Friday Favorite

I was checking out one of the blogs I like to follow and came across the cutest little cards to use with our Elf on the Shelf (Lucy Claire).  There are little notes that your elf can bring back from the North Pole...like praises, warnings, and reminders from Santa Clause.  And there are also little "trick" cards.  They really help me to be creative with our elf.  I usually rack my brain, right before I go to bed, for something cute I can do with Lucy Claire.  And I have to say, my sleepy brain has not been able to come up with many cute ideas. Here are a few things I have done since getting the cards...

The little card next to her says, "Gone Fishing"

Christmas Movie Night with Lucy Claire

Apparently Lucy Claire loves band-aids! The girls thought this was hilarious!

The cards also come with some ideas incase you forget to move your elf...like I have done a couple times.  If you would like to get your own set of printable elf notes, tricks, or both (like I got) head on over to Print Your Party on Etsy.  

Elf Tricks Set:  $9-This contains 40 note cards...24 unique tricks and activities and 3 mini hunts (4 cards each) that lead your child on 3 searches to find missing household items. This kit includes directions and/or explanations for each "trick."

Elf Notes Set:  $9-This contains 40 note cards of both praise and warning that Elf brings back from Santa Claus.  This set includes personalization for 2 children.  Additional names can be done at $5 per set.

Elf Kit: $15- This contains both the Elf Tricks and Elf Notes (80 cards in all).

Where do you get your Elf on the Shelf ideas?  Have any really good ones you want to share?

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Friday Favorite

Prayer Sticks

Not too long ago, one of my favorite blogs posted an idea about Prayer Magnets.  I loved this idea and thought how great it would be to do something similar for my young children.  We always end up saying the same few blessings over and over again at meal time.  How neat would it be to have 25 short little blessings to have on the table ready for breakfast, lunch and dinner?  

I used the prayers that Amy provided on her blog.  I printed them off, cut them out and then glued them onto large popcicle sticks.  The font the prayers are in is small enough that each strip of paper fit perfectly on the sticks.

Then I got a small mason jar and added a little decoration to make it cuter...

I had leftover fabric from the girls cowgirl birthday party last year and I always have twine in the art room for projects.

Now we have this jar sitting on our table so all we have to do it pull out a stick at mealtime and say the blessing.  My kindergartner has loved being able to read the blessings to us all by herself!

Does your family have any favorite meal time prayers?

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Friday Favorite

One of my favorite things to do this time of year is participate in the putting together of Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes. And in honor of National Collection Week (Nov-12-19) this is my Friday Favorite.  

This is one of my favorite things because it is something we enjoy doing with our children and such a wonderful learning experience for them.  Not only do they learn about giving and being thankful and grateful but they LOVE going to the store and picking out little goodies to send to a boy or girl their age.  Back home, our church participated in this but since we moved I had to hunt for a new drop off location. To find a OCC shoebox drop off location near you, look here.  

Last year we got to track our shoeboxes and find out what county they were sent to. The girls thought that was super neat and what a good lesson on geography and how mail gets to it's destination that led to!

If you haven't filled a shoebox yet, there is still time! But don't fret, even if you don't think you can get yours done before the National Collection Week is over, Samaritan's Purse has a way to build a box online. 

Here are some ideas of what your shoebox(es) can include:

Make sure you include $7 in the shoebox to pay for shipping costs and put a label on top so the box will be given to a boy/girl in the correct age group. Click here to download the informational sheet and labels.

Sending such simple gifts to a needy child can make all the difference in the world. 

 You can change a life for only a few dollars!

I strongly encourage you to take part in this amazing and wonderful operation! To learn more, please visit http://www.samaritanspurse.org

What is your favorite way to give back during the holidays? Do you participate in OCC? I would love to hear from you!

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