When holidays, birthdays and other gift-giving occasions approach, my first inclination is to make something. And I can always come up with a project that is both heartfelt and useful for the recipient. But this year, in advance of Mother’s Day, I was stumped. I couldn’t decide what to make for my own mother. My daughter, however, saved the day.
Thanks to an awesome, easy-to-use Personalized Mugs kit for less than $10 at Walmart, this year’s crafting was done by my 7-year-old.
The kit included 2 ceramic mugs, a paintbrush and a set of paints in a variety of colors — everything she needed to create one-of-a-kind gifts for the moms in her life.
The instructions required her to leave at least an inch of space at the lip of the cup for drinking, and I think she did a great job. She painted to her heart’s content and created these two beauties:
The mugs are now ready for everyday use, like a hot cup of tea in the morning. According to mini me, she’ll be using my mug to deliver breakfast in bed on Mother’s Day.
Now that’s what I call a gift!
DISCLOSURE: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received product samples and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Easter is one among the holidays I really enjoy celebrating with my family. Aside from the religious significance of the day, I really enjoy doing a special craft project for my daughter. Two years ago, I made her an eco-friendly Easter basket, and last year, I made her a DIY reversible Easter dress. This year, I wanted to do something fun and lighthearted. I think even the Easter Bunny himself would approve of this idea.
Thanks to Pinterest, I found a photo of a baby wearing a rhinestone bunny onesie. And of course, serial crafter that I am, I thought, “I could do that.” So armed with a few supplies from Walmart and an idea for how to make it extra special, I did. Here’s how you can do it too.
This is honestly one of the cutest and easiest projects I’ve done in a while.
I didn’t want my bunny to look exactly like the one in the photo, so I created my own bunny face design. Print out the free Easter bunny t-shirt template, preferably on card stock. For an adult t-shirt, scale up the size of the design when you print it. For a baby or toddler, scale down.
Once the ink is fully dry, put the printed template under the front of the shirt with the template centered and facing up. You can use any color shirt you want, but you should be able to see the thick lines from the template through the shirt.
Next, simply use your hot glue gun to attach rhinestones along the outline until it is completely covered.
Part one, done! Of course, I wanted not just a face, but a whole Easter bunny look, because I’m an overachiever. I wanted a tail This is where the pom poms come in.
Thread your needle with a long piece of white thread. Begin stringing pom poms together.
By the time you have about 5-6 in a row, fold them together to create a circle shape. Push the needle through the poms at various angles to pull them tight. Keep adding pom poms and threading them together until you have a ball of fluff in whatever size you’d like.
Finally, sew the pom pom ball onto the back of the t-shirt a few inches above the hem.
TaDa! An Easter Bunny-inspired outfit your kid can wear to go to an Easter egg hunt, the grocery store, school, or anywhere else without being too over the top.
My daughter had some stray bunny ears laying around, so she added them to complete the look And now, some photos of her playing the role of Easter Bunny to perfection.
And she hops away…
DISCLOSURE: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received product and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I don’t need extraordinary, over-the-top romantic gestures to make me feel loved on Valentine’s Day. Seriously, I’m the type of woman who is completely down for a bouquet of grocery store flowers, a handmade card, or breakfast in bed. Those things make my heart beat a little faster just as much as a more expensive present would. If you’re the same way, here are two awesome baked gifts you can give (or receive) this Valentine’s Day:
Cookie-Brownie Delight
Walmart sent me a box of Nestle’s Cookie Brownie Delight to try. Two of my favorite things in one recipe? Count me in!
The instructions on the box were super easy to follow, and my daughter got in on the action.
She mixed the brownie batter and the cookie dough, separately, according to the instructions on the package.
Then, with a little help from me, she spooned the brownie and cookie mixes into a muffin pan, with the cookie dough on top.
The result? Deliciously gooey, chocolatey treats that both she and I couldn’t wait to try. So yes…I forgot about me weight loss for a night and enjoyed the treat — though I won’t share the number of calories in each one!
We’re going to buy another box so my daughter can make some more to deliver to her dad on Valentine’s morning. They were seriously that good. I’m sure noone would object to this gift.
Decorate Your Own Cookies
We sampled yet another sweet Valentine’s treat: the Decorate Your Own Cookie kit, to be found in the Walmart bakery. Also known as the shortcut cookie kit for lazy bakers like me.
As you can see, the kit comes with pre-made cookies and all the toppings you could want to decorate them to your heart’s content, including icing and sprinkles.
My daughter and I actually made a challenge of this one to see who could decorate the coolest cookie.
Here’s her cookie:
Here’s my cookie:
And the unofficial result according to my husband? It was a tie. But I’ll personally give the win to my daughter
I’m saving the other cookies so I can give her a treat on Valentine’s Day when she comes home from school. Paired with a new stuffed animal friend, and maybe some sparkling apple cider, this will be the perfect gift for my sweet little girl. And I didn’t have to do any actual baking. Winning!
DISCLOSURE: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received product and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
My daughter gets pretty excited about Valentine’s Day. Of course, there’s all the candy she’s going to get from the other kids in her class, but she also has a lot of fun choosing and preparing the Valentines she will give out. When Walmart challenged me to make DIY Valentine’s cards this year, I knew we had a chance to do something special together.
A while back, I found and bookmarked a tutorial for making scratch-off tickets. So when I was brainstorming how to make this year’s class cards extra cool, I figured we could apply the scratch-off idea to some interactive Valentines.
Prizes of your choosing (shown: mechanical pencils, erasers & sticker sheets)
I started by designing some cool Valentines with messages directing the recipient to scratch for a prize. You can get the FREE printable Valentine’s template here. There are four unique cards and messages to an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet. Print as many as you need. NOTE: I’d actually recommend printing one or two extra cards so you’ll be able to test your scratch-off paint mixture.
Cut out the cards. A paper cutter will make this part about a million times easier, but scissors work fine too, if that’s all you have on hand. I got this paper cutter — made of recycled plastic, no less — at Walmart for less than $12, and I know it will come in handy on a bunch of future projects.
On the cards for my daughter’s class, you can see that I typed the name of a prize in the middle of each heart. The prizes can be anything from different types of candy (M&Ms, organic lollipops, etc.) to small gifts (we did pencils, fancy erasers and sticker sheets) or anything else you want. On the printable template, I left the heart empty so you can write the name of your prize (or draw a picture of it, if your kid is feeling particularly creative). The more varied the prizes, the more fun the kids will have waiting to find out what they’ve “won.” Be sure to write the prizes on the cards BEFORE you move to the next step, which is the tape.
Put a piece of clear packing tape over the heart and the name of the prize. You don’t need to cover the rest of the card — just the heart. If you have transparent contact paper on hand, you can use that too.
Create a mixture of about one part dish liquid, two parts craft paint. Mix slowly and carefully, or the dish liquid will start to bubble and you’ll have a mess on your hands.
You can just make out the edges of the tape in the photos above, if you’re confused about where to put the tape.
NOTE: This is when those extra cards you printed will come in handy. I’d recommend you start by painting just one card and allowing the paint about an hour to dry. Then, try scratching off the paint with a coin. While I got my mixture right on the first try, this isn’t an exact science, so you may need to tweak your paint/dish liquid mixture a bit to get the best results.
Paint inside the heart outline in thin coats, on top of the tape. I found that the foam brush gave me better, more even coverage than the paintbrush. So I used a paintbrush for the first coat and to trace inside the lines, followed by the foam brush for the second, covering coat. The key here is to make sure that the name of the prize is fully covered. Do as many coats as you need, allowing some time for each coat to dry.
Paint all the cards and set them aside to dry for at least an hour, but it would be even better to let them dry overnight. However, if you’re doing them at the last minute, a blow dryer will help dry them faster
Really, that’s it! Your kid will have the coolest cards in class, and every child will get a “secret” prize or treat they’ll probably talk about for the rest of the day!
Each student in my daughter’s class will receive a card, a penny to scratch it off, and a small packet of candy. That way, even if some of them don’t have time to scratch the card for their prizes right then, they’ll have candy to keep them busy in the meantime. The “prize” is just a bonus that my daughter will give out after each child has a chance to scratch their card.
Not counting the paper trimmer and things we already had on hand, we spent just under $20 at Walmart to make cards for 19 kids, prizes and candy included. Not bad. Not bad at all.
DISCLOSURE: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received product and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Remember those awesome conversation hearts you’d always get for Valentine’s Day as a kid? They’d feature messages like “Love”, “Sweet”, “Be Mine,” etc. I loved those things, and I was always really particular about which ones I ate. I wanted the ones with specific messages, and I’d pass the rest off to everyone else. Well Brach’s has scored a Valentine’s Day win for me with their new product: Create Your Own conversation hearts.
As in large, blank hearts that come with a food coloring pen so you can add your own messages. What? Sign me up!
My daughter couldn’t wait to get her hands on the marker so she could write a message for her BFF:
I, on the other hand, had a slightly different type of message for my husband O__O
You won’t find a message like that on your typical conversation hearts! And that’s exactly the point. Yes, the hearts are delicious, but even better, this new product lets you say whatever you want to say, no matter how non-traditional the message. And you can only get them at your local Walmart.
When you use the finished hearts to top another sweet treat, like a cupcake or a bowl of ice cream, you’ve got a bonafide Valentine’s Day gift that took about 30 seconds and a little brain power to make. Personally, I don’t make a big deal of Valentine’s Day to begin with, so I’m partial to small, thoughtful gifts like these rather than demanding dozens of roses or expensive jewelry.
As for my hubby? Well…let’s just say he got the message
DISCLOSURE: As a participant in the Walmart Moms Program, I’ve received product samples and compensation for my time and efforts in creating this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
As a family, we care deeply about the lives of others. We do our best, throughout the year, to support causes in which we believe with our time, money, voices and in-kind donations. But Christmas time has a special place in my heart, because I truly feel for the families that simply aren’t to provide any holiday magic for their children. For some kids, it’s just a reality that they’ll wake up on Christmas morning with no visit from Santa, no gifts and possibly nothing at all to differentiate it from any other day of the year.
I don’t think the holidays should be all about the gifts, but I do believe that every child should be able to experience a little bit of the excitement and magic that Christmas brings. That’s why each year, we try to make at least a donation to either Toys for Tots or to a specific family in need. This year, a $100 shopping allowance from Walmart has helped our donation go a lot further.
We started off with a box full of toys that we’d collected throughout the year for this purpose:
Some were items received through blogging engagements that were not used, and others were items we’d bought, but never opened. It was a great start, but we always hope that we can do more. Enter the $100 shopping allowance.
Normally when I’m working within a budget, I try to purchase as many gifts as I can for as little money as possible. This year, though, I chose to focus on quality rather than quantity and to focus on gifts for older kids. In years past, organizations have repeatedly asked for gifts for older kids, as they regularly come up short in that area. Let’s face it: Babies, toddlers and younger kids are easier — and less expensive — to shop for. Secondly, while inexpensive gifts are better than none at all, I knew that kids in need would have some of the same items on their wish lists as other kids, including video games, eReaders, etc.
Here’s what we bought to try to help fill those gaps:
VTech V.Reader: $39.96
Loopz memory game: $17 on clearance
Hedbanz game: $8.97
Doctor dress up set: $13.88
Pony Trainer Barbie: $12.88
Skateboard: $14.96
TOTAL: $107.65
I miscalculated as I was adding everything up and didn’t realize I’d gone over budget until it was time to pay at checkout, but I’ve never been so happy to make that mistake. Because of it, and our stockpiling of gifts throughout the year, we were able to help give a wonderful Christmas to kids who otherwise might not have one.
The office of our apartment complex is actually a Toys for Tots donation drop-off site, so we delivered the toys there.
If you are a person in need, please know that there are organizations — and people — more than willing to help you and your family during this time of year. And if you are among those of us who are fortunate enough to be able to provide for our families, please consider giving in some way, whether it’s a donation of toys, money, time or a kind word or help to a stranger.
DISCLOSURE: I am a member of the Walmart Moms program. Walmart has provided me with $100 gift card to help with my holiday giving, along with compensation for sharing my efforts with you. Participation is voluntary and, as usual, all opinions are my own.
I am an overachieving gift giver. When it comes to the big gifts, anyway. I spend a lot of time thinking about and carefully planning what will go under the tree for each person on my list. But I always have a hard time with stocking stuffers. I’m not a fan of putting random little things in stockings if they’re not going to be used. It’s sort of goody bags at a birthday party. I don’t want to give — or receive — random plastic crap.
I’d rather stuff my family’s stockings with useful stuff, so I’ve been known to include soap, deodorant (yep!), edibles and similar items. When Walmart challenged me to find apparel gifts for at least 2 people for $20 or less, I figured that would be a great way to fill up my kids’ stockings. Except I have 4 kids — not two. So I challenged myself to find 4 gifts for the same amount.
Here’s what I found:
For my oldest stepson, Angry Birds boxer briefs at $6.84. Just because they’re funny. And I can’t wait to see the look on his face when he pulls underwear out of his stocking.
For the second boy, Batman slipper socks at $3.97. My stepson loves characters and dressing up, so I knew he’d get a kick out of these. Plus they’ll stop him from falling on out slippery floors.
For my youngest stepson, a cool t-shirt with a graphic print, just $2 on sale! He loves anything that will give him a little extra swag, so I knew this would be perfect for him.
And for my daughter, something that will make her squeal with joy, a Furby t-shirt for $6.97. She has begged and pleaded for a Furby for Christmas, and though I haven’t gotten one for her, I got her this tee in hopes that Santa will .
Before tax, my total was $19.78. After tax, $20.97. Not bad for some things that will go a long way toward filling their stockings, since they’ll take up a good bit of space.
There were lots of other options as well: t-shirts galore with every character you can imagine, winter hats, gloves, scarves, socks, undies and more. If I can’t figure out another way to round out their stockings, I’ll be back for more. Plus, my hubby always asks for underwear for Christmas
DISCLOSURE: I am a member of the Walmart Moms program. Walmart has provided me with beauty products to try as well as compensation for sharing these inexpensive apparel gift ideas with you. Participation is voluntary and, as usual, all opinions are my own.
Each year, I pride myself on making a bunch of handmade gifts. But this year, I just haven’t had the time or the energy to do as much as I would like. I’m not the garden variety crafter who will give bath salts to every person on my list. I like to make elaborate, personal gifts based on the recipient’s interests and preferences. But time is ticking, and I’ve done almost nothing this year. Since Christmas is just a few weeks away, I thought I’d lost my opportunity to do all the crafting a wanted to do this year. But Walmart proved me wrong.
Easy DIY Jewelry
Walmart‘s craft section is a treasure trove of quick, easy projects that will look like you spent a whole lot more time on them than you did. They sent me this stash of Darice beads and accessories from their jewelry department, and it was a lifesaver:
I had all the essentials to make a bunch of gifts: starter bracelets, plain hoop earrings, necklaces, a watch, and beads galore. I decided to make a bunch of bracelets, starting with my niece and daughter.
The process is simple. Choose a set of beads, perhaps based on the recipient’s favorite color or their interests, along with a blank bracelet. Open the bracelet, and slide your beads onto the chain. Close it. TaDa!
Seriously. It’s that easy. I made these two in about 5 minutes flat, and they’re not just pretty. They mean something.
My niece’s favorite color is blue, and she loves music and singing. So her beads are blue, interspersed with musical notes and a treble clef.
My daughter loves pink (ugh! Lmao!), so her bracelet has pink beads, one of which features a cancer ribbon. I know the pink ribbon is technically for breast cancer, but I’m sure she’ll appreciate the sentiment anyway, given that she whooped leukemia’s butt this year!
What I love most about these is that you can make each piece, whether it’s a bracelet, necklace, earrings or something else that can accommodate the beads, unique and personal. Plus, they’re really comparable to similar, but much more expensive bracelets from big jewelry stores. I know because my husband gave me one for Christmas last year, and these beads fit it perfectly.
Make Wearables with Zip Screens
While I love the bracelets, I can’t do those for everyone, because not everyone is into jewelry. This is where Zip Screens come in. This product offers a ridiculously method for making screen printed clothing, bags, or whatever you can think to print.
Looking at the photo, above, they don’t look like much, right? If I saw these on the shelf, I’d probably never pick them up. But they let me go from this…
…to this…
…in a matter of minutes. Because it’s easier to demonstrate than it is to explain, here’s a quick video showing how I did it:
Yeah. Crazy easy. You want the steps?
Grab a couple of Zip Screen packets, a screen design, something to print (like an apron or t-shirt), and a piece of cardboard.
Lay your printable material on the cardboard, because the paint can bleed. If you’re doing a shirt, put the cardboard between the front and back of the shirt.
Remove your screen from its adhesive backing and stick it to whatever you’re printing.
Rip the top of the zip screen packet to expose the paint. Use the card to pull the paint across the screen.
Repeat step 4 until the entire screen is covered with paint. Sidenote: You can use more than one paint color on the same screen for an awesome effect.
Peel the screen off the fabric and set it aside to use again.
Allow the paint to dry.
That’s it!
You can get the Zip Screen paint in a bunch of colors and screens in a variety of designs, including some boy-friendly ones (though I don’t have any to show at the moment). I’m going to be making a bunch of screenprinted items next weekend because this product makes it SO easy. I’m in love with the simplicity of it. My only complaint? I wish the screen designs were bigger!
Give crafts they can make
Finally, if you don’t have time for actual crafting, then you can always give an unopened crafting kit that will allow the recipient to get crafty too.
Walmart sent me a variety of crafting kits, including a decorate your own porcelain tea set kit, a wooden doodle clock that can be colored with markers, and even a craft for the boys on any list: A working marshmallow shooter that needs to be assembled. My daughter, stepsons and nieces love these kinds of gifts, so they’ll be happy to unwrap these on Christmas morning. All of these kits are $10-13, so they’re really affordable too. (aff)
So what about you? Are you planning to do any gift crafting this year? Feel free to share links of your holiday craft gifting projects in the comments below!
DISCLOSURE: I am a member of the Walmart Moms program. Walmart has provided me with beauty products to try as well as compensation for sharing these craft gifts with you. Participation is voluntary and, as usual, all opinions are my own.
This is where the pom poms come in.
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