Holiday Gifts & Gift Baskets Blog

Archive for July, 2010

August is just around the corner!  Soon school will be starting, the weather will start changing . . . but what is happening during the month of August?  There are plenty of silly holidays and observances in August that makes every day a holiday!

August 1 - Friendship Day and Girlfriend's Day and Sister's Day

August 3 - Watermelon Day (I'll be celebrating!)

August 4 - National Chocolate Chip Day

August 5 - International Beer Day AND National Underwear Day (I see a connection!)

August 6 - National Fresh Breath Day

August 7 - National Mustard Day

August 10 - S'Mores Day

August 13 - Blame Someone Else Day

August 15 - National Relaxation Day

August 18 - Cupcake Day

August 20 - Men's Grooming Day (Just one Day?)

August 21 - Hug Your Boss Day

August 24 - National Waffle Day

August 25 - Kiss and Make Up Day

August 30 - Toasted Marshmallow Day

What is more fun on a warm summer day than blowing gigantic rainbow bubbles into the breeze?

If your kids are like mine, the bubble solution runs out quick!

Did you know you can mix up your own batch of bubble solution that is just as good if not better than any you can buy at the store?

Below is a recipe that will fill your yard with those amazing bubbles!

Ingredients:

• 6 Parts Water

• 2 Parts Joy Dish Washing Detergent (Must be the Joy brand).

• 3/4 Part Corn Syrup

Directions:

Mix the ingredients above in an ice cream bucket with a lid for storage.  Fill empty bubble bottles or pour in a shallow pan and use a variety of items to make bubbles (bend pipe cleaners, cookie cutters, etc.)

If you're not all that fond of "The Great Outdoors", how about set up a camping experience indoors!  Turn off the TV, set up the "tent" and get ready to make memories.

You can use a real tent for your sleeping quarters, or create one of your own!  A couple chairs and some large sheets or blankets are all you need to create the illusion of a tent.  Grab a couple flashlights and books, tell some ghost stories, make shadow puppets and enjoy some one-on-one time with the kids.

What about the campfire, you ask?  Below is a fun craft that is perfect for pretend play!  Some toilet paper rolls, cotton balls and tissue paper make for a realistic mini campfire you can sit around to make your camp out even more fun!

Supplies:

• 6 cardboard tubes
• brown acrylic or poster paint
• large paintbrush
• red, yellow and orange tissue paper
• 2 twigs
• cotton balls
• white craft glue
• hot glue gun

Directions:

1. Paint all cardboard tubes with brown paint and let dry. repeat for a second coat if needed.

2. Cut tissue paper into three squares for each color. The yellow squares should be a little larger than the orange and the orange should be a little larger than the red.

3. Glue cotton balls to the ends of twigs for marshmallows.

4. Arrange cardboard tubes into a pile, you will need three of the tubes to be pointing upward with some room in the center of the pile where the tissue paper will be.

5. Use a hot glue gun to quickly tack them together, but reinforce with white glue as it holds together better.

6. Place a square of red tissue paper into the palm of your hand, lay a piece of orange on top of that and a piece of yellow on top of the orange square. Stick your pointing finger into the center of the yellow square and close your palm around your finger. Hold tissue paper in place and remove your finger.

7. Put some glue on the end of the gathered tissue that is in your palm and insert it into one of the open cardboard tubes that are sticking up at the top of the campfire pile. Repeat this process for all the other two sets of tissue paper and glue into the remaining two tube that are pointing upward.

8. For added stability, and to make this easier for your child to carry, glue the entire project to a piece of sturdy cardboard to create a base. You can even create some pretend rocks to go around the campfire!

And if you are doing a "pretend" camping trip as part of a kids party, why not give each kid their own little miniature camping lantern keychain.  They'll love them!

When you think of a July Holiday, Independence Day might be the only one that comes to mind.  Did you know there's a National Ice Cream Day in July?  Or how about International Chicken Wing Day?  Odd but true, every day is a holiday!  Below are some of my favorites.

July 2 - International Chicken Wing Day

July 3 - Compliment your Mirror Day

July 7 - Chocolate Day (Better eat it fast - it's hot out there!)

July 7 - Tell the Truth Day (Did you take my chocolate?)

July 10 - Don't Step on a Bee Day

July 13 - Embrace your Geekness Day

July 17 - Cow Appreciation Day

July 17 -National Hot Dog Day (See Above - Hope those aren't beef hot dogs!)

July 18 - National Ice Cream Day (Every day is National Ice Cream Day in our house!)

July 19 - National Hug your Kid Day

July 20 - National Lollipop Day

July 23 - Gorgeous Grandma Day

July 24 - Tell an Old Joke Day (Was probably my dad's favorite day!)

July 29 - Lasagna Day

July 30 - National Talk in an Elevator Day (Was this really needed??)

HAPPY JULY!

If you're looking for an easy way to dress up your 4th of July picnic tables, this firework flowers craft is bursting with patriotic colors!

This is a great craft for children of any age.  The smaller children will needs help with the cutting, but everyone will love painting the flowers.

What You Need:

• basket coffee filters

• chenille stems (red, white, blue, gold and/or silver)

• red and blue watercolor paint

• paintbrush

• scissors

• 2 pieces of paper towel
  

Directions:

• Cover table with newspaper
• Place one coffee filter onto a paper plate and flatten it out. Paint the coffee filter with water color paint. Paint some solid red, some solid blue and others a combination of blue and red, leaving some areas unpainted. Move the coffee filter to the towel and lay flat to dry. Repeat with the second coffee filter.
• Leaving the center of the filter in tact, cut the coffee filter in strips, working you way around the circle.
• Cut a 1.5" piece off of one end of a chenille stem and set aside. Take the longer piece of chenille and poke it through the center of the coffee filter. There should be about 2" of chenille poked through.
  
• Turn the entire thing upside down and grasp the filter with your fingers. Gather it around the chenille and secure it by wrapping the extra piece of chenille stem that you cut off in an earlier step. Twist it around the part you are holding and turn the flower back upright. Manipulate with your finger until strips are spread out and it looks the way you want it to.
  

Don't have time to make your own Independence Day centerpieces?  Check out our Fourth of July gift baskets that can do double-duty as the centerpiece and as the grand prize for your Independence Day games and events!