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I don't know if you are like me, but after I get all of the trappings of Christmas taken down and put away, I still have a pile of Christmas cards to deal with. Many of them are so beautiful, I hate to throw them away, and in the spirit of living a little greener, I like to try to recycle them. So, today, we will share some of our favorite ways! If you have any ideas to add, please let us know, we are always looking for new ideas!
Friday Faves #87-Favorite Ways to Recycle Christmas Cards!
1. For years, one of my favorite things to do with the Christmas Cards we receive is to make gift tags for next year. It is fun to cut out the cute motifs and the handmade cards are especially cute to use on packages. Just remember to put them in a place where you will find them next Christmas!
2. Of course, if we receive photo cards of family and loved ones, I like to put them in a photo album. It is fun to see how the families have grown year after year.
3. This year, on Everyday Reading, I found this really cute banner idea. Janssen used the photo cards she received to make a Valentine Banner. It was so cute. Unfortunately, I couldn't bring myself to cut the photo cards, but there were a lot of really cute cards that I used instead. I used a thicker version of baker's twine to make the banner.
I used two different sizes of heart cookie cutters to cut out the shapes.
4. A really awesome gift for young kids next Christmas, or a way to add to the Spirit of Christmas around the house, would be a book using the pictures from the cards. One year I made a Christmas ABC Book using Christmas Cards. It can be tricky coming up with a picture for every letter, but my friend had a poem that she shared with me to help me out. Unfortunately for this post, I gave that book away. But I got to thinking that it would be really cool to use the song "C is for the Christ Child" by Jim Reeves as the text for the book. If you have enough Christmas cards, you can make more than one! I put together a free printable of ideas for making this book.
Here is the PDF file to make printing easier:
It would be awesome to include the CD of the song with the book as well!
So, hopefully you can find a way to recycle those Christmas cards and get the last vestiges of Christmas put away. And, won't it be great knowing that you have a gift for the little ones, gift tags to use when wrapping and something to decorate with for Valentine's Day! Now that is thinking ahead!
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**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. But, all opinions expressed are my own.
Oh My Goodness! You Guys! We have been having the BEST rain here in Phoenix because of Hurricane Rosa and the weather feels amazing! It actually feels like we might get to have Fall! AND, this weather is just in time for Frugal Fun Day, which is tomorrow, October 6th. So, for Friday Faves we are asking:
What do you love to do for fun on the cheap?
At Home:
1. For a nice romantic choice, Letters to Juliet looks so good! You can rent it for 1.99 or purchase it for 7.99! I think I am going to talk my husband into this one for us to watch together.
2. If you have kids who love horses, The Silver Brumby stood out to me as reminiscent of The Man from Snowy River. You can rent it for 1.99 and buy it for 3.99. We just rewatched The Man from Snowy River on Netflix for free. 3. When Maddy and I were in Disneyland last Spring, we saw some Pixar movie shorts in the theater in California Adventures. One that was super cute and perfect for younger children was called Piper. This cute film about a baby bird learning to provide for himself is now on Prime for just 2.99.
Now, let's do some things that get us out of the house!
Besides roasting marshmallows and making s'mores, you might enjoy making and using Stuff 'em Sticks, something that we told you about here.
Frugal Fun in the Phoenix Area
Phoenix, where the weather is sometimes hot but never snowy, lends itself to many activities for everyone that are pretty inexpensive! *In the hot weather there are many pools available in the city parks, as well as splash pads and there are Water Parks available as well. Pioneer Park and Rio Vista Park's water pads are two that we have been to and they are both fun and free! *There are lakes in the city that are stocked for Urban Fishing. Kids under 14 can fish for free, just the parent needs a fishing license. One day a year there is a free day when you don't need a license at all and some parks offer fishing instruction. *The libraries offer nice places to relax from the heat and they offer story times and other activities. Phoenix libraries also offer passes on a first come first served basis that will get you into city attractions like the zoos (We have 2), botanical gardens and museums. *If you aren't able to get a pass to the Phoenix Art Museum, you can attend on Weds from 3:00-9:00 pm, On First Friday (discussed farther down), or second Sundays when prices are reduced to a voluntary donation. *There are two super fun and free factory tours that are popular in Phoenix, for all ages! The Stuffington Bear Factory teaches the history of teddy bears and those who attend the tour can even purchase and stuff their own bear. And, Cerreta Candy Company takes you on a chocolate tour and demonstration and ends with an opportunity to make and purchase a chocolate pizza! *There are tons of trails in all of the desert mountains, such as the White Tanks, South Mountain, North Mountain, Thunderbird Park, Camelback Mountain. Phoenix and the surrounding areas are a hikers paradise. Just remember to always carry water! *In the Spring, there are multiple teams who come to Phoenix for Spring Training at the various sports complexes! That is a great time to take part in the Great American Pass Time at a reasonable price! It is called the Cactus League. Here is the link to find the teams, stadiums and schedules of the games. Bookmark it because the 2019 schedule isn't up yet. *The Arizona State Capitol Building Museum is an amazing and FREE place to visit. One of the most fascinating things within its walls is the exhibit of artifacts from the USS Arizona. *First Fridays in downtown Phoenix is one of the nation's largest self-guided art walks. There is also a complimentary trolley tour to the various hubs. There is music playing and there are food trucks! I know that my young adult children have enjoyed this event at various times.
Wow! The more I write, the more I realize how much Phoenix has to offer! So, if you come to visit, bookmark this list to get you started! It is funny how when you live in a place you forget about the hidden gems that are there. I have been to most of these places, but it has been years for some of them. I told my husband that we need to start going back and revisiting some of these. HEY FAMILY! Come and visit! I have a list of places to take you!
For a nice list of frugal Fall fun, you can print off this bucket list we made last year! I hope it gets your own ideas flowing! Be sure to comment and let us know what your idea of frugal fun is.
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Alicia here! Each month I'm going to be sharing with you an idea I have for a fun party with options to make it kid friendly or a date! My first idea came to me as I thought of how it seems a lot of people now-a-days aren't that into Valentine's Day. I get it. So I decided to see what other holidays or events fall on February 14th. And there are quite a few. Just to name a few:
I thought then that we could celebrate these other things instead of Valentine's and it's a win-win-win! I have decided to focus on a few of these events/holidays for the party. This won't be a typical UnValentine's Day Party, because instead of being full of things like broken hearts, Valentine's just gets ignored altogether. I guess it's more of a "It's More Than Just Valentine's Day Party." First you'll need invitations. I have designed these ones for the occasion, but you could make your own too! Make sure to let us know if you do. Food: Inspiration, Oregon and Arizona statehood, National Ferris Wheel Day and ET Culture Day. ![]() From Arizona we have two famous foods that are so easy to put together: Sonoran Hot Dogs, and Cheese Crisp. I suggest a Sonoran Hot Dog Bar if you want to serve dinner at your party (or lunch). If you're unfamiliar with what a Sonoran Hotdog is, this article in Boston Magazine explains it well. If you don't want to serve dinner and just have appetizers, try making these into bites with tomatillo dipping sauce. ![]() A Cheese Crisp is a tortilla with cheese. (But wait, isn't that a quesadilla? No cheese crisps are open faced and quesadillas are folded over). Make mini ones by using a round cookie cutter to cut out small rounds out of regular flour tortillas (or just buy little flour tortillas). Lay them on a foil covered cookie sheet. Sprinkle each tortilla with cheese, and bake at 350 until the cheese has melted. Alternatively, Just make a large Cheese Crisp and cut it into triangles with your pizza cutter. You could add toppings as Gaby did over at Tasty Kitchen. Look how delicious her's are! From Oregon, I thought we would try making quick and easy Voodoo Donuts. If you live close to VooDoo Donuts, it might be worth just buying them to have at your party. Click through the gallery to get instructions and ideas for what I did! Another famous food from Oregon is Tillamook Cheese. I have two options to include this. One is to just have little cubes cut up and out for people to eat. Or use it as the cheese for the Cheese Crisp! You could put the cheese or other snacks in cups on a Ferris wheel. Like this one they made over at Oh Happy Day! Or they have this cool one on amazon that you can buy. I attempted to make one. Mine does actually spin, but is still a prototype. For drinks a bit of ET Punch seems to be in order. Just mix Sprite, green sherbet, green Hawaiian Punch and pineapple juice together to taste. For an added flair try floating a UFO in the punch. They have these cool UFO ice molds on amazon. ![]() Activities: Inspired by YouTube, International Book Giving Day, & the "Pale Blue Dot" photo Used Book White Elephant- Everyone brings a book they love to exchange. Set a limit on how much guests can spend so there's no disparity and hurt feelings. Browsing used book stores is one of my favorite activities, but if you don't have any good one's near by, Amazon has a ton. Pale Blue Darts- If you don't know what the picture of "Pale Blue Dot" is, this page from NASA can fill you in. I love space so I had to include this. My idea is that you have the photo up on a dart board and see how close people can get to hitting Earth. Each person can have their own dart picture or everyone can use the same. I made a dart board with the picture as the background. Click below to get the image. If you need a dart board, my brother used to have a dart board similar to this one and it was pretty fun! Or for a safer route there are magnetic dart boards. Viral Video Charades- A nod to YouTube, this game will be loads of fun. Especially with the right group of people, Charades is a great party game. Maybe I'm biased because I LOVED Charades growing up (so much so that I got Guestures one year for Christmas and forced my family to play it every chance I got). But this version each team puts the title or description of their favorite viral videos in a 'hat' (container, bag, whatevs). Play continues like normal. Just think wouldn't it be hilarious to see your friends act out Charlie Bit Me, Gangham Style, or Potter Puppet Pals? Decorations- Inspiration from Oregon and Arizona Statehood, International Book Giving Day, & National Ferris Wheel Day Here's a general list of the party supplies:
Other ideas:
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Author
Helen Reynolds: Mother of six children , grandmother to ten and counting! I love to cook, craft and create things and I especially love doing that with my family, So, when my lawyer daughter, Lindsey, and my artist daughter, Madalynn, and I came up with the idea of Hot Cocoa Bombs, this blog was born. Then, one more daughter, with her technical and science skills, plus creativity has joined in to round us out! Read more about us here! Categories
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