Give the Perfect Gifts to the Whole Family

Be it a holiday, a birthday, or no special occasion at all, I have found some amazing ideas that make for great gift ideas! Make sure you pin this post to your gift board for later!

Gift giving seems to have gotten complicated over the last decade. With so many sites, shops, stores and suggestions, the perfect gift can be elusive. Gift cards are always popular, but they are so impersonal. Instead of going that route, I have found some really cool gifts for a variety of people on any gift list. You are bound to love a few of these options.

Sheets are always a great gift idea. Sheets are one of those things most people can use, and new sheets make a good night's sleep easier to catch. I got a pair of great new sheets for my birthday from Bamboo Sheets Australia and I can't stop telling anyone who will listen about them. They are soft,  smooth and come in so many colors! Almost anyone will appreciate this gift!

For a special guy in your life from a good friend to your husband or even father can appreciate the gift of a James Butler Flask. A gentleman usually has a flask to pull out at the right moments in life. This is an ideal flask for those moments. 

Wearing a watch will never go out of style, so anyone can appreciate the gift of a high quality Westhill Watch Box. This is the perfect way to store and display fine timepieces. This is a great gift for graduations, holidays or a just because for someone special who appreciates a lovely watch.

Sometimes the perfect gift is a quirky gift. Empire Chopsticks make for a totally unforgettable gift idea for any occasion. If your gift recipient likes Chinese food, they will love these chopsticks for all of their culinary adventures.

Any lady, young or old will adore anything from April May Jewellery Boxes. This is a great gift because it gives ya girl a place to store her pretty things in style. I love that you get a free tote with every specialty jewellery box ordered.

Lumi Night Lights are the coolest night lights I have ever seen! Available in so many styles, any kid or kid at heart would love to have a night light from Lumi in their room.

If you have a great gift idea I want to hear about it in a comment. Which of these ideas is your favorite? I love them all!

Play Doh Pie Counting Activity

Play doh pies are the perfect way to make learning a hands on activity. Little learners will love getting a good grasp on counting and number recognition.

Harper is my go to girl for all things to make or bake. She loves to get involved in all of my projects.

We made a chocolate chip cookie pie a few weeks ago and she was hooked on pie making! She asked me everyday for a week if we could make another pie.

Finally, I came up with an idea that thrilled her and satisfied her desires to make a whole bunch of pies.

Play doh pies are great for fine motor play, rolling the dough into little balls is fun!

Adding a few wooden numbers turned the activity into a counting lesson too.

This post contains affiliate links. Making a purchase helps to keep my site running!

Supplies:

A mason jar lid

Play doh

A play doh tool for cutting

Play food rolling pin

Directions:

Roll out a can of yellow play doh

Cut the doh to fit a mason jar lid to form your pie shell.

Use any leftover doh to cut strips. These will form your lattice crust.

Encourage your child to roll a can of play doh into small balls.

Select a number you want to work on counting to.

We decided on number 6.

Have your child count the selected number play doh balls to the pie shell.

Now have your child count the number of leftover crust strips.

Have your child add the selected number of lattice strips to the top of the pie.

Repeat with other numbers.

We loved this activity, it was easy to set up, encouraged learning and hands on play, and kept Harper busy for several afternoons. Play doh is our favorite learning tool these days!

If you are looking for more play doh ideas here are a few reader favorites:

Super Soft Hair Gel Play Dough 

Glitter Sunscreen Play Dough

Rainbow Rice Sensory Bin

Both of my kids love sensory play! They can spend hours engrossed in a sensory bin, exploring. We made this easy rainbow rice bin to Harper's delight. She had so much fun sorting, threading and mixing the colors up. 

This bin has it all. And I do mean IT ALL. My 5 year old stood with wide eyed wonder before this bin. She adorably said "You made this for me?!" As she dove into the colors of the rainbow. It has colorful rice to touch, fun beads to sort and thread, and a puzzle as an added bonus. It touches on so many fun sensory features and functions too. The best part about it is that I spent less than $2 to make this bin with smart shopping at Dollar Tree. But, for your convenience I am linking to my favorite paint markers on amazon. You want to get these! And if you do from my affiliate link, I will earn a little amazon credit.

Supplies:

A plastic box with a clipping lid

Dyed rice in the colors of the rainbow

Buttons

Beads

Pipe cleaners

Cardboard

Scissors

Paint Markers

A sandbox tool, kitchen spoon or tongs

Directions:

To make the rainbow puzzle:
Cut a rainbow shape from the cardboard; I used a half of an oval shape about 6” long and 4” high.

Cut that cardboard rainbow form into 7 sections. Cut the sections with the shape of the rainbow, so

that they will fit back together. This forms a simple puzzle for little hands to explore.

Color or paint the sections of cut cardboard to represent the colors of the rainbow; red, orange,

yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

Set aside.

To form the rainbow rice base:

If you don't want to color the rice you can buy it on amazon

Layer the rice in the colors of the rainbow in the box; red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet.

As you have your rainbow base down begin add beads to the rice base.

Nestle the rainbow puzzle sections into the coordinating color of rice.

Add a pipe cleaner or two.

Add a sandbox tool, kitchen spoon or tongs to offer new ways to explore!

With supervision, invite your child to explore the colors of the rainbow, to thread the beads onto the pipe cleaners and to build the rainbow puzzle. 

When playtime is over, you can snap the lid on the box to store for future play sessions. 

While the children are naturally going to mix the colors together, that is okay! The next time they explore this sensory bin, they can work on their sorting skills!

If you make this bin with your preschoolers send me a picture on facebook.

Don't miss these rainbow craft ideas 

Reader favorites include:

Rainbow Crafts for Kids

Rainbow Coasters

You might also like this In the Sky Sensory Bin.
Find all of my sensory bin ideas here

6 Ways To Keep People Dancing All Night At Your Wedding

On your wedding day and night, you probably want to make sure that all of your guests have the most
amazing time. One way to do that? Keep people dancing all night long! Dancing releases endorphins, and if your guests feel like dancing all night you can pretty much guarantee they’ll have a night that they won’t soon forget. And to capture those unforgettable moments, providing interactive elements like a wedding guest book can further enhance the guest experience, allowing them to leave heartfelt messages and memories for the happy couple to cherish.

Below, you’ll find 6 ways to keep people dancing all night at your wedding. Take a

look:

1. Have A Comfortable Area Where People Can Rest For A While

Although you want your guests to dance all night long, they’ll need a rest at some stage. Make sure you
have a comfortable area where they can rest for a while, and they’ll be able to rest and recuperate before
getting up and busting another move! 

2. Provide Alternative Footwear

This is a great shout, especially for the ladies. You could have some cool colored socks, or flip flops to
give to the women whose feet are hurting them. It always seems like a good idea to wear heels to a
wedding until your feet are killing! This way, they’ll have no excuse not to get up and dance. Plus, they’ll
have a nice little souvenir from the big day. 

Image - PIXABAY

3. Make Sure There’s No Shortage Of Drinks 

The dance floor shouldn’t be too far from the bar, as you’ll have people missing from the floor all night if
this is the case. It could be a good idea to have wait staff bring tea and coffee after dinner to perk
everybody up a little - this is a good idea, especially for those who may be drinking alcohol. Weddings
take up a lot of the day, and people can end up drinking a little too much alcohol. 

4. Choose Your Music Carefully 

For people to dance, you need to have the right kind of music available. This could be a DJ, or you could
choose the best wedding bands Essex has to offer. Whatever you do, make sure you speak with them
beforehand to get a good idea of what they can play and how they get people up on the floor. You’ll want
to discuss the music you like, and anything you definitely don’t want to be played. However, it’s a good
idea to take their advice if they have some, as they have likely seen a lot of weddings before yours! 

5. Show Them How It’s Done 

If you want people to dance, you need to dance too! Show your guests how its done by getting your
groove on. Get people up and in a good mood by coming up with choreography for your first dance as
man and wife. 

6. Make Sure Your Dance Floor Is The Right Size 

If your dance floor is too small, people won’t want to dance. If it’s too big, it’ll look empty no matter what.
Make sure you carefully consider the size of the dance floor when booking the venue. 

Do you have any ideas? Leave a comment!

First-time Moms: How Should you Buy your Diaper Bag Online?

If you’re planning to purchase stylish diaper bags online, you might find it difficult to choose the exact
diaper bag to go with especially if you don’t have a particular brand or model in mind. A simple search
will net you dozens of results, and even the process of trying to narrow down the field to your top five
choices might be a daunting task.

            Here are five things that you can do to help make that process just a little bit easier:

Compare, Compare, Compare

            This might seem like counterintuitive, but a lot of people actually DON’T like canvassing on the
Internet because of the sheer amount of choices that they have available. You might think that people would
rather canvass for items online because it seems more convenient and easier, but when you compare
browsing in stores compared to browsing for products online, most people would rather go to
brick-and-mortar stores.

            There are two ways that you can actually go about this. If you already have a certain diaper bag
model in mind, or at least, an idea of what you’re looking for in a diaper bag, you can compare different
brands and models online. You can simplify your search by using filters such as features, bag types, or price
points.

            However, if you don’t have any idea of what kind of diaper bag you need at all, it might be better if
you go to a brick-and-mortar store first to canvass for ideas. By going to a store, you will have a first-hand
idea of the size and appearance of the different bag types, as well as the material that you want in a bag.
Most stores can also point out different features that you might want to have in your final choice of a diaper
bag.

Ask Other Moms

            Asking other moms is a valuable way to get feedback on the performance of a particular model
of diaper bag. You can get valuable feedback that you won’t be able to get in a store, such as how well a
certain bag holds up to long-term use and abuse, if a certain bag really does store and organize baby items
well, and whether certain features are worth the extra price tag tacked on them. Mothers are generally more
than happy to give feedback and help out other moms to find the right diaper bag.

Check Out Forums

            If you find it difficult to ask other moms for their honest feedback and opinions on certain diaper
bags, you can always go online and check out parenting forums. There are dozens of forums out there
dedicated to baby care, and many of the threads discuss which qualities you need to look for in a good
diaper bag. In fact, some threads are even dedicated to popular diaper bag models, so you might be lucky
and find a thread that’s dedicated specifically to a particular diaper bag that you’re considering.

Reviews are Great, BUT…

            One of the ways that you might be considering to help you choose the right diaper bag is by
checking out online reviews. As a baseline idea, online reviews can be helpful, but you should always take
any reviews you find online with a grain of salt. It’s very easy to create fake reviews online to boost a
product’s popularity and make it more attractive to consumers. In fact, it’s an actual industry! Many
companies have been caught red-handed hiring writers to create fake reviews for their products or services,
or even writing reviews themselves. The practice is so widespread that it has become difficult to actually
spot which reviews are real and which ones are fake.

Go for a “Test Run”

            Once you have decided on a certain model but you’re not 100% sure, there’s nothing wrong with
going for a “test run”. Many stores have floor models that you can check out and try so that you can see
whether it lives up to your expectations or not. Take your time and be meticulous with inspecting a
particular diaper bag. Check whether the straps are padded, and whether the seams are strong and
well-stitched. Does it have enough pockets and compartments to hold all your baby’s essential items? Does
it feel comfortable to carry even if the bag is full?

            You might think that it’s silly to bring all your baby’s essentials and load them all into a diaper bag
before you decide on it, but consider this: wouldn’t it look even sillier if you’re lugging around a bag that’s
too small for your baby’s items, or worse, if you’re stuck carrying around all the contents of the bag
because it gave out?