Have a Ball!

If you watch closely you can usually score really cheap deals on seasonal items that the stores put on clearance after the big day. If you're willing to dig through some of the junk you can even find items that really aren't so "seasonal" and you can stash them away for your next birthday party goodie bags or other occasion that is sure to come up. I waited long enough that these "Easter" balls were 90% off and came to about 10 cents per ball! I thought they'd be a nice end of school gift for Cali's preschool classmates.

I simply went on MS Word and typed up a little note. I definitely wanted to use the phrase "Have a ball this summer!" Cali actually objected! Oh well, she is only 5 I still get a say in this :) We also added "It was fun being your friend" and "Have fun at Kindergarten next year!" And you can see I had her write her friends' names and sign her own at the bottom. They are wrapped in the flip top plastic baggies with the tag stapled on. Just an easy-peasy fun surprise to say goodbye to her pre-school friends, many of which will be at different schools next year.

Simple Felt Bows

Tipjunkie just posted a list of quick, easy, inexpensive, homemade stocking stuffers. Plenty of great ideas, but my favorite was the Felt Hair Bows. It took me all of 60 seconds to make one. It took me about 5 times longer to actually locate my stash of felt scraps than it did to make the bow. Now I want to go scan the felt aisle at the craft store and make a whole bunch more.

No More Mr. Mike

Back in the late 80s I fondly remember spending hours recording myself and my older brother (when he had nothing better to do) on our Playskool Mr. Mike cassette tape recorder with attached microphone. I couldn't tell you what we recorded but I remember it being highly entertaining at the time. I decided it would make a great present for Cali this year. The girl loves to talk, often creating elaborate stories and crazy made-up words. Well I started looking and found out pretty quick they are no longer in production. If you're lucky you can find one on Ebay for say $69+. I guess cassette tapes are a bit hard to find these days. One of those "if only we had kept it" gems.

So I hadn't given up completely on the concept but decided I'd forgo the original. Tonight I came across this new fridge gadget by LeapFrog and decided it would do the trick.

Its really nothing like Mr. Mike other than it will record and playback her voice, but I sure had a lot of fun playing with it. I think she will too. Check out this amazon link for the description. PS They are on sale at Target this week.