Children’s birthday parties are getting more and more elaborate, and you may be racking your brain for a great idea for your child’s party.  Cake, games and gifts are still the main focus, but children today have become accustomed to themed parties, where they can dress up and have lots of fun activities.  Following are some of the most popular ones, that your children’s friends will love to come to. For Girls - Princess parties are all the rage today, especially among the younger (3 to 7 year old) set.  Since just about any girl in that age range probably has a Halloween costume of some Disney princess, it makes it a lot easier on the other mothers if they want to have their daughter “appropriately” dressed. - A Tea party is great fun for both dress up and doll playing.  Many of the girls love to take their American Girl dolls with them to a tea party.  Depending on how brave you are, you can serve iced tea or soda in your own tea cups and dainty cakes on your own plates, or you can pick up pretty flowered paper plates and cups. -A Ballet party is another popular theme that is easy for all parents involved.  If your daughter takes ballet, most of her friends will probably be in her ballet class, and be ready to come in tights and tutus.  Dancing contests and displays make for great entertainment, since the little divas love to show off their skills. -A Sleepover party is one of the easiest parties to organize and probably the most fun for the girls.  This is a great idea for girls who are a bit older (8 to 11 years old), since the little ones may miss mommy, plus they go to bed too early.  There are so many advantages to a sleepover. Entertainment is easy: it is a real thrill for the girls to stay up later than usual, they can play music, dance, and fix each other’s hair.  A great idea for favors is a diary for each girl, one they can start that night. - A Cupcake Decorating party is a lot of fun for the kids, even if it is a bit of a mess for the hostess mom.  Young aspiring cooks can blend their own mix for cupcakes, make their own frosting and then sprinkle and decorate to their heart’s delight when the cupcakes are done.  Because of the logistics involved with messes, bowls and the oven, you should have at least one other mother on hand to help you.  Great advantage: the girls can take their own cupcakes home as souvenirs! For Boys -A Superhero party is the masculine equivalent of a princess party.  The boys all have at least one superhero costume left over from Halloween, and there are tons of accessories and toys available in the superhero genre.  If you find out ahead of time what each boy is coming as, you can get a small figurine of his hero for each one. - A Pirate party is a great and easy idea and all the rage now because of the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series.  Pirate costumes are easy to make and you can have inexpensive bandanas, swords and eye patches to add to the theme. A perfect take home favor is a bag of chocolate doubloons wrapped in gold foil. - A Camping party works great for the hostess if you are already into camping and can supply some of the items needed.  Find out beforehand which boys can bring sleeping bags, and then supplement the rest.  To make it most interesting, it definitely needs adult supervision so that you can have roasted marshmallows (on the barbecue if your town does not allow fires) and scary stories. -Star Wars parties are perennially popular and if you don’t mind having a bunch of Princess Leias, you can even include girls.  The birthday boy will have to be Darth Vader, of course, so he can tell everyone what to do, and dad can dress up as Chew Backie. Supply laser swords as favors, (only at the end unless you are willing to referee the battles). -A Scavenger Hunt party works out really well if you live in an enclosed community such as an apartment complex or enclosed town home complex.  This is a party for older boys, aged from 8 to 12, and they should be paired.  Each team is sent out in the area with a list of things to find. Scour the environment ahead of time to see what are the most common things, and add a few of your own.  Examples would be a dead branch, and empty soda bottle, a scarf on a mail box (you put them there), etc.  Set a deadline and whichever team comes back with the most items wins a nice prize. I’m writing on many topics, including criminal background check, basic background check and investigating someone in general. Read more »

It’s inevitable that as days become shorter and discussions about when to turn the heating on develop into full-blown grounds for divorce, our minds will turn to Christmas. Now, if you’re lucky enough to have seen this annual event coming and have booked yourself onto a ski vacation in Switzerland or some other form of overseas adventure travel escape then good for you pal! However, for the rest of us, it’s time to brace ourselves for our neighbor’s migraine-inducing lights, decisions as to whether or not to send a card or an e-card and of course, what to buy the niece, nephew, son or daughter that they don’t already have. In the past, Christmas gifts were received with joy no matter what they were and from my sister almost being sick after unwrapping a nurse’s outfit to myself receiving a copy of Paul McCartney’s record: Spies Like Us, we were just happy to eat chocolate for breakfast and watch TV until our eyes bled. These days, if the little darlings aren’t opening the latest interactive pad or tablet which costs more than your weekly salary then don’t even bother turning up at the front door granddad. From games involving picking up fake dog poo to the potentially lethal Nerf Vortex Nitron Blaster, things ain’t what they used to be. In a whimsical tribute to Christmases past, I’ve come up with a top five list that I feel, best represents the magic of a child opening a gift, safe in the knowledge that: mom, dad, Aunty May or Unky Herb haven’t had to a. re-mortgage their house and b. woken up at 3am screaming: ‘What the hell is a Moshling Treehouse!?’     Five easy Christmas gifts for under ten bucks   A plastic dolly Let’s take it back to basics, because ever since time began kids have wanted to emulate their parents by responsibly caring for a child of their own. They don’t care whether the little plastic dolly came from a sidewalk suitcase or Toys ‘R’ Us they just want to love, care and subject it to numerous horrors too graphic to mention. What could be more adorable than watching a child dragging a favorite doll by the hair prior to unleashing a scissor, felt-tip and plastic limb-breaking torture session that would make Guantanamo Bay look like Disneyworld?  Wooden blocks That’s right, wooden blocks. Imagination is a wonderful thing and although you may be seeing a collection of colored cubes, a child will be eagerly anticipating building a fort,  farm or  tunnel that can be smashed, rebuilt and eventually discarded and scattered as potential trip hazards at the top of the stairs. Also, now they have a ‘hobby’ that’s the next birthday and Christmas present sorted too – more blocks! Tip: buy in bulk and wrap a few at a time to give year on year.  A book What better way to give a child the chance to escape to other worlds where they can meet new people and discover magic and adventure other than buying them a one-way ticket to Bangkok? Once your little one discovers the beauty of reading a good book they’ll be thirsty for more and conversely they’ll be really quiet while you get to put your feet up and watch the game. Note for future: vouchers save time and effort and if running in and out of the local book store in less than five minutes constitutes ‘Christmas shopping hell’ then so be it!  Sports equipment Now, I’m not talking about the latest replica football jersey or brand new pair of Nike trainers, let’s take it down a notch and remember that to play most sports you need some form of ball. Give your child a ball for Christmas and before you know it they’ll be out in the yard or down the park throwing, kicking and catching like a little soccer star. Also, the thing about kids is that they don’t care how many of one thing that they’ve already got, in fact, the more the merrier. So, don’t worry if they already have a ball, just tell them that the one that you’ve bought them used to belong to David Beckham or Heather Mitts and watch their little faces light up like the Olympic flame.  A toy car Don’t even consider buying a sit-in version with pedals, steering wheel and go faster stripes. Instead, make it easy on yourself and choose a good old-fashioned toy car that the ankle biter can push all over the place whilst growling like a cross between a bear and a BMW M3. Coming in at under five bucks and easily purchased from an airport or garage, a toy car is exactly what your kid’s been waiting for. Tip: these days you can purchase pretty tasty looking toy cars in packs of four so, all you have to do is split the pack and you’ve got presents for the next couple of years – easy! Of course, this is NOT a definitive list. It is simply a guide to help you dodge the Rocking Elmos, Milky Bunnies and Monster High Lagoona’s Hydration Stations that are lurking around every high street corner ready to mug you for your money, your time and your very soul.    Chris has a passion for sharing money saving advice and finding the best ways to enjoy life on a budget Read more »

In summer there is nothing better than eating outdoors under pergolas or patios and there are some meals that are just made to eat outside.  Sometimes you need to adapt food so that it cooks quickly and easily when you are outside, such as when you go camping, and sometimes a meal seems so much more exotic when eating outdoors.  If you don’t have somewhere to eat outside build yourself a meals area by laying outdoor pavers and buy some comfortable outdoor furniture.  If you plan on entertaining a lot you could even think about installing a whole outdoor kitchen complete with bar fridge, sink and water filter. Barbecue It’s not quite the same cooking your barbecue outdoors then bringing the food inside to eat it.  Make use of your outdoor area this summer and eat as many meals as you can outside.  Don’t just limit yourself to cooking the usual steak, chops, sausages and hamburgers on the barbecue. Chicken is great done on the hot plate and try cooking fish for a change.  Don’t put it directly on the hot plate instead wrap it up in tin foil first.  You can grill vegetables, and depending on your barbecue can even cook a roost in it. Serve your meat and salads with jacket potatoes or thinly sliced potatoes fried on the barbecue. Mexican A lot of Mexican dishes are eaten with your hands and are fun to eat, as well as messy.  Put a different spin on Mexican night and eat it outdoors in view of the sunset.  Mexican can be great as a theme night when having visitors.  Serve plates of nachos, have both soft and hard shell tacos, fry up quesadillas and have both burritos and enchiladas.  A big jug of Sangria will set the right mood. Spit Roast If you are having an outdoors party with lots of guests a spit roast can be an easy meal option.  You can hire the equipment or get a caterer to do the spit roast for you.  Along with it cook jacket potatoes and have a few different salads and desserts.  It’s an easy meal where guests can be served the meat, then just go along and help themselves to everything else. Brunch Having brunch is a bit of a treat because it usually means that you got to either sleep in that morning or you don’t have work on that day.  Brunch is a great meal to have at a cafe where you can order a full cooked breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns, mushrooms, tomatoes and toast and then sit outside the front of the cafe to enjoy it.  Eggs Benedict is another good meal as are pancakes with all the trimmings. Meals When Camping The trick with camping is to be prepared and to have the right meals organised that are easy to cook on a camp fire or small camp stove.  Meals that you can cook in a single fry pan are the best because you don’t usually have the space to make elaborate meals and you may not have access to much water for washing up.  Things like hamburgers, sausages in bread, baked beans on toast and even a stir fry are the best options. Read more »