Anna's 9th Birthday Party

We celebrated Anna's 9th birthday last weekend with a pool party at the YMCA.

The birthday girl requested a chocolate cake with purple frosting.

There were some other yummy snacks.

Note to self: next time don't fill the pinata so full. It was so heavy that it broke our broom handle.

The Birthday Book

Since it seems like there's a birthday happening around here every few months, I've decided to corral all of our birthday related material into one spot for easy reference. Hence the birth of the Birthday Book.

• I created a section for each person where I can keep notes on party theme ideas, party invite lists and gift ideas. This is handy because we tend to invite the same kids each year and it seemed like I was always hunting for addresses.


• There's a section on party games and instructions for making crafts such as pinatas, paper party hats and goody bags.


• There is a section for party food. I'm always seeing cute cakes and kids party ideas in magazines so this is where I save them.


• I also keep a section with information on area fun parks, party places, arcades, bowling alleys, gyms, and sport parks that offer kids parties. Instead of calling around every year, I keep a list of their phone number, website, pricing information, and related information.

Cupcakes

There's a fourth grade class who will be enjoying these dark chocolate cupcakes with purple-ish vanilla buttercream frosting today. Perfect treat for birthday girl to bring for the last day of school before the Thanksgiving holiday break.

While I was making these last night, I thought about how special I would always feel whenever it was my turn to bring treats in to school for my birthday. We'd get to bring a friend along with us to help hand the extras out to the principal and the ladies in the office who would all 'ooh' and 'ahhh'. I made sure to make lots of extras for birthday girl to share.

Aren't those the cutest cupcake toppers?

I printed them from this template at Martha Stewart's website and then taped them to toothpicks. So much fun.

Simple Weekend Project

I finally got around to recovering the seat on my old kitchen step stool. You'll have to take my word for it, but the old seat was covered in ugly and ripped vinyl fabric. I love this fabric and I've been hanging on to it for a bit just waiting for the right project to come along. It's actually from and old set of drapes that I thrifted and I still have enough left for another project. Maybe a bulletin board. I covered the whole thing with a piece a sheet vinyl to protect it from kitchen messes. I'd guess this only took me about 20 minutes or so, but I can't help but stop to look at it every time I walk into the kitchen.

Here's a closer look.

Birthday Luau

When Anna turned 7 we asked her how she wanted to celebrate. A luau? In November? In New York? OK.

We bought leis at the $ store and handed them out to everyone as they arrived along with a nametag sporting the Hawaiian pronunciation of their name. On the invite we encouraged guests to wear Hawaiian shirts and my husband even sported a straw hat! This was a great theme and it was easy for everyone to get involved.

We crushed up graham crackers to look like sand and sprinkled this over the top of the cake. A dashboard hula dancer and paper cocktail umbrellas finished it off.

We also served fruit kabobs, pineapple smoothies, and Hawaiian pizza.

The Entertainment:

• We played 'Hot Coconut' (played like hot potato). A coconut was passed around and once the music stopped whoever had it was out. Afterwards, my husband took the coconut outside and cracked it open so that the kids could all try some coconut milk.
  
  
• Of course there was a Limbo Stick.


• I love piñatas because they’re relatively cheap to make (a balloon, some newspaper, flour, water, and paint) and they serve several purposes. They act as a party decoration, a party game, and also can be substituted for goody bags. For this party though we found a parrot shaped piñata at a garage sale over the summer for 50 cents.
  
  

Frugal Laundry Choices

Here at the House on the Corner we've been rethinking and examining how we do everyday things. Instead of going along the way we've always done (or the way our parents did), we've been trying to take a closer look to see if there are any changes we can make that will benefit us financially, make things easier for us, or are better for the environment. Laundry care is one of those areas that we've made some changes.

• We switched to washing everything in cold water with the exception of our bath towels and haven't noticed any issues. This should save us some $ because the hot water heater is running constantly.
• The only items that we put in the dryer are bath towels, socks and underclothes (this is only because there were some complaints about crispy towels and underwear). Most of our shirts are hung on hangers to dry and pants are laid across a wooden drying rack. I sometimes throw a small load of almost dry blouses into the dryer for a few minutes to get rid of wrinkles because I don't like ironing. Most clothes will dry overnight using this method. The many benefits of this include lowering our electricity bill, our clothes are lasting longer and fading more slowly and the environmental benefits of not consuming energy.
• We started making our own laundry soap. We use 1 Tbs. of home made laundry soap per load. It doesn't have a strong fragrance and doesn't bother my sensitive skin. We use about 1/2 the recommended amount of softener, but only on select loads. Since we rarely use the dryer, a box of dryer sheets lasts a very long time and we tend to use one sheet several times before tossing it.

Laundry Soap Recipe

Here is the recipe that I use for powdered laundry soap, this recipe makes about 7 cups of laundry soap (approximately 112 loads) this works out to around $.06 per load:

3 bars Fels Naptha soap, grated (I paid $1.29/bar)

2 cups Borax (I paid $3.99 and this box contains enough to make several batches)

2 cups washing soda (I paid $2.49 and box contains enough to make several batches)

I start out by cutting the soap into chunks with a knife and then chop it into powder using the food processor.

I put this soap powder into a large airtight container and add the remaining ingredients. Then, I shake to thoroughly combine. Use 1 Tbs per load. Because I wash using cold water and worry a little about this soap dissolving, I let the washer fill with a little water and add the soap to let it dissolve before throwing the clothes in and I haven't had any problems.

Fun Fall Craft

We had so much fun glittering these little pumpkins. A few of them were covered with glue and then sparkled. For the rest of them, we used paint and poured the glitter over top. I expect them to last a few weeks.

Hamburger Cake

Here is the Big Mac cake that I made last year for my step-son's birthday.

It took me a lot longer to put this cake together than I was expecting and it was a tad difficult to transport. All the ooohs and ahhhhs more than made up for it though. I used the Woman's Day recipe, but replaced the pine nuts with slivered almonds.

Birthday Garland

Since birthday season is in full swing around here, I've been wanting to make one of those Martha Stewart-esque paper garlands.

I printed my letters onto colored paper using a really big font. To form the circle shape, I traced around a coaster and then cut them out. Then I glued the colored circles to pieces of card stock that were a little bit bigger (I used a slightly larger coaster).


Next, I punched two holes near the top of the circles and strung them on two different lengths of yarn, but I think next time I will use thin ribbon instead.

Here they are hung up for my husband's birthday dinner. I plan to use them for the girl child's party next weekend too.

Princess Birthday Tea

As the girl child's birthday party approaches, I thought it an appropriate time for a visit from the ghost of birthday parties past. Last year, we hosted a Princess Tea Party for my step-daugther's eighth birthday.



For the The Invitation:

I used Microsoft Word to format the wording and print the text for the invitation using a royal looking font. I also used a crown clip art image. I printed these out on regular paper and then aged them by painting them with coffee and laying them on the kitchen table to dry. This caused them to get wrinkly, crinkly and brown (and to smell very good). I then cut the text to fit on a half sheet of card stock in a parchment looking color. I folded the cardstock in half and glued the invite text inside. For the front of the card, I cut out and aged the crown design, glued this down and used jewel stickers from the dollar store to embellish.

The food

• Since there were so many goodies, we skipped the cake and opted instead for cupcakes arranged on a pretty cake stand.
• Chocolate covered strawberries
• Peanut butter cracker sandwiches
• Ham and cheese roll ups
• Hot cocoa and warm cider were made ahead of time and kept in some pretty coffee carafes.
• PB&J, tuna salad and chicken salad sandwiches were made and then cut into heart and flower shapes using cookie cutters.
  
  

Decorations

• We made place cards for each of the girls by writing their names (using non-toxic gold markers) on a green apple and setting it on their plate.

• The table was strewn with curled streamers and gold wrapped chocolate coins.

• We used real table linens and china for an authentic touch.
  

The princess opening her gifts.


The Games

• We made a prize basket containing one prize for each game (plus one extra just in case). These prizes came from the $ store and my gift closet. The winner of each game drew a prize from the basket with their eyes closed.
• Princess Mix Up – This one is played like Telephone. The birthday princess was trying to get a message to the queen. We didn’t give out a prize for this game, but it was a lot of fun.
• Ladies Relay – We had the girls split into teams and relay raced balancing books on their heads. If they dropped their book they had to start over.
• Royal Pictionary – We used a whiteboard and markers and had the girls draw clues for all to guess. We used royal words, such as, crown, prince, knight, etc.
• Pin the kiss on the frog – My talented husband drew a frog onto green poster board and I cut lips from red paper. I wrote each girls name on the lips ahead of time. We gave the girls tape for the back of their lips, blindfolded and spun them around a la pin the tail on the donkey.

• Poison apple – The girls sit in a circle on the floor and when the music begins they pass around the Poison Apple. When the music stops whoever has the apple falls asleep. We continued to play until there was only one girl left and she was the winner.
  

This party really was a lot of fun. When the girls arrived they were greeted at the door by the servant (my husband). He welcomed them, took their coats and showed them into the back room where he announced them as Princess So and So. We printed out some princess coloring book pages ahead of time put them on the table with a bucket of crayons to occupy the girls who arrived early. Once all the girls had arrived, the servant announced that the tea was to be served in the royal dining room. I (the queen) ate at the table with the girls and we were waited on by the servant. This was a lot fun too and we even used a little glass bell to summon the servant. Partway through tea, we were entertained by the jester (my step-son) who told some royal themed jokes. After tea we went into the living room and played a few games. Then we had a special throne for the birthday girl to sit in as she opened her gifts.

Visit to the Pumpkin Farm

OK, so these pictures are from last week. The dog had a blast and was too cute riding in the cart. The kids were there too, but were busy finding the perfect pumpkins.

Link Love 11.07.07

Here are some great links that I've come across lately and wanted to share. You can tell that I've got Christmas on the brain as several of these are holiday related.

Check out these great Christmas card photo ideas!

Make some cool pillow cases for your family or to gift.

Put the kids to work making gift wrap.

Check out the kitchen eye candy.

Make a cute library tote!

Check out Mr. Cheap Stuff for some great deals.

Embellish your life with fabric flower pins you can make yourself.

Great homemade gift ideas.

Make this cute fabric covered bulletin board.

Turn an old pair of jeans into a skirt.

Easing Into Frugality Part Two: Recycling

Save $ Strategy: Recycling

This one obviously varies by geographic area, but recycling in many towns is free. That means if you pay someone haul off your garbage, the more items that you recycle the less you may pay for trash pickup. In my town, we purchase city garbage bags for trash pickup, but the recycling is picked up for free. The dump in our area also has a recycling center that allows you to discard one bag of kitchen trash for free when you bring recyclables. If we took advantage of this we wouldn’t have to pay for trash at all, but for us the dump is definitely out of our way.

I would say that before we began recycling we put out on average about 3 bags/week and since then we’ve reduced this to 1 bag/week. At $1.75 per bag this is a weekly savings of $3.50 per week or $182 per year.

The obvious green benefit is that we are diverting the recyclable materials from sitting in a pile at the town dump. In the process, we are also setting a good example for the kids who in turn will (hopefully) grow up to recycle themselves. My husband likes the fact that he doesn’t have to empty the kitchen garbage can as often because it isn’t getting filled up with cardboard and plastic bottles.

Getting Started

Many towns/cities have a website that outlines the recycling programs for that area. If not, a call to your city clerk can usually get you the information that you need. Some cities provide containers for collecting recyclables. Ours does not, so we use plastic office trash cans that we got for free.

At first we were a little overwhelmed by what was recyclable in our area and what wasn’t. We began by bundling up our newspapers, magazines and catalogs for a month and were surprised at how quickly it added up. Once we felt comfortable with that, we expanded our efforts and began recycling plastic and cardboard (think about all those boxed grocery items like cereal or macaroni and cheese). Finally, we added glass jars and tin cans. We lined the recycling containers up along the wall on our back porch so that all we have to do is step out the back door from the kitchen and toss the item into the appropriate container. If you don’t have such easy access to an outdoor area, you could put one or two small bins under a cabinet or out of the way.

I find that just keeping recycling in mind has made me rethink a lot of things that I used to do out of habit and I’ve started implementing small changes in our home as a result.

• Instead of buying individually packaged snacks, drinks and lunch treats, it’s both frugal and environmentally conscientious to buy the bigger sized snacks and repackage into smaller portions. We’ve cut down on the amount beverages that we buy in disposable plastic containers opting for reusable solutions.
• I switched from using paper napkins to cloth ones. I picked these up at a garage sale, but I plan to sew some using scrap fabric one of these days.
• I cut way down on the amount of paper towels used for basic kitchen clean-up. We now use dish towels for the majority of chores and I keep a bag of rags (made from cut up old t-shirts) handy for really gross clean-ups like the toilet and such.

I'd be interested to know what changes others have made that benefits both the planet and the budget.