Umbrella Chair

I needed a chair that was easy to take around with shade already provided for breast feeding while out and about and camping. Here's what I came up with:

 All you need is a camp chair, large 6 ft umbrella and 2 cable cuffs, all of which you can find at home depot.

 I like the cable cuffs because it makes it easy to assemble and disassemble

Hanging Kids Artwork

I got really sick of putting holes in the wall all the time from push pins. My kids always want to hang up their pictures and I like to oblige when I can. So I made this to display their art work. I did one for each kid in their room and then one in the hall.  All it took was some nylon rope from the dollar store, clothes pins, and a few nails to hang it up.

Chore Charts

I've been wanting a chore chart for my kids and this is the best I could find from the many pinterest posts. I used cookie sheets from the dollar store, printed out pictures of the chores they do, round wood circles from a craft store, and square magnets from Walmart. I think it cost $10, but only because I wanted the best wood pieces. Everything else was pretty cheap.

I just glued the pictures to the wood pieces, and used tape and stickers to write the names and lines. My boys love them. I recommend punching holes in the top of the pans and stringing ribbons through them to hang them on the all.

Lion Tail

My sons lion costume didn't come with a tail, so I made one. Here it is:

I used yarn, 6 strands of yellow, I braided it 2 by 2 by 2 about halfway down, tied a knot for the top of the tail, turned it upside down and used the braid for the middle string to make it thick. then I looped a bunch of brown strands together, tied it on the end, and cut the loops to make individual hairs.

Pirate Party

My son wanted a Jake the pirate party. Here are the invitations.

The Cake

We did a treasure map that led to different rooms in the house. Each room had a game.

The games were Alligator bean bag toss, pin the skull on the pirate ship, and the "island" walk (cake walk but stepping on islands). The treasure was hidden in a treasure box with an X on it, and inside were the party favor bags, and my sons birthday presents.

Here is where I got the ideas for the games.

http://www.awesome-kid-birthday-parties.com/pirate-games.html

The party favor bags had gummy sharks, marine animals, eye patches, rolled up coloring pages of Jake to look like a scroll, gold coins (candy/toys), and some light up rings.

Game Piece Fixes

Here are some tips to fixing game pieces:

1. If its cardboard and the bottom starts to shred and won't go in the plastic holder anymore, tape the bottom with packing tape. 

2. If you don't have a plastic stand for your game pieces, use an alligator clip.

Counting Game

I found this in a brite book. You make a bunch of the same character and draw a random amount of buttons on each one. Attach a cup or bag to put a corresponding # of tokens or beans to the buttons. Its a fun way to teach kids counting.

Magnet Boxes

I made these magnet boxes for my boys for Christmas. They are super easy and fun.

Supplies: 

-Metal box (I use the gift card boxes that go on sale after christmas)

-Stickers

-Permanent Marker

-Magnet page (Dollar store often has magnet to do list pages that work great for this, or buy a magnet strip in the craft aisle at walmart)

Color inside of the box with permanent marker (scenery or patterns) or keep it plain. Stick stickers to magnet and cut out. Place sticker magnets inside and your done!

Kid Ties

I made a tie skirt and had a bunch of leftover ends of ties. So I decided to make ties for my baby boys.  If you have ties that have stains on the front you can use the back for these ties!

After you tie the knot, snip the excess off. Measure an elastic piece the size you need to fit around your babies head, or 2 pieces with velcro on the end. String the elastic through the knot, and glue the knot and elastic on the inside to keep together. and you have a tie!