Keeping My Style Wrinkle Free
The Easiest Party I’ve Ever Planned
I feel like I learned something in my first three years of hosting children’s birthday parties – they were exhausting the way I was doing them, and I needed to make a change! I was focused so much on every little detail of each party, I hardly had time to enjoy them myself. I remember that after each of my son’s birthday parties I was so tired I needed a vacation after they were finished because I put so much work into them.
When it came time to plan my son’s forth birthday, I decided to try something different. I wanted to focus more on enjoying the party myself with my son, so I made changes in the way I threw this year’s party.
First of all, when it came to invitations Minted took care of most of the work for me. I easily picked a template I loved that was customizable, and the best part was that they allowed me to add a return addresses to the envelopes. I ordered the birthday invitations, and the thank you cards as well. Something small like having the return addresses printed, and having the thank you cards personalized saved so much time!
I also loved the way Minted sent everything. It all came in a protected box and was personalized with information on the designer of the invitations, and a hand written seal from the person who packaged the invites.
As you can see from the invites, we decided to have a movie-themed party! I decided that I didn’t want to worry about making a main table for the party like I always do, or rent somewhere that I would need to decorate the night before or the morning of, so we decided to rent a movie theatre!
Landmark Theatre offers a birthday party package where you can researve seating for your party and have use of a party room after, but because we had so many toddlers to invite who may have been seeing a move for the first time, we decided to rent a whole theatre for our party.
This was amazing for a couple reasons – first of all, no need to decorate, and no need to worry about the clean up! Everything would be taken care of for us which was great.
All of my son’s friends and family were in one room, and we could be as loud and unruly as we wanted! It also gave us the opportunity to invite whole families who wanted to come out as well. We decided to screen The Angry Birds Movie, and it was something even the parents could enjoy.
What we also loved was that we actually had the whole movie theatre to ourselves! We had the party at 10:00am, so the theatre wasn’t even open to the public yet so we had the whole place to ourselves which was pretty cool.
Landmark Theatre creates personalized tickets for your event as well, so not only was it one less thing for me to worry about, but the kids could bring these tickets to the concession stand for their own kid’s snack pack for the movie.
Having the party at a movie theatre was the perfect solution to my issue with obsessing over every little Pinterest-type detail.
Finally I had the chance to enjoy the party with everyone else, and I felt like this was the type of party that everyone could enjoy instead of it just involving kids activities.
I hardly spent any time preparing for the party at all! The only thing I had to handle was the treat bags, which I kept super simple.
I received a cute printable from Crea8ive Design and made little candy bags, and the treat bags were sourced by Party City. I didn’t even stuff them because my son actually really wanted to do it!
We had a great birthday party for my son, and I think I learned a super valuable lesson that I wish I learned a bit earlier. I really don’t want to look back at my son’s birthday’s and think about how much work they were. I really want to remember how much fun they were, and I think my little epiphany paid off!
Item’s in this post were provided to me for review, but all opinions are fabulously my own.
#FlippforMoms All May Long + Enter to win a $100 Spafinder Gift Card!
I rarely get on the bandwagon of apps, but there is one that I absolutely love for grocery shopping called Flipp!
My friend Jen introduced it to me, and I’ve truly found it to be one of the most useful apps I’ve ever used! Instead of clipping coupons, you can search the app for specials on the items you want to purchase.
The app easily stores these virtual clippings for you, and then you can just show your phone to the cashier and voila – money saved! For shoes! Ok, so maybe just saving the money can be a great reward, but when I tend to save I just redistribute that money to my shoe collection.
I’m not organized enough to be a coupon clipper, but Flipp makes it so much easier because I hardly go anywhere without my phone. The app easily looks up your location, and brings the relevant flyers you need right to your phone.
You can search through flyers for deals in your area, or look up a specific product to price match in the store. You can also organize your shopping list in the app as well. It really is convenient! Did I also mention the app is free? There’s really no excuse not to try it out.
For the whole month of May Flipp is doing a giveaway each week for deserving moms on their Facebook and Twitter pages. They have decided (and rightfully so!) that moms don’t just deserve one day of appreciation, but a whole month! You can learn more about the contests and the #FlippforMoms campaign on their Facebook page here!
I’ve teamed up with Flipp to give away one lucky reader a $100 Spafinder gift card! Flipp is looking to make your day a little more special and a lot more fun, so not only can you enter their weekly contests, but you can also enter one here on the blog as well!
Please enter via the Rafflecopter widget below. The contest is open to Canadian residents only. Good luck to everyone who enters!
To learn more about Flipp, visit their website here!
I was compensated in exchange for this post, but all opinions are fabulously my own!
Taking Care of Small Dog Needs + Enter to Win a #SpringforSmallDogs Mars Canada Prize Package!
Our Yorkie Maverick is a little smaller than your average dog. Actually, he’s a little smaller than your average Yorkie!
Weighing in at only 5 lbs, he was not only the single boy of the litter, but the runt. I wouldn’t actually call him a runt to his face because he’s got the attitude of a Rotweiller!
He’s also a huge softie and spends his time cuddling on the couch with us, playing with our toddler, and lately sleeping in our bed. For a little dog it’s amazing how much of the bed he seems to need to himself.
Did you know that more and more Canadians are choosing to own small dogs?
60% of dog households in Canada own a small dog (a small dog is classified as weighing 35 lbs or less).
As a small dog he’s always had some specific needs, and one of them is the type of food he eats. Since day one we have always had to be careful with the type of food we feed him because he has a sensitive stomach. Small dogs also tend to be fussy eaters, and pound for pound they actually need more energy than large dogs.
This spring poor Maverick recently had to have a few teeth removed. This meant he had to take it easy on the hard food until he was healed. His surgery coincided with him receiving a pretty cool gift package from Mars Canada outfitted with some new products that we decided to try with him.
The pack had some really fun items that were just his size!
Included inside were a few set of dog bowls just his size for food and water, a cozy dog bed that was the perfect fit (great – now he can hopefully get out of MY bed!), and some really fun toys that were fit for a small dog. I’ve seen this poor dog go chasing after a tennis ball that was too big, or try to drag a toy back that was too heavy and it’s been hard to watch. All of these toys were the right size, and there was even a treat dispenser that kept him pretty occupied!
One of my favourites was the rain poncho. Yes, we are those people who dress our dog in sweatshirts and jackets but hey – would you want to go outside when it’s cold without a jacket? Our little dog has a thin layer of fur so this rain jacket has already been put to good use.
Finally, the food! This was pretty important to us because we are very picky over what we feed Maverick. With his surgery he really needed soft food to get him back on his feet, but we didn’t realize how much he would love it!
Cesar® makes some pretty incredible individual-sized meals for dogs like Beef Stroganoff and Meat Lasagna. I think my husband was actually considering eating one, and I actually wouldn’t have judged him that much because they looked so good. Maverick normally has a sensitive stomach, and he ate these Cesar® meals without a problem!
Once Maverick’s mouth healed we tried out hard food again, and luckily the IAMS® Small and Toy Breed formula had small bites so it was easy for him to chew. He transitioned very easily from the soft food to the hard food which we were relieved about. Now he’s back to his regular self, and we couldn’t be happier!
It’s been especially important for us to remember with our experience with Maverick that with along with daily brushing, food and treats are important to small dogs’ oral care regime. It’s not just their teeth that need to be looked after – their mouths require daily care so their gums and teeth are well taken care of.
As a small dog parent I’ve learned to look for food designed and developed small dogs needs, and brands like CESAR®, IAMS® and PEDIGREE® offer specialized recipes for small dogs. Cesar® has “H:” shaped kibble specially designed for easy pick up, and IAMS® and Pedigree® kibble designed for smaller jaws and easier to chew.
How would you like to win a prize package for your own small dog made especially with their size in mind?
I’m giving away a huge package from Mars Canada to one lucky reader on the blog! Included in the package is everything in the photo below.
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You can enter to win via the Rafflecopter widget below. This contest is open to Canadian residents only.
Good luck to everyone who enters!