Month: April 2017

Party Planning For a “No Frills” Guy

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What do you do for your husband when he isn’t a big birthday celebrator? This is tough because I. LOVE. BIRTHDAYS!!!! I use it as a day to spoil the people that I care about. It’s just totally fun to me. Plus it is yet one more excuse to get creative. So… my husband doesn’t want much fuss for his birthday. I was wracking my brain and luck came upon me! Here are some ideas if you’re in the birthday planning rut:

  1. CENTER THE PARTY AROUND A SPORT OR SHOW- My husband’s brother has a birthday super close, so he just wanted to watch the Utah Jazz game! What an easy request. If your guy likes a certain show, you can Tivo the Season Finale or Premier for guests to watch together. You can do the same with renting a fun movie.
  2. KEEP DECOR SIMPLE WITH BALLOONS- Going to the party store to get balloons really got my toddler into the spirit of the party. Plus, the balloons made my whole house festive on very little effort. Also, those confetti balloons are all the rage and look fabulous! NOTE: If you get balloons with high float added, they are meant to last 24-32 hours. If not, balloons will last about 8 hours on average.

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3. USE OLD PHOTOS- I have a bunch of cute old photos of Josh and his brother together. It was a no brainer to put those puppies to use. Once I decided on going in that direction, the rest of the party fell into place.

I took these old photos and turned them black and white:

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I also added thought bubbles using a free font called Talkies that you can download here.

Once I got going, the sky was the limit. These birthday boys have great senses of humors, so I went for funny on these; Adding signs for the bathroom mirror:

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…A 16×20 poster, printed in just an hour at my nearest Walmart…

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…and cake and cupcake toppers!

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That amazing cake was made by Denise. It tasted so good. Just the right touch to make the birthday guys feel special.

Here’s to having great parties big or small!

XO,

Repeat

3 Creative Ways to Make Your Easter Hunt Memorable

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1. SCAVENGER HUNT

This is a fun activity to do when you have at least one child who can read! The scavenger hunt will lead the kiddos to their baskets or if you have a special Easter gift you want them to hunt for, this is PERFECT. This can be done on it’s own or in addition to a traditional egg hunt. I have done this when I start to worry that the kids get too competitive with hunting eggs. This way, they work as a team! I made up a little list that you can download and print just to make your Easter prep a bit easier.

click here to download: easter scavenger hunt

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After you print, cut out each riddle.

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Then, ONE AT A TIME, fill the eggs and hide them in order so you don’t loose track of where you need to hide each egg. Believe me, if you’re doing this at 1 am, this can all of a sudden seem super complicated!!

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2. STRING GUIDE TO YOUR BASKET

This is a fun idea that I’ve tried a couple of times. I have also used the same idea for other games or family night lessons with my kids. I got the idea from the blog, 71 Toes (one of my faves).

For Easter Morning you tie a different string to each of your kids’ beds.

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…the string needs to be long! Yarn works great. Have the yarn zig zag throughout your house:

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Eventually the string will guide kids to their baskets, each in a different hiding spot. The kids have so much fun just at the sight of all the string. Then following the string all over the place is a blast. Your kids will never forget it!

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3. A LITTLE CASH WILL GET THOSE BIG KIDS BACK IN THE GAME

A few of our kids are starting to outgrow our dear Easter Bunny! To increase their enthusiasm we made the egg hunt a bit more (ahem) lucrative for them! Adding money to our plastic eggs is a real game changer for the big kids. Occasionally we will throw in a few “golden eggs” with larger bills inside. When one is found the kids work together to find the next until each kid has one. We try to hide the golden eggs in extra tricky spots!

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Let us know if you try any of these or if you have other fun Easter hunt traditions!

xo.

Pete & Repeat

Personalizing and Filling Easter Baskets

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Today we have some ideas to help ease the stress of getting Easter Baskets ready for THIS Sunday!

EASTER BASKET NAME TAGS

Avoid the confusion of who’s basket is who’s by creating cute, simple name tags to attach to each basket.

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To make these, you will need:

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  • plain gift tags or use the template to print some on cardstock: gifttags
  • cute twine or ribbon
  • decorative washi tape
  • your favorite pen or marker

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We love any excuse to use our prettiest handwriting!

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Trim and attach your twine and your tags are ready for their baskets!

FUN IDEAS TO FILL YOUR BASKETS

Raise your hand if you think it’s tricky to find basket fillers that are the right size for your basket! If they’re too large they will knock the entire thing over, if they’re too small they will get lost in the Easter grass! Here are a few ideas we came up with that are just the right size.

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Books are always a great gift! For the big kids we look for books from a series we know they love. For the little ones we pick a pretty book (with good content, of course!) we know we can handle looking at over and over again! Small toys for little hands are always a must. Jewelry and beauty products are fun for our older girls. Sugar-free gum is appreciated for our brace-faced kids, especially after all of the sugar-filled treats! And check out this Snapsy chocolate bunny! Easy to break apart will mean less mess (and no chipped teeth)! Yay!

Balance is key to a good basket! We try to do a little candy, a responsible gift, and a surprise gift that is sure to dazzle!

BEWARE OF CANDY OVERLOAD!

In our homes, candy is almost completely impossible to avoid around the holidays. It’s given out at schools, between friends, at parties, activities, and sometimes you just gotta grab that big bag of Mini Eggs at the checkout line (am I right?!)! One way we discovered you can limit the candy intake is to buy small, individually wrapped pieces instead of dumping large bags of candy into your baskets. This will also help mom and dad stay on track with their diets by not scavenging the hordes of leftovers! 😉

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We hope these ideas are helpful and that you have a wonderful Easter!

xo.

Pete & Repeat

Color Blocking Paper Eggs

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My Easter decor stash is seriously lacking. I’m adding little pieces here and there every year. I went to my local craft store the other day and gathered up some supplies:

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I love crafts, but I don’t want things to look too cutesy, craftsy.  I have these craft paper eggs and decided that color block painting them would give the modern touch that I love.

I started by spray painting my eggs gold. I started with the gold because it went on so easily in a thin, even layer.

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Then I taped my eggs with painter’s tape and added my color (two coats):

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My favorite part is peeling the tape after the paint dries:

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I assembled the rest of my Easter supplies and now have a centerpiece and an Easter mantle.

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Such a pretty time of year! I hope you enjoy!

XO,

Repeat

 

DRAGON CAKE TOPPER

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dragoncake

Oh the special requests I get from my children! This birthday Jack wanted a dragon-themed cake/party. Instantly my imagination goes wild with possibilities!

If you have a dragon-loving person in your life I have the perfect cake topper for you!

Simply print the template below on either colored or white cardstock, cut out pieces and attach the arm, leg, and wings with mini brads (I found mine in the papercraft section of Hobby Lobby). I glued the fire behind the mouth of the dragon after I wrote out my birthday message on it. Once everything is attached tape or glue a wooden skewer to the back of your dragon and stick it in your cake!

dragon-template

DOWNLOAD TEMPLATE HERE: dragon template

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Getting big brother involved! Loved that Joel asked if there was anything he could do to help!

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Happy crafting!

xo.

Pete