Creating a Fairy Garden/Linking up with Lily Jade for Giveaway!

It's warming up outside and that means Fairy Garden time! It seems that any nursery you go into has a whole section devoted to creating a fairy garden. They even host Fairy Garden parties, which MiniMe wants to do for her next birthday.

You can create a Fairy Garden for very little or you can go all out. It's really up to you and your budget. We spent about $75 on items for our two gardens--my daughter and I each made one. We had the pots and soil already so that was just for the little trinkets. Looking back, I actually think we could have spent way less but once you're in the nursery looking at all the little cuteness, you go crazy. After looking at some Pinterest boards, I realize there are many items you have around your home you could use--corks from wine bottles, rocks or pebbles from old fish tanks, old dollhouse furniture, tiny tea party dishes, bark from your garden, sea glass, sea shells, sand, beads and so much more--just look around!

Here is a pic of my supplies and plants before we start planting. MiniMe is planting a Fairy Garden and I am planting a Gnome Garden.

The first thing to do is to prep your pot with soil. We each have large pots that we can pull inside in the winter. Make sure if you are planting live plants that you have a hole at the bottom of your pot as well as a protective plate to prevent leaks on your carpet/wood when you pull your pot inside. We live in Colorado so we will be pulling our pots in.

Once you have your pot filled, just start creating and arranging. We kept our succulents in the center and plants that will grow more on the side so they won't take over the garden.

Here is the overview of my finished Gnome Garden and then a close up of some of the details:

And MiniMe's Fairy Garden:

Making a Fairy Garden with your daughter(s) is a fun way to spend time together. You don't even have to be a green thumb to make it work (I'm definitely not one!). Most of the plants are super hearty and it is easy enough to dig a hole and water on occasion. It will definitely get you in the mood for spring/summer!

I'm so excited and honored to link up with Lily Jade today to host a giveaway of a statement necklace and brooch from my shop! If you aren't familiar with Lily Jade, check out the site. Lily Jade sells beautiful designer diaper bags. How fabulous is the Madeline bag? I mean seriously, how many times do you have to drop what you're doing to help your little one? Every diaper bag should have a backpack option. Tori Spelling featured her Lily Jade bag on her Instagram account. Lily Jade followers can enter the code LILYJADE30 from now until Friday to save 30% off their purchase.

Sweet Knitted Rabbits

I have loved Little Cotton Rabbit's precious knitted rabbits for YEARS now. She will make a dozen at a time, a couple of times a year, and the moment they go on sale, they're gone. Imagine my surprise when she decided to start selling her rabbit pattern!

I made a boy and girl rabbit for my kids. It took me over two months to make them. I think they are sweet. My kids love them! These sweet rabbits aren't for heavy-duty play but rather look good on a shelf. Though made with much love, they are still rather delicate.

I named the boy Henry. I think he looks kind of Henry-ish. He has one ivory-colored ear. I love his sweet Robin's Egg's colored sweater.

I named the girl rabbit PJ. I love her stripes and polkadots.

And aren't these Mary Jane's just the sweetest? Love PJ!

Teacher Appreciation Week Ideas

We are in the midst of Teacher Appreciation Week. Our school goes all out during the week to show our teacher's appreciation. We are so grateful for our teachers!

If you are looking for some cute ideas, I stole a few and I'll share them with you.

Jen at Tatertots and Jello has a fabulous bookmark printable that we are definitely going to use.

Isn't this Letter Crayon Monogram an awesome idea? Thank you Cheap & Chic Nursery for the incredible DIY tutorial!

You can always buy a Burt's Bees lip balm set with a little note to your teacher saying, "Thanks for bee-ing such a wonderful teacher!"

Angie created some beautiful Mason Jar lables that are so fun. Isn't everything cuter in a Mason jar?

My kids definitely want us to use this donut printable created by Confetti Sunshine. I'll be getting up early tomorrow to go get some fresh donuts for our teachers.

WE LOVE TEACHERS!!!!!

Fun Birthday Tradition

Every year the thing my kids look forward to and talk about leading up to their birthday is how we will decorate their door. When they fall asleep, Brian and I pull out the ladder and decorate away. As they've gotten older, we've gotten more elaborate.

The next go around, I think I'll have to tape some balloons and sprinkle confetti outside their door.

It's a fun tradition and when they wake up, they are super excited to open their door. If you like to sleep in, it's a good way to say those special words without getting up at the same time they do. It will tide them over an extra hour or so, I promise.

Lego Birthday Party Ideas

Are you planning a Lego themed birthday party and having a hard time finding ideas? I found all of my ideas on Pinterest rather than any of the party suppply stores, which are incredibly void of anything Lego-related. I was certain I'd walk in and find Lego balloons and a ton of Lego party supplies. Nope.

So, I want to add some of my best leads. As is the case with most things on Pinterest, you can really get into the party and go overboard. There are leads for Lego cakes, lego covers for juice boxes, lego party invites, lego gift bag ideas, lego games, lego decorations, and so much more. I am a working mom so I honestly can get overwhelmed when wanting to make it the best party possible, but also finding a balance given my budget and time. My son is turning 6 and I can bet that he will not remember each detail so I kept my party within theme but on a budget. But if you want to go all out, there is definitely an abundance of ideas. I will do my best to gather some great links for you.

The Invite

I got my invite idea from Lisa Leonard at this link. She's brilliant. I definitely copied her idea because it was cute and cheap. I have PhotoShop experience and an SLR camera. I'm certain you could get a cute picture with a regular camera. I am sure you could also use PicMonkey to get some text on your image. My problem with the invite was getting my son to be still. His arm would drop. It took a good number of tries to get him to cooperate. The key is to know it will take time and not get frustrated with your child. It might even be easier to just take a picture of the Lego man if you are wanting a picture with a subject that doesn't move. Once you've captured and edited your image, simply print at your local photo center. We sent 4 x 6" photos and purchased envelopes that fit perfectly from Walmart.

I love Heather @ CookieMondays invite:

Tiny Prints does a great job too if you are looking to just drop a cute picture of your child into a template. The below invite is absolutely cute!

Delia gives you permission to use her picture on her site to create the below invite.

If you aren't PhotoShop savvy and want a non-photographed invite, Amy offers an adorable Lego party printable kit, which includes invites and cake toppers and more for $23.95.

Decorations and Party Supplies

There are some fun printables out there if you want to go crazy decorating. I'll include links of ones I thought were cute and easy. We decided to invest in a box of generic brick legos at Toys R Us to decorate with. I considered this an "investment" because when the party is over, we'd still have the Legos to continue to build with. I loved our Lego banner. I got the idea from Emily at Abide with Me. I got a lot of ideas from Emily so check her link for sure.

There are no guidelines for making Lego letters. I simply stuck a great DVD in my player and messed around.

We also thought it would be fun to hang various-shaped Lego creations around the party area. I simply Googled "Lego animals" and also did some messing around. Emily (link above) gave me this idea as well.

We also made the below to hang on our front door to welcome guests.

The easiest (and most time consuming) Lego prop I made was the utensil holder. This thing took a lot of bricks! But it sure is a cute touch.

I used a mason jar filled with Lego bricks to weigh down the ballons.

You can create juice box covers with cardstock and circles as Over the Moon did.

When the kids go to wash their hands, you can have this cute soap on hand.

Here is a cute idea for a girl Lego party. I'm sure these are just empty boxes that are wrapped. I would love to credit this picture but couldn't find a link anywhere.

I went to the local Dollar Store and bought basic primary-colored plates, napkins and utensils but there are some cute ideas out there if you want to go all out on the supplies. Delia created her own Lego head plates. I also love her idea of name place settings. Cute!

The Cake

Ok, here is where I feel intimidated. Instead of going all out with a Lego cake, my son opted for donuts (below). Whew! You can add a Lego guy holding a candle in there to keep with the theme.

If you seriously want to go gangbusters with your Lego party, here are a few of the amazing cakes I've seen online.

Lego Party Games

Lego-related party game ideas are in abundance. Again, this is an area where the party stores don't have a lot so you will more than likely have to DIY it.

Aussie Pumpkin Patch offers an awesome free download PDF with so many great game ideas.

We used printables from her site to play a game of Hidden Lego Heads. We printed and cut out these Lego Heads and hid them around the house. At one point in the party we had kiddos search out for as many Lego heads that they could find. I'm sure some are still hiding and I'll find them in time.

I found out about the Creationary game on Amazon. It's like Pictionary but instead of drawing, you build Lego creations. This was a huge hit! This game will also help you come up with Lego creations to hang as decorations.

We thought it would be fun to make Lego sugar cookies using some cheap Lego cookie cutters I found online. The kids had fun icing a cookie and putting their own sprinkles on them (I forgot to get a picture of the finished products!)

Lego Bingo is a huge hit! Big D and Me created an awesome game that you can download here. She did an awesome job, kids love it!

The Photographer's Wife had fun playing Pin the Lego Head on the Lego Guy. I don't think I could ever make such a great Lego guy as they did. If you are artistically inclined though, this would be a fun one!

Another fun game (as Crunchy Catholic Momma recommends)is to let your party goers take a guess about how many Legos are in a jar. The closest to the actual number can win a fun prize.

Party Favors

This isn't a party favor but Delia had a great idea for a Lego crown. You can always send each kid home with a crown. All you need is cardstock.

Favors are always where I get stuck. Trying to find the right balance between remaining within budget but also finding things that kids actually would want to have is tough. For the record, we never had party favors when I was a kid. That would have probably made my mom crazy.

I found these cute Lego party bags on Amazon. They were cute and cheap--12 for $5.

The part of any Lego toy that my kids like best is the Lego person. Target and Toys R Us sells the Lego MiniFigures for $2.99 each. I would love to have given each kiddo a MiniFigure but there just weren't an abundance of them anywhere. The most I saw at one Target was 5 MiniFigures. I finally settled on going on Ebay and buying a full lot of 26 figures. They were gently used and we cleaned them in case there were any germs. I bought the full lot for $24, which in the end was cheaper than buying the bagged figures. Each kid received two figures.

Balloons are amazing because you can decorate with them then give each kid one on the way out. What kid doesn't love a helium balloon? Big hit and helps me that we don't have a bulk of helium balloons after the party. $1 per balloon at the Dollar Store!

We invited a few girls to the party. Though each girl was probably happy with a Lego figure, I'm sure they appreciated the Lego bling ring much more. Boys got some gummy bears from the party store since they didn't get a ring.

When purchasing the goody bags on Amazon, I also found these candies. They were $10 for a 2lb bag.

Delia did a great job of creating a downloadable for you to create these cute Lego Party Favor boxes that look like a Lego brick.

What kids don't like to discuss and laugh at poop? You can give them Lego Man Poop in their goody bag. I downloaded the Lego font and printed out the "Lego Man Poop" on colored cardstock. You can download here if you want to use my template to make your own "poop." I just put it in snack baggies with the cardstock.

I hope these links and ideas help you if you are planning a Lego themed birthday party!