I stumbled upon these little beauties while surfing the web today. I want to incorporate a craft into the Mom's Spring Into Brunch House Party I am hosting next week and these are going to be just perfect!
You can find complete instructions over at Stitched Together With Love. They seem pretty easy to make and the estimated cost for each is under $1.50! Cute AND budget-friendly...LOVE IT!

• 1 package of Velveeta
• 16 free Maxwell House coffee coupons for me & my guests
• 16 Velveeta coupons for me & my guests
• 1 Velveeta oven mitt (will make a great door prize)
• 16 Velveeta spatulas & recipe cards (perfect party favors)
• Napkins & coffee cups

I've been searching the Internet for yummy Velveeta and Maxwell House recipes for a delicious brunch!

For my son's 10th birthday, we had a movie party. To keep costs down, the party was held at our house, the decorations were kept simple and I used lots of coupons to buy the food and goodies.

The front door was decorated with C7 Christmas lights to resemble a movie theater and a sign I made using 1/2 a foam board from Dollar Tree, scrap cardstock, paint & ribbon from my craft stash & the Cricut die-cut machine. The only cost was $1.07 for the foam board.
I painted a scalloped border with red craft paint and used Cricut cartridge Cuttin' Up for lettering and Mickey & Friends for the filmstrips.

There wasn't much fancy about this party, but the kids had a great time! You can see the Movie Party invitations here and the favors here.

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, I made some Cat in the Hat-style hats for my daughter's kindergarten class.

Materials Needed:

• red poster board
• white poster board
• 2 x 9" white paper plates
• scissors, stapler, glue gun
  

1. Cut red poster board in half, set aside. Put 2 plates together, fold in half & cut out center along "bumpy" edge leaving just a "bumpy" brim.

2. Separate plates. Roll 1/2 sheet red poster board into a cylinder & place cylinder through center of 1 plate. Let cylinder expand to fit the center of the plate and staple poster board at top and bottom. Cut several slits at bottom of poster board, fold slits upward and glue to the bottom of the paper plate. Glue the 2nd paper plate to the underside of the 1st plate to hide the slits (this will give you a white brim on top & bottom).

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Inspired by these plastic popcorn boxes found in Michaels' dollar section, the theme colors of Nathan's movie party became black, red & gold. The popcorn boxes were the perfect container for guest favors.
Once filled, I wrapped each container with clear cellophane and tied them with black, red & gold curling ribbon (also from Michaels). It is hard to see, but each little package is personalized with a gold star & the guest's name.

The favors looked impressive, but with some coupon shopping, cost very little to make!

For Nathan's 10th birthday we decided to have a movie party with just a few friends. Since he is turning 10, it was a fine line between cool and too childish. I think these invitations fit the bill of a tween party!

The little black take-out boxes were purchased at Michaels. The outside was embellished with some scrapbook ribbon and a gold personalized star cut with my Cricut (George and Basic Shapes cartridge). My son hand-delivered all of the invitations.
Inside the mini box was a few little goodies:

After days of rain, the day of the party brought cloudy skies, slightly chilly weather and a super muddy backyard. The party that was supposed to be outdoors was brought inside. Seventeen excited fairies and some of their parents made for quite a cramped, yet cozy party.

As each guest arrived, they were asked to pick a Tinkerbell foam puzzle piece out of a bag. I found the foam puzzles at Dollar Tree and was able to color-coordinate the pieces to match the fairy tutus & wings. This made it easy to split the girls into 3 different groups for crafts.

A blue puzzle piece meant your talent was a Water Fairy with a blue ensemble, a pink puzzle piece meant your talent was a Garden Fairy with a pink ensemble and purple meant your talent was Fast-Flying.

After the girls were dressed, they were taken to the "Pretty Pixie Salon." Here the grandmothers did nails, light glittery make-up, press-on earrings & glittery hair spray. Each girl also received a fairy crown. The crowns were easy to make with decorative wire garland from Dollar Tree formed into a crown and lots of curling ribbon tied to the back.
Once the girls were made-up, they had their pictures taken in the "Fairy Forest." We included a picture of each girl with the thank you notes.

See more Fairy Party posts - invitations and decorations.

Emma celebrated her 6th birthday with a fairy party. Here is Emma posing at the front door:
The tissue flowers lining the walkway are from Oriental Trading Company. The garland framing the door was easy to make with tulle, pink lights & decorations from Dollar Tree. All of the signs were made using the Cricut Tinkerbell cartridge.
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I really wanted the invitations to Emma's Fairy Party to be fun and whimsical. When I saw Whimsy Love's Tiny Party envelopes, I was completely inspired!

Since the smallest envelope would determine the size of the invitation, as well as the sizes of the larger envelopes, my first step was to find tiny envelopes. I lucked out in the Martha Stewart craft aisle at Michaels.
The smallest envelopes measure approximately 2 1/2 x 1 3/4 inches and are just too cute! To get the size just right, I made the rest of envelopes using clearanced scrapbook paper from Michaels and the Cricut Plantin School Book cartridge. I alternated plain & patterned cardstock and increased each envelope size by 1 inch.

From there, I created a tiny invitation in Word by printing in the smallest font size possible (font is A770-Roman) and printed directly on my cardstock.

I cut out the invitations & stamped a flower background using white pearlized ink. The purple scallop is cut using the Cricut A Child's Year cartridge and the Tink silhouette was punched from white glitter paper (punch purchased at Walt Disney World). The corners of the invitations were punched with a corner rounder & lightly inked in purple.

Each invitation was sealed with a Tinkerbell sticker and hand-delivered. I had so many mothers tell me how much the girls giggled as they opened one envelope only to find a smaller envelope inside - just the reaction I hoped for!

The winter holiday season is finally here & I wanted to share an easy treat. The kids & I made these marshallow snowmen for a Christmas party we attended last week. They were a hit with everyone and the kids had so much fun making them.
Take a long lollipop stick (found in baking section of most craft stores) and stack 3 regular-sized marshmallows. Dip the marshmallows on the stick into melted white candy melts, white chocolate chips or almond bark (also found at craft stores, Walmart & Target) until fully coated. Allow excess chocolate to drip off - I found it easiest to gently twirl the stick above the bowl for a few seconds. Place on wax paper and decorate.

As far as decorating, anything goes! We made the top hats with mini peppermint patties and a Rolo candy "glued" with a little melted chocolate. You could also use a miniature Reeses cup, but we needed to keep this dessert peanut-free due to allergies.

We used mini chocolate chips for eyes, a fruit roll-up for the scarf, pretzel sticks for arms & assorted decorating sprinkles for the nose & buttons.

If your snowman hardens before you have a chance to decorate him, just adhere your decorations with a bit of the melted chocolate.

A super easy, fun & cute holiday treat that the whole family can enjoy!