St. Patrick's Day Gift and Puzzles

I am preparing for the actual St. Patrick's day.  It's a big day in our house, because not only do we have that holiday, it's my grandparents' 60th anniversary.  I have to be prepared for both to keep everything going smoothly.

We've already decorated for St. Patrick's Day.  I love the opportunity to make Jackson's teachers gifts, and I was inspired by one I found on pinterest from Marci Coombs.



This is what I created after visiting Walmart and perusing the aisles.

I found a plastic bowl for $1, ribbon to complement the bowl's color, and lots of green food goodies.  They had green mint M&M's, but the bag clashed with the other green items.  I took ziploc bags, cut the tops off with pinking shears, and poured them into the bags.  I then tied it with the ribbon.

The original blog didn't have the gift tag available, so I made my own.  I used the pinking shears to cut around the cardstock on which I printed the tag and also to trim the ends of the ribbon.

I also try to include learning activities for each holiday.  That's the teacher coming out!

Go here for the source to the printables. I chose to make the puzzle and the size sort.  They turned out like this...

I think my boys are ready to have a little leprechaun fun!

Decorating for St. Patrick's Day

Another fun decorating time!  I think I really came to appreciate St. Patrick's Day from my experience teaching 2nd grade at PB Smith, thanks to one special Irish teacher ;)  We pulled out all the stops!  And of course, this spills over to my household for my boys.

Most of the decorations actually came from the {Dollar Tree}. 

I used the chain of leprechaun hats to spruce up the dining room window.

I put the Irish flag in one of our plants.

For our dining room centerpiece, I added a pot of gold that came from Walmart.  This was actually given to my class by one of my students, and there were green bead necklaces and gold coins that were passed out to everyone.  To refill it, I used Marti Gras beads that my mom had.

For the front door, I hung a decoration also found at Walmart.  I wait until after the holiday to shop, because I only paid about $2 for it.

I made a topiary for the mantel that was inspired by {Bunch of Craft}.  The rope of shamrocks are from the Dollar Tree.  I wrapped it around one of the boys wiffle balls.  Then, I poked a skewer into one of the holes.  I used a pot we already had and wine corks to hold up the skewer.  I'm all about reusing!

On our kitchen table, I put balloon weights from the Dollar Tree.

In the boys' playroom, I added a St. Patrick's Day countdown from the Dollar Tree.  The numbers I made on the computer.

I also have fun hats and a headband bought as gifts for us by a parent.  They came from the Dollar Tree as well.  That store is always a good place to search for fun holiday finds.

How will you be cheaply decorating for St. Patrick's Day?