This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertisers. All opinions are mine alone. I pinky promise! #BOOItForward #Collective Bias

Halloween is such a fun time of year for everyone. We all love being able to snack on some extra candy which is never a bad thing. But this year, celebrate a little differently while still having a blast. Throw a Halloween party like no other. Have a BOO’rrific Halloween craft party with your friends and family by putting together “BOO kits” to give back to others.

Now you may be thinking, “What in the world is a BOO kit?” A BOO kit can be anything that you would like to put together as a small gift to brighten someone else’s day. It may be a neighbor, best friend, visiting those in nursing homes, etc.

To top it off, you can go HERE to print a card to let someone special know that they have been BOO’d. The card will give them instructions on how to BOO it forward and share with someone else too. You can also print a sign for them to hang up in their window to let others know and get them involved too. It’s amazing the chain reaction that can come from helping others.

*Keep reading below to see how to put together your own BOO kit and also enter to win a Walmart gift card.

To get your family and children involved, a BOO’rrific craft party is the perfect solution. They can make a kit to enjoy for themselves while also making one for a loved one. I have the perfect party ideas to help you get your party and BOO kit started now.

First we must start with CANDY! What’s a Halloween party without candy? I was shopping at Walmart recently and love strolling down the seasonal aisle to see what fun stuff they have now. I found these giant bags of Mars Mixed Minis and Wrigley Monster Stash with the cutest Halloween designs. They also had these adorable Sunkist® and Canada Dry mini soda cans that had monsters on them. A sweet drink and candy is the perfect combo for that sweet tooth.

You must have decorations. But don’t be intimidated by having to throw a party and then decorate. These ideas are simple and quick too. Plus they are inexpensive which makes it even better.

Start by hanging white crepe paper streamers on the wall above your craft table using tape. Cut out 2 larger oval shapes and 1 smaller oval shape from black cardstock. Tape the ovals on to the paper streamers to make the face for a ghost.

Hanging on the front of the table is artificial spider web that I taped to the table and then placed plastic spiders throughout the web.

For decoration on the table, I added a framed spider web that I made. Get the full tutorial HERE.

On the other end of the table I added some tree branches that were spray painted black and placed them inside a painted mason jar.

On the middle of the table was a black cauldron filled with the mini SNICKERS®, TWIX®, MILKY WAY®, and 3 MUSKETEERS®.

On each side of the cauldron, I placed the soda cans. To add something cute to the cans, I cut a paper straw in half and then taped one to each can. With the work of packing these kits, a refreshing drink is a must.

On the table is also a “Human eyeballs” jar filled with more candy. You can find the full tutorial for it HERE.

Spaced throughout the table were also baskets of candy and SKITTLES®, STARBURST®, and LIFESAVERS® for easy access to pack in their BOO kits.

Around the table I taped down orange cardstock to the table for each individual craft station. On each station I placed several clear treat bags, paper straws, twist ties, foam ghosts, and black squares cut from scrapbook paper. *I found the foam ghosts at Walmart as well in the Halloween party and craft section. You could also use white cardstock and draw your own.

Below you will find a picture and the instructions for putting together your own BOO kit.

1. Fill the clear treat bags with candy.
2. Place a paper straw in the middle of the candy. *You will need enough candy to help the straw stand up on its own.
3. Place a twist tie around the bag and paper straw to keep it closed.
4. Punch out the holes for the ghost mouth and eyes and tape a piece of black scrapbook paper on the back.
5. Tape the ghost to the paper straw that is standing in the treat bag.
6. Attach the Printable BOO card and BOO It Forward.

Below you will also find instructions on how to assemble the BOO card.

1. Cut out this “We’ve been BOO’d sign.
2. Fold the “You’ve been BOO’d” greeting card (page 2) and tape openings together.
3. Include the card and sign when gifting BOO bundles.

And for one last touch, I also included individual paper goodie bags for the kids to fill with candy of their own. I just love those gold polka dots. So cute!

Don’t forget to enter the drawing below as well for a $1000 Walmart gift card. Wouldn’t that be a nice surprise with the holiday shopping right upon us.

#booitforwardsweepstakes

I would love to see pictures of your own BOO kits to please feel free to share with me in the comments below. If you are needing any other ideas, be sure to check out THESE. Plus print a coupon HERE for $1.00 on TWO (2) 2L or 6pk 8oz cans of any flavor Sunkist® Soda, 7UP®, Canada Dry®, A&W®, Squirt®, or Sun Drop®.

Enjoy the little things in life and BOO It Forward!

Also if you have not already, please join me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. I would love to hear from you with any comments, suggestions, or ideas you may have.

P.S. Please share this post with others if you enjoyed it and found it helpful. We love when you pass on goodness to others.

Imagine you are sitting in a rocking chair looking out at a beautiful view of the lake with the warm sun beating down on your face and a cool breeze blowing through your hair. The only thing you are missing now is a refreshing drink in your hair.

Summertime brings back thoughts and memories as a child of late night slumber parties, dancing around outside catching lightning bugs, and a cold glass of lemonade on a hot summer day.

I even remember having my own lemonade stand as a child at my Mom’s yard sales. My Dad would help me mix the lemonade, and we would have a blast doing it together.

In order to bring back some of those fond memories, I decided a lemonade bar was a must for this year. As a Georgia peach, it seems as though the weather has suddenly turned from breezy and cool spring to scorching heat. Therefore a refreshing cold glass is absolutely necessary.

But a lemonade bar just couldn’t be complete by sitting out a jug of lemonade and a few glasses. At least not for me. When friends and family come over, I want a simple cold drink to be refreshing but also have a touch of “cuteness” at the same time.

When looking for cuteness, I therefore bring you Laura Kelly designs. I ran across these lemonade stand printables in her shop and just had to have them.

First I hung her lemonade banner printable above the bar with pink, green, and yellow bakers twine.

Hanging on the front of the table is a “fresh squeezed” sign that was also hung with bakers twine. I loved using all 3 colors together to really make all of the colors in the sign pop too.

To spruce up each paper straw is an adorable little lemon that I simply attached using a piece of tape on the back. Give the glasses that “cute factor” I mentioned earlier by placing the rim of the glasses in lemon juice and then dipping them in pink sugar sprinkles. So sparkly!

I also was able to print a little sign that I attached to the pitcher for an extra touch. But as you have already noticed, my lemonade had to be pink too. The pink is really just my personality. Yellow lemonade is just so ordinary don’t you think?

There is also a round lemonade sign that I placed on the front of the bowl that held the lemons in case I needed more.

To dress things up even more, I found this absolutely adorable towel with the same exact colors of the printable and little lemon slices on it too. It’s like it was meant to be. Add some lemon slices to your lemonade for an extra flair and you are all set.

Now head over to Laura Kelly Designs and get your printables too. Everything is so affordable, and her designs are so unique like nothing else I have ever seen. You will also find craft kits that are perfect for your kids this summer to keep them occupied. Who doesn’t love a craft kit delivered right to their front door?

Enjoy the little things in life like even a sip of pink lemonade on a warm summer day!

Also if you have not already, please join me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. I would love to hear from you with any comments, suggestions, or ideas you may have.

P.S. Please share this post with others if you enjoyed it and found it helpful. We love when you pass on goodness to others.

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Laura Kelly Designs, but all opinions are my own.

Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.

I absolutely love this time of year. Yesterday was my anniversary to my wonderful husband and next week will also be his birthday. It’s just so much fun to celebrate. Well Cinco de Mayo is also next week too which holds a special place in my heart because we went on our honeymoon to Riviera Maya.

Having a Cinco de Mayo party is the perfect way to celebrate and remember those memories even if we aren’t sitting on the beach soaking up the sun. This is the next best thing celebrating with my husband.

To decorate I first made tissue paper flags to hang around the table. They are easy to make and add so much fun color.

I strung up crepe paper banners that were easy to design cutting shapes and punching holes with a hole puncher above the food.

The centerpiece of artwork hanging above the food table is a foam wreath I found at the Dollar Tree that I decorated using tissue paper flowers. You can find the directions for the flowers below. I attached different colors and designs of ribbon at the bottom and the flowers with straight pins.

For a centerpiece on the table, I made sombreros from clay pots and clay trays. I just love the little extra touch that the pom poms give too.

Add copies of the Mexico flags throughout the decorations for an extra touch as well.

You may recall seeing my yarn carrots that I made for Easter with empty spools. I did the same thing for this party to make chili peppers. You can find the full tutorial with a video to make them HERE.

Now let’s talk food. Make yourself a taco bar using ingredients from my blackened tilapia taco with avocado cream sauce recipe that I shared a few weeks ago. You can also make them using chicken and they are just as fabulous.

Make a simple salsa with chips using diced tomatoes, diced onion, cilantro, lime juice, and salt. I could snack on this stuff for hours. Plus it is so much better than what you buy in the jar in stores because you know exactly what goes in it.

The bowl that I am serving the chips in was a beautiful piece of pottery handmade in Mexico. I leave it on my kitchen table all the time. I think all the painted colors are so beautiful.

For a drink station, I bought these cactus glasses at the Dollar Tree and dipped the rims in water and then in yellow sugar sprinkles. Use ginger ale or something similar for a family friendly version.

Now you may be thinking where dessert is, but I haven’t left you hanging there. Earlier this week I showed you how to make a Tres Leches cake. Find the recipe HERE. It is so yummy, and isn’t hard to make at all. It really is easier than you think and can be made in 3 different parts.

Now relax and enjoy yourself at your own Cinco de Mayo party! Please let me know if you try any of these crafts or recipes. I would love to know what you think in the comments below.

Also if you have not already, please join me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. I would love to hear from you with any comments, suggestions, or ideas you may have.

No 80’s party is complete without a giant rubik’s cube, an 80’s themed cupcake stand with cassette tapes, and serving bowls made from records. What makes all of these so cool is that you can make them all yourself and for much cheaper than what you would pay in the store for 80’s party décor. Be sure to also check out more of Mark’s Totally Radical 80’s Themed Party Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 if you have not already.

We all can remember playing with rubik’s cubes as kids and most of us probably becoming frustrated when we couldn’t figure it out. Well this is one rubik’s cube that is easy to make and will bring much more pleasure and satisfaction when displayed at your party. Parties for Pennies really hit this idea spot on and I couldn’t wait to make it when I found her idea.

When planning Mark’s party, I also wanted some way to display the dessert instead of just using any old ordinary cake stand. I decided on doing cupcakes but actually didn’t have my own cupcake stand anyways. When I found a cupcake stand that I could make myself using cassette tapes from Parties for Pennies, again I couldn’t wait!

And as if a giant rubik’s cube and cupcake stand with cassette tapes wasn’t enough, I found serving bowls made from records. This was just the icing on the cake.

Let’s not waste any time. These are some pretty awesome décor items that are a blast to make as well. I will first start with the giant Rubik’s cube.

Supplies you will need:

• 1 large box or smaller boxes of the same size that will form a cube when taped together
• Package tape
• Black spray paint
• Black craft paint
• Paintbrush
• Neon colored paper- You will need 5 different colors.
• Ruler
• Paper cutter/trimmer
• Adhesive runner or Hot glue gun

First you will need a large box. If you do not have one large box, then you can use package tape to tape several small boxes together in order to make a large cube. I simply held the boxes tightly together while wrapping the package tape enough to keep them secure.

Spray paint your box black to coat completely. I decided to end up painting a 2^nd coat on the box with craft paint. The craft paint seemed to make a thicker coat that covered the box completely and to cover up any writing on the box. The craft paint seemed easier to me personally than having to keep spray painting to cover the writing especially.

While your paint is drying, you can go ahead and cut out your neon colored paper for the squares of the cube. You are going to need 5 different colors in order to have one color for each side of the cube. You will not need a color for the bottom since it will be on the floor and no one will see it. You will end up with a total of 9 squares of each color for a grand total of 45 squares. I found a pack of paper at Wal-Mart that had neon green, blue, pink, yellow, and orange that worked perfectly.

The size of your individual squares that you need to cut out will depend on the size of your box. I measured the length of one side and also considered that I needed to leave a black border around the box and then between each colored square.

Once you have your squares measured and cut out and the box is completely dry, you are ready to attach your colored squares to the box. I choose to place one color on each side of the box. You could also mix it up like a rubik’s cube that has been played with all the colors mixed up.

I used an adhesive runner to apply the squares but would have used a hot glue gun if making again. The adhesive runner did not seem to want to adhere well to the paint on the box.

Your giant rubik’s cube is now complete and was not hard to make at all. Plus as I said earlier, it is definitely much cheaper to make than the typical store bought items. I used mine as a table to place Mark’s gifts on at the party.

I am very excited now to get to the cupcake stand. You cannot have an 80’s party without using cassette tapes and this just displays them perfectly.

Supplies:

• 2 different sized boxes that can be stacked in two tiers with space enough to stack the cupcakes on each layer- I used only 2 boxes but if you need more space for cupcakes, then use more boxes of course to have more tiers.
• Cassette tapes
• Black spray paint
• Neon colored spray paint- I used neon pink and green to alternate the colors.
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Package tape

I layed out my boxes and cassette tapes for a display to have an idea of how many cassette tapes I would need and how many of each color I would need to paint. My dad happened to have some cassette tapes that he no longer wanted. I also found a book on tape at Goodwill that was very cheap and gave me the majority of the tapes I needed in that one set.

Spray paint your cassette tapes with the neon spray paint. I did have to paint 2 coats in order to cover the writing on the tapes completely.

While your tapes are drying, you can assemble your boxes. Always thinking of the most efficient way to make the most of my time. I first taped the boxes shut with packages tape and then stacked in two tiers. Using a hot glue gun, glue your boxes together. I added extra hot glue around the edges of one box where it sits on the next almost like caulking something added extra support.

Paint your boxes black with spray paint until covered completely.

Once your tapes are completely dry, hot glue them to the boxes on the sides in the pattern you choose.

Your cupcake stand is now complete and ready to show off those neon cassette tapes that you thought you would never ever use again. What a neat way to show off the dessert.

Now that you have something to display your cupcakes, you need something extra special for a serving bowl than just using that huge chip bowl you always pull out at parties. You know the one I’m talking about. We all do it. But this time, an 80’s party deserves something extra special to serve those cheddar cheese Doritos in. Why yes, a record bowl is the perfect solution to add another extra 80’s flair.

Supplies:

• Records- I found mine for really cheap at Goodwill. Pick records that have colorful labels that will show through once the bowl starts becoming empty.
• Oven safe bowl
• Baking sheet
• Oven
• Pot holders

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees F.

Place the oven safe bowl on a baking sheet upside down.

Place your record directly on top of the bowl being sure to center it so when it begins to melt, it will fall evenly around the bowl.

Once the oven is preheated, place the baking sheet in the oven with the bowl and record for about 8-10 minutes.

You will start to see the record “melt” as it gets hotter. The record will begin to fall down around the ball and conform to it. Using a pot holder or mitten, press on the record to check that it has softened enough in order to mold it the way you want.

Once the record has conformed to the bowl, take the baking sheet out of the oven with a pot holder and immediately take the record of the bowl. Quickly turn your bowl over and place the record inside. Mold your record using the bowl as a guide being careful to not burn yourself during this part.

You do have to work quickly once taking the record out of the oven because as it begins to cool down, the record will harden once again. You can place the record back in the oven as previously done if it hardens too quickly and you would like to reshape some.

I also melted the smaller size records around a small bowl which basically only curled the edges of the record. It still turned out really cute, and I ended up using it as a cake plate for a small cake I made for the cake topper.

The record bowls were perfect for serving Doritos and any other snacks but also great for the candy bar. I did clean the records with a wet paper towel before placing food in them but if you do not feel comfortable with putting food in them then just line with a napkin or towel first.

These three projects were by far my most favorite of all of Mark’s party décor. They were different than anything I had ever made before and really embraced the 80’s theme showing it off even more. Everyone loved them at the party and kept talking about them. You will not regret these projects one bit. Don’t even think about having a party without incorporating rubik’s cubes, cassette tapes, and records. There simply just isn’t any other way.

Enjoy yourself and have a blast but don’t forget to enjoy the little things in life.

Continue to check back every week for more 80’s décor you can make yourself. Next week I will wrap up the 80’s party series with games, scavenger hunts, and gift ideas. You will not want to miss so please join me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter to stay updated. I would love to hear from you with any comments, suggestions, or ideas you may have.