No Spend Month Week 3

Wow!  We have made it past the halfway mark.  We were under budget the first week and over budget the second week.  Let's see if we can level it out.  This week, I planned for us to be able to use 30% of our $350 month long budget.  I figure by the end of this week, we will be running out of some household items.  That means we planned to have $105 to spend this week.  Because we went $54 over last week due to some refueling, I really want us to come in at $51 or less this week to make up the difference, but even if we just make up some of the slack, it will be ok.

Day 1: Feeling like I am ready to take on the world.  I got sad about overspending last week, but now I am made about overspending  last week.  I am determined NOT to spend anything over this week.  Whatever it takes!

For breakfast we did cereal.  I really did offer to cook, but everyone was starving and didn't want to wait for food.

Lunch consisted of sandwiches. (Tuna, PBJ, Cheese, whatever everyone wanted)

I had a business event at supper time, but my fabulous hubby prepared some jambalaya for the family.  He is so wonderful.

Day 2: SSOOO sleepy, but feel like it should be a good week.

Toast and jelly for breakfast, then just a boring day at the house.

Fixed some hamburger helper for lunch.

Monday's are soccer practice, so we ended up doing grilled cheese sandwiches for supper.  Mondays are just hard to pull together with soccer going on.  Not that anyone really minds eating grilled cheese.

I had some business related errands to run, then came home to make cute Indian corn snacks for Laney's class.  I had popcorn and treat bags already in the house, but I had to pick up Reese's pieces for $4.74 and green crepe paper streamer for $.97.  We also had to have another $4.09 gallon of milk. 

Day 3: School picture day!  School snack day!  Had to get up early and make sure I was on top of things.

Breakfast was cereal all around, then I had to get the babies dressed and get us all to the school to drop off Laney's class snacks.  I was going to run get the oil changed, but by the time we got there it was pouring rain and packed out.  No way I was getting babies out in pouring rain to sit in the waiting area for an hour.

We did "homemade lunchables" for lunch.  Cheese and crackers...and a handful of carrots.

Supper was chili.  I know it is still hot here, but I just really needed some fall food.  Chili is an easy and yummy solution.

After supper, I was working on some sewing projects to busy my mind, but Hubby and I were having INSANE caffeine withdrawals.  I grabbed us each a soda :(  $2.58 total.

So far this week, we have spent $12.38.  Not so bad, considering I had to throw in Laney's class snack and we had a soda meltdown.  I'll post a how to for the class snacks later.  They turned out super cute.

Day 4:  I'm really pumped about some of my planned sewing projects....AND that we only have a week and a half left of no spend month.  It hasn't been as awful as I thought it would be if we can just hang in there.

For breakfast, I whipped up some cheesy grits.  Cheesy grits have to be my favorite.

For lunch, we had some broccoli and cauliflower in cheese sauce that I have stored in the freezer.  My kids actually do love this.

Mid afternoon I rubbed down a whole chicken with some spices and roasted it.  When it cooled I broke it down and shredded it to use for Day 4 supper as well as supper another night.

Supper was another of my favorites....chicken and yellow rice.  Can never go wrong with this at my house.  I also made some field peas to go along with it.

Day 5: My oldest decided it would be a fabulous day to miss the bus, so we were up and scrambling to get her to school on time this morning. Rough way to start the day, but we pulled it together.

Breakfast was fruit in the car!  We really were in a hurry!

We had to run get some milk from the store, so I picked up other things we needed as well.  We ended up with milk, cheese, snacks (you can't have toddlers without cheesy crackers and graham cookies of some sort), pullups, and diapers.  If you are a parent, you know how expensive pullups and diapers can get.  We ended up spending a total of $39.43, bringing the weekly total to $51.81.

For lunch we did leftover chicken and yellow rice and peas.

For supper, we enjoyed a FREE pizza from Domino's.  Apparently if they harassed your cell phone several years back, they owe you a free pizza....check it out.

Day 6:  Breakfast was completely skipped today!  My little boy, bless his pea picking little heart, flooded half of the house and I spent the majority of the morning cleaning it up.  For those that don't know him...this is the third flood we have experienced....it is kind of his MO.

For lunch we ate some hot dogs and fruit.  Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.

Hubby had to stop and pick up dog food, so that knocked us back another $18.  Hopefully that will be the last thing we have to spend this week.  Fingers crossed.

For supper, hubby put together some jambalaya for he and the kids while I took care of some things for my business.

Day 7:  ARE WE THERE YET?!?!?!  I can't believe that we have a week and one day left to go!  Today has been the busiest day in the history of the universe.  5k, soccer game, business event, wedding, and a million miles in between.  I am exhausted!

Whipped up breakfast for the family as I dashed out the door to go do my first ever 5k!  After the 5k I rushed home to shower and change.

Made the kids sandwiches for lunch before dashing out the door again for my business event this afternoon.  Had a blast, but dipped out early to head to the wedding of a friend around an hour away.

PHEW! What a LONG week!

Can't wait to start our fourth and final no spend week.

Indian Corn September Classroom Snack

My oldest daughter's classroom is doing a snack rotation this year.  We haven't done that since kindergarten, and I am excited.  Classroom snack gives me a chance to get creative for every month of the year.  Late September doesn't exactly offer a wealth of inspiration, but I finally settled on Indian Corn.

As I was preparing the snacks, she came in and said, "Mommy, all of the other moms in my class just buy junk for us and don't even care if we like it or  not. I'm glad you make things cute for us."  That, to me, makes any amount of effort that went into these totally worth it.

I knew I wanted to use popcorn for this project, but had trouble deciding how to prepare it.  I looked at several popcorn mix and caramel corn recipes. In the end, I decided that if I were a teacher I wouldn't want all that sticky everywhere.  I grabbed some Reese's pieces instead.  They ended up making the perfect fall colors for this.

What you'll need:
clear cellophane treat bags (or snack size bags if you feel brave)
green crepe paper streamer
rubber bands (or raffia)
popcorn (you can get 4-5 out of a bag of popcorn)
Reese's pieces (a family size bag worked perfect for 24)

Pop all of your popcorn and put it all in a gigantic bowl (I hate the butter on the back of the hand dilemma).  Open the rest of your supplies up to get them all ready.

You will also want to measure out lengths of streamer based on how big your bags are.  I cut two 24" pieces for each treat bag.  I also cut some additional pieces, cutting those into four long skinny pieces to tie off the tops.

Place two to three heaping handfuls of popcorn into a treat bag, then add a handful of Reese's pieces and shake.  Twist tie the bag shut with the tie provided.  Pinch the bottom corners together, roll up with the streamers, and secure with rubber band or raffia.  I had rubber bands on hand, so I skipped buying raffia.  I think it would be super cute though.  Bring the streamer ends up together in the top center so that it looks like corn husks. Then secure them with the smaller pieces of streamer you cut. (or raffia if you have it)

 

I will admit...the first two of these I made, I was ready to just roll down to the store and buy some junk and not care if they liked it or not.  After that I got a better grip on it. 

 

24 of these babies later, I felt super accomplished and had an adorable September snack for my daughter's class.  I also brought some apple juice boxes to go along with these.

She thanked me not once, but three times when she got home for how awesome these were.  I can't wait to plan and deliver next month's snack.

No Spend Month: Week 2

This week, our budget is a very generous $87.50.  That accounts for 25% of our overall budget of $350 for the month.  Keep in mind, this includes gas and groceries.  Bills are not included in the no spend.  I know that $350 seems like a lot of money, but it goes quick with a family of 5. 

Day 1: It's a beautiful morning.  I am still pumped about having $4.09 leftover last week, so I am looking forward to this week for sure.

I had planned on making these awesome Pioneer Woman French Breakfast Puffs for breakfast, but the kids wanted graham crackers and carrots, so that is what they got.  Sometimes I just don't understand these creatures children.

I got a jump start on supper by tossing a Perfect Pot Roast into the crock pot before getting the kids dressed for church.

For lunch we kept it simple by throwing together some awesome grilled cheese sandwiches.  My mother in law bought me a grilled cheese press for Christmas.  Most people would be upset to receive an appliance, but she knows that I LOVE kitchen gadgets and appliances.  I love that she knows me so well.

Just before supper time, I tossed some rice in to cook and serve with the roast.  Mmmmm, the house smelled so good by this point that we were all starving.  To make sure we had enough for leftovers, I actually pulled out half of the meal before I served it.  You would be amazed at the difference in the amount your family eats based on availability.  We have a tendency to keep eating after we get full because we enjoy the taste.  By pulling out half, everyone still gets full, but you have food left for the next day.

Day 2: Morning got off to a pretty good start.

Breakfast was cheesy grits...these are a favorite across the board.

I was able to use up some fabric I have had around for a while today by making an apron for myself and cutting pattern pieces for several other projects to work on soon.

Lunch was the other box of organic mac n cheese that I had picked up for super cheap a couple weeks ago.

This afternoon, I ran Laney to soccer.  I also had to stop and pick up milk.  Our first money out for the week.  Can you believe it was $4.09 this week?!?! What is it with that number? That means that with tax I spent $4.38 on milk this week already.  Unbelievable. 

At supper we had leftover Perfect Pot Roast....which is even more yummy the second day, by the way.

Sorry my post is sort of short and sweet today....it was kind of a rough day.  There's always tomorrow!

Day 3: Woke up determined to have a better day than Monday, but I didn't really feel well.  I got some chores done early on and got to work on a few sewing projects.

Breakfast was cereal.  I had planned on scrambled eggs, but the kiddos had other plans.

Lunch was PB&J and popcorn. I make our jelly homemade...there is nothing like it.  You have to try it if you ever get a chance.

Supper was bean tostados.  This is one of our favorite cheap meals.  You just throw flour tortillas into jumbo muffin tins, fill them with refried beans, and bake at 350 until the edges of the tortillas turn golden brown.  Then top with whatever you like...cheese, salsa, tomato, lettuce, sour cream, etc.

After supper, I started work on next week's menu.  Oofta, I hope I can get the ingredients we need and stay under budget!

Day 4: Still didn't feel fabulous when I got up.  I had to just suck it up though.  I had a ton to do today to prepare for an event for my home based business.

The kids convinced me to give them cereal for breakfast again today.  I'm starting to wonder about my cooking.....

For lunch I threw together some jambalaya rice.  I can't tell you how much they love that stuff.

I tried to get some more work done on my sewing during nap time.  I know you have to be getting curious by now about what I could possibly be spending so much time sewing.  You will have to wait to find out.

For supper I made a chicken and broccoli ring on my favorite piece of stoneware.  The kids and I love broccoli, but hubby is not a fan.  Overall though, it went over well.

I am so excited that tomorrow is payday and that I have a personal business event.  I need a pick me up.  Going on two weeks with no Monster coffee, and the no spending has gotten to me a little this week.  Almost at the end of week two, and I am starting to feel like some of my wants are really needs, haha.  I NEED fancy coffee creamer, right?  Ok, maybe not.  At any rate, I am in deep need of some time out of the house and a reminder that this month is going to be worth it.

Day 5: Getting kind of bogged down, but hoping for a great day.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs and lunch was sandwiches, nothing exciting to speak of.

At supper time, I had a business event to attend, but the family had leftover chicken and broccoli ring.

Day 6: Toast and jelly and out the door to run errands...no time to gather my morning thoughts, haha. 

Bank, grocery store, gas station this morning with the kiddos.  We spend $37.42 at the store, then put $41 in the gas tank.  That with the $4.09 from earlier in the week would have put us at $82.51 and well under budget, but hubby called and said he found a great deal on gas that he couldn't pass up.  He put $59 of gas into his truck, so we are officially $54.01 over budget.

That would be getting me super down, but my fabulous mother and stepdad bought my my yearly supply of pumpkin spice coffee, so that softens the blow A LOT.

I had a business event around dinner time, so hubby rounded up any remaining leftovers for the kiddos and himself.

Day 7: Just kind of coasted through the day.  Feeling pretty awful about going over budget, but I know it means we will keep under budget the next week.

Hey!  We made it halfway!!!!

How are you doing with your no spend month?

No Spend Month....the first week.

Our goal starting this week is for the whole family to spend $70 or less, which is about 20% of our month long budget.  Hubby got a $50 allowance for the week.  I got the remaining $20. Wish us luck.  Here we go!

Day 1:  I woke up this morning with that awesome feeling that comes with every new adventure.  That unwarranted pride and false sense of hope.  It is just like the first day on an awesome new diet that you just know is going to work. 

For breakfast, we all had leftover cupcakes (I know, mother of the year).

Lunch and supper consisted of leftover party food.  (get ready to hear that a few more times)

Day 2:  Still feeling unwarranted accomplishment.  Energized and ready to do this!

For breakfast, the kids had scrambled eggs and fresh strawberries left from the monster party.  Eggs are always an awesome cheap/free option at our house because we own our own chickens.  Eggs are always just a chicken coop away.

 

 

I had a cup of coffee and a little fresh fruit.

I had to run a couple of errands today, but I stayed as close to home as possible to keep my gas consumption down.  I had to run to my daughter's school, the pharmacy, and the grocery store.  Of course, the grocery store means I had to spend a little of our budget.  Luckily all we needed was milk.  Unluckily, the milk cost $4, bringing us down to $66 left for the week, $16 left for me.  Technically, the milk was $4.28 after tax, but I had change rolling around in my wallet to cover the tax.  Is that cheating?

Side Note: I spoke to my friend in California today....apparently their milk only costs $2...super jealous.  I guess California really is where happy cows live.

For lunch, the kids grabbed some meat, cheese, crackers, and carrots while I had some carrots and celery and a turkey wrap.

Had to burn a teeny bit more gas bringing the star athlete to soccer practice.

Supper consisted of leftover croissant sandwiches from the birthday party with veggies, chips, and fruit as sides and cupcakes for dessert.

Day 3: Still feeling pretty great about our decision to have no spend month.  I know this feeling will be traded for misery and panic in a few weeks, but I'm enjoying it now.

Kids had cereal and fruit for breakfast while I had fruit and...you guessed it...coffee.

Lunch consisted of leftover croissant sandwiches, chips, and veggies. I think we MIGHT have bought a few too many.  Oh well, it is helping out with week one of no spend month.

Very near being burned at the stake, we had MORE leftover sandwiches for supper.  Last time, I promise!

The only gas I had to burn today was to go to a monthly training meeting for my personal business.  Since the gym is on the way home, I went by there so that they wouldn't forget my name.

Side note: I think I am going to quickly grow frustrated with how fast we burn through a gallon of milk around here...probably going to have to pick up another gallon tomorrow or Thursday.

Day 4: Found out hubby didn't fill the tank up before we started our adventure.  He had to drop $20 into his gas tank.  Looks like I'm "winning" for now.

Kids had toast with homemade jelly for breakfast.  I just grabbed a cup of coffee.

Lunch consisted of a box of organic mac n cheese shaped like bugs.  Had it lurking in the back of the pantry.  Ironically the organic mac n cheese is cheaper overall and per ounce than the blue box.

To avoid murder, I prepared chicken tortellini from supplies we had on hand.

I had to run into town for a business meeting, but had a friend headed the same place.  I just met her up the street and we rode together to the meeting as well as to the gym.

Day 5:  Still trying to be as on top of things as possible.  It has been kind of a rough day, so it is a little tough to be excited about sticking to the plan.

Breakfast for the kids was the last of the cereal.  I had....wait for it...coffee!

For lunch, we had cheese and crackers and apple slices.

Supper consisted of barbeque pork chops, whole kernel corn, and butterbeans...all of which we had stored up in the freezer.

Hubby had to stop on the way home to pick up more milk, so we took another $4.28 hit and are now  down to $41.72 for the week and 321.72 for the month.

Day 6: Still feeling pretty good about the no spending concept overall, but definitely ready for a weekend.

Breakfast was cheesy scrambled eggs for everyone.

Lunch was a box of jambalaya rice we had stored in the pantry.  My kids LOVE jambalaya without meat in it, so this was actually a nice treat for them.

For supper, we had leftover pork chops and veggies from the day before.

After supper, I had to run a few business related errands....my gas tank is in tears, but I got a lot accomplished.

Stopped by the store for bread, cereal, dry pinto beans, chicken, and refried beans.  Ended up spending $9.34 total.  That would have left us with $32.38 for the week, but hubby's group did their employee of the month event today, which set him back a whopping $20.  Still, we have 12.38 left!

Day 7: Feeling tired.  Glad it is the weekend for sure.

Breakfast was cereal.  After breakfast, the boys headed to work on vehicles while the girls hit the soccer fields.

Had to stop at the dollar store for a small pack of pullups.  They set us back $8.29, leaving us with a whole entire $4.09 left in our weekly budget!

Lunch consisted of cheese, crackers, and veggies.

For supper, we went over to my inlaws for catfish, potato salad, okra, and hushpuppies...mmmm...good food and good company.

WE SURVIVED OUR FIRST WEEK! 

Not only did we survive, but we had $4.09 left in the budget despite hubby's rule breaking!  That gets me all pumped up and ready to go for another week.

Next week's budget is 25% of the monthly budget, which is $87.50.  I considered rolling the $4.09 into the next week, but I think I'll hang onto it in case we need it at the end.  I would hate to get the urge to splurge. 

I cant wait to share our next update with you.  Hopefully the next time I post, we'll still be on track!

Monster Party Finale: The Party Recap

So, let's do a recap of the whole party.

The invitations and decorations were pretty simple.  I threw together these invites in Publisher.

Then filled the house with bright colors and monsters galore.  Find more details here.

The food was all monster themed.  We had monster smiles, monster ears, monster teeth, monster earwax, monster eyes and noses, monster fingers, monster toes, and some pretty adorable cupcakes if I do say so myself.  Get more details on the food here.

 

 

 

We had two activities for the kids to do.  The first was some adorable handprint monsters, the other was a sticker monster kit I picked up.  For details, click here.

The favors were playdoh, M&Ms, and bubbles given in these cute bags as well as plushy monsters.  You can find the complete tutorial for all of this here.

 

 

 

I hope you go back and grab every juicy detail of this party so that you can have an awesome monster party for your little monsters.  We'll be planning a cowgirl party next....until then, here's a kiss for the road.

 

 

 

 



See y'all next time.

 

 

Monster Party Part 4: The Favors

Party favors are always my favorite part of a party to put together.  I guess I love that other kids are going to get little surprises the day of the party as well as mine.  I try to give a variety of different things as favors so that there is something for everyone.  Here is what we settled on this year.

The first thing I did was pick up a handful of these small gift bags for 33 cents a piece.  I punched out 1" circles from cardstock using my 1" punch.  I can't tell you how many ways that punch has saved my life.  After that, I just added a few details with a Sharpie to some and touches of black and red construction paper to others to make these little faces on the bags.

 

 

Now that I had my gift bags read to go, I started work on what would go inside.  The first item I added was super simple.  I found, on the aisle with the crayons and coloring books, bottles of scented bubbles with awesome little monster like silly faces already on them.  They rang in at 97 cents a bottle, so I splurged a little.

 

 

 

The next item to head into the favor bags was a teeny little pot of play-doh.  You can actually pick up party packs of fifteen mini tubs for around 5 dollars in the toy section of your local store.

 

 





Of course, I couldn't just toss in a plain old tub on play-doh....so I went right to work cutting strips of neon paper to fit around the sides of the tubs.

 

I used a glue stick to attach the strips of paper to the tubs.

 

 

 

Then I used a Sharpie marker and some googley eyes to make monster faces on the tubs before tossing them into the bag.

 

 

I always try to include some sort of edible element to the favor bags.  You know...a little sugar shot to take home...so that all of the moms roll their eyes and the kids all love me.  ;) 

 

This year, I incorporated my food item and my monster theme in these little cuties.

 

 

The clear little containers came in packs of four with different all different colored lids.  The containers were four for $1.  I filled them full of M&Ms and used googley eyes to make them into little monsters.

 

 

As I was looking for ideas for monster parties, I found a ton of different posts where Ugly Dolls (yes, that is actually a thing) were given out as monster favors.  I loved them, but was NOT about to spend the kind of money it would take to get each child their own plushy.  After about ten minutes of pouting, I went up to the bonus room to see what extra supplies I had in storage that could be used to possibly make these little fellas.  Just to prove to you how much of an insane crafter I am...I already had yards upon yards of fleece fabric and a large bag of stuffing in my sewing/crafting supplies.  My husband gave me a huge eye roll when I marched back into the living room with everything I needed.

 

 

Keep scrolling for the full tutorial on these plushy little guys.

 

I have no idea how much these would have cost me had I purchased the fabric and stuffing when I started the project....but for me...these were free....my favorite price.  If you are doing these at home, here is what you need:

 

Brightly colored fleece fabric

White fusible fleece (scrap or smallest amount you can get)

White thread

Black Thread

an Iron

a Sewing Machine

Needle

Thread (I used a rainbow multi, but I recommend getting the colors of the fleece)

Stuffing

Scissors

 

If you are not really handy with a sewing machine...THAT IS OK!  These are VERY crudely made on purpose.  The whole point is for them to be MONSTERS!  Sew crooked, mess up, that is the fun in them.

 

Start by making your monster templates.  I just freehanded some little guys out.  If you are not comfortable with that, there are books with monster templates in them.  Cut out your templates from cardstock.

 

 

My templates ended up being around 7" tall.

 

The next step is to cut out squares from your fleece.  You want to cut double the amount of plushies you want to end up with (fronts and backs).  I cut my squares 10" so that I had plenty of wiggle room, but cut whatever amount you feel comfortable with. 

 

 

Once you have cut all of your squares, you will want to trace and cut out your fronts.  DO NOT cut out the backs.  You will see why soon.  This means, you want to trace shapes onto half of the fleece squares.  I used a Sharpie (sheepish grin), but I would recommend using a fabric marker.

 

 

 

Then cut out all of your fronts with sharp sewing scissors.

 

 

Next, you want to cut out 1" circles for eyes and any accent pieces, such as teeth from your white fusible fleece.  I used a 1" punch from cardstock as a template.  Make sure you trace onto the stiff, fusible side, not the fabric face.

 

 

 

On these I REALLY recommend using a fabric marker rather than a Sharpie.  You can see how it rubs off on skin.  If you do use a Sharpie, make sure you cut all of the black part off completely.  Otherwise it will show through when you iron this on and sew.

 

Place your eyes and teeth onto your faces where you want them and iron then on per the fusible fleece instructions.

 

 

 

Using your sewing machine with white thread, stitch around these pieces to secure them.  It took me a few times to decide how I wanted to stitch these.  I started out blanket stitching, but ended up using a short and wide zig zag to basically embroider them on.

 

 

Once you have sewn on all of your white pieces, you want to switch to black thread to add the pupils and mouths.  Once again, I just used a short and wide zig zag to create an embroidery style stitch.  Make the faces different in whatever ways you like.  On some of my little fellas I even used one eye and made an "x" for the other.

 

Now you want to pin the faces face-down onto the squares you saved for the backs.  When you stitch around fabric, it has a tendency to stretch or shift.  If we had cut both back and front out, it would have been very difficult to keep the sides lined up perfectly.  This way, you can move quickly and easily and just trim the extra when we are ready.

 

 

 

Stitch all the way around the edges, leaving an opening to turn these right side out.  A normal straight stitch will do, but you can do these however you like.  Once you have sewn all of these, you will trim the extra fabric off, turn them inside out, and stuff them.

 

 

You can see the little puckers here where I left the holes to turn them.  Once you get all of your monsters stuffed, you will use needle and thread to hand stitch the holes up.

 

Then just toss them into a basket for a monster adoption station.

I also printed out little monster adoption certificates for the kids to name their monsters.  I think My favorite monster name of the day was Hiffy.

The favors really ended up being super fun and cute.  A huge hit for sure.

I hope you enjoy making these for the little monsters in your life!

 

 



Monster Party Part 3: The Invitations and Decorations

The invitations for this monster party were the first place I started.  I only did a Facebook event, but it was still important to me for the invitations to be cute.  I used publisher to whip up these invites in a matter of no time.  The "monster" font I used was AR Darling, which came standard with the newest version of office.  The other font was Candara.  The monsters were free clipart from Google searching.  A few clicks of the mouse later, there ya have it.

I was really happy with the way these turned out....especially considering I whipped them up in under an hour for free.

I'm sure that if you have been following along, you caught a glimpse of my food cards on Monday.  These were thrown together from a template in Publisher and more of that fantastic free Google search clip art.  Just used the AR Darling font to type in the themed food names, and I had precious little food cards to use.  Simple as that.

The first bit of decorating I did was completely on a whim.  I used some neon paper that I had originally picked up for another project to convert my china hutch into MONSTERS!  Just added some touches of other paper to make faces, and taped these up inside the glass panes.  These are so adorable, I have seriously considered leaving them up permanently.

 

Of course, I couldn't leave those little dears to fend for themselves.  I grabbed a kettle bell and a picture that already sat on top of the hutch, converted them using some paper, and tossed them back on top.


Once that was complete, I threw some plain paper in frames with paper eyeballs and drew on some smiles for a few added monster touches.

On a recent shopping trip some vinyl monsters caught my eye.  I scored a pack of around 15 of these adorable little guys in the section with the crib bedding sets of all places.   I stuck these little guys up on several of our doors.  One even made his way into my kitchen window.

Other than those few touches, our decorating was pretty plain and simple.  Brightly colored table cloths, some confetti made from leftover neon paper, and a table runner of brightly colored scrapbook paper.  Cute, but extremely easy to throw together.

I hope you have been enjoying the Monster party so far.  Stay tuned for the favors and the party recap!  You won't be sorry!