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When we think of birthday party gifts, the first thing that comes to mind is the gifts that guests bring for the birthday boy or girl.  But it’s also nice to send the guests themselves home with a small gift.  It’s a nice way of expressing appreciation for their attendance.

If you’re playing party games, gifts could take the form of prizes.  But unless you come up with a way for every child to win something, you’ll also need some party favors to give everyone.  Here are some ideas for thoughtful gifts that won’t break the bank.

Party Favors

You can often find inexpensive party favors to use in grab bags at your local dollar store.  It’s possible that they’ll even have something that matches with your theme.  If they don’t have items that have exactly the same theme, you can almost always find some more general favors like costume jewelry, bouncy balls, or toy cars.

Some nicely packaged candy is an appreciated and inexpensive favor.  You’ll just need a large bag of candy, some small cellophane bags or tulle, and some ribbon to tie them up with.  You can also add shaped beads or other decorations if you like.

Letting kids make their own favors provides a fun party activity and a unique favor to take home.  It’s even better if you can find a project that fits well with the theme.  For example, girls at a princess party could make tiaras out of construction paper or poster board and decorate them with markers, paint, or stick-on gems.

You could also use more general items for projects.  For example, you might buy inexpensive items such as plastic visors and provide paint for the kids to personalize them with.  These types of projects are inexpensive, easy and fun.

Prizes

If the kids will be playing games for prizes, offering something a little more elaborate than the standard party favors is in order.  It doesn’t necessarily have to be more expensive, just something above and beyond what everyone is getting.

Filling a jar with jelly beans, hard candy, or some other small treat provides both a game and a prize.  Guests can write down their guesses as to how many of the items are in the jar, and the one who gets the closest can take the jar home to enjoy.  Or, if you prefer, you could provide another prize and let everyone have some of the candy from the jar.

The dollar store should also have some good items to give away as prizes.  Small stuffed animals, jump ropes, and other inexpensive but fun toys work nicely as prizes.  You could also get a few even less expensive items and put them into a gift bag or basket for a special prize.

Gifts in the form of party favors and prizes will give your child’s party guests something to remember the party by.  They also let the guests know how much their presence was appreciated.  These gifts do not have to be expensive to be appreciated.  It is, after all, the thought that counts.

Need more tips on how to plan a fun birthday party?
Grab this freebie: Mom’s Guide To Fun Easy Kids Birthday Parties

Halloween may be a fun time but did you know that Halloween is also a time when children are at risk of getting injuries? I opened my mailbox this morning and found this warning from American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS).  They highlighted the following statistics that show Halloween as  one of the top 3 holidays that produce the most ER visits:

• Finger/hand injuries accounted for the greatest proportion of injuries on Halloween (17.6 percent).
• Of the finger/hand injuries sustained on Halloween, 33.3 percent were lacerations and 20.1 percent were fractures.
• Children ages 10-14 sustained the greatest proportion of injuries (30.3 percent).

The stats are based on pediatric emergency room visits for holiday-related injuries from the years 1997 – 2006.

Source:  D’Ippolito A, Collins CL, Comstock RD. Epidemiology of pediatric holiday-related injuries presenting to US emergency departments. Pediatrics. 2010 May;125(5):931-7.

Kids get hurt from falling down during trick o’ treating and also from pumpkin carving. You can click over to their article on Halloween Safety Tips for more information.

I just want to point out that there is an alternative to pumpkin carving: Painting Pumpkins.
Be wise this Halloween and take steps to keep your children safe. Don’t allow them to use knives. There is a right way to carve pumpkins. It is so easy for excited children to make a mistake and end up being badly injured. They can be safe with pumpkin painting and you’re not taking any fun away.  It is really fun and if you need help, here are some pumpkin painting ideas.

TagYerit has some photos of what others have done.

Related articles

• Easy, affordable Halloween projects that kids – and adults – will love (valuebookshop.com)

You always have games at a party, and since kids love to run around, you might as well organize the mayhem. Whether you are hosting your child’s birthday party inside or out, keeping it fun and fair is a must.

• Make sure to have an activity for the kids to enjoy while they wait for all guests to arrive, like an activity book or word search.
• As the children arrive, take pictures of each party guest with the birthday child as another activity.
• Pick games where everyone can participate.
• Be sure there’s plenty to do – plan more games and activities than you have time for.
• Don’t forget about safety: balloons are a choking hazard for babies and toddlers; favors sometimes have tiny parts meant for older kids; and swinging a bat at a pinata is always cause for caution during game time.
• Keep the prizes small so kids don’t get jealous, or get their feelings hurt.
• If the kids are getting too wild, it’s time for a sit down game or story (keep one on hand).
• Include non-competitive games, maybe even crafts.

By keeping these simple tips in mind, you’ll be sure to have a party that will be fun, safe, and fair for all of the children who attend.

If you want save time and effort, click here for fun printable birthday games.

Preschool can be very difficult for young children.  They don’t have a concept of time, so it is hard for them to understand that they will be at the preschool for a portion of the day and then you will pick them up again.  Kids can have a difficult time letting their mom or dad leave.

Everyone has seen scenes where a child is clinging to their parent, tears coursing down their face, and the parent is reluctant to leave, glancing around for some help.  This is not only hard for the child, but also for the parent.  I think we have all seen or faced this experience.

Situations like these can be less stressful if you follow 2 simple ideas.

• Familiarization.
  If you are starting out at a new preschool, visit before the first day and take a tour of the school.  Tell your child how they get to be big now and go to school.  Show them where their things will belong.  Find out what they will be doing on their first day.  Most schools have a schedule with themes and activities mapped out.  You can talk about how they get to paint today, or they are learning about clowns.  Get your child excited about what they will be doing. Prepare them by telling them what to expect.
• Don’t over sensationalize.
  When the day arrives to take them to school, don’t make a big deal about saying goodbye.  Help them hang up their things and take them to their teacher.  Give them a quick kiss or hug and say goodbye.  Then turn around and leave.  This is the hardest part – walking away.  Dragging out the goodbyes only makes it more emotional for your child.  If you don’t act like you will be missing them throughout the day, they won’t act that way either. If you are tense and worried, your child will pick that feeling up from you.

Having your child go to preschool for the first time can be an emotional experience for both parent and child. It may be rough the first few weeks especially if your child is going through separation anxiety. Don’t deny their feelings. Instead, acknowledge them. Then keep on reassuring them and soon, the difficult part will past. Don’t forget to work with the teachers and get their input. They’ve faced many such situations. They are your best ally.

It’s not good for children to watch too much television. Unfortunately, many of us mothers find television to be a very useful babysitter. If you are cracking your head on how to keep your children busy and away from the television, here are some ideas.

• Do simple crafts. Little children can do some gluing e.g. gluing beans on an art paper to form the letter B.  There are lots of things you can do with paper plates and toilet rolls too.  See how I did this kite craft with my kids.  If you need more craft ideas, check out this affiliate link: LITTLE KIDS CRAFTS
• Older children can learn origami.
• Maybe someone’s birthday is coming up, or a celebration like Christmas or Father’s Day. How about crafting a card.
• Make a candy flower.  Or a lollipop flower.
• Teach them to do some Manga drawing.
• Give them balloons to play with. Oh, this one will definitely keep them occupied for a long while. You can also encourage them to draw on the balloons. This is actually a good pre-writing activity.
• Alternatively, make water balloons for them to burst. Of course this one has to be done outside the house.
• Playdoh. Here is a recipe for uncooked playdoh and another for cooked playdoh.
• Go bicycling.
• Make cookies or muffins together.
• Play boardgames, card games, puzzles and many other kinds of interesting indoor games you can find on the shelves of at the stores.
• Bubbles
• Singing time. Sing nursery songs, folk songs, church primary songs etc….
• Read books.
• Make a smoothie.
• Play with Lego or building blocks.
• Put out the kiddy swimming pool.
• Playing with a ball. Use it to bowl over some bottles. Try to throw it into a box or your laundry basket.  Toss it up and catch it to improve coordination.
• Play hide and seek. An alternative is you hide their teddy bear (or whatever) and they have to find it.
• Pretend play. Pretend to be a doctor and care for all the injured soft toys. Pretend to work in a restaurant where they need to take people’s orders and cook the food. Pretend to be a teacher.
• Play charades. Take turns acting out something and the other has to guess what it is.
• Give them simple house chores like wiping dust off the furniture.
• Give them blankets and sheets to put over chairs and tables to make like a camp.
• Let them watch you as you cook. Teach them the name of foods and vegetables. Give them kitchen tips like “how come mommy doesn’t cut her hand when she cuts the vegetables?”
• Make and play with sock puppets.
• Take a walk round the neighborhood and count stuff like trees, cars, houses etc….
• Make flowers out of colored tissue paper. Here’s a video to show you how.

There are lots of things children can do, so don’t just let them sit in front of the television. What are some things that you do to keep your children away from the television?

Is it enough for your child to only learn the fundamental skills of reading, writing, math, and science needed to be competitive in the high-tech workforce of 21st century? While these skills are essentials, they may not prepare a child to face the complex and evolving society of tomorrow when they enter their adult life.

At home, you need to teach your child skills that they must acquire as they step into adulthood and begin their life independently. You can teach these skills by setting examples, by talking to them, and giving your child some freedom to practice these skills even if they fail initially. So, what are these skills?

Social skills like compassion, love, listening, etc. are difficult tasks for many children. One of the most difficult tasks is listening and we find lots of adults lack this skill because they were not taught how to listen to others when they were young.

Teach your child the importance of listening and trying to understand what others are saying before she speaks out. Set yourself as an example by not interrupting your child when she is telling you something.

As kids, we learn how to be competitive and we carry those competitive instincts in to our adulthood by resorting to back-stabbing, undercutting and feelings of resentment. Instead, let your child learn that there is room for many people to be successful as a group.

Encourage your child to participate in group sports and games like baseball, volleyball, etc. where the success of the team depends on the cooperation among team members. This will instill in your child the sense of helping each other to be successful.

Teach your child how to manage failure. Childhood is filled with ups and downs. Many parents resort to bad examples when their child fails in an endeavor. Don’t set examples that will be interpreted as “failure is bad” by your child.

Instead, help them develop can-do-attitude by setting examples for your and child’s failures. Encourage them to move on and learn lessons from their failure so that they can apply those lessons to succeed the next time.

Many parents avoid asking their children to do household chores because they think that their children are not ready yet. The same is also true for giving the financial responsibilities to a child. But parents should teach the concept of responsibilities to their kids from their early ages.

Give your child small age-appropriate jobs to accomplish within a time frame. There should be age appropriate reward and punishment components to the job. You should also teach your child the concept of saving, budgeting, paying your bills on time, living within one’s means, and other personal finance matters.