washi tape + printable halloween party favors

Here's another simple and sweet Halloween party favor idea.  

The stores are all filled with festive little trinkets perfect for school parties {we're not to bring food treats}...but of course I like to find a way to make them a little bit cuter if I can.  

It's all about the presentation. ;)

Since I always have a good supply of washi tape on hand, as well as 3" x 4" glassine bags {found at the craft store...I used both together before here}...making these treats a little more personal was easy.  

And really, the possibilities are endless...fill those little bags with anything you like!

Download the printable here.

Then just trim cardstock to 4.25" x 5" {and adjust your printer tray!}, print, and you're good to go.

xoxo

And some of our past Halloween party favors if you're interested:

perler bead favor printable
printable trick or treat bags
eyeball specimen jar favor printable
vampire fang favor printable

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gifting: halloween party in a box

This post is sponsored by Dollar Tree.  All opinions are my own.  As always, thanks for reading! xoxo

I don't know about you, but Dollar Tree is {another!} one of those stores that I plan on going in for a few items and end up with a whole cart full of fun little things.

I heard that they were having an anniversary celebration and of course wanted to check it out...trick or treaters and school parties are coming...I have a major sweet tooth anyway...their bonus buys are even larger size packages...everything's only a dollar...sounds good to me.

So the plan was to go there and load up on the special anniversary bonus size bags of candy...

But {as these things always seem to happen to me! ha!} I wandered through the Halloween section and started thinking about what kinds of gifts I could put together with holiday goodies.

And as one thing led to another, I was loading up my cart.

Orange and black paper straws!
Crepe paper rolls!
Balloons!
Spider rings!
Creepy party favors!
It's only a dollar!

My self control is not so good.  Haha.

But seriously.  The stuff is cute.

And...everything's $1.  I can't say no.

So I got home and started putting together little mini parties in boxes.  {I sewed the crepe paper down the middle and cut it with fringe scissors like I did here...the cupcake toppers were from my stash.}

These are going to be so fun to gift!!

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halloween party favors: perler beads + printable cards

It's still only September, but we're already going a little Halloween crazy over here.

Perler beads are one of our favorite crafty activities...so I thought it would be fun to make Halloween shapes and give them out to friends at our school parties.

You can download the printable cards here...you'll need to trim your card stock to 4.25" x 5"...and adjust your printer tray.

I used a dab of hot glue to attach our shapes to the cards...they would also be super cute glued to magnets or pins and then attached to the cards!

Happy Halloweening!
xoxo

And some of our past Halloween party favors if you're interested:

printable trick or treat bags
eyeball specimen jar favor printable
vampire fang favor printable


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the first day of fall + caramel apples in a box

Happy first day of fall, friends!

You may remember I gifted caramels and apples to our teachers last year...and I was at it again today.

I did mix it up a tiny bit and included honey crisp apples this year...mainly because the granny smiths I originally picked didn't fit as nicely in the boxes. ;)

The caramels are the same...I used my favorite microwave recipe.

I kept the packaging simple...kraft box, paper shreds, and tied with a gingham ribbon and hand stamped tag.

And that's it...a simple little gift to welcome in our new season!
xoxo

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diy: yarn tassels

I've been seeing a lot of yarn love in my instagram and pinterest feeds lately.

Lots of weavings and lots of cozy fall knitting projects...that are all so gorgeous, but being perfectly honest, I would never finish.  So quick yarn tassels it is.  Wham. Bam. Done.

Here's how to do it:

Pick out your yarn.  I went for different colors and textures that I already had in my stash.  For someone who doesn't knit...I have way too much!!  {I do love making pom poms though...}

Wrap the yarn around a book or similar object 20-25 times.  I used a little pad of paper and went 20 times around with the thicker yarn and 25 times with the thinner yarns.  The more times around, the fuller the tassel.

Carefully slip the wrapped yarn off.

Fold another piece of yarn in half and loop it around the wrapped yarn. Plan the length of it on how high/low you want the tassel to hang.

Knot the looped yarn.  Make sure it's centered.

Wrap another piece of yarn around the tassel towards the top.  Knot it.

My trusty sidekick slash aspiring hand model.

With a sharp pair of scissors, cut the loops of the tassel and trim any uneven ends.

And there you go.  Tassels!
xoxo

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gifting: boxes of cupcakes

I love cupcakes.
I love pretty packages.
What more is there?? ;)

I've mentioned before how much we love our teachers and how I like to show our appreciation with little acts of kindness throughout the year.

{L to R: carrot & orange frosting // vanilla & vanilla frosting // chocolate & peanut butter frosting // red velvet & vanilla frosting}

Today we dropped off boxes full of cupcakes.

It had been a while since I'd used my pink bakery boxes, so I pulled a few out along with baker's twine, doilies, office tags, and my big stamper.

Then I just filled each box with a variety of cupcakes, topped it with a doily, and tied a tag on with baker's twine.  Done and done.

Happy Monday, friends!  Have a good week! :)
xoxo

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instagrammed lately.

A little bit of life lately.

Because I've yet to find the balance of 4 littles/school/sports/blogging/social media.

Hopefully it will come soon.

And if not, I'm @aprettycoollife if you'd like to follow along...

Little bouquets for our teachers.
Getting through the first week of school is plenty of reason to celebrate.

Fresh school supplies are always fun.
School supplies are even more fun when you don't actually have to go to school.

Martha mail days are my fave.
Her latest color palette?
Perfection.  Of course.

This little guy.
I can't believe I get to be his mama too.
We all love him so.

Martha's macaroons.
Far less frustrating than making macarons.
And even better dipped in dark chocolate.

Sweet Amanda brought her Be Crafty Workshop to Chicago in August.
A Friday night crafting is my kind of Friday night.

And really, what would my IG feed be without cupcakes??
xoxo

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