Staying Home Sawyer

Real Life Living on a Real Life Budget

Uncategorized

Easy Holiday Gift for 21+

This post is sponsored by Incomm gift cards and Walgreens.

Christmas is officially just a little over six weeks away, are you ready? I am most definitely not, but I did already buy two gifts so clearly I’m on my way. I’ve gotta give myself props where I can, so I don’t get overwhelmed with the lengthy list I have to complete!

I’m one of those people who likes to get something personal for each of my friends and family members. So I spend weeks scrounging the internet looking for that personal item until I finally call it quits a week before Christmas and just order something online.

But this year is different. This year I’m prepared. This year, I’m winning the best gift giver award. This year, I’m gifting the best combo: a little bubbly and an Uber gift card so they can enjoy said bubbly.

First, I went to Walgreens to look through their extensive selection of Incomm gift cards. I grabbed an Uber card and a bottle of bubbly (the perfect combination right?) and got right to work. At home, I glitterized (yes, I made that a word) the bottle. Then I tied some pretty ribbon around the bottle and tied the card to it. I added a little ornament for even more pizazz.

If you ask me, this is the perfect gift for all of my 21+ friends. Who wouldn’t like to enjoy the bottle of bubbly knowing they already have a safe ride home?

#GiftGreatWithWalgreens

DIY, Holidays!

You’ve Been Booed!

This year I’m not going to be left behind. And I’m not going to let you be left behind either. So here’s your friendly reminder to MAKE YOUR BOO BASKETS NOW!

Last year our neighborhood did the whole ‘you’ve been booed’ thing as usual, but last year we were one of the last ones to be BOOed. This left me scrambling to come up with stuff to put in another Boo basket (and also with not many options as to who to Boo next). Everything Halloween sells out so quickly, so get your start on it now!

Print these files for your baskets, and voila! You’re done. Now you can relax for the rest of the season…

Click here for the “You’ve Been Booed” door sign.

Click here for the “You’ve Been Booed” letter.

Click here for the “Hey Boo” print.

Birthday's

In N Out Birthday Party

It’s official! Quinn is ONE! I still haven’t even blogged about her birth story but hey, all in good time, right?

If I’m being honest, I’ve been mentally planning this In N Out (or shall we say, “QuIn N Out”) party for years. I just never knew what the special occasion would be. When we did an In N Out theme birth announcement for Quinn, I knew then when I’d get to use it!

Our family frequents In N Out at least once a week, so going with the themed birth announcement, and then continuing the same theme throughout her monthly milestone photos was right on par with our family.

But how to do a little twist on the classic red and yellow colors? Make it pink of course! So after enlisting the help of my creative friend, a mood board was born.

We put a little twist on the traditional In N Out placemat by changing the burger story to a Quinn story, complete with all the details about this newly one year old!

I knew we had to have custom cookies for this party, and I’m so glad I ordered them. Look how cool they turned out!

My friend does custom acrylic pieces, so she made this custom cake topper that really tied it all together!

I used felt to hand-sew hamburgers and toppings, along with french fries that we served out of the little playhouse in the yard. We got some extra wrappers from In N Out so they could serve them up in the right way!

I also handmade the giant Q pinata, and put a little spin on the classic fringe by bunching together tissue paper instead of using a fringe cutter.

I printed out burger outlines on cardstock, filled little bins with all kinds of craft materials, and let the kids fill in each topping with the corresponding color crafts to make a ‘craft’ burger.

We also had shirts made that had our In N Out orders printed on them! Those were probably one of my favorite things about the party, but we didn’t get any great photos of them!

DIY, Holidays!

Easy Fourth of July Crafts

If you’re in the same boat as me, you want to be crafty for all the fun holidays, but you run out of time to actually be crafty. So I’ve got you covered. Here’s a few fun crafts that won’t take you too much time, too much money, or too much of your sanity.

Craft #1

Deck out your sparklers with this easy, cheap project. Simply print this page, cut out the stars, and tape the sparklers to it. All you’ll need is cardstock, tape, a glue stick, and a little string. If you want step by step directions, watch my Instagram reel here.

Craft #2

Painted stars. These are as easy as they look. Just grab a pack of wooden stars (I found mine on clearance 3/$1.50 at Target), some paint, and go to work. I also sprinkled some glitter on them when the girls were done painting them. Pro tip: let your kids use their fingers. It’s more fun than paintbrushes. If you want step by step directions, watch this Instagram reel here.

When they were done painting them, I just cut their initials out of cardstock and used a glue gun to adhere them. Then I used them as place settings at a little ‘party’ we had for the Fourth.

Craft #3

This one is for you mama, or maybe older kids. Fourth of July bracelets! You could make them with whatever words you’d like to personalize them. These are the beads I ordered off Amazon, but you could order any clay beads. If you get into making these bracelets for every occasion like I have, you will need extra letters too, here’s the pack I ordered.

These are really easy to make. The elastic comes with the bead set, just string the beads on in any order you like, and double knot the elastic when you’re done. To make them even sturdier, I added a tiny dab of super glue to the knot when I was done!