The 413 Mom

Where to find "Mad Libs" online

We love playing "Mad Libs" in this house. It's a quick way to connect and share a laugh. I love that it's a game everyone in the family can enjoy -- as long as they know a few words. (Have you ever Mad Libbed a toddler? Hee-larious.) The official Mad Libs books are easy enough to find in stores, but did you know you can also find lots of unique fill-in-the-blank stories online? 

Sites where you can access printable fill-in-the-blank Mad Libs:

classroomjr.com

teach-nology.com

pinterest.com

 

Sites where you can play Mad Libs online or create your own:

madglibs.com

rinkworks.com

wordblanks.com

 

And of course there are a few fun downloads at the original Mad Libs site: madlibs.com

These pages are good fun for family time, customized for a birthday party, bridal shower, retirement party or other holiday. We once had a Halloween party where everyone had a great time completing and then reading aloud their own scary Mad Libs. These [plural noun] sites should be [past-tense verb] bookmarked for [season] summer boredom [noun] busters too! Enjoy! 

 

Scholastic Spirit Animals Themed Birthday Party

Eden requested a birthday party based on the Scholastic kids' book series "Spirit Animals." These books follow a group of warriors called "Greencloaks" who battle evil with the help of their spirit animal guides. Eden is, perhaps, the first child ever to request this obscure party idea so I had zero help from Pinterest. Here's what we came up with on our own:

We decorated the garage using green Dollar Tree tablecloths as backdrops and plenty of green balloons and streamers. We also created a banner that read "Welcome to Greenhaven Castle" (the name of the castle where the Greencloaks have their homebase). I printed the banner with a gothic-looking font from MS Word and used a castle photo I found online. 

As guests arrived we had each one decorate a green cloak of their own. Here is Faith modeling hers. I raided the remnant bin at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft in Holyoke and came out with lots of different shades and textures of green fabrics for the cloaks. All of the remnants were an additional 50% off, so I was able to get enough fabric for all of the cloaks for about $13. The kids decorated them with fabric markers and we used safety pins to keep them on. They had a great time creating their own cloaks and each one came out so unique. 

We lucked out with the weather and the kids would have been happy just battling evil around the yard for two hours; but we had a few activities planned. Since the Greencloaks are always going on quests to find powerful animal talismans to help them conquer evil, we created a scavenger hunt with clues hidden around the yard. The kids followed the clues as a group, and at the end they uncovered a bag of tiny plastic animal "talismans" that I purchased at Party City for $.59 each.

We also purchased these small stuffed animals from amazon ($18) and held a "nectar ceremony" (the official ceremony of the Greencloaks where a spirit animal is assigned). The kids sipped lemonade from plastic goblets and decided which animal would be their guide by picking one of the stuffies out of a drawstring bag. After the nectar ceremony, we applied temporary jungle animal tattoos in following with the storyline where the human receives a tattoo of their spirit animal. 

For the cake, I printed out tiny covers of the Spirit Animal books and taped them to toothpicks for cupcake toppers. I added green frosting and the kids each picked their favorite book. 

Including pizza and drinks for 8 kids, this party totaled about $75. Not bad considering what venue parties can run. And, Eden and I had a lot of fun coming up with ideas for the party together, which of course, is priceless. 

Storytime at Barnes and Noble

 

A great weekly, free event for toddlers and preschoolers is story time at Barnes and Noble stores with several locations in and around the 413 area. This is a quick (15-minute), well-organized story time which includes a welcome song, a book reading or two, and a simple craft. The employees who run the story time do a great job of wrangling the kids and keeping them entertained. Of course, the story time is only free if you can manage to get out of the store without having to purchase anything. And, there is the temptation of Starbucks in the house. Overall, the story time is a great diversion for the little ones who are helping Mom with a morning of errands or a great way to break up the day before naptime. You can search for story times at your local store here.