Candy-free Toddler Easter ideas

The Kid will be just over 17 months when Easter gets here, so we didn't want to fill her up with lots of candy so I scoured Pinterest and asked some friends for some Easter-egg-hunt ideas.  Our family always had a jelly-bean hunt, with some plastic eggs with chocolate-y goodness inside, which I plan to do when she's a bit older.  Here's what we've done (and YES all the eggs are filled as is the basket and all ready to go, this is why one should not drink coffee after 9pm on a weeknight).  Anyway here we go:

In the basket:

Crayola Tadoodle Stampers, were supposed to be for egg fillers, but too wide, Bummer!

An Easter Lamb, and a Little People Wheelies car - which was also supposed to be for an egg, but it wouldn't even fit in my Jumbo eggs. Bummer!

A DVD (For long car trips) and Bath Crayons

Easter themed Rubber Ducks

Some Easter themed books (2 of them thrifted for 25 cents a piece!)

Board puzzles and a Curious George coloring book

Sunglasses & a bubble wand

Now for the egg fillers:

Stickers - found in the $1 section of Walmart, just cut into small strips to fold into the eggs

Easter colored socks, rolled up into eggs.

 The Bunny Peeps ones are my favorites - $.79 at Christmas Tree Shops!!

Hair clips - Clearance rack, $.50 for 12!!

Piggy Polish - Mini bottles, 6 for $2!

Bunny Jumpers - 12/$1, dual purpose because these are a GREAT fine motor activity for little fingers!

Mini Easter bubbles - 12 for $2

And for a treat, Annie's organic bunnies (The chocolate ones are delicious- I ate the ones in the picture, they aren't actually inside the eggs yet I think I'll wait to do that until the Easter Bunny comes!)

Thrifted Finds

I haven't had an opportunity to check out the Thrift Shops lately, but thought I would share some of my past finds with you:

Thrift Shops - June 2012

Newborn cloth diaper cover $.99

4 pack washcloths (cloth wipes for us) $.99

Plastic owl bib $1.49

3 Board books $.25 each

Wooden snake $1

Wooden bead toy $1

Grand Total $6.22 (plus tax)

City-Wide Yard Sale June 2012

6 Kushies AIO diapers $10

My First Bible $.50

Brand new baby bottle $.25

Cat in the Hat Costume set $2

Lincoln Logs set $3

Hooded towel $.50

Guitar Onesie $.50

Yankees Cheerleading Outfit $1 SCORE!!!

LL Bean PJ's $1

Handmade baby quilt $1.50

$20.25 Grand Total!!

Thrift Shops - August 2012

Dinosaur Puzzle- $.50
Iron on TShirt transfers $1.50
Ipod armband case $1.00
Little People Farm $.75
Various Little people $1.00
Veggie Tales VHS $.99
Sega Dreamcast with 3 paddles, 3 games, 4 memory cards,and gun $25 (One game is worth $75 alone)
Wooden trailer truck (no trailer) $1.50
Zebra pants $.49
VCR $3.99
Foam letter, number & sight word blocks $1.99
12 wash cloths (cloth wipes for us) $1.98
Wooden racetrack with John Deere barn $6.99
Wooden letter blocks $.99
Ollie book $.50
Nora Roberts book $.25
Grand Total under $50!! ($49.42)

Thrift Shop Finds - August 2012

Wooden Blocks $1.50

Polar Bear bath book $.50

Wooden lacing beads w/ case $2

Fabric scraps $.80

Grand Total $4.80!

Thrift Shops Sept 2012

Paintbrushes $.50

Wooden Boat $.50

Wooden Tractor $1.25

Red wrapping paper $1

Glass bowl $1

Helmet $.75

Grand Total: $5!!

A Sock Monkey Birthday

I know that The Kid's birthday was a few months ago now, but since I wasn't blogging then I thought I would share her party with you, because I had so much fun planning and creating for it!

To begin, Pinterest is my best friend when it comes to crafty ideas - I do not claim any of these to be my own original idea, I found most of the ideas at The Spaghetti Westerner, she offers the free printables that I used for most of the party decor & invitation.  I purchased the monkey image from Cupcakecutiees.  Now on to the fun stuff!!

The Inspiration - $52 on Etsy

First up: Birthday Board

My version - Free-Ninety-Free!
Chalkboard: On hand
Chalk: On hand!

 BeanBag Toss game (which we actually didn't get to use, bummer!)

My version, Inspiration can be found on blog posted above.  

The birthday girl! 

Candy Buffet - all candies were red or brown: Tootsie Rolls, Caramels, Twizzlers, Root Beer Barrels, Red Swirl Lollipops & Kit Kat bars!  In the treat bags are the photo seen framed of The Kid in her birthday outfit & hat her Auntie Sheesh knit for her! I found that adorable basket at Rite Aid 75% off after Easter, was perfect for holding the treat bags & photos!!

Food table.  We had Monkey See, Monkey do, Make your own sandwiches, and lots of other monkey-themed goodies!

Mama made banana cupcakes & banana smash cake! Yum Yum!

The Kid's monthly photos, each month she had her photo taken in the rocking chair with her stuffed dog her cousin made her when she was born!

Friends & Family (and the decorations!)

Homemade pennant banner

BIRTHDAY CAKE TIME!!

Singing happy birthday - she wanted to play with the candle, hence why I'm holding her hands :) 

Yay!

I can touch it? What do I do with it?

First Bite!

MMmmmm Yummy!

I'll take a piece of that!

Those eyes kill me!

The aftermath

Sock Monkeys!

Chasing her "boyfriend"

Thanks for stopping by!

Homemade Detergent

About 9 months ago we (obviously I mean I) started making our own laundry detergent, cloth diaper detergent and fabric softener.  I tried dishwasher detergent too, but didn't like how it came out, which doesn't matter now because our dishwasher is broken :(.  Anyway, there were many "recipes" on Pinterest, I used this one.  One batch lasted us over 9 months, we still have one container left, but had time so I made a new batch.

I have the list of recipes typed out and mounted on the inside of one of our cupboard doors above the washing machine

Grate 1 bar of Fels Naptha

Try not to pull an Angel and grate your finger (That REALLY REALLY hurt!!)

Melt soap in a saucepan with 4 cups of hot water on Medium Low heat, stirring occasionally

Add 1c. Washing Soda and 1/2 c. Borax to 2.5 gallons of hot water

When all melted add to 5 gallon pail 

Stir then fill rest of way with hot water

Cover then let sit overnight. 

The next day take a long paint stick and stir up (it will have gelled), Fill plastic laundry detergent bottles half full with mixture, and fill the other half with warm water, shake to mix.  Before each use shake up the bottle as it sometimes will gel while it sits.  

I fill up 2 bottles that sit on my dryer, when one empties I refill it from this 5 gallon bucket which is stored next to our toilet behind the trash can... not pretty, but it works for now.  

The next day I opened it up to a nicely gelled detergent. 

I stirred it up with my paint stick as much as I could... when that wasn't working well i dug my hands in and squished it with my fingers.... it was much more fun than it should have been - though very cold!!  Using a large measuring cup I poured detergent into bottles - half full, then added warm water and shook it up.  Don't forget each time you use it you'll want to shake it to make sure it hasn't gelled sitting there (I find it's not too bad unless the bottle has sat a long while.)  

Please let me know if you try this out or if you have any other frugal DIY cleaners I should try, and stay tuned, I'll write soon about our cloth diaper detergent & fabric softener!