Category

Baby Life

in Baby Life, Toddler Life

How to Plan a Kid’s Halloween Party

Since COVID arrived, less families participate in trick or treating..which is understandable. 2020 was my first year as a parent and I didn’t want the year to go by without celebrating this spooky holiday! So I decided to have a Halloween party that my friends could safely enjoy with their kids and babies. Below are the super easy and affordable games I created along with snacks that all the adults and kids enjoyed!

Affordable & Easy Halloween Crafts for Kids / Babies

When it comes to throwing parties for kids, it’s best to have things for all ages to enjoy. I always make sure to have a mixture of crafts and games set-up throughout the house. 

When it comes to parties, I love to find ways to save money. I knew there were going to be a few babies at the party so I wanted to have a sensory game they could enjoy as well.

DIY WITCH POTION

What You Need: 

  • witch potion kit (click pictures for Amazon link)
  • assorted glitter
  • assorted food color
  • stir sticks, I used cake pop sticks
  • empty 2 oz cups
  • funnel, water

*I created an instruction sheet that mentions to pour water in a clear cup, add glitter, food color, and use a funnel to pour your potion into a bottle. Then you decorate your bottle with a sticker and charm! Although this was a blast, it was very messy. Adult supervision is required since children tend to over pour, spill things, and some of the GLASS potion bottles ended up breaking.  

Purpose: For children to create a secret witch potion and decorate the bottle with a spooky accessories. 

PUMPKIN PAINTING

What You Need: 

  • plain white pumpkins
  • paint brushes
  • assorted paint
  • cups of water

Purpose: For kids to let their creativity flow and decorate a pumpkin with paint

FACE PAINTING

What You Need: 

  • face mask stencils
  • paint brushes
  • cups of water
  • mirror
  • wipes or makeup remover wipes

Purpose: For adults to use the stencils and paint to create a design on their child’s face

What You Need: 

  • candy corn sticket kit (click picture for Amazon link)
  • assorted stickers
  • assorted rhinestones

Purpose: For toddlers to decorate their favorite candy corn monster

What You Need: 

  • foam monster kit (click picture for Amazon link)
  • glue stick
  • googly eyes
  •  

Purpose: For toddlers to decorate their favorite foam monster face.

Affordable Halloween Games for Babies and Toddlers

PAINT IN A BAG (SENSORY GAME)

What You Need: 

  • 2 ziploc bags
  • painters tape
  • different color paint bottles

*Carefully squeeze large amounts of paint into a ziploc bag. Seal the bag shut. Place the bag on a tile/hardwood floor and secure the outside edges with tape. 

Purpose: For babies to use their fingers to paint mess free.

MONSTER GOOGLY EYES (SENSORY BAG) 

What You Need: 

  • ziploc bags
  • different monsters printed on a paper
  • googly eyes
  • hair gel (any color)
  • painters tape

*Tape down printed monster paper on a table or floor. Place googly eyes and squeeze hair gel inside ziploc bag. Close bag and make sure there’s no air bubbles. Tape down bag over the monster paper. 

Purpose: To move the eyes onto the different monsters. (mess free)

PUMPKIN TIC-TAC-TOE

What You Need: 

  • 10 small pumpkins, two different colors
  • a string a rope
  • tape

*Create a 9 square grid with your string and tape down on a table. 

Purpose: 2 player game to play tic-tac-toe with pumpkins to get 3 in a row.

PAPER PLATE PUPPETS

What You Need: 

  • paper plates, popsicle sticks
  • assorted washable paint colors
  • paint brushes, markers
  • cup with clean water
  • assorted construction paper
  • safety scissors, glue/glue sticks

Purpose: For kids to create halloween inspired characters on a paper plate so they can wear it as a mask. 

COOKIE DECORATING 

What You Need:

  • paper plates
  • plastic knives
  • assorted sprinkles
  • sugar cookies
  • assorted cookie icing flavors
  • seran wrap

Purpose: for kids to decorate their own cookies. If you make plates ahead of time this will reduce the mess of sprinkles everywhere and it’s more sanitary for everyone to have their own set of sprinkles.

PUMPKIN BEAN BAG TOSS

((Note: the game pictured was purchased from the link at end of page. Below is how you can make your own))

What You Need:

  • 6 empty cans
  • 3 bean bags, or balls
  • halloween decorated paper
  • tape

*wrap paper around the cans and use tape to secure it

Purpose: to stand back and try to knock down the cans 

PUMPKIN MEMORY GAME

What You Need:

If using printer: create 12 large pumpkins with 6 different jack-o-lantern faces on MS word, print on card stock paper and cut it out. 

If using paper plates: paint plates orange and wait for paint to dry. Draw jack-o-lantern faces with a sharpie. Glue pieces of green construction paper on top of the plate.

Purpose: To flip over pumpkins to get two of a kind.

RING TOSS

What You Need: 

  • small cones
  • 2 rings

Purpose: To stand back and toss rings onto the cones

PUMPKIN GOLF

What You Need

  • 1 large pumpkin, knife
  • kids golf club, balls

*Remove inside of pumpkin. Carve out eyes and a large mouth that the balls can fit into.

Purpose: To try to make it into the Jack-o-lanterns mouth with the golf balls.

Party Snacks for Kids & Adults

Food is one of the most important things for a party! Below are the yummy treats I served!

  • White chocolate covered pretzels (used orange food coloring and green m&ms)
  • Cinnamon sugar bats (used tortillas and baked them in the oven)
  • Frankenstein cups (used vanilla pudding cups, green food coloring, and crushed oreo cookies)
  • Mandarin orange cups (hot glue green pipe cleaner for the stem)
  • Ghost suckers (covered tootsie pops with a napkin)
  • Nuggets, chicken flautas, pizza bites, ham/turkey sliders
  • Baby apple sauce packets & crackers

Must Have Party Supplies!

“I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.”  

in Baby Life, Preg Life

Post-Partum Bathroom Routine

One of the biggest changes in post-partum is your daily routine when you go to the restroom. A typically 2 minute potty break will turn into 5-10 minutes. I wasn’t aware of how different things would be for me, so I wanted to share some things that help me heal from having a natural child birth. Just remember to be patient with yourself and understand that this is all a part of the healing process and every new mom experiences the same thing. 😊

Main Essentials

**It’s beneficial to set up a small table by your toilet at home or you can put these items nearby on the counter**

  • peri bottle (Use this to gently squirt warm water down there to clean the area instead of using a million toilet tissues)
  • extra heavy pads (do not use tampons!)
  • disposable underwear (it’s easier to throw away blood stained underwear instead of messing up your own. Recommend mesh underwear for c-section scars since the fabric is looser)
  • ice maxi pads (helps soothe
  • sitz bath (you can soak in the toilet seat bath to reduce inflammation and relieve pain)
  • witch hazel (helps soothe the soreness)
  • frida tablets (drop these in the sitz bath for additional relief)
  • hemorrhoid wipes/pads (use as directed if you have hemorrhoids)

Since your vagina and bottom will be really sore and feel swollen after a natural birth, you can make these padsicles ahead of time to help soothe the area. 

 

What you need:

Always overnight pads, Witch hazel, Aloe Vera 100% gel, Lavender essential oil

Steps:

  1. Partially unwrap a few pads at a time, but don’t detach the wrapper. Spread aloe vera generously up and down the whole pad. Don’t just do the middle part, spread it further down almost to the bottom of the pad. Just trust me on that.
  2. Pour about a teaspoon of witch hazel down the middle.
  3. Add a few drops of lavender oil. Fold the pads back up to how they were and stick them in a gallon sized plastic bag, then freeze.
  4. Pull them out of the freezer, one by one, as needed and let them thaw for two or three minutes before use.

**Instructions and pictures provided by: PrettyProvidence

Restroom Life at Home Continued..

For the first couple of weeks you will not be able to control your bladder. A little pee may come out if you laugh too hard or it may come while you’re rushing to the restroom. I really don’t know why that is, but it happened to me and my friends. Buttt you’ll be okay since you’ll still have on the thick pads and disposable underwear lol. 😉

 

Your lower body is still going to be sore in the first couple of weeks. So don’t be hard on yourself if it takes you longer to sit down on the toilet or get out of the shower.

Start to monitor how often you poop. If it’s been a couple days and you can’t go, you can buy stool softener or try eating foods that’ll make you have a bowel movement. And of course contact your doctor if you think your constipation is an issue.

Blood Discharge

It’s best to continue to use the peri bottle when you go to the restroom until the bleeding stops. If you have stitches down there, be sure to pat dry the area so you don’t risk tearing a stitch.

It’s important to watch how much blood discharge you have. The more active you are, the more you’ll bleed. Try to stay off your feet and minimize doing house hold chores / bending down for the first month.

I think my heavy bleeding lasted about two weeks and then I switched to regular pads and underwear. Blood clots the size of a quarter are normal. If you get blood clots larger than a plum, call your doctor immediately!

Patience is Key

You should know that this process isn’t easy for anyone and everyone’s healing time will vary. Planning ahead will take away any added stress and it’ll help your time in the restroom become manageable. Please remember to be patient with yourself take it day by day and THERE IS light at the end of the tunnel.

“I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.”  

in Baby Life

How to make a baby changing station

Out of everything in your baby’s room you will spend the most time at your changing table. So it’s important for that to be a one stop shop while you’re baby is screaming their head off or shooting rainbows of pee all over the place.

Find the right type of dresser

To me a dresser is the way to go so the kid can use it throughout his life as he gets older. Actual changing tables are cute, buutttt they’re pretty small and can get pricey.  I ordered a kids dresser from Rooms To Go that had these awesome cut out shelves on the top! You don’t need very many drawers because lets be honest, how much clothes will they have? Also remember, their items are miniature which can easily be folded and rolled for more room. Messes will occur so I don’t suggest something that can get stained or scratched up easily. 

What you need on top

A water resistant changing pad is the way to go! Yes there’s so many cute changing pad covers/sheets but don’t do it!!! Your child will s*** and pee like there’s no tomorrow and that cute stuff will look like boo-boo…literally. I’ve linked my pad below and love the high sides to help keep the kid in one spot. I also keep paper pads nearby for when he blows out his diaper and has poop all on his back and onesie. The diaper organizer I found was small enough for my dresser and perfect for everything I need on hand.

What you need in the drawers

If you don’t have open shelves like my dresser, I suggest storing extra diapers and wipes inside your drawers. If you have a boy, you’ll save money on wipes because you really don’t need to wipe their wee-wee when they pee pee lol (childish, I know). We also rip our wipes in half if we don’t have to clean up a big mess.

Bibs, bibs, bibs, and more bibs! Babies have an excessive amount of drool and spit up like it’s nobody business. That’s why I took up a whole drawer for our bibs and burb cloths.

I ordered these nifty organizers below for all of his clothes and they’re absolutely perfect! If you have grandparents helping you watch your kid it’s best to label all the drawers to make it easier for them. Orrr if the Dad is watching him…they def need all the help they can get lol. So make labels your best friend! I separated my clothing by their different stages, so 0-3 months, 3-6 months..and so on. Once they out grow a drawer empty it out and move the next stage drawer in it’s place.

How to dispose diapers

I was trying to be cautious on money and convince myself that we can use a regular trashcan for dirty diapers. But nope! Silly me. You defff need a diaper trash can cause when those poop diapers pile up…whewww chile, that’s a smell you can’t mask lol. His grandpa was gracious enough to gift us with this diaper genie linked below and I have no complaints with it at all. Of course when you open it, the smell will burn off your noise hairs lol but when it’s closed the smell doesn’t escape from it.

I wish you the best with your bundle of joy and I hope you have fun putting together your diaper station…aka new best friend lol. 💚💚

Click images below to shop my fave products mentioned in this post!

“I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.”  

Close