Hosting A Backyard Sports Tournament

Looking for a fun way to get outdoors, keep the kids active and have fun? Host your own neighborhood sports tournament in your backyard! Take your pick — volleyball, croquet, badminton, soccer, flag football, softball or even synchronized dance can be turned into a just-for-fun competitive league. Here are a few pointers to get you started:

1.    Pick your players.  Will you have a kids-only league or mixed teams? Will there be a minimum age or an age limit? If you have both youth and adult teams, consider an end-of-season mixed game to show off your skills.

2.    Choose a sport & rules.  Once you decide what to play, make sure everyone is playing by the same rulebook. Recruit referees and scorekeepers if necessary.

3.    Choose teams.  Split up into manageable groups, taking into account the need for subs. Find out if anyone will be on vacation and create a team roster and calendar. Each team should have a leader to manage the roster and monitor playtime.

4.    Designate home turf.  You can choose to host the event on your own lawn, rotate among neighbors or get together at a nearby park. Ask for volunteers to bring equipment to each game.

5.    Consider rain dates.  If the weather doesn’t cooperate, plan for alternate game dates. However, instead of canceling the day’s event, plan on meeting at a community center or team captain’s home to practice skills and build camaraderie.

6.    Create a bracket.  Decide how many games or rounds will be played and how elimination will occur. Will you have a wild card team? Playoffs?

7.    Pick uniforms & team names.  Keep it casual or organize and coordinate your players in matching jerseys. Let kids decorate their own T-shirts or hats with fabric paint as a getting-to-know-you team activity.

8.    Choose cheerleaders.  Whoever isn’t playing can become a cheerleader! Include parents and siblings in the fun and provide pom-poms, noisemakers and megaphones at each game. Recruit cheer captains to decorate banners or signs to post on game day.

9.    Provide Prizes.  Play just for fun or hand out ribbons, awards or trophies to the winning teams. You can also award each player a ribbon just for participating. Ask the adults to contribute to a game fund and use the money to buy prizes in bulk.

10.     Throw an end-of-season celebration.  Make sure to reward the players with a season-ending party. Host it in your backyard, at a playground, local amusement park or favorite restaurant. Have the kids share their favorite moments from the season while you share photos or a slideshow of photos from the games. Take advantage of this party to plan next year’s season, too!

Easy Craft Glue Guide

Find yourself in a “sticky situation” when choosing what type of glue to use for your craft projects? Read on to discover the different types of glue, what projects they work best for and some handy application tips.

 Glue Dots®
Little dots of super-sticky adhesive, Glue Dots work with almost any project and any experience level. They make especially effective adhesives for 3-D crafts and even small pieces of metal. Plus, they’re acid free, so they’re perfect for paper crafts, scrapbooking projects and attaching photos.

Tip!
Don’t touch the Glue Dot! Remove the clear cover, apply the dot and lift it from the paper backing.

Foam Glue
It’s simple: foam glue is fabulous if you’re working with foam! Use it to adhere foam to foam, wooden craft sticks to foam, pom-poms to foam or almost any small craft item to foam. This glue works best for flat, two-dimensional crafts, so be sure to keep your project level when applying the glue.

Tip!
Don’t use too much! Foam glue tends to be very thin and sticky, so use the smallest amount possible.

Glue Gun
A favorite with crafters of all types, glue guns work great for adults and older kids. Use them for fabric, foam and almost any project, except extremely thin items (like paper) and slick surfaces (like metal).

Tip!
Catch those annoying, stray strings of glue before they turn your project into a mess! Apply the glue in a circular motion. When you’re finished, lift the glue gun about an inch off the surface, then very quickly twist the gun in a circular motion.

Glue Sticks
Glue sticks generally work best with paper only or to provide a light, temporary hold for other projects. Mess-free, easy to apply and almost impossible to apply too much, glue sticks are a must-have for the very young crafter working with paper.

Tip!
Colored glue sticks can help you easily see where you’re applying your glue.

Looking for glue? “Stick” with us! Find all the adhesives you need online.  Or, for more craft fun, read about creative craft ideas you can incorporate into a stay-cation at home! 

Creative Craft Ideas for Your Stay-cation

You might not have a big vacation planned this summer, but you still want to spend some time with your kids and take a break from everyday life. “Stay-cations,” a fun new trend, are exactly what they sound like --taking a few days to relax, have fun and spend time together, all in the comfort of your home. It might be the thing for you this summer!

Stay-cations can be long, short, lazy, busy and everything in between, but we’ve found the best stay-cations for kids involve fun, new activities that spark their creativity. Here are a few ideas for stay-cation activities and some craft projects to go with them!

Home Sweet Hotel
To get in the vacation mood, turn the kids’ bedrooms into hotel rooms. Clean up any clutter, add a few extra pillows, and make the bed in fresh white linens. You might even consider bringing a TV into the room and creating a “Welcome” display with brochures of your hometown attractions. Remember, kids have big imaginations, so just
a few changes to their rooms can make a big difference!

Have kids create their own “Do Not Disturb” doorknob hangers. Cut a hanger shape from foam or construction paper, and use self-adhesive foam letters, glitter, markers and other craft supplies to dress it up.

Backyard Paradise
You don’t have to live in paradise to create one in your backyard! Set up one or several fun activities to give your stay-cation a resort-like feel. You can try:

•    A wading pool
•    Volleyball net
•    Trampoline (borrow a neighbor’s!)
•    Badminton game
•    Water slide
•    Croquet game

Crafts are a must-have for your backyard escape, so be sure to arrange a craft station on a picnic or patio table.  Try craft kits in a tropical luau theme, or offer kids sand art kits.

Field Trips
For a great stay-cation activity, discover your hometown like a tourist! Log onto your local chamber of commerce website to discover the museums, zoos, parks, festivals and other attractions your community has to offer.

When you get home from your adventure, engage your kids even more with a themed craft. Did you visit the zoo? Try a jungle-themed craft activity. A visit to the planetarium calls for a space-themed craft, and you could try a dinosaur craft or homemade bug jar if you visit a natural history museum.

Say Cheese!
Vacations aren’t vacations without plenty of pictures to remember the fun, and stay-cations are the same way. So snap away, and at the end of the week, your kids can make photo frame magnets to display their favorite snapshots.

Stay-cations are all about do-it-yourself fun, so think of your crafts as homemade souvenirs to remember your right-at-home getaway forever.

The fun doesn’t have to end once you head back to work and the kids head back to school.  Learn 12 Simple Ways to Make Every Day Fun > 

12 Simple Ways to Make Every Day Fun

When you want to make someone’s day special, all it takes is a little imagination. No matter what your budget, you can put a smile on your kids’ faces with just a few small surprises.

1. Tuck a few new pencils in your kids’ pencil bags. Choose their favorite designs for a fun surprise they’ll discover at school.

2. Say it with stickers! From silly sayings to funny faces, there are so many ways to share a smile with a few small stickers.

3. Dress up after-school treats with cute candy pieces on top of pudding cups or cupcakes.

4. Give them a balloon! Just for fun, tie a balloon to your kids’ chairs when it’s time for dinner.

5. Have a scavenger hunt. Write simple clues for kids to follow and find small prizes you’ve hidden around the house or yard.

6. Give them a plush pal. When it’s bedtime, surprise your kids with a new stuffed animal waiting on each of their pillows.

7. Challenge your kids to a bubble-blowing contest. Fill a candy jar with gumballs then see who can blow the biggest bubble.

8. Get out the sidewalk chalk. Let kids be creative or draw a game of hopscotch on the driveway.

9. Have a theme night dinner! Make it western, Italian or a Mexican fiesta. All you need are some hats, bandannas or maracas to dress up your table.

10. At your child’s next game, wear your team shirt and cheer them on with noisemakers or pom-poms.

11. Instead of an ordinary lunch, go to a local park and have a picnic complete with outdoor toys and games.

12. Put on an art show. Turn a blank wall into a gallery to showcase drawings and paintings your kids create. Make a special spot to showcase their latest addition.

For more inspiration, read Fun Ways to Spend Time Together As A Family. 

Easy Homemade Mother’s Day Gifts

Most kids would just love to hop in a box, tie it with a bow and give themselves to Mom for Mother’s Day, but it can get pretty boring sitting inside a box! Instead, kids can use their handprints, creativity, favorite photos and big imaginations to make gifts that mom will cherish well beyond Mother’s Day.

•    Give Mom a “hand” with a special handprint craft kit. Using finger paint, kids can create flowers, animals, and anything else they can imagine with just a few handprints and fingerprints. They can even make something from footprints!

•    Have kids lie on a giant sheet of paper and help them trace their body outline with a pencil. (Hint: Avoid markers. They can stain clothes!) Cut out the shape and have kids use crayons, markers, paint, glitter, self-adhesive jewels and more to make their own self portrait for Mom.

•    Kids can show how much they’ve grown with a school picture album made especially for mom! Start with a pre-made boardbook or make one from cardstock and have kids decorate it any way they like. Next, collect school portraits from the last two or three years and glue them in your album, making a separate page for every year. No school pictures on hand? Snapshots work just as well.

•    Speaking of snapshots, a snapshot collage made from poster board or construction paper also makes a fun and personal gift for mom. Try taking photos from birthdays, Halloween, Christmas, Easter and other special events to create a whole year of memories.

•    Need a quick homemade gift? Many photo frame craft kits come in floral and Mother’s Day themes. Make one to frame a picture of favorite photo of you and mom!

Kids grow up fast, so sometimes a gift that captures those special moments in a child’s life--from footprints to photos--can be the best Mother’s Day gift of all.

Looking for more handmade gift ideas?  Click here to see more Mother’s Day projects.   

10 Ways Craft Kits Can Save You Money

Whether you're planning an activity for a child's birthday party, family night, or for your classroom, crowd-pleasing craft kits offer more fun-for-less!  If you're already enjoying the convenience of Oriental Trading's easy-to-make, prepackaged craft kits for 1-12 kids, these money-saving ideas will show how you can also use craft kits to save on gifts, birthday parties and more. 

Fun & Easy Paper Craft Projects for Kids

If television isn’t the creative outlet you want your kids plugged in to, all you need is some colorful construction paper, scissors and their imaginations. Paper craft projects are a budget-friendly way to keep kids entertained with creative play. Here are just a few ideas.

10 Clever Ideas for Indoor Play

As temperatures drop and kids’ playtime moves indoors, there are lots of creative ways to keep kids entertained so they’re not spending all of their free time playing video games or watching television.  Here are 10 clever, inexpensive ideas you can try to beat winter boredom. 

Fun Ways to Spend Time Together as a Family

Families are busier than ever.  From school and sports to work and appointments, getting the family together to spend quality time together can be challenging.  However, as children grow and mature, time spent together as a family is the most valuable investment you can make in kids’ lives.  Here are some fun ideas and activities to help become closer as a family:

Glow-All-Out with Novelties

By Penny Warner

Here’s a bright idea that will really light up your celebration: Make it a “Glow Party!” You can turn any ordinary event into a dazzling display of luminous color with a few glow in the dark decorations and accessories. Here are suggestions for themes that are perfect for a glow in the dark party: