New Themes from My Party Planner

A few weeks ago I met Tyler from the website My Party Planner.  He thought since both of our sites were about parties, that maybe we could work together.   I went to his site and saw that it was a great resource for anyone planning a party, wedding and more.  He asked if he could share some of their new themes with my readers.   These new themes are definitely original and fun, and I felt something that everyone might like to hear more about.. So now here is Tyler  sharing more about My Party Planner's new exciting  themes.

Hosting a modern party can be a blast, especially with all of the new party themes available. Unlike the parties of the past, there are now more options to keep guests entertained besides the typical party lights, DJ’s and costumes. The modern party host can get creative and throw unique parties that will likely never be forgotten. These fond party memories are sure to be revisited even when party guests are too old to get out and party.

Some of the newest and most exciting themes to hit the modern day party scene are snow parties, foam parties, and paint parties. These themes are relatively new so they offer a host an opportunity to introduce a brand new way to party. Now hosts can actually look forward to the day of their party with these exciting and shockingly inexpensive new themes.

Long gone are the days of guests searching high and low for another boring costume to wear! Now, comfortable swimwear along with an invite to a foam party is all any party animal needs to rock the night away. Not invited to a foam party you say? It’s a paint party invite you have? That’s just as great, attending a paint party is going to be a blast!  Just be sure to wear some light colored clothes so you will have proof you got painted!

No worries, the paint is non-toxic and is easy to clean up, that is, unless you are invited to the after party clean up party! While foam and paint party themes are always fun, so are snow themed parties. Just imagine a blur of falling cool white bliss in the middle of the hot summer months with snow balls flying everywhere. The scorching summer heat has melted away and been forgotten while every guest is hip high in cool white delight.

Truly, a snow party theme is one theme that demands an encore! Throwing a fantastic party does not have to be expensive, or difficult to do. These new party themes make it easy to create a party with little effort, and little cash. You read that right, little cash. Just choose a theme and see how inexpensive it is to host one of the most exciting parties your friends will likely attend this year.

These new party themes are what great memories are made of! Imagine telling your grandchildren how exciting the parties were back in your day as you recall these fond memories. Better yet, try imagining how exciting the parties of the future are going to be, especially since modern parties have stepped it up several notches from the ‘old days’. Until you are too old to get on the dance floor, keep on partying and experience the amazing changes in party themes over the years to come.

$2 off Air Wick National Park Line

I am on my way to the grocery store in just a bit, when I saw this interesting offer in my inbox.   Air Wick  has  partnered up with the National Park Foundation, and their new fall line is inspired by by these wonderful parks.    A percentage of each purchase is donated to the National Park Foundation to help support and aid nearly 400 national parks around the country.  

If you join the Fragrant Homes Club today, you will be able to print a $2 off 2 of their new National Park Fall Collection.  Some of the new scents are Sweet Vanilla and Pumpkins, Apple Harvest, and Warm Spice and Twilight.   Just print the coupon and take to your local store.


~UPDATE  if you have problems and receive an error message it is because there is a high demand on their site today.  If you receive an error message and then receive a sorry you you have already registered when you haven't, try again with your Facebook acct. This happened to me and I got through when I tried it using Facebook.  

In the Home Stretch

You may have been wondering if we are still doing our Summer Fun Challenge.   We are, and we are also  in the last few days before school starts.  There were a few days in the past week where we had to take care of other things such as back to school registrations. The  kids didn't think  they were that  much fun, so I didn't write about them.   As of today, all 3 are done, which means school really is about to start ready or not.

Here are some of the fun things we have done this week, even with all the "school stuff."

We went to a doggy birthday party, and Kara had not 1, but 2 sleepovers in a row.

I made the girls another water blob, and they spent several hours enjoying a beautiful day.

They also spent time dressing up the poor kitties.  I guess I am grateful they made clothes for the cats instead of what they used to do .. have a kitty beauty salon and make a giant mess in my bathroom.  (they have been banned from that activity!)

This morning we went to Kara's registration day, and she was very happy to find out one of besties is going to be in her class for the 2nd year in a row. She is actually a teeny bit excited about going back to school now.

This afternoon we took advantage of free popcorn Tuesday, and saw the movie ParaNorman. My oldest daughter was there too, she just refused to be in the picture.   Let's just say that it was interesting.  Seriously,  I can't decide what I thought about it.  There were a few parts that were kind of intense so this is definitely not the movie for small kids.

We now only have a few days of our summer fun challenge left.  I am not sure what we are going to do yet, but hopefully they will remember how much fun they had in the month of August.

Cooking with Kyle-Cheese Fries

Last night Kyle wanted to make us a special treat... homemade cheese fries. We recently bought a bag of potatoes on sale and he picked out a block of cheese. 

He carefully selected what seasonings he wanted to add. He chose salt, pepper, garlic salt, Italian herb, and just a dash of Paprika. 

I had to take this picture.  It is just such a rare site to see him standing by the sink. Gasp!  He chose 5 potatoes, and then washed each one.

He cut one potato with our Pampered Chef slicer, and announced that cutting potatoes was too hard.  I offered to help him cut the rest of them. 

He sprinkled the seasoning on the freshly cut fries. 

This is where we made a slight mistake, but it turned out okay in the end..  He applied the shredded cheese a bit too early.  We should have cooked the pototoes a bit before had added the cheese. He cooked the fries about 30 minutes in a 450 degree oven.  I checked on them every 10 minutes or so.  

He added a lot of cheese. Yum! 

I realized about 15 minutes  in that they cheese had cooked a bit too long.  We decided to cook the fries for awhile longer, and then added more cheese.  

What they looked like coming out of the oven. 

This is all  that was leftover.  They were really good!  It was then when I realized mistake #2. I should have told him to spray the pan BEFORE adding the the fries.  Oh well, lesson learned.  

As an experiment I tried something else while Kyle was making his cheese fries. .  I had a package of Cheddar Jack & Bacon Fresh Take that needed to be used.  I didn't really feel like making a big meal, and wondered what it would taste like on some zucchini, I recently bought.  (mine didn't grow this year)   We were all pleasantly surprised with the taste.  It  is kind of hard to explain, but worth using on vegetables instead of meat again.  

Crafting with Kara- Wishing Stars

My girls recently found a new thing to pass the time. My oldest read somewhere that if you make 100 origami stars with a wish inside, one of the wishes will come true.  Since then I have been finding paper and stars all over the house.   Luckily for them, I have a huge stash of scrapbook paper to choose from.

While Kara was showing me how to make one the other day, I thought it would be a great craft for Crafting with Kara.  You can see one of the stars she made attached to a bracelet  on her wrist.

To make a star you need to cut a strip of paper about a 1/2 inch thick.

She then wrote her wish on the backside of the paper, so the wish would be on the inside of the star.

To begin the star, you need to overlap the end of the paper

Pull the end through the loop to make a knot.  Pull the end tightly, and flatten the knot.

Tuck the end of the paper into the knot, which will then form a pentagon shape.

Fold the paper over the pentagon shape on one side.  Flip it over and fold again, this time on the other side of the pentagon. Keep folding alternating sides until you are almost at the end of the paper strip.

You will be tucking the end into the star, so if the paper seems a bit long, it is okay to trim off a bit.

Fold the end of the strip  inside.  You should end up with a something that looks like the pentagon shapes in the picture.

Push the sides in with your fingers,  This will fill the star with a little bit of air and make the star shape.  You will see the star shape begin to form.

While the front of the star will be a little bit puffy, you might notice the back is a big concave.  That is totally okay!

Kara stitched the star onto a piece of thread to make a necklace.  We also pushed in the sides a bit more after this picture.   Will her wish come true.. we hope to find out soon!

I will be linking this craft up on these linky parties HERE!

Back to School Glasses

It is back to school time, which to me always  reminds me of getting  new eyeglasses.  A lot of the time, you  find you out need glasses,  because you can no longer see the board at school.  This happened to me in college, and to my son in 6th grade.  So far, so good with my girls, but I would not be surprised if they eventually need some to,  since both their dad and myself  need to wear corrective lenses of some kind.

I recently heard of a website called GlassesUSA.com..   This is actually a great time to find out about this site, because just 3 weeks ago I found out my eyeglasses prescription has changed yet again.  Every year for the last few years my prescription  has changed.  I am now wearing bifocal contacts.  Eek!  I am in the market for finding affordable glasses to wear when I do not  have my contacts in.  The ones I am wearing still have an old prescription, so I really am not seeing everything I should.


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While buying eyeglasses online can be tricky  for a hard to fit person like me, they have this great new feature called the Virtual Mirror.  You upload a picture of yourself and when you use the try on feature, you  can see what you would look like in their large selection of frames.  It is best to use a photo where your head and eyes are even and looking straight on.   It had no idea that I tilt my head in so many of my  pictures.   I finally found a decent  one that I could use where my head  was mostly straight.  Here is what I look like using Virtual Mirror.  I tend to have a smaller head and face, and can actually wear children's size glasses.  While GlassesUSA.com  only offer men's and women's glasses, their selection is so large you could probably find something to fit your older child.
You can try out the feature yourself just by clicking on the Try-It Mirror in this post.

Here are two styles that I am considering for myself.  Both  are smaller size frames which fit my face, and both are under $50

Another thing that I really like about the website is they have many discounts, coupons and sales.  Check out the sales and coupon page to find many coupon codes to use when you order.   GlassesUSA.com   has also  generously offered a special discount for my readers.   You will get a 15% discount off your entire order and free shipping off orders over $50  with the code FS15.  You can also get 10% off your prescription glasses with the code Blog10.


So if you are in the market for new glasses, why not give GlassesUSA.com  a try.

This is a sponsored post, but the opinions on this page are 100% mine.

The Water Blob.. Redo!

Today it was another day in the high 80s, so we decided to make another water blob.  This time I used heavy duty plastic  that I found at my local Meijer for $4.99. It has already lasted a lot longer than the dollar store version,which you can see HERE.

It laid flat much better and was easier to tape. This time I  put it together in about 20 minutes.

Because it was stronger, we also filled it with more water this time.

The girls also got out the water bombs and pool noodle sprinker.  The duct tape came off the end, so they used it as a giant water gun.

While we were outside, the neighborhood cranes stopped by for a visit.  They were only about  20 feet away.  We see them frequently in our yard, but not usually while we were playing  in the yard.  They are normally skittish, and don't like to get too close to people.

Uh oh, I hear the hose again. I have told them 3 times to turn it off because they were wasting water. I don't think they realize that I can hear when they turn it on in the house.  LOL!  If you still have not made a water blob this summer, you really should before summer is just a fun memory.  

Its A Doggy Birthday

It really is a doggy birthday.  Meet the birthday boy, a Chihuahua named Jo Jo.  He belongs to good friends of ours.  He had his birthday this week, and his human mom thought it would be fun for us to have an impromptu celebration.

Kara was especially excited about the thought of a dog birthday party. She had me take her to the store so she could buy him a gift.  She also wanted to make something to take to the party.  It was her idea to make dog bone shaped cookies.  I have about 100 cookies cutters, but one of the ones I DON'T have is a dog bone shape.   I did have  toll house pre-cut cookies in the fridge. It was her idea to push two of them together and push in the middle to make a bone.

When they came out of the oven, they looked a bit "blob like." Since they were still very soft and pliable, she just reshaped them.

They turned out pretty good, and this entire plate of cookies disappeared very quickly.

I had planned on making cupcakes to take with us.  Kara was the one who thought I should make them look like Jo Jo.  We kind of improvised the recipe from  the Hello Cupcake book. We did not have everything in the book, so we kind of winged it with what we had on hand.  I started with a basic chocolate cupcake, and frosted it with dark chocolate frosting.   I cut a regular size marshmellow in half to make the snout.

I frosted the snout (which was kind of hard because it did not want to stay put) and then added candy eyes and nose.  The book calls for black jelly beans.  We cant stand black jelly beans, so we of course did not have them at home. I did have M & Ms and Reeses Pieces which worked just as well.
For the ears I cut a Nilla wafer in half and frosted it. After a couple of mouth fails, the decided it looked better without  a mouth

I had red gel and mini dog bones on hand, but  didnt like how it looked.  I used a thin mint for the ears of this cupcake but they were a bit too big. ( we  also did not have very many to do all the cupcakes)

Kara and I made a giant mess on the kitchen table while making them

but soon we had a cupcake tray full of cupcakes to take along.

They were not perfect but the kids LOVED them, and so did Jo Jo. (no, he was not allowed to eat one since it was pure chocolate)   Happy Birthday little guy!!

I will be linking a doggy birthday on these linky parties HERE!