Halloween Crafts for kids

Creating Halloween Bunting

I've always loved the fun side of Halloween and now with Max being a little bit older, he has been able to make some of the choices with regard to what we decorate, where it's placed and the use of scissors!

The new GRRRRR! Book Review

#Gifted

GRRRRR! Review Book

When I showed Max we had a new book to review which had a story of a bear in it, he was straight over and sat next to me waiting for me to read it!!  Usually, he will nod, look the book over and then wait until bedtime to hear the story as he does love his routine, so for him to come and sit with me was a rather lovely surprise, and maybe a start of a new reading era.

TMNT Themed Party Ideas - Target Game

TMNT Target Game

The last of the TMNT party games I created for my son's 4th birthday party was a good old fashioned throwing game that involved breaking the crepe paper and retrieving a prize - I think it goes without saying this was probably the most popular of the games.

You may have noticed by now I try and create our games on a budget where I can and this one is no exception.

Materials used:
- Unwanted Picture Frame backing
- Flower pots
- Spray Paint
- Rubber bands
- Crepe Paper
- TMNT party filler prizes

The picture board was leftover from when we needed the glass for another project.  So I spray painted it green - to match our colour theme.

Back of an old picture frame board

From the pound store I picked up some flower pots - I'm sure you can get green ones already, and I did think about putting turtle masks on them and may well have done if I'd had more time, but these were made with the party only a few days away!

I had some green spray-paint from a random visit to B&Q last year when it was only £2!! (I bought it thinking I'd end up creating a Hulk themed project....)

One day these are flower pots - the next TMNT targets

Spraying the pots green to match our TMNT colour theme

Once the flower pots were dry, I screwed them in place on the board using small nut and bolts which went through the pots amazingly well! I used bolts as these are going to take a LOT of bashing from the kids and I felt glue may come off after one bash.

Held in place with bolts rather than glue

I bought the crepe paper to wrap around the balloons as masks - but that never happened in the end, so I used each of the 4 colours to cover the pots and the elastic bands to hold them in place.  As the flower pots have a lip the bands didn't flick off, which was my biggest concern.

Cutting up the 4 crepe paper colours to match our TMNT party theme

A quick and simple way to cover the targets

Once my chief tester had tried these targets out with the bean bags I was happy that the crepe paper worked in exactly the way I had wanted it to, so we filled the pots up with mini prizes and covered them over and took them to the party.

TMNT Target Game

I cut up the remaining crepe paper and took extra party bag fillers on the day, as this proved to be a very popular game and one that was surprisingly simple to create even though I very nearly didn't do it!

This post marks the last in my TMNT theme party posts, I do hope it's given you some ideas and if nothing else to let you know sometimes these games really are not that difficult to recreate at all.

TMNT Themed Party ideas - Bean Bags

How I made TMNT bean bags

This year it's all about the teenage mutant ninja turtles (which I'm secretly pleased about as I used to love these guys!), so with that in mind I bought some TMNT material.... not really knowing what I was going to do with it, other than recover something, some-when, and then I 'won' a sewing machine off my local Free UP & Re-use Facebook page!!

HFT Gruffalo Adventure 2015

Catching some and apple juice with the Gruffalo

I'm not entirely sure how I managed to find out about HFT's Gruffalo Adventure weekend, which had been set up in Arundel's Sussex Orchards; I do believe I found out about the event whilst on Facebook, possibly a local parenting group.

4 best places to dig for geeky clothing and accessories

To embrace your inner geek even more, you should start looking for places full of cool clothing and accessories that meet your lifestyle.  To make it more perfect – it should be a cheaper alternative as well.  Lack ideas what places can be those? No worries! Below you will find a short advisory list of 4 best places to dig it.  It might be a perfect place to celebrate your geekiness and have a great time shopping!

Creating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Stacking Cups Game

Even an old box gets upcycled in our house

This year my son is heavily into teenage mutant ninja turtles and so that set the theme for this year's party.  As this is a 4th birthday party I thought it would be nice to add a few games to the mix, rather than just a bouncy castle and some tike cars.

Our Shrek Adventure

Our ad-hoc visit to Shrek's Adventures

Dobies of Devon Orange Tree Review

#Gifted

I was very fortunate recently to receive one of Dobies of Devon's beautiful Orange trees; once ordered I was slightly concerned with how a live tree was going to be delivered as I've only ever ordered bulbs and seeds through the post before..... oh and caterpillars......