Santa Shop Creations: Homemade Hair Clips

I pumped out some cute, yet relatively cheap hair clips to sell at an upcoming kids' Holiday Shop.  If you can cut ribbon and use a hot glue gun, you can do this:

First, I went to Sally Beauty Supply and picked up a box of these.  100 count Single Prong Clips.  They were $6.39.  

Then I went to Michaels and got 7 spools of bargain ribbon that was 3/8" wide.  They were $1 each.  So $7.

You can get all the detailed directions HERE at HelloBee.com.  

I kept them simple and when I was done, I just got some blue card stock that was laying around and cut some cards to put the hair clips on to "sell".  

I got 50 pairs and spend $14 out of pocket.  Not bad - and they were fun to make. 

Santa Shop Creations: Homemade Cat Nip Treats

I'm chugging away with Holiday Shop Creations.  The point is to create a lot of gifts for kids to buy for their loved ones for very little cost out of pocket.  

So I whipped up 66 homemade cat nip treat toys for the loved fur balls.  Cats need love too.  

I had leftover material from an old project - so no cost for the project.  I ripped open an old throw pillow I didn't want anymore for the fiberfill.  No cost there.  I went to the Dollar Tree and bought 3 things of cat nip - so $3 out of pocket.  

These are simple.  I cut 3.5" squares in in the fabric.  Put the right side facing each other and sew around the edges, leaving a hole.  Turn the fabric inside out, fill with some fiberfill and put a teaspoon of cat nip in side.  

You could hand sew the hole shut, but that takes a lot of time so I just machine sewed them shut.  It does the job.  

I had leftover catnip but managed to get 66 of these done.  I could have probably gotten 80 treats in total using 1 teaspoon of catnip with the three packs I got.  

So not bad for $3 out of pocket.  

Santa Shop Creations: Baby Booties

So the only thing I do as far as parental involvement in the kids' school is taking over the Holiday Shop so the kids can "shop" for their family members and whatnot.  I'm so into it because I love it.  Christmas is wonderful!

So I've been spending the past few months creating cheapo, yet fun stuff for the kids to buy.

One thing I've been making are baby booties:

I have a round loom set that I've been playing around with it and I found this awesome training video off YouTube to teach me how to do these.  

I've just been using all random yarn from around my house so it's really no cost out of pocket for me. I can whip one out in about 10 minutes now and it's just relaxing to sit there and do these.  

Do-It-Yourself Advent Calendar

It's December 1st!  Which means it's advent calendar time!

The past few years, I got my kids those Lego advent calendars which were great and everything.  But this year, my kids are obsessed with Pokemon cards so I made a really easy and cheap version of my own.

The supplies were simple and all stuff I had around the house:

-  25 envelopes

-  Numbered scrap paper

- rubber cement (reg. glue would work fine too)

-  Pokemon cards (which I had bought for Christmas but decided to do this instead.  I got a random lot of 100 off Amazon - those suckers are expensive in the stores)

-  tape

I just cut out my numbers from the scrapbook paper and then glued them on the front of the envelopes.

I put two Pokemon cards in each envelope (one for each kid, each day).

Then I used a sponge and some water to seal them - because I don't lick envelopes.  I'm a snob.  

Then I just taped them around a door with regular old scotch tape.

It's a little festive.  It's a little fun.  It's a whole lot of cheap.  

Lowe's: 10% Discount for all Veteran's This 4th of July Weekend

Lowe's offers a 10% discount to all active and retired military EVERYDAY.  Just whip out your ID card to get the savings.  Have no shame!

If you aren't currently active or didn't retire, but you are a Veteran and still have your DD-214, dust it off and bring it on Memorial Day, 4th of July and Veteran's Day weekends for a 10% discount on your purchase.  

Not valid on Lowes.com.  Thanks Lowe's!  

Lowe's: 10% Discount for all Veterans this Memorial Day Weekend

Lowe's offers a 10% discount to all active and retired military EVERYDAY.  Just whip out your ID card to get the savings.  Have no shame!

If you aren't currently active or didn't retire, but you are a Veteran and still have your DD-214, dust it off and bring it on Memorial Day, 4th of July and Veteran's Day weekends for a 10% discount on your purchase.  

Not valid on Lowes.com.  Thanks Lowe's!  

Military Discount: Canobie Lake Park - Armed Forces Appreciation Days

Many thanks to Canobie Lake Park for offering GREAT discounts this Memorial Day weekend.  You can save a bundle if you go this weekend....they're giving military personnel AND their dependents admission for only $10 each!





Adult Prices:  $35
Kids under 48":  $26

Normal Family of 4:  $122
Military Family of 4:  $40

Savings:  $82!  Yahoo!

Canobie Lake Park offers a special discount throughout the season for those with
US Armed Services Identification. Please see Guest Services on arrival. 
Armed Forces Appreciation Days
Memorial Day Weekend
Saturday, May 25, 2013 | Sunday, May 26, 2013 | Monday, May 27, 2013

US Armed Services Personnel receive $10.00 Admission

Anyone presenting a valid US Military ID on Memorial Day Weekend may purchase their Park
admission for $10.00 valid for the date purchased. Each individual must present their own ID to
qualify for the reduced admission. Children ages 12 and under may receive the $10 admission if
accompanied by a parent or legal guardian holding a valid US Military ID.
May not be combined with any other special, discount or promotion.

Military Discount: Edward Gorey House in Yarmouth Port

The folks over at the Edward Gorey House on the Cape offer free admission to Active Duty military and their families.

Adults:  $8
Children (6-12):  $2

A military family of four can save up to $20 and get FREE admission to the Edward Gorey House.

My Minimalist Refrigerator

My husband and I used to hoard magnets.  It was like we were young 20-somethings on a mission to fill our fridge with as many different various places that we've been too.  From Singapore to NYC to Hawaii to Japan and even Boston, we had a magnet hoarding problem.  This lead to paper and other misc. junk hoarding on the refrigerator.  See:

Then we had kids.  And we stopped spending $3-$6 on magnets.  And I have recently decided to give said magnets a break and put them in a storage bin.  If the magnets are not on the refrigerator, I can not be tempted to hang random crap on it.  Now, my refrigerator is a minimalist.  Another small step in my new Wannabe Minimalist lifestyle.

Cheap Party Favors - Recycling, Minimal & Pretty

Birthday season is coming around again - which means I'm a crazy lunatic planning and plotting the perfect birthday party for a bunch of 7 year-olds.  I can be a little anal when it comes to birthday parties but it's fun, so I don't care.  Here, I'll show you how create cheap party favors that incorporate some of my latest passions.

Birthday Party Crackers!

Items Needed & Cost:

Empty toilet paper and paper towel rolls  (Free!  Save them as you go through them!)

1 package of tissue paper ($1 at the Dollar Tree)

Ribbon (I have a storage bin of curling and fabric ribbon.  If you don't, you can buy some at the Dollar Tree for $1)

Scotch Tape (I had this - Dollar Tree sells it for a $1)

3 bags of candy ($3 at the Dollar Tree)

Total Cost for me:  $4.  I made 24 of them, so it cost a whopping 17 cents each. 

Quick How To:

Gather your supplies.  If you have paper towel rolls, you'd probably want to cut them in half to make them about the same size as the toilet paper rolls.  

Take your package of tissue paper and cut it in half.  

Put your candy or whatever you want in the toilet paper roll.  Then, take 2 sheets of tissue paper.  Tape it to the roll and roll up the roll with the tissue paper.  Tape the tissue paper to keep it secure.  Double knot the ends with some curling ribbon.  

Use your scissors to curl the ribbon ends, and voila - you have a cheap, homemake party favor.  

Why I like these?

Cheap - These are cheap to make.  You could put whatever you want in them - but I chose non-chocolate candy.  So of course I picked up my loot at the Dollar Tree.  When you go to the Dollar Tree, you have to remember that not all candy is created equal.  Some of the candy they sell is so cheap because the bags are so small.  So when filling things like these or pinatas, I go for what gives me the biggest bang for my buck.  Here is my cost analysis of best Dollar Tree candy:

 Bubble Gum Balls - 72 individually wrapped pieces per bag (1.3 cents each)

Smarties - 26 rolls per bag (3.8 cents each)

Dum Dum Pops - 26 lollipops per bag (3.8 cents each)

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!  - Instead of just tossing my toilet paper and paper towel rolls for 2 weeks, I just saved them.  Why buy plastic treat bags that are just going to end up in the garbage anyways?  Just one little thing to help the environment and all that other happy crap.  

Minimalist - Another thing I like about these things and the way I personally made them is that it teaches kids "portions" and all that other nonsense.  I did not want to put plastic crap that just gets thrown away in them.  They are pretty small so there isn't much candy in them.  Do kids really need a buttload of candy though?  Nah.  

Oh - and for the record, I'm pretty much a hypocrite because I have a piñata that is stuffed with way too much candy.  So these are just being used as a parting gift of sorts.  I'm taking baby steps with this minimalist crap.