This easy activity is fun to do indoors and out, in the classroom, or at home!

We had so much fun with this activity that we ended up doing many other small leaf activities that turned into a full day of nature fun!

Keep reading for a tutorial on how to do this fine motor leaf imprint activity and more educational leaf activities! 

Enjoy! If your child ends up loving this activity, let me know by tagging me on Instagram using the handle @lorenaylennox!

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases but this comes at no additional cost to you. 

Materials you will need for this fine motor leaf activity

• Leaves- Go on a nature walk and collect a handful of gorgeous fall leaves.
• Crayola Crayons
• Safety scissors
• White paper

Yup! That’s all you need! Four simple items that you can probably find outside and around your home!
Now, let’s get to the fine motor leaf activity!

Related: The best arts and crafts supplies for preschoolers

We did this entire activity outdoors on a beautiful fall day.

Children need to be outdoors, not only for their physical well-being but also for their emotional state! Furthermore, there is so much to learn from nature!

With that said, before I get down to the fine motor leaf activity, I wanted to walk you through some other fun-filled fall leaf activities that led up to our fine motor leaf imprints.

Enjoy, and may nature bring you and your littles some fun and peace!

Step 1: Go on a fun nature walk and collect leaves!

Our first step in this activity was to go on a nature walk and collect some beautiful leaves.

On our walk, we brought along our fall scavenger hunt for some extra fun!

We snatched up whole, fallen leaves. Likewise, if we found a leaf on a unique tree or bush, we added it to our pile too!

Step 2: Have some educational and sensory leaf fun!

After we go back from our nature walk, we laid our leaves out on the table to observe our finds.

Then, Lennox and I talked a little bit about the anatomy of the leaf such as the veins and the stems.

Next, we did some fun sorting games with our leaves.

We sorted the leaves by:

• Colors
• Size
• Shape
• Texture
• Dead or Alive

Related: Outdoor Loose Parts Activities for Toddlers

Step 3: Identify the leaves

This part of our nature learning was my favorite part of the activity!

The older that I get, the more into gardening and outdoor life I am. I recently downloaded the iPhone App, PictureThis, and everywhere I go, I am constantly snapping pictures of different plants to learn more about that.

Thus, we took our leaves, and I took a picture of each leaf and wrote its name on the backside.
Then, we used our leaves as our reference guide on our future nature walks by identifying each tree or plant by looking at our leaves!

Step 4: Make your fine motor leaf imprints

Now time for the fine motor fun!

First, you will want to show your preschooler how to make their leaf imprint.

Take a leaf, and turn it face down. You want the veins to be facing you.

Then, place a blank piece of paper on top of the leaf.

*Hint: to save paper and resources, cut your paper into four rectangles! Use bigger pieces of paper for bigger leaves!

Next, show your toddler or preschooler how to hold the crayon at an angle. Place the crayon in between the thumb, pointer, and middle fingers. 

After that, show him how to shade the crayons on the paper to imprint the leaf’s outline.

You will want to add some pressure to the crayon, but not too much! If you have an impatient toddler like myself, good luck! Just keep on reminding them the patience is key!

Since we speak to Lennox in Spanish at home, I always say “Con la paciencia, se adquiere la ciencia.” Doing this does the trick to calm him for a second!

Related: Fall printables for preschoolers

Once you start shading, the crayon will shape down to the perfect angle to capture the outline of the leaf!

Your toddler or preschool will probably require a little help to finish this part of the activity. Remember, perfection is not the goal, but fine motor practice and sensory stimulation! Oh, and educational fun, of course!

Step 5: Cut out your leaf imprints

The last step in this fine motor leaf imprint activity is to cut out your imprints!

This is where your toddler can execute his fine motor skills and cut out the outline of the leaf he just imprinted in the paper!

Once all of the leaf imprints have been cut out, you can laminate them and keep them as an educational resource for the rest of time.

Thank you for reading thus far. I hope you and your kiddos enjoy this fun fine motor leaf imprint activity. Don’t forget to tag me on IG with the handle @lorenaylennox to show me their beautiful artwork!

EVEN MORE FUN FALL CRAFT PROJECTS FOR KIDS

• 10 Free Printable Nature Coloring Pages in Spanish
• 30 + Fall Printable Activities for Preschoolers
• Fall Sensory and Fine Motor Activities for Preschoolers
• Autumn Leaf Activities for Preschoolers
• Color by Number Fall Worksheets in Spanish [Free Printables]
• Toddlertober— 31 Easy Peasy Fall Activities To Do With Your Toddler this October

The post Fine Motor Leaf Imprint Activity appeared first on Bilingual Beginnings.

If you know me by now, you know I adore a good DIY.

I am always looking for a reason to craft, or do sensory activities with Lennox and for his dinosaur-themed second birthday party in June, we did a lot of crafting.

One of my favorite items that Lennox and I made for his birthday party ware these DIY dinosaur crayons.

They were a hit, not only for the younger children but also for the older ones as well.

Keep reading for a tutorial on how to make these adorable crayons.

Materials needed to make the DIY Dinosaur Crayons

• Crayola Crayons– I emphasize that you use Crayola Crayons because they melt better and their colors stay more vibrant after the melting process. Also, the paper is easier to peel than other crayons.
• Dinosaur Silicone Mold
• A small, sharp knife
• Scissors
• Parchment paper
• Baking sheet

Steps to make your DIY Dinosaur Crayons

Step 1:

Place all your crayons on a surface where you will do the molding.

Take a sharp knife and carefully slice vertically along the crayon’s paper. You might be asking why use a knife instead of simply peeling?

Peeling would be great if you only plan on molding a few crayons, however, after crayon number twenty (thirty minutes later), you’re going to be so frustrated trying to peel off the not-so-peelable paper and your nail beds are going to be throbbing. This was my first timer’s mistake my first go around.

Thank heavens for Carlos, the creative brain in the family, who laughed at my struggling efforts and helped me by using a sharp knife. We banged out the rest of the crayons in 10 minutes. Take my—well Carlos’— advice! See picture to the right (or above if you’re on a mobile =) to see how we cut the crayon’s paper.

Note: as I mentioned earlier, Lennox helped me make these crayons; however, he did not help me during step 1. Please keep the toddlers away from the sharp knives!

Step 2:

Preheat over to 250°.

Step 3:

Place your now peeled, whole crayons into a container. If you plan on mixing your colors, as in my photos, you can put them all into one bowl. If you want to make a unicolor crayon (not very ideal unless you buy multiple boxes of crayons) set them into different containers.

Step 4:

Another one of my first mistakes were breaking the crayons with my own hands. Now not only did I have pulsing nail beds from peeling off paper, but now I was cultivating callouses on my fingers. Oh Vey!

I decided to grab a pair of scissors, and after multiple attempts at cutting the crayons and them subsequently flying all around the room, I found a way to work in sync with the sissors. The trick is to firmly hold the crayon and place it at furthest end of the scissors opening. Then slowly apply pressure, and the crayon will start to break. Make sure to cut the crayons into small pieces, around ¼ of a inch, some even smaller for the tiny crevices of the mold.

Note: There will be crayon debris left over from the scissors, DO NOT disregard these debris. Use them to fill in any cracks in your mold, and give your crayons an extra tie-dye pop!

Place your broken crayons into a container so they don’t get everywhere as mine did.

Step 5.

Place crayons in mold

Here is where I invited Lennox to help me (now that are the weapons are out of reach). After making a couple of batches of crayons, the best way to get full crayons is to take your larger pieces and fill each mold as much as you can. Then, take the smaller pieces and fill in the empty spaces. Then, take your debris and fill in the nooks and crannies. Don’t worry about overfilling the molds, they will melt down.

In the picture above, I did not fill in all of the space and the crayons came out very thin. If that happens, no worries. You can add more crayons on top and re-melt them. However, if you follow my advice above, you will save yourself some time.

Step 6.

Place parchment paper onto a baking sheet. This is an important step that I regret not doing with my first batch because if your mold overflows, or if you get a shaky hand moment and your wax spills, you won’t have to worry about getting it off of your pan later.

Step 6:

Place your molds in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Then, check to see if your crayons have fully melted and are of liquid consistency. If so, remove them from the oven.

Step 7:

Let your crayons cool for several hours. The crayons will cool rather quickly, but don’t let that encourage you to remove them from the mold too soon. I made this mistake and had a couple of broken dinosaur-limbs. If you let them cool for several hours, don’t be afraid to push your mold and pop! Out will come your beautiful dinosaur crayon.

I know I’m making this sound like it’s some sort of rocket science, but it’s not. I simply want to offer my best advice that I learned from all of my trial and errors so that you can make your melted crayons with ease.

They turned out way better than I expected, and the colors turned out super cool.

There are so many different molds on Amazon that you could make crayons out of, and they would be a cute touch for many various celebrations.

I’ll leave a list of other molds below!

• Puppy Dog Paw Mold
• Pineapple Mold
• Flower and butterfly Mold
• Star Mold

More party posts you might enjoy:

• Dinosaur Birthday Party Ideas
• Soccer-Themed Birthday Party Ideas
• DIY Mason Jar Centerpieces
• Color by Number Dinosaur Printable Worksheets in Spanish 

The post How to Make DIY Dinosaur Crayons appeared first on Bilingual Beginnings.

Welp, It happened. Lennox rawr’d into twohood this past Saturday. Reality has finally set in that my baby is now a little boy who can speak in sentences, count to twelve, and throw a tantrum like it’s his day job. Well, hello there, terrible-twos. I cannot wait to see what this year has in store.

If you have read some of my other celebration posts such as my DIY Gender Reveal Party, you know I love a reason for crafts and DIY; therefore, I was so excited to start planning for his dinosaur birthday party back in April! I always make sure I give myself a good two months to plan, and craft, however; I still find myself rushing to wrap up my never-ending list of ideas.

Anyways, here are my DIY, as well as not DIY, ideas for a dinosaur-themed birthday party. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases but this comes at no additional cost to you. 

1. The Invitation-

First things first, whenever I plan a party, my theme goes around the invitation. The color scheme, the saying, and most importantly, the theme.

Since I raise my son, Lennox, speaking Spanish, I made the invitation in Spanish.

If you want to save yourself the money of buying a dinosaur invitation, all you have to do is create an account with Canva. It’s free and there are tons of templates and graphics from which to choose!

2. Decoration Inspiration

Once I had my invitation, I started going crazy planning my decorations.

On one of my trips to Target, it was as if they knew exactly what I needed because right smack in the center of the store I found these adorable dinosaur decorations. I also bought other items such as table clothes and plates and a banner, but used this theme as my inspiration for my DIY crafts.

Dinosaur Birthday Party Supplies Kit For Boys, Dinosaur Party Decorations-20 Guest-Include Dino Plates Cups Napkins Banner Cutlery Balloon Tablecloth Straws Toppers

Buy Now

We earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no additional cost to you.

Here are the links for the exceptionally economic dinosaur birthday party decorations that I purchased from Target.

• Dinosaur RAWR Banner
• Dinosaur Table Cloths
• Dinosaur Paper Plates
• Dinosaur Balloon

3. DIY Dinosaur Birthday Party Decor

Thanks to the help of my friend, and her Cricut , we spent two nights creating our decorations.

a. Dinosaur signs

These dinosaur signs were super fun to make. Lennox got to participate with some sensory fun as he painted the dinosaurs.

First, We took blank sheets of white cardstock, and let him go at them with Crayola Washable Paint. Then, we let them dry. Once they were dry, we used the Cricut to cut the cardstock into dinosaur shapes.

Lastly, I attached the dinosaur cut-outs to skewers and used them as signs for the party. Below are some pictures, but some of the cute sayings I gathered together from Pinterest are:

Sign sayings for the favors:

• “ Thank you for stomping by.”
• “ Grab one before they go extinct.”

Sign sayings for the food:

• “ Carnivores.”
• “Herbivores”
• “ Sweetivores”
• “ Dinosaur eggs” (with grapes)
• “ Dinosaur poop” (we used Maltballs)
• “ Dig in” for utensils

Sign sayings for beverages

• “Swamp water” for the kiddies.
• “ Watering hole” adult juice. I made a Rosé Sangria yum.

b. Leaf banner

We also found the perfect tropical leaves and made a banner and leaves for random decor around the house.

c. Confetti

With the same leaf template, we cut many smaller sizes and sprinkled them on the table like confetti. Super cute touch. I hope someone noticed!

d. Goody bags

With a medium-sized version of the leaf template, I designed a simple, but adorable goody bag on plain brown paper bags.

The goody bags were a hit. I will be posting soon on what was inside our dinosaur goody bags!

4. Dinosaur Photo Booth

I am a camera mama, and what better than to have a photo booth! At Lennox’s first soccer-themed birthday party the guests had so much fun with the photo props that I just had to do it again. That said, I had to get these adorable dinosaur photo booth props from Amazon!

5. Centerpieces

This party was a lot smaller than our past parties, so I didn’t want to go all out making centerpieces. Therefore, I recycled our DIY mason jar centerpieces from Lennox’s baby shower. They were perfect for holding straws, utensils and our photo booth props.

6. Beverages

To keep going with the theme, I prepared a pitcher of “swamp water” for the kiddies. I used Sour Apple cool aid. For the adults, I created a “watering hole” out of Rosé Sangria. It was quite the hit if I must say so myself.

For another fun adult beverage, try out this sensational cranberry and sage gin cocktail!

7. DIY Dinosaur Egg Piñata

Using Parties With a Cause’s genius blog post, Prehistoric Party-saurus DIY Dino Egg Piñata, I attempted to make my first piñata. It did not turn out half bad.

I did start a little later than I should have, (two days before the party) so I didn’t get the last coat of green on the dots of the egg; however, the piñata held up very well for the number of kids that gave it a whack. See for yourself below!

8. Food

Carlos (the hubby) is a chef, so I let him handle the food portion of the party. He made a typical Salvadoran dish called Pollo con Papas (potatoes and rice). As for side dishes, I provided a “carnivore’ section with hotdogs and hamburgers, a “herbivore section, with veggies and fruits, and a “sweetivore” section with homemade baked goods.

Looking for a great party recipe? Try these delicious carne asada street tacos.

My homemade baked goods included cupcakes, because who doesn’t love cupcakes? I made Vanilla cupcakes with chocolate icing and sprinkles, and chocolate cupcakes with vanilla icing and crushed Oreos. On top, I place these adorable Dinosaur toppers from Amazon!

I also made Dirt, a classic and simple recipe of chocolate pudding, whipped cooler, layers of crushed Oreos, and worms. Nom Nom!

9. The Dinosaur Cake

Last, but not least, the cake. This one I was not going to make myself because it is traditional in our Salvadoran household to have a tres leches cake. I have made one before, many years ago, but all I remember is that it took me forever, and it didn’t taste nearly as good as the Latin bakery where we got our cake.

They did a fantastic job, and the cake was to die for. I am so glad mad there was cake left over for me to eat the following days. =)

I hope you enjoyed Lennox’s second dinosaur birthday party. Thank you again for reading and for all of our close friends and family for attending!

More Party Posts Ideas:

• DIY Dinosaur Crayons. The Perfect Goody Bag Treat
• Soccer-Themed Birthday Party Ideas for Your One-Year-Old Boy
• DIY Mason Jar Centerpieces
• Color by Number Dinosaur Printable Worksheets in Spanish 

The post DIY Dinosaur Birthday Party Ideas appeared first on Bilingual Beginnings.

I have been excited to write this post about Lennox’s first birthday party for a long time now. Now that the warm weather is here, I finally decided it was the perfect moment.

If you follow us on Instagram, you know that Lennox is a soccer fanatic. This boy will not leave the house unless he has a soccer ball under his arm. Forget a pleasant car ride unless he has a ball in his lap.

If you read any of my other celebration posts, you know I love myself a good DIY. Thus, a few months before his Lennox’s first birthday, I was super excited to start planning his birthday party, and what a better theme in June than his favorite thing in the world—soccer.

Below you can find some of my DIY and not-so-DIY soccer birthday party ideas to throw a supercalifragilistic soccer-themed first birthday party!!

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases but this comes at no additional cost to you. 

Location

Since Lennox has a June birthday, we picked an outdoor location that has a pavilion and two soccer fields. It is the same location where we did his baby shower, and I couldn’t wait to host his soccer-themed birthday party there again.

It was the ideal location since we have a HUGE family (I kid you not, Lennox has 17 immediate cousins on his father side; Latinos rock!), and we also have a lot of friends. Check out this location, isn’t it just gorgeous?

The soccer fields were great entertainment for all the kids, and adults as well. There was also a playground for the kids’ entertainment.

2. Invitation 

Once I knew we were going to throw a soccer-themed party, I decided to make my own invitation. It has a front side with all of the necessary information: when, where, and when to RSVP.

3. Colors & Soccer Party Supplies

Apart from the theme, the colors were the next step for deciding the rest of the party. White and black were shoe-ins, but then I decided on blue and green to add some pop to the party.

Therefore, I went searching around the town for economical party supplies. Below is a list of my party supplies and from where I got them:

• Blue & green tablecloth rolls to cover all 14 tables
• Plates
• Napkins
• Utensils
• Balloons
• Number 1 balloon
• Soccer Toothpicks
• Soccer-themed party supplies
• Streamers

4. Centerpieces

I had so much fun making my DIY Mason Jar centerpieces for my baby shower that I wanted to make more. This time around it was a lot more complicated with a 10-month-old from when I was pregnant and nesting. Lennox was very interested in touching all of the jars, and paint. 

I love that the mason jars can be taken home as favors by the guests. First come first serve! I get so happy when I visit my family and friend’s and see these jars in their houses as flower pots, storage for pens/small items, etc.

At first, I thought these looked super easy to make, but they aren’t! I had a lot of trial and error with them. Thus, I will write a short post in the future on how to make them with ease. Feel free to reach out to me, or comment below for immediate recommendations!

5. Monthly Pictures

I spent so many minutes of each month taking monthly photos of Lennox, so why not display them?

I printed Lennox’s monthly pictures in 5’7’, then attached blue and white card stock. Then, I wrote the corresponding months on the card stock in blue and green permanent maker. Lastly, I attached them to a blue ribbon with tape and hung them up above our welcome table! 

It was hard to get a good picture of them, thanks to the wind, but get the gist. Note: don’t make my mistake of hanging them backward =)

6. Lennox’s first birthday picture photo shoot

The morning before Lennox’s party we went to a beautiful soccer field to capture some DIY first birthday pictures. I enlarged them into 8x10s, framed them, and displayed them at the welcome table. The only reason we took these images the day of the party was because we waited until the day before his birthday to get his luscious long locks cut. It was a big surprise for all of the guests!

Check out some of my favorite shots below!

7. Food

Since Lennox is half-Salvadoran, we almost always have a Carne Asada (literal translation is roast). Below is a list of foods we served. Our closest family and friends also provided side dishes which was a big help—thank you loveys!

• Carne Asada– Fajita-type beef, cut very thin in a marinade and cooked all the way through.
• Chimol- A Salvadoran resemblance of Pico de Gallo. It goes so well with the steak.
• Rice
• Homemade Tortillas
• Chorizo 
• Pollo Asado– Roasted Chicken
• Ceviche
• Baked Beans
• Deviled Eggs
• Hot dogs & Hamburgers for the kiddies
• Taco Dip
• My BFF made this awesome dish for Lennox’s party. Here are her instructions:
• Ingredients: 
• 1 container cream cheese
• 1 container taco dip (salsa is okay) 
• onions (chopped)
• tomatoes (chopped)
• shredded cheddar cheese 
• iceberg lettuce (chopped)
• black olives (sliced)
• Mix cream cheese and taco sauce (electric mixer is easier). Put the mixture on a large serving platter or dish. 

Add toppings onto dip mixture in the order above (you can add or delete different ones to your liking- jalapeños, refried beans, avocado, cilantro- lots of options!) 

Refrigerate until ready to eat. Enjoy with your favorite tortilla chips.

To make the GOAL taco dip, I used the olives as the soccer players. I put sour cream in a ziplock bag and cut a small hole to draw goal posts and write the word GOAL.

Here are some of the deserts we had: 

• Cupcakes

I found these adorable soccer cupcake rings on Amazon for $5.88 for 24 of them. I baked two batches of cupcakes, then made a homemade green icing. On half of the cupcakes, I smoothed the frosting on, and on the rest, I used a cake icing tool to make the icing look like grass. Then I popped the rings into the center. The kids loved these and took the rings home as favors!

• Oreos
• Tres Leches Cake

It’s not a Latino party without a tres leches cake or a sponge cake with three different types of milk; evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream. It is complicated to make. I’ve tried once, and I will try again. This cake, however, was made from a small Salvadoran bakery. It turned out nice; yet, I’m not quite sure why they didn’t continue the cursive font through Lennox’s name. *Shrug*

8. The Mandatory Smash Cake

I am so thankful that one of my dear coworkers offered to make me this beautiful smash cake, free-of-charge after I showed her my failed attempt at making one myself. Look how gorgeous it turned out below!!

It does not even look like a cake. In fact, when I sat Lennox down in the highchair to eat it, he was so confused. He thought it was an actual soccer ball.

Check out Nicole’s cakes on Instagram Cakes_From_Nicole

The bib featured is from Amazon. We used this bib after his party. It’s big and would catch all his food and saliva from teething! It’s also adorable!

9. DIY Soccer Card Box

At my baby shower I forgot a card box . Afterwards all of my cards were all over the place. I would not forget this time around for Lennox’s first birthday.

! I used the same design from the mason jars on a shoe box. It’s not Pinterest-perfect, but it’s cute, and got the job done!

10. Soccer Birthday Party Welcome Stand

At the pavilion entrance, I created a picture stand that features two of the pictures we took the morning before the party. It included a photo album of all the images from Lennox’s first year of life, as well as the goodie bags for the kids.

Hanging above are Lennox’s monthly pictures! I sprinkled the table with soccer Hershey Kisses, which were also in the goodie bags.

11. Soccer-Themed Goodie Bags

Here is a list of items I had in my 60, yes 60 goodie bags. These bags were one of the most expensive and time-consuming factors of Lennox’s party. For this reason, Lennox will not have any more large birthday parties. I found items that weren’t expensive in cost, but unfortunately did add up due to the amount of goodie bags. I got the goodie bags themselves from Walmart, where they were super cheap; 12 for $1.79!

• Soccer-labels for Hershey kisses
• Soccer Super Balls
• Lifesaver Mints
• Soccer Key Chains
• Whistles
• Soccer Pencils

Related: DIY Crayon Molds. A Great Addition To Add To Your Party’s Goodie Bags

12. Soccer Photobooth Props

One of my favorite parts of the party was the soccer photo booth props, everyone had a blast with them.

 13. Soccer Birthday Party Piñata

Again, there’s no such thing as a Latino party without a piñata. I found this Piñata on Amazon. It worked just fine. However, I am excited to make my own piñata this year for Lennox’s second birthday party. Stay tuned =)

If you can’t tell everyone had a blast. We also had a couple of adult-beverage game stations around our party since this big bash I was able to take part in the festivities because I wasn’t pregnant like during the baby shower.

I hope you enjoyed Lennox’s Soccer-Themed First Birthday Party. We sure did. Don’t forget to share for later and to follow us on social media to see all of our soccer fun and more =)

Other posts you might enjoy:

• DIY Dinosaur-Themed Birthday Party Ideas
• Gender Reveal Party… on a Budget
• DIY Crayons. The Perfect Party Favor

The post DIY Soccer-Themed Birthday Party Ideas & Decorations appeared first on Bilingual Beginnings.

I love, love, love doing crafts! That’s how I saved a lot of money for my baby shower. I made a lot of decorations, food and most importantly, my centerpieces.

Centerpieces can be expensive, especially if you have a lot of tables to decorate. At my baby shower, well Baby-Q, I had 12 tables, so, to save money I made my centerpieces. Not only were they extremely affordable and fun to make, but they can be reused after the baby shower for personal in-home use or be gifted as favors for others to use in their homes.

Today, I am going to tell you exactly how I made my DIY mason jar centerpieces with the hopes of evoking inspiration for yours!

Where to purchase your mason jars

I shopped around for mason jars at a lot of places, but I found the best price at Amazon.

The mason jars were delivered right to my doorstep, which saved my 7-months pregnant-self the steps of carrying them from the store to the car, from the car to the house.

They come in different sizes, and since I had three colors for my baby shower (mint, gray, and gold), I wanted to have three mason jars for each centerpiece. I bought twenty-four 16 oz mason jars and twelve 32 oz jars.

Let’s make the DIY Mason Jar Centerpieces

The next step is picking out materials and colors.

I originally painted them all with acrylic paints but decided I wanted my gold jars to have some glitter to them. So I bought the Krylon Glitter Blast spray Paint. As for the acrylic paints. I tried a lot of different brands.

I initially tried the Martha Steward Multi-Surface Satin Acrylic paints. These colors were gorgeous; however, they were too translucent. I tried a couple of other brands, but my favorite brand was Apple Barrel. They paint smoothly onto the jars and only required two coats.

Next, I stenciled some of my jars with arrows.

This part can get tricky especially if you use very thin stencils, as I did. My suggestion would be to allow your jars to dry completely for full 24 hours (acrylic can feel dry to the touch, but if handled too soon the paint will peel off), then tape the stencil to the jar and with a very thin brush, paint the color you want the stenciled area. Keep the stencil on during the drying process—again a full 24 hours— before removing it.

As you can see in my picture, I used too thick of a brush, and the paint went underneath the stencil. I also took the stencil off immediately, smearing some paint. After being disappointed at first, I grew to like the imperfect look of the arrows especially after I sanded them.

The next step is my favorite, the sanding! Sand away as much as you please to get a rustic look to your mason jars. I did most of my sanding around the protruding designs of the mason jars.

Well, that’s it for the painting and crafting of your centerpieces. I finished my centerpieces about a month before my party, and I am glad I did because I coordinated the rest of my decorations around them.

What to do with your DIY Mason Jar Centerpieces

Your next step is to decide what you want to do with them. Do you want them to be decorations in the middle of the table? Do you want to make use of them for storage of some sort? For mine, in my 32 oz. Jars I filled them with complimentary-colored flowers and Baby’s breath.

In the 16 oz jars, I put extra utensils. I thought it would be convenient since I know I always forget silverware after serving my food at parties. I also used the jars as napkin holders. It was windy out, and the weight of the jars kept the napkins in place.

There we have it.

The centerpieces aren’t perfect but I think they are very appealing and bring some elegance to the Baby-Q. Now you might ask, what did you do with all 36 jars? Well, some of my favorites I made sure that as soon as I was done serving the food, I hid them for myself to keep.

To this day I use them as flower pots, as toothbrush holders, pen holders and sometimes they become a toy for my exploring 17-month old. Some of them I gave away as game prizes, and the left-overs I gave away to everyone that helped me clean up at the end. It makes me happy going and visiting some of my friends and seeing my centerpieces there and seeing how they utilize them in their homes.

I really enjoyed doing this project, especially during the nesting stage of my pregnancy, and now I am glad I get to share them with you all =). I used this same concept for Lennox’s first birthday centerpieces. Stay tuned!

Related posts:

• Gender Reveal Party Ideas on a Budget
• How to Make DIY Dinosaur Crayons
• DIY Soccer-Themed Birthday Party Ideas & Decorations

The post DIY Mason Jar Centerpieces appeared first on Bilingual Beginnings.

Para leer este blog en español, haz clic aquí.

Gender reveal parties might not be for everyone. The stress of spending money on a party when you are about to bring a tiny human into the world can be daunting!

For me, at the beginning of my second trimester, I had just finished graduate school, and money was tight! However, with the support and encouragement of my sister, I was able to have a low-budget, and super fun gender reveal party for my first baby.

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases but this comes at no additional cost to you. 

Other DIY Party ideas you might enjoy:

• DIY Dinosaur-Themed Birthday Party Ideas
• DIY Mason Jar Centerpieces For Your Baby Shower
• DIY Dinosaur Crayons. The Perfect Goody Bag Treat

DIY Gender Reveal Party Ideas

Nuts or No Nuts

Which will your guests favor?

This decoration is adorable for a gender reveal party.

I cut out two shapes from pink and blue cardstock paper.

Then, with a sharpie, I wrote nuts on the blue shape, and no nuts on the pink shape.

Lastly, I attached them to bamboo skewers.

There you have it! A super cheap easy treat for your guests.

Wear Your Guess: 

This is a fun guessing game that you guest can play!

Place this guessing game right by your front door so that guests wear their gender prediction as soon as they walk in.

Like the previous DIY idea, this DIY game is so simple and cheap to make!

I ordered a pack of 50 clothespins from Amazon because I knew I could recycle them for the baby shower or another craft idea.

All you have to do is you paint the ends (where you squeeze the clothespin) blue or pink, and that’s a wrap.

Your guests pick the colored clothespin with the color they think will be the baby’s gender and voila!

DIY Gender Reveal Favors

Since my reveal was in the winter, I got a pack of mini Cinnamon Fireball shots to warm everybody up. Also, Fireball is relatively cheap! But, not everyone likes Fireball, so choose the mini bottle of your liking!

You could also pick something nonalcoholic as well! We knew we had guests that liked to indulge, so we knew they would enjoy this favor!

We attached a personalized message with card stock and ribbon to each bottle.

For the message, I designed a message on my computer and printed it out on the same pink cardstock paper.

It says: “Whether pink or blue, we’re happy to spend this day with you.”

DIY Diaper Raffle:

This DIY diaper raffle was my FAVORITE part of deciding to have a gender reveal party.

We asked the guests coming to our party to bring a pack of diapers, and in turn, they could enter a prize raffle!

I also repainted this awesome wipe container that I was about to put in recycling and reused it for my baby shower.

Then, with the same pink cardstock paper as the previous DIY gender reveal party ideas, I wrote my own sign and tickets for this raffle!

I received so many diapers that I did not not need to buy diapers for the first 11 months of Lennox’s life. I call in a win, win.

DIY Diaper Raffle Gift

I’m glad I got to share a few of my favorite gender reveal items with you. I had a blast making them and, it didn’t put a dent in my pocket. Also, I received a lot of diapers and enjoyed the company of my closest friends and family. Thank you for reading.

The post 5 DIY Gender Reveal Party Ideas (When You’re on a Budget) appeared first on Bilingual Beginnings.