Tips and tricks
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Easy homemade wet wipes
It’s no secret – wet wipes make the world go round. Well, okay, maybe not “go round” but they sure do make life a lot less stickier! I have my favorite brands and we buy copious amounts of the stuff, because it’s just so darn convenient! But, imagine a day, my friends, when – GASP – you’ve run out of wet wipes and you have no way to get to the shops to purchase more! Well, that was me last week Saturday. A plan had to be made!
Now, yes people, I do have a spreadsheet brain, but I’m not your average crafty mom. I mean, I’m not out here wanting to sow my own shoes and grow my own vegetables. But after watching a couple of Youtube tuts on how to make your own wipes, I figured that this is easy enough for even me to make. (So you must know it’s super easy.)
Easy homemade wet wipesTo make your own wipes, you will need:
A cylinder shaped container – The taller, the better, in my opinion.
A roll of extra thick paper towel – The thicker, the better, in my opinion.
Baby wash – Using baby wash is the super easy way. I love the smell of the JOHNSONS top-to-toe baby wash so I chose that.
Baby oil – Again, you can be as fancy as you want.
About 2 cups of water – I boiled mine first and left it to cool
Method: Start off by measuring your paper roll to your container, and using a sharp knife, cutting it down to size. You want your paper towel to fit into your cylinder container neatly, once the lid is on tightly.
Mix together your water, 2 tablespoons of baby wash and 1 tablespoon of baby oil. Pour the contents over your paper towel, seal the container and turn it upside down, to ensure that the entire roll is seeped in the mixture.
Now, the big challenge for me was to gauge how much of the mixture I was going to add to my paper towel. You don’t want it to be to wet or soggy. I’ve played around with 1 and a half to 2 cups of mixture to find the consistency that I like. You can do that too – find what works best for you!After about 15 minutes, open your container, and remove the inside cardboard of your paper towel roll. It should slide out quite easily by now. And ta daaaa your wet wipes are ready to go!
Disclaimer:You’ll notice that I kept it super easy, because, honestly I get tired when I see recipes on the internet that requires me to find leaves from a tree only found on a hill in Timbuktwo or essence of pomegranate that grows on the outskirts of Jamaica. Like, I’m not here to be fancy right now. But you can be as fancy and as all-natural as you want. No judgies. Other moms have included things like drops of lavender and other essential oils and sometimes substitute the baby oil for coconut oil or aloe vera.
So what do you think, friends? Will you try this at home? If you do, hit me up in the comments section and let me know how it goes!
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Gift ideas for the practical girl
I’m an expert gift receiver and I have many years of gift giving experience under my belt. So one would say that I’m a pro of sorts (self proclaimed). And today, dear friends, I thought to share my gift giving wisdom with you! (And the crowd goes wild.) Truth be told, the topic came up when I was chatting to a friend who is a Practical Penny like I am. I mean, us Sensible Sarahs are quite difficult to shop for, I’m sure. I apologize on behalf of all of us.
But, good news, I come with tips and tricks! If you’re looking to spoil your practical friend (who probably won’t be swooning over a box of chocolates or another bath and body set), look no further. Here is a list of practical gift ideas, you know, for that functional girl who probably gets excited about a desk organizer more than a tub of body lotion.
Gift ideas for the practical girl
Vouchers and Experiences
Vouchers to your girl’s favorite stores are always a winner! Plus, if she’s a practical girl, I’m sure she’ll probably be more excited that can shop at her own leisure, purchasing goodies that may not come in a gift bag (i.e. underwear, socks or even work attire). If you’re looking for something a bit more exciting, how about a pamper voucher or an experience voucher that could have homegirl enjoying their birthday while experiencing the adventure of a game drive, chartering a yacht for a sunset cruise or even enjoying a wine tasting tour.
Luxe homewareWant to know what your functional girl gets excited about? Fresh towels! New bedding! Beautiful storage kitchen containers! Matching photo frames! Luxe bathrobes and slippers! Pretty oven mits and kitchen sets! Excuse the exclamation marks, I don’t know why I’m shouting. I guess I’m just excited to tell you that the Sensible Sarahs of this world would appreciate anything that would last for a very long time. A practical girl is always on that useful trip, and would probably only spend a ton of cash on a homeware item, if it’s something that she could probably use until she’s like, 80.
Stuff she actually uses
I’m here for all the lovely smelling bath and body stuff. But sometimes your homegirl is allergic to specific products and ingredients. If you’re going to purchase creams and treatments, rather try to find out what she uses. Your practical girl would go gaga if she unwraps her gift and finds out that she doesn’t have to spend her hard earned moola on her favorite face cream or perfume, this month, because someone has thoughtfully gifted her with it. We’re a frugal, easy-to-please bunch.
Hobbies and interests
We all have that favorite thing to do. For some of us (me, I’m pointing at me) it probably involves listening to Tori Kelly and, you know, binge watching The Voice. For others it might be nail art or crafting or hey, I’m not judging, exercising. (Exercising has become a thing, you guys, I don’t understand it but I support it.) My point is that your friend probably has hobbies and interests and if ever you’re stumped and not sure what type of gift to buy her, how about gifting her with something related to this hobby. I know, genius. Clue: Books are always a good idea, if she has a favorite author!
Shoes and bagsI feel like shoes and hand bags are, like, the unspoken “best birthday gift idea” of the female world. Right? We’re female and we love shoes and hand bags. There, I said it. Not sure what type of bag or style of shoe to get Practical Penny? Here’s a tip for free: simply check out the style of hand bag and shoe she wears on a regular basis, and base your pick around that. Penny isn’t your “I need an orange Armani bag because I have one in every color” kind of girl. Stick to neutral colors or basic black. Penny will be overjoyed.
Keep it classy
When you think practical or sensible, you might be thinking “uhh boring!” But your practical chick is none of the above. She’s not bland or boring. She just prefers to keep it classy… think: CLASSIC, stylish and elegant. She knows what she likes and is not easily moved by the latest trends and fads. She also values her friendships and relationships and probably only has a handful of you (because she’s very old school like that) so I’m sure she’s going to love whatever you end up gifting her!
Do you have any practical gift ideas? Drop them in the comments section below.
Pics: “towels” designed by jcomp; “shoes and bags” designed by senivpetro
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Nailing those New Year’s resolutions with Uber Eats
If you’re anything like me, you probably have a host of unfulfilled New Year’s resolutions under your belt. You know, the ones that you are not proud of. Like “get into shape” or “get out of debt” or, let’s be honest, “get out of that toxic relationship.” Resolutions are a fickle thing. We make ‘em, we break ‘em, we allow ourselves to feel like a failure because of ‘em. Who came up with this concept?! I need to speak to his manager!
The truth is this: reaching your goals is a journey… not a destination. Rushing to get there won’t help you to fulfill them, you guys. With this in mind, I decided to break down my 2019 resolutions, into easy steps, so that I don’t end up feeling like I want to drown in a bag of Niknaks when December hits. Here are my resolutions for 2019:
Healthy Mind
In 2019, I want to be less stressed and more focused on the important things. But instead of just hoping that I’m all of a sudden going to “feel less stressed”, I’ve decided to make monthly goals for myself, that include things like going for a full body massage and eliminating unnecessary commitments. It gets easier when you break it down into bite sized chunks, I promise. I also want to try to minimalize my daily to do lists… so that means less frantic cleaning of the house and more chill time on the couch and ordering meals via Uber Eats! The Uber Eats app has 100s of restaurants listed… so there’s something for everyone! Winning already.
Healthy Relationships
I really want to focus on establishing a deeper bond with my kids and my Hubstopher this year. As you guys may know, hubby and I do regular #dateyourspouse updates and I have so enjoyed getting to know him again, through our monthly date nights. I was thinking of doing the same for my kids. I mean, there are four of them, so it can get a bit difficult to keep track of who is going through what. Regular quality time dates, with each of our kids could help with that. And it all starts with being intentional every month! I’m talking about an after work rendezvous while the rest of the family orders in via Uber Eats. The cool thing is that I can schedule their orders and pay beforehand, or get them to pay cash. So everyone feels loved and taken care of. I’ve got this mom thing waxed.
Healthy BodyI’ve let go of the “be as skinny as possible” dream because it makes me break out into hives. Why do we put so much pressure on ourselves to have rock hard abs?! Instead, I’ve decided to focus on being healthy. This includes fitting some form of physical activity into my weekly routine and yep, eating better. Thankfully, Uber Eats has partnered with Kauai… I mean, how amazing is that? Freshly prepared, healthy meals, delivered to my office. It kinda takes the pressure of it all off my back. Uber Eats also allows you to save your home or work address, for quick and easy food deliveries. You can also stay in contact with your Uber Eats driver, via the chat function, on the app. So no “food getting lost” scenarios. Super helpful when you’re starving at the office!
Do you have any resolutions for 2019? Have you tried out Uber Eats yet? Let me know in the comments section below.
Disclaimer: This post was written in collaboration with Uber Eats
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5 Tips for a Fun Family Game Night with Uber Eats
So if you have as many children as I do, you pretty much run out of ideas on how to keep them all happy at the same time. I mean, they don’t all have the same taste in movies, or food and believe me when I say, they don’t find the same things entertaining. Luckily for me, with Uber Eats on my side, I am able to cater to a variety of tastes, while saving some time to spend on deciding which fun games I can play (and win at!) on a family game night.
We love family game night! I usually throw one of these in the mix when I feel that we need some unscheduled family time. A family game night is a great way to bond with your kids and, if you pick the right games, everyone is bound to have fun! Here are some of my (tried and tested) tips for a fun family game night:
Each one pick oneA clever way to get a nice mix of games and activities, for the entire family to enjoy, is to have each member of the family suggest at least one or two games they would like to play. The result: a bullet proof, hodge-podge of interesting games, as recommended by the players themselves. It’s genius, really. Less brain work for you and a lot more (guaranteed) fun for them!
Mix it up
Instead of creating set teams for the whole night, why not mix it up and create new teams with each game. This will encourage team spirit and a chance for everyone to bond with – well – everyone else. Also, I’m the “Obnoxious Police” and I don’t allow obnoxious boasting to put a damper on our game night. It’s a teaching moment, you guys… teach your children to encourage each other!
Set the rules
So once we have a list of games, I make sure to have the rules for all games, displayed visibly for all to see. The “rules chart” is as detailed as possible, so that if a dispute arises, the “rules chart” will offer a resolution. But hey, conflict management is important and family game night is a great way to help your family figure out how to resolve conflicts without, you know, someone being grounded FOR LIFE. (That’s just one example, but you get the jist.)
Prizes are importantOkay, this statement is not true. Prizes aren’t important. Spending time together is. But prizes sure do make things a lot more exciting! Our games night prizes are made up of sweet treats and trinkets bought at the R10 store. Hint: you want to wrap them up in impressive looking boxes, to create an air of excitement. We also have a super cool floating trophy that I made using a large tin and foil. How impressive am I?
No hard work
I’m a firm believer that a happy mama is a mama who doesn’t have to wash the dishes. Well, something along those lines. So my ideal family game night will include ordering in food via Uber Eats. The cool thing is that the app has partnered with all our favourite restaurants and for a fee of R10 per delivery, we can order in everyone’s favourite meals and we don’t even need to leave home. Or wash the dishes afterwards. Did you know that Uber Eats has hundreds of restaurants to choose from? The app is so simple, even my kids know how to use it – provided they are supervised by me or hubby. It also allows you to track your food in real time, from the restaurant straight to your door! How cool is that? Oh and did I mention that the delivery fee is ONLY R10?! Double score!
And that’s that, friends! What do you think? Will you be throwing a family game night anytime soon? Have you tried out Uber Eats yet? Let me know in the comments section below.
Disclaimer: This post was written in collaboration with Uber Eats
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My Top Five Christmas Party Games
If you love a good end of year party, like I do, then you’re probably the designated Christmas party planner for your office or group of friends. I see you, kindred heart! We’re the Jessica Day’s of this world, and that’s okay! So, obviously, you’ve sent out your invites (weeks in advance, duh, coz that’s how we roll) and your party is obviously a costume party (because what is a party without a theme.) And now you’re looking for a few super fun Christmas Party games and activities to entertain your guests with. I got you girl! Here are some of my favorite Christmas Party games:
Christmas Carols Remix
You’ll need 3 bowls, paper and a pen for this one. One bowl will contain strips of paper with all players’ names on it. Another bowl will contain Christmas song titles. And the last bowl will contain an instruction (i.e. sing the carol in reggae style or act out the carol as if you’re on Broadway). Take turns drawing a name, a carol and an instruction, awarding points for the best performances!
Dirty SantaThis is by far my most favorite of all games! Each guest will be asked to bring along a wrapped gift (it’s safer to give a value limit for the gift). Have the guests stand in a circle, with the gifts in the center of the circle. Each guest will then draw a number from a hat. Right, this is where the fun begins!
Guest number 1 will choose a gift from the pile and unwrap it to show the rest of the crowd. Guest number 2 will now have the opportunity to either take number 1’s gift OR draw a new gift, to unwrap and show the crowd. Guest number 3 will have the choice of 1 and 2’s gifts OR choose a new gift to unwrap and display. The fun starts happening when there is a gift that everyone wants! You may find tit making its rounds – hilarious!
Christmas Music Trivia
Warn your guests that you’ll be doing a Christmas Music Trivia, so that they can brush up on their Christmas tunes! Create your favorite holiday playlist and play the intro of the jams, for the your guests, giving them the opportunity to guess the name of the song and the artist name. You could spice it up by adding interesting trivia questions (multiple choice is better) about the history of the song.
Santa Belly Bust Okay so this one might seem a bit juvenile but it’s tons of fun, I promise. All players must place a large inflated balloon under their shirt, to represent a big Santa belly. Players will keep their hands behind their backs and, on start, must try to bust their gut, without using hands. You could have a prize for the winner, but it’s way more fun to have a “punishment” for the loser!
Christmas Pass the Parcel
This may take a lot more prep on your side, but a Christmas Pass the Parcel is a great corporate game, especially if you want to get to know your co-workers a bit better. Wrap your main prize up with layers and layers of gift wrap/newspaper. In between all the layers, add ‘Truth or Dares’ and questions (such as “What was your favorite thing about this year”) and small gifts. Have your guests pass the parcel, to a Christmas song, and stop the music every now and then so that someone else will get the turn to unwrap a layer.
What are some of your favorite Christmas party games?
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Fun games to play on a road trip with kids
With the school holidays looming, a scenic road trip could be a cool way to keep your young ones entertained. I know, a road trip can seem pretty daunting when you combine the compact space of a back seat with your kid’s extremely large levels of energy. But do not fret, dear friend! Fellow mommy blogger, Amelia, of Suddenly a Mom, has shared some cool road-trip games with us!
Fun road trip games for kids
We’re getting ready for an eight-hour road trip in December, when we head on our annual family camping trip to Yellow Sands, which is just outside East London. With a talkative 10-year old that loves telling the same jokes and expecting the same enthusiasm from us every time we hear it.So, I’ve become the mom that gives her earphones and an iPad and lets her watch movies while I convince myself that they’re educational. But, this year, we’re going to play some games along the way so that we can all pass the time with no mention of “What goes tick-tock-bow-wow?” (It’s a watchdog, by the way).
I Spy
How to play it: Say, “I spy with my little eye something beginning with {choose a letter}” and the rest of the family have to guess what you’ve seen. If your kids are younger, you can choose a colour, rather than a letter.
Why we love it: It helps with her spelling and passes the time really well (especially as you get more creative with the things you can actually see).
Licence Plate Maths
How to play it: Using only the numbers on the licence plate of the car in front of you, try to add, subtract, multiply and divide to get to a certain number (10, 15, 24, whatever). The person that gets the closest to the goal numebr is the winner of each round.
Why we love it: It’s so helpful with maths and out-of-the-box thinking, and it changes all the time (every time a different car is in front of you). I even play this on my own. I’m not ashamed.
Memory Games
How to play it: Start with, “I went to the corner café and I bought a {name one thing that you bought}”. Then, the next person needs to repeat the whole phrase and what you bought, and add another item to the list. Every person that follows needs to repeat the list in the correct order. So, you’ll end up with something like, “I went to the corner café and I bought a coconut, a bottle of water, a puppy, an exhaust pipe, a hotdog, a hairdryer, and balloons.”
Why we love it: It’s really fun hearing what random thing each person would add to the list and coming up with ways to remember them.
Twenty Questions
How to play it: One of you has to decide on a person or thing. The rest of the car can only ask 20 questions to figure out what person or thing you’re thinking of. To add to the intrigue, you can only answer the questions with “yes” or “no”.
Why we love it: It keeps us busy for AGES and it’s fun figuring out the riddle and strategising your questions.
Find the Car
How to play it: Choose one car make (BMW, Hyundai, Toyota, etc…) and keep on the lookout for it on the road. The person that spots the most cars of that make is the winner.
Why we love it: It’s great for a tween that is learning to read and for little ones that can identify the badges. It’s also fun to yell, “TOYOTA” in the accent of your choice. You just did it, didn’t you?
Would You Rather
How to play it: One person asks, “Would you rather…” and comes up with two hypothetical situations. Everyone in the car has to say which they would rather do or be and why. For example, “Would you rather be painted blue for the rest of your life, or only be able to see the colour blue?”
Why we love it: It gets bizarre and hilarious, but also makes us think.
Name Game
How to play it: The first person comes up with the name of an animal, country, colour, food, etc… Then, the next person has to name another thing (in the same category) that starts with the last letter of the one before it. So, for example, if we choose “country” as our category, I could say, “Denmark”, and the person following me would have to come up with a country that starts with the letter “K”.
Why we love it: This game is just the right combination of educational and fun.
Comment below if you have other great ideas for car games to play on long road trips.
Guest post by Amelia Meyer
Amelia is a freelance writer, wife and mom. She is based on the gorgeous Garden Route and blogs at Suddenly a Mom when she’s not ear-deep in projects for clients. She is also an owner, copywriter and editor at Voxate.Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VoxateWritingEditing/
Twitter: @mieliepip -
Our Christmas Tree Night traditions
Christmas Tree Night is the best thing! Yep, as the name suggests, the night is dedicated to unboxing and decorating our Christmas tree. For us it pretty much marks the start of the festive season and, because of that (and mainly because I’m a loony toon), I kinda made a whole event out of it. Whaaat, tis the season to be extra, fa la la la laaa la la la laaaaa! *cough* Right, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, allow me to share all the deets of a typical “Christmas Tree Night” ‘round about these parts. I mean, one does not simply just set up a Christmas tree. There has to be festivities, food and flair! We are making memories, with our kids, after all! Here’s how it all goes down in our neck of the woods:
The tree
Timing is everything! I usually wait until mid-November to set up the tree because one needs atleast a full 30 days with ones Christmas tree. Right? Anyways, I often get a few new ornaments to add to our growing collection of Christmas tree trinkets. Some of our ornaments holds a special memory, like the red beaded cross Chris and I bought while on honeymoon. We sometimes get really into it and hand craft a fresh batch of ornaments (and by sometimes I’m actually talking about literally one time). If you’re that kind of mom (I’m not that kind of mom), you could make it a tradish: each member of the family could create one new tree ornament to add to the tree each year. Such a cool way to create memories.
The musicSo you must know that when I unleash my inner jingle, I jingle all the way, baby! Christmas Tree Night is usually my way of letting the family know that, yep, it’s Christmas carols time! I have quite a collection of Christmas CD’s (totally unashamed about it) and I’m totally convinced that my collection of Christmas music can turn even the Scroogiest of Scrooges into a festive fairy! As you can imagine, Christmas Tree Night is not complete without some of our favorite carols playing in the background.
The food
You guys, Christmas Tree Night wouldn’t be complete without snacks. (But, I mean, is anything complete without snacks? Rhetorical question, the answer is no.) We keep it light and easy because we cannot share our Christmas tree decorating time with food preparation time. Some of our Christmas Tree Night staples include a bunch of family faves that have been passed down from previous Christmas Tree Nights. And that is how tradition is birthed you guys. Our staples include:
Loaded hot dogs. These are the same as normal hot dogs, except we only have it with freshly made relish (well, its tinned tomato and onion, don’t look at me like that Susan) instead of tomato sauce. I call it “loaded” because you can add a bunch of things to the relish and make it as festive as you want. Go wild with the green peppers, bacon bits and fresh garnish. I usually top it all off with cheese.
Fancy crackers and toppings. The kids love this because it makes them feel all special and grown up-y It’s basically Salticracks with adult-y toppings, you guys. Things like muscles and oysters, cream cheeses and tuna mayo.
Cream buns. As you can tell, the trend, for Christmas Tree Night is to make the food as quickly as possible because I don’t want to be slaving away in the kitchen when everyone else is having fun setting up the tree. So guess what, you guys, I feed my kids store bought cream buns and I feel not one ounce of guilt at doing that. Theresit.
Christmas milk. So I came up with this drink and I know it probably won’t, like, win me an award or anything. I call it “Christmas milk” and it’s literally a mix of custard and normal milk, topped with cinnamon. This is my alternative to eggnog and can be served hot or cold. You are literally going to make your custard as normal, but instead of a thicker consistency, keep it as runny and milky as possible without losing the flavor. Top it up with cinnamon and vanilla sticks and ta da. (Yes, I literally just told you how to make drinking custard. Whatevs. It’s Christmas Milk, okay?)
The traditions
When Chris and I started dating, and it was just four of us, we started this little tradition, where we would each make a paper ornament to hang on the tree. Each of us could cut out our own shape and decorate it with glitters and colors. This ornament was special because you had to write down how God had blessed you over the past year, and some of the things you were thankful for. I’ve managed to keep most of these paper ornaments but I’m so terrified that I will lose them!
And that is how the Christmas memory book was birthed. This memory book will only come out on Christmas Tree Night and each person will get a chance to write down their thoughts, or draw a pic, detailing their past year. (No peeping!) The book is then packed away until next year Christmas when we would all take turns to page through the book before adding our new ones.
Christmas Tree Night is the perfect time to start a new tradition with your kids. How about creating your own ornaments or hanging up special baubles, that represent each member of the family. There are so many fabulous ideas online! Find a few that works for you and your family.
The outfitsI love, love, love the concept of Christmas inspired pajamas, you guys! In fact, I’m totally eyeing some pajamas that I had spotted over on The Milk Memoirs. Christmas Tree Night is a great time to give your kids brand new jammies… I don’t know, wearing something new just increases the excitement somehow. And, I mean, who doesn’t love a cute pair of festive themed pajamas? But hey, if you’re a spreadsheet brain (like me) and you have a lot of children to clothe (also like me), don’t feel bad if you’d rather get, you know, normal pajamas instead. (And by “normal” I mean, jammies that are inexpensive and not themed, so they get more wear out of it.) For my kids, just the whole concept of new jammies is enough exhilaration for them! It’s one of the things that I’m adding to my Christmas Tree Night box, for sure! Btw, Santa hats are a must!
The memories
So you want to be taking all the pics and all the videos, to document all these great memories that you’re making with your family. But, truth be told you guys, I tried to find some decent pics of our previous Christmas Tree Nights and the ones I could find were either too blurry or too dark. When it comes to Christmas Tree Night, we just don’t have time to take pics and videos – there is too much going on! But, still, try to do it, you guys. I promise I’ll try too.
The activitiesSo once you’ve snacked and set up the tree and done all of your traditions, a great way to end the night is with some family games. Games like charades is a really fun and easy way to get some laughs going and you don’t need a board. If games are not your family’s thing, how about ending the night off with a Christmas movie. To be honest, chances are your little ones will be so exhausted after all the fun and excitement that they won’t make it through the movie. (Thank you and you’re welcome).
So tell me, friends, do you also have a Christmas Tree Night? What are some of your traditions?
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Best End of Year Party Themes
If there’s one thing that I love more than Christmas itself, it has to be end of year parties. I love a good festive party! And I especially love that tis the season to wear costume (fa la la la laa?). Yes, I know, not everyone is up for a good ol’ costume party. But the joys of the festive season is that you can theme your end of year party however you want, Susan, and it’ll STILL be rad! Not convinced? Well, here are a bunch of seriously cool end of year party themes:
Formal Tops, Crazy Bottoms
If you’re looking to go crazy but, you know, not all the way crazy, how about a formal tops and crazy bottoms party. So what this means is that the dress code of the event is to wear something formal and classy as the top half of your outfit, and something totally wack as the bottom half. This is especially fun as a corporate end of year function… I mean, who wouldn’t love to see Martha from Accounting let out her wild side, in some crazy bottoms?Silly Hats
Okay, maybe Martha is not keen about revealing her ankles. Fine. How about a silly hat party? Yes, Martha, you can wear your sweater set… provided you pair it with a fun hat! This party theme is perfect for our more conservative counterparts.
Ugly Sweaters
So in America they usually host Ugly Christmas Sweater parties where guests are encouraged to come donning their most hideous or funny Christmas jerseys. Fortunately for us we have the most glorious weather during the festive season. So how about an “ugly t-shirt” party? Wear your most ridiculous Christmas t-shirt or hey, get creative and make one! Special prizes for the most creative t-shirts.White Christmas
Throw a glamorous winter wonderland inspired White Christmas party, where guests are asked to come wearing all white attire. You could go crazy with the snow-bedecked décor, magical lights and white draping. Add a touch of class with a Christmas jazz band or saxophonist.Santa Party
Invite your guests to a Santa Party, where everyone is dressed up in his or her own rendition of Santa garb. Make sure to play all the Santa-related games (pin the gift on the Santa?) and sing along to your favorite Santa inspired songs!
Christmas Costume Party
Come dressed as festive as you dare to the Christmas Costume Party. Yep, this means, all greens and reds, tinsels and bows! Go Christmas crazy with this one! (Tip: Offering prizes for the best dressed or most elaborate outfit always encourages people to go the extra mile)Christmas Mystery
Much like a “murder mystery party”, throw a Christmas Mystery party that is centered around a Christmas story line. Each guest will receive their characters name, proposed attire and some information about their role in the mystery. Upon arrival, guests are required to be in character for the whole night, as the Christmas Mystery story is unraveled. This will take a bit more effort on your side, as the narrator and director of the mystery. There are bunch of cool story lines available online.Once Upon a Time
I love the idea of a storybook themed party, where guests are encouraged to come dressed as a character of their favorite storybook. The list of costume ideas, for this one, is endless! (Disney, Pixar etc)So there you have it, some of my favorite end of year party themes! Let me know what you guys will be going with this year!
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Birthday parties: Let the kids play!
I get it, parents of the world. I get it. We want to give our kids the very best! Fair enough. But seriously, when I started planning Kari’s party I knew that it was not going to be a Pinterest-Fest. I had too much going on and the girl kept inviting more and more people to the party! She had a very specific guest list, you guys, so diva. She also insisted that we have an “Anna and Elsa” party. (Yes, Frozen. Sigh.) Anyways, so my strategy for the party was this: let the kids play, man! I mean, seriously, they don’t care about your perfect sugar cookies and matching tee-pee tent. They want to eat a lot of sweets and play until they fall asleep (you’re welcome, mom). And that’s what they did! Here’s the low down:
Venue: Bubbly Kids
We hosted the party at Bubbly Kids – an educare and kids party venue, located in Morningside, Port Elizabeth. The Bubbly Kids event venue offers you a large grassy area (for playtime), and even a pool and braai facilities. My favorite thing about the party venue is that you can literally just pay to hire the place (R1000, for two hours, which includes kids tables and chairs) and that’s it. No other costs! You can literally bring whatever else you’d like to have at your kids party. No special vendors that you HAVE to use and no little hidden fees that you HAVE to pay. I also liked that the venue has an old school jungle gym, to help build those muscles and develop hand-eye-coordination.As an educare, I really like the Bubbly Kids Educare ethos: learning through play. Their trained educators make learning fun for your little one. The classes are colorful and inviting and the setting is relaxed and homely. I mean, isn’t that every parents dream – to send your little one to a playschool/educare that feels like home away from home, right? They daycare caters for kids aged 1 to 4 years old and is open from 06h30 to 07h30. You can learn more about Bubbly Kids on their Facebook page.
Food:
We got some snacks for the parents and hotdogs for the kids. I did not fork out a wad of cash on a designer cake, because seriously. (That’s my reason: seriously) Instead, we had a really pretty (easy to make, but don’t look at me for the recipe you guys, I don’t bake) rainbow cake, that Kari simply loved. The cool Frozen party bags added an element of charm to the kiddies table. These were made by JustEllaBella. It was so funny to see the kids sling these bags over their arm, as they jump on the jumping castle (can’t leave the sweeties behind). But yes, it once again reminded me that the kids are not looking for designer-what-what. They want to play.
Activities:
Besides for the outdoorsy stuff (jungle gym, jumping castle, painted street with cars and bikes to zoom around in, balls etc) we also had an art section, where they could color-in their favorite Frozen pic. I think the highlight, though, was when Anna made an appearance. You guys, I thought Kari was going to cry! Well, I most definitely wanted to cry. The kids then ended up taking selfies with Anna – they were in awe. Best moment ever! If ever you’re going with a character themed party, I highly suggest you do something like this. The kids could not stop talking about Elsa. One little boy said “Wow, I can’t believe Elsa came all the way from Arendelle, to Kari’s party.”At the end of the day, Kari fell asleep telling us what an amazing party she had. Mission accomplished! And I didn’t even have to bust out my inner Pinterest-mom! Winning at life.
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Calm down, your Facebook is probably not hacked
Can you calm down with the frantic status updates… your Facebook is probably not hacked, Margaret. Seriously. It’s all one big hoax and by re-sharing bogus information, you’re kinda just making it worse.
The bogus message usually goes along the lines of: “Hi….I actually got another friend request from you yesterday…which I ignored so you may want to check your account. Hold your finger on the message until the forward button appears…then hit forward and all the people you want to forward too….I had to do the people individually. Good Luck.”
This is just a hoax, you guys. It was probably started to cause fear/chaos. I’m sure most of you are aware of the cloning scam that had been rife in previous months. But Facebook officials say that there has been no serious increase of cloned accounts. (I’ve added links to various articles below.)
For those who don’t know, the Facebook cloning scam takes place when someone steals your profile photo and other information, to create a phony Facebook profile. The scammer sends friend requests to your friends list (using the fake profile), and uses the fake account to send scam messages. This is not the same as hacking your account, since the scammer does not have your log in details. They are basically just making a fake profile, to scam your friends/family with. Not cool, I know.
To check if your account has been cloned, do a Facebook search, using your name. If more than one profile appears, chances are, you’ve been cloned. Simply click on the “Report this profile” button and the account will be removed in 24 hours.
How to protect your Facebook account from cloningI’m sure that after receiving the gazillion messages urging you to not accept duplicate friend requests, you’re kinda wondering if you should be doing something towards making your Facebook profile a bit more protected. Fair enough. Here are a few safety measures that you can put in place, to safe guard your Facebook account:
1. Do a “Privacy Checkup” by clicking on the “Lock” icon on the top right of your Facebook profile. You want to make sure that all your information is set to “Friends” or “Only Me” to ensure that scammers (who are not friends with you on Facebook) cannot see your information. So yes, that means making sure that none of your privacy settings are set to “Public“.
2. Once you’ve done that, double check that your Facebook information is not set to “Public“. Open accounts are easy targets for those dreaded cloning scammers. To change this click at the top right of any Facebook page and choose “Settings“. Select “Privacy” from the left menu.
3. Hide your friends list so that those naughty scammers can’t see who you are friends with. To do this, open your profile, click on “Friends” and then click on the pencil icon on the right hand side to “Edit Privacy“. Make sure to select the “Only me” option in the “Who can see your friends list” drop down.
4. A biggie for me (since someone actually stole my pics and pretended to be me for, like, years) is the privacy settings on your photos. Even though Facebook won’t allow you to hide your Profile and Cover pics, you can still safeguard your albums by selecting the audience for each image, individually. (This kinda tackles the whole “should I share my kids photos on social media” worry as well.) You can also select the audience for albums as well.
5. Don’t accept Friend Requests from people you don’t know! I think this speaks for itself.
6. Once you’ve updated your privacy settings, you can view your profile as “Public” to see what your Facebook looks like to somebody who is not on your friends list. simply click the “Lock” icon and then click on “Who can see my stuff.” Then choose “View as” to see what the public sees when they view your timeline.
7. Once you are happy that your Facebook has been safeguarded against prying eyes, tell your friends how to do this too! I mean, sure it feels great to share a frantic status update, with the hopes that you are protecting loved ones against possible scammers. But it’s does nothing except cause havoc and a misinformed public.
Rather arm your friends and fam with info on how to protect themselves against possible scammers! Yes you may do so by resharing this post. You’re welcome.
For more information check out these articles:
What is Facebook cloning and how can I protect myself from it
Warnings of cloned accounts going viral
How to tell if your Facebook has been hacked
Your Facebook account has not been cloned
