Okay world, I am back. I think.
Life has been full since the arrival of the munchkin, to the extent that I feel there aren't enough hours in a day. The week goes by fast, and the weekend even faster. Baby A is doing great, she'll be five months in ten days!
Now for the goodie bags that this post is about (I know, I digress. Way too often.)
Early September we hosted our first family reunion ever. We all had so much fun that we're confident this is a family tradition in the making. Our nieces (ages 4 - 10) were visiting us for the first time and I wanted to get them presents. But it is really difficult to shop for kids these days, what with all the handhelds and iPads and dolls. They seem to have everything already! I really thought this one out (eReaders to dolls to artsy stuff to books, whatnot!) and realized that for children it is the sheer count that counts! So I went about buying trinkets - dry erase boards, head bands, scrunchies, flashlight keychains, bubbles, snap on bracelets, jump rope, word puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, nice notebooks, pens and the likes. I kept the puzzles age appropriate, the older girls got harder word puzzles and more pieces in their jigsaws.
When it was time to pack it all in, I almost went ahead and picked out gift bags at the store. Almost. Put 'em back, came home and made these drawstring backpacks for them instead!
These were simple and inexpensive, the girls loved them and the labels really impressed the family :)
And it gets better - I got these fabric markers that the kiddos used to personalize their bags. I sat with them as they made rainbows and faces and flowers and wrote their names, and helped them stick eyes to the faces (with fabri-tac) and tied jingle bells to their bags for them! We had fun, the girls had something to do while the elders played and they each got a bag to take home with them.
My favorite part was when Suhani looked at me and said - "This is the coolest gift ever!"
I love those girls, am so looking forward to seeing them next year!
Life has been full since the arrival of the munchkin, to the extent that I feel there aren't enough hours in a day. The week goes by fast, and the weekend even faster. Baby A is doing great, she'll be five months in ten days!
Now for the goodie bags that this post is about (I know, I digress. Way too often.)
Early September we hosted our first family reunion ever. We all had so much fun that we're confident this is a family tradition in the making. Our nieces (ages 4 - 10) were visiting us for the first time and I wanted to get them presents. But it is really difficult to shop for kids these days, what with all the handhelds and iPads and dolls. They seem to have everything already! I really thought this one out (eReaders to dolls to artsy stuff to books, whatnot!) and realized that for children it is the sheer count that counts! So I went about buying trinkets - dry erase boards, head bands, scrunchies, flashlight keychains, bubbles, snap on bracelets, jump rope, word puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, nice notebooks, pens and the likes. I kept the puzzles age appropriate, the older girls got harder word puzzles and more pieces in their jigsaws.
When it was time to pack it all in, I almost went ahead and picked out gift bags at the store. Almost. Put 'em back, came home and made these drawstring backpacks for them instead!
These were simple and inexpensive, the girls loved them and the labels really impressed the family :)
And it gets better - I got these fabric markers that the kiddos used to personalize their bags. I sat with them as they made rainbows and faces and flowers and wrote their names, and helped them stick eyes to the faces (with fabri-tac) and tied jingle bells to their bags for them! We had fun, the girls had something to do while the elders played and they each got a bag to take home with them.
My favorite part was when Suhani looked at me and said - "This is the coolest gift ever!"
I love those girls, am so looking forward to seeing them next year!
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