When is comes to school Halloween parties, you have to get creative. Since you are limited to bringing in store bought food and catering to 25+ kids, there definitely are challenges. I’ve been in charge of helping plan Skyler and Jackson’s preschool parties for the last 4 years. For the first two years, we were handed down ideas from the previous parents. Last year, we stepped outside the box a bit and came up with some cool ideas! This year, I wanted to shake things up a bit!
Thank goodness for Pinterest. I’ve been pinning Halloween ideas since I discovered Pinterest back in March (btw, contact me if you need an invite, I’ll hook you up. I should be getting paid for my constant endorsements, haha.) Also, make sure you follow me on Pinterest, if you don’t already. I’m constantly pinning everything from holiday ideas to hairdos and everything in between.
Before our party planning meeting, I went to my “Boo“ Halloween board and started pulling ideas for the party. It was so fun and so EASY!!! It always seems like you see an idea for something during the off time of year and when the holiday rolls around you can’t remember what it was or how to do it. Well, that’s why Pinterest is so great. You can pin something and forget it until you need it. Then when you are ready to access it, it’s right there waiting for you!!!
For our Snack we selected these adorable Mummy “Scary” Sippers and Spooky Popcorn Hands
{Parents.com via Pinterest}
{Dollarstore Mom via Pinterest}
Here are some of the activities that we’ve planned. I can’t wait to watch the kids do the donut on the string game:
{Tip Junkie via Pinterest}
{Martha Stewart via Pinterest}
{Jeanetics.net via Pinterest}
{Classic Play! via Pinterest}
Treat for the Kids!! {Skip to my Lou via Pinterest}
You can download all of these fun snacks and activities and use them for you kids parties. Click on the images above to download! Just thought it would be fun to share them with you! Like I said, we’ve done many different activities and games in the past, but if there is something uber fun that I am missing, send me an email! Maybe we will add it to our list of activities!!!
Whoop Whoop! This is three times in one week! Bet you’re sick of me already, right? Hahaha! Too bad!!! So this post might not apply to all of you, but it’s something that is near and dear to my heart! Oregon Ducks Football. I’m sure you all have a favorite college sports team. Am I right? Well, mine happens to be the Oregon Ducks!! I actually attended the University of Oregon for awhile my freshman year. Oh how I miss Eugene!!! There’s just something special about Eugene that you can’t get anywhere else. There’s a ton of people wearing Birkenstocks, tree lovers, pot smokers, and . . . your likely to have your car stolen at least once if you live there for more than a few months. Hahaha. Okay, so those are slight exaggerations, but you get the idea. However, there’s one thing that brings everyone together. It’s Oregon Duck Football! I’ve never seen people bleed yellow and green until I moved there. The school spirit is phenomenal. It’s not just in Eugene either. Though the state may be divided since we also have another major university-there are more Duck fans than there are Beaver (Oregon State is the OTHER rival university) fans throughout the state (at least, that’s what I’d like to believe)!
My sister Jamie’s boyfriend, Josh (I’m the match maker behind this love connection) was celebrating his 27th birthday. Jamie wanted to throw Josh a really nice birthday party, but Josh kept changing his mind on what he wanted to do. Just 48 hours before the big event, the plans changed AGAIN! Jamie came to me for help and we had the task of throwing together a shotgun birthday party! Thankfully, I have a little party planning experience! Lucky for me, Josh is a HUGE Duck fan and Oregon Alumni. The plan the whole time was to watch the Oregon Duck game for his birthday party! The location was the only thing that kept changing. So, it was only natural to throw him a Duck’s Birthday party!!! I got to work designing fun Duck details. Guess what? You get to have them for FREE! Okay, so I know it’s not that cool if you’re not a Duck fan, but if you are, I hope you enjoy them!!!
Here are some photos from the party and your FREE PRINTABLES!
Oregon Ducks Cupcake Toppers 1 Oregon Ducks Cupcake Toppers 2
Guess what. . . today is a very good day!! Are you shocked you are hearing from me so soon? I know, I’m hoping to keep this trend going! Now, back to the real excciting news!!! If you “like” my page on facebook you might remember seeing a “teaser” photo that I posted back in mid-September. The project I was working on has gone LIVE, and now I can share all the juicy details with you too. Okay, so there really aren’t any “juicy” details, but that just sounded more enticing!
Back in July, my DIY mini Cupcake Stands were featured on HGTV.com. They were included in the DIY Party Decor: Simple and Creative Ideas for Your Next Bash. Check out photo number 4 on the slideshow!
I was totally honored to be featured for two reasons. One, this was actually my own photo. I am not at all a professional photographer, nor do I aspire to be, but I do love a good photo! I always try to take photos that will look “pretty” on my blog! So, having one of my own photos used, as opposed to one taken by my fabulous photographer friends/family members was pretty cool. Two, it’s nice to know that tons of people will get to see my mini cupcake stands and hopefully they will be inspired to make them too!
Don’t get me wrong, the more publicity the better, right? The only thing that was a little bitter sweet about the whole feature was that I didn’t “design” these. I mean, I created them yes, but I’m a graphic designer. That’s my bread and butter. So, it was super cool that these were featured, but it would have been way cooler had I DESIGNED them, you know?
Fast forward just a few months. . . I was contacted again by HGTV.com, assistant editor, Kayla Kitts (to be more specific). She wanted to know if I was up to styling/creating “something” for their upcoming “24 Handmade Holiday Decorations” segment (check out photo number 2). Are you kidding me? Of course, I jumped at the opportunity! I don’t know about you, but I am not trained to start thinking about Christmas until late November. My photos had to be submitted on September 14th. Let the challenge begin. . .
Honestly, I had no idea what I was going to design! I knew I wanted to showcase my graphic design abilities this time. After spending some much needed time browsing Michael’s Craft Store for inspiration, I came up with an idea. Design a holiday tag! Not just any tag though, a Holiday Countdown Tag!!! Let your creativity run wild with these. Use them however you see fit!
In fact, it wasn’t until I went to my girlfriend, Laura’s house and scanned her garage full of decorations that I decided how I was going to use them. Isn’t the cloche dome just beautiful. Not familiar with the word cloche? Don’t worry, I wasn’t either until I googled “chicken wire dome decoration” and realized it had a really fancy name! By no means, do you need to use them like “we” (Laura helped me style these photos) did! Play with them until something inspires you! I’d love to see what you come up with though, so shoot me an email or send me a message on facebook to show off your creations!
Plus, I didn’t just design them in one color. Oh, no! You know me, I am an overachiever. I designed them in 4 colors. Yes, that’s right FOUR colors!!! This should give you some creative freedom! Have fun with them!
Want to know the good news? All of these tags are available for FREE! If you check out the HGTV.com feature, you can download the “Green” Tags. However, all of them are available right here!!! Please share these, pin them, tell your friends and family, etc.
Green Holiday Countdown Tags (see photo 2)
*** I’d like to say thank you to Laura Grim for helping me style the shoot and for the use of her fabulous photo props. She never lets me down. I’d also like to thank you too, Kayla Kitts, for believing in me and giving me an opportunity to showcase my work!!
Sep 30
Boo. . . I’m Back!
Hi Friends!! It’s me. . . the long lost blogger. So, I have a million things to tell you! I had a crazy and chaotic summer. September has gone by just as fast! I had no idea this weekend was the beginning of October. Where does the time go? I have so much to tell you and roughly 15 blog posts that I’m “working” on. Okay, so “working” is a bit of a stretch, but I have a list of topics written down! Does that count?
Okay, back to this blog post. If you know me at all, I am always behind! I usually am designing things the week before the holiday. This time, I actually designed some NEW Halloween items. I think Halloween is a great excuse to throw a party! I wanted to design some printables to make your lives easier. Also, if you missed it last year, I gave away a FREE Halloween Printable.
I included a TON of photos, just because I’m trying to make up for not being around!!! Enjoy!!
These items were all inspired by Martha Stewart and Stephanie Schiada of Brooklyn Limestone who I saw featured in Women’s Day Specials: Halloween celebrations magazine. Thanks for all the inspiration ladies!!!
Let me know what you think! I am still “planning” (we’ll see if that actually happens) on designing a few more items. I’d love your feedback since I feel like I’ve been designing in a bubble! Help. . . do these suck or are they Pinterest worthy??
All of these items are either available in my shop or they will be really soon!!
Miss you guys!
xo-Jessica