girly spa playdate

We are having our annual family portraits taken tomorrow (more on that at a later date), which got me thinking about primping to prepare to look my best.  This will go on the Christmas card, after all!  I desperately need a pedicure, and while the pre-thrifty me would've thought nothing of splurging on a relaxing hour at the spa pampering my toes, ("honey, in Florida it's a 'need,' not a 'want.'), the new budget-conscious me knows I can make my toes look just as pretty at home.  For free.

In a previous life I was the director of a large day spa and salon.  Getting manicures, pedicures, facials, and massages on a regular basis was literally a job requirement.  (Yes, I know, it was a rough job but someone had to do it.)  So while I'm not actually an esthetician or stylist or massage therapist, I do know a thing or two about spa treatments.

Which got me thinking, wouldn't it be fun to have an at-home spa day with my four-going-on-fourteen girly-girl princess?  It took me about 5 seconds to realize that in order to have a spa day, someone needs to be doing the spa services.  (Sigh!)  So we invited a friend to join her after school yesterday, and they had a fun little girly spa playdate by the pool.

I started by gathering a random smattering of kitchen ingredients--oatmeal, sugar, salt, mayo, lemon juice, olive oil, and yogurt--to whip up some homemade beauty remedies.

I let the girls scoop & stir the ingredients.  They had a blast!  We made an oatmeal-yogurt face mask and a sugar-salt-olive oil-lemon juice-oatmeal foot & hand scrub.

I then gathered the rest of our supplies--washcloths, hand & foot cream, lotions, foot soak, & "spa water," and headed outside.  I covered our two chaise lounges with two (old pool) towels each, more to protect the lounge chairs than anything else. 

We swam for a while, until they finally noticed the bowl of soapy water for their feet.

They enjoyed splashing around more than anything else.

Foot soak complete, we moved on to "facials," which involved smearing their faces with our homemade mask and placing chilled teabags on their eyes.  The girls found it hilarious that the teabags kept falling off.

Hand and foot scrubs were next, which were also a hit with the girls.  I'm glad we did it outside on towels because it was a MESS!  There was oatmeal everywhere.

I used the washcloths to wipe off the scrub as best I could, and then the girls headed back into the pool for another swim session.  

Dried off and re-dressed, we moved to phase 2 of our spa day:  nail polish.  (Pink, of course!)

We finished with face painting, (proving once again that the Klutz Face Painting book I bought last year on Amazon.com is one of the best purchases I have ever made!)

Are those two gorgeous girls or what?

And how cute is this?  When A's big brother showed up later that evening, he wanted to get in on the face painting, too.  (Of course tigers aren't girly at all!)  I'm telling you, that book is amazing! 

(For ordering information, click here)

(Total cost: $0)

Zero dollars spent, fun had by all, two happy girls (and one happy big brother.)

Now that's what I call a spa day.

LA-Thanks for letting me borrow your sweet daughter for the day!

P.S.  If you are new to my blog, or haven't been by in a while, don't miss this week's share-the-wealth giveaway, worth $75!  Click here for details!

simple sunday afternoon craft

My four year old just loves crafts.  She wants to do them all day long.  It tends to stress me out sometimes because I am really not very good at just coming up with fun original ideas that are age appropriate.  Show me a picture in a magazine and I can usually make it, but coming up with my own thing is a whole new ball game.  And the cute crafts in magazines are usually geared to older kids (or require some obscure craft supply that I don't have on hand.)  So yesterday when M. was begging to do a craft (and coloring was no longer sufficient) I had to scramble to find something for her and 3 year old buddy K. to do.  It definitely wasn't craft magazine material, but the girls had fun, the end result was pretty cute, and (very best of all) it was FREE!

gathering supplies:  ModPodge, leftover tissue paper squares, empty tin cans, paint brushes

the idea:  glue tissue to can to make a pencil cup

ready to dry

The finished masterpiece:  a funky fun crayon cubby

Happy Labor Day!

brown kraft paper

My friend LeeAnn is a creative genius.  A few weeks ago we were at her house for dinner and she had set up a DIY craft table for the kids in her dining room.  (We were eating at her main table in the kitchen.)  She covered the table with heavy duty brown kraft paper then left out markers, crayons, stamps, stickers & construction paper for them to work with.  The kids were entertained all evening and we parents enjoyed a peaceful dinner.

For Princess' crafty pool party I decided to "borrow" LeeAnn's idea.  My original plan was to use my basic white tablecloths and put a disposable white plastic tablecloth over the kids' craft table when it was time for painting (and eating), but the brown paper was way more functional, and much more stylish.  Even better, we had a giant roll of it leftover from our house remodel, so it was FREE!  (But to buy a giant roll at Lowes or Home Depot is only about 10 bucks!)

The party was over a week ago now and I have yet to take the paper off my tables.  And even though I normally can't stand clutter on my tables and counters, I have slowly gotten used to the idea of keeping out a rotating variety of craft supplies on the table because a little craft "clutter" on the table is a small price to pay for the hours and hours of entertainment it brings Maggie, my little craft queen, every single day.  She will happily sit there and draw/paint/cut/glue/stick/stamp/etc. while I cook or clean or sort coupons or pay bills.  And even Trouble, in a rare moment of contentedness, will sit there occasionally, eating goldfish (and the occasional crayon), happy to watch Sissy color and to be part of the action.

We bought our dining table about four months ago.  It was a major splurge, but I fell in love with it the moment I saw it (last December) and no other table would do.   I knew it was THE table, the place we would sit for the next 20 or 30 years, enjoying good food and all our important moments as a family.  It would be the homework table, the afternoon snack table, the addressing-wedding-invitations-someday table, and yes, the craft table.  Solid and sturdy, it would be the symbol of everything I wanted our family to be, the one object in our house that our daughters would remember from their childhood.

I love having the kraft paper on my table because every time I sit there with my daughters I feel like a little piece of my vision is coming true.  And instead of being worried that our brand new table might get ruined by glue/play-doh/paint/markers/etc., we can simply just have fun.

I try to mix it up and put out something a little different every day.

As soon as she wakes up, Princess is ready to "do her art."

(She ate one of the crayons about 30 seconds later.)

Easter eggs in August?  Princess' favorite DVD is "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown" and after watching it for the billionth time, she really wanted to paint eggs like they do in the movie.  I don't know why I never considered painting eggs before.  SO much easier (and neater) than messing with dye.

.

Brown paper is also very handy for keeping score while playing games.

Thanks again, LA!

free entertainment

I just thought I'd pass on a couple of great freebies:


Free Movie Rental at Blockbuster Express:


Go to blockbusterexpress.com to sign up and find a rental machine near you, then use the code GT18A for a movie free rental (exp 8/30). Remember, it’s only free if you return it the next day!

Free Game of Bowling on August 7th:

For National Bowling week, hundreds of bowling alleys across the country are offering a free game of bowling in the hopes of breaking a national record.

Print out this coupon and use it at a participating bowling center for a free game of bowling. You can print the coupon as many times as you want!

Go here to find a participating bowling center near you. Under choose a promotion select NBW free bowling coupon.

Summertime Activities (Cheap or Free)

It is summertime in Florida which means it is pretty much too hot to do anything outside that doesn't involve water.  Here in Charlotte County, the retirement capital of Southwest Florida (where the median age is 64), there aren't a whole lot of activities for kids, which makes it even tougher.  A lot of times I am so desperate to get out of the house that I just take the kids shopping, usually to Target, which inevitably means spending a lot of money on things I don't really need, just for something to do.  So I decided to start a list for myself of fun activities that don't cost much to keep on hand for those times I can't figure out what to do:

1.)  Face Painting.  (For Maggie's birthday party last year, I bought this amazing face painting book on Amazon.com (Face Painting (Klutz))  I think it may have been the best $17 I ever spent, because not only was the face painting at her party a huge hit, we have had more fun at home with that book than any other activity I've ever purchased.  It is so easy to do, Maggie will happily spend a whole afternoon getting painted from head to toe, and the paint that came with the book is still almost completely full after a whole year of use.)

2.)  Splash Park.  Punta Gorda has several nice parks, but it is way too hot for most outdoor playgrounds this time of year.  The splash park is a lot of fun, especially in the early evening, when it has cooled off just a little and there aren't so many rowdy kids.

3.)  The Beach.  I keep a beach bag stocked with toys and sunscreen so that all I have to do is grab their suits and towels and head out first thing in the morning.

4.)  Living Room "Park."  Since it's too hot to go to the park, we make our own park in the living room.  We bring the climbing slide inside, along with a few other toys, and make a "jungle gym" out of the furniture.

5.) Duplo Blocks.  Maggie loves to build things, and Annie loves to destroy the old projects.

6.) Dance Party.  In the early evening, when the girls are crabby, daddy's not home yet, and I need to make dinner, I will turn on the girls' favorite songs and we will all dance around the living room to blow off some steam.  It usually cheers everyone up, including me, and the girls will keep dancing even after I stop to work on dinner.

7.)  Memberships.  We have annual passes to Jungle Gardens in Sarasota, Gatorama in Palmdale, and Walt Disney World.  The WDW pass is great to get away for the weekend, especially when we can get good Florida resident deals on lodging during the slower times of the year, while Jungle Garden and Gatorama are fun daytime activities.

8.) Mall Play Area.  The girls love this simple little play zone & I am usually bored long before they are.

9.)  Fast Food Play Areas.  I don't like to do this too often, but Chick-fil-A and McDonalds both have fun play areas for kids.

10.)  Free Movies at the Regal Cinema Family Film Fest.  All summer long, Regal Cinemas throughout the country show free movies for kids at 10am every Tuesday and Wednesday.  This is the local schedule for Port Charlotte:

Town Center Stadium 16 1441 Tamiami Trail Port Charlotte ,FL 33948 941-623-0114
07/13/2010-07/15/2010	Doogal (G)
	Alvin And The Chipmunks Squeakquel (PG)
07/20/2010-07/22/2010	Charlotte's Web (G)
	Monsters Vs. Aliens (PG)
07/27/2010-07/29/2010	Pirates Who Don't Do Anything (G)
	Night At The Museum II (PG)
08/03/2010-08/05/2010	Trumpet Of The Swan (G)
	Hotel For Dogs (PG)