the allen's: The Big 4

It’s getting to be that time of year again…Miss Lucy’s birthday. (More on Ty’s birthday and party later.) After much deliberation she has decided that she wants a mermaid party – more specifically an Ariel mermaid party, but I’m not a big fan of licensed character anything, so I’m sticking with a generic mermaid decorating theme. Even though the party is still over a month away I am in full planning mode. My inspiration for the décor this year is Lucy’s party dress.

To keep everything cohesive I’m going to stick with a palette of aqua blues and lime green. Recently, I loaded up the monkeys and we made a trip down to the local Dollar Tree to hunt for decorating supplies. And I do mean “hunt.” You never know what usable items you might find at the dollar store. You have to keep an open mind. Sometimes you hit and sometimes you miss. Luckily, this time I hit a homerun – seashells, bright, white sand, blue candles, table cloths, fish nets, and iridescent blue and green marbles – all items which will look great on our party table.

I’ve also spent my fair share of time browsing Pinterest for some creative mermaid-y ideas. One of my favorites was an idea I’m planning to use for party favors. I never have liked the idea of sending kids home with plastic baggies filled with $0.25 toys. (Not that my kids don’t think these are the greatest things.) I usually try to come up with something a little out of the box for party favors. So here’s what I’m thinking for the mermaid party.

Seashell hair bows.

Remember those shells I found at Dollar Tree? After spray painting a few them silver, I glued them onto bows I crafted out of tulle and ribbon. All of which coordinate with the aqua and lime color scheme, of course. Isn’t it cute? I hope the girlies love them!

Ok, if you aren’t Lucy’s grandparent, feel free to stop reading now. Lol. I thought I’d take the opportunity to suggest a few ideas for birthday gifts. Yes, these are all educational, but they’re fun too. Lucy actually loves doing school-y things. In fact, she begs me almost everyday to do “school work.” She’s gonna be a breeze to homeschool. Woo hoo!

First is this neat set of rhyming puzzles. Lucy is a whiz when it comes to puzzles. They can keep her entertained for hours. I plan to work a lot on reading with Lucy this year, and I think these would be a fun way for her to practice her sounds.

Here’s a little something that would help Lucy work on her math skills. Counting Bears. There are sooo many games and learning activities that you can do with these – counting, sorting, patterns, adding, etc.

These are a set of activity cards to use with the bears.

I love Melissa & Doug products. Here’s a little twist on the ordinary puzzle. Something like this would help Lucy with her colors, shapes, and fine motor skills.

I’ve never heard of this next game, but it got such great reviews online, that I had to include it. The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel game apparently covers a wide range of pre-K skills. It looks like it would be a fun game for us to enjoy together.

Check out the Text and Learn by Leapfrog. I like that the letters are arranged like a real cell phone. It won’t be long before Lucy will be wanting to send real texts, so she might as well be learning where the keys are. It looks like a fun little toy at a great price.