Apples for Alex’s Teachers

We had so many apples after apple picking. So, Andy suggested we give one to each of Alex’s teachers. I ended up putting them in separate bags, tying them with apple ribbon and adding a little card, which I tied to the apple ribbon with red and white baker’s twine. 

They looked cute, and the apples were pretty great. 

Easter: Gifts from the Easter Bunny

Even though I will be giving Alex candy from the Easter Bunny as well, I like to give him gifts that make him think and help him use his imagination. He has recently become obsessed with puzzles, so I got him two more puzzle sets. I also got him some Easter themed books. 

 The Easter Bunny always signs these books and marks his signature with two eggs. 

I wrapped all these gifts in brown Kraft paper. Using a template, I created a bunny silhouette (I got my inspiration from this year’s bunny garland from Paper Source, which I saw in the window of their store a few days ago).

I cut the bunny out of several different springy paper patterns and adhered to the corner of the package.

I then tied the package up using baker’s twine in a similar color scheme. I tied a bow and positioned it close to the neck of the bunny. 

These packages remind me of a song I sing to Alex all the time…brown paper packages tied up with string, these are a few of my favorite things. 

Decorating Easter Eggs

We also decorated eggs this past weekend. Alex did most of these all by himself. I just laid down a waterproof/spill proof tablecloth and let him go to work. He decided what colors and also when the eggs were done. The biggest problem: I hard-boiled only a dozen, and he wanted to decorate more!

I love that he dyed so many blue eggs and that he kept them super pale—they are beautiful!

Wrapping Birthday Gifts for Kids

We have been to a ton of birthday parties recently. I thought I would share with you some of the ways I have wrapped gifts for these birthday parties.

Alex loves this fire truck ribbon, which I got for his school’s touch-a-truck fund raiser. 

For the to/from tag, I just punched out a small square from the paper and wrote on it using the colors found in the ribbons. 

Adding Sparkle to a White Bag

My best friend turned 35 this year. She came up with her beautiful family for Alex’s birthday party, and, since that was the first time I had seen her since her birthday, I had her gift ready to go. 

I wanted to add a little sparkle to the bag, since she adds so much sparkle to everyone’s life. I used a kit from Martha Stewart crafts, and cut out a “Happy Birthday” along with two decorative decals.

I placed these in the center of the bag and added green glitter, then shook off the excess glitter.

I got her a candle from Anthropologie (one of my favorite places to get candles!), a bicycle charm (since she loves bikes and riding), and a lip gloss from Sephora. I wrapped up the bicycle charm in a small white bag, and secured with a green and white label. I added all items to the bag and then tied with a green ribbon. 

She is such a special person—she is my oldest friend (we have known each other for over 20 years), and I am so fortunate that she is still such a vital part of my life!

Alex’s 2nd Birthday Party: Decorations and Thank You Bags

I found a fabric on Etsy that I loved and purchased a yard of it—I loved the colors and it went perfectly with our zoo-themed party. This fabric became the starting point for the color scheme and the decorations. 

I used this fabric in multiple ways:

• For Alex’s sweatshirt: The “two” on the front is in the fabric and his hood is lined with the fabric—this came courtesy of Alex’s grandmother, who is a whiz on the sewing machine.
• I photocopied the fabric, so I could use paper (easier to work with when cutting). I used this photocopied paper on the thank you bags and on Alex’s birthday sign. 

Happy Birthday Sign

As mentioned above, I used the “fabric” paper for the letters in this sign. I then cut out orange, brown and green cardstock and applied the letters to these. I strung using a brown grosgrain ribbon.

Thank You Bags

For the thank you bags, I used a brown paper bag, cut out cardstock in the same orange, brown and green that was used in the happy birthday sign, and then adhered the “fabric” paper with “Thank You” on it. I tied these with the same brown grosgrain I used for the sign, plus a green satin ribbon (slightly thinner than the brown ribbon), and an orange grosgrain ribbon (which was the thinnest ribbon of all). 

In these bags, I put animal crackers (thanks to my mom who found them), animal kaleidoscopes (again, thanks to my mom), animal stickers and eight animal temporary tattoos (the stickers and the tattoos I put in a small white bag to keep together). I added a bag of gummy treats (one of Alex’s favorite things) to the bags as well. 

Other Decorations

The kids each got to choose an animal mask and tail—I put masks/tails  for lions, giraffes, tigers and zebras. The kids really loved these, and I got messages saying that the kids were wearing their tails all weekend long. 

The day of, we had 18 helium balloons blown up in green, orange and brown. I tied this brown string to the ends of the balloons, as it matched my bags perfectly. 

Finally, we blew up 12 animal beach balls and had these placed around the room. The kids could throw them in the space and we didn’t have to worry about damage with them.

For Alex’s gifts, I wrapped them in Kraft paper and tied them with a zoo-themed ribbon I found. 

All-in-all, the party was a huge success. Alex had a BLAST, and that was the most important thing!

Valentine’s Day Gift for Teachers

I know Alex’s teachers like chocolate (who doesn’t?), so for Valentine’s Day, I wanted to fill three mason jars with chocolate in white, pink and red colors. I got two bags of M&M’s and two bags of Hershey kisses (the Valentine editions) and sorted the colors.  

I then filled each jar with just one color (except for one, I used a combination of pink and white). 

I wrote “Love having you as a teacher” on cardstock that matched the chocolate, cut it out, attached it to a doily and then tied with red and white baker’s twine. I also cut out circles for the tops of the mason jars in the same color as the tags.

My Pinterest image. 

The gifts were cheap ($1.50 for the mason jars, about $4.00 for each bag of candy—so, about $7 a gift). A great, easy way to show your appreciation!