Friday, February 15, 2013

Colton and Bailey's Third Grade Valentine's Day Party

 

When the Third Grade Teachers called and asked if I would like to plan the Third Grade Valentine's Day Party, I happily accepted.  I love that kind of thing, but like most things that I throw myself into it consumed my life for three weeks straight and the day of the party, I still wasn't prepared.....Again, I learned my lesson and next time I will do better.  The First thing that I had to do was to figure out how to incorporate Manners into the Party...it was a requirement.  I thought Manner Bingo....then I thought Manner Simon says, but then I started thinking how much the kids like to listen to music so I came up with a game called Musical Manners....it was a lot like a cake walk, but every kid eventually won a prize.  I apologize for the lack of pictures on this game....I got so busy that I actually forgot to take pictures of a lot of things. 


 These were some of the Hearts I used for the Musical Manners...I laminated them before the party and added some more colors....but of course I forgot to take pictures.  Anyway, we laid the hearts on the floor and had each kid stand on a heart.  We started some music and the kids walked in the order of the hearts until the music stopped.  When the music stopped the kids stood on the heart that was closest to them and then a manner was drawn out of a box and read aloud. The kid that was standing on the matching heart got a prize.  So, they got a game, got to listen to some music, had a lesson in manners and won a prize. Win, Win all the way around!

 


we played until they all had prizes.   In order to try and save a little money,  I made some coupons to go along with some of the other prizes for the prize box.


Two weeks prior to the Party, we sent out a flyer to all of the Parents asking them to email a love note for their child.

Most of the Parents emailed really sweet notes.  I made cards out of them and they were sitting on the kids desk when they came in the room for the party. The  kids were thrilled to have personalized letters from their Parents the day of the Party.  It really added a special touch.  
 
 
 

There were a couple of Parents that didn't send love notes, so I wrote sweet little poems, put their names on them and signed them..from Mom & Dad.
They never knew the difference.
 

For the craft, I typed up a poem and had the kids put their handprint on the same page.  Needless to say, I pulled an all nighter the night before the Party getting all of these premade Parent gifts together, but they turned out really cute and it was worth it. 

 
 
Let the painting begin....
 
  A work in progress.....


 
The Finished Product


of course we had cupcakes


 and centerpieces....
 
 Not bad for dollar store materials...I filled the centerpieces up with conversation heart candies and the kids at each table wrote down on a paper heart how many candies they thought were in the centerpiece.  At the end of the Party, we went around to each table and the child that was closest to guessing the right answer got to take home the centerpiece at their table.



Colton's class
 
 
Bailey's class

 
Earlier in the week, I asked the Teachers to have the kids trace their hands and send them home with Bailey.  I cut around their handprints onto scrapbook paper and put them aside until I decided what I wanted to do with them.  The night before the party, I decided I would try to make some kind of card for the teacher out of them.  This wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but this is how the first one turned out.
of course, I got in such a hurry that I forgot to finish it.....


I think the Party was a success. I had other Home room Moms that stepped in on Party Day and did an awesome job!!!!  It's times like these that I wish Colton and Bailey were in the same class because one kid always gets more of my time than the other....in this instance, Colton got more of my attention because I was helping out with his class.  


 

 

 
I think all of the kids had a good time and I really did have a great time planning it for them.
  
Needless to say by the time I got home from the Party, I was exhausted!!!!  I fell asleep on the couch about 5:00pm and didn't wake up until later that night when my husband was waking me up and telling me to go to bed.  My kids were already sound asleep and I fell into bed and was asleep again before my head hit the pillow. 


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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Making Daddy's Valentine's Day Present


Greg and I are not big spenders when it comes to Valentine's Day gifts.  We usually buy each other and the kids some candy and a card.  This year I have gotten a lot of ideas from Pinterest and although I hardly ever follow through with any projects that I pin....I did decide to put one of them to good use for my husband's Valentine's Day present.  First, I had to get individual pictures of the kids holding up a sign....Here's how Colton's went......









And then there was Bailey....







....and of course, then it was Kinley's turn.....this turned in to an all out bribing session!!!! 
Thank Goodness I had Valentine's Day Candy on hand!








A black frame, some construction paper and a few puffy heart stickers later we had a present for Daddy.
My husband is not a Big reactor, so you never know if he really likes something....but I'm going to assume he did.  We made it for his office at work, but I am also going to assume that it will not leave our house until I put it in his car myself and call him right before he walks into his office and remind him to take it in.

Happy Valentine's Day!