Party Planning - Decorations & Party Supplies

I try to reuse as many of the decorations and supplies as possible.  It helps the environment, cuts down on the cost, and (a huge factor for me) saves on time.  We have learned to keep our events simple.  A few well placed decorations have been much more effective for us then decking out the entire apartment.  Here are a few of the highlights:

• A Vinal Tablecloth - These can be found on clearance or at stores like the Christmas Tree Shop for just about the same price as the plastic tablecloths.  We bought a floral one for Princess' 1st birthday and were able to reuse it for her princess party and Mother's Day.  It would've lasted even longer but at some point, much to my disappointment, it got used as a cutting board. 
• Dollar Store Balloons - We easily spent over $20 in balloons for Princess' 1st birthday.  If only I knew then that the Dollar Tree had helium filled balloons.  The selection is not as large as at a party store, but it really doesn't make a difference to my kids.  They are just so excited to be getting balloons.  I was excited that this time I was able to get all the balloons we needed for under $5!  They last just as well as the party store balloons too.  We have had these balloons for a week now and they are still full of helium (even with the kids playing with them).
• Streamers - For Buddy's party we just used left over streamers from another party.  I try to use neutral colors as much as possible so that we can use them for as many events as possible.  For Princess' party this year we used tulle for streamers.  It gave it a very girly feel and again they can be reused.
• Paper plates, etc. - This is one of my splurges.  For this trucker's wife and mom of a toddler and preschooler, I feel it's more of a necessity.  There is enough to clean up after a party without adding a massive amount of dishes.  I use coupons and sales to buy regular paper plates ahead of time.  I buy a step above the cheap ones and try to get something that has a solid color or a nice neutral edge.  The character/party ones are great, but they are really expensive just to put food on and throw away.  We buy neutral plastic cups, napkins, and white or clear plastic ware.  Any left overs are used at the next event.

How do you save time and money decorating for your parties and events?

Read about how we save money on invitations here.

Sickness has hit our household

On top of everything else going on we are all sick.  Not sure when we will be back but taking care of the family and getting us all back on our feet is our priority right now.  Hope to be back up and running soon.  :-(

Life Happens

So between picking up a new student, the truck breaking down with serious issues, packing for our daughter to go visit her aunt, and getting everything ready for Buddy's birthday party plus everything that needs to be sent back with the family all packed up, we apologize but we will not be posting for the rest of the week.  There is only so much time in a day and this week everything seems to have hit at once.  Thanks for understanding!  Have a great end of  your week and we will see you on Sunday.

Trucker Kids - Precious Moments

I love how even my 2 year old can sense when Daddy is coming home.  He fights sleep on these nights, doing everything in his power to stay awake.  This time was no different.  Usually as soon as Daddy gets home Buddy gets his hug and wants me to put him to bed.  Not this time.  He heard the lock start to turn and he looked at me and said "Dah..y?"  Then he ran over to the couch and peered over the top as the door started to open and again said "Dah..y?"  When Daddy walked through the door, Buddy's face lit up with a huge smile and he said "Dah..y!"  I asked him if he wanted a hug.  Little Buddy got off the couch as quickly as he could, ran to Daddy and latched onto his leg.  That night he wanted to cuddle with Daddy until he fell asleep. 
I love moments like this.  Not only does it make the Colonel feel great when he gets a greeting like that after being on the road, but it helps me to know that the kids are connecting with him.  One of those lovely melt Mommy's heart moments that I thought I would share.

Party Planning on a Budget - Invitations

With Buddy's birthday around the corner it's time a good time to talk about how we plan our parties.  Celebrating our children's birthdays has always been important to us.  We like to make sure we do it right.  For Princess' first birthday we easily spent a couple hundred.  Needless to say that does not help us reach our goal of getting out of debt.
As a trucking family we have also had to make some adjustments, even with me as a stay at home mom.  For some reason the Colonel could be home early any time except for when we have plans.  We have learned that having him home at the very last minute before an important event is just part of trucking, which can add a lot more stress.  The easy way would just be to buy everything, but this gets expensive. This week we will talk about how I handle the invitations.  This can be one of the more time consuming projects.  I usually start this one 8-9 weeks before the party.  We will use Buddy's Mater theme for the examples.
How I Make the Invitations:

• First, I pick a theme.  Something my kids are really into. 
• Then I Google search to get ideas.  In this case I searched  Mater invitations and Cars invitations.  Once I have a plan in my head or a rough sketch on paper I start to make the invitation.
• To start making the invitation I start with making an 8x10 version.  I find that by scanning the 8x10, I get a better finished product.
• Pick a border - Microsoft Word has some great ones.  I find I have much better luck with the border when it is set to "From Text" instead of "From Edge of Page."  For Princess' Cinderella/Belle invitation I skipped this step.  Set the layout to landscape, even if you skip the border. 
  
   
• Then I go in search of images of the character or something that represents the theme. I make any adjustments to the picture I need to using paint.  Then I insert the pictures into the word document.  If I can't get them just right I print and cut them out and add them once I print the document.
• Next I insert any text I can.  Make sure that the text is large enough so that it will be readable when you print the 3x5 size. Usually the unfinished document needs to be printed at this point along with any text I could not get just right. 
• Tape the pieces into place (the scan comes out better if you put the tape under the pieces).  I prefer tape to glue because anything that isn't right can be moved with tape.

• Scan and save as a .jpg.  Then print the 3x5.  Make any adjustments necessary and repeat, or if you are happy with it the first time print off what you need.  Cut apart and mail out in a letter size envelope.  

(Because the invitations are very personalized and contain personal information I did not include a picture of the finished project)

Highlights From This Week

What We Talked About This Week:
The Colonel's Corner:  The Colonel shared ways to make sure that your family is ready before you leave for training.  Read it here.

Truck Driving at a Family Level  discussed a little about how we try to keep fights to a minimum while Colonel is over the road.  Read about it here.

This week on Our Journey to Debt Free Living we talked about 3 ways we were throwing away giving opportunities.  Excellent ways to begin increasing giving.

Wednesday Rose shared her fall centerpiece DIY.  Find out how to make it here.

For our trucker kids the power outage turned out to be a much needed change of pace.


Favorite Pin of the Week: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/326862885426048493/  This pin takes magnet strips and puts them on the side of a drawer to help hold bobby pins.  Princess started dance this week, so she now owns bobby pins.  We live in apartment so putting a magnet strip on a drawer is not an option.  Instead we adapted it by putting the strip inside her hair tie container.

Exciting Things to Look Forward to Next Week

• Truck Driving at a Family Level will be starting a mini-series on how we put on budget and time friendly birthday parties. 
• Our Journey to Debt Free Living will be continuing the giving series with how we use coupons to help us give.
• Trucker Kids will tell you all about a fun way that our preschooler and toddler explored leaves this week.

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Trucking Kids - Power Outage

Everything happens for a reason and yesterday was one of those days.  Yesterday, Princess had a pretty difficult day.  No matter what I tried she didn't want to listen and she did not want to pick up.  Then the power went out.  Everything was quiet, it was great for me!  Every once in a while it is amazing to get some true silence.  Obviously that doesn't happen often around here.  The kids don't take power outages as well.  Princess isn't quite old enough to understand why the lights won't turn back on.  It was still light out so we got outside and played for a couple of hours.  It was hot so we ended up playing with a hose for about an hour.  So much fun and the change of pace Princess apparently needed.  When she came in she was a different kid.  I worked with Buddy on picking up his things and she did an amazing job of picking up all her things.  Something we worked on for 2 hours with not enough progress to speak of was done in less than half an hour.  And a very frustrated Mom was much more calm and relaxed!