Budgeting for the Holiday's - how to survive!

Every year as Christmas time approaches I think our stress level increases as we talk about the budget.  No one likes to have that discussion...how much is feasible to spend and how much is realistic to spend?

I have always been known to outdo it every year, because I want nothing but the best for my family and friends.  I have done the extreme where I don't really shop for sales and just get what I know they want, and I have done the frugal where I only buy something if it is on sale.

This  year, like every year, I went out on Black Friday.  Even starting at 6:00 a.m. it seemed as though every where I went I was too late to get that one thing that was on my list for each person.  It didn't matter what store I went to, the things on my list were never there.  By the end of the day I was tired, frustrated and concerned because this year, I knew I have to be frugal in my Christmas spending.

I had already spent close to half the budget and I only had items for six people on my list but only got everything for two of the people.  This set me into panic mode, so I turned to Excel to help me wrap my head around it all.

I created three different spreadsheets.  Excessive?  Maybe, but it actually is very helpful in showing me what I need to see.  These spreadsheets should not include your spouse and children, you will want a separate one for them, this is strictly for your family and friends that you shop for every year.  The examples I am using can be tailored to fit any family need.

The first spreadsheet what I did was made four different columns as follows:

Seems simple enough...right?  What you need to keep in mind is this; Who are you buying for and how much is your MAX amount you want to spend on each person.  We also added an area with what realistically we wanted to spend and I showed the Total Over that amount of our projection.  This put it into reality for me.  I needed to find some items on sale so that the retail price would hit where we wanted to spend for each person but my Total Spent was lower.  For example, one person we bought for wanted a appliance.  So I went on a hunt for the best deal for this appliance by searching Black Friday Ads.  The first two places I went to, they were out.  The third place, I get lucky and find one, original price $30 picked up for $14.99.  So when I add up what I spent I add up the retail value as well as my out of pocket cost.  So $30 goes towards say a $50 budget and I know I have $20 left to spend for this person.  But in reality I only spent $15, so I saved $15 which helps my total overage go down.  (note:  This is not an actual item I purchased, because I don't want to give it away to those I am buying for, but I did get a $30 item for $14.99 this year) :)

This spreadsheet shows me my overall budgeted and total spent, it doesn't break it down so I can't really see where the money went, but one of the next two spreadsheets will help with that.

To keep in mind, Column C you always start off with what you budgeted and as you spend, you adjust your totals from Spreadsheet 3 as you go.  My totals may look funny, but they are actually because the formula is set in place for what it will be like once all the receipts are added.

The second spreadsheet is where I wanted to see how much money was spent per card.  I broke it down by credit card and bank card.  This was so I could up on my budget and know where the money was taken from.  If you use credit cards at Christmas time, it is more helpful if you look at your bank account and figure out realistically what you can spend from your bank account.  You want to spend as much cash on hand as you can so that you don't go farther into debt.  If you simply don't have the cash on hand and have to use credit cards, I recommend that you pay off a big chunk (or all if you can) on the card you want to use so that it doesn't set you back any farther.

By going to this spreadsheet, I am able to take a quick glance and see my total spent in each area, and I will total the columns up every time I add to it.

This is what the second spreadsheet looks like:

Now on the meat and bones, where is your money going?  If you are like me and you see a good deal on something you need for the house, you tend to pick it up.  I did this all day Black Friday and got things that we needed for a lot less than I would have spent if I would have waited.  It's ok to do this only on necessities but try to keep it at a minimum and ask yourself, do we really NEED this item or can it wait?

This is what the third spreadsheet looks like, it is a bit more complex so I am going to try and break it down for you:

Column A - Start with the Store Name off of the first receipt in A-1 and in C-1 put what card was used at this store (CC=Credit Card; BC=Bank Card).
A-2 start with the first item on the receipt - who did you buy it for?  Put their name in column A and go down the receipt until all names are entered for each line on the receipt.

In C-2, start with the first item on the receipt - what was the price?  Put the price for each line down Column C next to the names you put in first.

Now this is where it gets a bit tricky.  I decided I needed to give everything a number, so starting in column F, I put numbers down row 1 and then in row 2 I put who each number was going to represent.  Be sure to include Tax, Total CC Spent, Total BC Spent and I also included a space for returns because I knew I already have something I wanted to return.

Once this is set up, in Column E, put what each line will represent, I chose Spent, Budgeted and Difference to show me how much I had already spent and what I still had left.  You will need these totals to input  your total spent on the first spreadsheet.

Once you have your numbering system figured out, you will want to go to Column B and input the number coordinating with each person.  Once that is complete, now the fun begins.

In the spent row (i.e. F-3); you will need a formula to calculate from everything in column C what was spent for each person.  You do this formula as follows:

Click on the down arrow next to the AutoSum function in the ribbon; Click on "More Functions"; Look for the function "SUMIF" and click on that and then click "OK"; You will see a box pop up with Range, Criteria and Sum_range.

For your Range,  you will want to click on Column B by clicking on the "B" in the grey box at the top of the spreadsheet.  This will put the marching ants on the whole column and you will see a "B:B" in the box.

Once you have made that selection active, press "TAB" this moves you to the Criteria box.  Now, you want to click on the number in the column your cursor is in, so for this example it would be column F, which is number 1 - Her Mom; Click on the number 1 (F-1); you will see the marching ants go around the cell indicating it's active.

Once this is done, press "TAB" to move to the Sum-Range box.  In this box you need your totals, what is it going to add up and put in the cell you started in?  You will want to click on Column C by clicking the "C" in the grey box at the top of the spreadsheet to select the whole column.  By doing it this way, you are automatically adding anything that you may put in this spreadsheet in the future.

Once all three boxes are populated, you should have the following in the boxes:
Range:  B:B
Criteria: F1
Sum_range: C:C

If the boxes match, click OK.  You should then see in F1 a total amount of all the amounts next to where you put the number 1.  If you want to double check that it added it up correctly, go through your list and add up the totals manually for that person to make sure it did it correctly.

Unfortunately, you cannot copy this formula to the next cell, so you will need to repeat the process for all of the cells in order for it to work properly.

Once all of the cells are complete for the "Spent" row, the next thing you do is add your Budget under each of those totals by manually typing in the amount.

For the final row, Difference, it's pretty simple.  You do a simple formula that looks like this:
=F4-F3

What this does is it takes the Budget and Subtracts what you spent and shows you what is left (or what you went over).

By using these three spreadsheets you can get a handle on where your money is going so that you don't over spend.  Once you reach a level where  you are comfortable for each person, then stop.  For sale items where  you are wanting to figure in the retail value instead of the sale price, you will want to keep this somewhere else.  If you were to put retail value then your total CC and total BC will be off and that will not show the real amount you spent.

What I have done with this is went back to Spreadsheet 1 and off to the side in the empty columns is added it up that way and then do a sum across the totals.

For example:
Say for Her Mom, you got an item that retailed at $30 for $15 on sale and you want to figure out what would be left for you to spend on Her Mom using the retail value instead of the sale price.

On Spreadsheet one in Column E you will put $30.  Lets say you also spent another $10.50 on her for a different item, so lets add $10.50 to Column F next to Her Mom.  You have at this point only bought two items but you want to see where you are at as far as your budget for Her Mom, in Column G, you will want to put a formula for the Sum of Column E and F which would look like this:  =E2+F2  Your total should now show $40.50, highlight G2 in yellow so you know this is a total amount spent and not part of a receipt.  In column H, you will now want to see what is left to spend on Her Mom, so the formula should be =D2-G2 which should give you $9.50.  If the item is in the good (meaning not a negative amount) make the type green to indicate you still have funds available.  If the item is in the negative, make the type red to show you went over.

Here is a sample of what it would look like with an overage and with available funds:

Remember, the key to not overspending, is to be organized, and know where every penny goes!  It's already helping us this year and I feel so much better about it and know that I will be very close to what we budgeted.  If you go over, make sure you don't go over excessively, and keep track of what you buy!  (THIS IS KEY!).

When out shopping, I like to carry an envelope in my purse.  I have everyone's names on the outside of the envelope with what is left of their budget and as I buy, I write next to the budget what I spent so when I go to the next store, I know what is left.  Inside the envelope goes the receipts.

As soon as I get home, I open my spreadsheet up and start on the first tab and move my way to the third until all receipts are added.  I then write the names of who the items bought were for along with a check mark in the upper right corner of the receipt indicating I have logged it.  All receipts get filed in a Christmas File Folder in our Filing Cabinet so that next year, I still have records of what I bought for each person and how much I spent so I can prepare the budget for that year.  It's very helpful to keep these receipts also in case someone needs to make a return and you didn't get a gift receipt!

How do you currently budget? Do you have something already in place? I'd love to hear from you, please leave a comment below and let me know!

Best of luck to you this Holiday Season with your budgets and your shopping.

May your Holiday's be Merry and Bright,
Shonda

Mystery Dinner - Halloween 2012

I LOVE PARTIES!  No matter when!  So since we have never had a Halloween Party, we decided it was time to try one.  As I started brainstorming on what to do, a little voice in the back of my head kept reminding me about Mystery Dinners.  I have always wanted to plan one and every year that went by that I didn't plan one made me wish I had.  So this year, I decided it was time.

A LOT of work goes into planning a Mystery Dinner, so if you are thinking of planning one some time here are a few tips to bear in mind that I wish I would have thought of before hand. (doesn't have to be Halloween, could be any time of year, just adjust your theme accordingly)

1.  Even with small groups, it is best to recruit help!  We had a total of 10 people (8 playing the game and 2 serving the food).  I really needed a 3rd person back in the kitchen helping prep and serve food, it would have gone a bit quicker with an extra set of hands, but we did good with the 2 of us serving.  Remember when choosing your servers they will know what the options are (and if they are helping you plan they will know well in advance) so pick someone who is good at keeping secrets :)

2.  Take pictures of everything...no matter how behind you get, because afterwards, you'll be sad you didn't capture all the foods (like me).

3.  Even as the planner and a server, have FUN! (we did, but I still wanted to put this out there!)

4.  Get as MUCH done well in advance as possible.  Prep food that can be prepped the day before, have all of the decorations, games and printouts done and set up two days in advance (if you can) to help you better manage your time.

5.  Try the complicated things before hand so you can be prepared for the disasters that could arise.  Our disaster was the curtain hanging to block the view into the kitchen.  I think we tried four times and it kept falling.  Allow enough time to do things like this before the day of the event so you can focus the day of the event on making the food.

6.  Minimal is better.  We tackled a HUGE menu...I say if I were to do it again, I'd have taken away one of the groupings.  It was a lot of food (a lot of leftovers, some waste, and a lot of time preparing).

Ok so now to the fun stuff...lets get planning shall we?

The very first thing you need to do is come up with your theme.  This took a lot of thought and effort and bouncing ideas off of friends to try to figure out.  I finally settled on three different choices, Skeleton Crew, Witches Trio and Vampire Slayers.  These three names were based on the utensils they would choose to eat with.  Only I knew what each one held inside the bags and as the RSVPs came in, it was clear that Vampire Slayers was a favorite among our group.  Skeleton Crew didn't get any votes and Witches Trio had three picks.  I'll reveal later what the utensils were...but for now, know that these three themes were carried over into the menu.  I decided on 2 appetizers, 1 entree and 2 desserts as my guide.

Next thing you need are your invitations.  If you missed my previous blog on the invitations I made for this event, feel free to stop over HERE to check those out.  You will also see one of the prizes we did, the "Food Pass".  This was an awesome addition and they were used, so be sure to put at least one of these at each table.  The way we did it was since I was the planner, I numbered all of the seats (you'll see these numbers in the photos I'll share later).  I had my server and assistant planner choose a number from each grouping (so table one was 1-6 and table two was 7-10).  She picked 3 and 7 so I put the passes on the bottoms of those two chairs and then set the name cards out.  It was neat to see who she picked.

Plan the Menu!  This can be overwhelming!  I scoured the internet in search of ideas to go with my theme and had a hard time finding something for everything so I had to get creative.  I want to first share with you the menu:

I planned both an adult menu and a kids menu (kids tend to be pickier and I wanted to tailor it to be something I knew they'd enjoy eating).

Kids Menu (sorry I didn't get any pictures of their food :( so sad I know)

Appetizers (they got one of each)

Skeleton Bones - Turkey Bites on the ends of a pretzel stick to look like bones

Broomsticks - cocktail hot dogs cut on one end to look like a broom head and then wrapped on top with crescent roll cut to fit

Vampire Smile - Apple wedge with peanut butter smeared on top and mini marshmallows to look like teeth with candy corn as the fangs

Entrees (they chose one)

Skulls - Mini Pizzas made out of biscuits with the pepperoni in the shape of a smiley face

Zesty Witches and Wands and Bloody Guts & Slayers Armor are both adult menu items as well as the Desserts so I'll break those down for you next.

Adult Menu (I failed to get photos of all the foods due to time, so I'll try to describe everything best I can)

Appetizers (they picked three from the list)

Spicy Humerus - Hot Chicken Wing Dip with Tortillas

Funny Bones - Bread sticks in the shape of bones, we cut the ends and curled them down prior to baking

Broomsticks & Potions - Celery and Carrots in a cup with ranch on the bottom

Spicy Eye of Newt & Spotted Toad - Chicken Tortilla Soup and Tortillas

Dracula Fangs - Deviled eggs with red peppers cut out to resemble fangs and stuck on top

Bat Bits - Ham and Cheese sandwich (these were tricky, we cut one slice of break using a bat shaped cookie cutter but it was really small, so we ended up cutting the bread in half and using one half slice for the bottom and then put the bat bread on top of the ham and cheese)

Entrees (they picked one from the list)

Severed Hand & Goo - This was to go for the Halloween WOW factor and boy did it.  This was really easy to make and delicious to eat!  Use a hand gelatin mold, spray the mold with Pam  add your meatloaf mixture (use your own recipe here) dump out onto a cookie sheet lined with foil (easy clean up) and add white onion cut to resemble nails and I even cut one to look like a bone in the wrist.  Add catsup mixture on top (again your recipe will work here) and halfway through I threw some cheese on top and broiled it at the end.

Before baking:

After baking, I added mashed potatoes around and in between the fingers using a plastic bag with the corner snipped off.

Zesty Witches and Wands - Italian Sandwich and Cheesesticks
Italian Sandwich Recipe: Bread is made using two tubes of French Bread Dough (refrigerated section), form to look like a ring, bake according to package.  Cut open the dough so you have a top and bottom for sandwiches and then cut to desired length.  Add zesty Italian Dressing to the bread, and put on your lunch meat and cheeses you want.

*One thing we forgot to put on this were the really neat witch feet toothpicks I had made up prior.  We were pretty hectic trying to get the food out (again a third set of hands would have been helpful here)

Bloody Guts and Slayers Armor - Spaghetti and Garlic Bread

Desserts (they got to pick three from the list)

Bony Fingers - Chocolate covered pretzel rods using a Wilton Finger Mold

Eyeballs - Red velvet cake pops decorated to look like eyes

Witches Hats - this recipe was a hard one...it didn't turn out quite like we had hoped, but was still ok to eat. This is a ice cream cone covered in chocolate and rolled in sprinkles.  There is a chocolate cookie wafer on the bottom and the inside should have been chocolate mousse but it didn't turn out.  I probably should have just done chocolate pudding, it would have been way easier!  :)

Witches Goup (no photo sorry) - This was mint oreo ice cream and I made a cookie witch hat to go on top. We put the ice cream in these really neat clear cups that were small and then put that hat on top to make it look like a green witch :)  The hat was easy to do it was a fudge stripe cookie with icing around the center opening and then a hershey kiss on top.

Blood Suckers - Jello poke cupcakes with a pudding/coolwhip icing and then use a straw dipped in food coloring to get the blood effect on top.

Coffins - sugar cookies decorated to look like coffins.  NOTE:  I cheated here and bought the refrigerated sugar cookie dough to save time...I did not anticipate on them to spread as much as they did so they ended up not quite looking like coffins.  I say next time, use your sugar cookie dough recipe to get the true shape!

Drinks (no photos)
Bone Marrow - Lemonaid (yellow)
Witches Brew - 2 things of frozen apple concentrate, 2-liters of club soda, 1 red apple sliced and put inside the drink
Vampire Nectar - Cherry Limeade

 And while this is not food, these are the Vampire Slayers drinking glasses.  I got plastic champagne flutes and we made a hard tack candy and rolled these in the hard tack before it hardened and let it drip down.  *NOTE* hard tack gets very hot, depending on the thickness of your plastic drinking glass, it could melt it so be careful and always test prior to doing them all.  These were thick enough that they didn't melt.  I got these at the Dollar Tree they were in packs of 2 for $1.

The witches had a plastic wine glass that was black and had "Witches Brew" printed on the front.  I picked them up at the dollar tree for $1 each.

Utensils:

Skeleton Crew (no one picked it, so no photos) - Toothpick, Straw and Chop Sticks

Witches Trio - Fork, Spoon, Knife

Vampire Slayer - Wooden Spoon Set and Vampire Teeth

Kids Utensils - since kids are still learning motor skills, it is best to make sure they get utensils they can use, so we gave them a fork and spoon and a really cool straw that they could use as well.

Water Bottles were essential.  Because each person is different, and I don't really know how picky people are as far as food is concerned, I wanted to have a water bottle set at each place setting for them to use in between to kind of rinse out their mouths. This also served as a double if their drinking glass was empty and we were running behind in the kitchen they still had something to drink as well.  I made labels out of photoshop and am including photos of those for you to see how I did them.  The trick I have found when making water bottle labels (ran across this many years ago when passing out water bottles with customized labels for Church) this helps the label print to not sweat and smear and run, you use packing tape and put the label on the tape and then secure it on the water bottle using the tape...the trick, make the tape longer than the label and make the label width a little smaller than the width of your tape.

Step one - make the labels in photoshop.  I typed out the sizes I used below.

Print out labels, and then cut.

Grab your water bottles and remove the outer label 

Using packing tape, add the labels to your bottles and enjoy!  EASY!

Time to Decorate!

Please know that I am a frugal holiday decorator, as in, I don't like spending money on things I probably am only going to use once.  So, get creative is what I told myself!  I made what I could and what I couldn't I refused to spend more than $2 on unless it was a unique item that I had to have to make the space work.  I think the most expensive item I purchased for decorations were on the vampire table and it was the candle sticks.  They were LED lights and looked like it had dripping blood.  Had to have those :)  Other than that, I got everything either at the Dollar Tree or Walmart and searched for cheap things.

Witches Themed Table - 

I grabbed basically anything that went along with witches here and put them together best I could.

There are tiny witch hats and glitter pieces that say boo and have cats cut out of them on the table as well.  The center piece is a witch hat that I stuffed so it would sit up.  Two cauldrons are on the table with spider webbing to look like foam coming out of them.  You can't see the salt/pepper shakers but they were eye balls.

I took the below shot from a different angle to show you the curtain I hung up to block the entry into the kitchen so they couldn't' see what we were doing :)

Vampire Slayers Themed Table - Rubber bats all over the table, vampire teeth, coffin, vampire cutout, LED candles with blood drips and the salt and papper shakers are eye balls.

Skeleton Crew - Voting Table
The Skeleton themed table was the home of our trophies for the costume contest and had a voting center.  Decorations on here are a skeleton cutout, skulls and skeletons in different colors.

Too see the blog on how to make the skeleton awards, goo HERE

Every party should have games!  This was no exception!

We had a costume contest - winners got trophies (as shown above)
During Dinner we played:  Bingo, Halloween Movie Trivia and had an icebreaker where they passed around questions with different scenarios they had to talk about how they would handle the situation.  These were based on thrillers.
After dinner, we played survivor.

The kids played some games too, they played Bingo and we had one kid winner and one adult winner.  The kids also got to search the house for hidden eyeball eggs (kind of like an easter egg hunt) and then we played freeze dance where they danced to spooky music and had to freeze when it stopped!

Bingo:
 I decided to make a Bingo Card using Photoshop and called them throughout the appetizer round to help pass time while we prepared the plates.

Survivor (sorry, no photos, we were really busy!)

First thing I did was split them into two teams we did boys vs girls

Before we started Round 1, I read a riddle that would lead them to find a hidden immunity idol.  The person who found it could use it to stay in the game.

Round 1 - Card Houses - each team had to build a card house and keep it standing.  The one with the highest at the end of five minutes won.  I put both teams on the same table (probably a big mistake!) The girls bumped the table when the guys got too high and resulted in the girls taking the immunity idol for this round.  (sorry guys!)

Tribal Council - I used a deck of cards as tribal council votes to keep it fair.  If you drew a Jack you were eliminated.  Round one eliminated 2 players on the guys team.

Round 2 - Eating Contest - black licorice, sour worms and saltines.  The guys pulled a win on this one!

Tribal Council - I used a deck of cards as tribal council votes to keep it fair.  If you drew a Jack you were eliminated.  Round two eliminated 2 players on the girls team.  The idol was used on this round saving one of the girls from elimination.

Before starting Round 3, we did another drawing to bring back one player using their seat numbers.  One of the girls was put back into the game!

Round 3 - Blind Folded Trust Challenge - contestants had to navigate one player who was blind folded around the house using only words.  The blind folded player had to also carry a spoon with a feather on top and if the feather fell, the guide had to instruct them on where it was to pick it up.  This game was really interesting, with the guys falling behind early on due to dropping the feather and not being able to find it.  The girls were taking the slow and steady route and had a big lead on the guys but they caught up to the girls at the end and as paybacks, blew off the girls' feather causing them to lose and gaining the idol.

Tribal Council - I used a deck of cards as tribal council votes to keep it fair.  If you drew a Jack you were eliminated.  Round three eliminated 2 players on the girls team.

Round 4 - Puzzles - one player from each team had to race to put together a puzzle.  The girls took the win for this one.

Tribal Council - I used a deck of cards as tribal council votes to keep it fair.  If you drew a Jack you were eliminated.  Round four eliminated 1 player on the guys team.  This left our group with only two players left.

Final Round - Memory Tray - I put together a tray of items that you may use while camping.  I gave each player two minutes to study the tray and try to memorize what was on it.  After the tray was removed I gave them two minutes to write down everything they could remember.  The girls took the win and won the game overall.

Prizes:  I did give out prizes for all the games, this can be adapted for your group of attendees.  We had mostly girls at our party so the prizes were geared more towards the girls (candles).  I also had bags of candy made up for some of the other prizes and for the kids I had stickers and candy prizes as well.

I also put together goody bags for everyone in attendance with gender appropriate gifts.  I had a small tool and a 20 ounce of soda in the guys bags and the girls got beauty products like hand sanitizer from Bath and Body Works!

I hope you enjoyed my breakdown of the Mystery Dinner!  Enjoy planning your own and if you have any questions feel free to comment below!

Happy Halloween,
Shonda

Mystery Dinner Preparations - Skeleton Trophies

A lot of planning and extra preparations go into pulling off a successful Mystery Dinner Party.  The first thing I did was sit down and write a list of everything I wanted to accomplish.  I wanted to have games, competitions and prizes so everyone would enjoy the down time between courses.

The first competition I decided was a must for this Halloween Party was a Costume Contest!  It wouldn't be complete without one!

I had scoured Pinterest in search of ideas for awards and came across this blog and great idea using Dollar Tree Skeletons to make trophies.  So, I set out to the Dollar Tree to get my skeletons and while on the way was keeping in mind the items I already had on hand in my craft room that I could use to decorate so I wouldn't have to buy anything extra.  We even had a piece of 2x4 lumber in the garage that I could use for the base as well as wooden skewers I could use for the rods to hold the skeletons up, so all I needed to buy were the skeletons themselves making my total cost for this project $1 plus tax!

When at the Dollar Tree there were different variations/colors of the Skeleton Garland to pick from so I decided I wanted minimal work and went with the black skeletons.  Once I got back home, I removed the twine that had the four skeletons connected and set them down on the table and started to think of what I wanted to do to each one.

I decided to cut out my bases and spray paint them and the wooden skewers black using Krylon Black Glossy spray paint.  I did this at the beginning of the week and gave them a full day to dry per side.

Wooden Bases and Rods to hold the skeletons in place

Supplies:  2x4*; Wooden Skewers*; Krylon Black Gloss Spray Paint*; Sand Paper; Saw; Drill; Eye Goggles (Safety First!)

*The number of these supplies depends on the number of trophies you are making

Instructions:

1.  Cut to size (I cut giving about an inch to an inch and a half on each side of the skeleton if it would be in the middle.

2.  Drill a hole smaller than the dowel or wooden skewer you will use to hold the skeleton in place.

3.  Sand edges and around the hole.

4.  Spray paint and allow to dry before flipping and then repeat this step on the other side.  Be sure to spray paint the edges as well.

Here is the paint I used:

  

I still wasn't sure what I wanted to do exactly after about 15 mins of brainstorming on paper so I decided to go through my supplies and see what I had and what I could come up with for each one.  I did decide on the categories I wanted to represent and had an idea of what I wanted the costume of the skeleton to be for each category, it was just coming up with the supplies to do that.

Categories were as follows:  Most Creative Costume (Superhero); Funniest Costume (Clown); Prettiest Costume (woman in a dress); Best Overall (Wanted him to wear a cape and top hat)

The first thing I did was printed out the categories on ribbon and set those off to the side.

The craft supplies I used for the costumes were as follows - break down by skeleton:

Most Creative Costume - Superhero
Supplies:  Wooden Base (painted and dried); Wooden Skewer (painted and dried); Blue Satin Ribbon - thick; White Satin Ribbon - thin; Small Googly Eyes (2); Hot Glue Gun; Crystal Effects (or other adhesive); Lighter; Fire Extinguisher (Safety First!); Scissors

Instructions:
1. Manipulate the skeleton into the position you want it to end up in.  Be very careful as these easily break and do not bend easily.  After I separated some parts slightly, I took Crystal Effects (Stampin' Up! Brand) and using a toothpick added a glob of the glue to be sure the limbs would stay in place.  I imagine the glue gun would work as well, but I love Crystal Effects and know it is sturdier than a glue gun would be.  If using Crystal Effects or some other type of glue that is wet, please allow drying time as stated on the bottle.

2.  Glue the skeleton onto the wooden skewer by placing it through the hip bones and up the rib cage area.  I secured with a hot glue gun.

3.  If using a wooden skewer it will be a lot longer than you want it to be.  This next part is trial and error and depends solely on how you want to position the skeleton on top of the stand.  Once you have the desired height planned, cut the wooden skewer to size.  DO NOT GLUE into the hole you drilled on the base yet, you will do this after it is decorated (easier to handle because sometimes you have to lie it down flat).  I did find it helpful, however, to put the skewer in the hole and let it stand on its own while decorating and was able to actually spin the skeleton which was helpful as well.

4.  Glue on the googly eyes using a glue gun.

5. Cut the Blue Satin Ribbon for the cape to length (depends on where you want it to fall against the skeleton), cut a "V" on the end you want to tie around the neck of the skeleton and singe the ends using a lighter to reduce fraying.  **SAFETY FIRST - please have a fire extinguisher on hand when doing this**; I also decided I wanted the other end to be a little pointy in spots so I singed the ends of the cape in different areas to give it the result of a wave.  Tie around the neck of the skeleton. If needed, use a hot glue gun to secure in place.

6.  Using the White Satin Ribbon as the mask, measure it around the skeletons head and mark where the eyes will be.  *NOTE* this was tricky getting it to line up.  The easiest way I found to do this (after three tries) was to cut the first eye out and then mark the second eye.  When cutting, I cut the opening smaller than the eye and then singed the holes to reduce fraying which made them bigger and fit perfectly.  Use hot glue gun to stick to head and tie in the back.

7.  Attach the ribbon with the name of the award on the skeleton and secure with hot glue gun.

6.  Glue the wooden skewer in the hole drilled in the wooden base to secure.

7.  Glue the bottom of the foot (or feet) that are touching the wooden base to the base using hot glue gun.

8.  Display at your party (I put a Styrofoam Cup behind it to collect the votes, you can use anything here you wish)

Most Creative Costume Final Product:

Funniest Costume - Clown 

Supplies:  Cotton Ball (1); Re-inkers (Stampin' Up! Brand) in three different coordinating colors; Purple and White Polka Dot Grossgrain Ribbon - thick; Teal and Purple Polka Dot Grossgrain Ribbon - very thick; Small Googly Eyes (2); Red Glass Bead (1); Lighter; Fire Extinguisher (Safety First!); Scissors; Hot Glue Gun; Crystal Effects (or other adhesive); Fimo Modelling Clay; Oven (to bake the clay); Clay tools (knife, roller, etc.); Acrylic Paint; Paintbrush; Paint Tray; Cup of Water; Paper Towel


Instructions:
1. Manipulate the skeleton into the position you want it to end up in.  Be very careful as these easily break and do not bend easily.  After I separated some parts slightly, I took Crystal Effects (Stampin' Up! Brand) and using a toothpick added a glob of the glue to be sure the limbs would stay in place.  I imagine the glue gun would work as well, but I love Crystal Effects and know it is sturdier than a glue gun would be.  If using Crystal Effects or some other type of glue that is wet, please allow drying time as stated on the bottle.

2.  Glue the skeleton onto the wooden skewer by placing it through the hip bones and up the rib cage area.  I secured with a hot glue gun.

3.  If using a wooden skewer it will be a lot longer than you want it to be.  This next part is trial and error and depends solely on how you want to position the skeleton on top of the stand.  Once you have the desired height planned, cut the wooden skewer to size.  DO NOT GLUE into the hole you drilled on the base yet, you will do this after it is decorated (easier to handle because sometimes you have to lie it down flat).  I did find it helpful, however, to put the skewer in the hole and let it stand on its own while decorating and was able to actually spin the skeleton which was helpful as well.

4.  Glue on the googly eyes using a glue gun.

5.  Using the modelling clay, sculpt a pair of clown shoes that fit the skeletons feet.  You can spend as little or as much time on this as you want, but be forewarned, it can be time consuming if looking for perfection.  I spent a lot longer than anticipated on this resulting me to not be able to complete all four trophies in the time I allotted.  Once you have the shoes sculpted, bake them in the oven according to the instructions on the package of the clay.  Allow to cool before decorating.

This is the clay I used:

6.  Decorate the clown shoes using acrylic paint and allow to dry.

7.  Cut a piece of the thickest ribbon (teal with purple polka dots) to fit the shoes at the foot opening.  Glue to the shoe using hot glue.  Again just like in the first skeleton, singe the ends of your ribbon to reduce fraying and be sure to practice safety when doing so.

8. Add a glob of hot glue to the top of the clown head and put the cotton ball on top, rolling and pulling it around on the head to get the coverage you are looking for.  This takes patience and practice.

9.  Pull up on the cotton ball removing a little more than 1/2 of the cotton ball that is attached to the head, leaving just enough to use for the wig.

10. Prep Cotton Ball wig by using re-inkers in coordinating colors.  Using the remaining of the cotton ball, I took color from the re-inker and dabbed it where I wanted it to on the cotton ball to make the clown hair.  It stays wet for quite some time, so I ended up grabbing a paper towel and blotting it until there wasn't any more ink coming off on the paper towel to speed up the drying process.

11.  Attach the googly eyes using hot glue.

12.  Attach the red glass bead using hot glue.

13.  Using the thick grossgrain ribbon (purple and white polka dots) attach around the neck of the skeleton using hot glue gun making ruffles as you glue. *note again, I singed the edges of the ribbon to reduce fraying

14.  Attach the ribbon with the name of the award on the skeleton and secure with hot glue gun.

15.  Attach the clown shoes.  *NOTE* I had to cut the feet of the skeleton to get them to fit just right inside my shoes because when it baked, the sides came in a little bit.  I cut off the outer toes and trimmed down the length as well.  Glue the foot inside the shoe.

16.  Glue the wooden skewer in the hole drilled in the wooden base to secure.

17.  Glue the bottom of the foot (or feet) that are touching the wooden base to the base using hot glue gun.

18.  Display at your party (I put a Styrofoam Cup behind it to collect the votes, you can use anything here you wish)

Funniest Costume Final Product:

Prettiest Costume - Female in Dress 

Supplies: Gold Satin or Wired Ribbon - thick; Gold Iradescent Ribbon - Medium sized; Silver Decorative Ribbon - thin; White Satin Ribbon - thin; White Fringe with silver beads - thin; Silver Glass Beads (2); Brown Yarn; Lighter; Fire Extinguisher (Safety First!); Scissors; Hot Glue Gun; Crystal Effects (or other adhesive); Fimo Modelling Clay; Oven (to bake the clay); Clay tools (knife, roller, etc.); Acrylic Paint; Paintbrush; Paint Tray; Cup of Water; Paper Towel; Green Wire; Wire Cutter; Pliers; white satin flower with jewel center


Instructions:
1. Manipulate the skeleton into the position you want it to end up in.  Be very careful as these easily break and do not bend easily.  After I separated some parts slightly, I took Crystal Effects (Stampin' Up! Brand) and using a toothpick added a glob of the glue to be sure the limbs would stay in place.  I imagine the glue gun would work as well, but I love Crystal Effects and know it is sturdier than a glue gun would be.  If using Crystal Effects or some other type of glue that is wet, please allow drying time as stated on the bottle.

2.  Glue the skeleton onto the wooden skewer by placing it through the hip bones and up the rib cage area.  I secured with a hot glue gun.

3.  If using a wooden skewer it will be a lot longer than you want it to be.  This next part is trial and error and depends solely on how you want to position the skeleton on top of the stand.  Once you have the desired height planned, cut the wooden skewer to size.  DO NOT GLUE into the hole you drilled on the base yet, you will do this after it is decorated (easier to handle because sometimes you have to lie it down flat).  I did find it helpful, however, to put the skewer in the hole and let it stand on its own while decorating and was able to actually spin the skeleton which was helpful as well.

4.  Glue on the silver beads as eyes using a glue gun.

5.  Using the modelling clay, sculpt three tiny roses.  You can spend as little or as much time on this as you want, but be forewarned, it can be time consuming if looking for perfection.  I spent a lot longer than anticipated on this resulting me to not be able to complete all four trophies in the time I allotted.  Once you have the roses sculpted, bake them in the oven according to the instructions on the package of the clay.  Allow to cool before decorating.

6.  Paint the roses the color you want using acrylic paint.  I used pink.

7.  Cut green wire DOUBLE the final length.  Fold green wire in half and using pliers rotate to give it kind of a braided effect.  Do this for all three roses.

8.  Glue the wire into the roses using hot glue gun.

9.  Attach the thin white satin ribbon around the roses forming a knot.

10.  Cut Brown Yarn (or whatever color you wish) the length you want for the hair. I measured one piece by lining it up to the top of the skeleton head.  Cut enough pieces to cover the whole top of the head and glue onto the head side by side.  Trim the "bangs" how you want.  For added measure, I took three strands of yarn the same length and made a small braid which runs on top of the bangs and attached with hot glue gun.  I also decided I wanted my skeleton's hair to be in a pony tail so I took a small piece of yarn (same color) and tied the hair together to form a pony tail.

11.  Optional:  Make a headband for the skeleton using the thin white satin ribbon and glue around the head. I also added a jeweled white satin flower to this.

12.  Using the thinner gold ribbon, wrap it around the skeleton starting at the top and working to the bottom. Glue as you go, however, do not glue the end, leaving enough to wrap around the skeleton front to back unglued.

13.  Attach the trim with beads to the 2 inches of gold ribbon left unglued so that when you wrap it around the skeleton it's on the inside and only showing are the beads at the bottom.  Glue the two inches to the skeleton to complete the under garment.

14.  Measure and cut the thicker gold ribbon to form a cover up, do not attach.

15.  Using the silver decorative ribbon, tie it in the center of the gold ribbon to form the shoulder.

16.  Attach the cover up to the skeleton using hot glue gun.

17.  Attach the ribbon with the name of the award on the skeleton and secure with hot glue gun.

18.  Attach the flowers to the hand of the skeleton using hot glue.

19.  Attach the clown shoes.  *NOTE* I had to cut the feet of the skeleton to get them to fit just right inside my shoes because when it baked, the sides came in a little bit.  I cut off the outer toes and trimmed down the length as well.  Glue the foot inside the shoe.

20.  Glue the wooden skewer in the hole drilled in the wooden base to secure.

21.  Glue the bottom of the foot (or feet) that are touching the wooden base to the base using hot glue gun.

22.  Display at your party (I put a Styrofoam Cup behind it to collect the votes, you can use anything here you wish)

*OPTIONAL STEP:  if desired, using the pink acrylic paint, paint around the mouth of the skeleton for lipstick.  Not sure I 100% liked the outcome of this so I may omit it in future awards, but it was a funny factor.  Also, you can barely see it but I did add a bead to her ring finger as well.  For instructions on how to do that see the Best Overall Costume Award Instructions below.

Prettiest Costume Final Product:

Best Overall Costume - Cape and Top Hat

Supplies: Black Satin Ribbon - very thick; Black and white polka dot ribbon - medium; Clear Glass Beads (2); Silver Glass Bead (1); Lighter; Fire Extinguisher (Safety First!); Scissors; Hot Glue Gun; Crystal Effects (or other adhesive); Black Card Stock


Instructions:
1. Manipulate the skeleton into the position you want it to end up in.  Be very careful as these easily break and do not bend easily.  After I separated some parts slightly, I took Crystal Effects (Stampin' Up! Brand) and using a toothpick added a glob of the glue to be sure the limbs would stay in place.  I imagine the glue gun would work as well, but I love Crystal Effects and know it is sturdier than a glue gun would be.  If using Crystal Effects or some other type of glue that is wet, please allow drying time as stated on the bottle.

2.  Glue the skeleton onto the wooden skewer by placing it through the hip bones and up the rib cage area.  I secured with a hot glue gun.

3.  If using a wooden skewer it will be a lot longer than you want it to be.  This next part is trial and error and depends solely on how you want to position the skeleton on top of the stand.  Once you have the desired height planned, cut the wooden skewer to size.  DO NOT GLUE into the hole you drilled on the base yet, you will do this after it is decorated (easier to handle because sometimes you have to lie it down flat).  I did find it helpful, however, to put the skewer in the hole and let it stand on its own while decorating and was able to actually spin the skeleton which was helpful as well.

4.  Glue on the clear beads as eyes using a glue gun.

5.  Using black card stock and your creativity fold and cut to piece together a top hat of your choice.  This was a little difficult but fun.  Can be time consuming so watch your time.

6.  Attach part of the black and white polka dot ribbon to the bottom of the hat.  Glue the hat onto the head of the skeleton using hot glue gun.

7.  Cut and attach black and white polka dot ribbon around the skeletons hips.  Attach using hot glue gun.

8.  Attach the ribbon with the name of the award on the skeleton and secure with hot glue gun.

9.  Cut the Black Satin Ribbon for the cape to length (depends on where you want it to fall against the skeleton), cut a "V" on the end you want to tie around the neck of the skeleton and singe the ends using a lighter to reduce fraying.  **SAFETY FIRST - please have a fire extinguisher on hand when doing this**  Tie around the neck of the skeleton. If needed, use a hot glue gun to secure in place.

11.  Slide the silver ring on the ring finger of the skeleton.  You may have to trim the width of the finger using the wire cutters.  This is tricky so be careful or you will cut off his finger!  I didn't have to glue this bead because it was a tight fit!

12.   Glue the wooden skewer in the hole drilled in the wooden base to secure.

13.  Glue the bottom of the foot (or feet) that are touching the wooden base to the base using hot glue gun.

14.  Display at your party (I put a Styrofoam Cup behind it to collect the votes, you can use anything here you wish)

Best Overall Final Product:

After the dinner, we allowed enough time for people to vote during the games and then after the last game, we crowned the winners!  See the post of winners in a later blog about how the party went!

Sorry for the lengthy blog post, but because there were not any step by step instructions out there (that I could find) on how exactly to decorate the skeleton, I wanted to post my steps so that you could follow them if you don't want to come up with a different idea.  All colors, accessories and award names can be adapted to fit your party.

Happy Halloween!
Shonda

Painting the deck...how not to be overwhelmed!

This weekend my husband and I decided it was time to tackle the deck! Our deck when we moved in was one of the things on the home inspection that needed attention. It needed a good power wash and a coat of paint. With how hot the summer was we decided to wait until fall to do it.

My husband and I are funny working together on projects like this. I am a perfectionist and he is not. We did however find a system that helped us both out and made the task not so huge. On day one of painting we spent seven hours roughly working on the deck. We started with the hard to reach rails where the trees are and then made our way around or section a a time.

We found to help minimize the paint drips he worked on the outside and I worked on the inside of the rails at the same time. This not only helped us not to drop paint but also made this daunting task go much quicker. Once we figured it out we pretty much got all the rails done in a matter of no time (second coat even!).

We know that the deck floor boards are going to need at least one more coat but we were able to roll on the first coat on day one.

So what's left to finish? Trim work (boards close to the house that couldn't be rolled), painting the spaces between the boards (bought a fancy roller for that and can use it on the extension), finishing up 1/4 of the lattice under the deck, two sets of stairs, second coat on top of the deck.

Now that the weekend is gone and the forecast is gloomy starting the end of the week, we are setting out to work from 5-7:30 pm nightly this week to see what all we can get done. Today I have some time so I am going to get a jump start on the lattice work and see what else I can get done before 5 tonight.

We were very overwhelmed with this task when we first started and now that we have a good system down we are enjoying the project and the results are amazing! It already looks like we have a brand new deck!

We also discovered we now love Menards! They have been very kind and helped us find everything we needed!

Back to work I go!
Happy painting,
Shonda

A view of the first rail we did and you can see what the deck used to look like if you look closely at the floor boards.  YUCK!

A view of the side of the deck that has the first coat and finished rails

A Howl of a Good Time!

Who says planning a party is not any fun?

We love planning parties!  Everything about planning a party does not have to be stressful but can be a time where you can showcase your creativity and plan things that your family and friends will be talking about for many years to come.

This year, we decided to tackle on a different kind of party and plan a Halloween Mystery Dinner.  The idea came to me one night when I looked at my list of things that I had always wanted to do and there it was...plan a mystery dinner...staring back at me in black and white.  I think I wrote the idea down about 8 years ago actually and kept saying...maybe one year I'll get to doing that.  Well, wait no more, this is the year we finally do it!

The first thing I did was call a good friend of mine and asked for her assistance in coming up with the theme of the Mystery Dinner.  We went with three to choose from:  Skeleton Crew, Witches Trio and Vampire Slayers.  We decided that this would also double as the name of the utensils the guests get to choose from.

I started with an invitation and sent them out and prayed that some people would RSVP and play along with my fun game.  The response was overwhelming and as I sit here today creating little elements to go with the party I cannot wait for the party day which is a little over a week away.

Now, today, I cannot share with you every aspect that I have done (don't want to ruin the surprise now do I?)

But I will share with you the invitations and a few other things I've created for the party that the guests already know about.  Once the party is over, I'll do a breakdown of all the planning that went into the party and how I created everything on my own and was able to decorate with inexpensive Halloween items that go along with the Theme.  Be sure to follow us so you don't miss out on this post that will be uploaded after the party!

Invitation showcasing the theme using witches, skeletons and vampires (bats)

And Because I have some picky eaters, I have come up with a Food Pass Prize that will allow the lucky recipient the chance to switch what they pick if they don't like it!

Keep coming back for more items to be uploaded!

Happy Halloween,
Shonda

Surf's Up at this Beach Themed Birthday Party!

I had the honor of taking a part in this awesome beach themed birthday party we did for a special 12 year old girl.  She wanted surfboards and shark attack to be the main focus and so I set out to make a great invitation, thank  you notes and some decor for the party.

My only regret is that we didn't get a photo of the inside of the cake which was a jello poke cake and had RED (blood) inside to go along with the shark attack theme.

Feel free to follow us on FACEBOOK and see all the other fun parties we plan and put together!

For now, enjoy the photos of this great party!  We look forward to helping out with many many more!

Kreative Kitz offers customizable invitations, thank you cards, place cards, sassy picks and more!  For this birthday you will see the items we created.  The invitation and thank you cards were taken straight off of the computer but when printed, the colors were like the ones in the pictures taken at the party.

The Party Sisters sure do know how to party!  Take a look at the Surf Board complete with shark attack bite in it made specifically for this party.

Wanting to keep with the theme, The Party Sisters tinted the lemonaid to match the decor.

All kids like snacks!  No party would be complete without a snack bar set up!

All food at the party had the theme in mind.  Pictured here are the "Submarine Sandwiches".  For more photos of the food served at this party and other decor items, please visit us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ThePartySisters