Baby Umi: A star is born!

Chances are, if you know my sister Freda, then you have either met, seen, or at least heard of Baby Umi. For those of you outside the loop, Umi is Freda’s baby monkey. Not a real monkey, mind you -- a toy monkey. A toy orangutan, to be exact.

Let me give you the backstory...

Freda has always loved monkeys and anything monkey-related. For example, she can break into the “Baby Monkey Riding Backwards on a Pig” song from YouTube without hesitation. She’s always prattled on about how she would love to have a “mon-kid” -- a monkey that one dresses up as a child and then feeds copious amounts of sugar, usually pushed around in a perambulator or other ambulatory device. It’s a little odd, I know, but that’s my sister’s sense of humor.

The catchy "Baby Monkey" song

So this past November, when it was Freda’s birthday, my assistant Kelly and I decided to surprise her with a visit from one of the local entertainers who has a monkey named Hobo. Hobo is a little organ grinder’s monkey who Freda and I met four years ago at the Embarcadero Tree Lighting Event here in San Francisco. He was the cutest thing you ever did see, and he actually let Freda shake his tiny hand. Freda was literally vibrating after her encounter with the little fella, and would have stayed by his side all day if she had not been called away to her duty as a face painter.

Hobo the monkey, doing his monkey thing

Unfortunately, Kelly and my attempts were thwarted when we discovered some very sad news: Hobo had retired. Evidently he was living out his days in the trees at an animal refuge center in San Carlos. We were both very sad. The closest thing that any of our other vendors had to offer was a man in a moth-eaten monkey suit -- not quite the effect we were striving for. What to do? My sister’s birthday was rapidly approaching and we were monkeyless...

Desperately, I searched the web, and that’s where I discovered Umi.

Umi is actually one of at least a dozen infant apes that you can purchase from the high-end doll company, Ashton Drake. This leads me to believe that maybe my sister’s affections aren’t quite as quirky as I first believed them to be. I mean, seriously -- high-end monkey dolls dressed as babies? Who knew there was such a market?

After screening my options, I decided upon Umi as she was less vile than the other candidates, and had a cute little impish (or should I say “chimpish”?) quality to her that made her slightly less terrifying than the others. The only issue was that Umi wouldn’t arrive for another four weeks. I guess the dolls aren’t actually produced until someone orders one, which is probably smart... Who wants a warehouse full of preemie orangutans staring out from behind their boxes’ cellophane windows? I just get this weird image of “Planet of the Apes” meets “Chuckie”...

So our birthday plans were shelved and I focused my attention on Christmas. I have to admit, it was hard to keep the secret once Umi arrived in our office. Luckily the UPS delivery came on a day when Freda was at the dentist, so she missed the flurry of torn paper and cardboard, and the screams of delight/horror that filled the office. Kelly was immediately grossed out, and insisted that I removed the monkey from the office! I quickly spirited Umi away and wrapped her for her special reveal.

On Christmas, we saved Umi for the last present of the day, and it garnered exactly the response I expected. Let me preface this by first saying that my entire family is a bit twisted; the biggest sigh of joy ever released by my mother on a Christmas morning was the year my father gave her a beautifully mounted Africa stag beetle. You would have thought he’d wrapped up the Hope diamond...

Umi was immediately hugged, prodded, undressed, redressed, tossed into the air, and enlisted in a photoshoot within moments of her great reveal. She was given a place at the breakfast table, and immediately began pestering our father and the cat. It was as I had feared: my sister had infused her devilish personality into the little rubber-faced monkey. There was now a mischievous glint in those glass doll eyes...

Umi now goes everywhere with Freda. She comes to work (even though my warehouse doesn’t have an adequate childcare facility), she goes to the beach, she goes on bike rides, she goes shopping, she even goes on vacation with my sister and her very skeptical fiancé Coire. In fact, Umi is being featured in a portrait that my sister is having painted for her wedding, giving Frida Kahlo a serious run for her money.

The kicker came when my sister set up a Pinterest account, and set up a board dedicated to Umi. Within an hour Umi had been repinned 22 times. By the time Freda had turned in for the night, she had over 120. Umi was blowing up Pinterest! It leaves me with just one thought... maybe my sister is the sane one...

A Hunger Games party plan, part 1: activities and games

At the risk of sounding like a prepubescent girl at a “One Dimension” concert, I’m soooo excited about the opening of the new movie “The Hunger Games."  My assistant Simone introduced me to the Suzanne Collins series early last year, and I’ve been anticipating the movie ever since.

Unfortunately I’ve got two events on opening day, and three more parties over the weekend, but I’ve declared Monday morning official “Hunger Games Hooky,” and I’m dragging my entire team to go see it.  [NOTE: She didn't have to drag us -- we couldn't wait! -- Simone]


In honor of the movie, the books, and what I have a feeling may be the big new party theme, I thought I’d come up with some ideas for a Hunger Games Party. Today we'll cover activities and games, and we'll soon have crafts, decor, and more, so check back often!


ACTIVITIES




The Reaping
Depending upon the size of your group, it would be great fun to divide the party into tributes representing each of the districts. To do this, you will need slips of paper (in the movie they were folded in three so that they opened like French doors, sealed with a black piece of tape). Write the name of each guest on a slip of paper and place it in a clear glass bowl. Starting with District 1, pull out two names. Those two then become the tributes for that district. If you’ve got equal number boys and girls, then you could pick one for each; if you’ve got less than 24 kids, just do one tribute for each district. Each tribute should be given a number, to designate their district.

Once everyone has been assigned, you can offer up to those remaining the opportunity to volunteer to take one of the tributes' spots.





The Makeover

Set up fabulous makeover stations to make your tributes as beautiful as Cinna made Katniss!

1. Makeup station: This is where outrageous eyeshadow, eyeliner, and even false eyelashes could be applied (just make sure you have someone who knows what they are doing run this station).
2. Hair station: Lay out an assortment of clips, scrunchies, hair ties, bows, and all number of hair accouterments. Add fun things like feathers, tin foil, beads, colorful mylar streamers… If you are so inclined, you could also throw in colored sprays, or hair-streaking paint. The object here would be the wilder the better!
3. Nail salon: Purchase some over-the-top colors like neon yellow, orange, hot pink, or turquoise, and go to town. Paint the nails with patterns if you're looking to get creative.
4. Stick-on jewels: These self-adhesive jewels can actually be found in most crafting stores (often in the scapbooking section) although there are also various websites that sell them. Check sites that sell bindis.

Training
Set up fun stations where different survival skills are taught. (And remind all the tributes that their skills must not be used on one another, only with the trainers!)

1. Bow and arrows: Set up targets and use either Nerf or suction cup bow and arrows.
2. Spears: Use pool noodles as spears and practice throwing at either target or through hula hoops hung from trees or clotheslines.
3. Quarter staff: Use pool noodles as quarter staffs. Have an adult play the part of the instructor and see if the tribute can get past the trainer. A quarter staff is held in the middle with both hands spread and used to block attacks on either side. If a tribute can make contact with any part of the adult’s body, that counts as a “blow” – three blows and the tribute may pass.
4. Aim: Knock down tin cans with either Nerf guns or slingshots or balls.
5. Sword fighting (using foam swords): As in the quarter staff challenge, have tributes try to land three blows on the trainer.
6. Nature detection: Set out leaves from different trees and see if the tributes can identify them.
7. Shelter: If you’ve got some tarps, rope, poles, see what sort of shelter can be created with the materials on hand.

Interviews with Ceasar
Set up two chairs like in an interview and have the tributes come out one by one to be interviewed by "Ceasar." This is basically a version of the silly game “I Cannot Tell a Lie.” Ceasar asks outrageous questions to which the tribute must answer, saying “Yes, it is true…” and then repeating the outrageous question. The idea is not to laugh, but if Ceasar comes up with crazy questions – like “Is it true that you like to pretend you are a bird when you are in the shower?” – that won’t be so easy to do!


GAMES




Dress the Tributes (Version 1)
This is great if you’ve got lots of kids! Assign "designers" to each pair of tributes. Give each design team a bag containing the following: a roll of toilet paper, a roll of tape, and a pair of scissors (if you wish you can add more crazy items, like recycled plastic water bottles, coffee filters, tin foil, paper napkins, paper towels, etc.). Each team then has 10 to 15 minutes (you decide how much time you want to spend) to design their tributes' opening outfits. Have the tributes parade around to show off the outfits once they are done. Judges can assign points if you like. This is similar to our game "Fashion Designer."

Dress the Tributes (Version 2)
This is more of a relay race. Divide your group into teams of 5 or more. Choose one person per team to be the tribute. At the far end of the room, set up a “shop” with tons of clothes, shoes, wigs, hats, jewelry, etc. On “Go!” the first person runs up, chooses an item of clothing, runs back, and with the aid of their team, dresses the tribute in that article. Once the article has been entirely placed upon the tribute, the next team member goes. Play continues until either every player on the team has gone, or a designated number of items (say 10) have been placed on the tribute. Once again, parade the tributes around for group approval. (Take a look at our Dress Up Relay for more detailed rules!)





Mockingjay
Choose one person to be Katniss and blindfold them. Have everyone else spread out – they are the mockingjays. Place hula hoops on the ground around each mockingjay, so that they don’t move from their place. Have Katniss choose a simple tune, such as "Row, Row, Row Your Boat." Have all the mockingjays repeat back the tune. Choose one mockingjay in the crowd to be Rue. Tell Rue to choose a different simple song – like the "A-B-C Song". The object of the game is for Katniss to make her way to Rue, using the mockingjays as guides. To begin, Rue hums her little tune, and Katniss will slowly and carefully begin making her way towards Rue. If she goes off track, or is heading in the wrong direction, the mockingjays closest to her hum Katniss’ song. At any time Katniss can hum her song, at which time Rue will once again hum her song. Play continues until Katniss has found Rue.





The Cornucopia
Choose 4 to 8 players to be the “Career” tributes, and arm them with soft dodgeballs. Place lunch bags containing treats on a table behind them. You may want to scatter additional bags around the playing field if you have a large space, or have some of the bags can contain treats, while some are stuffed with paper. Set up a safety zone as far away from the Cornucopia as the playing field will allow. Line up all the other tributes in this zone. The object of the game is for each tribute to try and get a bag (or bags) without being hit by a ball from the Careers. On “go!” the tributes can run into the playing zone and try to gather as many bags as they can. The Careers use their dodgeballs to knock out players (anyone hit with a dodgeball is out for that round). If a tribute gets a bag (or bags), they can run them back to the safety zone before returning to the playing field (have someone making note of the number of bags they have). Play continues until either the Careers have knocked everyone out, or all the bags have been stolen by the tributes. Careers may move wherever they want in the playing zone, but they must stay at least 10 feet back from the safety zone.





The Hunger Games
Each tribute’s name or picture is placed on a piece of paper and folded in half. One by one, each tribute picks a paper. Whomever appears on their slip of paper is who they must try to "kill." A tribute may only go after the person who appears on their slip of paper. Should a tribute pick himself, they return the slip of paper to the official, and the official will then return the slip of paper and hand them a new one. Should the tribute be the last tribute, then the official will choose 5 tributes to hand in their slips, reshuffle them, and have everyone choose again. Each tribute should them arm themselves with their choice of safe weapon – Nerf guns, dodgeballs, water guns, water balloons, any one of our foam weapons (like our nunchucks, laser swords, or pool noodle swords). To “kill” someone, the tribute must score a direct hit to the chest area (heads are off limits). Each tribute may protect themselves (no hand to hand combat or wrestling, please) – and may kill their assassin in self defense (but only in self defense, meaning, they can’t stalk their assassin once the figure out who it is). When someone is killed they turn over their tribute target to the assassin. The assassin will now stalk that tribute. Play for time, and see who has the most “kills” or play until there is only one victor.

Players who are killed can serve as referees or help in retrieving ammunition, setting up obstacles (as long as they do not touch any other player), etc.





Tracker Jackers
This game is very similar to our Sticker Tag! Choose half of your group to be tracker jackers, and half of your group to be tributes. Give each tracker jacker one sheet of stickers (the circle stickers you can find at office supply stores are perfect). On “go!” the tracker jackers begin chasing the tributes trying to tag them with stickers – each sticker equals one sting. Once a tribute has been stung 10 times, they are out of the game. Play until one tribute remains, or play for a time limit and see who ends up with the most stings.

In the upcoming weeks I’ll share more crafts, décor, and food ideas, so make sure to check back. Me…?  I’m off to the movies.



Even "Umi Everdeen" is getting in on the Hunger Games action!

Advanced duct tape purses! (Video)

I have to say, our duct tape crafts are probably some of the coolest that we do! They're great for slightly older kids, and once you've mastered the basics, you can get really intricate and really creative! Today we're kicking things up a notch and moving on to some more advanced duct tape crafts. My sister Freda is really amazing at making these elaborate purses that not only look great, but function just like a "real" purse too! Check out our video on our YouTube channel to see our latest featured video, our Advanced Duct Tape Purse! If you want to see our step-by-step how to, you can find it on our main site here.


Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos like these, and friend us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and see what I'm pinning on Pinterest!

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I also wanted to let you know that we've been honored as Social Moms' Blog of the Week! I can't tell you how excited I am -- thank you guys so much! I did a lil' interview with them, which you can read here!

Fun ideas for playing cards!

I sometimes think playing cards are like socks. You ever notice that no matter how well you monitor your laundry, you always seem to lose one? It seems to be like that with me and cards; whenever I actually have a moment to play a game, the deck seems to be mysteriously shy a card or two. That got me to thinking: playing cards are great for games of course, but they are also great launchpads for creative projects! I thought I’d share a few ideas that I’ve come up with, along with some links to the amazing things other people have done with cards as well.

Conversation Starters

Whenever we have an event with a group of older kids who may not know each other and will be sitting at tables for an extended period of time (like a Bar or Bat Mitzvah), we love conversation starters! Playing cards make the perfect base. All you do is print up a series of questions like...

• “If you could create a new candy bar, what would it be?”
• “Do you believe there is life on other planets?”
• “If you could change one thing about your school, what would it be?”
• “What subject should they teach in school?”

Print them on sticker-backed labels (regular mailing labels are good, or if you get full sheet labels, you can cut them to 1.5 x 3 inches) and place those labels on the face side of the cards. If you wish, you can label the back of the cards with a sticker that says “Conversation Starters” or “Getting To Know You.” Place one card at each place setting or make a little box for the center of the table where everyone has easy access.

L-O-V-E!

52 ways...

Similarly, you can create a little “book” by placing a hole punch in the corner of each card. Use one of those loose-leaf rings you can buy at an office supply store (like these) or a brad to hold the cards together and create a little book. You can then print up everything from words of encouragement and love (like these “52 Reasons I Love You”), to ideas of things to do with the kids, to restaurant suggestions, to simple recipes... the themes are limited only by your imagination!

Mini Photo Frames

Cards make the perfect frame for those wallet-sized photos from school. Simply mount the photo on the face of a playing card with glue dots, double-sided tape, or a glue stick. To make a little frame stand, take a second card and fold it in half from top to bottom so that it makes a little tent. Attach the tented card to the back of the frame card with glue, and you’re ready to display your photo! This can also make a great table seating card (especially for a casino night!); just print out a label or write the person’s name in permanent marker.

Accordion-Style Wallet Photo Display

In the same vein, you can also create a sort of flip-out/flip-down photo montage. You can even make it so that it chronicles all of your child’s school years, or their ages. For example, for a baby, you can use an ace as a photo from their birth, numbers 2 through 10 as the corresponding months, the jack as the 11th month, queen as the 12th month, and king as their first birthday.

All you need for this is a straight run of one color or suit, clear tape, glue dots, and your photos. Lay the first two cards (ace and 2) side-by-side or end-to-end (depending on whether you want your accordion to fold out so that it can stand on a table, or down for a wall hanging). Place a two-inch strip of tape at the sides of the side-by-side cards, or on the top and bottom of the end-to-end cards so that the cards are connected. Flip the connected cards over and repeat the process on the backside. Keep flipping and attaching fronts, then backs, until you have the length of cards you want. Use glue dots to adhere the photos to the cards. You can now display your photos at home, or place them in your wallet. (Remember those old TV shows where the guy would reach into his wallet and pull out a photo, that would then drop open like a Jacob’s Ladder, revealing a looong chain of photos?)

Alice in Wonderland decor

Inspired by those little fellas who make up the Queen of Heart’s court, I came up with these funny little playing card people. All you need are some fun photos, cards, popsicle sticks, hot glue (adult supervision, please!), pipe cleaners, and beads (if you like). To make the body, take a popsicle stick, cut it in half, and hot glue it to the back of a card with about one inch sticking out beyond the top of the card. Hot glue one full-sized pipe cleaner (about 12 inches) across the back of the card near the center to make the arms. Bend the second pipe cleaner in half and hot glue that across the back of the card near the bottom to make the legs. Take a second playing card and glue it to the back of the first card so that it sandwiches all those body parts. Cut the heads of the photos out and glue them to the top of the popsicle stick. You can then embellish the hands and feet with beads if you like. Make little loops at the ends of the pipe cleaners for hands and feet, and glue the feet to an additional playing card so that your little person can stand on their own. These make really fun decorations, and also great table seating cards for a “mad hatter” tea party.

And finally, give the kids something to do on a rainy day...

Playing Card Scavenger Hunt

The full-out, detailed description of this activity can be found here on our main site. The basic premise is to hide playing cards throughout the house and have kids hunt for them. As they discover the cards, they need to make as many poker-based combinations as they can (e.g., pairs, runs, three of a kind, etc.). Points are awarded for each combination. Easier combos, like pairs, get one point, whereas harder combos, like a full house or flush, earn more, like 20 points. A single card may be used as many times as possible; for example, it can be used once in a pair, but also in a four-of-a-kind combo, once in a flush, etc. Keep track of the players’ points, and then at the end finish up with a search for all the remaining missing cards! Just remember, if you end up losing one or two, you’ve now got a bunch of activities you can do with the remaining ones!

Fun fundraising

Well, it’s starting. The annual ramp-up to the fundraising season. Just as the San Francisco skies are finally opening up and dousing us with much-needed rain, my little company has been deluged with requests for donations.

There’s no easy way around it: fundraising is a pain in the neck. First, the events themselves take so much time, preparation, and begging, borrowing, and calling-in of favors that they just aren’t fun to work on. Second, there’s a sort of irritation that accompanies most fundraising events because people feel tapped out. I have a bunch of clients with kids in more than one private school, and they are over it. I mean, when you are paying what amounts to the tuition for a small, midwestern university for a preschool, the notion of having to shell out yet another thousand dollars (or more!) at a fundraiser is a bit daunting.

And the hardest thing is that there are so many organizations that are trying to raise money; not just the schools, but also hospitals, theatre companies, social service agencies, the ballet, the symphony, the opera... The list goes on and on and on... It’s never-ending!

All that being said, I wanted to offer up three really fun fundraising ideas that I hope will add a bit of diversity and creativity to your next plea for money.

#1. Buy a card, any card

I actually just witnessed this one at an event last weekend, and I thought it was fabulous! What you do is set up a few fun, fabulous prizes, such as a fleet of wine (in this case, they got their patrons to each donate one bottle from their cellars; what I like about this is that it’s no skin off the patrons’ teeth, and you amass a great, eclectic mix of wines that make a great prize -- especially for most Californians!), or a collection of jewelry (again, this group collected pieces from their patrons), or sports tickets (lots of them donated from their season passes), and so on. The prizes are bundled together in a nice packaged presentation and placed on display. Here’s where the fundraising comes in...

Each package is represented by a deck of playing cards, and patrons can buy as many cards as they like for each package. In this case, the cards sold for $100 each. Patrons happily plunked down $100 for a 1-in-52 chance at a great prize. It was a quick way to raise $5,200 of pure profit -- $5,400 if you include the jokers! You will need two decks of cards per prize, one to sell, and one to use for the drawing. Those two need to be different from the cards for the other prizes, but cards come in so many styles and colors that this shouldn’t be a problem. You also need to keep track of which cards represent which prize. In this case the red playing cards were for the wine, blue was for the jewelry, and a pack of San Francisco Giants logo cards were for the sports tickets -- pretty easy to remember! So, if you’re following, at this event there were two packs of red, two packs of blue, and two packs of Giants.

Now, when it comes time to choose the winners, you can do it one of two ways:

1. The simple way: announce which prize is up, and dump your “drawing” pack of cards into a bowl, mix ‘em up, and select one. Whoever has the matching card wins the prize.

2. This requires a bit more time and preparation, but it’s so much fun! If you’re giving away more than one prize, you might only want to do this gimmick for the first one given away, so that it doesn’t become repetitive. You’ll also need to make sure you have a great MC to run this, because the banter and patter is important!

Choose your winning card out of a bowl the same way you did for the first method. (We’ll say we chose the 4 of spades.) Have everyone in the audience who bought a card stand up, and then begin eliminating groups of people with a witty little line for each. Here are some examples:

1. Those of you with a card with a heart... you left it in San Francisco... sit down!
2. Deuces may be wild for some, but not here… if you have a 2, sit down.
3. You may be the jack of all trades, but that gets you nothing here... if you have a Jack... sit down!
4. You may be the king of the castle, but here, that means nothing... sit down!
5. Nine is fine, but it won’t get you the wine, so sit down.
6. Eight is great, but tonight it’s a little too late... sit down.
7. Three’s definitely a crowd... please sit down.
8. Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but not tonight, so sit down.
9. Five... you ain’t alive... sit down!
10. Tonight, top tens are only good for music charts... sit down.
11. Aces may hold the highest or lowest rank... tonight it’s the lowest... sit down!
12. Seven, make your way to heaven... sit down.
13. Six... hit the bricks! Sit down.
14. Queens, you may be the divas, but do it in a chair and sit down.
15. Clubs, you’ve been just that -- clubbed! Sit down.

And that leaves us with our winner, the four of spades!

At this point there should only be one person left standing, and that person is your winner!

#2. Explosive fundraising

We did this as a fundraiser for our local church and it was a blast... literally! Not only is it an energetic type of fundraiser, but it also offers up a bit of decor, since you will be using helium-filled balloons.

You will need to spend a little bit of money and time on this one, but the results are really, really engaging. You will need a prize table full of fun stuff (again, we had all of this donated by the congregants, so it didn’t cost a thing, and the items on display ranged from tasty fruit baskets, to gym memberships, to books on tape. It was like a yard sale, but with really fun stuff). You’ll also need balloons, helium, ribbon, pins (we used pretty hat pins), and printed paper slips.

Before the event begins, print up little notes that say the following:

• Pick a prize! (Note: you’ll want as many slips as you have prizes.)
• Win a free balloon
• Sorry - try again!

Roll or fold one note for each balloon. Stuff each balloon with one note. Fill the balloons with helium, and tie them off with ribbon as you would any normal balloon.

Now the fun begins! As guest arrive, have volunteers walking around with big bouquets of balloons. Immediately people will be drawn to the volunteers. We sold our balloons for $20 a piece or 6 for $100. The patrons were able to choose their own balloons from the mix and were then handed a pin. The sound of popping and the activity of people scrambling to find their exploded note was sheer joy. People had so much fun popping the balloons that they didn’t really even care what prize they won. When all was said and done, the cost was about $50 for the helium tank, the ribbon, and the balloons. That gave us about 175 balloons to sell, and if I remember correctly we earned about $3,000!

#3. Duct tape financing

Although this fundraising idea probably takes the most time and effort to set up, it’s a huge success with the kids. We used this idea for a Winter Carnival, and the school said it was one of the highlights of the day.

Basically this requires setting up a duct tape crafting center with tables, assorted rolls of tape, patterns, and embellishments. You will need monitors to help in the projects, but we found that our high school kids were perfect for this. Most of them had done it before, and once taught the basics they were able to run the booth easily. (If you need some help, check out our duct tape crafts in our craft library!)

We sold tickets to the booth for $50, which well covered the expenses of the materials (which can get costly). We probably spent about $500 in supplies, but ended up making $5,000 on the booth, so it was a winner in that respect! We didn’t limit our participants creativity; they made purses, iPad covers, wallets, roses, all manner of items, but you could designate just one item if you wanted to simplify the process for your own event.

Materials-wise you will need about 10 rolls of duct tape for every 30 kids participating. It’s up to you how many colors and designs you offer, but realize that you will want backups of all of your tapes (the best thing to do is purchase large amounts from a store where you can return any unopened product. That way you can have extra on hand, but not end up paying for unused materials). It’s great to have an assortment of colors as well as a collection of patterned accent tapes (flames, polka dots, etc.).

There are also extra supplies that help to make the station a success, such as sticky-backed velcro or magnets (for closing purses), ribbon (for making purse straps), key rings (for attaching the purse straps), and fun stickers, jewels, puff balls, etc. (for embellishing). You will need many pairs of scissors, and many hands on deck to teach kids how to make the crafts. It’s best to use a fabric tablecloth to cover your work space (don’t use paper or plastic as the tape will stick to it and become useless), and you’ll want to supply as many tables as your space allows.

All three of these fundraisers have worked really well for us in the past, and we highly recommend them. If you need any further specific explanations or a more step-by-step approach to setting any one of these activities up, leave a comment or email me! I’m happy to share more information.

After all, my fantasy is to bring the “fun” back to fundraising!

Paper bag kites! (Video)

It's been really blustery outside here in San Francisco! Even though it's a little cold, it's perfect weather for kite flying! Check out this week's featured YouTube video, where I show you how to make Paper Bag Kites!

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Potato people in action!

Hey everybody! This week I did another one of my public library craft programs, and together the kids and I made Potato People in honor of St. Patrick's Day! The results were sooo cute -- and I actually remembered to take pictures! Here's a slideshow of some of the highlights. I hope you like them and are inspired to make a few of your own! (If you do, please send them to me!) Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Veggies can be your friends -- just add googly eyes!

If you live near the Bay Area and have a bit of free time, you really need to check out the Pez Museum in downtown Burlingame, California. (214 California Drive, Burlingame, CA, 94010; www.burlingamepezmuseum.com) It’s an amazingly quaint museum/shop where you can see every Pez dispenser ever created and also learn the history of our beloved, funny-faced candy dispensers. (Did you know that they started out as breath mints for smokers?)

Photo from The Burlingame Pez Museum

I was never much of a Pez fan myself (I never had the dexterity for loading the dang contraptions and usually ended up shooting myself in the eye), but I do love toys. And connected with the little Pez museum is an antique toy showroom. It’s there that I learned Mr. Potato Head’s dirty little secret. Did you know that Mr. Potato Head started out as a toy called “Make a Face” that was just a box of plastic facial features which you inserted into assorted vegetables? That’s right -- there used to be a whole race of veggie people out there! I’m sure there are reasons why Mrs. Onion Face, Mr. Cucumber Nose, and Ms. Carrot never made it to the Hollywood Walk of Fame like our beloved Mr. Potato Head, but clearly this concept of veggies-into-friends has been around for a long time!

As with all things that tickle my fancy, I stored this knowledge away for a later date. And now, dear friends, that day has come! St. Patrick’s Day seems like a perfect time to share this fun, potato-based craft that will keep kids and adults enthralled. The best part is that given the nature of a potato (their round-ish shapes, their easy-to-penetrate skin that holds items well, and how slowly they rot), they make awesome decorating bases.

To make your own spud buddy, you’ll need the following items:

• Potatoes (doesn’t matter what size or shape or brand, although I prefer baking potatoes)

Assorted decorative items (any/all will do):

• Toothpicks (take care with the pointy end when working with kids)
• Popsicle sticks
• Coffee stirrers
• Pipe cleaners
• Pins (take care when working with kids; I especially like the ones with balls on the ends)
• Tacky glue, glue dots, or hot glue (always use adult supervision with hot glue)
• Googly eyes
• Fabric, trim, lace, felt
• Yarn
• Other small vegetables, like radishes
• Beans (these make great eyes)
• Assorted pasta shapes
• Assorted “creativity fodder”: bottle caps (check for sharp edges!), lids, used CDs (these make great bases), golf tees, buttons, puff balls, jewels, sewing spools, duct tape, etc.

How to make your potato person

To start, you will want to clean your potato. You may just want to use a mushroom or wire brush to remove any dirt, or you may want to give them a thorough scrub in the sink. However, if you decide to wash your potatoes, give them at least 24 hours to dry out. Moisture is not a glue gun’s friend!

Once you’ve got your potato, you just begin adding features by either gluing, pinning, or just shoving thing in. Use the shape of your potato to dictate where the face and body will be. You may find that a particularly-well placed bump might become a very cute nose or ear; a certain twist to the shape might suggest a waist or definite head. As with any inanimate object, I find that adding the eyes is the key to giving something a personality and vitality. Once you’ve added the eyes, it’s easy sailing. There are so many things one can use for eyes: buttons, beans, stickers, paper -- each one will give you a different sort of quality, so have fun and play! Once you have the eyes, the rest of the face will fall in place.

Making your potato stand or sit is really easy. All you need is some sort of base; a milk container top, or bottle cap works well. Simply figure out the balance point of your potato (meaning how you want it to stand) and glue the cap onto the place where the potato meets the table. You could, if you are so inclined, simply cut off a section of the potato to create a flat bottom (of course, this would be an adult’s job; never let kids use knives unsupervised). You can create a standing potato by inserting popsicle sticks or golf tees into your potato to form a tripod of legs. It’s hard to make a bipedal potato, unless you glue the foot end to something large and sturdy (like a CD or cardboard base).

Embellishing your potato with hair and clothing is where you can get super creative. I find that pins work best for attaching fabric, lace, tulle, and the like. Lace makes a great tutu for an instant ballerina. Pipe cleaners are also a great way to attach items, especially hair -- wrap a length of yarn around the palm of your hand until you get the desired amount, slip the yarn off your hand, and cut down the center (you will now have a nice pile of similarly-sized pieces of yarn). Use a pipe cleaner to secure the yarn in the middle (simply make a 2-inch U-shape with the pipe cleaner, slip the piece of yarn into the bend of the pipe cleaner, then twist the ends of the pipe cleaner around each other locking in the yarn). Make a hole at the top of the head, insert the pipe cleaner, and voila -- instant hairdo!

Now, one thing I have discovered with my potato people is that hot glue is not the best glue for adhering item directly to the veggie. It’s great for embellishing the other items (clothing layers, feet to bases, etc.) but for gluing directly onto the potato itself, it’s not the best. I would suggest tacky glue or good glue dots for that.

I did this craft a while ago for a St. Patrick’s Day-themed party and it was such a huge hit. The kids had a blast, and created whole families that included pets (radishes are awesome for that) and even modes of transportation. I actually ran into one of the moms about two weeks later and she commented on how the potatoes were still holding up valiantly, and that the signs of decay had yet to set in. She told me that she and her daughter kept a vigil, and that they had made a pact that when the potato family started to smell it would be time to move the family to the compost bin. However, they decided that they would save the parts and create new friends. Gotta love that! Hand-me-down body parts!

Don't forget, if you want our full craft write-up, visit our main site at the link!

Potato People and the Staples Small Business Push Contest (Video)

With St. Patrick's Day coming up on Saturday, you just knew that our craft this week had to be St. Paddy's themed, right? Right! We're getting some potatoes ready to party by turning them into fun, festive friends. You can learn to make our Potato People by watching our video (and subscribing to our channel on YouTube!), or by going to our step-by-step how-to on our main site by clicking here.

Here's just a small selection of the kinds of Potato People you can make…

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Also the Staples Small Business Push Contest on Facebook is still going on. You have until Wednesday, March 14th to vote, and you can vote every day! Voting is easy, and you can go to our video page by clicking here. I made a little video of my empassioned plea for support…

So tell your friends, tell your family, tell random strangers on the street! We need your votes!

Help! (Vote for us!)

Let me be the first to say that I’m not someone who likes competitions, especially popularity ones where people have to get all their friends to vote for them. However, I’m putting aside my own personal, painful high school memories to ask -- no, plead -- no, BEG for your vote!

My little website, Sophie’s World, has been entered into Staples’ Small Business Push contest, and it could really help us out if we win! Voting for us is easy. You have to either already be a Facebook member, or join Facebook. Then, click this link. If you’re not logged in, you’ll be prompted to do so. Then you’ll be taken to the Small Business Push app; click “Go to app” to be taken straight to our video. Then click “Vote for Us!” That’s all there is to it! I know it’s a bit of time out of your day, but it could help Sophie’s World continue to bring you tons of crafts, games, and activities for some time to come -- and that would be sooo awesome.

Okay... Have you voted? Now I can tell you the story behind it all.

About a month ago, I got an email from Staples announcing that they were holding a contest where the Grand Prize was $50,000 in free advertising. All of us here at Sophie’s World got excited. A free ad -- of any kind or size! -- is worth competing for. We quickly formulated a funny little 15 second plug as per the contest’s rules. Our plan was to show how creative one could be with almost anything -- even office supplies. Freda and I brainstormed ideas, and she created the most amazing props out of office supplies. This included a birthday cake made from Post-It notes and highlighters, a hat made out of a file folder, and a happy birthday banner made out of various envelopes.

We came up with what we thought was a cute and clever little commercial. But then there was our first obstacle: we had to find a place to shoot it. Our offices are just too jammed with stuff, and we needed an empty space. Luckily, our next-door neighbor said we could shoot in his offices, which are in the process of being renovated. He agreed to give us a half an hour on a Friday morning. We were stoked.

Unfortunately, things did not go as planned. As it turns out, our neighbor’s contractors were actually installing cabinets on the morning we were supposed to shoot. When he saw our disappointment he begrudgingly agreed that we could have 15 minutes, and sent his team off on a coffee break. We raced in and started shooting, only to have a huge CRASH! ruin our first take. Evidently not everyone was on their coffee break. The rest of the shoot was a race against the clock. We raced through as quickly as we could, finally calling it a wrap when the cleaning team came through for the third time, and the foreman started holding an incredibly loud conversation just outside the door. I was a frazzled mess, but I prayed that the video would be good enough to at least get us into the competition.

My husband Scott edited the piece and Simone tried to submit it, but the system kept rejecting it. It kept saying the video was too long! Scott, who makes films for a living, was certain the piece was under 15 seconds (the allotted length of the video), but the Staples entry system just kept kicking it back. Finally, Scott took a machete to the video and shaved off a full second, and Staples finally accepted it. We all breathed a huge sigh of relief... until two days later, when we got an email saying that the video was rejected on content grounds. They said we hadn’t followed the guidelines, which were vague, and after viewing a few of the other participating videos we couldn’t determine what we had failed to do...

Our first attempt at an entry video

We had to go back to the drawing board, and re-shoot fast. Time was slipping away, and we only had five days left to enter. Luckily, we had a regular webisode shoot scheduled, so we decided to combine the two shoots and redo our commercial. We rewrote our script to follow each and every contest rule to a T, and I rehearsed and timed myself over and over and over until I could hit 14.03 seconds every time.

It was nerve wracking. Even when I was a young actress, 25 years ago, learning lines was always hard for me -- and here I was, having to spout an extreme amount of dialogue in an incredibly short amount of time. It probably took us 10 takes, but in the end we got something pretty good...

And now we just have to get everyone we’ve ever met to vote for us. I swear, I feel like I’m back in high school, running for student counsel!

If we could get this, it would be a huuuge boost for Sophie’s World, and give us what we need to keep going. It would mean the world to us. So please, tell all your Facebook friends! We’d really appreciate your support. I can’t promise we’ll be crowned the homecoming queen, but I can promise that we’ll make the best-looking tiara.

Packing materials: Special delivery for your creativity!

I love getting stuff delivered through the mail. Not only is it fun to open up whatever new game or toy or supply we’ve ordered, but there’s also the way these things are shipped. It’s amazing how there’s an entire industry based solely on shipping things safely! Everything from those air-filled plastic bags to vacuum-formed plastic and cardboard inserts to crumpled newspaper (especially the ones that come from other countries)... As a crafty person, I sometimes find the packaging more interesting than the actual product!

Take for example our office favorite: packing peanuts. These things have so many uses! Nowadays they come in they come in two versions, which we call toxic and non-toxic. The non-toxic ones are made out of a starchy material that melts when it comes into contact with water. I realize now that this kind might not be good if your package is left out overnight during a hurricane... but when it comes to crafting they are super-cool! I love using them with kids at “magic” and “wizard” parties. All you have to do is swipe one end of these babies over a slightly damp sponge, press it into its brother, and voila! Like magic, the two bind together. Not only is it a cool trick, but you can actually make things with them. My sister Freda is incredibly creative, and she’s made an entire dollhouse worth of furniture out of these little guys. The best thing about these peanuts is that they’re so easy to use. Even very small, young hands can make them stick together, and if those fingers then accidentally stray into a mouth, well, it’s not the end of the world. These things can be ingested almost without issue -- a serious step up from the paste my next door neighbor used to eat by the spoonful...

You can get our full how-to here.

The “toxic” ones, which I believe are made out of Styrofoam, also have amazing crafting potential. They’re great for stringing like necklace beads, pasting onto paper, drawing on, and making sculptures. They make great feet for a lil’ pipe cleaner person, and super cute farm animals. With just a few swipes of a Magic Marker, you’ve got a wiggle worm. Add a piece of clear monofilament (fishing line), and he can scoot across the table and tease your cat!

Make this cute skeleton yourself!

Bubble wrap is another great supply. We all know how fun popping the individual bubbles can be! In fact, we’ve played games with it where we place the large-sized bubble wrap on the ground between two players, one of whom is blindfolded, and have the other person try to sneak up on them without too many pops! You can also make really neat prints with it by painting a thin layer of acrylic paint onto the bubbles and then laying a sheet of paper over the painted bubbles. When you lightly rub the paper and then lift it off, you’ve got a really cool pattern transfer. Finally, you can cut off individual, large bubbles and turn them into cute space-helmeted heads or funny eyeballs -- just be careful when cutting them out to not nick the side of the bubble, or you’ll end up with a sadly deflated face!

The ultimate crafting tool -- cardboard boxes!

Then you have boxes. Sooooo many things can be done with boxes! You can cover them with paper or duct tape and turn them into magazine racks (those skinny boxes from Amazon.com book boxes work really well for this!). You just cut a triangular section from one side of the box, cover it with fun colored duct tape, and you’ve got a cute and functional magazine holder (cereal boxes also work really well for this). Boxes make great building blocks, dollhouses, and treasure boxes. You can cut them up and use them as a craft base for a mini-skateboard park, or an insert for a T-shirt as you decorate it... Depending on the size of the boxes, you could even make them into kid-sized playhouses. Cardboard is one of the ultimate crafting tools!

Our super-simple magazine holder from a cardboard box!

Last but not least there are the specialty packing materials. They’re the things made just to hold and protect a specific item, and there are so many different kinds! I can’t begin to describe all that I’ve seen. Clear plastic swoops and bowls, which can be turned into robots and mini-skateboard half-pipes... Molded paper mâché corner protectors that make awesome volcano bases... Cardboard shoe inserts that are a perfect duck beak... It makes me swoon! If I were ever invited to a plant where they design and manufacture these brilliant bits of packing material, I’d explode with excitement! They’d be picking pieces of me from the machinery for months...

So the next time you get a special delivery, open it with new eyes. You might just find that the packaging speaks to you and says, “Use me!”

Packing peanut art (Video)

If you've been shipping or receiving lots of packages, you might have piles of packing peanuts lying around your home or office. Well, if they're the new bio-degradable kind, those peanuts are good for more than just protecting your shipments. They can be used to create fun and funny sculptures! The starches in the peanuts, when wet, bind together. This allows you to stick them together to form chains of peanuts, sheets of peanuts, all sorts of shapes and sizes! In this week's featured video, we show you some of the possibilities for your Packing Peanut Art.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more videos like these, and friend us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and see what I'm pinning on Pinterest!

In search of a good towel...

I have an issue to discuss that’s really causing me some serious grief. I’ve been searching in vain for almost a year now, and I’ve yet to find a good quality, absorbent, attractive, long-lasting bath towel.

I know, I know. You’re probably saying to yourself: Well this is silly! You just need to spend the money and get a good towel!

Not the case!

I have gone to the expensive home and bath shops. I have mail ordered from high-end companies. I have even gone to department stores like Nordstroms and Macy's. Noooo luck. The towels I have chosen, regardless of cost, end up doing the same things:

A. They pill and shed upon washing and drying, making the poor lint basket in my dryer look like a snowdrift in Tahoe.

B. They repel water instead of absorbing it, leaving the body wetter than when it actually stepped out of the shower. Seriously! I believe that jumping up and down on the bathmat for one minute might actually do more for me than drying off with one of these repellent towels. It’s almost as if there is a silicon coating on the material or something. It’s really bizarre.

C. They are so thin that although they absorb water well, they end up like those Sham-Wows you see at the car wash -- the ones that need to be wrung out continually.

D. They partially absorb the water from your body, but they have this almost anti-thermal quality, where they seem to extract your body heat and then freeze it, making the towel more and more frigid the longer you use it.

Now, you may wonder what exactly makes a good bath towel, and why for heaven's sake this has become such an issue. Well you see, about six years ago I furnished my home with some very nice, very absorbent towels. They came from Target, and they were wonderful. They were substantial in size, they absorbed every ounce of water on my sodden body, they dried quickly after being used, and they came in nice, solid colors that went well with my bathrooms.

Unfortunately, six years later, they are finally starting to give up the ghost. One by one, I am forced to place them into retirement (aka the cleaning bin), which means I need replacements -- and fast! I swear to you, I'm not exaggerating: I've been looking for over 18 months for good replacements, and I've yet to find them! I'm not sure if in the six years since I stocked my condo that the towel manufacturers all got together and decided to start a conspiracy to drive the American public crazy, or if it's just that the cotton manufacturers started changing their "formulas," but whatever it is… it's making me nuts!

I feel like I used to pick up just any old towel, and it would be a winner! Now it’s become a Sherlock-esque adventure to find one that will suffice.

I keep asking my friends, family, neighbors, postmen… But no one seems to have an answer for me. But when I do find the perfect towel, no matter what the cost, you can count on me proclaiming it to the world!… or at least pinning it on my Pinterest board.

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And since we're on the topic of towels, I have to show you a cute mini-craft I learned while on vacation! I'm sure you've seen nice hotels or cruise lines fold their towels into fun animals for their guests -- now you can make a swan of your own to welcome houseguests, or to just dress up your home!