Every Christmas, I have a few things that I want to do, and mean to do, but just don’t get finished. Do you have those? Maybe it’s a big project you forget to start it until it’s too late, or it’s just lower priority than things like buying and wrapping presents and making cookies, so it gets shoved to the side. I’ve thought about it, and compiled the list of things that I wish I’d finished.
1. Personalized Stockings (my kids have been suffering with plain red ones for years.)
2. Make 24 small ornaments to go in our mini-muffin advent calendar. (I tried to do this last year. It did not get done.)
3. Make a nativity toy for the kids to play with.
4. Make a tree skirt (Yup. Our tree stand has always been nekkid.)
You can see how these aren’t something I can just toss together the week before Christmas and have it turn out okay. We’re only halfway through September, though, so I clearly have enough time to mark off at least ONE of these things. I think I want to tackle my number one: personalized stockings. I’d really like to do that. Most craft stores (and some non-crafty stores) already have Christmas supplies stocked, so I need to go see if I can get some new stockings (the ones we have have been added gradually over time and don’t match – I’m picky that way) and some felt, since that’s how I plan to decorate them.
What about you? I’m not the only one, right? Do you have something on a ‘never get around to it’ list that you can do while Christmas is still months away? What’s on your list?
Here’s the cake I showed you unfrosted yesterday. I really love how it turned out! I don’t think I’ve ever made a cake with so many different colors, and I can tell you what made the difference with this one: I discovered this tip on how to fill the pastry bags without making a mess. What’s the worst part of frosting a cake? Anyone? For me, it’s cleaning out the bags. It’s even worse when you need to change colors (as I often do because I only have two bags and I’ve lost all but one of my couplers). You have to wash out the bag and clean the coupler before you can start decorating again. In between each color. It’s madness! Following the directions at the link, however, I could just change out the colors without anything but a clean tip. Fun!
The brown frosting is chocolate (of course), and the dark brown is frosting that was made as dark as I could get it and then dyed with equal parts of red, blue, and green food coloring to make it darker. The buns of the burger are just unfrosted patches of the yellow cake. I didn’t plan that ahead of time, but it really worked out well!
I really liked the juice boxes, and the kids did too.
I used leftover white crepe paper, some googly eyes and a glue gun to make mine. What was the crepe paper leftover from, you may ask?
Why, our spooky piñata of course! We made another $2 Piñata, except it was more like a $1 piñata since I only used one color of crepe paper and some construction paper I had in the cupboard. We filled it with candy and snacks of course, and I threw in some Halloween favors that they had at the Dollar Tree. (Their stocking Halloween things in early September really worked out for this party.)
Then there were the balloons. We used the same balloon setup as we had for Max’s party but in Mystery Machine colors. (Light blue, lime green, and orange.) With a minor addition.
A little sharpie turned our balloons into “Spooky Balloons.” I hadn’t done more than two before Charlie declared that it was going to be the best birthday party ever. Awww.
Let’s see: I distracted the kids at one end of the living room with a bean bag toss I made out of a cardboard box –
you can tell this picture was taken after the party. Those white things on the ground are the remains of some of the sucker ghosts that were in the piñata. Anyway, while they were tossing beanbags and mostly not getting them in (apparently I should have made the mouth even bigger) I hid all the presents and set up a very short scavenger hunt.
The presents had been on top of the haunted house (which I made out of cardboard boxes, tape, spray paint and more Halloween decorations from the dollar store), and in there place I left a ‘ghost’ balloon with a note taped to it. They had to read the note, figure out where to go, and get to the next balloon ghost clue. While they were down the hall reading a clue, Greg took the presents and put them inside the haunted house. This game was quite a hit.
After cake and presents we cracked open the piñata. (Those paper bags are REALLY sturdy! I’m considering trying tissue paper next time and seeing if that makes it any easier for the kids to whack it open.) Immediately after the piñata we handed out gift bags so the kids would have a place to store their loot.
For Max’s party we bought the prepackaged goody bags (he begged) and I had forgotten how cheap and flimsy they are. This time, I decided to pack my own.
I just used brown paper lunch bags I had in a drawer, printed off a picture of Scooby I found online, and glued it to the front. Each bag got a box of crayons, 3 cans of fun size play-doh, 2 Halloween pencils, 2 Halloween erasers, a bottle of eyeball bubbles, a magnifying glass, a whistle, and another noisemaker I don’t know the name of. I ended up spending the same amount of money per bag as I did on the pre-packaged ones, but obviously the contents of THIS goody bag were much higher quality. Even though I got most of the contents at the dollar store. Honestly.
Well! This party was a ton of work, but I think my goal of giving Charlie a memorable party was achieved!
Good morning, guys. I’m having fun practicing my Roman numerals with these link parties. Now, be warned: the following picture doesn’t have anything to do with anything, but I am SO PROUD.
I don’t think I have ever in my life EVER had a shaped cake turn out from the pan so cleanly. I mean, honestly. It’s gorgeous. It looked pretty good after I got it frosted, too, but that’s another post. To the links!
Cheri sold the original tutorial and pattern to benefit earthquake relief in Japan. I haven’t posted about this before, but when we lived in Japan we were actually in the Tohoku region. We moved only 5 months before the earthquake hit, and so we still had a lot of friends living there when it happened. They were far enough from the epicenter that most buildings remained standing, but they were without power for days during a time of year when families still rely heavily on their heaters (because snow is still piled high in most places). So much of the devastation hit close to ‘home,’ in places I have been and some I love, and our area was not nearly as destroyed as some. I just don’t really know what else to say about it.
It looks so nice. (I’m also a bit envious of that chandelier. And the windows. And that molding. But that’s beside the point.) I’ll have to remember this when ours starts to look old. I kind of hate it anyway, we bought the cheapest big wooden table we could find and it’s sort of dark red wood and has black painted parts. Gloomy!
I think that’s enough for today, don’t you? Let’s link up!
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Image via WikiMedia Commons
