Grinchmas Party

This time last year, I was getting over being sick. One particularly miserable day when I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with getting everything ready for the holidays, I had a {brilliant} thought.

 

We need to have a Grinchmas party.

 

.....Because every sane person decides to add a whole list of things to do when they are already overwhelmed :)

 

Honestly, looking back at these photos, I don't know how I got so much done in such a short time, especially since everything was handmade. Shows you how a woman can get anything done even when they are sick, ha!

 

 

I made the wreath by cutting foam board into a circle and glueing a bright green boa I found at the craft store. Some red pom poms completed the look. The banner was made with scrap red fabric. I printed the letters from my computer and traced them onto white fabric. I then cut those out and glued them onto the banner. Amazingly, the entire banner is still intact this year :)

 

I seriously drove to a gazillion stores trying to find GREEN cotton candy for these cupcakes. It was one of those things that I just absolutely needed for this party ;)  

 

 

And, of course, who-pudding was served:

 

I used   THIS recipe for the "Grinch" juice that I found on Pinterest. Everyone loved it.

 

For activities, we did a craft using a picture I took of each child posing with our Grinch mask.

 

 

We also played two games.

The first one was "Melt the Grinch's Heart". I took the old baby shower game of "my water broke" {freezing small, plastic babies in ice cubes and whoever melts theirs first wins} and substituted the babies for heart shaped runts inside of green ice cubes.

 

Each child got one cube in a Ziploc bag (to catch the melted ice) and had to try to melt theirs the quickest by blowing, sitting on it, etc.

 

The other game we played was Pin-the-heart-on-the-Grinch, originally found on The Cupcake Diaries Blog.

 

It physically hurts me to see that I didn't take a single photo of the game, {or even of it set up!}, but here's a glimpse of what the Grinch did look like {shown later, just chillaxin on our indoor slide, ha! }

 

It was a really fun, relaxed party. Once the games were over, the kids basically just ran around and played and all them moms hung out and talked.

 

Our guests got to take home some good loot in these adorable pails I found for super cheap:

 

 

I filled them with candy, including a candy cane with a poem I found online about the Grinch licking all the candy canes and turning them green. We created a small coloring book with a GREEN crayon, and a cookie that I tried to recreate from this amazing one.

 

They were also given green skittle "Grinch pills" with the note I copied from here.

 

Honestly, going over all these photos makes me want to host another party :)

I think this would really make an adorable school party theme, too!

 

 

xo,

Rachel

 

 

DIY: Lazy Susan Art Center

Hello all!

As promised, here is a quick tutorial (and freebie!) on how I created the Lazy Susan shown here. And thanks to all who voted and shared the link!

So, let's get to it!

First, I found this plain, old lazy susan on one of our {many} thrift shopping expeditions. I pretty much knew instantly what I wanted to do with.

1. I did a light sand and then primed and painted it white. The center in this photo was a test to see if I wanted to paint it yellow...I eventually chose purple.

2.I painted the outer edge a bright red, knowing that I would want it to look "Seuss-y". I just used some acrylic paint I had lying around, because I knew I would be covering it with a protective finish. If I weren't doing the final step, I would have used a latex.

3. After I painted the center purple, I was left with a smudgy line, so I covered up all messes with more white paint

4. I applied the polka dots with a round sponge paintbrush

5. I let some of the circles go over the edge, and even made some oblong, so they weren't too perfect.

6. I outlined all my circles (making sure not to be perfect!) and painted wavy lines in blue

7. I outlined the lines in the same sharpie marker I did the dots. Outlining is essential! It is really what makes all the details pop and look more cartoonish.

The red pails were dollar finds from Target. (In fact, I stumbled across them when they were on clearance for only 40cents!!)

I created the labels myself and attached them with glue (although they could have been printed with sticker paper also) and then did a protective coating of ModPodge over them to protect them from all the drawing I knew they would endure from my kids :)

It's definitly something we use EVERY day.

And for Freebie Friday, you can print up some labels to make your OWN art holders!

Just click HERE to get your own!

Happy creating!

xo,

Rachel