Silly Monster Party Favor!

   

    I recently started planning kids parties and I must say it is soooo much fun. I loved being able to use my talents to really go all out on a themed party. I was able to create fun activities,  invitations,  party accessories, thank you notes and a birthday banner! This was a party for my good friend's little guy, Graham, who was turning one. She kept telling me not to out-do myself but it is so hard when all these ideas are running through my brain! Check out my Etsy shop for printables  and decor to instantly customize your kid's next party!

Materials:

• Chinese-take out container
• Pipe cleaners (any color.)
• Foam paper (any color.) 
• Sharpie
• Googlie eyes
• Hot glue gun (or Elmer's)
• Easter grass (any color.)

   One of the first things I thought about was the party favors. That was always my favorite part a birthday party growing up, so I knew I wanted to do something awesome for the kids that would also coordinate with the theme.  So this little monster was born :) I used them as party favors but you can just as easily make a few for your kids to play with at home. We still have ours that my son uses to tote things around in. He loves it.
   I found these great little chinese take-out containers at the dollar store in a 4-pack....Yes, 4 for a $1! How can you beat that?! They even came with the handle attached-score!
   I started by filling them up with candy, stickers, erasers, the typical party favor loot. After they were all filled I added the googlie eyes with my hot glue gun. You can glue them on with Elmer's but I didn't have the patience to wait for them to dry- I was making a bunch so it was easier to use the faster drying glue on my assembly line.  Make sure you add extra eyes on some and give some a single, centered eye. These are monsters so they shouldn't all look the same :)
   Once all the eyes were in place I used a sharpie to draw on the faces. If you don't feel so confident in your monster-face making abilities, Google it to get some ideas.  Now you are ready for the feet.

   Use any type of foam paper to cut out the monster feet. Any shape will do and there is no need to trace a shape before you cut it out, monster feet are supposed to lop sided. I used a shape that looked like a heart with an extra bump in the middle, pretty simple to cut in mass quantities. You can place a few sheets on top of eachother to cut more than one out at a time; this is convenient if you are using them as favors.  Then, add toenails with a contrasting sharpie color. Attach the feet with hot glue (or Elmer's, it will need to sit to dry) and stick them to the underside of the take out container.
  Now it's time for the antennas. Cut a full size pipe-cleaner in half and wrap the end 2-3 inches around a pencil to give it a little swirl.  Slide the pipe-cleaner off the end of the pencil and attach it to the side of the container by using hot glue. I glued my antennas in between the two flaps on top so you wouldn't see the glue.

  The last step is what really gives these monster's their character.  Add their wild hair by placing a large area of glue on the top of the closed container.  Wod up a tennis ball size of easter grass and push it into the center of the glue. Hold for a second, and re-arrange the hair so most of it is sticking to the glue. Easter grass is so long that you don't have to worry about every inch of the grass sticking. You may have a few stragglers that didn't quite stick, just blow on the monster once the glue is dry and the excess hair will fall off. That's all, folks!
   Now you have a silly monster tote! Let your kids make multiple monsters for even more fun or check out the other projects I did for this party HERE! 

Here are some more monster party decor ideas!

  

   

   

Pipe Cleaner Accessories!

   This is a great project for developing hand eye coordination.  It will also help to avoid alot of frustration for the little one's who can't quite string beads onto a wobbly strand yet. We happened to inherit a TON of beads from my mom, Gigi, so we decided to take full advantage of our surplus :)

    

Materials:

• Pipe cleaners
• Beads (use beads with larger holes for the little ones who can't string them yet.)
• A happy kid!
• Buttons (these are a new, fun type of 'bead' to string.)

   This project is pretty self-explainatory.  Simply show your child how to string the beads and buttons onto the pipe cleaner and encourage them to be patient as they fill it.  Leave about an inch bare on either side so you can create the bracelet enclosure.

   Once they are happy with the amount of beads on their pipe cleaner, they can decide whether they are making a bracelet or a pair of silly glasses...or both!

    *To make a bracelet, once you are through stringing beads, shape one end of the pipe cleaner into a circle and use the other side to fasten it by wrapping it around the end of the circle.  

    *To make a pair of silly glasses, make a bracelet but don't create the enclosure at the ends.  Instead, wrap the ends around each other to avoid the sharp ends of the pipe cleaner sticking out.  Now make another circle but attach it to the other circle the same way you closed the first one. Use two additional pipe cleaners without beads to create the rest of the glasses.