Does your daughter want to have a luau party? It’s a nice theme in any season, because in the winter it’s a break from the cold, and in the summer…well…it’s just fun. There are a lot of options for entertainment and decorating when you have a Hawaiian luau themed party. From flamingos and limbo, to palm trees and coconut drinks, its a relaxing, fun theme to play with.

One of the best parts of a luau party is dressing up in fun Hawaiian-inspired clothing. For the gents it’s as simple as throwing on a loud button down and some shorts, but for the ladies, fun and flirty grass skirts are the way to go.

Little girls love the grass skirts because they’re cute and swishy, but they can be one of the most expensive parts of putting together a luau party. They’re usually sold individually, and if you’re footing the bill for even six little ladies, the price tag can be frightening. So, instead of buying the grass skirts, you could turn making them into an activity at the shindig.

What you need to make your own grass skirts:

• Brightly colored plastic tablecloths

• Double-sided tape and

• Self-adhesive Velcro squares

• Scissors

How to make your own grass skirts:

1. Measure the length of tablecloth you’ll need by wrapping it around the girl’s waist, allowing about six inches of overlap.

2. Cut the tablecloth at the measurement.

3. Fold the tablecloth in half (height wise).

4. Run a band of double-stick tape on the inside of the skirt about two inches from the fold.

5. Press the waistband together so the tape sticks on both sides.

6. Using the scissors, cut strips from the bottom of the skirt up to about an inch below the tape line.

7. Wrap the skirt around the little lady’s waist and place the Velcro squares on each side where they meet.

8. HULA!

What fun and creative party ideas have you done/seen in the past? Please share in the comments section below!

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This year for Valentine’s Day, why not make a pretty flower painting for grandma with your little one’s hands and feet? It’s a simple project that will melt grandma’s heart and is really pretty inexpensive. That’s always a win.

What you’ll need for a Baby Hands and Feet Flower Painting:

• 8″ x 10″ piece of white or light blue poster board

• Finger paint – green and your chosen colors for the the blooms

• Picture frame

• Paint pen – black, silver and gold are all beautiful

• Matting (optional)

How to Make a Baby Hands and Feet Flower Painting:

1. Using the green finger paint, paint a simple landscape of grass and four flower stems. Space stems far enough apart that there will be room for each hand and foot print to stand without touching the next one.

2. Paint the palm of your baby’s hand with the finger paint color of your choice.

3. Before the paint begins to dry, gently press his hand down at the top of the first stem, making a bloom.

4. Rinse hand.

5. Repeat steps 2-4, alternating hands and feet.

6. Allow paint to dry overnight.

7. After painting dries, write a short message above the flowers with the paint pen.

8. Frame painting in picture frame, using matting for an extra elegant touch.

Bonus Tip: If you’re great at pretty lettering, you can write quotes or a lovely message all the way around the border of the matting with the paint pen instead of writing on the painting itself.

Note: These instructions are for a landscape style painting. If you want the picture to stand or hang vertically, just make one hand and foot flower, for a total of 2.

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Art time with your kids is fun, but when you’re working with anything more than origami, chances are pretty good that there’s going to be some mess involved. When you bust out the paint or clay, you know your kids aren’t going to keep their area neat, but the opportunity for them to be creative–and have a good time doing it–is worth a little extra cleanup.

That being said, there are ways to keep the messes a little less messy without stifling their inner artist.

1. Never jump without a net…or create without a table liner. Even while most mediums created for young children are usually available in washable varieties, you still don’t want blue paint on your grandma’s antique oak table. Lay down a liner of some sort, preferably plastic. Newspaper works, but when it gets wet, the ink can bleed on everything it’s touching and then the results are just a different type of mess. I like to use cheap plastic tablecloths that are made for parties. If I see them on sale after a holiday, I pick up a bunch for less than a buck a piece, which is awesome. If the mess is minimal, the tablecloth can be wiped off and stored for next time. If the thought of cleaning it up gives you hives, pitch it and use a new one during the next artistic endeavor.

2. Bibs aren’t just for babies…or mealtimes. Call it a bib or a smock; it really doesn’t matter. The bottom line is it’s going to keep your kids’ clothes clean. And, before you go spending a fortune for some expensive, store-bought paint smock with a fancy brand name on it, turn to the closet for some old, stained clothing. I love taking old sweatshirts and cutting away the back and arms (just leaving the front panel and collar). These makeshift smocks are naturally thick and can keep everything from soup to crafty messes off the cherubs’ gear.

3. Paper or plastic? When using paints that need to be poured to be used, use throw away materials, like Styrofoam plates or Dixie Cups as palates or dishes. Then, instead of worrying about cleaning a sink full of dishes, you can just pitch them. After that, all you have to do is clean up the brushes. Easy peasy!

Letting your kids get creative with their art might mean that you’ll have a little extra work to do after their fun is over. The payoff, however, is great for everyone involved. Your children have the chance to express themselves, test new ideas and have some wacky fun while letting their imaginations run wild. And, when all is said and done, you have original, priceless pieces of art that you’ll cherish almost as much as you cherish their creators.

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In an unprecedented move, I took down all of my Christmas decorations yesterday. In years past, I’ve been lousy about waiting until I could decorate for Valentine’s Day–usually mid to late January–before taking down a single thing. Part of it was getting caught up in the hustle and bustle, but really, the biggest reason I’d drag my feet is because the kids and I love the glow of the twinkle lights and the festivity of the decorations. This year, we decided to change things up and fill the gap between the holidays and Valentine’s Day by decorating with a winter-snow theme.

The first thing we did was take down anything that was completely, and without question, Christmas themed. Everything that was red and green or had anything to do with Santa or presents took a trip up to the attic. We kept out snowmen, snowflakes and silvery decorations for a little extra sparkle and shimmer.

Once we chose what we were going to keep downstairs for our winter themed decor, the kids moved the decorations around and spread them out throughout the house. Letting them pick the decorations’ new homes made them feel special and actually added a charm to the decor. They definitely made choices that I wouldn’t have thought of, and yet somehow it all worked.

After placing the basic decorations, we set about making the winter theme staple–lacy paper snowflakes. They’re so simple, yet every one of them is different, like the real thing, and the kids can get really creative. We chose to do ours all in white, but if you’re feeling wild and want some color, you can use any that you’d like to spice things up. You can also leave them plain or jazz them up by gluing on some silver or iridescent glitter. Once our snowflakes were done, we used curling ribbon to hang them from our ceiling. It’s amazing what a difference having these homemade decorations makes when they’re hanging down–instant winter wonderland.

Last, but certainly not least, we wove some clear twinkle lights around picture frames and little knickknacks on a couple shelves and into large plants for an amazing glow. Now we won’t have to be without that familiar warmth that we’ve loved all throughout the holiday season.

For us, letting go of the festive decorations is the hardest part of the holiday season’s passing. Decorating the house in a winter theme with my kids’ will help to keep the house cozy and soften the transition to less decadent decor. And best of all, we can still whip up some hot cocoa and cuddle up on the couch for some cozy winter family time.

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A couple of the staples in our house during the cold months are graham crackers and marshmallows. We buy them for pie crusts and cocoa and what doesn’t get used right away often sits in the cupboard for quite a while. And, seriously, graham crackers can wait, but marshmallows don’t exactly have a long shelf life after they’ve been opened. It’s sad really. So, I gathered up some of my baking goodies and sat with my boys to make an edible marshmallow snowman craft to pass a little time and use up some of the extra supplies that were taking up primo shelf space.

What you need:

• 3 regular size marshmallows per child

• 1 graham cracker square per child

• 2 small pretzel sticks

• 1/4 cup small marshmallows

• Chocolate frosting

• Butter knife

• Toothpick

Building your marshmallow snowman:

1. Slather one side of the graham cracker square with chocolate frosting to make a sticky base.
2. In the center of the square, put one large marshmallow. This is the bottom of the snowman, or the snowman’s bottom…how ever you want to look at it.
3. Press in small marshmallows around the large one for a snowy landscape.
4. Add a blob of frosting to the bottom and top of another large marshmallow and stack it on the first large marshmallow.
5. Place the final large marshmallow on top of the other two stacked marshmallows.
6. Dip the toothpick in the frosting and draw a mouth, nose and eyes on the top marshmallow.
7. Carefully poke the pretzel sticks into the middle marshmallow for arms.
8. Adore the marshmallow snowman and then gobble him up.

Bonus tips:

For a fancier snowman, you can melt almond bark and use that as your “glue” in place of the frosting. If you drizzle it lightly over the bed of small marshmallow snow and sprinkle it with shredded coconut, it looks extra pretty. You can also use miniature candies, sprinkles or chocolate chips for the face and add buttons for a special touch.

For your sanity, don’t let them eat their marshmallow snowmen after dinner. That’s a whole lot of sugar and you’ll hate me at bedtime.

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I’m a sucker for personalized items, for both my children and myself. The stinky part is, everyone in my family has a name that isn’t commonly found on pre-made personalized products, like stationary, mugs, ornaments or…well…anything else. Either our names aren’t very trendy or the funky spellings have barred us from every getting pre-painted goods.

That doesn’t mean that we can’t have personalized holiday decorations around our house during the Christmas season, it just means we have to make them, or have them made ourselves. How much more personal can you get? And really, isn’t that the point?

We’ve got all sorts of personalized holiday decorations around our house, and it makes the season even more special as we unpack the Christmas boxes and give our house that festive dazzle we all look forward to all year long.

Stockings

We’re not made of money, and I’m not what you’d call a genius with thread and needle, so to personalize our stockings, I just bought basic stockings from a craft store. The boys each have iron on patches with images that speak to their personalities and the hubz and I have more ornate “grown up” stockings. Then I used glittery puff paint to put each of our names on the cuffs of all the stockings.

Ornaments

You can go to a shop or vendor and have an ornament engraved or hand-painted, but we like to do it ourselves. Every year, we go to a craft store and find an ornament that we like. There are many that come with labels across them that are blank so you can personalize it how you wish. I just use a paint marker to add our names and they turn out beautifully.

Ceramics

One of the things we like to do is pick a different ceramic piece at one of those “paint it yourself” stores. One year, we all worked on a large serving platter together. Another year, we made a cookie plate. This year, my kids are finally old enough to make their own Christmas cocoa mugs, and I’m totally stoked. This is also a great opportunity for the kids to pitch in to make a great personalized gift for grandparents!

The heart of the holidays is the family togetherness and connection. Having personalized decorations adds a special charm to the glitz and glow of the holidays that will live on for holiday seasons to come.

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What you’ll need for your Thanksgiving hand print keepsake book:

• Construction paper (one page for each family, plus two more pages for the front and back)
• Washable finger paint
• Paper plates
• Yarn or ribbon
• Hole punch
• Washable markers

How to make a Thanksgiving hand print turkey keepsake book:

1. Give each family a piece of construction paper; light colors are best.
2. Pour some of the finger paint onto a paper plate
3. Have each person dip his or her hand into the paint, getting paint on fingers and palm
4. Carefully press their full hands down on their family’s page
5. Allow paint to dry during your party
6. When paint is dry, let everyone decorate their turkeys with markers, giving each hand print a beak, legs and wings
7. Write each family’s last name at the top or side of the page and mark each turkey with the owner’s name
8. Stack up all the families’ pages on top of one another
9. Put a front and back piece of construction paper on as a cover
10. Punch holes and lace ribbon through
11. Tie ribbons to bind the keepsake book
12. With the markers, write a title with the date, like “All Our Favorite Turkeys – 2011″ or simply, “Thanksgiving 2011″

Making a Thanksgiving hand print turkey keepsake book is an awesome tradition to start. It’s an easy activity that involves all of your guests. Plus, when compared from year to year, your turkeys tell the story of how your family has been growing and changing. It truly captures everything your family has to be thankful for in one, adorable keepsake activity.

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Today, my eldest son has the day off of school for Columbus Day. When we get these special days off, I like to find a special activity to not only entertain the kids, but to drive home why these observances are important.

On Columbus Day, we celebrate Christopher Columbus’ accidental discovery of America in 1492. After he secured financing for his voyage from Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, he set sail with a fleet of three ships, the Niña, Pinta and Santa Maria. His trip was meant to find a shorter route to South Asia for easier trade, but what he didn’t know was that there were a couple of continents (known today as North and South America) in between. Whoops!

Columbus found America by mistake, but from there, our awesome history began. And, if that’s not an event worthy of celebration, I don’t know what is.

For this year’s Columbus Day activity, we’re making some simple play binoculars so we can pretend to look for land.

What you’ll need:

• 2 toilet paper rolls

• 2 colored pieces of cellophane (4″ squares)

• 2 rubber bands

• masking tape

• stapler

• hole punch

• ribbon (16″ length)

Instructions to make the Toilet Paper Roll Binoculars

1. Place one cellophane square at the end of a toilet paper roll and slide rubber band over ends to hold. Repeat for the other roll.
2. Holding the rolls together, side by side, slide the stapler into rolls with the top in one roll and the bottom in the other. Staple halfway between the ends of the toilet paper roll.
3. About a half inch in from the cellophane end of the binoculars, place a strip of masking tape all the way around both tubes, over the rubber bands. (They’ll look like decorative bands.) Repeat for other end to secure tubes.
4. On the eyepiece end of the binoculars, punch a hole on the outside wall of each tube (about half an inch in from the end).
5. Thread one end of the ribbon into each hole, secure the ends to the insides of the tube with masking tape.

NOTE: For children under the age of three, I suggest leaving off the neck strap for safety.

And there you have it. A snazzy set of Toilet Paper Roll Binoculars to celebrate Columbus Day. Now, your kids can enjoy the rest of their day, captaining ships and searching for land!

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On cool, wet fall days, my kids have the tendency to get restless. Just knowing that they can’t get outside makes them more bouncy and crazy. I’ve learned to keep a little project or game tucked away for such occasions, but this weekend I was totally caught off guard.

The forecast didn’t call for rain, but apparently the weather didn’t get the memo. Thunderstorms, pouring rain and three completely amped little boys sent me packing for my craft supplies closet. Ever have one of those Old Mother Hubbard moments? You know, when look in the cabinet and find it to be totally bare. That was my craft closet. It wasn’t empty, but there wasn’t anything fresh and exciting to do with mini men.  I’d been using things here and there on different projects, and forgot to replace them.

When the boys saw what I had to offer, they were disappointed that I didn’t have some super-trick hidden up my sleeve. I quickly poked through what I had: some pipe cleaners, puff balls, scrapbooking paper, googly eyes,  glue and pinking shears. Not much, but it would have to do. I grabbed a couple pieces of cardboard that I’d set aside and a stack of old magazines.

When we were younger, my sister and I would spend hours making bizarre magazine cutout collages to send to my brother at college. We always had a fabulous time together, testing our creativity and laughing all the way. By the way, Ronald McDonald’s head goes nicely on Aretha Franklin’s body. Just saying.

Anyway, I decided to give my kids my magazines and let them make their own magazine cutout collages. Theirs didn’t exactly have the weird factor ours did, but they were fun and creative nonetheless. When they were done cutting out pictures and pasting them on the cardboard, I gave them the other craft supplies to jazz up their collages.

The results were hilarious. Celebrities with pipe cleaner antennae, ears of corn with googly eyes and puff ball noses and abstract works that would have bewildered Picasso graced their pages. My eldest son spent over two hours finishing his masterpiece. And, let me tell ya, every minute was well spent.

Our surprise rainy day turned out to be another crafting success story, and I’ve tucked their collages away for their uncle’s Christmas present. Some traditions are just too good to let go of.

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Once the school year starts, all I can think about are the upcoming holidays. Around mid-September it feels like someone hits a fast-forward button, and the days and weeks start to zoom by, with brief pauses for Halloween and Thanksgiving.

I might be some sort of holiday freak, but I love the whirlwind. The only bummer is that once the Christmas season actually begins, my family is swept up in school programs, celebrations with family and friends and shopping, and I never get around to making the holiday decorations with my kids that I was hoping to make. I love all the festivity of the season, but every year feel a little cheated that there just weren’t enough hours in the day to craft some keepsakes with my boys.

During the holiday season, my friend Angie, who happens to be the mother of four, never ceases to amaze me. Her Christmas cards always arrive the day after Thanksgiving; her house is beautifully decorated (inside and out); the plates of holiday treats she passes out are filled with mounds of tantalizing goodies; and still she finds the time to make the most adorable, handmade Christmas decorations for her home and to give as gifts. I didn’t know how she managed to get everything done and still actually enjoy the holiday season. The only reasonable explanations I could come up with were that she’s a robot or could time travel.

So, the other day, we were chatting over coffee when the subject of Christmas came up. I mentioned my time travel theory, and after she cleaned up the coffee she spit on the table, she admitted that her secret to success was starting super early, especially with the handmade decorations. In fact, she worked on them throughout the summer with her children. They would pick out different projects together, and then on rainy days, or when they were feeling crafty, they’d pull one out and get to work.

She directed me to AllFreeChristmasCrafts.com, which is devoted to the year-round Christmas crafter. It made sense to a girl like me (who loves the holidays) but, like every other mom on the planet, is constantly on the move.

The site has tons of holiday craft ideas available, totally free of charge. The best part is, if you check them out now, you can get a free Christmas craft ebook with six fun and easy crafts to work on by yourself, with friends or together with your kids. The how-to instructions include directions to make:

• Glittered Glass Slipper Ornaments
• Crocheted Christmas Mice
• A Ruffled Fabric Christmas Wreath
• Dough Bear Ornaments
• Baby Jesus Ornament
• Christmas Clay Pot Ornaments

If you’re worried about a boatload of spammy emails flooding your inbox, you can rest at ease. You don’t have to sign up for anything to get the book, or even download the material (although the link actually says “download”). Just click their link and it pops up in a new tab on your browser.

If you love making holiday crafts and decorations with your kids, but can never seem to find the time, starting early might be the answer…unless you master time travel. Starting early gives your family enough time to make gorgeous Christmas decorations that are fit for your home or as gifts, long before the first snowflake falls.

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