DIY Christmas Ornaments - Perfect Gifts for Friends and Teachers!

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

All opinions expressed are our own.

I've shared before that my oldest daughter is a giver. She can find any occasion to give gifts to her friends. Christmas is one of the more obvious times of year where she starts planning months in advance for the most perfect, thoughtful, true-to-her, gifts for friends and teachers.

This year she chose to make ornaments for gifts. She knew she wanted them to be "winter color" themed ornaments with blue, turquoise, purple, white, and of course, anything sparkly. She loves to be creative and I love to be low-maintence these days, so these DIY winter themed Christmas ornaments were perfect for us both!

We started with some Clear Christmas Ornaments and then simply just filled them up with blue and pink Snowflake Beads, Winter Pony Beads, Silvertone Jingle Bells, Winter Fun Loops, Snowflake Jewels, Tiny Pom Poms, Glitzy Buttons, and Foam Snowflake Craft Shapes.

What we got were some colorful (just like my daughter!), wintery, super cute ornaments that will look great on Christmas trees this year and for years to come!

What a simple and fun way to ring in the holiday season and help us gift a lasting memory to our friends and teachers this year!

We got all the supplies for these super easy DIY Christmas Ornaments online from Oriental Trading.

Shop the Oriental Trading Christmas Sale today!

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

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

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!

Celebrate Christmas with Oriental Trading this Year!

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

All opinions expressed are our own.

'Tis the season for decorations, crafts, gift giving, and so many other good things! I have always been excited to celebrate Christmas but this joyful season has taken on a whole new excitement with young children in the mix! I always turn to Oriental Trading as I prepare for holidays and Christmas is certainly no exception.

Oriental Trading has crafts, party supplies, gifts, and more to help ring in the season and get you in the holiday spirit! Our Christmas shopping spree included Christmas tree ornaments, crafts, gifts for family and friends, home decorations, and even goodie bags for our holiday cookies.

I'm always pleased with the variety, quality, and affordability of Oriental Trading products. Here are some of the goodies we chose to help get us ready for Christmas this year!

I fell in love with this Vintage Christmas Tree the moment I saw it on the Oriental Trading website. When it arrived at my home, I loved it even more. It is adorable and added the perfect, simple, Christmas touch to the shelf above our front doorway.

We added these fun Christmas Goodies Ornaments to our tree this year. Reminiscent of all our favorite holiday treats, this set of 12 resin ornaments comes with colorful, glittery ornaments in the shapes of cupcakes and decorated sugar cookies. 

We are always looking for new craft ideas around here and the holidays are the perfect time for crafts - to use as both decorations and gifts! There is no shortage of holiday craft ideas, supplies, and kits available through Oriental Trading. 

This craft that my daughter has spent hours working on so far, is a life-size, cardboard, playhouse! Our Color Your Own Santa's Workshop is still not complete, but our goal is to have it fully colored and built by Christmas Eve! This little girl who loves imaginative play is so excited for this new fun house to play in with her newly crawling baby sister. This playhouse even has windows and doors that open and close. We can't wait to see the finished project!

We've also been hard at work coloring these Color Your Own Christmas Ornament Bulbs. These plastic bulbs open and close easily to reveal a two sided snowman picture for coloring. This pack of 12 ornaments is plenty for us to decorate our own tree and gift some colored masterpieces to friends and family!

The Beaded Christmas Tree Ornament Craft Kit comes with all the beads and pipe cleaners necessary to make 12 super cute and festive ornaments. I adore these. They are so easy to make, with just the right about of fancy! They make for a fun activity, and a great gift!

Stickers, stickers, stickers. It's become a tradition for us to get new Peanuts themed stickers for each holiday! The Peanuts Christmas Stickers were a perfect addition to our Christmas card mailing this year and they have, of course, made their way onto many a note or picture for school friends. These stickers are fun, festive, and come in a roll of 100!

I am so grateful that my sweet 6 year old daughter loves gift giving as much as I do. Before Christmas vacation every year since she was 3 years old, she has requested to bring cookies to her friends and teachers at school. This year is no exception. Oriental Trading has a huge assortment of seasonal goody bags. These Snowman Goody Bags will be perfect for our cookie gifts this year!

She also plans to gift her friends some Mini Gingerbread Men. These sweet little vinyl toys look just like the real thing (keep out of reach of the little littles!). They are so cute and I think my daughter is right that her friends will adore them. There are 48 little decorated gingerbread men that come in this set so I'm guessing she'll be giving each classmate a few. Aren't they the perfect little gift?

The selection of festive and fun holiday items available through Oriental Trading will not disappoint! Whether you're looking to decorate, find a creative gift, or craft with your kiddos there are a variety of affordable options to choose from. Christmas is right around the corner but it's not too late to order your holiday goodies from Oriental Trading today!

Halloween Headquarters at Oriental Trading: Costumes and Candy and Crafts, Oh My!

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

All opinions expressed are our own.

One of my favorite parts of this time of year is that there is a holiday to look forward to every month for the next several months! We're always counting down the days to something at this time of year. Right now, it's Halloween!

It's so exciting to enjoy fun holidays alongside my children. My six year old starts planning her Halloween costumes on November 1 each year for the following year. She usually changes her mind about 24 times before October 31... usually for the last time about 4 days before the big day, but every idea is super exciting and magical to her, so we just go with it!

This year, as soon as we hit the official first day of fall, we were ready to celebrate! Decorations, costumes, candy, and fun. We were ready for Halloween early this year - thanks to Oriental Trading!

Halloween Headquarters at Oriental Trading has absolutely everything you need to celebrate this year. Whether you're in the mood for festive or spooky, looking for a costume, some decorations, toys, crafts, or even candy, Oriental Trading has you covered. With a huge selection and affordable prices, you won't be disappointed. 

These Jack O'Lantern Dry Erase Stickers are great for decorating your home for the fun occasion! The set comes with one blank pumpkin and two more partially decorated ones just waiting for your finishing touches before hanging.

Our new Peanuts® Halloween Bowl is filled with Black Cat Character Suckers and Mini Swirl Pops. They are cute and something different for us this year. Usually our bowl is full of traditional chocolate favorites. Oriental Trading has those as well, but we went with lollipops this year and loved the look of these. Of course, we've taste-tasted them, and they were winners in that regard too!

Since we've spent much of this year dealing with some food allergies in our youngest, we were glad to see that Oriental Trading has stocked their shop with lots of non-food Halloween treat options. We ordered a Teal Pumpkin this year in honor of food allergy awareness - to signify that we'll have some non-food treats to offer to kiddos who may not be able to eat all the candy. 

We've filled a second treat bowl with these adorable Halloween Bears and Jack-O-Lantern Rubber Duckies. The vinyl bears really are the cutest and they come in sets of 48. My daughter has already gifted one to each of her classmates and we still have plenty to give away on Halloween night! These treats will be a fun option for any visiting kids who may not be able to eat our candy offerings. Most likely, we'll let everyone take one, because who could look at these cute faces and not want one?!

No holiday is complete without stickers, right? Actually in our home, no day is complete without stickers. These Peanuts® Halloween Stickers are great for the season and my daughter has been loving creating crafty cards for her friends with these. The roll comes with 100 assorted stickers.

We've also been doing some seasonal crafting with this Halloween Witch Clothespin Craft Kit. I adore these foam craft kids from Oriental Trading. They are so easy, mess-free, yet totally adorable and very fun for little crafters.

Perhaps most excitingly for this time of year, Oriental Trading has tons and tons and tons of costume options for both kids and adults! If there's something you have in mind, Oriental Trading is sure to have it. And if you just can't think of what to dress up as, Oriental Trading will give you some great ideas!

My daughter has decided to be an angel this year and Oriental Trading had the perfect costume for her. This Angel Costume with Wings & Candle is simple, sweet, beautiful, and perhaps most importantly, practical. I wasn't sure that I would love these feather wings but I do! They look fantastic and really fancy this costume up. You never know what the weather will be like around here on Halloween, but often it's a night to break out the winter jackets. This white angel dress will fit over whatever jacket we use. The only downside to this costume is the lack of halo, but we'll be able to make one of those without too much difficulty. Here's a costume sneak peek... I'm hoping she doesn't change her mind!

I know some of you might be surprised that we're not dressing at Shopkins this Halloween! For all you Shopkins fans, rest assured Oriental Trading does even have a costume for you! Strawberry Kiss and Cupcake Queen are full of glittery goodness, so if Shopkins are your thing this year, Oriental Trading has you covered.

We were so excited for Halloween this year as always, and even more so now that Oriental Trading hooked us up with everything we need for a great night. Check out Halloween Headquarters at Oriental Trading for anything and everything you need this year!

Shopkins Birthday Party with Oriental Trading

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

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!

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.