4th of July Inspiration

Anyone need a little inspiration for 4th of July festivities????

4th of July Wreath By Emily Sparks

Festive Drink Idea from Fiskars

I love this idea to serve fruit from FoodWhirl

Blueberry Pie from Baking Through Martha Stewarts Handbook

This looks lowfat to me, yummy! From Delightful and Delovely

Flag Cupcakes from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Pancakes by i am mommy

Homemade Ice Pops by Zupas

All American Chocolate Covered Strawberries by grin and bake it

Free Fathers Days Printables

Here are some cute Fathers Day Printable's made by Love My Printables

Mother's Day Idea: Tulip Cupcakes

These Tulip Cupcakes are perfect for Mother's Day by Jenny Steffens Hobick.

Easter Fun: Carrot Napkins

Our Best Bites just posted a very creative way to put together silverware and napkins on Easter, check out the step by step instructions here. Pretty sure you don't even need to be very crafty to pull this one off. 

Free Printbale Easter Subway Art!

Head on over to Landee Do for a Free Easter Subway Printable. I usually send images like these to Costco for printing, not only is the quality better than my home printer but then I'm not spending a lot of money on color ink.

Easter Fun: Goldfish Easter Bunny Carrots!

I'm in love with this simple Goldfish Carrot idea for Easter by No Fuss Fabulous! Looks like a quick and easy project for us I'll be giving a try during nap time. There's even a Goldfish coupon on coupons.com right now, yippee!

Easter Fun: Putting together an Easter Basket for Less!

Another Easter tradition I'll be starting this year for Brooklynn is an Easter Bastet. After browsing the Easter section at Target I realized how easy it would be to overspend on this tradition, the cheapest Easter Basket I found was $7!

There's no reason to break the bank for holidays to be memorable so I challenged myself to spend less than the cheapest Easter Basket I found, $7. And to be honest it wasn't much of a challenge, next year I'll shoot for $5 since I now have a basket, plus I hope to grab a few things for next year from Easter clearance sales.

Here are some ways to stay within your budget:

Reuse the Basket: Kids won't care their goodies are in the same basket each year if they notice at all. Or just use a basket you already have and dress it up with some ribbon.

Skip the Grass: Easter grass might be pretty but our little helper hands found some in a box and strung it all over the house, it took weeks to collect it all, way more mess than its worth.

Shop the $1 Spots: Many stores other than Dollar Tree have $1 sections including Michaels, Joanne's, and Target. Fred Meyer has a $2 toy section as well. I usually have the most luck at Michaels, the location near me has $1 stuff at the front of the store along with an entire isle.

Make your own treats: Make a batch of Rice Crispy Treats, Easter Colored Sugar Cookies or any of these amazing do it yourself treats by Love from the Oven! (one of my new favorite sites!)

Shop Drugstores: Use +Up and Register Rewards to buy candy fillers or other holiday items in your weekly transactions

Shop ahead: Shop 75% after Easter clearance sales and snag a few things for next year. I keep a holiday tub of things I've grabbed for the following year, everything purchased was 75%-90% off.

Brooklynn's under $7 Basket:
Small Lined Basket (Target $1 Spot $2.50)
Bubbles $0.23 (Target Clearance)
Peeps ($0.69 Fred Meyer)
Animal Homes Board Book (Barnes & Noble $3.29, 40% sale)
Pastel Striped Sock Monkey (Rite Aid, Paid with +UP Rewards)
(And if I find time I'll throw in some homemade Rice Krispie Treats with Sprinkles)

Total Out of Pocket $6.71


Side note I'm not a fan of the lighting in that picture, new picture coming soon!

If you missed it, here is the first Easter Fun Post, Easter Egg Fillers for Toddlers.

Easter Fun: Toddler Easter Egg Filler Ideas

Every Easter Sunday I can remember as a child my sister and I were awoken before dawn to attend an annual sunrise service. And to entice us out of our beds that early my mom had Easter baskets awaiting which we eagerly looked forward to each year. After the Sunrise service we'd head to our church for a pancake breakfast followed by impromptu sibling and cousin photo sessions, morning service, and then lunch at our grandparents house.

I hope Easter is just as memorable for Brooklynn as it was for me so this year we'll be starting our own Easter traditions including an Easter Egg Hunt. We'll be hiding a few colored hard boiled eggs and also a few filled ones. I've gathered some egg filler ideas for toddlers since most traditional fillers like jelly beans and other candy can be a choking hazard. Also use what you have on hand, check your stockpiles and holiday stashes.

Easter Egg Filler Ideas for Toddlers
Alphabet Magnets

Animal Crackers

Banana Chips

Chocolate Teddy Grahams

Colorful Cereal (Apple Jacks, Trix, ect)
Dried Fruit (Cherries, Blueberries, ect)
Goldfish Crackers or Grahams
Hair Barrettes or Bows
Make your own Trail Mix
Mini M & M's
Play Jewelry
Small Bath Toys
Stickers
Toy Cars

AND here are some ideas I found at Target:
Mini Reese's $0.66/bag after coupon stack
5 Pack Small Squishy Balls, $1 Spot
3 Pack Clearance Bubbles $0.68 (these might be too big for the eggs we have but for $0.68 we'll use them)

Please feel free to leave other ideas you have in the comments, I'd love to hear them!

Traders Joes: $9.99 for a Dozen Red Roses!

Trader Joes is offering a great deal on red roses, $9.99/dozen. 

Check out the rest of their Valentines Specials here.

Thanks, Coupon Connections NW!

Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe

Valentines day screams Red Velvet to me, heres a recipe for Red Velvet Cupcakes from Becoming Lola if you have the baking itch this weekend!