OCUSoft Product Review

OCUSoft Website: here

Also available at Walgreens stores.

Good Time to Buy Dress-Up Box Accessories/Costumes

October and November is the best time to stock up on dress-up box accessories or costumes! I couldn't resist picking up some fun things at our local grocery store. Everything was $1-$2 and we can use it for years to come! Not only can you use Halloween accessories for Halloween, but all year long for your childrens' dress-up box and pretend time. Kids love dressing up, even if the items are small things like sun glasses or wigs or hats. Target and Walmart and the Dollar Store are also great places to find these sorts of accessories. I'm not willing to spend more than $5 on these types of items, so I usually go to stores the day AFTER Halloween, on November 1st, when EVERYTHING Halloween-related is discounted deeply. This is a great time to get Halloween costumes for the next year when they are deeply discounted. It's also a great time to buy Halloween costumes for your dress-up box for your children to play with. What kinds of things have you found this time of year?

Favorite Halloween Books for Children

We love pulling out our Halloween books. I keep them stored away with our Halloween and Fall decorations so that we don't look at them through out the year. This makes it more fun every Fall when we get to read these books again, they seem like new every year! 

I don't like to spend a lot of money on books, especially children's board books. We usually get ours through Amazon.com in "good used condition" for under $5 or we find them at second-hand stores. Or I've actually bought a few at the Target Dollar section as well!

Here are links to the books mentioned in this video:
-"Who's There on Halloween?" here
-"Who Said Boo?" here
-DK "Touch and Feel Halloween" here
-"What is Halloween?" here and Michelle Adams other "What is...." holiday books: here
-DK "My First Halloween Board Book" here
-Peanuts "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" here
-DK Halloween shaped board book here
-"So Many Monsters" from Target Dollar section this year
-"One, Two...Boo!" here
-"Little Pumpkin Girl" from Target Dollar section last year
-"Five Little Pumpkins" here
-"Ghoulish Gang" from Target Dollar section this year

Here is a GREAT list of other fun Halloween Board Books for little ones: HERE

Please comment below and tell me what your favorite Halloween or Fall activities to do with your children are!

Target Dollar Haul

Target Party Banners: here, here, and here and more options here (Walmart) and here (Dollar Tree)

EOS Limited Time Alice in Wonderland Lip Balm Collection: here  (on right hand side of screen it says when it will be available online and in stores)

Birthday Party Planning

My daughter just turned 2 and we had a very successful and fun birthday party for her. In planning her birthday party, I didn't want to spend a lot of time or money doing it. Have you been on pinterest lately? Oh my word I cannot believe the types of parties people throw for their 2, 3, and 4 year olds. There are elaborate themes, every food item has to match the theme, and the table displays are insane! I have neither the time, money, or craftiness to do it like the pros. But I feel like I have some party planning tips and tricks that I'd like to share with you all to make your lives easier.

First of all, I used this tee pee that my mom made 20+ years ago for the kids to play in. I want to make one of my own!

I spray painted this old piece of furniture that was collecting dust on our patio. It turned out great. I displayed pictures of my daughter and had the silverware/servingware here for guests.

I used this idea again from last year where I display pictures of my daughter from the previous year so guests can see how much she's grown and changed over the last year. It's a really fun way to decorate, and inexpensive, and EASY! All you do is order prints from somewhere (Target, Costco, Walmart, Walgreens), then attach the pictures to colorful ribbon and hang it up! 

We gave our daughter a Little Tikes swing. She loves swings!

The food was fantastic. My suggestion is to ask guests to bring something to the party. In our case, our family members offered to bring a side dish, so we took them up on it. It made our party planning so much easier knowing most of the food was already taken care of! We made BBQ chicken, it was the easiest recipe and turned out oh so good! Simply marinade the chicken in Coke and BBQ sauce overnight and cook!

So our photo booth idea was the biggest hit of the party. The kids absolutely loved it and it could have entertained them all evening. We simply hung up some wallpaper as the background, then used tons of different silly props! I found some free online printables  for the mustaches, bow ties, bows, and lips. All I did was print them out in color on cardstock, cut them out, and tape them to straws. It took me about 15 minutes, that's all. I found a ton of cool glasses at Walmart and the Dollar Tree stores for super cheap ($1-$2 for a pack of 4). I also found a couple of old wooden frames at a second hand store for $2 each and simply spray painted them so the kids could hold them up! The hats also came from the Dollar Tree store and Target's dollar section.

This is my favorite one of my daughter! So silly!

I love these "Happy Birthday" glasses I found at the Dollar Tree.

Little Mr. Professor

See what I mean? The kids just kept wanting me to take picture after picture! It's a great keepsake for the kids too. I simply emailed the photos of the kids to their respective parents and it is a great way to remember your birthday party!

I had to throw this one in of me and my husband. We are so silly. I love it!

Our big present to our daughter was this Little Tykes slide. It usually costs $80-$90 retail but I found it online through our newspaper classifieds for under $40! Score!

I don't make a lot of cakes, so we decided to have cupcakes instead. The frosting was amazing.

Last year Eliza didn't even want to eat any of her cake, but this year she took a big bite and enjoyed it!

We love our daughter so much. We can't believe she's already 2!

She got this baby doll and stroller for her birthday and loves them! The first thing she did the morning after was push her baby around the house. 

She loves to stand at the window, and even held her baby up so she could see the view too!

Make sure to check out my other blog posts here and here on how to spray paint furniture!