Party Prep—Prototypes & Problems

Okay, peeps.

It’s been a day. And I’m in a mood. And I’m having a tiny (kinda deserved) pity party.

So…let’s talk about things in numbers, m’kay?

M’kay.

We’ve been home from Thanksgiving for 4 days…

And my crazies have been back at school for 3…

I’m set to host 24 kiddos at the house for a holiday party in 42 hours, and I spent yesterday evening and this morning assembling and prepping…

48 beaded pipe cleaner snowflakes…

24 molding clay snowmen in a jar…

24 Christmas washi tape trees, and…

24 hand-drawn, color-in ornament canvas bags.

Meanwhile, Little Man was home from school for 30 minutes this afternoon before his health tanked so badly, he registered a 102 degree temperature. ..

Just 1 sleep before his school field trip (tomorrow)…

Also 1 sleep before I have to chaperone Chicklet’s field trip (also tomorrow)…

Forcing the hubby to bail on his 1 annual office holiday lunch party tomorrow, so he can watch Little Man…

While I wrangle Chicklet and 3 other kiddos at the aquarium for 4 hours…

Then return home to start contacting 19 parents to cancel the party my 3 kiddos were sooooo looking forward to.

And somewhere in there, Little Man gets to go have another nasal swab to test for 13 possible detectable viruses, to try and figure out what the poor boy has now, and how badly it might sweep through the entire household.

DID I MENTION MY TINY (kinda deserved) PITY PARTY???

I’m pretty over it.

Oh—and did I mention the sad, sad news that the Grinch door I spent a day creating for Little Man’s classroom had to be taken down yesterday due to fire department regulations???

(Please note: it wasn’t just the door decoration I created that had to be removed; it was all door decorations—not that it helped the sting much, though I’m alllll for anything that keeps the kiddos and their safety as the top priority).

Oh.

And I was “gifted” a major migraine this morning.

Anywhooooo.

It’s been a bit of a kick-to-the-you-know-what kind of day.

I’m going to give myself a MAJOR attitude adjustment while I sleep, then I’ll wake up, look at the bright side, and enjoy the crap out of my time with my middle-born.

In the meantime…so we can lift the mood on this depressing post, why don’t I share some of the crafts I’ve been assembling for the Flash Craft Challenge Holiday Party we probably won’t be having on Friday.

M’kay???

M’kay.

Okay. Control. Alt. Delete. Annnnnnd…rebooting!

So.

This was set to be the second annual Flash Craft Challenge Holiday party, which basically consists of a bunch of rowdy kiddos enjoying the heck out of some timed craft “challenges”—with breaks for food, sugar, and running around like maniacs.

I prepped four, fun holiday crafts that can be pretty turn-key, and I lurv how they turned out. :)

Because this ain’t my first crafting rodeo, I made sure to build prototypes of everything first, and that ended up being an important step for success, because I ran into a problem with the fun trees I built.

The idea was to cut out and assemble these trees to hot glue to rods and dowels, and let the kiddos decorate them with washi tape (so fun to utilize!), stickers and jewels.

However.

I quickly learned that washi tape doesn’t adhere very well to the glittery type of cardstock.



Thank heavens I made one before creating all 24, or I might have cried, ha.



Easy fix, though.

I returned the paper for plain, non-glittery card stock, tested it out, ensured success, and then set about cutting out all my triangles.



I think it turned out so darn cute! I have oodles and gobs of different, fun washi tape colors and styles for the “garland.” And oodles and gobs of stickers and jewels for flair. :)



Next up…snowmen in a jar, utilizing modeling clay…



I originally ear-marked this idea for last year, but there were too many other things we planned to tackle. So I’m glad to circle back around to it (notice how I’m talking about all this like this party won’t be indefinitely canceled, ha).



I bought tiny accessories for the snowmen, and once they are down in the jar, the kiddos can add “snow” flair…



And then snowflake stickers to the outside of the jar. :)



Next up is one that is so simple but soooooo pretty. :)

Beaded pipe-cleaner snowflakes!!!



The possibilities are endless, the pipe cleaners were so easy to assemble in to snowflake shape ahead of time, and the only added step will be the addition of a fun jewel in the center at the end. Voila!





I have oodles and gobs of bead options, and I created a blue and white snowflake for each of the kiddos, since they’re so easy and quick, they might enjoy making two. :)

Lastly (this is actually the activity to keep them occupied as they arrive for the party—as well as storage for their crafts when they leave)…

Fun, reusable bags for them to color. I didn’t manage to snap other pics in the daylight, but I made 24 of them, each with a different ornament design. So fun.



So…there you have it.

A shite-ton of thought, supplies and time that probably won’t be put to use on Friday.

It looks fun, though, doesn’t it???





Deep sigh.

If I want to pause and think positively for a moment, I’ll admit that I had a really lovely couple of hours this morning, assembling a lot of this before any illness developments.

The hubby spent some time installing new front door hardware (if you’ve ever been to our house, you know the knob has been annoying for approximately three years, ha), which was SO exciting to me.

It was a crisp very early morning while he was working with the door open, leaves were falling, I was sitting at the dining room table nearby, and we were listening to the Spirited soundtrack 

It was wonderful.

And, honestly, the first bit of time we’ve managed together in the last few, very busy days.

So.

I’m going to try to remember that bit in the future, and not the cancellation yuckiness.

I know there’s a teeny-tiny chance the show will go on, but based on the way my boy’s temperature has been flaring, I don’t see how he’ll improve by tomorrow afternoon, when I’ll have to make the call. My Mama gut is telling me that his symptoms most closely align with the flu. I’m very much hoping I’m wrong, but…we’ll see. 

Such a tough disappointment, and my heart hurts for my boy and all the illness his body has battled the past couple of months.

But we’ll take one step at a time, I’ll try to enjoy my field trip time with Chicklet tomorrow, and we’ll tackle things as they come.

More mañana, peeps.

Over and out.