Kid Decorated Aprons

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Kids love to do art projects and help in the kitchen.  Unfortunately, they can be messy little monsters while they’re at it.  Help encourage their creativity and protect their outfits in future projects with these super-simple kid decorated aprons.  My kids had such a blast making these that they also made some for all of their friends.  With it being so close to the holidays they decided to wrap these up and give them as gifts but this makes a great activity for birthday parties and other kid-friendly events as well.

Affiliate links may be used in this post. Ordering a product through these links may result in a commission. Read the full disclosure here.

 

Help encourage creativity and protect outfits with these super-simple kid decorated aprons. Great for gifts or as a group activity at birthday parties!

 

[bctt tweet=”Encourage creativity and protect outfits with these super-simple #kiddecoratedaprons. Great for #gifts or as a group activity at #birthdayparties!”]

Materials

 

 

Step 1

Since you haven’t made the aprons to protect them, make sure your kids wear clothes that can get paint on them because they will get paint on them.

 

Help encourage creativity and protect outfits with these super-simple kid decorated aprons. Great for gifts or as a group activity at birthday parties!

Step 2

Place some fabric paint on the paint pallets.  Give the kids some brushes and water and let them go to town on some aprons.

Tip:

  • Once they finished be sure to label which apron is meant for whom so that there aren’t any arguments later.

 

Help encourage creativity and protect outfits with these super-simple kid decorated aprons. Great for gifts or as a group activity at birthday parties!

Step 3

Allow to dry 24 hours.

Step 4

Run the aprons through the dryer on a high setting for 30-40 minutes.  This will help set the paint on the aprons.  Once you have run them through the dryer for the initial cycle the aprons can be used, washed, and dried like normal.

 

Help encourage creativity and protect outfits with these super-simple kid decorated aprons. Great for gifts or as a group activity at birthday parties!

 

Help encourage creativity and protect outfits with these super-simple kid decorated aprons. Great for gifts or as a group activity at birthday parties!

 

Help encourage creativity and protect outfits with these super-simple kid decorated aprons. Great for gifts or as a group activity at birthday parties!

This project couldn’t be any easier and now you won’t have to worry about all of those holiday cookies you plan on making this year.  Let the kids put on their new personalized aprons and help you out.  Or, if you’re really brave, give them some paper and paint and let them go nuts while you get some projects of your own done.  Either way they will enjoy both making the aprons and using them for all of the fun projects you do.  You will love all of the memories you make together.

Looking for more projects to do with your kids?  Check out our DIY Kids page for more great ideas like this.

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Plaid Thanksgiving Pallet Wall Art

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Fall is absolutely the best time of year.  There is football, multicolored leaves, pumpkin everything, boots, and plaid everywhere!  It is like my Heaven on Earth. Of course the creative juices start flowing like crazy this time of year and there are always at least 10 projects going on at a time in my office.  One of those projects was this awesome plaid Thanksgiving pallet wall art.

Affiliate links may be used in this post. Ordering a product through these links may result in a commission. Read the full disclosure here.

 

Create this plaid Thanksgiving pallet wall art in time to hang for your festivities without taking away from meal prep!

 

[bctt tweet=”Create this plaid #Thanksgiving #pallet wall art in time to hang for your festivities without taking away from meal prep! #wallart #diy”]

Materials

 

Create this plaid Thanksgiving pallet wall art in time to hang for your festivities without taking away from meal prep!

Step 1

Take all packaging and tags off of your pallets.

Step 2

Put some paint into a container (or on a paint pallet) and add a small amount of water to it.  Mix well.

Tips:

  • It should be thinner but still retain a paint-like consistency.
  • It is best to add the water in small increments until you get the desired consistency.

 

Create this plaid Thanksgiving pallet wall art in time to hang for your festivities without taking away from meal prep!

Step 3

Begin covering your wall hanging with paint and water mixture.  Once you have covered about half, take a dry paper towel and wipe it over the paint.  This will allow the wood grain to show through giving you the look of stained wood instead of painted wood.

 

Create this plaid Thanksgiving pallet wall art in time to hang for your festivities without taking away from meal prep!

Step 4

Repeat step 3 until your entire pallet is “stained” and then allow it to dry completely.

Step 5

Once dry, cut a piece of plaid fabric to the size of the wall hanging and attach it to the back using hot glue.

Step 6

Lastly, attach a small picture hook to the back to hang.

Tip:

  • Because these are not very heavy, I opted to use hot glue to attach the hook.  If you are concerned about it holding, attach your hook using E6000 instead and allow to dry 24 hours before hanging.

 

Create this plaid Thanksgiving pallet wall art in time to hang for your festivities without taking away from meal prep!

 

Create this plaid Thanksgiving pallet wall art in time to hang for your festivities without taking away from meal prep!

 

Create this plaid Thanksgiving pallet wall art in time to hang for your festivities without taking away from meal prep!

This is such an easy and fun way to add a touch of plaid to your Thanksgiving décor without your home looking like it was attacked by the Brawny paper towel guy.  They come together so quickly that you can easily have them finished and hanging by your Thanksgiving meal without taking away from food prep time.  Don’t forget to check out all of our other Autumn projects before you go!

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10 Reasons Not to Boycott Early Black Friday Sales

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With only a little more than a week until Black Friday, the hoopla has once again started over the shopping craziness starting on Thanksgiving Day.  It happens every year and my newsfeed on social media is telling me to keep family at the center of Thanksgiving.  People have started ranting about how shopping on this day is unfair to employees who are forced to work.  It goes on and on with people bashing both the companies for being open and the holiday shoppers for not boycotting.  In case you’re on the fence, I have 10 reasons not to boycott early Black Friday sales.

In the great Black Thursday Debate, here are 10 reasons not to boycott early Black Friday sales.

 

[bctt tweet=”In the great #BlackThursday Debate, here are 10 reasons not to boycott early #BlackFriday sales.”]

1. You Love It

If you love the hustle and bustle of Black Friday shopping then by all means, go!  I absolutely love the craziness of this event.  It is an entire subculture that has its own rules and social norms.  It is also a group of paradoxes.  Many shoppers are the best of friends hanging out in line, sipping their coffees, waiting for the stores to open.  Once it does, it is every woman for herself, friend.  Sure, I gave you change for that latte but once we get in the store I will not save that last razor scooter for you instead of getting it for my kid.

2. You Don’t Need a Holiday to Celebrate Family

I don’t know how your family is, but mine doesn’t need a government-sanctioned holiday to celebrate our family.  In fact, we make it a point to spend time together as a family often, whether that means trips to the zoo or simple playing board games together.  My love for and devotion to my family is not determined by my availability on one singular day of the year.

3. Family Members Watch the Football Game

Do you have members of your family who plop in front of the TV and stay glued to the football game until dinner time?  Heck, some of them even eat their meal in front of it.  Is this the quality family time everyone is fighting for?  You cannot condemn one person’s hobby over another.  If a hobby is not destructive or harmful to yourself or others, it cannot be invalidated by another.

4. The Multiple Function Scramble

Have you ever spent one of these family holidays looking at your watch and constantly shuttling the family from one meal to the next?  If you have, you know that the holiday becomes too stressful to enjoy that way.  Yet, if you cut back, inevitably someone feels left out or like it is a reflection of how much you love them.  I would much rather fight hordes of people running to discount toasters than deal with this stress.

5. You Don’t Mind Heaps of Judgement

Judgement abounds over the decision to shop over Thanksgiving.  In fact, I know people who have missed Thanksgiving dinner for years, even before stores began pushing back opening times because they were napping in preparation for the big excursion.  This has been a point of contention for some family members.  However, if you don’t mind having the judgement piled on, by all means, do your thing.  Oh, and don’t forget about the judgement from strangers who don’t even know you or your family.  That will be served up on a platter along with Thanksgiving side dishes.

6. You Are Part of a Military Family

When you live the military life, nothing follows traditional societal norms.  If your husband is deployed over a holiday, you are just grateful if you get the chance to Skype.  If you want to go and pick up Christmas gifts on Thanksgiving Day (and Friday) I say do it!  I have been there, done that, and literally have the t-shirt.  (I’ll show you that on Black Friday.  Don’t worry.)

7. The National Holiday

Congress didn’t make Thanksgiving a set holiday until 1941.  This was actually done in response to FDR pushing the traditionally celebrated date back to lengthen “the Christmas shopping season” (Plimoth.org).  Prior to all of this, the President had to announce Thanksgiving each year.  You can read more about the fascinating history of this holiday by checking out the article “Thanksgiving History”.

8. No One Boycotts Non-Retail Arenas

The argument that by shopping on Thanksgiving you are responsible for people being pulled away from their families on this holiday is hypocritical at best.  I have never seen people up in arms over others who are forced to work this holiday.  No one is touting that hospitals or military bases should be closed.  No one is posting internet memes about the rights of NFL players to be home with their families on this holiday.  What about the families gathered to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?  People have to work that as well.  The fact is that it is their job and they knew that when they took it, end of story.  I worked retail in college and I never blamed the shoppers for having to work on holidays.  I knew that was part of the gig when I applied.

9. Your Budget Dictates It

Sometimes your budget necessitates the need to shop Black Friday sales no matter how early they fall.  This one tends to especially irk me personally because those same people judging moms for shopping on Thanksgiving are the ones buying their children hundreds of gifts for Christmas all marked from Santa.  This forces the parents that cannot afford to do so to have to explain to their kids about the inconsistencies in a way that still allows them to preserve the childlike magic of the holiday.  I pray that these people never face the reality of such a situation and if you are one of the people, whose budget dictates the kind of deep discounts found on Black Friday, hold your head high and know that you are doing what you can for your family.

10. You Love a Strategic Challenge

The last reason you should absolutely shop on Thanksgiving Day is that you love planning, strategy, and a challenge.  Black Friday sales force even the cleverest and well organized planners to prioritize and pull out all of their tools.  If you don’t have a plan, you will fail, plain and simple.  You need to know when stores open, prioritize how stores rank in importance on your list, and also how individual items within the stores rank in order of importance.  If you don’t have a plan that contains these things you will be running around confused and most likely miss out on the most important deals from your gift list.

So, now that I have alienated half of my family and friends, what are your thoughts?  Weigh in on the great Black Thursday debate in the comments.  Or if you are a Black Friday lover like me, check out my 10 Tips for Shopping on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

 

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