DIY: Gifts for Kids

Instead of spending a bunch of money on toys and junk for my kid and my friends' kids this year, I'm going to try something new: I'm going to make fun stuff for them! Doughs and slimes and masks, oh my! I'm super excited, not only to see how the kids feel about their fun ooey-gooeys but I'm also pretty darned excited to make them! {I don't need a life, you need a life. Shut up.}

Doughs:

• cornstarch & baking soda play dough
• candy play dough
• softest play dough
• moon dough
• moldable sand
• ice cream play dough
• glitter play dough
• blueberry foam dough
• jelly play dough

Slimes & the like:

• glitter slime
• glow in the dark slime
• rainbow slime
• make-time-for-slime
• edible slime
• flubber
• floam
• oobleck
• sludge

Paints:

• sand paint
• bath tub paint
• glitter chalk paint
• erupting chalk paint
• snow paint
• finger paint
• sparkle paints
• spray paints
• rainbow flour paint
• erupting water color paints

Toys and other fun stuff:

• cardboard tube car garage
• comfy corner
• rainbow rice
• sky blocks
• bouncing bubbles
• firefly night light
• bouncy balls
• animal storage lids
• spoon friends
• super hero masks
• animal masks
• sidewalk chalk popsicles

DIY: Swiffer WetJet Solution

**Note: To get the cap off of the container, boil some water and put the container into the boiling water, just far enough to submerge the cap. Hold it there, in the boiling water for about a minute. Take it out and it'll twist off. (Cover it with a towel before you grab it 'cause that sucker will be hot.)

I've refilled my Swiffer WetJet with this solution a couple of times and it does actually work! I prefer to refill mine with a Mr. Clean + water mixture because I feel like it works better and I have nothing against chemicals but, for those of you that like to live green, this is definitely for you!

DIY: Kid Table Revamp

This table has gone through many identities, I wouldn't blame it if it came to life and confessed a need to see a shrink. I bought it for Pokey for his 5th birthday last year, December '13, and it only lasted a few months before he'd ripped up the top. Instead of throwing it in the garbage--it was a perfectly good table, still!--my mom just took off the top, took off the Mickey Mouse plastic and the slight padding that was under it, and recovered it. Voilà! New table! 

Supplies:

• The table
• Something to cover the table with--the first time (bottom left photo), we used a cute shower curtain; every time since then, I've used fabric for the cute part and then I put a clear shower curtain over that, to protect from spills and for easy clean-up.
• Scissors
• Screw driver
• Marker (optional)

How To:

1. Flip your table over so it's laying on the top.

2. Find the brackets that keep the top of the table onto the frame and unscrew them. Mine had three brackets on each side.

3. Take the top off of the frame and, if your kid(s) is (are) anything like mine, you'll have to wash the frame 'cause hello sticky!

4. Once you have the top separated from the frame, spread our your fabric or shower curtain or whatever you're using. Lay the top of the table onto the whatever-you're-using and figure out where to cut so that it's big enough to be wrapped around the bottom of the table-top. This is where I used the Sharpie marker but I suppose you don't have to mark it if you don't want to, you could just cut the fabric while the top is on there and use the table top as your guide.

5. Cut the fabric.

6. This is where it gets kind of tricky and en extra set of hands would be helpful. Pull the fabric up over the table-top so you can put the frame back into place. Like this:

7. Then you can screw the frame back to the top, right through the fabric. That will hold the fabric in place 5ever. But be sure to pull the fabric tight before you start screwing or you'll have a loose, lumpy mess on top when you're done and who wants that? No one, that's who.

8. You'll probably have a lot of extra fabric when you're done, hanging down and being gross, so you can just cut that off.

9. There ya go! Like a brand new table!

Eventually, I want to repaint the frame a more neutral color but that costs money that I don't have right now so it'll have to wait. There are a lot of things I want to paint, actually, but money. Darn.