Recently in KIDS Category

Make an Easy Puppet Theater From a Cardboard Box

By Ingrid Talpak on September 11, 2012 5:00 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks

There are some toys that children will always enjoy playing with an a puppet theater is one of them.

This super easy craft is made from just one large box, some sono tubes, paint and some decorative paper.

Easy enough for the children to make for themselves other than cutting the hole for the theater in the front and the escape hatch in the back.

I made this to look like a castle which gives it all sorts of opportunity for the children to make up stories for Rapunzel, and other fairy tales, Lords and Ladies, Knights and Princess or where ever their imagination takes them.

Easy enough to construct in an afternoon with some time given for the paint to dry.

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Money Saving on School Supplies

By Ingrid Talpak on August 24, 2012 11:15 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks

It is wonderful to start school with all new supplies but if you have to buy them for several children it can become incredibly expensive. You want to save money and they want to spend it.

Not everything that they need has to be brand spanking new, especially if you already have what you need at home.

But how do you get your kids to take last years supplies to school when tv and fliers are waving shiny new stuff at them?

Your money saving on school supplies could be easier than you think.

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25 Cheap Fun Ideas to Make Your Child's Birthday Special

By Ingrid Talpak on July 2, 2012 5:00 AM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks

Birthdays! The best days of a child's life.

How do you celebrate the occasions without spending a ton of money?

Ask any adult and they will tell you that their best birthdays growing up had nothing to do with what they got but how they were celebrated.

Parties are great for kids but you want to have other ways to make your little ones birthdays special.

I have 25 ideas of how you can make your children's birthdays super memorable while still making it very easy on your wallet.

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Loot Bag Idea - Inexpensive Custom T-shirts

By Ingrid Talpak on February 28, 2012 12:56 PM | 1 Comment | 0 TrackBacks

It is hard to think of cheap but original loot bag stuff but this is a trick I use to do all the time for my children's parties.

It is easy to customize a t-shirt with just a small scrap of fabric.

You can usually find inexpensive t-shirts at discount stores and clear out stores.

With just a bit of co-ordinating fabric and some time on the sewing machine you can whip together matching themed t-shirts.

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Coal Cookies for Christmas with Printable Label

By Ingrid Talpak on November 10, 2011 9:35 AM | 6 Comments | 0 TrackBacks

Coal Cookies! What could be better to slip into a stocking for Christmas or to give as a treat to friends.

(Add these printable tags to them so they know what they are getting.)

Even if they haven't been Naught, Naughty, Naughty they will enjoy the sweet taste of this treat made from Oreo Cookies.

This is a fast and easy last minute stocking stuffer or a tiny gift that can stand alone or be added to something else.

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Make an Amazing (and Easy) Cardboard Playhouse

By Ingrid Talpak on October 1, 2010 6:09 PM | 21 Comments | 0 TrackBacks

Playhouses have to be one of the best toys for children. It makes their imaginations come alive as they deal with their own little homes.

This cardboard playhouse is extra easy to make but looks great. You start with one large box and with some quick cuts and a bit of extra cardboard you have the house assembled and ready to decorate.

Maybe one of the best things about this playhouse is the cost. If you can get the cardboard box for free and use supplies that you already have around the house then cost is pretty close to nothing.

I decorated this in a Tudor Style but you can chose what ever design you like.

This would be a fabulous gift for a Birthday or Christmas or they can "help" you make it as a craft project.

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School Supplies for Kids - Cutting the Costs

By Ingrid Talpak on August 5, 2010 12:00 PM | 1 Comment | 0 TrackBacks

Retailers know that parents are willing to spend big bucks on their kids to get them ready for a new school year because it is the one time that the parents feel they have some control of how their children might do in school.

(If your child is struggling with math then buying them an expensive calculator makes you feel at least your are doing something to make the situation better).

But getting your kids ready to go back to school does not means that you have to open your wallet and get them everything shiny, new and expensive.

Check out these lists and ideas of how to keep your child well equipped and ready for the school year while keeping the costs firmly in check.

Continue reading School Supplies for Kids - Cutting the Costs.

Make Your Own Baby Memory Book

By Ingrid Talpak on June 1, 2010 3:38 PM | 1 Comment | 0 TrackBacks

It is delightful to note the milestones of your baby in their own book but trying to find a baby memory book that fits your personality can be difficult. Many of them are too sweet and cloying and if you have a more down to earth personality they can be absolutely ridiculous. There is also the problem many of them have printed pages of milestones your not interested in and they lack milestones for events that you find important. To top it off they can be outrageously expensive.

So many of us feel awkward filling in pages because we are afraid to make mistakes or we don't care for our handwriting. When you make your own baby book using your computer you don't have to worry about this. Making your own customized baby book is simple if you have a printer. It is easy to pull this together with these suggestions.

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Amazing Cheap and Thrifty Loot Bags Ideas for Kid's Party

By Ingrid Talpak on April 29, 2010 4:04 PM | 8 Comments | 0 TrackBacks

Loot bags seem to be fairly standard at children's parties but it's getting harder and harder to be original.

Pre-made bags at party shops tend to be filled with cheap shoddy overpriced toys that are not that much fun to play with and break easily.

Hand picking items from a dollar store can get very expensive if you have a lot of children to buy for and again the quality isn't that great.

There are good deals at dollar stores but you need to know what to look for. You might think it's hard to find anything nice or interesting that they haven't seen a million times before but you can make great, frugal, thrift and even cheap loot bags that kids will love and remember.

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Bubbles - Tips & Hints

By Ingrid Talpak on March 25, 2010 8:01 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks

When my children were little I would always be sending them outside in the spring time with bubble liquid and bubble makers. It would keep them busy for a little while but I knew if I didn't keep my eye on them then they would take the bubble liquid and start making experiments in the sand box.

Years latter I bought the Bubble Book and Bubble Thing which is a giant bubble maker that I still bring out when ever we have a house full of teenagers in the summer. (Teenagers, like small children, need something to keep themselves occupied or else they will get into trouble).

Continue reading Bubbles - Tips & Hints.

Photographing Children- Portraits

By Ingrid Talpak on November 28, 2009 2:23 PM | 2 Comments | 0 TrackBacks

Everyone wants to take their children's portraits to either commemorate an event (like their birthday), or an occasion (like their graduation from the 3rd grade) or so they can send a photo with the yearly Christmas cards to show everyone near and far how much the children have grown.

While candid photographs are always fun sometimes you want something a little more formal.

You can either use a professional photographer or with these tricks do your own formal photography at home saving yourself time and money.

With a digital camera you can take portrait photos of your children that you will treasure for years to come and rival what you get from most portrait studios.

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Cheap, Easy and Healthy School Lunches

By Ingrid Talpak on September 15, 2009 8:47 AM | 1 Comment | 0 TrackBacks

In the 1950's lunch would often happen at home with mother dishing out a sandwich and soup for her brood while sometimes father got to come home and join them.

Fast forward fifty years and both mom and dad are trying to get ready for work in the morning, everyone is trying to rush out of the house and packing lunch is often a panicked scramble.

Today's weekday lunches for children more often than not happen at school.

Children like the rest of us get bored with the same food day in and day out and often eye what their classmates have of being much better than what's in their bag especially if it is highly processed, sweet and fatty. When you do pack them a healthy lunch how do you know it just isn't ending up in the garbage?

Here is some tips and tricks for cheap, easy and healthy lunches for your kids.

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Ultimate Money Saving Craft Kit Supplies for Children

By Ingrid Talpak on August 17, 2009 7:23 PM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks

While the large craft stores might be a fun place to go browsing for pretty packaged craft kits if your children really enjoy doing a lot of crafts it is much too expensive of a place to buy from.

Packaged craft kits for children are terribly over prices and often terribly over packaged. A large box often only contains a small bag of materials and a few sheets of instructions.

You can gather your own craft supplies at home for a fraction of the price that you would spend in a craft store using materials from a variety of sources including free recycled materials.

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Summertime and Board Games

By Ingrid Talpak on August 12, 2009 8:00 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks

I had a kitchen full of teenagers on the weekend, they had come for a swim but the weather turned wicked and they decided to play a board game instead.

There are some things that never change and teenagers and board games are one of those things.

How easily they slip back into the liveliness of childhood, the playful bickering over rules, the teasing, the exaggerated dismay over unfortunate plays.

Board games are a favorite way to spend time with friends and family but they can cost a lot of money if you have to buy them new.

Here are some ideas to help you build up your board game collection.

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Best Toys For Children

By Ingrid Talpak on April 15, 2009 12:07 AM | 0 Comments | 0 TrackBacks

Toys can be magical.

Everyone remembers a favourite toy from their childhood and we want to pass on the hours of joy we got from them to the children in our lives. Through toys babies learn to manipulate objects and practice their motor skills, toddlers learn social skills when sharing their toys with others and children expand their imaginations.

What on one hand is a simple play thing on the other hand is a tool to help a child's development. But most of all toys should be fun. With a toy a child can get pulled into a world of make believe and imagination that is more wonderful than anything they will ever see on TV.

So how on earth have toys become the family statue symbol?

Continue reading Best Toys For Children.

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