Pinterest: Or, Falling Down the Rabbit Hole

So I'm planning my daughter's birthday party....can you guess what theme she wants? That's right - Frozen!! My daughter jumped on the Frozen bandwagon a little late, as she was quite young when the movie was first released. I eventually took her to see it at a small theatre months later, and she loved it. We now hear "Let It Go" on repeat, and she's bouncing off the walls in anticipation of her birthday party on Sunday. It's hard to plan a birthday party for a 5 year-old. I never know if I'm doing too much, or too little. She started off asking to go to the movie theatre, but the helpful sales person at Cineplex suggested that 5 might be too young. I then checked out gymnastics centres, but given our strict budget, I can't afford $160-$175 for a party.

So, we took the easy (hard?) way out. We're hosting the party at our house! And what better way to plan a party than to look at ideas on Pinterest?

But Pinterest is dangerous. First I coo over the adorable glasses of frosted blue jello. Then I giggle at the Olaf party favour bags. Soon I'm yelling to my husband that we need giant blue drapes, fake snow for the walls, and twinkly lights. By the end of one hour on Pinterest, I'm frantically writing lists. Panic is making my heart beat louder than the sound of picks on ice.

But no. No, no, no. I'm not Martha Stewart. Martha Stewart is not even a distant cousin of mine. And so I calm down (thanks to my practical husband), and I decide on a few special things:

1) The twinkly lights we have in Christmas boxes are pretty accessible. And they'll make a lovely backdrop to our movie-themed party (the kids are watching Frozen, and will be served popcorn in their own individual buckets).

2) Pin the Nose on Olaf is a great game for a group of 5 year-olds. And bonus that a friend gave us an Olaf poster after throwing her own Frozen birthday party.

3) Frozen grapes and Olaf noses as snacks

4) If there's time, the party favour bags are pretty cute, no?

5) As much as I'd love to make my own pinata, I think I'll head to Bulk Barn and get something simple, filled with a few snacks, stickers and pencils.

Easy peasy, right? Hmmm, talk to me on Monday ;)

Pinteresting my way through summer vacation

by Lara I'm not always the most creative when it comes to finding activities for the kids.  With them home with me full time this past week I have leaned heavily on Pinterest for indoor activities.

What I love about so many of the pins is that just a photo of an activity idea is often enough for me to run with it (psa: when pinning, remember to pin to the URL to the exact post you're referring too.  Too often I click through to a front page of a site and can't find anything about what I thought I was clicking through to see).

Here a couple of the crafts we tackled this week:

Ours may or may not have turned out as nicely as those photos ;)

This particular pin has me inspired to maybe tackle a bigger project next week:

And in case you didn't know, Kids in the Capital has it's own Pinterest account where we try to share all things kids.  Come on over and join us!

Leave a comment sharing what some of your favourite kid activity pins have been lately!

Messy Science Fun

by Amy In this house we have been suffering from a spate of "I want to do something else" syndrome. Nothing seems to keep the toddler entertained for more than a few minutes at a time, and it doesn't take long before this Mommy runs out of energy to think of new things. We go swimming, we bake together, she takes gymnastics, but her energy is constant so when we're just home I have to keep trying to entertain her.

Today, after going through a few of our normal activities it was "something else, Mommy!" again, so I logged on to Pinterest to see what else we could try. I came upon this on my Crafts board.

Fun! Messy! Science!

So I got out my corn starch and the food colouring and we mixed it all together and keep the kid occupied for a good little while.

The truth is, it looks messy but it actually washes off hands quite easily. I haven't tried to clean the pan yet.

We'll probably be doing this again.

Amy is mom to two year old Maggie and a 6 year old schnauzer named Henry. You can read her blog at amyboughner.ca where she writes about motherhood and anything else that’s on her mind. She also shares a blog with her husband at boughner.ca where they talk together about parenting a daughter.

Make It Earth Day Every Day

by Gwen

Earth Day 2012 has come and gone, but just because it is over, does not mean you can’t continue to be earth friendly every day of the year.

The Earth Day Network website is available year round and is filled with valuable information and activities (aimed at both adults and children) to get you thinking about how each little thing you do impacts the earth. Check out the Ecological Footprint Calculator designed to calculate your impact on the planet.

There is also the Billion Acts of Green section of the site which is packed with green acts you can do all year round from the very small (using cloth bags at the grocery store) to larger scale green acts such as making your home solar powered. Take a look through the site for some inspiration.

Here are some more eco-friendly things you can do with your family year round, from the Nayla Natural Care Pinterest Boards:

Homemade Sidewalk Chalk Recipe - So it's not quite "chalk" it's more of a paint, but the kids will love it just the same. The best part? You can make it with 3 simple ingredients you most likely already have in your kitchen: water, cornstarch and food colouring.  Image credit: Smashed Peas and Carrots Blog

Homemade, Non Toxic Gunk Remover Recipe - Sticker residue and miscellaneous gunk that a regular cleaner will not remove has met its eco-friendly match. The commercial counterpart to this mixture is highly toxic, flammable and has ridiculous fumes. Not something you or your children should be inhaling. Image credit: rosy blu handmade

Vegetarian Taco Salad Recipe - I made this taco salad a few days ago and it was a huge hit, even with the kids. It's quick to put together, it's healthy and it's delicious. Take it 1 step further and make it vegan by replacing the cheese with a cheese alternative such as Daiya Pepperjack Style Shreds. Finish it off with avocado chocolate pudding and everyone will be smiling. Image credit: Eating Well

Celebrating the earth every day is a great way to teach kids the importance of being environmentally conscious. What things do you do with your kids to encourage them to be more green?

Gwen is a mom of 2 and owns/operates Nayla Natural Care, an online store that specializes in carrying the best organic, natural and eco-friendly products.

Her own space

by Amy My husband and I just bought a house. We will be moving in May. This means a lot of purging and a lot of re-thinking. We’re going to have to get organized all over again.

It also means planning my daughter’s room so that it’s something she adores and something she can grow up in – and with a brand new mortgage to think about, it has to be inexpensive. (I would say cheap, but my mother hates that word).

Painting will be simple enough – though right now when I ask her what colour she wants her room to be she says pink, and then purple, then orange and then green.

So now I’m looking for simple ideas to give her a wonderful little girl’s room that won’t cost so much that I’ll feel bad getting rid of it when she outgrows it. Luckily, I have some places to look to help me with my design.

I have set up a board on Pinterest for the new house – I love Pinterest for craft ideas, recipes, and now home decor. One of the things I found there that I’m most excited to use for the kid’s new room is chalkboard paint on one of the walls. I love the idea of giving her some artistic freedom in her own space, but we can also easily paint over it if she wants us to. Pinterest helps me find ideas for decorating, and it also helps me find things I can figure out how to do by myself.

I’ve been spending quite a bit of time on UsedOttawa.com, looking for furniture we could use in the new place. It’s a site where we have found great stuff for the kid in the past, and where we’ve sold some of the baby things we don’t use any more. (It’s also where I’m planning on finding a new dining set for us).

I am looking forward to getting tips in the comments on this post for how you decorated your kids’ rooms for not too much money and what’s changed as they’ve grown up.

So please, comment.