Showing posts with label homemade gift ideas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homemade gift ideas. Show all posts

11 April 2014

9 Year Spa Birthday Bash

Nine years?!  I cannot believe I have a 9 year old.  Well, an almost 9 year old.  Her birthday is April 18th.  With there being a 2 week Easter break and the fact that we will be away on her special day, we celebrated early with 6 of her friends.

This girl has turned into quite the planner!  She had her party all planned out by early February!  She did some looking online and found a website that advertised spa parties.  It looked like so much fun, but I knew it would be expensive.  And surely it was.  A party for 6 girls would cost £300 ($498).  I cannot imagine people spending that much on a party!!  I've pulled off a theme party before so I was up for the challenge.

I found a cute invite on pinterest and was so happy with how it turned out.

girl's party, birthday, spa, 9 years old

We found recipes for making chocolate lip gloss to give with the party bags.  I found someone on ebay that had spa party bags all made up with spa essentials at a fantastic price!

girl's party, birthday, spa, 9 years old

girl's party, birthday, spa, 9 years old

I forgot to take photos of the party bags, oops!  Think clear bag with zebra stripes, pink tissue paper  inside stuffed with goodies like nail file, nail polish varnish, lotion, toe separator, etc.
We set up 3 stations.  One for nails, one for facials and another for make up.

Karis with her chocolate facial.

girl's party, birthday, spa, 9 years old

Reegan relaxing with some cucumbers on her eyes.

girl's party, birthday, spa, 9 years old

The whole gang.

girl's party, birthday, spa, 9 years old

 Glow in the dark nails.

girl's party, birthday, spa, 9 years old

Make up

girl's party, birthday, spa, 9 years old

We played pass the parcel, a game typically played at parties.  A gift is passed while music is playing.  The person who has the present when the music stops, gets to unwrap a layer of the present.  Another thing that we've typically seen here is that presents are given, but not opened in front of the guests.  I understand this one, it really makes sense.  However, Karis was excited to see what she got and asked all her friends before the party if it was ok to open the presents at the party.  They all agreed and had fun seeing all her presents.

girl's party, birthday, spa, 9 years old

The sweetest gift of all?  A handmade card decorated and signed by each of her friends.  So precious!

girl's party, birthday, spa, 9 years old

Then it was cake time!!  At most parties in England, "Happy Birthday" is sung, candles are blown out and a slice of cake is given in the party bags!!

girl's party, birthday, spa, 9 years old

No, no, no!  How can you not have cake at the birthday party?!?!  We can't, obviously!  It's one of the best parts of the party!!  And my kids almost never eat that slice of party bag cake later anyway!

girl's party, birthday, spa, 9 years old

It was a great party!  Fairly simple, packed with lots to keep them busy.

Now I think I want my own spa party!!

Did you have theme parties as a kid?   Or do you throw theme parties for your kids??

28 January 2013

Christmastime in Review

It's about time I updated the blog, don't ya think?!

So, I need to go back ALL the way to Christmas!  Sad, sad blogger I am!

*We enjoyed spending a graduation day/going away party for Jarred & my niece, Corrie.  We enjoyed being in the same place for a few months.


*Lunch time with the kids at school.  Boy, do they love it when we bring a special treat for lunch and eat with them.

 *We've not had a chance to visit Santa in the past.  This year they made up for that and got to visit Santa 3 times!


*Finally got my hair cut and highlighted.  It hadn't been done since about March!


*Decorated gift bags for close family members.





*Made t-shirt scarves for teachers, friends and family!



*Enjoyed a Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at our host church, Tabernacle.  The kids enjoyed the "snow" machine!




*We also spent Christmas Eve with our long time friends, the Vanns.



*Setting out cookies for Santa!



*Christmas morning excitement





We spent the day with family at our house, but I seem to have been chatting and cooking a bit too much that I didn't get the camera out!

Next up, we head to Tennessee to visit friends.

16 March 2011

Scrap N Chat

My friend and colleague, Mara, hosted a Scrap n Chat event in our city of Alcobendas this week.  I wish I could say that I was crafty.  I am not.  But I went more for the chattin'!  Ha!
I obviously didn't read the information (in my defense, it is in Spanish!) because my idea was that we would be sitting working on photo books.  That's not what this was at all.
Look what we were making!
 Calendars and Father's Day Cards!  The calendar, above, is one Mara put together.
 Father's Day is celebrated on March 19 in Spain.  Lucky I learned that when I did!
 Above, Mara with a friend and participant.
The craft table!  All kinds of scissors and papers!  Thanks to a group in the States for bringing many of the supplies in years past!
My friend, Isabel.  She is the creative one!  I was often watching her and using her stamps, ribbon and tape!  Mine looked nothing like hers!

Another big Scrap n Chat event is coming up in May that will be a week long, I believe.  A group from the States is coming to help!  It should be fun!

28 December 2010

Gift Making

December 28, 2010 1
Well, Christmas has passed, but I'm still going to share about some easy teacher's gifts I made.

I was blog hopping and came across a recipe for homemade sugar scrub that included ingredients that I already had in my kitchen!!  Sugar, brown sugar, olive oil and vanilla.  That's it!  I added a little cinnamon just because I love it so much!

I have not looked to see if I can purchase canning jars here, but I had some applesauce and bean jars (beans are sold in jars in Spain) that would work and had a plain top, so that's what I used.


Also in my research I found a bunch of blogs that have free printable tags and one that even had a tag with directions on how to use sugar scrub.  I printed it out, then had my Spanish teacher help me translate it into Spanish that I printed on the back.



Aren't those cute?

It made such a fun gift and they were well received!  I will be filing this away to use again, for sure!

I hope everyone had a great time celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ with your family and friends!!

Next time I have to share the kid's Christmas performance at school!  There's a little story among the fun of watching them sing and even a short speaking part for Karis!

Deeper

  Deeper - adj. 1. extending or situated relatively far down from a surface: a deep pool. It's been a long time since I've ...