Lollipop Display Box

For my daughter's Very Hungry Caterpillar 1st  Birthday Party I  needed to display some lollipops (because on Saturday, the caterpillar ate one lollipop....).

 Until I started to organize my candy for my treat table, I had no idea how hard it was to display lollipops! I tried to just put them in a jar, a vase,  or a fancy glass or something cute like that, but nope, they don't stand up all cute and on display like I was envisioning. So last minute, I threw together a cute box to display the lollipops in.

I actually used the box that the lollipops came in (I ordered them off Amazon.com. They were cute and tasted good and not too expensive). I had 12 lollipops and I had 1 cute sign for the lollipops, so I poked 13 holes in the top of the box. I also filled the box with cheap dollar-store marbles so that the lollipops had something to stand upright in. Sand would also work too. However, when I make a lollipop display box again in the future, I think I'll put a solid Styrofoam piece in the bottom of the box and push the lollipop sticks down into it. (Styrofoam can also be purchased from a local dollar-store)

Then I wrapped the box with cute wrapping paper that matched my décor.

 And had I planned this out in advance, I would have bought cuter wrapping paper, and probably used green, but like I said before, this was a last minute project.

 

 I repoked the holes through the wrapping paper. But then I needed to cover the tape that was showing and I wanted to make it cuter, so I added some of my Eric Carle (Very Hungry Caterpillar) border to the box. I think fun scrapbook paper or maybe even a different wrapping paper would work and look great too.

 

Nurse Gift for when Having a Baby



My baby just turned a year old about a week ago, so I thought I would make a quick post about the gifts I made for the nurses when I had her. This was my second baby, and after having my first I had learned all the great and wonderful things the amazing nurses do for you AND for your baby while you're in the hospital. So I wanted something nice to thank them with.

 

These were very simple. I bought a bunch of things that I felt I would enjoy if I were working a 12-hour shift in a hospital. Almonds, candy, gum, granola bars, chap stick, mints, etc. I put it all in a clear bag, added a cute card that was from my baby saying "Thanks for taking such good care of my Mommy and Me! Love, Baby Nielsen". I cut the letters for 'Thanks' out of cute paper on my Cricut and I added some cute ribbon too!

 

 

 

My best friend's mom was a labor and delivery nurse for 30+ years and I asked her how many nurses I would have/gifts would I need. She told me they work 12-hour shifts, and that Mom has a nurse and baby has a nurse in the nursery. So that's 4 nurses a day, a normal stay is two full days, and then plan on showing up mid-shift. If I remember right, I made 10 gifts.

 

 

 

I made them about 8 weeks in advance. Before I was too exhausted from being pregnant and huge in general and it kept me busy and distracted me from other pregnancy anxieties and stresses. I then packed in my hospital so they were ready to go when baby came.

 

I got the best care while I was in the hospital! I like to think that the first nurses spread the word about how great I was and that the following the nurses took extra good care of me. I did have one overnight nurse that I didn't care for too much, so I did not give her a Thank You Gift, but overall, I think my nice gesture made my experience that much better.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Party Decorations- Part II

 

 

Like I said in my last post, I normally post party pictures AFTER the party happens. However, for my party I'm working on right now, I'm posting things as I make them. I'm working on a Very Hungry Caterpillar (book by Eric Carle) theme party for my daughter's first birthday. Keep following along, I'm excited to see how everything comes together at the actual party.

In this post, I'm going to show how I made my Caterpillar Candy Lei's and my Hungry Caterpillar Plate Centerpiece.

Caterpillar Candy Lei's

 

Hungry Caterpillar Plate Centerpiece

 

Caterpillar Candy Lei's

I'm excited about the candy lei's. I'm going to be using them on my tables as décor and they will also double as a favor for the kids (and in my family, the adults like party favors too). I found the green cellophane wrap from Hobby Lobby. It was the only place I could find green and it was only $2.99. I cut it down and placed 5 pieces of candy on top.

 

 Then just roll the wrap around the candy. Keep it flat.

 Don't twist it between the candy sections, keep it flat. If you twist it between the candy pieces, the candy moves around and the caterpillar won't lay nicely.

 I used red and yellow ribbon to tie off the sections. I used the red around the 'head', I felt it was easier then making a red face somehow. And I used yellow on the rest of him to add some color and contrast to the caterpillar.

 I cut off the ends and curled the ribbon. I also glued on some googly eyes, but you can't seem really see them here (sorry for the poor quality photos!)

 

 

 

I'm going to set these up on my tables around my centerpieces like this:

(And remember, this should look way better all set up at the actual party)

Check out how I  made the centerpieces here:

http://berriesofwisdom.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-very-hungry-caterpillar-party.html

 

 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar Plate Centerpiece

Now the easiest thing that I have made so far for this party has been the caterpillar plate centerpiece. I used red and green party paper plates that I actually bought from Walmart for $.48 a pack! And that's for 20 plates each, so that's a great party deal whether you're eating off them or decorating with them. I used an old wrapping paper roll and clear packaging tape too.

 

 I taped the bottom of the plates to the wrapping paper roll and the tops of the plates to each other.

 I made the faces with my Cricut and scrapbook paper. But I'm sure this would be very easy to cut out without a Cricut machine or anything special.

This cute guy is double-sided and I will be putting it on a countertop or table somewhere at the party.