Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Our Memorable Wedding

Disclaimer: Oriental Trading sent me products in exchange for a blog post, but all opinions in this post are mine.

I just got married one month ago (I can't believe it's already been that long!) and I had the most beautiful day of my life.  I was surrounded by my husband, family, and many of the people I love and that love me.  
The day was months and months of planning and of course, there were some stressors along the way (what wedding doesn't have at least a little stress?) 

Do you want to know what helped me? Getting my supplies at Oriental Trading.  I used a lot of local Facebook groups to get the best deals, because who wants to pay full price for things I am going to use for one day.. not me! However, for things that I couldn't find and that I knew would help make my day more memorable, I turned to the wedding section of Oriental Trading.
This was my venue for our upstate New York wedding.. very simple but it really was perfect for us.  

I loved the place cards from Oriental Trading.  They went along with our silver/light pink theme for our wedding and were the perfect touch. $3.99 for 50 of them - you can't beat a great deal! :) 

One of the highlights of our wedding was the candy buffet.  Our guests loved it.  I will say, it was a lot of work.  Buying all the candy and putting it together and making sure I had enough bags, glassware and scoops was a little stressful.  Seeing how happy our guests were though and how much fun it was - was all worth it.

We got a few candies from the pink themed candy buffet.  I love salt water taffy so we had to get it. :) 


Here is our beautiful wedding cake.  There are so many cake knives/servers to choose from and you can even get them engraved to treasure forever.  
 


Our unity candle was so special.  Our mothers lit the two candlesticks and we lit the candle during the ceremony.  I will say that it was a little windy and our candle blew out a couple times, but it made us laugh. :) I highly recommend doing something personal/special during your ceremony.

My advice to those of you planning a wedding (if you are on a budget):

1. DIY wherever you can and enlist the help of your friends.
I ended up doing a lot by myself but wish I had asked for more help - your friends/family love you and want to help :) 

2. Start a board on Pinterest to get ideas.
You don't need to share it with everyone, but it will be helpful to get inspiration.

3. Join local wedding Facebook groups.
I got a lot of my wedding supplies from local wedding groups that were selling for a percentage off because they only used the supplies for one day (just like I was planning on!) Please just be careful, go with a friend, and meet in a public place - do not put yourself in any danger. 

4. Search around for the best deals.
It might be time consuming, but if you can't find anything on local Facebook groups then check out Oriental Trading and other websites like Amazon for the best prices.  You won't be sorry!

5. Smile and enjoy every moment.
There may be things that go wrong during the planning process or the actual day of the wedding. Just smile and know that everything you do and every moment is one step closer to one of the most important days of your life.  Smile and have fun! :) :)

Friday, July 7, 2017

Activities on Education.com

Education.com aims to empower parents, teachers, and homeschoolers to help their children build essential skills and excel. With over 12 million members, Education.com provides educators of all kinds with high-quality learning resources, including worksheets, lesson plans, digital games, an online guided learning platform, and more.

Here's a fun activity you can play with your child at home or in your classroom.



Activity: Word Builder
This time-based word-building game is the perfect way to boost your child's vocabulary and reading skills. Mix and match letters to see how many words she can come up with! Each round of this word builder is different to keep the game fresh for hours of learning and play.

What You Need:
  • Notebook
  • Pencil
  • Timer

What You Do:
  1. To start the game, write four random consonants and three random vowels on a page in the notebook and pass it to your child.
  2. Help her set the timer for 30 seconds, then have her write down as many two-letter words as she can think of in 30 seconds.
  3. Once the time is up, go over the words with her and discuss which ones were spelled right.
  4. For the next round, write down four new random consonants and three random vowels on a new sheet of paper.
  5. Pass the notebook to your child, set the timer for 30 seconds, and this time, ask her to write down as many three-letter words as she can think of.
  6. Once the time is up, review the words with her and discuss which ones were spelled right again.
  7. You can play as many rounds as you like, upping the word length by one letter each turn. If your child feels comfortable, keep challenging her and you just might both be surprised at how many words she can come up with!