Peanuts® Halloween Party Planning

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All opinions expressed are our own.

When I was young, I lived in a neighborhood full of friends my age, and trick-or-treating was truly a group affair. Everyone would eat a quick dinner and head out into the darkness (there were not even street lights!) for treats and fun.

We've carried on the same tradition in our family now that I have children of my own, but there aren't many kids my kids' ages that live in the neighborhood so the fun factor is not quite as high. Last year, thinking about our own situation, and knowing that we have several friends from school who live on busy streets that are unsafe for trick-or-treating, we invited some school friends over to our house and then headed out together for trick-or-treating. For one friend, it was her very first time trick-or-treating, because she'd never had a safe place to enjoy the tradition! 

Our little get-together last year was so much fun so it was an easy decision to make this an annual tradition! This year, we plan to invite even more friends, and even picked a theme for our pre-trick-or-treating Halloween party - Peanuts®! We're hoping to catch a peek at the Great Pumpkin this year!

We've gathered together some simple decorations to set the mood. They are so fun!

We'll cover the wall in our dining room with this a-m-a-z-i-n-g Great Pumpkin Backdrop. It's made of three strips of plastic that stick to our wall with static electricity - I didn't even need to use tape! There are only two of the strips hung here because I couldn't fit all three in this space. The completed set is 9 feet x 6 feet. 

I expect that we'll put this life-sized Great Pumpkin Cardboard Stand-Up outside on Halloween, but for now, on this rainy day, it's set in front of the Backdrop. Won't this make for some super fun photo ops?

We'll serve pizza because it's quick and easy, and we'll set our table with this Peanuts® themed Halloween Plastic Tablecloth, along with these themed Dinner Plates, and Napkins.

Hanging Paper Lanterns and Halloween Cutouts will complete the look!

We can't wait to have our friends over again this year... and can't wait to surprise them with this fun Peanuts® themed party!

All of these items - and more - can be found at Oriental Trading! Plan your holiday get-together easily with goodies to match whatever theme your heart desires. There are tons of fun and affordable options available!

Rainbow Unicorn Birthday Party

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All opinions expressed are our own.

My oldest daughter just turned seven and threw the most amazing Rainbow Unicorn birthday party to celebrate! This is actually the second time we've had a rainbow themed birthday. If you met her you wouldn't be surprised! Summer birthdays are always a little tricky because we love to plan outdoor shindigs. Thankfully the weather cooperated this year and even though we woke to chilly air and cloudy skies, we ended up with a hot summer day which was exactly what we hoped for.

We swam in rainbow pools with rainbow banners hung in the yard.

We decorated with rainbow balloons.

We served our favorite snacks in an assortment of rainbow colored bowls. Of course we even served up rainbow cookies and cake!

We created water bottle labels to go with our rainbow theme. If you've never done this before, it's such an easy way to add something special to your party. You can find a tutorial here. The rainbow birthday labels we used can be downloaded free from Catch My Party and the polka dots from Piggy Bank Parties. The stickers we used on the polka dot labels came from Oriental Trading.

We served up our foods on rainbow plates, with colorful plastic utensils. Aren't these rainbow straw cups the cutest? They were such a big hit with all of our guests!

My creative daughter loved customizing her cake picks by decorating clear picks with sharpies. She drew rainbows, flowers, hearts, sunshines, etc. and they added a fun personal touch.

We customized these colorful chevron party favor boxes with rainbow unicorn stickers which perfectly matched our theme, and we filled the boxes with an assortment of colorful treats!

I love ordering party favors and supplies from Oriental Trading because they come in sets of a dozen which tends to be perfect for parties. I'm always impressed with the number of options we have to choose from no matter what theme we decide upon. They are always fun and high quality. I prefer novelty toy favors over candies. After studying the website, we chose Rainbow Cake Necklaces, Rainbow Mechanical Pencils, Fish-Shaped Ring Toss Water Games, Rainbow Heart Rubber Bracelets, and Plush Tie-Dyed Dogs. The adorable dogs are my favorite and I started getting texts asking about where to buy these ring toss water games within an hour of the party ending!

Planning parties for my littles is one of my favorite things to do! My daughter has such fun participating and coming up with the plan she knows will be just perfect for her friends. This year was no exception. Our Rainbow Unicorn Birthday Party was a huge success and I'm looking forward to next year already.

We Love July... We've Gone Red, White & Blue Already!

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I cannot believe it's almost July! This is my first summer off from work in a long time and I am living it up. We are doing our best to venture out of our own backyard at least a couple times a week for some new adventures such as the playground, or our favorite children's garden. We are loving lazy days too, though, and are enjoying the sunshine right outside our own door.

We've had a great month, but the countdown to July has already begun! One week from today we enter our favorite month of the year! July is always an exciting time for us - multiple family birthdays and parties, tons of day trips, a road trip, cookouts at least every weekend, and of course (because we would never miss a reason to celebrate...) the 4th of July!

We are in 4th of July mode already around here! A quick online Oriental Trading order (I avoid shopping in stores if I can help it!) had us all ready to go.

We have a super fun Large Patriotic Bean Bag Toss Game, some Patriotic Traffic Cones to be sure we're playing fair, and a Patriotic Ball & Bat Set to replace the two whiffle ball sets that my husband and daughter destroyed last summer by hitting balls too hard.

For the littlest family member, we have an adorable Inflatable Patriotic Pool full of Patriotic Mini Rubber Duckies.

Because you really can't celebrate right without candy, we've got some of that too... some Patriotic Candy Corn Fun Packs and some Red, White & Blue Tootsie Pops!

And to get us ready for actual 4th of July Festivities like fireworks, we got some Mini Star Premium Glow Wands, in red, white, and blue. They will be perfect for the big night!

Oriental Trading is having a great sale on patriotic goodies right now - up to 50% off! Order in the next two days and you're guaranteed to get it by July 4th! Woohoo!

Bunnies, Chicks, Candy, and More... Easter with Oriental Trading

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All opinions expressed are our own.

There's another holiday coming up, and Oriental Trading is again my one stop shop! Without ever leaving my house and braving a crowded store, we're ready for Easter.

For our family, Easter is a fun time to celebrate the start of spring, the gift of Jesus’ resurrection, AND all things cute and cuddly like chicks and bunnies! My six year old daughter, who recently wrote in her school journal that her greatest temptation is candy, also sees every holiday as an opportunity for some new candy treats! Oriental Trading has you covered no matter what you’re celebrating this spring!

I love that when I’m shopping online with Oriental Trading, I can get everything I need for crafting, snacking, decorating, and gift giving all in one place. In fact, I’m often surprised at what we can find! My daughter was in charge of our most recent Oriental Trading order. She loves to browse through the different sections of the Oriental Trading website and come up with her list of must-haves. Not surprisingly, sweet snacks were on the list. We were able to do a complete stock-up on name brand candies - there’s a huge variety, bulk packaging, and reasonable prices. We have so much candy this Easter that I’m pretty sure the Easter Bunny just may borrow some when he fills eggs for our kiddos this year!

We love crafting anytime, but especially at holiday times. It’s a great way to get our house decorated and ready for entertaining family and friends. We love hosting holiday meals at our home and part of that is just making the space special for the occasion. We will use our Sand Art Easter Shapes and Self-Inflating Easter Mylar Balloons to do just that. Both of these come in a set of 12 - an assortment of 4 different Easter themed designs in each.

Because it feels good to give to friends, gift-giving is always a part of our holiday celebrations. I think my daughter would make it a part of every single day if she could! She chose some adorable Mini Easter Cameras and Jumping Bunnies to gift to her classmates for Easter this year. The Mini Easter Cameras remind me of the old viewfinder toys we had when I was a kid. Each click of the camera reveals a sweet Easter image. These little cameras are sold in a package of 24 so we have plenty to enjoy and plenty to share! The Jumping Bunnies are super cute and very fun! Just press down on their backs and they hop across the floor! We are having so much fun racing them and challenging them to see who jumps the furthest! This set comes with tons of bunnies - 144 to be exact! These are a hit in our home so we know for sure they’ll be a hit with our friends as well.

We love a lot of things but there are three things we REALLY love. Well… way more than three… but this next item was the perfect compilation of three current favorites: stickers, bunnies, and emojis! Seriously?! YES! Are these not the best? This roll of 100 stickers is almost too cute for me to handle. We adore them. They are individually perforated so easy to share too!

My bunny obsessed six year old could not have been more excited to find that although Oriental Trading does not sell LIVE bunnies, they do sell bunny ears. This Plush Bunny Ears Headband is the perfect way to let the world know her love for bunnies and let the Easter Bunny know her desire to get one soon. 

We can’t wait to celebrate Easter this year, largely in part to this huge assortment of goodies from Oriental Trading to help us get ready! If you’re looking for supplies to celebrate Easter this year - at church, home, school, or anywhere - Oriental Trading has what you need! Crafts, supplies, snacks, toys… you name it. As always, there’s a huge variety at an affordable cost. The only issue you might have is narrowing down your list! Oriental Trading is offering FREE SHIPPING on all orders through April 6 - just enter the promotion code EASTER17 at checkout. Happy Easter!

Shopkins Birthday Party with Oriental Trading

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All opinions expressed are our own.

Summer time means birthday time in our house! Our oldest daughter turned six years old this summer! Last year we had the most amazing summer birthday pool party with the help of Oriental Trading. It seriously was AMAZING. No exaggeration. It was so perfect - weather, snacks, party favors, friends, everything. Maybe it was a little risky for us to try to duplicate that party this year...

Not surprisingly - because it's hard to get perfection twice - the weather forecast for this year's pool party took a turn for the worse about a week before the big day. Cold, cloudy, rainy. Needless to say, we had to change our plans and move the party indoors. Thankfully our daughter had chosen a theme that could work for both an indoor or outdoor party! I had encouraged her to choose a "pool-ish" theme again this year, but when she studied the Oriental Trading website it was no surprise that she chose Shopkins.

I'll be honest, I was shocked with the amazingly fun variety of Shopkins themed items that Oriental Trading has to offer! We were able to pull of a fantastic Shopkins birthday party for our six year-old that she and her friends are sure to remember for a long time!

We stocked up on Shopkins dinner plates, dessert plates, and napkins. Shopkins Photo Booth Props doubled for decorations, along with some colorful streamers and Shopkins theme printables colored by the birthday girl herself.

This party was planned in full by the birthday girl. Knowing the things she and her friends love, we started our party with a Shopkins egg hunt! Each friend found one egg with a Shopkins friend inside for them to keep!

We set up crayons, markers, and colored pencils in these perfectly sized and colorful Neon Storage Bins with Lids and had a great time coloring Shopkins themed printables. These bins were perfect for this occasion but we actually use them on an ongoing basis too, to keep the crafting area of our playroom organized and ready for creativity. They are good quality plastic, include covers, stack perfectly, and are obviously perfectly colorful! You'll notice the Shopkins Tablecloth - it was the perfect decoration for our crafting and eating area. The Shopkins themed printables we used for coloring are available for free right on the brand's website. 

This Shopkins cupcake topper came from Oriental Trading's Shopkins Cake Decoration with Candles Set. My daughter insisted on having it to add a little something special to her birthday cupcake. It comes along with 8 colorful candles and truly was a nice touch to our birthday treats.

We never have a party around here without fancying up the drinks so water bottle labels were a must! Creating your own water bottle labels is so easy and fun. Feel free to check out my DIY Water Bottle Label Tutorial! We used our favorite free printable template and added Shopkins Stickers from Oriental Trading. Didn't these turn out super cute?

The Shopkins Photo Booth Props were a huge hit at this party! It's funny - I was nervous about how these would hold up at our outdoor pool party and almost didn't get them for that reason. I'm so glad we added them to our birthday list because they were so much fun at our indoor party and would have been if it had been outdoors too! We set up a photo booth with a basket of these props and took tons of pictures with our friends. Everyone's favorite Shopkins were included in the set. The photo booth made for such a fun party activity and a souvenir to remember the day. We took pictures of the birthday girl with each friend and then printed and used them for our thank you notes. What a fun memory!

Party favors were a mix of Shopkins themed and pool party themed since we were originally intending an outdoor party. From Shopkins Stickers, to Shopkins Tattoos, to Shopkins Pencils, and even Shopkins Bracelets, Oriental Trading has Shopkins goodies galore! I love that Oriental Trading party favors are so affordable and there are endless options for whatever party theme you choose! My daughter and her friends were thrilled with this years' treats.

We had lots of leftover goodie bags from last year's party. Oriental Trading sells these perfectly sized, quality, and super colorful Assorted Plastic Bags in a 50-pack for a steal. If you haven't picked these up for your parties, I highly recommend it! They will last you a long time!

We had such a fun time celebrating our birthday girl this summer! There's no better way to celebrate than to surround yourself with your favorite things - family, friends, and Shopkins! Oriental Trading was the perfect place to find everything we needed to pull off a great kid's birthday party!

Summer Fun with Oriental Trading

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All opinions expressed are our own.

I go back and forth about my favorite season. I love fall for trees changing colors, apple picking, and yummy baked treats. I love winter for beautiful snowy days, fires in the fireplace and watching my daughter sled. I love spring for warming breezes, pretty flowers, and baby animals. I love summer for sunny days, fun outside, and celebrating my daughter's birthday! I think maybe each season is my favorite once it comes around, so right now, I'm voting for summer and enjoying every second of it!

We have a birthday party coming up in less than two weeks and I think it's safe to say that we're kind of counting down the hours! Turning SIX is a big deal - and an even bigger deal when you get to celebrate it with your friends! We received a box of goodies from Oriental Trading today with everything we need to pull off the most phenomenal summertime pool party birthday! Of course, we'll feature that party on the blog in just a couple of weeks. We can't give away all our secret plans just yet, but feel free to take a peek at last year's party while you're waiting!

Did you know that Oriental Trading truly has everything you need to pull off the most amazing summer party? When we're looking for fun, Oriental Trading is our go-to shop! Whether you're celebrating a birthday, cooking out for the 4th of July, hosting a playdate, or simply enjoying the sunshine with your family and friends, Oriental Trading has you covered! With tons of super fun outdoor games and activities, you, your kiddos, your family, and your friends can toss boredom right out the window!

I've been studying the Oriental Trading website today and found some fun looking things we just may snag up for some extra fun this summer! Here are a few of my favorite finds...

These Happy Face Playground Balls bring me back to my elementary school kickball days! We never had balls this cute! I could see our family have a lot of fun with these in the yard this summer!

My daughter is a huge hopscotch fan. Actually, she's a fan of most anything that involves her jumping around. I love this new twist on traditional hopscotch! With the Hopscotch Ring Game, you can configure these plastic rings any which way you want for endless creative hopping fun!

Who doesn't love a good old bean bag toss? This Lemonade Party Bean Bag Toss Game is one of many different themed bean bag toss games from Oriental Trading. This wooden game board comes with adorable lemon shaped bean bags! Super cute and super fun for all ages!

This is just a small sampling of the games and activities that Oriental Trading offers to boost your summer fun! Take a peek and let me know what you like! You'll find endless possibilities that are affordable, good quality, and certainly lots of fun! 

With the help of Oriental Trading, add something special to your next get-together - or just surprise your kiddos with something new this summer! 

Shop for games and activities at Oriental Trading today!

Spring Crafts for Kids with Oriental Trading!

We received free product to facilitate this review. No other compensation was received. 

All opinions expressed are our own.

I'm always looking for fun activities to keep my 5 year old busy and there is nothing better than theme-based crafts - they make us feel like we're celebrating something and who doesn't love to celebrate? Right now we're celebrating the arrival of spring and the arrival of a new baby!

I have mixed feelings about the change in seasons. I guess I'm one of those people who can think of a reason that each season is my favorite so it's always bittersweet to pass from one to the other! The early months of this year have flown by. We welcomed a sweet baby girl to our family in February... and basically the rest is a blur! Weather-wise, we had a mild winter in New England. Although I missed the blizzards, I was relieved to not be in labor during one. Now that the weather has warmed up even more, I'm excited for things like long walks, picnics, and sunshine!

We have a five year old and a seven week old and I kind of can't believe it. There aren't many dull moments around here but there are certainly some competing needs. Since I'm often preoccupied with the needs of a newborn, my five year old is sometimes feeling a little left out. We've been looking for some fun, kid-friendly activities that require minimal adult involvement. Thanks to Oriental Trading, my big girl has been very busy celebrating the start of spring and the start of big-sisterhood with some great craft projects. 

We love Oriental Trading for their affordable, vast selection of kids' crafts. Here are some of the spring crafts we've been working on!

Spring Scratch 'N Reveal Craft Kit

These super cute scenes are easy and just sort of magical for kids! Using the plastic tool provided, just scratch away the top green layer to reveal the vibrant colorful scene below! There are, as is typical with craft kits from Oriental Trading, 12 identical pictures and tools included in the kit - great for sharing or crafting on more than one occasion. This was my daughter's first exposure to scratch art and she loved it!

Jumbo Tulip Magic Scratch Assortment

This assortment of colorful flowers takes scratch art craft to the next level. Again, the kit includes 12 flowers and 12 scratching tools. The color and shape of the colors vary. Simply scratch your own creative designs into the top layer to reveal rainbow colors underneath. My daughter worked on this with her aunt and uncle when they came to visit recently. This craft was enjoyed by all ages!

Sand Art Bug Magnet Craft Kit

I always loved sand art as a child, so I was especially excited to share this fun activity with my girl.  This kit includes four each of three different bugs, individually packaged, with individually packed colored sands. The activity is much simpler than you may think! Just peel the top off of each self-adhesive section and sprinkle the colored sand of your choice. Here are some of our creations!

Spring Character Magnet Craft Kit

We did some sticker foam crafts last fall and loved them, so getting some for spring was a definite! This is probably the simplest craft ever, but the characters and colors really make it special. Aren't these spring friends just the cutest?! We actually didn't use these as magnets, but instead used them as place markers for a big family dinner. They are so adorable and helped us set the perfect spring table! 

Spring Flowers Sticker Dot Art

Sticker dot art is an activity that encourages creativity in a mess-free and organized way - hooray! This kit includes a variety of 12 flower pages and different colored and sized stickers. I loved this craft but my daughter felt overwhelmed by the number of small sticker sections. She enjoyed working collaboratively with her grandmother to complete these flowers. It was a team effort to finish them, but we were okay with that!

DIY Flower Garden Sticker Scenes

Sticking with the sticker theme (because what kindergartener doesn't love stickers?!), we really enjoyed this craft kit. Included are 12 sheets of paper with only grass and sky decorating them. Your task is to do the rest of the decorating with the enclosed stickers. This was a big hit with my storytelling five year old. She loved creating her own scene! Typical of Oriental Trading, these repositionable stickers are bright, colorful, and just so cute. And again, hooray for mess-free crafts!

Fuse Beads

Besides having some crafts that my daughter can work on alone, we've really enjoyed doing some special crafts together when the baby is sleeping. It's so important that she knows that even though my undivided attention might be hard to come by for a bit, spending time with her is still a huge priority for me. Fuse beads have taken up much of our alone time together. 

Oriental Trading has lots of different sets of fuse beads and fuse bead boards. We are using the Pretty Pastel Fuse Beads and the Vivid Fuse Beads, the Fantastic Shaped Fuse Bead Boards, and the Fuse Beads Ironing Paper to create some lovely masterpieces - all of which have been gifted to school friends! We've used the Spring Fuse Bead Free Templates which can be downloaded free as pdf's from Oriental Trading to create some extra special seasonal designs!

For those who may not be familiar with fuse beads, these little beads fit on tiny pegs on fuse bead boards to create whatever design you dream up (or copy from a template). When you're done, an adult covers it with wax paper and irons for 15-20 seconds to fuse the beads together. Once cool, remove it from the board, and you have a masterpiece! This craft is a tedious one but its very well-loved in our house!

Peanuts Inspirational Stickers

Given that my daughter loves to make gifts and pictures for her school friends, it's not surprising that we go through stickers fast around here. We love this roll of 100 stickers with our favorite Peanuts characters. Aren't the messages on them are the best? Each sticker can be detached individually along the perforations, so if you want to give them away while preserving their stickiness, you can!

Pre-Filled Neon Sidewalk Paintbrushes

For outside time, now that the weather is getting warmer (some days!), we've tried these sidewalk paintbrushes that put regular old sidewalk chalk to shame! The colors are so vibrant! The only downside to these is that you'll use them up quickly. Luckily, when you order these you'll get a total of 10 paintbrushes - two packages with five different colors in each.

The assortment of spring crafts available from Oriental Trading is endless! There are so many affordable, high-quality, low-mess options to choose from. We highly recommended every craft that we tried but feel free to check out even more on the Oriental Trading website.