themselves for a craft. Pretty much every recipe out there I've seen involves heating a bowl full of Vaseline. Hmmmm... sounded kind of unsafe to have around a bunch of sugared-out 6-year-olds, and also not as interactive as I'd like a birthday party craft to be.

So this was our solution....

We decided to spoon the Vaseline into little Ziplock baggies ahead of time. I got small containers, so we only did a little bit of Vaseline in each one (maybe two or three of these spoonfuls - see picture of filled bags below). I think we let each girl do two or three flavors.

Here we go.... all ready for the party guests!

First, the girls held their baggie in a bowl of warm water. They need to hold it there until the Vaseline melts. And, uh, this is my own daughter doing one of our practice rounds. I did not have all our party guests sit on the counter next to bowls of hot water. Only the best for my kids.

Then, open it up and sprinkle some powdered Kool-Aid in there. We had all the different flavors of Kool-Aid in little bowls, and just had the girls put a few pinches of the Kool-Aid in their bags.

We found that adding a little drop of water to the powder sort of "activated" the color and made the color of the lip gloss much more vibrant.

After that, have the kids squish the Kool-Aid and Vaseline together until they are well mixed.

Finally, cut a small piece off the corner of the Ziplock and squeeze the lip gloss into your container of choice (no mess!). We got these in the beading area of Michael's, and they had several sizes to choose from. We went with small ones so that the girls could make several. Let the girls decorate with stickers, if desired!

Here's how they looked in the gift bags with the other party favors - so cute!

The girls LOVED this craft, and the lip gloss actually tasted pretty good! And, after cleaning the Vaseline off of that one spoon, I was suuuuuuuuper glad I didn't have a big bowl of Vaseline to clean out. So, enjoy!

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How-Tuesday: How to Make Tissue Paper Pom Poms

I know these cute tissue paper pom poms (or flowers, whatever you want to call them) have been around for a long time, but it never fails that when I use them to decorate for a party, someone asks me how to make them. So I figure there are at least a few people out there who could use a tutorial!

First, start with a stack of 6-8 sheets of tissue paper. You can do all the same color, or alternate colors.

 Then, fold it accordion-style (about an inch for each fold)...

 Then, trim the ends, either to a rounded shape, or a pointy tip.

 Take some wire and wrap it around the middle to secure it, and then slip a ribbon through. Trust me, it's MUCH easier to attach the ribbon before you fluff it all up! (Not that I would ever have made that mistake or anything...) You can also use fishing line, but I like the ribbon for that extra pop of color.

Once you've got it secured, fan the edges apart and start pulling up the tissue paper, starting from the top. Alternate first one side, then the other, moving down through half the sheets. So, if you layered 6 sheets of tissue paper, pull 3 of them up. Pull VERY carefully, as these can rip, and pull them all the way up to the middle.

 Then, do the same thing on the other side, so they're pulled apart from each other.

Then, fluff the layers gently back toward each other, and arrange them until you have the look you want.

 The one on the left had the pointy tips, and the one on the right the rounded ones.

 You can hang these, as seen here...

 ...or just leave them as a table decoration.

These are pretty flexible, so experiment a little! You can cut the tissue paper in half to make smaller ones, buy larger tissue paper, layer 12 sheets instead of 6, make multi-color ones, or wherever your creativity takes you! But whatever you do, don't buy the overpriced Martha Stewart kits for these. They are super simple and fun to make!

Lego Birthday Party!

For my son's 6th birthday party, he decided he wanted a Lego party. Well, that's kind of a lie. He actually decided he wanted a Pokemon party, but he doesn't even play with Pokemon, and Legos are his life, so I casually kept pulling up awesome pictures of Lego parties on Pinterest and saying, "Bummer you're not having a Lego party, because this would be awesome." Conveniently, he soon changed his mind!

I've already done a few posts this week about the party, like how I plan birthday parties and how to make marshmallow fondant, so I'll get right to the details!

Decorations/Goody Bags
Thanks to the fabulous Delia at Delia Creates, decorating was super easy. I printed off these sheets of Legos, cut them with a paper cutter, and make some clusters of Legos to tape to the walls.

I always do a portrait wall for my kids' birthdays, so I incorporated the Legos into that as well.

 

And of course, a Lego "6" for the birthday boy! Note his awesome shirt, courtesy of my sister-in-law.

I downloaded the letters for this birthday banner from Big K Little G. I'm so grateful for all these party-planning mommas out there who freely share their talents and make life easier for the rest of us!

I also had my kids make some Lego creations to decorate the piano.

For the goody bags, we again utilized the talents of Delia Creates and made these cute little Lego boxes, which we filled with the Lego candies that can stack together. These candies are actually super fun to play with. I mean, I assume they would be super fun to play with. Of course I wouldn't sit at my kitchen table after bedtime building with candy Legos.

Cake
The cake was inspired by the one on this post, showing a cake that looks like it's being built out of fondant Legos. We decided that was too much work, so we did the Lego part out of the candy Legos we got for the goody bags. Then my son put some mini-figures on there and built a little dump truck to bring more Legos over for the building. That part was his idea and he was so excited to contribute! For more pictures on making the cake, check out the post How-Tuesday: How to Make Marshmallow Fondant.

Games/Activities
At the start of the party, we put out two stations. At one, the kids could just free play with Legos.

The other was an art station, where we let the kids decorate their own Lego guy (printable here) and make a head for Pin the Head on the Lego Guy.

Then we had the kids dip some Jumbo marshmallows to make Lego Guy Marshmallow Pops (idea courtesy of Living Locurto). We had them all ready to go before the party, and stuck in some styrofoam with everyone's initials. Then my husband helped them dip the marshmallows, and then later they drew on the faces themselves with some black frosting.

 These ones are my 3 kids' - a girl with hair, a simple smiley face, and a cat. Love the differences!

For other activities, we played our Pin the Head on the Lego Guy...

...and had a Lego hunt. My son drew 4 pictures of Lego creations, made 3 real Lego creations, and we hid 3 of these little paper guys. The kids loved taking turns hiding and finding these.

Finally, we had a Lego tower-building contest, where they had 5 minutes to build the highest tower they could. No pics of that, unfortunately.

Food
For food, we had my son's favorite, cheese balls. Then cheese and crackers made from Saltines and string cheese, and some other "Legos" made from graham crackers and mini marshmallows, stuck on with Nutella. We also had these darling juice boxes made to look like Lego bricks (juice box printables from Delia Creates).

And that was it! Thanks for reading! Let me know if you have questions about anything - I'd be happy to share more details on how we made and did things!

I link up here.

Thanks again to these blogs for the inspiration and printables!

Party Inspiration
http://sweetbenannasam.com/2012/10/23/free-printable-blank-lego-minifigure/
http://www.karaspartyideas.com/2012/03/lego-themed-5th-birthday-party.html
http://bigklittleg.blogspot.com/2012/05/lego-party-free-printable-banner.html
http://inmyhomeabide.blogspot.com/2011/08/lego-party-for-birthday-boy.html
http://www.deliacreates.com/2011/01/lego-birthday-party.html
http://www.livinglocurto.com/2010/06/lego-cake-pops/
http://zakkalife.blogspot.com/2010/04/lego-kirigami.html

How-Tuesday: How to Plan and Organize a Birthday Party!

For this week's edition of How-Tuesday, I thought I'd share with you how I plan and organize for my kids' birthday parties. Because of the cost factor, we always do our kids' parties at home. I try really hard to create a party for them that is unforgettable and exciting, yet doesn't cost too much money. This usually involves a lot of time and creativity, and staying on top of everything is key so that I don't go too crazy!

A Few Weeks Ahead of Time
First, I have my kid decide on a theme. Then, we decide how many kids we'll be inviting. This drives everything else for the party, since some things are way more chaotic and/or costly when you're talking about 10 friends versus 3. Then, obviously, I turn to the good old internet for ideas, particularly Pinterest. I actually have a dedicated board for my kids' upcoming parties, where I pin things for specific themes, or just things I think they would like someday.

Then, I take a paper and divide it into sections. For all my love of technology, I still do my lists with good old pencil and paper. Nothing beats it! One section for the cake, one for decorations/goody bags, one for games/activities, and one for food. As I come across ideas I like, I jot them down.

After deciding which ones are do-able based on time and resources, I first run them by my husband, and he brings me back to earth and reasons with me and gives input on the ones he thinks are actually do-able. Then, once we've decided what we're willing to do, we go over it with the birthday kiddo to see which things they would be most interested in. There's no point in planning something your kid won't enjoy, no matter how cool you think it is. Parties are a team effort around here! I also try to get their input here for things they would like to help with, design, or make, so that they've got a hand in creating the magic as well! At this point, I create a shopping list of things that need to be purchased before the party, so we can grab things over the coming weeks when we go to Target or the grocery store. Also, order anything online that you need at this point.

We usually keep a laundry basket or corner of the house as a central location to toss things as we buy them, so that we're not running around the day before going, "WHERE did you put those stickers I bought for the goody bags? I KNOW I bought plastic forks! Did they disappear??!"

The Week Before
Then, as the weekend of the party approaches, I make a giant to-do list, writing out every single thing I can think of that needs to be done for the party. Then I figure out which day to do it, so that I don't end up too swamped on the day of the party. I can easily look through to see if I'm on track and getting everything done that needs doing! The week before the party is usually buying any last-minute things, making decorations, etc.

The Day Before
We usually do the cake the day before the party. That's a huge thing in our house, so I don't like to save that stress for the day of. At this point, I finish making or buying everything. I try not to leave very much for the day of the party other than cleaning and decorating.

Also, usually the day before the party, I write out a schedule. This is a little over the top, I realize, but it's not as if I'm out there with a whistle screaming, "Move on! Next activity! Hustle! Hustle!" It's more just to help me gauge how much time I should allot for everything in order to fit it all in. I don't live and die by the schedule, but it just helps me to keep an eye on things so that we don't run out of time at the end. I find it usually works to divide your party up into about 20-minute increments. Very few things we do take longer than this. I also have a few ideas, either in my head or on the schedule, of "filler" activities we could do if we end up with extra time.

 I always start with some sort of low-key craft or coloring thing that the kids can work on as they arrive, and try to switch off doing games and other things.

The Day Of
On the day of the party, we decorate, clean up the downstairs, put out the food, get giant Diet Cokes from the gas station, and enjoy the party!