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Frugal Girls’ Night Ideas

April 3, 2013 - 2 Comments

A happy mom is a good mom! So, I recently decided that I need to start planning to have a girls’ night once a month. The idea is to create a reason to get together and provide opportunity to relax and interact. It is therapeutic and fun! Everyone has some sort of skill, talents, or connections that they can utilize and share! I think it would be fun to change it up and let each person take a turn hosting or choosing the activity. However, I want to keep it simple enough that is doesn’t become a source of stress for anyone. So, I came up with a bunch of easy, frugal ideas…

GNO girls night out

Some of these ideas may be better for smaller or for larger groups. I think most groups would be great at 3-6 people. I also believe everything is better when it involves yummy food!

Girls’ Night In Ideas:

spa facial treatment

At-Home Spa:

DIY hair deep conditioning treatment
DIY face masks (Clarifying Facial Mask Recipe)
DIY pedicures or manicures (Nail Art Deals)
Do a makeup makeover, try out some makeup tutorials you’ve pinned
Experiment with hair styles and styling tricks (find a lot of ideas on Pinterest!)
Waxing Party: hair removal togetherness & bonding

Food:

Freezer Meal Cooking: Get a group of friends together and cook ahead for your families
Pinterest Girls’ Night In: Each person bring a craft or food item from Pinterest
Cocktail Party: Make some fun specialty drinks together (virgin versions are still fun, Mock Mojitos)
Make sushi together
Fondue Party (cupcake fondue, cheese, chocolate, sweet and savory dips, Fondue Cookbooks)
Potluck dinner
Favorite Things Party: bring a favorite thing and a favorite food to share
or you can have the night spotlight one person, have the host share a few of their favorite things, take turns hosting and sharing
Fire Pit: roast marshmallows, make s’mores
Assemble mixes in jars as gifts
Cook-off Challenge: everyone bring own homemade version of something, blind tasting and voting
Smoothie-making/tasting Party: everyone bring ingredients, create new concoctions, share favorites (Smoothie Recipes)
Make your own Pizzas (Pizza Recipes)
Decorate Cookies: provide many colors, candies, tools for decorating sugar cookies or other
Gingerbread House Competition: Each decorate a gingerbread, rice crispy treat, or graham cracker house. Best gets a prize!
Everyone bring their favorite popcorn to share (Popcorn Recipes & Deals)
Make gourmet caramel apples (Caramel Apple Recipes)

Look for grocery coupons in our Coupon Database!

movie night

Just Hanging Out:

Often it is fun enough to just invite the girls over, have a few snacks around, and talk with each other! Here are some more ideas…

Gift-wrapping party: fun idea for just before Christmas
Girls’ Night Book Club
Soak in a Hot Tub
Watch a chick flick at someone’s house

Games:

Play a game or two (The Game of Things, Bunco, Scattergories, Jenga, Apples to Apples, Catch Phrase, Taboo, Charades, more of our Favorite Games)
Just Dance competition
Mario Kart Tournament

Crafts:

Make hair clips or headbands (DIY Baby Headbands)
Make jewelry (DIY Bird Nest Necklace)
Combine crafty supplies and make greeting cards together
Seasonal/Holiday craft project (wreath, decor, etc)
Find something for your home at a thrift shop and re-do it, then have a show-it-off party
Make candles
Sewing Party: bring your sewing machines and projects and work on it while you chat, make skirts or pillow covers
Scrap-booking Party: Bring your stuff and get caught up while you chat and share

See more DIY Craft Ideas that we have posted!

kitchen gadget exchange

Exchanges:

Book Exchange: read new books by swapping with friends
Favorite Recipe Exchange
Swap favorite healthy or all-natural recipes (food, cleaning, beauty)
Coupon Swap Party
Dust Collectors: Swap clothes, house items, toys and what ever you have that is collecting dust
Lingerie Gift Exchange
Garden Exchange Party: Everyone bring the surplus from their garden
Clothing Swap: bring something cool that you don’t want anymore, but someone else might want, fashion show
Fashion Accessory Swap
White Elephant Gift Exchange: bring something fun or funny from your home that you can give away
Kitchen Gadget Swap
Freezer Meal Swap
Re-gift Exchange: bring a gift you’ve received but don’t want to keep
Handmade Gift Exchange

On some of the exchange or swap ideas, you can offer a prize for the best or worst things. You can draw numbers for who gets to choose first or find some other creative way to make it even more fun.

Themed Parties:

Everything Pink Party
PJ Party
Everything Chocolate Night
Downton Abbey Party, or another favorite show or movie (have costumes, foods, decorations, and/or entertainment that fit the theme)
Nationality Themed Party: Pick a nationality and do everything you can think of that fits the theme (could be a GNO too)

Girls’ Night Out Ideas:

Of course, I always look for a discount or coupon before I go out!

Look for Coupons: Groupon, LivingSocial, AmazonLocal, Restaurant.com, Fandango, Restaurant & Retail Coupons

Go out for frozen yogurt
Treat yourselves to a gourmet cupcake
Go to a movie
Get pedicures or manicures at a local beauty school or other inexpensive venue
Go to a local concert or performance: live music, community theater, dance (lots of options if you have a college nearby)
Go to a restaurant for an appetizer or dessert
Choose a new restaurant, try something new & adventurous
Mall Makeover: Hit the makeup counter at a department store and get your makeup done for free
Get massages
Hit a bucket of balls at the driving range
Run a 5K
Bowling
Try a fitness class together at the local rec. center
Chocolate Tasting (could be done at home too)
Mini Golf
Cooking Class or Demonstration
Pottery Painting
Go to a museum or gallery
Play Tourist: Visit a local tourist attraction
Go shopping: mall, department store, thrift shop
Volunteer: participate in charity or community service

Get out and enjoy yourself, your friends, and the lifestyle of the fabulously frugal!

I did some serious brainstorming to come up with some of these ideas that I thought would work for me, but I also found some of the ideas I liked here, here, here, here, here, and here.

I’d love to hear about your ideas too!

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By Melanie

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Filed Under: Awesome, Frugal Living
Tagged With: crafts, DIY, DIY Craft Ideas, food, frugal activities, frugal living, Games, girls' night in, girls' night out, GNI, GNO, moms, motherhood, Recipes, time

DIY Large Typography Sign {Picture Tutorial}

September 13, 2012 - Leave a Comment

I have seen lots of large typography signs all over pinterest. I saw this one and knew it would be perfect for a wall in my house, but couldn’t pay the $45 price tag (my kids are always needing new shoes and things like that). I figured out how to make it for under $10. It takes a bit of patience to get it just right, but was pretty easy to put together. The only thing I had to buy was the large piece of wood. It is a 24X24 piece of plywood that I got at Lowes for around $5. Here is what you need:

{PIN THIS}

24X24 piece of Wood

2 colors of spray paint {I used Valspar Bright Red and Krylon Ivory both in Satin finish, I did not want it to be glossy}

Vinyl Stencil {I cut mine out with my Silhouette, you can download my studio file here} If you don’t have a vinyl cutting machine find a friend who has one or you could go to a local sign and banner place and they could cut some vinyl for you. Or you can print it out and use some carbon paper to trace the words onto the board and paint it by hand.

Mod Podge & Sponge Brush {forgot to get them in the picture}

First spray paint your board. My board was pretty smooth and didn’t need to be sanded at all, but it is a good idea to dust it off before you paint.

Red is a color you have to do lots of coats of. I’m not sure how many I did, probably around 4 or 5. I let it dry overnight (remember I’m in Arkansas and it is HUMID here so things take longer to dry!)

Lay out your vinyl stencils on your board to make sure they all fit. I wasn’t going to use transfer paper, but it was a little easier to use it. The vinyl didn’t stick great to the wood so I had to work hard to get the transfer paper off without pulling the vinyl off. Pulling it off at an angle seemed to be easier

It helped to put the backing on top of the vinyl to help press out the air bubbles. The vinyl can stretch or tear easily so be careful. Just using your fingers works good too.

Also don’t pull all the backing paper off at once! Pull about 2 inches off and get it placed then slowly pull it off as you press the vinyl down. This is the part not to go to fast and just take your time. I rushed on the first one and had lots of air bubbles to work out.

I put the “this” on vinyl first and you can see it has the most bubbles, I got better as I did the rest of the board

After you get them all on now you take your mod podge matte

and brush it over the edges of the letters. You do this to help prevent bleeding through. Don’t put it on too thick. I brushed it over the whole letter so it would all be the same finish when I painted it.

I taped up the parts of the board that the vinyl didn’t cover so they wouldn’t be spray painted. You can also paint it with acrylic paint if you don’t want to use spray paint.

Now I spray painted with the ivory.

I think I used about 4 coats, until the red didn’t show through. I let it dry for a few hours.

The next part is my favorite, peeling off the vinyl and seeing the magic!

You can see a little ivory bled through, but I think it happened more when I held the can too close.

{When I first hung it I used the 3M picture hanging strips. They didn’t stick good to the unfinished wood on the back and it fell off the wall. So I texted my friend who has a similar sign and she said she hot glued a soda can tab to the back of the sign. I tried it and it works perfectly! I love it because it is FREE!! The sign is so thin and I din’t want to nail into it for fear it would go through the other side.

Here it is on my wall:

I added some pictures to the wall:

{PIN THIS}

I love how it fills up this little wall in my house. I have a few more things I want to add to the wall, but haven’t found them yet (we just moved and have lots of things in boxes still!). So for around $10 I made this awesome sign that makes me happy when I see it.

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By Marji

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Filed Under: craft, DIY, Frugal Living
Tagged With: DIY Craft Ideas, large sign

Repurpose Inspiration: Yard Sale Find Turned Craft Room Accessory!

July 16, 2012 - 1 Comment

As a fellow frugalite, I am sure you can guess that I am always on the lookout for neat and cheap things at garage sales. If you were to come over and visit, I’d give you the grand tour of our living room and tell you how I furnished it for less than $25.00! [Read more...]

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By Dana

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Filed Under: craft, DIY, Frugal Living
Tagged With: back to school deals, DIY Craft Ideas

Quick, Easy, and Adorable DIY Bandana Dress

June 14, 2012 - 24 Comments

Every year we go to a big 4th of July party that our friends host. I wanted something other than the cheap 4th of July shirts you can buy everywhere for my girls to wear to the party. I decided to make them red & blue bandana dresses. These are super easy to make. I made 2 in under 30 minutes {with 2 little girls trying to help me!}. They are inexpensive, under $4/dress and turn out really cute. I am not a good seamstress and get frustrated when I sew and I didn’t have a problem making these. So break out your sewing machine {and dust if off} to make a cute dress.

{PIN THIS}

Here’s what you need: I got it all at Hobby Lobby

2 Bandanas in the color of your choice {99 cents each}

Coordinating ribbon {you need about 2 yards per dress}

Coordinating thread {you could use white if you want}

big safety pin

Sewing Machine

First measure out your ribbon, you want it to go about 6 inches over the edge of the bandana. Fold over the top edge.

I used an iron to press it down because I hate pinning. Make sure you are on the “wrong side” of the bandana.

Sew across on both pieces close to the top seam of the bandana. Try to sew in a straight line, I don’t always… Do for both bandanas. This makes a tube for you to put the ribbon through.

Next put two right sides together of the bandana, making sure the pocket is at the top on both bandanas. I measured 6 inches down and pinned it. The pin is where you start sewing. This is for the arm hole. Sew both sides starting at the pin and going down.

For my 2 year old, I started 5 inches down. If you aren’t’ sure where to place your arm hole, hold the bandana up to your child and mark where the arm hole should go.

Put your big safety pin on the ribbon

And feed it through the pocket to the other side.

Repeat for both pockets.

I used a match to burn the edges of the ribbon so it doesn’t fray. Gather the top of the dress together.

Tie each side in a bow and your little girl is ready to wear it!

{PIN THIS}

Don’t have a sewing machine? Check out the HIGHEST RATED SEWING MACHINES on Amazon and get yourself a deal!

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By Marji

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Filed Under: Awesome, craft, DIY, Frugal Living
Tagged With: bandana dress, DIY Craft Ideas

Make It or Buy It {Mama’s Nest Necklace & DIY ChalkBoard Craft}

May 31, 2012 - Leave a Comment

I love handmade stuff, but I don’t always never have time to make it!

Today I noticed a few deals on GroopDealz that are crafts that we’ve taught you how to make! So I thought I’d give you the opportunity to buy it OR make it!

Mama Bird’s Nest Necklace

This is something that I DID buy and I love it and get compliments every time I do! Learn how to make the mama bird nest necklace here:

Or you can buy it for $10 here:

Days Until Board

Again, Monica and I bought this one! It’s just so cute! But you can make it pretty cheap yourself. Learn how to make this cute “Days Until” Board here:

or you can buy it for $15.00 here.

Washi Tape for a Washi Tape Clipboard

Marji showed you how to make a super cute washi tape clipboard here!

I noticed that GroopDealz has some washi tape on sale for $2.75 each!

Colored Skinny Jeans $19.95

Lastly, I know this is not craft related at all, but I know these colored jeans are the rage right now… PLUS there are 20 colors to choose from (and it’s only $19.95 for one pair! I’m getting a pair for my teenager!).