Creating Clothespin People: Hours of Fun on a Budget

At the beginning of every summer I tell myself I'm going to do more 'crafty' things with my girls. I have three of them and they all love crafting. I have to admit, I'm not really into crafting lots of things that I don't have a purpose for. I love sewing - especially when I'm sewing for a purpose or something I can and will use. I like making jewelry and other things, but getting out the glue and paint and glitter and all sorts of other crafty things --- not so much. I decided, though, that this summer would be different. I'd try to overcome my own dislike of making big, sticky messes and let my girls create things, to a certain degree. And you know what? They LOVE it. As it turns out, they are much more creative and imaginative that I thought they were and I love watching them.

A few weeks ago, I found a package of old fashioned clothespins at a local thrift store for $2.00. There were about 24 clothespins in there and I thought, "Hmm...these would be fun to make dolls with!" So, I bought them and a few days later, when I started hearing those all-too-familiar words, "I'm bored", I got them out. I decided to put a few pieces of scrap fabric in a bag with some yarn and my hot glue gun and then brought the bag out to the kitchen table {where all of our messy crafting is done} and then called my girls in. They went nuts! I gave them free reign of it all after a quick lesson in hot glue gun safety and they got right to it. They worked at least 2 hours on it before we had to go somewhere. And guess what they wanted to do the next day? A couple days later, their cousins came to town and they joined in on the fun. We ran out of clothespins quickly.

So, I went in search of more old fashioned clothespins and found something even better! While the girls had used the round clothespins previously, Hobby Lobby had the same type, only they are flat on the front and back. This gave me another fun idea - paint them! So, I bought one bag of tall flat ones and one bag of round ones.

As soon as we got home, I brought out my stash of craft paints and paint brushes and tried not to panic thinking about the mess that could happen and sat down with my girls to paint some people! I painted a few to help give them ideas of how to paint them and then I let them go crazy! They sat quietly at the table painting people and complementing each other on their work for FOUR hours!!! I could not believe it. No electronic devices, no TV, no fighting. Just happily painting together. Best.Day.Ever!

They ended up painting close to 40 people in one day. We can't wait to do this fun craft again! And they actually play with their clothespin people. I've found Pin People in all kinds of places in this house.

We ended up having some super heroes, pirates, girls, boys, fashionistas, and even Rapunzel in our little Pin People Family. There's even one that looks like Michael Jackson, although that wasn't the plan. It just sort of happened. I guess you could say it was a Pin People Fail. Makes me laugh every time I see it. My kids have no idea who that even is, but looking at it cracks me up! Can you pick him out?

They are easy to store and easy to play with at home or on the go. It's a great way to keep your kiddos busy this summer while encouraging their creativity and enhancing those motor skills. They're learning and growing without even knowing it!

How to Entertain on a Budget: Food Edition

You might feel a little intimidated by the title Hostess, but as we chatted yesterday, you can see there's no reason to be intimidated. You can take hostessing to any level you wish and still make it very inviting and fun for those you're entertaining. We'll talk about a few aspects of hostessing over the next few days starting today with the issue of food. How can you keep it budget friendly, yet still extra special? Let's see!

• Determine your budget. - If you're like me, you have a weekly grocery budget. Are you going to keep this meal as part of that weekly budget or use your entertainment budget? {If you don't have a budget, check this out. It's a great place to get started.}
• Decide how many guests you want to invite. This will impact your budget, so decide this before you decide the food.
• Now that you know how much you can spend and how many guests to invite, let's figure out what kinds of foods fit into that budget. We're going to explore a few low-cost meals we could have.

Buffet-style meals are fun and easy. They don't require having a large dining room to seat everyone and it's very informal. Here's a list of meal ideas that work well with buffet-style:

• Chili - Make a big pot of chili {feeds several people with one batch}. Put the chili at the beginning of the table with the bowls and then stagger all the toppings after that including cheese, corn chips, sour cream, hot sauce, onions, avacado, etc. and then put the spoons/napkins at the end of the table. Have a separate table or countertop for drinks and dessert. Remember, most friends will offer to bring something to help with the meal. Have them bring their favorite topping or a dessert. A batch of chili can easily be made for $7-8. Double that and it's still pretty feasible for feeding 15-20 people for $1 or less per serving. {My recipe is 1lb ground beef, large can of Bush's chili beans, 1 can red kidney beans, 1 can tomato sauce, 1 packet McCormick chili seasoning.}
• Taco Bar - You provide the meat and hard/soft shells, toppings can be brought by guests or you provide - cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, black olives, onions, salsa, taco sauce, beans (black or refried), avacado, etc.
• Nacho Bar - Chips, Meat, Nacho Cheese (try melting Velveeta and adding a can of Rotel), lettuce, black olives, onions, salsa, beans, guacamole, sour cream, etc.
• Hamburger Sliders - Provide the meat and buns. Toppings - tomatoes, onions, blue cheese, sliced cheese, bbq sauce, ketchup, mustard, mayo, crispy onions, guacamole, etc. You can be very creative with this! Sides: chips, dip, fries, salad, or whatever you like best.

Once you've figured out the food. Decide how to make it extra special with those little inexpensive touches. You could do a variety of fun things. I've found a few free printables you can use below. Or be creative and come up with your own!

Use these cute chevron printables for a casual get together. This is a huge list I found by searching on Pinterest.

These banners and buffet cards are perfect for a Halloween get together! Print these here. 

These would be so cute for a Thanksgiving kind of meal - lots of printables here to make it an extra special meal.

These would be great for a holiday get together! Have some people over for coffee and dessert and have a grand time with these adorable FREE printables!

These are all very inexpensive ideas for free printables - just the cost of ink and paper. But they will go a long way in making your meal {informal or formal} memorable for years to come! Go the extra step and add those little details. It makes a big difference!

How do you make your get togethers extra special? Do you have a favorite printable? What is your favorite food to serve guests? I'd love some new ideas!

This is part of my 31 Days of Home Economics series. You can find my whole series at the tab above {Home Economics}.

Thank you for stopping by! I'm sharing this with a few of these friends. Hope you'll come back soon!

How to Budget Meals {Meal Planning}

How much are you paying for your meals? Is the meal you're cooking a low-cost or high-cost meal? How do you even know?

Well, I'm going to show you how to figure it out. This is a fun and revealing way to determine your spending on meals and whether it's in your budget or not. It does require a little bit of math, but I promise it's easy!

Let's pretend we're making Chicken and Cheese Enchiladas.
You need to know:
Ingredients
Package Size
Price per package

Now, that you have the info you need, let's do a little math!

First, determine how many units are in each package size. Ex. We need 1/2 cup of broth. The package contains 4 cups. So, how many 1/2 cups are in 4 cups? Divide 4 by .5 and you get 8.

Now, take your answer and divide that into the total price. Ex. $2.00 divided by 8 = .25 cents. So, our 1/2 cup of chicken broth is costing us .25 cents.

Do this for all ingredients.

If you have two different types of measurements like EVOO - we need 2T, but the package consists of ounces. Convert ounces to Tablespoons first, then, do the math. We know that there are 8 oz in 1 cup. 1 cup = 16 Tablespoons. Now, you can do the math to figure out your problem.

Look at the highlighted column and you can see how much each item costs for our recipe. Now, add them all up and you get the total cost of the entire meal. Finally, divide the total by # of servings to see how much you're paying for each person to eat this meal.

For 8 servings (which I got based on how many enchiladas we made {8}) it costs $1.80 per enchilada.

What constitutes a low-cost meal? Any meal where the cost is $1.50 or less per serving is a low-cost meal.

A moderate-cost meal would be between $1.50-$2.50 per serving.

A high-cost meal would be over $2.50 per serving.

Ours is a moderate-cost meal and I'd say that the cheese is what pushed us over budget. You could always use less cheese and less chicken to stay within budget, but I'm willing to go over budget for cheese!! I'm just sayin'...

You can use this conversion chart as a quick reference. Go here to print it out for yourself.

I hope this helps you in your budgeting efforts! I suggest you figure out your favorite, most used meals in your household and do this little assignment and keep the results handy so that you can always go back and use it as a reference! It only takes a little time up front, but can help you save big in the long run!

How do you budget for your meals? Did you find this helpful? I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts on this.

This is part of my 31 Days of Home Economics that you can find more of here.

Thanks for stopping by! I'm sharing this with some of these friends.