*DISCLOSURE: I RECEIVED THESE PRODUCTS COMPLIMENTARY FOR REVIEW PURPOSES. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE MY OWN. Raise your hands if y’all are into matching Christmas Pajamas 🙋🏻♀️ If you’ve been following me for a while… More
Easter Basket Ideas 2020: Toddler Girl & Boy
Never in my wildest dreams did I picture being on lockdown and on self-quarantine for Easter but from the looks of it, I don’t think Cassie and Xavi will get to do an Easter Egg Hunt with their friends this year. The Corona Virus is still continuing to increase in numbers and it hasn’t even reached its peak so this year’s lists have a lot of things we can enjoy at home while we’re doing our share by practicing social distancing.
We’re doing a BIG Easter gift , a playset from Coco Village, instead of going crazy on their baskets because of our current situation so we reused their baskets from last year and I also included in their baskets some items that I’ve been hoarding for them. Clothes and shoes were the last on my list because we still have a lot plus I don’t think we’re going anywhere any time soon, we’ve been living in our Pjs for the most part so without further ado, here’s this year’s Easter Basket Ideas.
Btw, here’s the bundle deal from Coco Village: the kitchen, the mini market and a shopping cart all for $199. Don’t forget to use the code: LETSPLAY at checkout if you wanna get your kids the entire set.
1. We are the Gardeners Book ||
Joanna Gaines is still “all the craze” and we snagged this book with its spring-perfect illustrations from Ollie’s for $3.99.
Thought I’d show you the prints that you’re getting if you’re purchasing the box. The fantasy-feel of these illustrations make the perfect display for Cassie and Xavi’s room when we redecorate it. We were lucky to find it on sale at our local Ollie’s for $2.99.
3. Educational Insights Hoppy Floppy’s Happy Hunt ||
The perfect Easter game to play with your kids ages 3+ (and yes, you can still play with it after Easter). Its a great first exposure to board games as it teaches our little ones fine motor skills while having fun.
4. Wonder Nation Girls Denim Blue Stripe Sandals With Ankle Strap ||
Not sure why these sandals give me a “Mediterranean getaway” feel but they’re comfy, they have cute striped bows and are convenient to put on and take off. #momwin
5. Cry Babies Magic Tears Fantasy House||
Obsessed—-ever since we got exposed to Cry Babies, Cassie would not stop talking about them so we are grateful for Cry Babies for sending us a bunch of their Fantasy House line to add to Cassie’s Easter basket.
They are these cute little babies that have their own houses and when you bottle feed them, they cry real tears, their pets have a line too and they also have their own cartoon series, just a heads up.
6. Wonder Nation Striped Sleeveless Dress ||
Was surprised when Walmart came out with this beaut . I fell in love with the colors and I think its the perfect dress for Spring and Summer.
7. Educational Insights Playfoam Pals Unicorn Magic 2-pack ||
Another gifted item from Educational insights that Cassie is excited to play with—thank you.
Right now there are two things she is looking forward to: playing with the squishy playfoam and the surprise waiting for her inside.
8. Squishmallows Easter Plush Toy||
Buttery soft and squishy—that’s all you need to know.
1.Squishmallows Easter Plush Toy ||
Again, buttery soft and squishy—- I wouldn’t be surprised if your kids want to collect them all.
2.Hearth and Hand 6 pk Play Animals||
Yes, we always get excited over the wooden toys Hearth and Hand comes out with but Xavi has been wanting to play with Cassie’s doll house and what better way for them to play together if he had some animals to contribute to their pretend play, right?
There are different versions can teach your little ones about shapes, numbers, colors, etc. Right now we want to focus on numbers for Xavi so that’s what we got for him. Learning numbers through Eggs—- I though that would be an Egg-citing add on to the Easter basket. 😀
4.Piper Finn Oxfords ||
Probably one of our most favorite brands, they have the cutest shoes from Oxfords to Mary Janes. They’re stylish and comfortable you wouldn’t want your kids to ever outgrow them.
5. Magnetic Wooden Dolls – Career Jigsaw Puzzle ||
Perfect for developing Xavi’s matching and sorting skills and a great way to introduce him to the idea of “occupation”.
6. Dinosaurs Jumbo Sorting & Counting/ Matching Game ||
Xavi is obsessed with anything dinosaur right now, this will serve as a great stacking toy and when he’s ready we can eventually transition it to a sorting game to teach him fine motor skills.
7.June and January Tank Jumper ||
If you’re big on color basics and mix n match then June and January is the brand to know. Their jumpers are a fresh add-on to any kids wardrobe.
8. The Little Homie Books (First 50 Words with 50 Cent and Where are My Homies At?)||
Where my Homies at? Hahaha.
I don’t think a lot of the people I know (now) enjoy Hip Hop but I know I did back in the days. These books are a cute and a fun way to introduce your kids to some legendary Hiphop icons.
For add ons, the tattoos from Ducky Street are always fun, they have the cutest designs and are ver affordable.
There you have it guys, I know this Easter is somewhat out of the ordinary but I hope you have a blessed celebration indoors. Be safe, Stay healthy and have a Happy Easter!
~Rhea
INFLUENSTER: CoverGirl Exhibitionist 2.0 Voxbox
*DISCLOSURE: I RECEIVED THESE PRODUCTS COMPLIMENTARY FOR REVIEW PURPOSES. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE MY OWN.
CoverGirl Easy Breezy Brow Draw & Fill
I love the slant tip of this brow pencil and the cushion tip on the other end, it made the process of filling up my brows so easy because it filled up a lot of area in one go compared to the pointed tip brow pencil. The shade went will with the actual color of my brows and it lasted the entire day. I’d definitely purchase this again!
CoverGirl Exhibitionist EyeLiner
This pencil was “easy-glide” in every aspect, you have to be careful when putting it on. Upon application I exerted the same effort I usually do with my old pencil and it came out too dark (almost like a “goth look”) so I would stay light on those fingers, you don’t need a lot to line your eye. In my experience, it took more than half of the day before it showed any signs of smearing. I personally like this eyeliner, it just needs a little getting used to.
CoverGirl Exhibitionist Lipgloss
I honestly have not used lipgloss in a while because I have not found that wasn’t too sticky for me. Surprisingly, this one was light on the lips and easy to apply, it wasn’t sticky at all and it didn’t have a weird scent (or taste, haha). I also loved how it lasted me for the most part of the day and rarely needed to reapply. Can I also just say that I enjoyed the shade of red that they sent, I’m usually picky with my reds but this one worked for me.
CoverGirl Exhibitionist Uncensored Mascara
As I’ve mentioned in some of my past blog entries, I have short lashes so it takes a lot of good mascara for my lashes to even “show”. It doesn’t take rocket science to figure out how to apply mascara but for some reason I couldn’t understand the brush or the applicator of this one. I didn’t see much of a difference when I applied the mascara, only that it looked darker by a bit. It’s lightweight though, I’d give it that and it also didn’t smear a lot for me so that’s one thing that worked great for me.
All of these came in handy for my everyday mom-look, not all the time I want to look like a mombie so thanks Influenster for sending these my way.
~Rhea
Virtual Diary: Valentines 2020
Xavi Turns Two: TWO-rannosaurus Rex Party
My baby is officially a ‘Big Boy’ now!!!
(or so he says)
Our original plan this year was to travel as a family since the holidays were pretty hectic, I wasn’t sure I was ready for party planning stress but then with Marco’s crazy schedule at work and with some prior commitments at Cassie’s school we had to postpone travel plans and so I told Marco that I’d just throw a playdate for Xavi. We’ve come up with a small local mom group here in Muncie and we rotate houses to hold play dates so I figured it would be a perfect time to host a playdate (on the day of Xavi’s actual birthday), at least we could somehow celebrate Xavi’s birthday, right?
Then mom guilt started kicking in, I mean Cassie had a pretty big birthday celebration last October and when she turned two during our first year here in Muncie, we didn’t know a lot of people yet even then we had a big party for her. I almost considered just having a small party at Escapades like when he turned One but I wanted to be comfortable at home so exactly 5 days before his birthday I decided a theme for the playdate and officially made it a playdate birthday party by sending out an invite.
Everything was going to be last minute so I decided on a theme that would be easy to execute and since Xavi already got a dinosaur suit from Pilica for Christmas and a dinosaur balloon that we didn’t get to inflate, might as well go with that theme. I also used pretty much all of his dinosaur toys to somewhat decorate the place. The rest of the supplies were from the dollar store and Walmart and I did a bunch of easy DIY projects that I will touch on in this blog post.
First dino toy spotted as a centerpiece, I randomly just put them all over the place.
For the backdrop, I just used two different shades of green crepe paper rolls that I got from the dollar store and Walmart. I cut long strips just above floor level (or however long you want the strips) and taped them on the wall alternating. I printed some leaf templates I found on line on different shades of green colored construction paper and placed them on top of each other so I could cut them all at once. I did the same for the dinosaur prints but this time on brown colored construction paper, decorate as desired.
Above are the templates I used for the backdrop I made for Xavi’s birthday, Click on them to use.
We ordered our goodies from our favorite chef here in Muncie, Chef Maggie of Simply Patisserie and I was so glad that she was still able to do our order considering that we asked her last minute.
Dino toy #2 spotted along with the white chocolate pretzels aka “Dino Fossils”
Xavi’s chocolate Dino cake
Toy #3 spotted with the letter board
I reused the ballon garland strip from Cassie’s birthday and just popped all the leftover balloons from her birthday. I bought 12-pack green and gold balloons from Walmart and 15-pack white balloons from the Dollar Tree and filled the strip up once I inflated them. The big dinosaur balloon was the one we got from Pilica and you can get that at your local Target.
Loot bags were done last minute as well, we had left over sandwich bags from Cassie’s birthday and I searched for a random baby T-Rex online to put on it. I would’ve done a whole lot more if I had the time (like a hatching egg or maybe dino foot print thank you tags ) but then again, its supposedly just a a playdate, right?
We threw in our favorite chocolates in there and I found some ‘dinosaur themed’ items to just tie in the theme— crayons, stickers, erasers, slap bands, dino goo and finger puppets.
Above is the printable we used for the loot bags. Image c/o Shutterstock.com
Dollar Tree FTW! Dinosaur paper plates and napkins, the things you find at your dollar store.
Love how we found this Cat and Jack Triceratops sweater on clearance at our local target.
You know the kids are having fun when they make a lot of mess. Haha.
Xavi enjoyed his chocolate birthday cake from Chef Maggie of Simply Patisserie. The kids always enjoy getting your cake, cupcakes and sugar cookies.
And Daddy made it home! Marco was long call today so he came home late, we waited for him so Xavi could blow his candle and slice the cake.
Ninang Telly is in town!!!
As usual Tita Ditas spoiling the little boy. 🙂
Perfect way to end Xavi’s birthday, Mexican night with the Rousseaus. I had my frozen margarita so it’s all good.
And that wraps it up guys, I hope those templates will somewhat help you throw an awesome Dinosaur Party. I know it made Xavi’s playdate look like a planned party playdate even if it was done last minute.
~Rhea
Cassie Turns Four: Enchanted FOUR-est Party
This was another last minute party but surprisingly it didn’t stress me out as much as I thought it would. The reason why it became “last-minute” was because Cassie wanted to take part in the party planning this year, she’s FOUR now and of course she wants to have a say in EVERYTHING. So originally she wanted a Unicorn Party and then considered an LOL Party and then a Frozen Party and then we went to the Minnetrista Fairies, Sprites and Light event and that did it for her, we were doing a Fairy Party. Oh and I decided to put my foot down that’s how we finally agreed with the theme, but she was a bit concerned that some of her boy guests wouldn’t come because it was “too girly” so we called it an Enchanted FOUR-est party instead of a fairy party which gave us more wiggle room to include some woodland creatures.
The Set Up
I moved Cassie’s teepee outside and layered some cheap rugs from Five Below to cushion the area. I also draped a floral leaf garland that I found on clearance at Joann Fabrics to match the floral centerpieces on the table which by the way we found at our local Goodwill for $2.99 per arrangement. How lucky were we when we found 4 pieces of those a day or two before her party.
Those tables were stacked up wooden pallets that I found on FB marketplace and we got it for $3/ piece, there were 8 pieces in this set up. We were so lucky too coz he was the only one selling a ton of similar sized wooden pallets within our area.
I totally forgot about covering the pallets until I finished arranging them (didn’t want the kids to accidentally get splinters), then I realized I didn’t have any table cloth or just any cloth long enough to cover the whole thing. So I rummaged through ,my linen closet and found some quilts we weren’t using at that time, its crazy how you find the most random things at home just when you need them. The pillows were obviously from the living room and I just threw them in there to complete the look, I would’ve added more if I had more lying around, haha.
The fairy wings from the Dollar Tree made the perfect backdrop and it was so accessible for the kids to grab whichever color they liked (also to take home)
The pop up white canopy tent we purchased from Amazon. Click here for the link.
Made some floral head dresses for the girls and found some Animal Headbands from Dollar Tree for the boys. It’s been ages since I’ve made headdresses so I tweaked them a bit and used floral wire which wasn’t the best move since it made them flimsy but at the same time I didn’t want them to be too stiff and too hard around the girls’ head so I went with it. Here’s my original DIY tutorial from 6 years ago.
Imagine this set up without the greenery, that was what it looked like 30 minutes before the party. I totally forgot about the backdrop and thought it would look fine with just the balloon but it looked so bare. I went to the backyard and started scouring the area for overgrown plants that would go well with the theme, I literally cut the overgrown branches and just taped them on the wall and voila! I couldn’t believe the final touch to Cassie’s dessert table was just sitting in our backyard, and it was FREE too.
The real live flowers on the cake complemented the greenery backdrop I made
Marco loves the red velvet cupcakes the best, I think next time we should try ordering a red velvet cake.
This has got to be one of our favorites from Chef Maggie of Simply Patisserie. A lot of people loved the cake, some loved the cupcakes best and of course the kids thought the cookies were the best. They all agreed though that these goodies were pinterest worthy, the best part is the taste lives up to its looks.
DIY Loot Bags:
Brown Paper Sandwich bags, scissors, artificial flowers, woodland creatures printable, Roll of Jute twine, hole puncher, paper doilies and Thank You tag printable
Best part is you can find all of these at your local dollar store unless of course they’re out of stock (except for the printable)
I had two sets of loot bags ready for the guests, I had some floral ones (in the back) and some woodland creatures up in the front to distinguish which ones were for the girls and which ones were for the boys.
The ‘Thank You’ cards I found online from Blooming Homestead and printed last minute, of course it took time to cut them, punch holes and tie them onto the loot bags but I finished just around the same time the first guest walked in, talk about a buzzer beater.
I set up an arts and crafts section on the side where they could paint their own fairy houses or design their own fairy wands
We were so worried about the weather but God kept his promise and made it a perfect day—not too hot, not too windy, not too sunny, not too cloudy…just right!
I wish I took more pictures of the kids in the bouncy house because the kids literally had so much fun with it. A special shout out to Boogie Bounce, LLC , for coming all the way from Indy if I’m not mistaken and for giving us a very reasonable rate, their service was 100% excellent. I was honestly surprised they didn’t charge me all those crazy add ons the bouncy house companies here in Muncie were charging me— like delivery fee (what for? we’re in the same city?), set-up fee ( I guess they expected us to blow that dang thing) and after office hours fee ( yeah, someone was charging us more if rental went beyond 4 pm on a weekend). They (and I mean a dad and his daughter) came in early to set up the bouncy house, gave us the rules (pretty basic like no sharp objects in there, no wearing of shoes while bouncing inside), as soon as everything was up they left and they were nice enough to leave the bouncy house until morning the next day without additional charge.
Time to blow her candle!
She was sooo happy her classmates and her playdate buddies could come.
My last minute DIY fairy house piñata made out of recycled boxes, left over crepe paper roll, left over ribbons, left over artificial flowers and a whole lot of glue.
Our little guests sporting my hand made headdress.
Never complete without our silly faces family photo.
…And the Birthday Girl is out.
Little brother followed suit
Thanks to everyone who made Cassie’s special day extra special, thank you for coming to the party, for spending time with her and for celebrating out little girl. I also want to give thanks to our family and friends who couldn’t make it, thank you for your birthday greetings and your prayers, you made one little fairy girl extremely happy.
Happy Birthday Cass! Daddy, Mommy and Xavi love you so much, hope you had a blast!
Thanks for reading up guys!
~Rhea
The Social Tumbleweed 