Princess Love

A few weeks ago Madeline went to a friends birthday party.

I've got to tell you the biggest hit.... Tinkerbell.

This little tea shop had a teenager dress up like Tinkerbell. The girls went wild! My Madeline couldn't stop talking about meeting Tinkerbell. It was the best thing ever for her. Look at her little face she was in princess heaven!

I can't wait until we head to Disney World this summer.

Brings me to my point....

Have a friend or teenager you know come to your little princesses party dressed up.

Halloween costumes or even old prom dressed make an instant princess.

Take photos of each girl and the princess and viola, party favors.

Thanks Jenny for a great party!

Tuesdays Tip- Half Birthdays?

I got an invite for the kids to a half birthday... I thought hummmm, this is new? Then I read more and thought what a great idea.

Instead of celebrating their actual birthday in December they are celebrating in July with a pool party. What a great idea!

Frugal Fabulous Party!

Little Miss had a wonderful 2nd Birthday Party! Now let me share how we made it frugal and fabulous....

#1 I bought all the paper good and decorations at the Dollar Tree, where everything was really $1.

#2 I had a friend Adrien, custom make her birthday invitation in a 5 X 7 photo size then had them printed at winkflash for about 20 cents each.

#3 We had the party at our house! No rental fee's and we have a lot of toys. We planed to have my friend Aimee bring their bounce house but it was raining ;(

#4 We served lunch, hot dogs, flower sandwiches, fruit, chips and kid snacks.

#5 I baked the cake and cupcakes myself. We've done many expensive bakery cakes that cost $50 + and really all people care about is eating the cake! Look little miss enjoyed her cupcake. Thanks Jenny at Bella Bowz for the custom bows to match her dress that Auntie Adrien made!

Here is a photo of the cake I made. I borrowed the flower cake pan from my friend Ashlee and added M &M's to make the flower details. I love the way the chandelier in the kitchen turned out with the girly stuff!

#6 Good old fashion fun... playing outside. Since it was raining we were not able to do all the activities we had planned. The kids did play in the sandbox, swing, color, blow bubbles, and chalk on the patio.

#7 We make a DVD slide show of the last year and show it at the party. This is a special tradition. It is my way of scrap booking for my kids.

#8 Perfect party favors! I found these cute flower purses at the Dollar Tree. I filled with bubbles, a sucker and a flower plastic cookie cutter. They also served as decorations lining the stairway.

I have more photos on my family blog! My friend Ashlee also has some great photos posted. Thanks Ashlee for letting me use some of your photos! I am hoping my friend Jenny posts some photos (hint hint). Her husband Rick was busy taking photos!

Tuesday's Tip- Birthday Party Gifts

This past weekend we attended a birthday party. With 3 children we have many parties to attend and they all add up... in order to keep the cost low we do some special little frugal touches.

Tip #1: Most of you probably bag recycle, what mom doesn't. We have a huge plastic tote full of gift bags. So I always have one to pull out. However... I seem to have more girly bags then boy bags. So for the boy parties we decorate our own. I find a printable coloring sheet online with the party theme and my son colors the photo and we attach to the bag to a plain colored bag. So we save $$ by not buying a new bag and we use the color sheet as the card. I don't buy kids cards because they just get thrown away that saves a few $$$.

Tip #2. Now the gift purchase.... I have a present stash. I would photograph it but I don't want anyone to see the gifts.... When I run across great deals on gift items I buy them and put in my stash. If I don't have a good gift in my stash I simply drive down the road to Ross, they have the best selection of kids gifts. Some items they carry at Target and Wal-mart but at least 50% off. Gotta love Ross!

Tip #3. Crafty Moms can always make a gift. I've given many of my custom wall signs. It is affordable for me but most of all special for those who receive.

Tuesdays Tips

Host a sweets exchange with friends this Christmas! This is a great way to add to your sweets collection, what is Christmas without a ton of cookies and other yummy treats? Here is how it works:

• Each friend bakes 1/2 dozen sweets per person attending. If you have 10 people attending you need 5 dozen.
• Wrap them up is 1/2 dozen to share, I love decorating cute little bags.
• At the exchange bring a box or large bag and bring home your goodies!
• We set some out in the cake stand and freeze the rest to pull out slowly over the next couple weeks.

Here are the cake balls I made. Not exactly perfectly round like the one's that bakerella makes.

My six to bring to the party. I got these cute little baskets for 50 cents. I put the cake balls in a plastic bag and tied curlies around the top.

Here are the some of the ladies in our neighborhood for our neighborhood Christmas sweets exchange. Carri and Kelly did a great job hosting this year. We had crafts and each of the sweets were laid out in different areas of her house. Great time!

Thrifty Thursday- Shoe Swap Party

Are you having a party with your girls, try something different this year. A shoe swap party! Each person brings their unwanted shoes, but not the tacky nasty ones. Bring the shoes that you simply don't wear but are in good condition. I have a ton of dress shoes from my past of being in corporate America. (this goes for kid shoes too)

Set out the shoes and have fun! You could always ask your friends in advance their size and make sure to have some others with the same size attending.

PS.. Make sure you invite that friend who has FABULOUS shoes that match every outfit!

Tuesdays Tips "Girls Night In"

I love having dinner with the girls, but it gets expensive fast. With a frozen drink or martini at $8 or more a pop, plus a meal you are easily out $40 or more. Instead of meeting the girls out, have a GIRLS NIGHT IN.

• Get the girls together, meet at each others homes and rotate homes each month
• Have a theme example : Tex-Mex, Chinese food, Fondue, Desserts
• Each person is assigned an item to bring plus a part of the drinks for that night
• Watch a favorite TV show together or play a game (Bunko for large groups)

Think about the savings! This is a great way to have a good time and for those on tight budgets can also enjoy girls night in!

This has me thinking I so need to plan one of these! Maybe a holiday theme around Christmas for us local blogger buddies?

Here is a freebie contest I found. One of my favorite bloggers, McMommy has a BFF that makes these cute clothes and she is giving it away just leave a comment to be entered. The contest ends today: http://themcmommychronicles.blogspot.com/2008/11/story-of-my-bff-and-how-you-will.html Here is a link to Lil Palm clothing to see all her cute stuff http://www.lilpalm.com/