Ballet Goody Bags!

My youngest daughter, Madison, has a ballet recital coming up and needed something to give her friends. Last year, we made really cute Frozen themed goody bags (you can see how to do it here), but this year we wanted to switch it up and make it "ballet themed!"

So in this goody bag we put five bobby pins with bows and roses (more about how to make that below) and a pink hairnet. I printed out a little label and stapled that on to the bag so her friends will remember that it's from Madison. I used a clear bag because it looks really cute that way, and I bought the hairnets from CVS although I bet Walmart sells them too (I tried Target but they didn't have any).

Okay so the bobby pins were not as easy to make as I anticipated. We got some of those mini roses from the craft store and used the wire that the roses were attached to and wrapped that around the bobby pins to secure it. I thought about leaving it like that for a while, but decided that it looked cuter with a bow. For the bow, I just tied it and secured it with some hot glue. I made 14 goody bags with 5 bobby pins in each bag, so this process was quite tedious and long. 

Let me know in the comments below if you try out this goody bag idea! Also, don't forget to follow this blog on bloglovin because there will be more posts as we get in to the holiday season!
-Gail
 

Grad Party Favors!

Hello!
Sorry it's been so long since my last post, but I haven't had many goody bags or favors to do! My oldest daughter, Sisi graduated high school, and for her grad party favors we decided to do decorative fortune cookies!

We ordered the fortune cookies with a custom message and the little scroll and cap on it. I think that you can find somewhere that can do this near you, but if not, you could get any sort of individual packaged snack and do the same thing. Then we ordered three different ribbons in different widths from Amazon and cut them to equal length with the split. We then stapled the ribbon through the part of the package that was sealed. 

The great thing about this is that you can customize the ribbon colors to the school colors of your child, so this can totally double as table decor if needed. It does take a bit of time to do this, but between me and my daughter, we got around 150 done in a day and a half. 

Let me know in the comments if you try this out and what you think of this DIY!
-Gail
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Frozen Goody Bags For Less than $5

Hi everyone!
My youngest daughter, Madi, has a ballet recital today and needed some goody bags to give her friends. We wanted to keep the items cheap, but we also wanted to make it useful and something that the kids will use often. 

What You'll Need:

• Lanyards with pouches at the ends (to hold the goodies)! You can buy the ones that we used here!
• Chuck-E-Cheese Coins (or anything else you'd like to include)
• Labels! We could just use paper and stick it in the clear part, but you may need stickers depending on the type of lanyards you use. 

Assembling it is so straightforward, but you pretty much just put your goodies into the zippered pouch, and slide the labels into the clear part! 

The overall cost is under $5 because the lanyards end up costing slightly over $3 each, and we only put $1 worth of coins in the pouches!

Let me know what you think of these gifts, and don't forget to follow this blog on bloglovin!

-Gail

Lip Balm Goody Bags!

Hi everyone!
My daughter wanted to give her co-workers small gift items for Christmas. She has around 11 people she wanted to buy for, but we didn't want to spend that much money. We decided to get EOS lip balms and make really cute gift bags for them!

What You'll Need...

1) EOS lip balms 
*tip: if you're buying for 5 or more people, get the 5 pack from Costco to save money!

2) Gift Bags! any sort will do, but we used felt ones because they were cute and we had them on hand!

3) Tags! you can print them yourself (like we did) or you can hand write them! we laminated the name tags, and you can do so if you'd like! 
*tip: if you want to be punny, one of the tags could be "you're the balm!"

This is one of the easiest things to do, and will take you less than 10 minutes to accomplish! So first, punch holes in your tags and tie ribbon to it. One set of tags said "co-workers are the balm" and the other had their name on it. Next, put the lip balm in the bag. Our bags were smaller than we thought, so it was a pretty tight fit! Lastly, tie the tags to the bag and you're done!

So I hope you enjoyed this little goody bag idea! Let me know in the comments if you decide to re-create it because I'd love to see how you do your tags and bags!
-Gail
 

Gift Wrapping Small Items!

Today, my older daughter, Sisi, asked me to wrap a birthday present for one of her friends. I decided to write a blog post on it because it's such a quick and easy thing to do, but looks really good when it's done!

You'll Need...

• Your items (for us it's the two bracelets and lip gloss)
• A small plastic bag, the cuter the better!
• Some tissue paper
• Ribbon

So first you're going to wrap the items. You can do this individually or all together depending on what you're going to gift! I decided to wrap the bracelets together and the lipgloss separate. 

Then you're going to place the items in the bag trying not to crumple the tissue paper or smush the items. 

Lastly, you're going to gather the top of the plastic bag, "fluffing" it out as needed, and you're going to tie the ribbon around it in a bow!

This is the finished product! The top is a little shorter than I'd like it to be, but the bags were adorable and I really wanted to use it!

Tips & Tricks

• You don't need to tape the tissue paper around the items unless you really want to. Just be careful when putting them in the bag!
• Use curling ribbon to tie the top because it looks a lot cuter with the curled ribbon!
• Use at least 12 inches of ribbon so you don't run out (and you can curl it)!

Let me know how you gift wrap small items in the comments below, and don't forget to follow my blog on bloglovin!

-Gail

Dance Recital

Today is my youngest daughter's dance recital. I needed to make goody bags for 16 little girls. They all love Hello Kitty, so we decided to use that as inspiration for the goody bag! We bought a Hello Kitty Play Pack, which includes crayons, stickers, and coloring sheets, and we also bought a bracelet for them! They were $1 each, so each goody bag ended up costing us only $2! If you're making goody bags for children at a dance recital, try not to include candy, paint, or pens that can stain their costumes. 

Some tips...

• Use 12 inches of ribbon so you don't run out!
• Also use ribbon with some edging because it holds its shape better than normal ribbon!
• I like to cut the ribbon at an angle because I think that's what looks nicest
• Alternate colors (so blue bracelet with pink play pack and vice versa)! It adds contrast and makes the individual items stand out more!
• Try to stick with one theme (like Hello Kitty) for a cohesive present!
• Never add names to goody bags because it makes it a pain to pass out!

Now I'm off to enjoy the show! 

-Mom on a Mission