One of the crafts that we had for the kids at my daughter’s birthday party was Zoo Animal Magnet Kits from Oriental Trading Company. I always wonder how the crafts are going to be shipped, and how much assembly will be required when they get here, so I thought I’d lay out a before and after of one of the magnets. The black rectangle is the magnet that gets glued on the back. All of the pieces can be assembled with standard school glue. Isn’t he a cute little monkey with his curly pipe cleaner tail?

Most of the kids did a great job with this craft. There was a small instruction sheet with each kit, which was primarily just a picture of the finished products. The kids were really proud of all of their little animals. And the best part was that they weren’t expensive. At 3.95 for a dozen, I was able to pick up a few extras to keep around the house when boredom starts to set in. They’ve come in handy on this snowy day!

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The day after the Groundhog excursion for my daughter’s birthday, the traditional caffeine and sugar sponsored madhouse (AKA the birthday party) occurred. Don’t worry, the caffeine was strictly for the adults who were silly enough to stick around to help (thanks for being silly enough to stick around and help! ).

Inspired by our recent jaunts to Kids’ Club at Michael’s, we decided on an “Arts and Crafts” theme for the birthday party. Each child was given a canvas tote bag to decorate with fabric markers, a zoo animal magnet to assemble, and a felt pillow to stitch, fill and decorate. The girls were given heart pillows, and the boys were given a variety of sports balls to make (how very non-gender neutral of me, I know).

The kids all had a blast. The magnet crafts were fairly easy to accomplish by most of the kids, and the tote bags were almost as simple as coloring a piece of paper with markers. We thought the fabric markers were better for this setting than fabric paint (no drying time with the markers), and we just used cheap cookie cutters in a variety of shapes for the templates.

The pillows were a little more time consuming for the kids to complete. Most of the kids who were around my daughter’s age were able to complete the project once they got help getting started, and some without any assistance at all. We did have a few younger kids (mostly siblings of the older kids) who only got part way through the project before it was completed by an adult or taken home to finish.

Part of the reason for hosting this at home rather than at Michael’s was that, for the number of kids we wanted to include, I think our lowest price option would have been (if I’m remembering the figures correctly) just over $100. That’s with no food or anything else included, just the most inexpensive craft. Now, we were inviting 12 kids, in addition to our two oldest, which means that’s a party for about 14 kids.

Instead, we ordered all of our crafts from Oriental Trading Company on-line, and used the code from one of their catalogues that I got from a friend (thanks friend!), which qualified the order for free shipping b/c the total was over $60 (I had to order a $3 item to get to that $60!). They have some fantastic arts and crafts kits for kids at great prices. That $60 paid for the bags, the animal magnet kits, the pillow kits, a little bottle of glue for each kid, and three sets of fabric markers for the kids to share. And there were several extra of both the magnet and pillow kits. I think that would make those Thrifty Mommies proud, what do you think?

I do have to say, though, that I’m not the kind of person who minds a mess (you’d only have to meet me once to know that was true!), so hosting a party where there’s going to be scraps of yarn and spots of glue and scribbles of marker around when the party is done just doesn’t even phase me. I can see how it would be worth paying an additional $30 or more if it would bother you to have the mess in your house.

I’m sure that some of the additional money at Michael’s is also for paying the helpers that would be there to assist the kids in their projects. My solution? Grab a Bald Man and some great, but nutty, friends who are willing to hang around and help you out for free!!! Thanks, nutty friends. Couldn’t have done it without you.

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Head on over to Holly’s Corner to read about her survival of a pirate party and a princess bash all in one day! Whew. She should have been treated like royalty after a day like that!

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Wrong! We attended a birthday party tonight, and it was our first party with a magician. The kids LOVED IT. They had a blast! They were entertained, they sat still, got a kick out of the bunny (yes, there was the cliche live bunny), and loved the animal balloons that they got to take home.

The magician seemed to want to share the messages of “no smoking” and “rah rah America!” to the kids, which was just kind of odd, but I’m not sure the kids even noticied. They were too dazzled by the magic cape, the disappearing flags, and the small bunny who never grew because he smoked when he was younger. (Yes, that really was part of his anti-smoking message.)

What are some more traditional parties that work well with your kids and their friends?

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Every Saturday morning, Michael’s offers Kids Club. From 10am until noon, they have a craft room open for kids from ages 5-12 to participate in the featured craft of the week. The cost is $2 in the U.S., $3 in Canada. For your fee, you get instruction on the craft, as well as all supplies required to complete it.

This week’s craft was the photo frame pictured above. The wooden frame, paint, and all of the Crayola Model Magic was included.

A new friend of ours told us about Kids Club, and it’s becoming a regular date for our daughters. And since they’re both homeschooled, it counts as schooling time as well. Woo hoo!

I also found out that Michael’s offers craft-themed birthday parties! Who knew? Click here for more information. Happy crafting!

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