October 2, 2009
· Filed under Birthdays & Parties, Family Fun, Freebies, Kids, Molly · Tagged family games, fun party games, print your own bingo cards
No, not the song. (Is it stuck in your head now? Sorry.) I’m talking about the game of Bingo. If you ever do a family game night, Bingo can be really fun, especially if you hand out small prizes to the winners.
You can print out Martha Stewart’s bingo cards (pictured above) if you don’t own a bingo game. She suggests making your own ping pong balls with numbers, but you really don’t have to go that far (plus, you’ll go bankrupt buying that many ping pong balls). You can just call out numbers. You should know that this particular set of bingo cards is really designed for small kids, so it goes quickly, and the bingos come fast and furious.
Alternately, you can easily find bingo sets at places like Target or any store that sells a decent selection of board games.
Prizes? Well, that’s the fun part. How about Matchbox cars or small pieces of candy or some spare change for their piggybanks? Crayons, little notebooks, or stickers? How about things you might already need, like a pair of new socks, or barrettes or a new toothbrush (so you’re not adding clutter to the house)? You can always raid the $1 bins at the store, too.
We’ve done this for special occasions, like on New Year’s Eve, and also for Elena’s birthday party last year.
I love how Elena (in the purple sweater) is eyeing other people’s cards. Oh the suspense of being just a space or two away from BINGO!
(Incidentally, we played until every one of the kids won. We had a big bowl of prizes for them to choose from).
Tomorrow Karin and I are going to Crafty Bastards in DC. Can’t wait for that! I’ll be sure to do a Crafty Bastard round-up next week. Stay tuned!
June 15, 2009
· Filed under Birthdays & Parties, Crafty!, D.I.Y., Etsy Finds, Freebies, Molly · Tagged DIY party favors, wedding favors
With a little digging, and for a very small price tag (or even for free), you can find lots of printable patterns for favor boxes, labels, and other fun party and wedding favor ideas.
Here’s a thank you party favor box (which comes in several colors) from Twig & Thistle; for $4, you can download the pattern and print as many as you want:
Twig & Thistle has also designed similar boxes (2 other styles) you can download for free, from Style Me Pretty right here and here.
Also from Style Me Pretty (and also free), I like these “Eat, Drink and Be Married” napkins wraps:
How about these colorful cones ($3.50 for the pattern) from Chichiboulie on Etsy, which can be filled with candy or anything you want:
A couple more, both from A Little Hut (both $5 each for the downloadable pattern):
The airmail envelope could be filled with something really interesting – maybe a nod to where you’re taking your honeymoon?
And LOVE blocks, which would make really nice table decorations for a wedding:
The iDIY (“design goodies for ‘I Do’ it yourself weddings”) website has lots of good DIY wedding ideas.
May 18, 2009
· Filed under Freebies, Gift Ideas, Molly, Stationery & Paper Goods · Tagged free stationery, teacher gift
Throughout this school year, I have been the board president of my daughter’s co-operative preschool, and I explain to anyone who will listen that the reason why I put all of the extra hours and effort into the school (on top of my own full time job) is because I especially adore the teachers, and I figure it’s the least I can do to repay them for their devotion to the school and to our kids. They make the school an incredibly special place.
So, now that the school year is winding down, I’ve been thinking about how to say thank you to them. Here’s one small way: free apple print notecards from Creature Comforts. You can download and print as many as you want and make special sets out of them for all of your favorite teachers.
I love the idea of personalizing them with your child’s handwriting.
And I love the Creature Comforts blog. It was one of the first blogs I started reading regularly.
She has a bunch more free downloads here, and an adorable Etsy shop, Wren and Chickadee.
April 23, 2009
· Filed under Design, Freebies, Molly · Tagged Feed Your Soul, free artwork, Indie Fixx
Psst. Hey, you! Psst! Come over here. Hey, what if I told you that I know where you could get some artwork…for free?
Feed Your Soul is the brainchild of Jenn Wallace of Indie Fixx. You can go to her website and download several pieces of artwork for free by a number of different artists.
I’m thinkin’ she has some cool friends.
She changes the collection on a monthly basis, so bookmark the website and be sure to check back for new artwork.
This is my favorite from April’s selection, which is by Jill Brown Louie:
And I really love Tara Hogan’s etsy shop, so I am excited to see her on the list of artists too. Here’s her contribution:
And because I often find my girls sitting on their beds, with open books strewn about their room, I really like this one by Jo Askey:
Learn more about all of the project’s artists here and if you like what you see, visit their Etsy shops and support them.
February 4, 2009
· Filed under Freebies, Molly, Stationery & Paper Goods · Tagged Freebies, Little Brown Pen, Stationery & Paper Goods
Little Brown Pen is a fun Etsy shop that offers downloadable stationery designs for only a few dollars. So if you have access to a good color printer and a good paper cutter, you can buy stationery (notecards, gift tags, calendars, etc.) that you print as often as you like to use for yourself or, better yet, to give to friends as sweet little surprises.
So, if you want to give it a try, without spending any money, they’ve designed a “pinwheel garden” stationery set for Real Living Magazine to download for free here. They also have some freebies on their blog here.
I love the “Sweet Shoppe” design pictured above. Last month I bought their mini calendar, which I gave to all of my gal pals at the office as a New Year’s treat, and their seasonal trees set (notecards, gift tags and an envelope template), which is so colorful and fun:
