Party Through the USA

I absolutely love the adorable "Galaxy Battle" clip art from @AccaliaDigital on Etsy!  Ever since I bought the set last year, I haven't stopped using them in great games and pinterest images.  I made this card game last summer, but never got around to putting it on the blog.  Since this coming Saturday is May the Fourth, this seems like a good time to get it out into the world. The set of cards feature 20 popular characters from the Star Wars franchise including a Stormtrooper, BB8, Rey, and Bobo Fett.  The PDF is set up to print four cards for every character with a si-fi background to make the cards less see-through.  Just set your printer to double-sided and print the entire packet.  I recommend using cardstock for durability. With the background, the PDF is a bit of an ink sucker, but that's why I love my HP Instant Ink printer!   I can print whatever I want and use as much ink as I want for one monthly fee.  Before we even run out of ink, HP sends up th

I'm absolutely addicted to the DIY play dough kits that are popular among mom blogger right now.  I just drool every time I run across them.  Although I haven't made one of my own yet, but I'd love to assemble some for my own crew.  Play dough is not something most people think about bringing on vacation, but these DIY kits are great for grandma's house, hotels, camping, airplanes, appointments, restaurants, and more.  Since I love them so much, I decided to put together a roundup of my favorites for everyone to see. Dinosaurs // Mama, Papa, Bubba Space // The Imagination Tree Flowers // The Littles and Me Arctic // Art Kit Blog Monsters // Crafts on Sea Frogs // The Kindergarten Connection Pirates // Play Dough to Plato Bugs // Frugal Fun for Boys Butterflies // Sugar, Spice, and Glitter Little Toys for Playing Many of the play dough kits use the tiny toys from Safari Ltd. to establish the theme.  I rounded up some of

When I was a kid, my mom would play 20 Questions with our road trip food.  We called it "Mystery Snacks."  She would secretly buy items that we'd either never tried before, a new flavor of a favorite food, or something we rarely go to eat.  Then, at snack time, we'd have to play 20 Questions to guess the food.  Sometimes, it was very frustrating and no one got the answer for hours and hours (ok, probably only 30 minutes or so).  My mom wouldn't let us give up after 20 Questions, we had to continue until we finally guessed it.  Other times, we guessed it right away.  I haven't played this game with my own kids yet, because I felt like they were a bit too young to understand it.  I think they're ready though and will be trying it with them soon. Indian Snack Mystery Box   ᕯ   Larvae Snacks Japanese Snack Food Package   ᕯ   Bean Boozled The Snack Bar American Foods   ᕯ   Maple Leaf Candy English Candy   ᕯ  Peanut Butter Balls Crav

One of my childhood travel memories involves a plastic ice cream tub.  For years, my mom would keep a empty bin with a snap-on lid on the floor of the minivan in case of potty emergencies.  The only time I remember us using it was when we were stuck in the line for a ferry crossing.  One of us had to go RIGHT NOW, so Mom got out the ice cream tub.  It saved the day and made a lasting impression on the memory of everyone in the car. Although I haven't gotten as smart as my mom yet, I've been thinking a lot lately about our upcoming road trip and what a huge pain it is to take our kids to the bathroom.  Public toilets are gross and germ-filled, and you know kids just have to touch everything in sight!  It's always challenging to know which parent should take the kids with them or how many trips Mom should take back and forth to get everyone pottied (last summer's road trip often had me doing 3 every stop). If you have a child who is easily overwhelmed by bath

1- make sand slime ( Frugal Fun 4 Boys ) 2- fly a kite (Party USA) 3- eat sand dessert cups 4- blow giant bubbles ( Red Ted Art ) 5- build a tide pool ( JDaniel 4's Mom ) 6- paint shells ( Sixth Bloom ) 7- make a sand drizzle sculpture ( Still Playing School ) 8- build a sand volcano ( Growing a Jeweled Rose ) 9- make sand play dough ( Mama, Papa, Bubba ) 10- bury yourself in sand 11- play trains ( Play Trains ) 12- build a sand snowman 13- collect seashells ( Come Together Kids ) 14- build a driftwood town ( Skip to My Lou ) 15- make a sand mill ( Handmade Charlotte ) 16- play driftwood instruments ( Red Ted Art ) 17- stamp your name in the sand ( Views from a Step Stool ) 18- chase waves ( Sixth Bloom ) 19- check off a scavenger hunt ( Natural Beach Living ) 20- read a book ( Party USA ) 21- dye beach sand ( Diana Rambles ) 22- take adorable beach baby pictures ( Natural Beach Living ) 23- make a shell mandala ( Nurture