Fun Cheap Birthday Traditions

Making birthdays special without spending a fortune, it's the little things that count!

In our family we have quite a few birthday traditions. The list has grown over the years, once you do something for one, you have to do it for everyone every year apparently! Some of these are starting to drop off now the kids are older, some we will do forever I think.

Homemade Cake

First up is home made cake. Always. A birthday is not a birthday without cake and homemade is just the best. Even before we had kids my husband would always make me a homemade cake, when they were young he would have them "helping" with the mixing and decorating. 
You can see lots of cakes we've made over the years here, if you are after some ideas. I also have a board on pinterest of cakes I dream of being able to make someday. 
If you have never made a cake before I have an absolute beginners 101 guide to making a simple sponge here.

Birthday Breakfast

This all began when the kids were little, and had to go to school on their birthday. We would all get up a bit earlier than usual, and the birthday person would come down to find the table laid nicely and their presents waiting for them.
Their chair has a birthday balloon tied to it and cushions on the seat and back so they are super comfy!

We eat Croissants and Chocolate Pastries and drink Tropicana from wine glasses ('cos we know how to live large!)

The kids also have a birthday placemat which I must have made about 13 years ago! It's just laminated paper but because they are only used for 1 day a year they are still in pretty good condition - we still get them out now!

The Birthday Banner

This all started when our youngest was about 5 and his big sister made him this beauty. 

I do have his permission to publish this awesome photo!

For the next few birthdays we made a fresh one each time. Then we wised up and I printed this dinosaur one and we used that for several years. 
On our respective 40th's my husband and I were lucky enough to have these beautiful things hanging on the front of the house!

We have even had some sophisticated Bunting style banner's in recent years.

Home made cards 

Everyone in the house makes cards for each other, I can't remember the last time anyone bought a card. The kids used to paint, draw, cut and stick etc. Nowadays they mostly use the computer and do something terribly funny in publisher, often involving a photo of the birthday persons head cut out and stuck on the head of a film, tv or game character. Wordclouds from Tagxedo and Wordle also appear quite often as they are easy and free. My husband usually rustles up something lovely involving an old photo.
You can see some of my card ideas here, here, here and here.

The idea to share our birthday traditions came when I read this lovely idea from One Creative Mommy

Birthday Pizza - How brilliant is that?!

For someone whose Birthday comes right after Christmas how about this clever idea from The Writer Revived?

Turn the Christmas tree into a birthday tree with a quick decoration swap!

Leanna from All Done Monkey has a lovely idea of making a Milestones Birthday Book, which you fill in each year on your child's birthday ready to present to them when they finally fly the nest. Leanna has provided a free printable to get you started or you could easily adapt the idea, add whatever things you'd like to record each year.

Jamie from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom shows us how easy it is to make a balloon avalanche to surprise a birthday person.

In the house of I Heart Naptime they kept things simple one year for a 3rd Birthday but still had lots of balloons and these lovely streamers on the bedroom door.

Over at Sa Sea Living they have a lovely tradition of taking a photo of the birthday person ever year. One you need to start from year one I guess but really beautiful if you can remember every year. (they also have homemade cake too and they look amazing)

Growing a Jeweled Rose have a whole load of fun birthday traditions, from balloons and streamers to a special birthday bath to end the day!

What birthday traditions do you have?

12 alternative ideas for novelty yarn

12 non knit or crochet ideas for novelty or fancy yarns.

It happens SO often, I see a beautiful textured yarn that just seems so pretty and interesting I find I've bought it before I've really thought about what I am going to make. 
There are so many different types, eyelash, bouclé, slub, nub, chenille, ribbon, ladder, loop, snarl ....
Some fancy or novelty yarns are a dream to knit or crochet with but some really not so much!
For me trying to crochet with anything too fancy is a bit of a problem, a lot of fluff and I just can't see the stitches.

So if you, like me, have forked out on these balls of gorgeous looking yarn that just sit there and make you feel bad for spending that money I've found a few rather lovely alternative ideas.

Gift wrap, ribbon alternative

I bought this lovely textured yarn quite a few years ago. I found it in a discount bin and imagined crocheting a long, thin, floaty, elegant scarf to wear on mild spring days.

I crocheted about a foot and realised that I was making something that looked like an old rag... 

However it is really pretty as a much cheaper ribbon alternative for gift wrapping.

It's easy to use left over fancy yarns and wools (or anything that turned out to be a "purchasing error") as an alternative to ribbon.

I think a pom pom is fun on a present. If you make them on your hand (I first found this method here) they are SO quick, just use a long strand for tying them in the middle and use that for wrapping the gift.

If you visit Sum of their Stories often you might recognise this fluffy fur yarn, it's left over from my chunky rib hat making adventure.

Eyelash yarn is not something I have ever really made anything successful out of. That's not to say you can't, I'm sure very skilful people make extraordinary things from it. In fact the wolves and rabbits at Yarnia were all eyelash yarn, but for me it is just too much going on.

Looks pretty with plain gift wrap though (maybe I should have ironed this paper first!)

Here are some more ideas from other sites with all sorts of ways to use fancy yarns that don't involve knitting or crochet.

Kristin from My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia used cardboard and a fluffy yarn to make this beautiful heart shaped wreath. So simple, so effective, and you could cut any shape card to make a wreath for any time of the year.

This gorgeous knotted wall hanging from The Gathered Home used a mix of  yarns. Apparently not a quick project but there is a great step by step tutorial to lead you through the process.

Or if you are looking for something super quick, how about a knotted scarf like this one from Something Turquoise? 

Here's another wall hanging idea, this one is from A Designer at Home.

It's inspired by a Moroccan Wedding Blanket and looks really easy to put together.

How about this for an activity for the kids? Yarn wrapped sticks from Mum in the Mad House.

Or maybe you know some kids who would like to make yarn wrapped fish.

Fantastic Fun and Learning show you how, and you are not limited to fish, any simple shape would work.

This garland is from enJOY it by Elise Blaha Cripe, she made it for a baby shower but it would be a beautiful decoration for all sorts of occasions. I'm thinking what a lovely photo backdrop it would make too.

This is an old lampshade give a complete makeover using what looks like the kind of twine you can make with fabric scraps (like I used for a bracelet once here) It is such a transformation from how it looked before, check out the tutorial by Ashley at Blog a la Cart.

I think this would work with any kind of yarn but I guess anything chunky would be much quicker.

Now I know I promised no knit or crochet but... this necklace type cowl is finger knitting - that doesn't really count does it? 

It's from Fiber Flux and there is even a fab video tutorial to help you make it.

Love love love this pom pom cushion from A Stroll Thru Life

So classy and designer looking but a simple DIY.

And finally how about this sweet little nest, made with wire and eyelash yarn, so pretty.

You can find out how to make it over at The Magic Onions

So, use up your stash including those "I need to really concentrate" yarns. What you do with the space you make is up to you of course, but if it results in another trip to a wool shop I can't be held responsible!

You might also be interested in:

Diamond Stitch Crochet Baby Blanket

Earphone Wire Tidy

Harry Potter Scarf Pattern

Crochet Owl Brooch

I'll be linking up to all these great link parties, why not go and have a look.

Easy Paper Serviette Poinsettias

These pretty poinsettias are so easy to make from red paper serviettes or napkins.

I'm over at The Pinning Mama again today with a simple tutorial showing how to make pretty poinsettias from paper serviettes. I have no idea why I always seem to choose a project to share on The Pinning Mama which involves a transatlantic translation issue! Serviettes or Napkins - what do you call them where you are? I've always called them serviettes, I think a napkin is a very fancy damask thing you'd find in an episode of Downton Abbey! I gather though that, for all my US friends, these paper party thingumajigs are known as napkins.

Luckily the poinsettias are easier to make than the vocabulary is to work out.

Pop over here to see how to rustle up a bunch in no time at all.

Wedding Day Emergency Kit

When my lovely friend and colleague got married a little while ago I gave her an emergency jar full of little things she might need on the day.

Back in February I'd seen a couple of really beautiful wedding gifts using jars by Desiree at 36th Ave, check her's out here and here, they are just gorgeous. Now I look again, mine are nothing like Desiree's masterpieces. I improvised and used what I had, let's just say I was "inspired by" rather than actually attempting to recreate!

Really what I did here was a tweak of the Gold Heart Pot I made for my makeup brushes, I did this at the same time using mostly the same materials.

To make one you need:

• A jar with a lid. Mine was just an old chocolate spread jar. Another time I would use a bigger jar, it was hard to fit everything in here that I wanted to
• Gold spray paint
• A sticker, mine was a heart
• Washi tape or low tack masking tape
• Paper
• Ribbon or thread
• A button with a shank
• Strong glue - mine was superglue
• Small bits and pieces you might need on your wedding day

I washed and dried the jar then prepared it in the same way as the Gold heart Pot. A sticker in the middle and washi tape to secure paper to the top.

As my jar had a ridge top and bottom I used that as a guide and used the washi tape and paper to mask off the top and bottom areas.

The whole thing got a coat of gold spray paint.

Then I peeled off the washi tape and sticker. The lid also got a spray of gold but apparently I didn't take any photos.

As the wedding had a blue colour scheme I made a simple tag in Picmonkey, you can right click on the image below and save it to your computer if you'd like to use it, but it is very easy to make your own.

Once I printed and cut that out I assembled the contents.

You can include whatever you like, depending on the size of your jar. I added:

Mini deodorant

Breath freshener

Tissues

Sample size perfume

Lipstick

Lip balm

Sewing kit

Headache tablets

I attached the gift tag with blue twine and then as a finishing touch glued a sparkly button to the lid. I chose one with a shank (I think that's what you call that sticking out bit) so it would stick up and form a knob of sorts.

If I do this again I would use a bigger jar, just so I have more options with what to include. I would also think ahead and find a small drawer knob or similar to use instead of the button. I think the button is ok on this small jar but would be too small on a larger jar. 

You might also be interested in:

Gold Heart Pot

Rings and Things Dishes

Plastic Tub Planter

Personalised Wedding Picture

I'll be linking up to all these great link parties, why not go and have a look!