Archives for June 2015

Charity Birthday Party Ideas Your Kids Will Love

June 30, 2015 | Leave a Comment

Although birthdays are meant to be a celebration, sometimes we can’t help but feel we’re like more spending more money on a party than we need to. Instead of paying hundreds of dollars on a new toy that your child will outgrow, put that money into good use by hosting a do-good birthday party for your kid. Lots of parenting websites have great ideas for charity birthday events, and we’ve compiled a list of our favorites. And if you’re worried about your children hating your suggestions, kids are natural givers and would be more than willing to help out people in need.

Bring an animal shelter to your home

There are plenty of pet adoption centers and animal societies that would be willing to bring their animals to private events like a birthday party. The Shaw Family in Portland, Oregon, had their party guests to bring treats, toys, and other donations for the cats and dogs, and you can do the same. They also can be given the option to adopt one of the pets!

Have a couple piggy banks in the party area

At an early age, we teach kids the value of money with allowances and earning extra cash with chores or babysitting. To show them how a little goes a long way, have a couple piggy banks in the party area where they can make their donations. Charities like UnaKids only require one euro per day from their sponsor parents, so any donation from the guests (no matter how small) will be appreciated.

Ask kids to gift wrap their toys

The toys will be given away to charity at the end, but why not make it extra special for the needy kids by keeping them wrapped for them to open? We all find joy in tearing off that gift wrap, and the kids will surely enjoy it as well. Make sure that you mention this instruction in the invitations.

Organize a clothing drive

Take cue from the Multari twins in Hamilton, Ontario, and have your child’s friends and neighbors bring in previously loved and any unused clothes. The girls ask for pajamas every year and have even started their own nonprofit, so depending on your charity, you might have to limit the kinds of garments you accept.

Throwing a Frozen Themed Party on a Budget

June 17, 2015 | Leave a Comment

My daughter is ‘’into’’ many things, the biggest I can thank Disney for, Frozen. It was the first movie she watched and was actually engaged with. She loved it, especially all the songs. When it came time to plan her birthday party asking the question, ‘’what kind of party do you want to have’’ was a stupid question. We already knew it would be Frozen everything.

Disney is smart. They know how to market to kids arguably more than any other company in the world. She wanted everything we saw that was even somewhat Frozen related. Needless to say, if we were responsible for hosting over 20 people at our house for a party, we would need to keep as many costs down as possible, while trying to plan around Disney’s current hot theme. I’m happy to report that for less than $40 we were able to decorate to the theme of Frozen.

DIY Frozen Themed Cake

If you want to save money with a party you’re going to have to DIY some (most) things. Don’t let this scare you though. It can be easier than you think.

One of the biggest expenses for us in the Frozen themed items, was the cake. She wanted a princess cake but I wasn’t willing to fork out $40+ for a themed birthday cake. I toyed with two ideas in my head instead. I was either going to buy an undecorated cake from Costco (with only basic piping around the edges) and decorate it myself with some plastic Frozen characters and sprinkles we had at home or, what I ended up doing, making a cupcake princess dress for about $10.

Between my sister-in-law and I, we were easily able to replicate a ‘’cake’’ that was similar to this one. Tip- buy icing gel dye (usually less than $2 per color) over food dye as it works much better to get the color(s) you want. This was one of the most fun, and easiest, DIY party things I’ve ever done.

Simple Decorations

Decorations were also pretty simple. I found a local discount party store not too far from our house that had some Frozen things. It wasn’t all cheap (balloons started at $5.00 and went up to $15) but I did find a set of matching Anna and Else six foot wall decals for $5.99. These two decorations alone made our daughters day. She was super excited to see our wall literally covered in Anna and Elsa. I combined this ‘’main’’ decoration with some dollar store Frozen wall stickers and streamers and was done. I was surprised at how well it all looked.

(Inexpensive) Frozen Inspired Food

Some of the food was Frozen themed as well. Again there were many branded food ideas out there but I opted to go cheap and practical. Along with the cupcakes for dessert we offered ‘’snowballs’’ which were powdered donuts and for a snack before the meal (a buffet style BBq) we had ‘’Olaf noses’’ to munch on (baby carrots and dip). Owing a punch bowl already, I threw some blue fruit punch, pineapple juice and 7-up into it and blew the kids’ minds with Frozen inspired punch.

I had every opportunity to go completely overboard with this Frozen themed party but we didn’t. While we did spend a bit of money feeding 23 people we had major savings with the stars of the party- Anna and Elsa.

Have you thrown a themed party and saved big?

Your Teen and Their First Car

June 10, 2015 | Leave a Comment

Growing up, I didn’t really have to worry about the need for my own car once I turned 16. My mom had a vehicle which she used rarely and for the most part allowed me to have it when I wanted it. I however don’t know if I would do the same with my kids.

Though owning a car is a huge responsibility (something I learned at 22 when I finally bought my first car), I don’t know if I want my newly licensed teen driving around in my vehicle either. I’ve always been a responsible driver but managed to get myself in two accidents writing off my mom’s car once (not my fault!). I also don’t like the idea of a car simply being given to a teen because they’ve reached a certain age, but I do like lessons that are learned in the responsibility of co-owning a vehicle of their own.

The car doesn’t, and shouldn’t, be anything fancy or new. It should be something safe, reliable and affordable for the teen and parents. Something that won’t require a bunch of money to maintain but something that you won’t be too heartbroken over if it ends up being written off in a car accident (hopefully not!).

As adults we know you can’t own a car if you don’t have income coming in. Same would go for the teen. They will be responsible for their own gas (in their car or yours) as well as contributing to the maintenance of said vehicle. If they don’t have a way of financially supporting themselves I personally don’t see how it’s fair they have access to a vehicle of their ‘’own’’.

Some teens require a car to actually earn money depending on their job while others may just want a vehicle for leisure, to get to and from school and soccer practice. Whatever the reason behind the wanting of the vehicle, they should help pay for it, if not finance the whole thing.

If they can’t come up with the money to pay for the vehicle in cash themselves, and they need it (maybe they got a job doing pizza delivery starting in two weeks) consider implementing a family issued loan. Someone I know issued a loan to her daughter when she turned 18 so she would be able to drive to and from university which was an hour each way. Mom bought the car for $2,500 and gave her daughter 12 months to pay her back, knowing she had a great summer job lined up. The car was repaid before the end of the summer.

If and when a teen gets a car of their own, is definitely unique to each family but I think there are many advantages to giving them access to a vehicle early into their driving days. There would obviously be many rules in place but I think if obey have the ability to teach many important life lessons.

Did you have a car when you were a teen? Did your parents help you buy it?

Getting Stuff Done When The Kids Are Around

June 3, 2015 | Leave a Comment

When you have kids it can be impossible to get things knocked off your to-do list. Especially if they’re in the toddler and young school age, when they crave interaction and playtime with someone else. If you don’t have multiple children you’re likely the playmate of choice and we as parents can struggle sometimes with the need to get things done while giving our children the attention the need and deserve.

While there are many cute saying about ‘’messy houses but happy children’’ floating around, the fact remains that sometimes we need to get stuff done! Houses need to get cleaned, errands need to be run and honestly this stuff has to happen before kids go to be sometimes. It doesn’t make us bad parents to trying to accomplish these tasks either.

Capitalize on nap-time!

If you’re fortunate enough to have kids who are still napping, use the time to your advantage, prioritizing the tasks you’d rather not have them around for. Stuff like general tidying isn’t the best use of time rather do something like meal prep or make phone calls. While it is tempting to sit back and relax (absolutely nothing wrong with this either), you’ll thank yourself when your most nagging tasks are completed.

Use the TV…wisely…

I 100% admit to using TV (or Netflix, or a game on the computer/tablet) to temporarily occupy my daughter while I need to get something done. She’s getting to be old enough now that she understands that if I say I need her to do (or not do) something she’ll listen, but sometimes I need 20 minutes to get a task done and I need her well contained, so on goes a short show or few minutes of a movie. If you don’t have a TV or Netflix and game or even YouTube can entertain for a few minutes.

Involve them

How involved you make them will depend on age but I find things like grocery shopping much easier if I ask her to help than expect her to stay contently contained in a metal cart. I usually give her a few specific things I need her to find and make a game out of it. Same goes for cleaning up, I’ll ask her to put her toys away or help mommy pick up anything ‘’red’’ or something to that effect.

Get childcare

There have been a few days I had off but opted to have her in daycare for half a day or full day. I try and use these days for all appointments or errands that may be too challenging with kiddos running around (try bathing suit shopping with a cranky three year old…) for example!

While you kids need attention so do other aspects of your life. Some people are perfectly content to let everything pile up until the kids are firmly in bed but that isn’t always realistic. Also, when kids are in bed for the night it’s often the only time parents can truly relax, something that is well deserved. There is no perfect balance in life but you’re not a bad parent if you try and accomplish necessary tasks while your kids are around, it can make for a learning opportunity too.

How do you manage to get things done when kids are around?