Quick Gift

Most years I am that person who has great intentions to get everything wrapped and ready by mid December but always seem to end up hunting down that last minute gift for someone on the 22nd or so. This year I worked extra hard to make it really happen and for the first time I succeeded. By avoiding the malls at this chaotic time of year I have had a little time to also get creative, and maybe this will help you out of needing to hit the stores yet again!

I read an interesting article recently regarding gifts and how much to spend. It seems that most people don't have any more gratification from a gift just because it cost more. Good news for those of us who like to do homemade Christmases. One gift in particular that I find difficult to find with short notice is a hostess gift. The token bottle of wine is pretty standard but if I have time I like to get a more personal item. If I don't have time I like to jazz it up with a small box and one of these:

I picked up a big box of horse shoes a few years back for a couple bucks but I've seen them since at western stores and at Lee Valley. With a whimsical linen bow tied on and a random item from my treasure jar sewed on (in this case a rainbow color pompom) it is a great box topper, or stand alone gift to bring luck to the recipient.

And who doesn't want more luck? I know they've brought me some since I have saved both money and a trip to the mall!

Proof for Sean that my random purchases and boxes of "junk" all have a purpose!

PS- You may have noticed that I have started tagging my photos. It isn't because I think they are super awesome, but because some lovely readers have taken the time to email me and let me know that a lot of my photos are turning up on Pinterest and other blogs and are being credited back to another blog. One blog even had my photos as their header! So hopefully this will cut down on confusion for innocent bloggers who think they are crediting the right site, and THANKS to all you awesome scouts who let me know~

Happy Third Birthday Wren!

It is still so hard to believe it was only three years ago that Wren was born because it feels like she has always been a part of our family, but at the same time it seems hard to believe that she is so big already!! For her big day we wanted to include all her favorite things, specially because it was such an exciting event for her this year. She hung out with her Grandma and Grandpa all day on Friday so I could get everything ready which was really fun for me because she didn't see it all until Saturday morning and the look on her face was priceless!

Balloons are one of her all time favorite things! Even a simple trip to the grocery store becomes difficult as we walk by the floral area and balloons are floating around...

Popcorn is another favorite and so are pickles so some dill pickle flavored popcorn was a good find. Kettle corn was the alternative for anyone not sold on her preferred flavor.

My love for all things at SuperStore made the beverage choices easy and even color coordinated with our party perfectly! These bottled italian sodas were both cheap ($2.50 each) and delicious!

I would not have gotten anything done if those little fingers were into everything on Friday.

Paper lunch sacks make cheap and easy loot bags.

Wren did help with one element and that was putting sprinkles on our cupcakes. I found these adorable cupcake liners at HomeSense for $2 back in September and am wishing I would have gotten more because they baked beautifully, didn't require a muffin tin so I could bake 2 dozen at once.

My ballon baby, oops, I mean BIG girl!

The whole day was a huge success and would have been flawless if both Sean and myself weren't fighting a horrible 24 hour flu that had us both nauseous and walking zombies. But once the guests arrived I totally forgot how bad I felt and we all had a blast~

We had the party on Saturday, but today is Wren real Birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Wrennie Girl!

{party time} ... almost!

Gee. where do I start? I've been painting up a storm, finalizing the holiday shopping, FINALLY getting the kitchen done (long story involving FedEx!), and getting into party mode. It seems we have had non stop parties to attend and countless engagements lately which have our heads spinning, but thankfully there has been plenty of Christmas magic floating around here thanks to Wren and her fascination with everything Holiday and Birthday related!

I even convinced Sean and Wren to join me outside last week for an impromptu photo shoot during a morning snow fall. It is so important to me to get these memories saved and on film this year because it feels like it is her last Christmas as a baby (don't tell her I said that!), and yet it is also her first Christmas as a little girl.

I have completed COUNTLESS birthday projects in the last couple weeks but my last is definitely my favorite (mainly because it is soooo fast): S'more pops. I just dipped marshmallows in chocolate and grahm cracker crumbs and topped with a little flag.

Other projects include tons of bunting banners in the party colors of yellow and pink, setting up a popcorn station and doing custom grab bag and cotton candy bags for the kids. If you can't eat a ton of junk on your birthday when can you right? I was also excited to find a cool "table cloth" at anthro. You have already heard me rave about the disposable placemats by Cake but I am even more in love with their 50ft roll of "table cloth". It will be fun to let the kids draw and decorate it, and the sale price of only $14 was just icing on the birthday cake.

Because I am not all the savvy at paper stuff I turned to fabulous etsy seller: Pacokeco. She did some wonderful custom items for me and her prices are so reasonable, plus I love to support fellow Canadian ladies!

Just a couple more days until the big party... then a few more days until my birthday party ...then just a few more days until Christmas, and so on. You can see why this time of year is insane for us!