Ninjago Birthday Party – Part 1

Posted on March 11, 2013 by jewelsathome

Pulling off a birthday party is like an athletic event (or at least I imagine it to be, not actually being athletic) – I work like crazy and then crash afterward. It’s always worth it to give our boys a day to remember. Here’s the first post on our seven year old’s Ninjago birthday party. I put details on the party activities in a separate post.

Ninjago birthday decorations

I still like the feel of a paper invitation, like the ones I made for our firefighter birthday party, but sometimes the convenience of an online invitation is hard to resist. Luckily, evite has this Lego-themed invitation, and I added a Ninjago drawing by our birthday boy, to complete the look.

Ninjago birthday party blog post with decorations, food, and activities, from Jewels at Home.

Customize an online invitation for your Ninjago birthday party.

For decorating the house, I hung our reusable birthday banners, customized with pictures of green Ninjago Lloyd ZX. I had in mind to do balloons with stuck-on Ninjago eyes, but I ran out of time!

Ninjago birthday party blog post with customized decorations and tons of ideas. {Jewels at Home}

Customized Ninjago birthday banner.

I printed signs for the activities using Bonsai font and mounted them on green scrapbook paper. Each child got a Ninjago eyes T-shirt to wear when he arrived. This was their main party favor, and the shirts were a hit! It was really fun to see all the little Ninjagos running around the house together!

I failed to capture the partying kids in any decent poses – they were moving too fast! but here’s the birthday boy’s little brother sporting his custom shirt. You don’t need to make your own shirts to have great Ninjago accessories. I have definitely picked up a lot of Ninjago and other Lego shirts and toys at great prices on Zulily.com!

Ninjago birthday food ideas

As you can see from the sign in this picture, I had wanted to arrange fruit into a Serpentine, one of the Ninjago enemies, but due to limitations of daylight savings time, I just piled the fruit on a plate, and it was all gone in an instant anyway – I told you those Ninjago are fast!

For lunch, we had a variety of Japanese and Japanese-inspired fare, including California rolls and avocado rolls from the local supermarket, homemade Spam musubi by Steve, and plenty of gyoza dumplings, which were the kids’ favorite.

Ninjago birthday party ideas, including decorations, food, and activities. {Jewels at Home}

Ninjago birthdy party food: gyoza, musubi, and rolls.

Instead of a cake, I made sushi using Rice Krispies. These Rice Krispy treat sushi are decorated with fruit roll-up for the “nori” and Swedish fish and fruit gummies for garnish. They were a lot of fun to make, though time-consuming. If you do it, I definitely recommend making a half batch at a time, as the Rice Krispy treats kept hardening before I could shape them all, and I ended up with several leftover globs.

Rice Krispy Treat sushi made from Rice Krispies cereal and candy. More ideas for a Ninjago birthday party at Jewels at Home.

Rice Krispy Treat sushi made from Rice Krispies cereal, fruit roll-up, Swedish fish, and other treats. So cute!

Tons of ideas for a Ninjago birthday party, complete with decorations, activities and food, from Jewels at Home.

Happy birthday boy at his Ninjago-themed party!

Ninjago Birthday Activities

These were a blast, and you can read all the details in this post!

Happy birthday to our dear son! I am glad it was such a fun day.

“Jewels”

Pancake Mixes in a Jar

Posted on January 7, 2013 by jewelsathome

I made these pancake mixes in a jar to give as Christmas gifts, but they would be great for birthdays, hostess gifts, or just-because. The hot chocolate mixes I made were very popular, but these pancakes are also a great option and come with a bit less sugar guilt.

I made three variations: banana, banana chocolate chip, and blueberry pancakes. I used pasta sauce jars, which hold about 2 1/2 cups. The baking powder does lose effectiveness over time – they are best used within three months – so it’s best not to make these far ahead.

Ingredients:

Layer in a jar

1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
Optional: 1/3 cup of freeze-dried bananas (not banana chips which are too crunchy), freeze-dried blueberries (not regular dried blueberries which are too hard and chewy), and/or chocolate chips.

It helped to use a clean sheet of cardstock folded into a funnel for getting the ingredients neatly into the jars:

Provide the following instructions with your jar. I printed labels and stuck them to decorative paper and tied it all on with a colorful ribbon.

Instructions:

Shake the jar to mix contents thoroughly
Mix contents of jar gently with 2 beaten eggs beaten, 2 cups milk, 4 tablespoons oil
Cook in a hot greased pan

Here’s proof that a gift can look as good as it tastes!

These worked out so well for our Christmas gifts to teachers and neighbors – how will you use yours?

“Jewels”

Home for the Holidays 2012

Posted on December 22, 2012 by jewelsathome

Christmas is sneaking up on us this year. The kids just finished school yesterday, on the 21st, and I had a packed day at work. Now, we are in full holiday mode, wearing pajamas and lounging by the fire. Just in time, I thought I’d share a peek at how Christmas decorating came together this year with a little house tour. I introduced a lot more silver and turquoise than in years past, and if I get time, I’ll post details on how to recreate the smaller details.

Come on in… starting with the front door, dressed up with a silver wreath and ornament door mat.

Silver wreath welcomes you home. Christmas house tour from Jewels at Home.

Silver wreath and a holiday doormat welcome you home.

Silve wreath gives an elegant look to the front door.

The mantel, repainted this summer, is also a centerpiece. I made many of the trees on the fireplace in this post and this one.

Christmas mantel filled with homemade trees.

On the other side of the living-dining room, I added a tray with some candles and sprayed silver pine cones.

Simple winter coffee table decor.

Another little Christmas vignette with trees and a wooden Santa puzzle my mom gave me years ago.

Christmas vignette with trees and a vintage wooden Santa puzzle.

Christmas color is also in our foyer, with a wreath on our closet door and some accessories on top of the bookcase.

Simple magnolia and pomegranate wreath dressed up with silver ribbon.

Silver, turquoise, and red Christmas accessories. Christmas house tour from Jewels at Home.

Silver, turquoise, and red accessories set the color scheme for this year’s Christmas.

The wreaths over the big french doors in our family room connect the space to the outdoors, but the new fireplace keeps us cozy and warm.

SImple Christmas mantel in silver, turquoise, and red.

This wreath over a big french door can be enjoyed from the inside and out.

Finally, here’s our tree, with the DIY mercury glass look-alike and animal silhouette ornaments. I think it’s a bit small for the space but it really looked bigger at the lot, I promise! Steve and I have a gift-wrapping session/ movie night planned, so there will be lots more under the tree soon!

Christmas tree with red, silver, and turquoise.

I hope you are also starting to unwind and enjoy being home for the holidays!

“Jewels”

Hot Chocolate Mixes in a Jar

Posted on December 18, 2012 by jewelsathome

For our teacher gifts this year, I made a variety of gifts in a jar. I’ll share the rest soon, but the hot chocolate mixes were the most popular, so let’s start there.

I made three different mixes:

double chocolate hot cocoa
peppermint hot cocoa
mocha hot cocoa

Here are the recipes. I made them a little less sweet than other recipes out there – they’re still plenty decadent, don’t worry, and I did not put in powdered milk, since many people have a preference for alternative milks like soy milk, rice milk, or almond milk. I made some in almond butter jars , which hold 1.5 cups each, and some in pasta sauce jars, which hold about 2.5 cups. I used the same recipe but added marshmallows in the larger jars. For each recipe, layer the ingredients for a festive look. To finish off the jars, I printed some labels with ingredients and instructions and them stuck them on decorative papers and finished off the gift with a ribbon.

Double Chocolate Hot Cocoa Recipe

3/4cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chocolate chips (the mini chocolate chips will melt more easily)
optional: 1/2 cup of mini marshmallows

Peppermint Hot Cocoa Recipe

I enjoy a hint of peppermint in my hot chocolate, but I didn’t want this recipe to be too strong. These Ghiaradelli peppermint bark chocolates made the perfect addition.

3/4cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chocolate chips (the mini chocolate chips will melt more easily)
3 Ghiaradelli peppermint bark chocolates, chopped
optional: 1/2 cup of mini marshmallows

Mocha Hot Cocoa Recipe

3/4cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chocolate chips (the mini chocolate chips will melt more easily)
2 servings instant coffee powder (I used decaffeinated)
optional: 1/2 cup of mini marshmallows

Instructions:

These are the same for all the recipes.

For the mixes without marshmallows: “Mix ingredients thoroughly. Add 1/4 cup mix to 1 cup of hot milk. Stir and enjoy.”

For the mixes with marshmallows: “Mix ingredients thoroughly. Add 1/3 cup mix to 1 cup of hot milk. Stir and enjoy.”

I will warn you that these gifts are very heavy! I walked around school this afternoon with baby J in the Ergo carrier on my back and a tray of 15 glass jars. Truly ’tis better to give than to receive!

It was worth it, though. I hope our teachers enjoy their gifts. Hot chocolate by the fire is just the best! Trust me, I’m speaking from experience.

“Jewels”

Mercury Glass Look-alike Ornaments

Posted on December 5, 2012 by jewelsathome

This post should be subtitled “The Accidental Artist.” When I set out on this project, I just meant to repaint some old ornaments I had. Along the way, some of them turned out with a lovely mercury glass look that was an unexpected and pleasant surprise, since I have been coveting those baubles but holding off on buying them, since glass and toddlers do not mix. I wouldn’t normally have bothered painting these inexpensive plastic ornaments at all, but since I had the supplies already, I thought I might as well, and it turned out to be a good thing!

I had a lot of simple red and gold ornaments left over from the Chinese “Red Egg and Ginger” party I organized for J a couple of years ago. I’ll have to blog about that later! This year, I’m trying for a red, turquoise, silver, and white -themed Christmas, so I decided to repaint some of the gold and red balls to turquoise and silver. I had plenty of other red ones.

I taped the balls upside down on some scrap cardboard with painter’s tape, sprayed a coat of primer and then a few coats of paint. The turquoise paint was initially intended for an old wooden chest. This color was actually too bright for the chest, but it came in useful here. The silver (soon to be “mercury glass”) ornaments were painted with Rustoleum metallic paint in “chrome.” I’ve been in the lookout for Krylon’s “Looking Glass” paint, and I have yet to find it in a local store, but the Rustoleum metallic chrome seems similar and has a very reflective silver finish. I would have been happy to leave the ornaments silver, but I thought I would do a clear topcoat to help protect them from chipping. The clear spray I happened to have in the garage is a lacquer, which might have more solvent in it than a regular spray paint. In any case, it left tiny dull spots on the chrome, and for a split second, I was disappointed, but I’m now as pleased as (Christmas) punch, because they have a great faux mercury glass look!

Here’s how I painted the ornaments:

An easy combination of these two spray paints will give you a beautiful faux mercury glass look for your Christmas ornaments or other projects!

Here are some more pictures of the “mercury glass” ornaments. They are not perfect, and I’m eager to try more of the faux mercury glass techniques out there, but as accidents go, this one was very happy (much happier than some of the mishaps that have not ended up on the blog!).

I’m definitely getting that festive holiday feeling! How about you?

“Jewels”

Animal Silhouette Christmas Ornaments

Posted on December 3, 2012 by jewelsathome

Well, I could happily have gone on making trees, after these Christmas trees made with trims and the felt Christmas trees, but I’m exercising some restraint, such as it is, and switching over to making ornaments.

I’ve seen some whimsical animal silhouettes with pretty prints at One Kings Lane and Raredevice.net, and I thought I’d try a DIY version.

Deer silhouette Christmas ornament from Raredevice.net

Reindeer and bird silhouette Christmas ornaments seen at One Kings Lane.

If you’d like to buy something similar for a reasonable price, check out these pretty wood ornaments by Arks and Animals on Etsy.

Wooden animal silhouette ornaments from Arks and Animals on Etsy.

I’m quite tempted by the wood ones, but, I like the prints, so back to the DIY project… The ornament from Raredevice is wood with a printed design (no can do), but the One Kings Lane ornaments are cardboard and paper (can do!!). I tried this with both cardboard and craft foam as the centers. The cardboard cut more neatly than the foam, but in the end, I preferred the foam, because it gave the cut-outs a little dimension and substance. The cardboard ones ended up looking a bit more like gift tags than ornaments.

Materials:

assorted scrapbook, wrapping, and origami papers
craft foam (no longer just for kids!) in colors to match your papers or thin cardboard (like cereal boxes)
Images or templates to trace, such a cookie cutters, stencils, or printed images
craft knife and scissors – I used both large and small scissors as well as some pattern-edged scissors
small hole punch
string or ribbon for hanging

Instructions:

I used a glue stick to cover both sides of a piece of craft foam with decorative paper.
I found silhouettes I liked on the Internet and printed them out. A good size for these ornaments is about 3-4″.
I laid a silhouette over a section of foam and used the scissors and craft knife to cut through the foam and paper. I started with the large scissors to get the general shape and then used the small scissors and craft knife to neaten up the edges and the pattern-edged scissors for adding details, like the feathers on the birds’ wings. Because the foam is flexible, the paper did wrinkle a bit, but I tried to bend it as little as possible. The cardboard bent less, but as I said, I didn’t find the result as substantial.
I punched a hole in the top and threaded a ribbon… voila!

Make these sweet animal silhouette ornaments decorated with origami paper! {Jewels at Home}

Sweet animal silhouette ornaments decorated with origami paper! In case you are wondering, the reindeer in the top row was made with a cardboard center, and the rest have the foam center.

And here are the new ornaments on our Christmas tree. By the way, if you are in San Francisco, Lowe’s had trees for literally a third the price of the Christmas tree lots. The ambience was somewhat lacking, but it was worth it!

Moose silhouette ornament. O Canada!

Bunny silhouette ornament with instructions. {Jewels at Home}

Bunny silhouette ornament. For my sister and little nieces, who were all born in the year of the rabbit!

Make a little blue bird silhouette ornament for the tree. {Jewels at Home}

A little blue bird silhouette ornament for our tree.

These ornaments turned out very sweet and were fairly fast to make. They might show up as gifts this season! I also found some homemade ornaments from years past that I’ll post soon.

“Jewels”

I shared this project at:

Centsational Girl’s holiday Link Party

Clothespin Wreath Advent Calendar

Posted on November 28, 2012 by jewelsathome

My brain has been whirling with all the creative advent calendar ideas out there. I grew up with a beautiful felt advent calendar my mom made, and I want to recreate something like that for our boys. While I’m still mulling over all the options for the long term, it is the end of November, so for this year, I’ve decided to make a clothespin wreath using Christmas wrapping paper and scrapbook papers to hold 24 cards with activities we can do together through the month.

Clothespin wreath advent calendar with an activity for each day.

The instructions for the wreath are detailed in the previous post. The only changes were that I made this wreath a bit bigger (13″ diameter) to accomodate 24 pins, and I added numbers to the pins for each day. The numbers are stickers on punched out circles, and I used removable tape to stick them on the clothespins, in case we use this wreath for pictures or cards in the future.

Clothespin wreath for Christmas makes a lovely advent calendar or card display.

Numbers for a clothespin advent calendar

For the activity cards, I printed 2″x4″ shipping labels with 24 different activities, one for each day. There are lots of options – here are some I thought would be fun to do with the kids this year. I’d love to hear what you are planning, too!

Get a Christmas tree
Decorate the Christmas tree
Write Christmas wish list
Make ornaments
Holiday Faire at school
Make a gift for a friend or family member
Give a homemade gift
Drink hot chocolate
Go see Christmas lights
Wrap presents
Make snowflakes
Read How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Read The Polar Express
Prepare Christmas “thank you” cards
Donate food
Donate toys
Decorate a gingerbread house
Visit reindeer at the zoo
Watch “Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer”
Watch “Frosty the Snowman”
Make a snowman pizza
Bake Christmas cookies
Write cards for teachers
Deliver gifts to teachers
Family game night
Snowman pancakes for breakfast
Mail Christmas cards
Brunch with Santa (like family photos, this is a strange torture I cannot resist!)
Call relatives and sing carols to them
Movie night (this is a Christmas Eve tradition for us)

I stuck the labels on cardstock in Christmas colors and patterns and then clipped them to the wreath, with the labels facing the back. We can turn over one each day!

Clothespin wreath advent calendar with a special activity for each day.

Maybe I’ll come up with a new advent calendar next year, or maybe this wreath will become our tradition. I think I’m at least as excited as the boys for the countdown to Christmas!

“Jewels”

I shared this project at:

Felt Christmas Trees

Posted on November 20, 2012 by jewelsathome

Here is the second group of Christmas trees I made for our mantel this year.

I haven’t put up any of the trees yet – I love Christmas, and I’m definitely catching myself singing along to the carols in stores, but I’m trying to enforce a little discipline at home. Besides, we’ve had some warm spells this November, so I might as well finish soaking up fall before celebrating winter!

I was originally inspired to make a Christmas forest by the exquisite handmade Christmas trees by Shauna Mailloux, and for today’s trees, I found inspiration from the charming felt trees made by Rebecca at the Crafted Sparrow.

Just to remind you, here’s a picture of the first decorative Christmas trees I made. They were all quick projects created by winding yarn or trim around the cone.

Make your own decorative Christmas trees. Easy, inexpensive, and unique holiday decor!

For the felt trees, I also used homemade tree bases formed by rolling used cardboard boxes into cones of varying sizes.

As predicted, this second group of trees did take longer to make, but they were still very doable projects and absolutely worth the effort!

Felt triangle trees
These trees were the ones inspired by the felt trees made by Rebecca at the Crafted Sparrow.

I made the first tree using 3 full sheets of felt for a 14.5″ tall cone. I started by cutting two inch strips of felt and then cutting those into triangles (top left picture below). I saved a little felt to hide the cardboard under the first row and a small circle to finish off the top.

Because this tree sat flat on the ground, rather than on a trunk, I wrapped some strips of felt around the bottom 2 inches of the tree, so the cardboard wouldn’t show under the first row of triangles (top right picture below). I then glued triangles, overlapping slightly, in a row around the cone (bottom left picture below). Hot glue worked better than white glue, which just got absorbed into the felt. I worked the same way all the up the tree and capped off the top with a small circle of felt.

A pretty tree, and I love this dark blue-grey color of felt.

DIY felt Christmas tree.

The second felt triangle tree sits up on a glass bottle for a trunk. I’m thinking of filling it with some silver and grey beads. This tree was made the same way, except the first row of triangles hangs off the bottom of the cone (left picture below), since there is a trunk. For some variety, I made a narrower shaped cone for the white tree, and I added also some small pearl beads I had in my craft stash (right picture below). The cone for this tree is 13″ tall and used just over two sheets of felt.

DIY felt and bead Christmas tree with a glass base.

;

Felt circle tree

My friend and partner in crafting (crime), Ari, spotted these sweet felt trees from Land of Nod (and let’s be honest, what isn’t sweet at Land of Nod?!). The circles were not so hard to cut out – I used a Sharpie to trace a spool on a sheet of felt (top left picture below) and then pinned it to a second one, to cut out two sheets at once (top right picture below). This little tree used just over two sheets of felt.

Because the tree sat up on a base, I glued the first row of circles hanging just off the bottom of the cone (bottom left picture below). The cone was wider than the others, to change things up, and I decided to put a base on it, which was a large tin can wrapped in brown felt (bottom left picture below).

;

Another cutie to add to the forest!

DIY felt circle Christmas tree inspired by Land of Nod.

Here are some more pictures of the new felt trees and some of their old friends:

I am hoping to get around some more trees this season, but we’ll see how things go, with some stockings and teacher gifts still on the to-do list. I’m enjoying getting warmed up for the season!

“Jewels”

I shared this project at:

Centsational Girl’s holiday Link Party

Make Your Own Decorative Christmas Trees

Posted on November 15, 2012 by jewelsathome

Don’t get me wrong, I pretty much love craft projects just for the joy of making something with my own hands. But, to be honest, there are DIY projects that look just like you DIY’ed them, those that turn out as well as something you would buy, and then there are those that turn out to be truly beautiful, unique pieces of art. When I saw these handmade Christmas trees by Shauna Mailloux, I knew they fell into the last category, and I couldn’t wait to try them myself.

There are a hundred ways you could customize these trees. I used a few of Shauna’s ideas and came up with some of my own, browsing the craft store and my own odds and ends. I encourage you to try making your own unique holiday creations!

Make your own decorative Christmas trees. Easy, inexpensive, and unique holiday decor!

Like Shauna, I made my own tree bases by rolling cardboard boxes into cones of varying sizes.

Here are the first few trees I made. (With some luck,) I’ll add more later. I call these the “instant gratification” trees, because they were quick and easy. The “blood, sweat, and tears” trees will take a little longer…

Feather boa tree
This is my absolutely favorite of Shauna’s trees. It has a great funky elegance. When i was looking for supplies, I wasn’t sure about the quantities of materials needed, so I’ll list what I used to help you with your sourcing.

For this tree, I used 4ft of feather boa for a 14″ tall tree. It was simple to tuck one end of the boa in the top of the cone and wind it around, securing it with some hot glue once in a while. You can leave quite a bit of space between the rows, since the boa is so fluffy. I used a white cardboard cone, in case any cardboard showed in between the rows.

Make your own decorative Christmas tree from a feather boa. Easy, inexpensive, and unique holiday decor! From Jewels at Home.

White feather boa Christmas tree.

Eyelash yarn tree
I loved the look of the white boa, but all the other boas at the craft store came in rather non-Christmasy colors. Luckily, this glitter eyelash yarn gives a very similar look!

One ball (0.88oz ; 39 yards) of glitter eyelash yarn covered a 12″ tree. I used two strands (pulled the yarn from both ends) twisted together, as it’s actually very fine yarn. The technique is the same – tuck the end in the top and wind the yarn around, but since the yarn is so fine, I used the toothpick end of my tree topper to help push it inside the cone.

I absolutely love this one, too! The tinsel strands reflect light and make it sparkle. I’ll show how to make the little beaded tree topper below.

Use glitter eyelash yarn to make your own decorative Christmas tree. Easy, inexpensive, and unique holiday decor! From Jewels at Home.

Glitter eyelash yarn Christmas tree with a beaded topper.

And then, there were two!

Use eyelash yarn or a feather boa to make your own decorative Christmas trees. Easy, inexpensive, and unique holiday decor! From Jewels at Home.

The fluffy ones! Feather boa tree and glitter eyelash tree.

Cording and braid trees

Not just for Marie Antoinette’s curtains, the trim section of our local craft store had some more great finds. I found some cord in red and also these green and gold braids. Because of the lacy edges of the green and gold braid, I spray-painted the cardboard cones to match first. The rest is the same as the others, sticking the end in the top of the cone and winding around, with hot glue applied along the way.

In terms of supplies,

the red cord tree used 2.5 yards for a 9.5″ tall cone
3 yards of the green covered a 9.5″ high cone, with a few inches to spare
the gold is a bit narrower, and I used 4 yards to cover a 12″ tree, with some space between the rows, as shown

DIY Christmas trees made with braided trims.

Beaded tree-topper

I also got this idea from Shauna’s trees, though she didn’t explain exactly how she made it, so here’s what I did.

Glue a large bead onto the end of a toothpick (top left picture below)
Spread tacky glue over the surface of your large bead (top right picture below)
Dip your glue-y tree topper into a bowl of small beads (bottom left picture below)
Insert the toothpick into the top of your tree. Ta-da! (bottom right picture below)

I have some ideas for more tree toppers, though I think that many of the trees look great on their own, too.

Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!

“Jewels”

Firefighter Birthday Party

Posted on October 25, 2012 by jewelsathome

“Baby” J is hardly a baby anymore. He’s 2! Yes, I am sad. But,whenever I think this idea through, whether it be about my kids progressing too fast through childhood or myself approaching middle age, the conclusion always seems to be that I am grateful that we have the chance to grow up or grow old. And of course, we are all only growing older, so I try not to let the sadness about the passing of each stage overshadow my enjoyment of it.

Now, enough philosophizing and onto the fun! J is in that stage of a young boy’s development that centers around all things with wheels, engines, and in the best cases, both. When I told Steve I wanted to throw J a firefighter birthday, in honor of his favorite vehicle, a firetruck, he commented that it was certainly a better idea than celebrating J’s second favorite, which is a garbage truck. True.

Invitations

I found these cute “Red Fire Truck” invitations on Shutterfly, which worked our perfectly for our party.

Red Firetruck birthday invitation from Shutterfly. Perfect for a little boy’s party!

I also printed up this little note. As I mentioned, I like to try alternatives to birthday gifts to teach the children about giving and reduce clutter at home. At J’s party we raised $80 for the San Francisco Firefighters Cancer Prevention Foundation. My colleagues and I have seen several firefighters at the Cancer Center where we work. These women and men are exposed to many dangerous substances in their work protecting others, and they often do not get all the financial support and services they need to address the risk of cancer, so this organization is a good way to fill that gap.

Instead of birthday gifts, collect donations for a meaningful charity.

Decorations

We dressed up the house with red and white balloons and these birthday banners I customized.

Customized firefighter birthday banner.

Another customized firefighter birthday banner.

For the children to play, we had the play firehouse I made, as well as a pop-up firetruck made by Playhut. I found the best price on eBay.

Firefighter birthday with DIY playhouse and pop up firetruck.

Sticking with my pledge to reduce plastic trinkets from birthday parties, I chose to buy real cotton baseball caps and add these firefighter badge stickers, rather than buy plastic hats that will break in a few days. The cotton hats were reasonably priced when bought in bulk, are very good quality, and blank, so they can be reused for any occasion. I wrote each child’s name inside with white puffy paint.

Buy cotton caps in bulk and add a sticker for a reusable and durable party favor.

Games

In case you are looking for game ideas for a firefighter birthday, I’ll include mine below, but I’ll also disclose that we didn’t end up playing most of them. The kids were all so absorbed with each other and our toys that I didn’t manage to rally everyone in one place at one time for games…

These were inspired by some fire safety stickers I found. I wanted each child to get a sticker for completing an activity. I tried to make them things that kids from two to nine could all enjoy.

Dial 9-1-1

Lesson: Ask kids if they know the number to dial if there they need the police, ambulance or firefighters. Remind them that they should not call 9-1-1 for fun. It is only for a serious emergency.
Activity: Kids hop on a hopscotch pattern with the numbers 9, 1, and 1

Bee smart. Don’t let fires start & Fire safety starts with me

Lesson: Be aware of items that could be a dangerous and start a fire. Remind kids to stay away from these items.
Activity: Ask each child to name two things in a house that could start a fire. For the younger kids, name a few items and ask them to say if they could start a fire, eg. stove (yes), candles (yes), shoe (no!)

When fire strikes, Get out and stay out & Crawl low in smoke

Lesson: If there is a fire, get out of the building as quickly as possible. Do not hide inside. If there is a lot of smoke, crawl on the ground, where there it’s less smoky.
Activity: Make an obstacle course (ours started in a playhouse) that includes a crawling segment. To make it fun for the older kids, you can time them.

Happy Birthday, dear JJ!

I can’t take credit for the cake – we bought it – but I will take credit for eating several slices.

Firetruck birthday cake.

Birthday boy and his brother enjoying cake and their new firefighter caps.

In the end, I think it was a fun birthday for baby J and his friends. The occasion was made extra special, because Nicola came with her new baby (remember the bib and onesie bouquet I made?). We are looking forward to many more family celebrations with them.

“Jewels”