{SUMMER FUN IDEA} Family Movie Night

     

It's official! Summer has finally shown up in all its colors and glory! 

My mind goes 100 miles per minute and party ideas are flying from my pen to paper.  Today, I am sharing, with the followers of Eye Candy Creative Studio,  the first in a series of  three ways our family celebrates in the Summer months.    

Family Movie Night:  Our family does not go out to the movies.   

It’s not in our entertainment budget to spend upwards of $ 75 - $ 100 for the 5 of us to sit (quietly, yeah right),  eat overpriced and fattening food just to see a movie that is just released.   

Instead, we invested a few hundred dollars in an OutdoorMovie Screen (you can see it would pay for itself after about 3 trips to the cinema).  The projector is from a retail department store for $ 100 (this year we did invest in an upgrade and purchased a more state of the art projector, but the $ 100 worked great for the past 4 years). The other components were an old DVD Player and some wireless speakers (not expensive).    

Now our family can have Family Movie Night anytime we want to.  We can accommodate plenty of friends in our yard!  The food is what we prepare and the kids don’t have to sit quietly!  

You can easily watch the movie inside and still make some wonderful family memories!  Your local dollar store is a great place for popcorn containers and candy!  Throw down a few blankets and pillows on the floor and settle in for a fun night! 

What are some fun celebrations that you family partakes in? 

Until next time friends, this is Melissa from My Party Passion saying PARTY ON FRIENDS!

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Guest Contributor: Melissa Newell

Melissa Newell has been planning and executing parties for over 20 years - parties have always been a passion of hers.

Melissa’s motto is Go Big or Go Home! She celebrates with her children every chance they get - making each day a celebration of Life!

Creativity on a budget and the attention to the smallest of details is what she is known for. 

You can follow Melissa

website

CRAFT :: Easy Picnic Utensils Holder with P&Geveryday

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

Summertime is one of my favorite times of year but it's not because of the great weather being the reason. The reason I love it is simple. My daughter is home all summer and we can plan fun things to do that you can only have fun doing during summer break. You know those 'making memories' kind of things. 

We plan a summer bucket list every year and she fills it up the first week of break and we look forward to finding creative ways to tackle the things on her bucket list. One of the things she has on her list is to have a family picnic that includes taking our dog with us. This is our dog's first summer with us so yes, he goes too. This is Chili. He says hello! ;)

I have been looking for fun creative ideas for summer, for the last month, on various sites when I stumbled upon a site new to me: P&Geveryday. I found all sorts of articles that shared ideas on various topics I was looking for. They are committed to making every day just a little easier by providing a site that aims to inspire, support and empower you to unlock your potential. The articles are not too long and offer a lot of fabulous tips on just everyday topics and I found it very helpful.

Since I am specifically planning a picnic with the family + dog soon, I was super excited when I came across this adorable and easy craft idea for a picnic: Easy Picnic Utensil Holders. Now just how cute are these?

So cute in fact, that I decided to gather the materials right away, after reading this article because I wanted to see just how easy they would be to make. So with supplies in hand and washi tape design chosen, I was ready to get my craft on!

They were so easy to make, that I have already made mine for when we have our picnic in the upcoming week. One less thing to do for the picnic outing thanks to P&Geveryday. ;) Didn't they turn out adorable? I just followed the instructions from the article on their site and done! I love how resourceful their ideas can be to make my life easier.

Let me know if you make your own picnic utensil holders, as I would love to see how yours turn out too! I recommend heading over to their site or follow them on their Facebook page, for other topics and articles from beauty tips, family, party ideas, to crafts, recipes, home decor, gardening and much more along with great offers from trusted brands you love! You never know what you will find that inspires you to grab your supplies and get your craft on! I could spend quite a bit of time on there as the have amazing articles!

P&Geveryday™ is your online platform created by Procter & Gamble, a company that has been establishing brands for the past 175 years, helping people around the world have extraordinary days. Every day.

      

Are you loving the "eye candy" here? Then join me over on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram or check out more designs in my Etsy shop!   
 
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DIY CRAFT :: Summer Fun Board

Summer FUN Board!

by Wendy

It’s that time of year, when the kiddos are finishing up the school year.  I don’t know about at your house, but it’s not all that long between the time when school is finished and the words “I’m bored” are uttered! 

Last year I came up with an idea of creating a board showing fun activities for us to do either as a family on the weekends or during the week, while dad is working when boredom strikes!  It was successful last year, so it’s a repeat for this summer.

To make the board, I picked up a piece of homasote board from Lowes and covered it with burlap.  My board measures 25 x 32.  I then cut some pieces of natural twine and attached them with eye screws to the board. My daughter and I sat down one evening and had some fun coming up with activities to do over the summer.  I typed up the activities and printed them on some bright orange and yellow paper, then cut the papers into small squares and hung them on the twine with those mini clothespins that you can pick up at any craft store.  I also used Silhouette Cameo to cut out a big sunshine and the words Summer Fun for the board.

Over the summer, when we are out and about enjoying the activity, I make sure I have my camera with me to get some pics.  I then print them out in a wallet size so that I can hang them on the board.  By the end of the summer, it is my hope that we kept the boredom to a minimum and we have lots of pics on the board and great memories! 

Until next time. Wendy

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Guest Contributor: Wendy Diem

Wendy is a stay at home mom living in Hershey, Pennsylvania, also know as the sweetest place on earth!   

She loves creating memory books and cards and would spend my whole day scrapbooking, but I do need to make time to take care of my family.  You know, those fun things like laundry, cleaning the house, etc.  

 

Back in March, 2012, she had the privilege of going to NYC as part of Martha Stewart’s Dreamers into Doers to attend some workshops and the live taping of her show.  She enjoyed meeting lots of wonderful entrepreneurial women.  What a great experience it was!

You can follow Wendy

flickr | artfire | pinterest | Facebook

FREE Summer Banner + TOP 5 Luau Planning Tips

“This shop is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and Fruttare, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia  http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV”

    

Summa summa summa-time! Time to sit back and unwind! Am I right? We are celebrating the arrival of summer around my house and I wanted to share with you one of our favorite things to do in the summer. We always like to have themed small gatherings but with a twist, especially luaus. One year we did an Americana Luau that was all red, white and blue which ended up being one of my all-time faves. Another time we did a graduation luau and had flamingos as the main focus but today we are focusing on a SUMMER LUAU!

Luaus can be as big or as small as you want them to be. They can be held indoors or outdoors. Lots of food or just a few items. To help with this, I will be sharing my TOP 5 Tips when planning a LUAU!

1. the DECOR

The decor has to be festive but it doesn't have to be expensive. Pick up a few decor items from your local Dollar Store and then use food for the rest. Try to have a focal point, in this case I used a printed background behind my table (from the Dollar store) to set the tone for this gathering. I also picked up this fun blue hula tableskirt and taped it to my table. Then add pops of color to your table by using placemats you already have. When planning a colorful table, I suggest using white platters and plates to put food on so the colors pop. The other decor item I used for this, was the FREE mini Summer banner that you can download, cut out and use bakers twine to string between two pineapples like I did here. Decorating doesn't have to be hard and it doesn't have to be a typical "decor item". For example, I used colorful drinking straws under the mini cupcakes for added interest on my table. I also sliced limes up and used them underneath my Fruttare fruit bars that I served.

2. the FOOD

The food can be simple. Pick a few things and then call it done. Sometimes we can go overboard on food and then we have all of these leftovers and we wonder WHY we made so much. I however, would not know anything about that though. ;)

In this particular case, I chose to have my "food" be just fruit and mini cupcakes. Fruit is the perfect food for a luau so mix it up and have a variety for your guests to enjoy. Always make sure you have at least ONE coconut though, I mean c'mon . . . luau + coconuts just go together like peanut butter and jelly, ya know! 

I added small slices of limes to these store bought mini vanilla cupcakes and by the time we enjoyed them, the frosting tasted like lime frosting! Yum!

3. the DRINKS

The drinks. The drinks may be the thing I look forward to the most when planning luaus as there are so many tasty tropical drinks out there to choose from, which is awesome! For this mini party, we mixed up some coconut rum, lime, pineapple juice, Sprite and a little strawberry mix. Oh my yum!

Always plan on a mocktail version of your party drink as well in case you have children at the luau or people who wish to not drink, so they can have a yummy drink as well. Also a nice tall pitcher of ice water or seltzer water with some sliced fresh fruit in it would be a nice addition to your drink menu too.

The most important thing to NOT forget when hosting a luau is the drink umbrellas for your drinks. These are a MUST for luaus and I always have them on hand as they are so inexpensive and make for fun little decor touches on the table as well.

4. the MUSIC

Personally, I can NOT live without my music. You can easily transform your guests and the party with music. Pick a variety that everyone will enjoy and have it playing in the background. Turn it up if you decide to partake in some fun games like limbo though. We need to keep the guests pumped!

I can also help you out with some FREE music today as well. That's right, for this party, when I shopped at my local Kroger and picked up my food items, I found out that Fruttare fruit bars will have a special promotion going on from July 1 until July 31. If you buy just one Fruttare item, you can redeem a Music Reward which will let you take advantage of some FREE music. Make sure to get your $4 Music Award here starting July 1, as it's only good while supplies last, during this promotion. How sweet is that? ;)

 

5. the DESSERT

The dessert table needs to be simple. People are cutting back these days and watching what they are eating plus they want to stay healthy, even with their desserts. For this table as you have seen, I had mini cupcakes and fresh fruit but always want a FROZEN treat for the dessert as well. 

I picked a couple flavors of Fruttare fruit bars for the perfect frozen treat for this luau. They are bursting with real fruit taste, creamy milk or refreshing juice. To be honest, I bought the ONLY two flavors they had in stock: mango and the strawberry and milk. I really liked the strawberry and milk as you could really taste the fruit but the mango wasn't my favorite just because I don't care for them. I was hoping for one of my faves, the pineapple or the lime but I will keep watching for it. There are ten different flavors to choose from and they all sound delish: strawberry and milk, peach and milk, banana and milk, black cherry, pineapple. lime and more! These bars make the ultimate refresher for your luau!

I would recommend picking up some of these bars and also getting your FREE Music Reward, starting on July 1. Then if you decide to plan a small luau or have a summer party, you come back here and download your own FREE mini SUMMER BANNER to use at your next event!

So who's ready to LUAU and enjoy SUMMER?! . . .  me! ;)

So have you tried these Fruttare fruit bars yet? Which flavor would you like to try? Planning a summer party? Let me know if you will use any of my tips . . .

Are you loving the "eye candy" here? Then join me over on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram or check out more designs in my Etsy shop!   
 
I would love for you to connect with me by email or become a blog follower too! {on the right sidebar}  Looking forward to seeing you again! :)