Parties

Simple DIY Unicorn Party Ideas

Hi, my name is Meagan, and I like to party. {Has anyone else ever seen Hot Rod? Such an underated, super silly-funny film.} I love to entertain – huge, formal holiday gatherings, birthday pool parties, impromptu backyard BBQs, or simple “just because” celebrations, to brighten up boring days. I’m big on embracing the silly, creating your own happy, celebrating small joys. A few favorites we’ve had:

Smurfs Dinner and a Movie night at home.
Little Mermaid Mommy and Me Crafting Day.
Monsters Inc. Playdate Party.
And, one of my most popular posts: DIY a Simple Disney Princess Party.

I love creative, personalized celebrations. I’m also a busy momma, and on a tight budget. So, I use inexpensive store-bought goodies, jazz them up with a bit of clever DIY, and BAM! – Fun themed parties that are easy peasy to create and keep my wallet happy. Know what the secret is to most of those? Walmart. Yeppers. Almost all of my parties start at my local Walmart.

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Posted by Meagan Paullin on March 21, 2017 Filed Under: Theme Parties, DIY, Celebrations | 5 Comments

Host a Barbie and the Secret Door Party

I participated in an In-Home Party Activation on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Mattel. I received product samples to facilitate my party and a promotional item to thank me for participating.

When I was a little girl, I had no other girls to play with. I had three brothers. Almost all of my cousins were boys – the ones that weren’t were way older than me. The kids that lived on my street were pretty much all boys. I could get my brothers to play Barbies with me every once in awhile, if I let He-Man or G.I. Joe come hang out and drive her pink Mustang convertible, but that was about it. So, now that I have a little girl of my own, who loves to play with dolls, I’m totally living it up. Which is why I was super excited for this new movie to come out – Barbie and the Secret Door.

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Posted by Meagan Paullin on October 22, 2014 Filed Under: Celebrations | No Comments

Smurf Cupcakes and Family Night Ideas!

As a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community, this family date night shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study to share fun dinner and movie night ideas using featuring Tyson Batter Tenders & Smurfs 2.

By now, you guys know I love any type of theme night, right? With some creativity, a bit of DIY skill, and just a little extra time, any mom can create a really fun family date night on a budget. And for me, the easiest way to put together an easy family day {whether dinner or playdate} is to base my theme around a super fun family movie. {A couple recent examples: Monsters U lunch, Little Mermaid crafting party} This week, I decided to do a fun movie date night featuring the new Smurfs 2, and those totally yummy Battered Chicken Tenders from Tyson. Some of you might remember me ~~whining~~ – er, mentioning – that I’ve had the flu for 3 days now. But even being under the weather, this was an easy little evening to put together, and the kiddos had a blast. I think I’m feeling better already… :)

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Posted by Meagan Paullin on December 10, 2013 Filed Under: Food, Entertainment, Theme Parties | 5 Comments

How to Host a “Pretty” Spooky Halloween Party

This post is sponsored by Personal Creations. Opinions are my own.

“Hold on, man. We don’t go anywhere with “scary,” “spooky,” “haunted,” or “forbidden” in the title.” – From Scooby-Doo… I totally relate to this quote! I do not like scary movies, creepy decor, haunted houses {unless they’re the non-scary type for little kids} or anything else like that. But I do love me some Halloween fun!! I just like to keep it on the fun side – slightly spooky, but still… you know, happy. Which is why I am SO excited to share some tips for you to host your own “Pretty-Spooky” Halloween Hangout – we had a blast this past weekend decorating, eating sweet treats, and watching classic Halloween movies. Check it out – and share your fave Halloween party ideas with me in the comments at the end. I love hearing from you ladies.

How to have a “Pretty Spooky” Halloween Hangout Party

You know I love to put on parties, right? For awhile I felt like I was working too much – and even though technically I was spending all day at home with Abby, I wasn’t spending enough real time with her, you know? So we now try to take an hour or two every afternoon for some type of themed activity – like our Little Mermaid Crafty Day, or Monsters U Lunch Date – so this past weekend we decided a fun theme would be to host a Halloween Hangout, since we’d have Abby’s cousins for the day. We were super lucky to have gotten an awesome package of products earlier in the week – Treats from Shari’s Berries, beautiful floral decor from ProFlowers, and some super duper fun personalized Halloween pieces from Personal Creations. I usually like to do a lot of DIY when entertaining, but sometimes it’s actually really nice to be able to order some amazing stuff that’s all ready to go. And everything was so gorgeous – and a lot of it WAS made by hand. Check out the awesomeness….

“There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for a brightly-lit front porch.” – Robert Brault

We already have the front yard decorated for Halloween – including lots of twinkling orange lights, a pretend graveyard in the garden filled with tombstones, and some spooky black cats perched atop the fence. This absolutely beautiful fall wreath from ProFlowers is the perfect addition – and is such a pretty way to welcome party-goers to our house all season long. I may weave a strand of tiny solar lights in it for Halloween, to greet trick or treaters. And – it’s hard to tell because it looks so fresh, but this is actually made from dried flowers, so it can be used year after year. LOVE. [Read more…]

Posted by Meagan Paullin on October 9, 2013 Filed Under: Holidays, Featured Halloween | 4 Comments

Little Mermaid Party Ideas – Lots of Disney Princess Crafts and DIY!

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This Disney Princesses The Little Mermaid Party Ideas shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and their client, Disney Walmart.

I love Disney Princesses – I’m sure you’ve guessed that by now. I have a Pirates & Princess party board on Pinterest, that I used when planning Abby and her cousin’s birthday party this summer. I also have a Disney Fun board too, where I collect more princess ideas. We’ve had a Cinderella party, a Disney Princess birthday party, and we’re planning a fun princess tea party for one of these days when I get all of the little girls together. I love sharing sneak peeks at the new Disney movies – {did you see that they’re making a new live-action Cinderella movie? So excited!} And another thing I love is creating fun memories for Abby, like our recent The Little Mermaid crafting party.

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Posted by Meagan Paullin on September 23, 2013 Filed Under: Theme Parties, Celebrations | 8 Comments

The Secret to Creating Awesome Frozen Cocktails

Thank you to Daily’s Cocktails for sending me a goodie bag filled with fun #DestinationDailys gear, and trusting me to share my opinion on their products with you awesome ladies…

“The trouble with jogging is that the ice falls out of your glass.” – Martin Mull… That quote pretty much sums up my approach to summer. I love lazy days, relaxing on the patio in my hammock {I just bought this portable Double Hammock and am in love.} I love watching the kids splash around in the pool while I sip a cool fruity drink, letting the day slip by slowly. Oh wait – that’s what I WOULD love to do if I had more time! And as a super over-scheduled work at home mom, with a toddler of my own, and two wild nephews all day – time is something that is in short supply around here. But, since this site is all about “Smart Solutions for Busy Moms” – I of course have found a couple of short-cuts that help me have a little more time to lounge in the hammock with a drink in hand. Keep reading to learn about the easiest way ever to make frozen cocktails.

Daily’s Pouches – The easiest way to make frozen cocktails [Read more…]

Posted by Meagan Paullin on August 1, 2013 Filed Under: Celebrations | No Comments

How to DIY a Perfect Disney Princess Party on a Budget

I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This shop and easy Princess party celebration has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and it client. #DreamParty #cbias

How to host a super simple Princess Party

If you’ve read this site very long, you know how much I LOVE to throw a party. Just in the past few months, we’ve had a Cinderella Princess Party, a Monsters U playdate, and then last weekend we had a HUGE double birthday party for my little girl Abby, {she turned 3} and my nephew who turned 7. It was a super fun time – half of the party was jungle animal themed {stay tuned to see details on that one!} – and the other half was Disney Princess style. But, since we’d just spent a full 7 days up camping in the mountains, I had only a really short time to put it all together. And I’m excited to show you what I found that made it seriously simple to throw a perfect princess birthday party – keep reading to check it out and learn how to make the best birthday ever…

Creating a Dream Birthday Party Celebration

Ok, I’ve been known to go a little overboard with parties. I like to put together great music playlists, fun foods for the kids, and loads of themed decorations – even for little pool party get togethers. What can I say? “My name is Meagan, and I like to party.” :) But, all of that work can be crazy-time consuming. Hitting up the craft store, the party supply store, ordering stuff online, going to a bakery, then to the grocery store… That’s a lot of work. But ladies, there’s an easier way – Walmart. Yep, in just one stop I got absolutely EVERYTHING that I needed for this princess party. From food and a specially designed cake to party decor and even gifts, and I did it on a budget too.

Princess Party DIY Display table

Walmart has a super cool new party section {at select stores} where they’ve partnered with Hallmark and Disney to put together themed “shops” with everything you need to create a dream party for your kids. {If you want to see everything we bought, and where you can find it, check out my Princess Party birthday shopping spree trip.} I bought one package that included all of the party favors above – princess wands, tattoos, sparkly rings, and those little boxes are filled with rolls of princess stickers. So much fun. Then I used a couple of the paper plates we bought, and glued a plastic princess cup in between – and bam! I had a super cute, and super affordable, display table to show off all of the little prizes and favors.

Princess Party Games

The girls got to pick one of the pretty princess party favors each time we finished played a game, until they were all gone. If you’re planning your own party too, here are a few ideas you can use for games and activities to keep little girls busy and entertained:

Princess Puzzle: Buy a Disney Princess puzzle at Walmart. Then hide the pieces around the house. {We used the toddler type puzzle, where there’s only 10-15 bigger pieces.} Then have the girls work together to find the pieces and put the puzzle together.
Freeze: Tell the girls that the evil stepmother is threatening to “freeze” the entire kingdom. Then turn on the music, and let them dance until the evil stepmother {adult} turns the music off. Then they all have to FREEZE!
Princess Play Doh: Pick up some basic Play Doh in pretty colors, and some assorted bottles of glitter in the Walmart craft section. Let the girls pick their favorite glitters, and knead them into their doh, making it princessy.

There are also a ton of cute games and crafts you can buy at Walmart – the party section has kits to make your own tiara and a balloon drop, and the toy section has a cute Princess Cupcake game too.

More Princess Fun – Decorating Party Hats

I bought a package of the Disney Princess party hats in the Dream Party section, and a roll of Birthday Princess ribbon in the craft department. Then, after we played games and the girls all had their boxes of princess stickers, I let them decorate their own princess hats. How cute are these?

Princess party cups instead of favor bags

Instead of buying those little plastic favor bags {which are super cute, I know} – I bought a big selection of these plastic princess cups. {They’re only .97 cents each, can you believe that? And they even hold up in the dishwasher.} The girls each got to choose their favorite one, and fill ’em up with their favors all day long. They loved them!

Disney Princess Party Movies

And of course, we had all of our favorite Disney Princess movies playing all day long! I’m such a junkie for princess films :) I also have the Disney Princess game for the Wii, and we let the girls play that for awhile too. It’s super cute watching them pretend to be their favorite princesses.

It’s time to make a wish…

After all of the fun games, and some time to swim in the pool – it was time for cake and ice cream! That’s my nephew on the left, and Abby blowing out the candles on her Little Mermaid cake from Walmart. And in the background – that’s my brother. Even he got into the Disney Princess party spirit :) We got to customize the cake any way we wanted – so we got a yellow cake with chocolate butter cream filling. Delish, seriously. I think it was the best store-bought cake I’ve ever had!

What’s a birthday celebration without presents?

We got princess gift bags, pretty wrapping paper, and more princess ribbon to wrap all of Abby’s gifts. And of course – her presents were princess-themed too! I got her this adorable Ariel carriage to match her cake, an Ariel Mermaid Barbie, a huge set of Disney princess dollies, and more – all at Walmart, which means they were a great deal. I definitely had a happy little princess that day…

DISNEY PRINCESS SUBSCRIPTION BOX MAKES THE BEST GIFT!

If you’re here, I’m guessing that you are a Disney Princess lover too :) So, you HAVE to check out these super amazing PLEY subscription boxes. They now have Disney Princess boxes!! You can see a bit of Abby’s favorite box, and all that comes in it, in the video above. I priced all of the items that were in it, on Amazon and the Disney Store – and this box was a seriously amazing deal. Plus it’s so fun that it’s always a surprise of which princess is coming next, there are exclusive items, and the box turns into a really cool DIY castle, tower, etc to play with too. We can’t say enough good stuff about this!! This would be such a fun gift for a birthday girl.

More info on creating your own Dream Birthday Party:

Save big on party supplies!!! Join IBOTTA: You get $10 in free cash for signing up with my link. And you can earn cash back just for entering receipts after you shop. For parties, you can earn on all kinds of snacks, drinks {even grown-up style drinks like beer, wine, and liquor!}, party decorations, cleaning supplies, paper plates and napkins, etc. You can earn cash back on some gifts purchased on Amazon. Rebates of 10% at Jo-Ann craft stores. Endless ideas! You can even earn cash back for booking stuff like a day at a Trampoline park, dinner gift certificates, or other cool stuff on Groupon. You’ll love it. I use this EVERY TIME I plan a party.
You can follow me on Pinterest for loads of cool ideas. Theme parties, party foods and drinks, my Disney Fun board, and more. Because you know you can’t plan a party without Pinterest!!
If you shop at Walmart regularly, as I do – be sure to sign up for a Savings Catcher account. You just enter your receipts there, just like you do at Ibotta, and earn free Walmart gift cards if anything you purchased is cheaper at another local store. Very cool.
If you have some items you want to buy it bulk – like party favors, vases, plates, balloons, crafts, etc, check out DollarTree.com. We use them all the time – in-store and online. I recently used the online bulk buy option to get crafts for a bunch of little girls to make Moana-themed luau party accessories. It’s SUCH an easy way to stock up.

If you have fun party ideas you want to show off – I’d LOVE to see them! You can feel free to post them on my Facebook page, tag me on Instagram or Twitter, I have so much fun seeing what you guys come up with. :)