Pin the Pot of Gold on the Rainbow

So it just dawned on me that I never posted the details about how to make the "Pin the Pot 'o' Gold on the Rainbow" game from Boogey's Rainbow Party (seen HERE).

Pin the Pot of Gold on the Rainbow Game

I won't claim that this was my original idea, but as mentioned in my original post about the party, I was inspired by this post over at Chickabug and decided to do my own take on it.

First thing I did was track down the same piece of foam core that I had used for SweetPea's Rock Star Party {HERE} where we played "Pin the Guitar Pick on the Guitar". Then I simply turned that {used} baby over and prepared the nice clean back side of it for this project! {Have I mentioned I'm cheap frugal?? I like to re-use and re-cycle party materials as much as possible!}

Next, I used a piece of pinned-down-string tied to a pencil to draw the perfectly shaped arcs for the different colors of the rainbow. Since I was going to enlist the kiddos for help with this project, I crudely colored in each section with the appropriate color so they didn't go too crazy with their "artistic license".

Rainbow Sections Marked Off

I happened to have this big container of pre-cut paper squares from my old scrapbooking stash so I weeded through it to find a variety of representatives for each color family. I picked out 3 patterns for each color to create a nice varied look (but you could keep them identical if you prefer).



Pre-cut Paper Squares in every color of the rainbow!



Then I gave each kid a glue stick and let them go to town gluing the squares onto the appropriate row. I didn't ask them to follow any sort of pattern and just told them to put the right color in the right row. I have to say they did a really great job keeping the squares in a nice straight arc  on their own! ("Straight Arc"? Is that an oxymoron?!? LOL)



Glue the paper pieces in the appropriate row.



Here is the rainbow after all the squares had been placed. I really like how the variety of colors and paper used for each row came out - really adds some nice visual interest!



Paper Squares form a Pretty Rainbow!



The final step was to add the clouds at the base of each end of the rainbow. I gave each kid a pile of cotton balls and some Craft Glue and, again, just let them go to town. It was interesting to watch them take different approaches with how they applied their cotton balls (again, no guidance from me) and I was surprised that they both took the opposite approach of what I would have expected for each of them. SweetPea just piled hers on in no particular order. Boogey applied hers in nice, neat, straight rows. I really expected them each to do it the opposite way! Shows how little this Mom knows about her own childrens' personalities! Shows how much your kids can always surprise you! ;)



Adding Cotton Ball Clouds to our Rainbow



Since the "pinning" area was so small, I deliberately purchased the smallest "pot of gold" stickers I could find at Michaels (using a 40% off coupon, of course). Then marked the spot with a black marker. The kids had a lot of fun making this and the guests had a lot of fun playing!

Finished Pin the Pot of Gold on the Rainbow Game for Rainbow Party

See Boogey's nice straight cotton ball lines on the left and SweetPea's big pile on the right? So funny as I totally would have expected them to do the opposite based on their normal personalities! Crazy kids! Always keep ya guessing! :)



My heart smiles.

You are 4 years old. It’s a Sunday in April and the weather is unexpectedly beautiful. You’re in shorts and a t-shirt and wearing your bike helmet. You run through the kitchen in a hurry not wanting to be left behind by your older sister and father. But as you open the door leading to the garage, you pause and yell to me.

I can’t see you from where I am standing, but I can picture you clearly in my mind. Your socks are uneven. Your clothes don’t match in any sense of the word “coordinated”. The 'protective' helmet on your head is terribly askew and I can just hear your cyclist grandfather saying “It’s not going to do her any good if she doesn’t wear it properly!”. And you most likely have milk or jam or some other food item smeared across your chin. And you’re desperate to hurry up and get out there on your scooter.

But... you pause at the door anyway and yell {unprompted!}…

 

“Good-bye, Mommy! I love you!”

Then I hear the door slam.

My heart smiles.

I love you too, Boogey. I love you too.

Cheerios Giveaway Winners!

The 2 winners of the Cheerios Giveaway are:

Jaime and Younce Fam!

Younce Fam, I've sent you an email through Kontactr - check your mailbox!

Jaime - I can't locate an email address for you! :( Please contact me within 48 hours so I can pass your info along to the giveaway sponsor. Otherwise, I will have to select a new winner.

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Inexpensive and Easy Teacher Appreciation Gifts

 

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week. And even though SweetPea and Boogey are only in pre-school, I genuinely appreciate all of the love, guidance and education given to them by their many teachers. However, {MANY} is the optimal word here. There are so many folks who help care for my children throughout the day that it can make holidays and appreciation week a tough one to afford. Especially when I genuinely want to express our gratitude to each and every one of them.

So, this is one of those times that I try to subscribe to the notion that "it is the thought that counts" and "less is more". So while I can't spend a lot of money on gifts for the 10+ treachers, I try to make the gifts somewhat personal and always get the kids involved in pulling it all together. In the past I've made Hand Sanitizer Snowmen, "Fortunate" Cookie Packs, and 'Going Green' Gifts. They were all successful regardless of how much money we spent (or didn't spend for that matter).

This year, I added a few fun ideas to my Pinterest Board. But, in the end, decided to do my own simple little gift. I remembered that we had a TON of fun-colored chocolate Sixlets left over from SweetPea's ROCKSTAR Birthday party .

Leftover Sixlets

I figured they were probably starting to approach the end of their shelf life and that we would NEVER eat them all in the next few months, so why not try and use them somehow? So I bought some cute little bags at Michaels (using a 40% off coupon, of course!), had the kiddos help me fill them with some sixlets, tied them up with some ribbon from my 'stash' and attached a little tag that I designed in Powerpoint. For the tag, I tried to come up with a saying that played in to the round shape of the sixlets... "Thanks for helping me become so well-rounded". A little corny? Yes. Cute? Hope so! ;)

DIY Gift Tags

The girls wrote their names on the back of the tags so the teachers would remember who they were from. Although they are just a small token, I hope they get the message across.

Cheap and Easy Teacher Appreciation Gift 

I also brought in homemade cookies for the teachers' appreciation luncheon today. SweetPea voted for me to make THESE cake mix cookies which are always a BIG hit! YUM!

Do you have any inexpensive but crafty Teacher Appreciation Ideas?