Road-Tripping

Summer time is almost here!  Time to start planning that epic road trip with your family, friends, or both!

Travel Accessories

• Passport Cover $10.00
  • After traveling, I found that a passport cover helped keep my passport from getting a curve from stuffing it in bags and purses.
  • TIP: Make a photocopy of your passport and keep one on person, another with someone from your family, and send one to yourself on your secure email address.  If your passport is stolen or lost, it might help expedite your process with the consulate (those lines can be long!).
• Camera Case $14.00
  • A camera case with a nice solid wrist strap is great to keep your memories away from pickpockets.
• Sleep Mask $22.00
  • Be it a noisy hostel with girls from Portugal talking until the wee hours in Florence, Italy, getting used to the new times zone, or for the plane ride, a good eye blackout shade is essential.
• Travel Umbrella $17.99
  • Trust me, it will rain and you will be searching all the little trinket shops and end up paying €20 for one (true story).  It is better to take a small bag-sized umbrella in your purse, and skip the hassle.
• Universal Plug Adapters $24.00
  • You will always have to plug something in.  If you are traveling throughout Europe, this helps keep them organized.
• Traveler’s Journal $9.95
  • Jotting some notes down to places that you visit is a great way to capture memories that would normally be forgotten.  It helps if you have a nice looking journal so you can place it in a bookshelf.

  “This Travel Pocket Notebook Set has 4 small journals for the notekeeper. In 4 varying colors they could be used to record different things. One for restaurants, one for sites or travel details, etc.”

Travel Necessities

• An adequate First Aid Kit $5.00
  • At some point you might get a scrape or blisters from all that walking around at destinations.  It is good to have band-aids and Neosporin on hand, especially if you are not familiar with the language.  I had to once explain to a woman in Beijing that I needed motion sickness medicine by making a sign of a boat, swaying, and fake gagging.  Yeah, you will want to avoid that.
  • Don’t forget the hand sanitizer!!!!
• Emergency Stain Kit $4.29
  • If you are lucky enough to have extremely light clothes (meaning that you are under the 50 lb limit and can change your tops and bottoms everyday), then you need not worry about the occasional stain on your pant leg.  For the rest of us, those jeans can last a few more times with the aid of a Tide To-go pen.
• Bathroom Tissue $5.00
  • This is MUST in China and Czech Republic (I only know because I’ve encountered paying the bathroom attendant, I’m sure a inflated rate, for toilet paper when I had no other options). A pocket tissue box works well too.
• Luggage Identifier $4.99
  • This is a new take on a luggage tag: it fits over the handle of your luggage and helps you pick your suitcase out when at the airport.

  “When added to your luggage handle, this colorful grip cushions your hand and aids in quickly identifying your bag on the luggage carousel. Unwrap the grip from the handle to reveal an address label, perfect for safely keeping your contact information handy.”

  • TIP: Identifying your luggage with tags is often better than belts that may be removed by airport security or get caught in transit.

Snooze Button on the Run

Ever have those mornings when you just cannot pull yourself from your warm, cuddly bed?  Well, worry no more about enjoying that extra 10 minute love affair with your snooze button.  This alarm clock will not only will force you up, but also might count as your morning cardio.   Only $39.95  at Wrapables.com for something you will hate every morning (but might keep you from being late).  Keep reading.

“It’s the coolest alarm clock you’ve ever seen! The patented Clocky Mobile Alarm Clock gives you one chance to get up. But if you snooze, Clocky will jump off your nightstand and wheel around your room looking for a place to hide, beeping all the while. You’ll have to physically get out of bed to silence his alarm.”

Can you can imagine this at 6:00 am on a Monday morning?

Might be worth it as long as you aren’t in a dorm or sleep with an impatient spouse.  Clocky might end up in piece-ies.

Graduation Awesomeness!

In an addition to Hubs graduation party, I ran across these on the hostessblog.  These are credited to Bakerella.  She has quite an incredible website with how-to instructions on everything, including this little diddy below!  So incredibly simple and cute!

The finished product.

The materials needed for graduation-pops.

Bachelorette Bash

For some oddball reason when we chose our wedding date, it was only two weeks after my graduation from graduate school.  Not to mention that I was planning it in my hometown which was a 2 and a half hour drive away.  That meant, between 16 credit hours and thesis writing, we had to go down practically every weekend to plan food, the venue, the flowers…well, you get the idea.

So, some little things fell through the cracks like my bachelorette party.  My bridesmaids were scattered throughout the state and the country, and two of them, to top it off, were getting married the month after my wedding.  We were all stressed out and pressed for time.  My then fiance stepped up and planned my bachelorette party.  There was just a mass party invite on Facebook, which included boys and girls, and mostly involved people in the area since I sent it out a week before hand.  I had a great time– don’t get me wrong– but after attending other people’s more planned parties, I took on the challenge to see what I could have come up with and ideas that would have been fun to do.  I am still working on a budget since it has just become a habit to me now.

Themes

Some themes that aren’t too tacky or expensive:

• Black & White Party. This is where all invited guests must wear black or white and the bride (and maybe the bridesmaids too) wear a vibrant color.  The theme would work well since every girl has the iconic black dress somewhere on hand.  Works well if you are going out on the town.
  • IDEA: I would then have either bright feathers and ribbons to attach on the guests to signify they are with the party. Like a pin or something easy to make and it could be a favor as well.  Activities help people who know the bride well, but maybe not the other guests– it can act as an icebreaker.
• Destiny Revealed Party: This might involved a little bit of money if you were to hire a fortune teller to tell all the guests futures.  The decorcould involve lava lamps, beaded doorways, and a crystal ball.
  • IDEA: A set bag of questions that a magic eight ball would reveal and help the girls meet one another.  This would be if you were not leaving the site and were there the entire night.
• Brides-Night-In: This idea seems really fun, again, if you can swing hiring someone.  The night would be contained in a residence or somewhere large enough to host a slew of girly things:
  • Hiring a pole dancer to teach your guests pole dancing would be fun or know somewhere to go that offers pole dancing lessons;
  • Hosting a passion party (its something to giggle at, but at the end of the night, the representative will most likely expect people to buy products which could put off some people)
  • Hire a belly dancer to give lessons to everyone.
• Sparkling Party: My maid of honor did this for her party.  Everyone who attended was asked to wear head to toe sparkly- sequins, fake jewelry, anything that would be fun and bright.  At her house before hand, we made more glittery stuff from little gems and feathers to wear out.  This is a nice cheap way to get everyone involved and it made for some great pictures!
• Girls Night Out on the Town: Do the typical games and presents at someone’s home or hotel room, then go out on the town with the girls.  This one could escalate in price if you go wild on food, decorations, and game props.

Invitations

Facebook invites are good and all, but I really enjoy the paper kind of invitation.  There is a wide variety of invitations that range from tea party to explicit.  I would like to cultivate the European idea of sexy as opposed to the American idea (i.e., slutty).

I like Brandy Seitz’s (how to instructions on link) lace up invitation via make-your-own-invitations blog.

Invitation Total: 95¢

Investment Purchases Total: $28.68

Creating this invitation will be a bit higher if you do not already have some of the tools needed.  You could always skip the eyelets and just punch holes, but I think you would looks the tied look a bit.  For the price, I would assume that the eyelet kit and hole puncher are investment products simply because you can use them for other projects.

• Eyelet Puncher with Eyelets: $24.49
• Hole Puncher: $4.19
• Ribbon: $1.72/roll (I would say 3-4 cards per roll, so 43¢/card)
• Card Stock: $12.99/25 pack of 12″x12″ or 52¢/sheet (I like this neat sparkly card stock, but the linen will be good too)

IDEA: The insert could have a fish net stocking stretched across it as a belly band or maybe surrounding the entire invitation.

IDEA: Since the invitation invokes a lingerie aura, then the invitation should suggest that guests bring something for the bride to wear, or use, on her honeymoon.

Looks

Outfit Total: $110.06

• The dress from Forever21 is something I normally wouldn’t wear, but a girls night out deserves something a bit more fun for $27.80.
• Next, the earrings would be something slightly sparkly like these from Express for $19.50.
• The bangle is something I am starting to like.  This one is from Forever21 as well for $5.80.
• The clutch is something that should add to the dress, but not be missed when your out dancing.  This one is from Target and goes for $16.99.
• I love a cute pair of black heels and these look like they could be dressed up or down from Tilly’s for $39.97.

Another look that would go well with the sparkly theme:

Outfit Total: $122.99

• The dress is flashy but understated from Express for $69.50.
• The shoes are still sparkly, but doesn’t take away from the dress from Target at $22.99.
• The earrings and bracelet are stylish and can be worn again from Forever21 both for $5.80.
• The clutch ties everything together for $18.90.

Decor & Favors

I think even if you are only staying a few hours at someone’s house or a meeting spot that can be decorated, do it.  It provides a fun backdrop to pictures, and most decorations can be reused for another person’s party.

• The favors mirror the lingerie party theme, and offer to be decorations on the tables for $20.28/12 or $1.69 ea. (comes in an assortment of colors).
• A another cute idea to call out the bride is a personalized sash that could be bought by bridesmaids as a gift since it is $24.50 ea.
• The Candlesare an easy inexpensive project.
  • Purchase varying sizes of pillar candles (these can double as favors/prizes for games) at $5.24 for 8″ candles.
  • Cut out the desired paper size to wrap around and attach with either spray adhesive or two sided tape.
  • Use your newly purchased eyelet puncher and kit to duplicate the look of the invitations.
  • Lace ribbon through.
  • You can embellish the edges with pearl ribbon or jewels– just remember to keep it is a candle and things can catch fire!
  • IDEA: Place inexpensive mirror tiles (at Walmart) underneath the candles and the boas and sprinkle with sparkly confetti to complete the tablescape.

• Feather Boas are easy as displays on tables and also can be worn once you leave to party (image via blog australiaentertains).  I would use sparingly since one 6′ feather boa runs about $9.99.

On the Menu

For the bar, there can be several different serving options to choose from:

• Make-your-own
  • Provide a selection of alcohol and mixers, maybe a blender, for people to dabble.
  • Provide various fruits to mix in like limes, lemons, strawberries, etc…
  • Place suggested drink recipes on cards near the ingredients.
• Made-to-order
  • Either have pitchers of sangria, mimosas, or other easy to mix drinks on the table.
  • If you have a friend willing to man the bar, have them make mixed drinks in the blender from a selection of drinks for the guests.
  • Place cards of what you are offering that evening that coordinate with your decor.
• Remember to include staples like wines, beer, and sodas.

1. Champagne Pomegranate Cocktail
2. Sangria Blanco
3. Plastic Glasses at $11.99/25 or 48¢ ea.
4. Red Headed Slut shot (could change it to whatever color the bachelorette is) Ingredients: 1.5 oz Jägermeister,1.5 oz Peach schnapps,Fill with Cranberry juice
5. Vodka Ginger Lemonade
6. Cosmo Slushie
7. Jello Shots (The link has some good recipes for jello shots). Don’t forget the Shot Glasses! The glasses could be customized with stencils.

For the nibblers on the table, Myrecipes.com suggests:

“Most bachelorette parties end up with the guests out on the town for a second round. Serve some simple but sophisticated food that will get the evening started without much prep time. The girls won’t be too full to party, but will have enough to keep going. To make the most of the time catching up with friends, choose food that’s easily eaten without utensils. Finger foods move with the girls as they mingle through the party.”

• The cake is something that is a little unexpected: you will need a cleaned Ken doll and different sizes of cake rounds.  You can easily make little outfit and miniature paper money to stick in his hands.  This is especially good when you do not have a stripper, or want one.

• Pasta and Meatball De-constructed
• Beet and Cheese Tartlet
• Feta Cheese Truffles
• Don’t forget matching plates, napkins, and utensils!

Graduating Ideas

My hubs is right in the middle of his college program to become a nurse, and I think it is never too early to start thinking about the graduation party.  It is that time of year when most students are graduating, so there are a lot of goodies online.   Being that he is in a field dominated by women, there are not many ideas out there for a male nurse graduation theme.  This will probably progress as the time gets near, but one thing that will not change is that I do not want to go broke with all the planning.  So, like everything that is cheaper, this will require a bit of work, but doing most of the things myself is rewarding.

Invitations

This top invitation from StationeryStudio.com happens to be completely customizable– allowing it to be for male or female, and also hosting an assortment of faces and colors.  The bottom one is cute as well with similar wording.  I think I will just probably use the wording from this invitation and do a more formal one.  The prescription bottle one is from the internet Google image search and I think would cause some concern if you sent if through the mail, so it might be better hand delivered.

The How-to

I think the invitations will include the wording above, but be more like this from FineStationery.com made by Checkerboard.

Decor

I want this to be a more of a formal affair as opposed to a raging kegger, so I want the decor to set the tone for the guests to abide by.   Everything shown would be tailored to his school colors and, of course, the whole nursing theme thrown in tastefully.

The Breakdown

• Love the idea of creating homemade labels to adorn beers, sodas, wines, and favors from Martha Stewart.
• The lanterns (in the school’s colors) would be great at filling space, and they’re cheap at $13.99/dozen from Oriental Trading.
  • IDEA: Make a stencil either with the school’s logo, or spell our ‘Congrats’ on the lanterns and light with LED Christmas lights.
• I like this simple glass vase adornment with a grad hat and ribbon (via sparklythings).
  • IDEA: Buy the ribbon in the school’s colors, spray spray adhesive on the vase, and wrap the ribbon completely around the vase. Then you can either put the grad hat on it, or maybe just leave it.
• The cupcakes are the easiest way to bring in the nursing theme from Petit Cupcakesof London.
  • IDEA: This can easily be made from homemade colored fondant or other edibles like graham crackers and white chocolate for the band-aids, cut gummy worms for the pills, etc…
• My wedding planner proposed this idea, but I think it would work for a good keepsake for a grad party.  This is from Martha Stewart, and it is simply a customized backdrop, a photo printer, and a trustworthy friend ( one who will not lose the camera or wander away) to take pictures.
  • IDEA: If you have a IT inclined friend and a HDMI hookup, you could upload the photos directly to a projector, tv screen, or computer slideshow so people can see it and someone could also take pictures of people just being themselves.  This would save you on printing the pictures out, but still would be a great keepsake that you could later share on Youtube.
• As promised in the invitation, these cute personalized shot glasses will allow you to not only make your own shots, but no cleanup!  The are a steal at $11.99/50 at Oriental Trading.

On the Menu

The food has to be benign enough for people to not eat.  Good/interesting food alway will get unfamiliar people talking to one another.  I suggest looking over some deli and catering options as well because it might be more cost effective and time efficient.  I would also make another ‘main’ food item and more canapés as people drink, they will want munchies.

The Breakdown

• Little mints could be put into clear goody bags, or just out on the table for people to munch on.  Super cute and taste like pineapple from the Candy Warehouse.
• Another way to personalize the event that isn’t too expensive are the napkins.  Stationery Studio has them for $26.96/100 napkins with graduation personalization and an assortment of colors.
• Food Ideas (I would supplement this with a cheese platter and some other pre-made deli items):
  • The White Bean Veg Dip from MyRecipes.com dip is always a good staple for people watching their weight or for vegetarians.
  • The Pill bottle cake is a great idea from CakeCentral.com.  It could be personalized for the grad.
    • IDEA: To make this, just bake 5 round cakes in your flavor of choice, cool, then stack them with a bit of frosting in between (you can make your own or buy frosting).  Then begin carving with a sharp knife the top part to your desired shape.  I am not a good fondant person, so I would just use colored frosting and then pipe in the words.  You could put Twinkies with frosting as the pills
    • Or just skip the cake and use Twinkies decorated as “pills” on a platter.
  • Sliders are always a crowd pleaser and these can be made ahead of time!  They could be made with or without cheese and offered with different toppings via MyRecipes.com.
  • You have to always have a pasta salad that is safe for everyone to try.  This one from MyRecipes.com has tuna, but can be eliminated– and it is low fat!
  • To round out the meal is a tropical fruit salad.  It is familiar enough, but will offer a little edge to get people talking.

What to Pour

Being a nursing graduation, the drink names can be a creative way to get the theme back into the food.  Of course you need to have the obvious drink of Bloody Mary served in nice glasses.  Next would be a nice pleasing Sangria.

There would obviously be beer, white and red wines, and some variety of shots named in honor of completing nursing school and being a student like Tainted Fruit Jello Shot that can be made into any color and flavor, or a drink I would call “The All-Nighter” shot which has red bull and alcohol, or “Allergy Shot” (Incredible Hulk recipe).  People, well at least my girl friends, are up for anything that looks fun and different.

Well, there are tons more that I want to add, but maybe it will be another one when he graduates with his masters.  I can only hope, lol!