Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! 

I hope everyone is having a happy holiday this weekend.  Since most people are busy with their families (including myself) I decided to postpone tonight's Dare to Share party.  

We will be back next week for Dare to Share #500!  Wow, I can't believe I have been doing the party for this long. It will also be fitting to end the year on such an impressive number. 

I hope to post a new post or two this week, so I will hopefully see you soon. :) 

 

 

Dare to Share #499

Whew, we made it to our much needed Christmas break.  The last few weeks have not been the easiest.  We have several people (teachers and students) out with Covid, and concerns for  safety. In the last few weeks there have been copycat threats made at several districts in our state. Thankfully we have not had a legitimate threat at ours. Some of our teachers live in other districts, and travel to teach at ours. The districts where their own kids go to school have been closed, and they have to stay home because they can't find daycare.  Today all over the country, districts  have been on high alert because of a viral Tik Tok challenge. Luckily nothing happened at our school, but many parents did not feel comfortable sending their kids to school. Now with winter break we have two weeks to spend time with our families, and enjoy some down time. 

 

This week I am planning on spending time with my boyfriend, doing Christmasy things.  Tomorrow we are going to a Christmas market, and to see light displays in my area. Then this week we plan on shopping, and doing Christmas activities with the kids.   I'm really look forward to enjoying this special time.  

What fun holiday activities to you enjoy doing with your family? 

Even with everything going on with school this week, I was able to share a post.  We went back to Jungle Jim's in Cincinnati, and I found a lot more great gifts. 

I found this fun Bob Ross doll and many other things I shared  about in my post More Unusual Last Minute Gift Ideas.

Well, it is time to get this party started. It is a bit later than normal, because I went to a Christmas dance with my boyfriend, and had the chance to visit with one of my besties. 

Link up and HAVE FUN!! 

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

More Unusual Last Minute Gift Ideas

 

If you saw my post last week Great Last Minute Christmas Gifts, you know I talked about a really fun place to visit in the Cincinnati area called Jungle Jims.  We went back this past weekend to both of their  locations.  I took more pictures and found several more great gift ideas that I definitely want to share.  

Jungle Jims is an International Market that has everything you can imagine. Not only does it sell all kinds of food from all over the world, it has so much more.  There is just so much to see, you could easily spend hours in the store and still not be able to see it all. 

 In the picture at the top of the post, you can see some of the cute little country shops where you can find popular items.  In this picture you can see the  wall of specialty pop. 

There is almost every kind and flavor you can imagine there.  In the past I have bought KISS Soda (yes after the rock band)  Unicorn Yack, and Birthday Cake.  While I did to not buy the pop I am holding Bacon Soda with Chocolate sounds very umm interesting. 

Another cool thing they do is have a Big Cheese area. They make giant logs of cheese (think 800+ lbs) and hang it while it ages. 

In their Christmas section, they had a dog house size gingerbread house that was made out of actual gingerbread. 

Another thing super interesting are the infamous restrooms.  The doors look like you are going to be entering a port-a-potty.  Well looks are deceiving.  When you open the door it is actually just the entrance to a very large NICE restroom. 

 I have to share the AMAZING finds I found in their gift/novelty section.  Be prepared for a long list of some fantastic finds. If you are interested in any buying any  of these items, I searched all of them, and they are available on Amazon.  (these are affiliate links) 

If you know someone who loves Bob Ross, did you know you can buy your very one Bob Ross Doll , and Monopoly Game.

I literally squealed when I saw this on the shelf.  I LOVE QUEEN! Now that I know this game exists I NEED a Queen Monopoly Game. 

There were actually quite a few themed board games 

Nightmare Before Christmas Clue

Nightmare Before Christmas Monopoly

Golden Girls Clue

Clue The Office

Schitts Creek Monopoly

Marvel Chess

Jenga , Godzilla version

In addition to the games, I found these great items.. 

Game of Thrones Tyrion Lannister

Captain America's Shield lunch box

Wonder Woman Official Cookbook

Star Wars Galatic Baking

Harry Potter Pez 

Game of Thrones Pez Set

Hobbit Pez Set

The Office Pez Gift Tin

Buddy the Elf Bobblehead

Elf Journey to the North Pole Game

Giant Lemonade Squishable

I hope you like these finds as much as I do.  There were just so many cool things, I could not list them all.   If you are ever in the Cincinnati area be sure to stop by Jungle Jim's. It is definitely a must see location.  

Dare to Share #498

 

It is Friday night, and you know what that means.. 

It is time to Dare to Share! 

Well we made it through another week of school.  There is only one more week until Christmas break.  The kids are already bouncing off the walls, I can only imagine what it will be like next week. It should be very interesting because we have a different Christmas dress up day everyday. I actually enjoy dress up spirit days, because I only need to worry about what I want to wear.  It might be different if my kids were still in school, and I had a long list of other responsibilities. In addition to the excitement over break, there will probably be a lot of food with sugar involved as well. 

I did have the chance to share two posts this week.  

My first post was Woodland Christmas DIYS.  A few years ago, I had a woodland themed Christmas and shared several easy DIYS that to this day is are some of my favorites.  Many can easily be made using Dollar Tree items. 

I also shared a post with some Great Last Minute Gift Ideas. A couple of months ago we went to a really fun store in the Cincinnati area.  I found several things that would make great gifts, and I would not mind getting myself as a gift.  We are going back this weekend to buy a few gifts.  I'm excited to see what we are going to find.  

Well it is getting late, and time to get this party started.  Link up and HAVE FUN! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Great Last Minute Gift Ideas

 There is a store that we like to visit when we are in the Cincinnati area called Jungle Jims International Market.  The store is HUGE.  It is over 200,000 square feet and has over 180,000 products.  You can find almost every single food product you think of in this store. They also have a lot of fun interactive displays to keep you entertained.  When we went a few weeks back, I saw several fun items that I had planned to share here on the blog because they would make great gift ideas.  As you know the school year has been very busy, and I have not always been able to do things when I plan too.  Better late than never though, here are some of the awesome gifts that I came across. I personally would love to receive any of them.  :)  

*this post contains affiliate links 

They had a few aisles of Pop figures. I love the minions and 70s Bob cracked me up. If you know someone who also loves the minions or the 70s, I found him on Amazon here.

I am so excited to find this! I LOVE QUEEN!  While looking up the Freddy Mercury puzzle posted below I found a Freddy Mercury Pop Figure. This is on my wish list for sure!  They have several different versions of him but the Live Aid concert version is definitely my favorite. (I saw Bohemian Rhapsody 3 times, and played the CD on loop for 5 months straight!) 

While I could not find this magnificent 500 pc puzzle of Freddy,  I did find a 1000 pc Queen puzzle. 

For the younger gamers in your life, how cute is this Pokemon Cookbook.

Being an Office fan, and a person who loves to plan parties, this Official Office Party Planning Guide looks amazing! 

I am also a huge Marvel fan, and I know many others are as well.  Check out this Marvel Eat Universe Cookbook.

Friends is another favorite of mine.  I found this Friends Cookbook Gift Set which comes with a turkey apron.

I don't know much about this game, but how can you go wrong with the Golden Girls game and mini figurines.

We plan on heading back to Jungle Jims again very soon, so watch for more fun gift ideas and photos from my visit.  

Woodland Christmas DIYS

I have four basic themes that I like to use when I decorate for Christmas.  They are the themes that I seem to gravitate to year after year.  They are gingerbread, red trucks, gnomes and woodland animals. 

Some of my favorite Christmas decorations were from a few years ago when I had a Woodland Christmas Theme.  The ornaments I either made, bought on clearance or from the Dollar Tree.  

I made these snow owl ornaments that went viral a few years back, and painted animal faces on wooden circles. 

This JOY sign was fun to make. I cut the J and Y out of cardboard and covered it in buffalo plaid wrapping paper.  The O is the mini styrofoam wreath wrapped in a Dollar Tree Christma garland.

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This reindeer picture was inexpensive and easy to make, and the look was perfect for the theme.  I wrapped the glass of a Dollar Tree frame with  a wrapping paper print that I loved.  I then glued on a wooden reindeer head and red pom pom.

This wreath was inspired by an more expensive wreath I saw at Target.  I glued on red pom poms to a Dollar Store wreath and added a glitter ribbon. It was simple, but fit the theme. 

Next to the tree, I set up a treat table with my favorite buffalo plaid items from Oriental Trading. A few years ago I was sent some items and I still love them to this day. They matched my decor and helped with the woodland feel.  I now have several buffalo plaid items from the Dollar Tree as well.  Every year they add more and more items to add to my collection.  In this picture you can see the plaid pails, plaid gift bags, and a ceramic plaid tiered tray.  While pails and tray are no longer available on Oriental Trading, they do have these charger plates at DT that look very similar. 

I filled each of the trays with different treats. 

My daughter and I made woodland animal cut out cookies and decorated with homemade royal icing. 

I made simple candy clusters, and added cherries and cashews. They are so yummy!  I served them in buffalo plaid cupcake liners, that were perfect size portions. 

We also made some marshmallow reindeer pops, and peanut butter cracker cookies. 

  Another favorite Christmas item of mine that is available is my buffalo plaid wooden tray  I used it every year.  I did not see the small wooden slices on the site this year, but did find something very similar here and here.

Do you have a favorite theme that you decorated with for Christmas?  I would love to hear in the comments below.