Category Archives: Holiday

4 Pairs of Glow-in-the-Dark Shoes For Kids, Great For Trick-or-Treating This Halloween!

Holiday, Shoes, ,

So you’re getting the kids ready for trick-or-treating on Halloween.

You probably have..

  • a costume
  • candy bucket
  • flashlight
  • candy to hand out
  • and I’m sure you’ve practiced trick-or-treating manners with your kids, right?  🙂

Have you thought about fun things like glow in the dark shoes to add even more excitement to trick-or-treating?

Here are four pair of cute glow-in-the-dark shoes for boys and girls that will be a great addition to any Halloween costume!

Glow in the Dark Shoes for Kids Halloween

1 – Crocs Disney/Pixar Monsters Inc. Glow-in-the-Dark Clogs at Khols.com – $32
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2 – Night Glow Zombie Slip-On at Vans.com – $40
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3 – Glow Bones Slip-Onsicon – at Vans.com – $40

4 – Glow in the Dark Pumpkin Ballet Flat Girls – $19.99

 

Have you found a pair of cute glow in the dark shoes for kids?  Share them with us in the comments below.

Alicia, The Mommy Insider blog author

10 Halloween Coloring Pages For Young Kids

Holiday

My daughter loves to find and print coloring pages online. There’s no exception for halloween printables. She loves printable coloring pages so much that I bought a printer that connects to the internet and allows her to find coloring pages from the apps right on the printer such as Disney and Nick Jr. Instead of standing over me while I search for coloring pages for her online, she can pick out her own coloring pages! Sometimes I like to print pages for her like the one’s below. I print a bunch of coloring pages and keep them in a folder in my office and the car so they are easy to pull out anytime she needs something to do! Now she just needs to find a lifetime supply of ink and she’ll be set!

Here are a few halloween theme coloring pages that she likes. A few of the printable coloring pages below even let you customize the page with your child’s name before printing it to color!


We hope you enjoy these coloring pages. Search google for “halloween coloring pages” for more fun coloring pages!

St. Patrick’s Day History for Kids and Printable Coloring Pages & Activities

Age 5-7, Age 7-10, Alicia's Corner, Crafts, Holiday, , , ,

St. Patrick’s Day is a fun holiday for both children and adults. It is one of my husband’s favorite holidays.

To understand what is special about this holiday kids should learn about the man it was named after. When Patrick was 16 years old he was captured by Irish raiders and sold into slavery. During his time in slavery his faith in God became strong. After 6 years he escaped and returned to his family. Patrick became a priest and was later sent to Ireland. Patrick wasn’t always treated well in Ireland and endured many hardships. He still managed to win many converts to Christianity and established several schools, churches, and monasteries.

The color originally associated with St. Patrick’s Day was blue. The knights of the Order of St. Patrick wore blue. Some legends say that the color representing St. Patrick was changed to green because it represented Ireland’s independence.

There are many legends surrounding St. Patrick. He supposedly drove away all the snakes that were in Ireland and he reportedly used a three leaf clover to explain the Holy Trinity. He was born in Britain in the fourth century and is usually given credit for bringing the written word to Ireland.
Legend says he died on March 17, in the 5th century. This day celebrates Christianity coming to Ireland. Children traditionally wear green, orange, and white badges to celebrate. Today kids try to pinch each other if they don’t wear green on St. Patrick’s Day. Many people eat corned beef and cabbage on this day in the United States. However, pork is a more popular dish among the Irish.

St. Patrick’s Day was first celebrated in the United States in Boston in 1737. Although St. Patrick’s Day is not a legal holiday in the United States, it is a public holiday in Ireland.

Help your kids get excited about St. Patrick’s Day by decorating the house, wearing green clothes, making St. Patrick’s Day crafts, printable coloring pages, and printable St. Patrick’s Day activities.

St. Patrick's Day coloring pages, cookies, crafts, and activities for kids

Here are a few fun St. Patrick’s Day recipes, coloring pages and activites:

Hippity-Hop To Chasing Fireflies For The Cutest Easter Gifts and Crafts! | @ChasenFireflies

Age 3-5, Age 5-7, Holiday, , ,

Easter is one of three times of the year that we talk to our kids about the meaning of the holiday and that we really get into decorating for.  Christmas and Thanksgiving are the other two.  Besides celebrating the meaning of Easter, kids love to celebrate Easter with Easter Eggs, Crafts, and chocolate bunnies.and parents love to dress their kids in fancy Easter clothes, right?   Luckily my husband’s mom loves to shop for fancy clothes and has made shopping for the kid’s Easter clothes her special thing, so I get to enjoy the fun stuff like decorating and dyeing Easter Eggs and what not.

This year, my daughter and I made the most adorable Easter decoration which came from Chasing Fireflies.  This is not just any Easter decoration, it’s a Shrinky Dinks® Easter Tree!  Combine a favorite holiday with a favorite craft.. imagine the amazing time we had!  Chasing Fireflies is our favorite store for Halloween costumes and other superbly adorable stuff. Whenever the Chasing Fireflies catalog comes in the mail, my daughter gets comfy and spends a while looking through it and circling everything she wants.

First Madelyn colored the Shrinky Dinks®.  This was her favorite part of the craft.  She loves to color and did a great job.  I was very impressed at how careful she was to stay in the lines and she stepped out and used green, yellow, and orange for this project!

Easter shrinky dinks craft

 

Next, I cut the Shrinky Dinks® out because I know we are going to have this tree for years and although I usually let her do every (safe) aspect of a craft project I cut the shrinky dinks out this time.

Then, we put the cut shrinky dinks® in the toaster on 350 degrees for about a minute and a half.   Madelyn watched in amazement as the Srinky Dinks® shrunk, curled up, then straightened out.  The shrinky dinks® at the top of the image below have not been baked/shrunk yet and the ones at the bottom have.

shrink dinks easter tree

 

After we baked the Shrinky Dinks®, I put the rings on each piece then she put the rubber bands in the rings.  Then we hung the Shrinky Dinks® on the Easter tree.

Last, we tied and placed the green ribbons, included in the box, onto the tree.

Chasing Fireflies Shrinky Dinks Easter Tree craft project

 

We really had such a great time creating this beautiful Easter Tree together.   All pieces shown in the images are included in the Shrinky Dinks® Easter Tree box.   This Easter project is just $18 on the Chasing Fireflies website.  For a decoration (and craft making memories) that we will have for many years, that’s a great deal!

peter rabbit spinning centerpiece from Chasing Fireflies

We also got a Peter Rabbit™ Spinning Centerpiece from Chasing Fireflies.  The centerpiece was easy to put together and I love the classic images that make up the entertaining decoration.

The Shrinky Dinks® Easter Tree and Peter Rabbit™ Spinning Centerpiece both break down to be flat making them very easy to store until next Easter.

Check out Chasing Fireflies‘ selection of adorable children’s clothing, costumes, and gifts and see their entire line of Easter crafts and gifts here.

I hope you and your kids have a Happy Easter!

This review was made possible by Mom Spark Media. Thoughts are my own. I received Chasing Fireflies items for the purpose of this review.

3 Cheery Holiday Pinecone Crafts Even Kids Can Make!

Arts and Crafts, Holiday, , ,

Get The Season Started With This Perfect Pinecone Crafts!

Now that the holidays are here, it’s the perfect time to get down to some decorating for the season! While most festivities will leave your pocket book looking and feeling empty, here are some that use pinecones, which are just as cheap as they are fun. And one of the best things about these crafty decorations is that they are easy and simple enough for the kids involved in some christmas festivities.

Pinecone Tree by Martha Stewart
Pinecone Tree by Country Living - Photo source: Steven Randazzo

Pinecone Christmas Tree from Country Living

This is easy to make and packs a serious seasonal punch. To create this tree, anchor a cone-shaped foam base into a container such as a flower pot or planter. Then use wire to attach the pine cones onto 2 inch wooden floral picks. Next, insert the picks into the foam. Be sure to arrange the cones biggest on bottom to smallest on the top. Lastly, conceal any foam that is left showing by tucking in sheet moss between the pinecones. And there is it in all its festive glory!

> Pinecone Christmas Tree craft instructions on Country Living

Pinecone penguin craft by Martha Stewart
Pinecone penguin craft by Martha Stewart - Photo source: MarthaStewart.com

 

Pinecone Penguin from Martha Stewart

These fun little fellas are sure to be a hit with little ones and grownups alike. First gather up supplies because these guys have a little bit more too them.

Here are the crafting supplies needed:
scissors, sandpaper, small paintbrushes, glue, white and brown acrylic paint, and some white glass glitter.

Additionally, different pinecone parts will be needed:
 2 large scales cut to a point for the wings, 1 small piece cut from the top of a pine-cone for the neck, one long pine-cone for the body, and an acorn cap for the face.

Next construct them by attaching the long scale wings to the body pine-cone with glue. Then sand the neck piece so it can easily be attached to the body with glue as well. Then attach the acorn cap face to the neck. Next, paint the belly and half of the acorn cap white, and then let them dry. Once the paint is dry, use glue to add glitter to the belly and paint on the eyes.

> Pinecone Penguin craft instructions from Martha Stewart

 

Colorful holiday pinecone craft by HGTV
Colorful holiday pinecone craft by HGTV - Photo source: HGTV.com

 

Colorful Pinecone Centerpiece

The last pine-cone activity is so simple it’s a shame HGTV didn’t think of it years ago.

By spray painting pinecones bright colors and arranging them in a clear decorative jar a sassy seasonal centerpiece is born. This colorful crafty centerpiece is truly easy while speaking volumes.

> Colorful pinecone centerpiece instructions

 

Whether it’s a traditional earthy Christmas tree, a winter wonderland made of penguins or a modern DIY spray paint decorative piece, this season will be full of fun when any of these ideas are involved.

Do you have a favorite pinecone holiday craft? Share it with us in the comments below!