{Free Printable} Back to School Bath Bomb Tags

You would think for a party stylist I would be more on top of my 'back to school teacher gifts', but honestly this time of year is always a little hectic for us and I rarely get around to it. Anyone else relate?! But one day I found myself roaming the isles of Target when inspiration hit (I mean, really, when doesn't Target inspire you?? lol) and I decided last minute to do a super simple gift of some bath bombs with a cute tag that reads, "This year is gonna be the BOMB". Since I'm a little late to the game, I also made a version that says, "You're the BOMB" to be used for a gift anytime! 

I found these ridiculously cute 'Birthday Cake' bath bombs and knew immediately that I wanted to play on the sprinkles. Pro tip: even if you only have one child, buy the big bag. Just an excuse to have to use the leftovers ;) 

As with all our printables, the tags are designed to simply print, cut, and celebrate! You can either print them up on cardstock (what I chose to do) and punch them out with a 2" circle punch or print them onto 2" Sticker Labels (these already come formatted to print onto Avery's 2" circle labels!) to just peel and stick. 

Make sure to pause and take a cute photo to post onto Instagram. Because we all know that if you don't take a picture it doesn't really count ;)

(and hey, while you're at it, be sure to tag us so we can see what you do with them! @NestlingDesign)

I just threw a few bath bombs into a treat bag and tied it with ribbon and our tag. Done! But wouldn't these be super cute in a small box with the label on top??

Click on the pic below to download your file! This file includes two pages of the tags; one set that reads, "This year's gonna the BOMB" and the other that says, "You're the BOMB". Enjoy!!

KITTY CAT GAMES + ACTIVITIES

One of the hardest parts about planning a party for littles can be the question, "what in the world are we going to do to entertain these kids in our house?!" Raise your hand if this thought has kept you up at night or has been the main reason you did not host a party in your home. 

When I found out that we were going to have 23 (gulp) kids in our house in the dead of winter, I knew that I was going to have to get creative with what we did to entertain them. And honestly? Coming up with cute games and activities to pair with your theme can be one of the funnest parts!

I believe that every good children's party has a fun mix of games and crafts. Something the kids can take home and something to get some of that energy out ;) I'm excited to share with you the games + activities we played to go along with our kitty cat theme. Did you check out the party details I posted yesterday?! 

CAT EARS + FACE PAINTING

As soon as each girl came in they were given cat ears that we made ourselves and had their whiskers painted on with face paint. This was a party for kitties after all :) 

Our cat ear headband was a super easy DIY. I bought a few packages of headbands from Dollar Tree as well as felt in the three main colors of our theme: Black, creme, and pink. I created a quick template for the ears using paper. I made sure to add a little extra space on the bottom to wrap around the headband. Folding the felt in half, I cut out the ear, making sure the crease would be on the bottom. After cutting, I wrapped the felt around the head band and used hot glue to secure. Since glitter was a huge part of this party as well, I added a glitter detail to the inner ear with special cardstock I found at our craft store. 

The girls LOVED the headbands and wore them weeks past the party. Sorry teachers! 

COLORING STATION

There is always that awkward time in the beginning of any children's party where kids are starting to show up and want to be entertained *right that moment* but you are still waiting on others to arrive before you start the party. For younger kids, I love to have a coloring station set up that matches the theme. This gives them something fun to do while you wait for the others (or just to buy yourself time while setting up). 

Personalized coloring sheets available as part of our party package.

KITTY CAT GROOMING PAW-LOR

One of the girls' favorite activitY that we did was pedicures in our own little grooming 'paw-lor'. Simple buckets of bubble bath (both purchased from the Dollar Tree) and nail polish I already on hand made it super affordable. 

COLLAR DECORATING

If you saw our party reveal, you know that we gave out small stuffed kittens for the girls to 'adopt' as their favors. I thought it would be fun for the crafts to be things that the girls could make for their new pets. 

I bought small wooden hearts from our craft store and glued small strips of ribbon on the back to create a hoop. These served as the name tags. We bought cheap collars from the Dollar Tree (notice a theme here?! LOL) as well as some jewels and glitter. 

FEATHER CAT TOYS

We also had the girls make cat toys for their kitties. This was a super easy project that I mostly just used leftover items I already had for the party (paper straws, ribbon/yarn, and feathers). 

PIN THE PARTY HAT ON THE CAT

An oldie, but goodie. Looking back, I wish made little pom poms to go on top of the hats. How CUTE would that have been?!

KITTY CAT TRAINING

I thought it would be cute to have a station that involved a game where they had to 'train' to be kitties. 

For this game, I created a 'start' and 'finish' line with painters tape. I took a couple of the larger balls of yarn we used as decoration and had the girls compete by seeing who could race to the finish line first while rolling their ball of yarn using only their noses (no hands!). 

UNRAVEL THE BALL OF YARN

This was my take on a classic holiday game. It's perfect to use for any theme - just adjust the colors to match! Supplies were super simple: streamers (at least two colors), tape, and small favors (think candy, erasers, etc. An assortment is best so that the girls will be surprised - that's half the fun!). Small ball to start off is optional, but not necessary. I'll explain each step below. I used one favor per girl, but if you have a smaller group, you can easily plan for two/per child.

For this game you can either start off with just your first favor, or with a ball to help create that circle shape.

Tape a strip of streamer to your favor/ball and wrap around until it is completely covered. 

Place your next favor on top (tape if necessary) and wrap it in the second color until completely covered. (I like to use at least two colors so the kids can visually see when to stop unwrapping)

Repeat, alternating colors of streamers, until you have used all your favors. Leave a small strip out so that you know where to start the game. 

To play, have the girls sit in a circle. Choose someone to go first. That girl unravels the ball of 'yarn' until she either spots her gift or sees the next color (whichever happens first - sometimes small toys fall out without them realizing it). Once that happens she passes the ball to the person on her right. Continue until all the girls have a favor!

BONUS GAME: FREEZE DANCE

One of my classic stand by activities is freeze dance. Pop on the soundtrack to whatever Disney movie is hot at that time and when you press stop, everyone has to freeze. For added fun, have the girls act like cats instead of dancing and see what sort of silly positions they get themselves into :) 

Whew, that was a lot of info! I hope you guys find a few inspiring ideas to use for your next event. Let us know in the comments what your favorite one was!

KITTY CAT PARTY

I am so excited to finally share my daughter's sweet kitty cat party! To know our gal is to know that she is obsessed with all things animals, and kitty cats are pretty high up on that list. This was quite possibly one of my favorite parties to throw (I mean, little girls and kittens?! It was cuteness overload!) and also the craziest. We had a lot of last minute RSVPs that included siblings and ended with a guest list of 23 girls - all inside our house in the middle of winter!

As always, I like to send out an invitation that sets the tone for the whole party. Her two requests for the design was pink and gold glitter, so we started with the invitation set and created the entire party package to match. 

Invitations

I love including little details like matching address labels and envelope seals!

I made all the tissue garlands myself, but you can easily find some on Etsy if you aren't the DIY kind!

I tried to focus the majority of our food around items that a kitty would like to eat - fish, milk, kitty chow, and mice!

I took a fun twist on the classic puppy chow recipe by adding in pink M&Ms and serving them in pet food bowls I bought at my local Dollar Tree. The girls absolutely LOVED this!

Mice are a cat's favorite, right? These were made using small wedges of cheese (I love Laughing Cow cheese for this project, but these were used Babybel Cheese I just sliced into wedges), carrots for tails, pink sprinkles for noses, and pepperoni circles for ears. 

Since we all know thirsty little kitties love milk, a milk bar was a must! We served three flavors the girls were able to mix if they like. Strawberry won, hands down in popularity!

Leading up to the party, I scoured thrift shops for used balls of varying sizes. I wrapped them in yarn to create these adorable yarn balls for decorations around the party. 

Without a doubt, the most popular part of this party was the cat adoption at the end. I get asked often where I found our stuffed animals for the party. I was able to score a few lots of Webkinz cats from Ebay and they were absolutely perfect! (You can even find some at Five Below Stores). Each kitten came with its own adoption certification for the girls to fill out. 

We hosted this party in the dead of winter in Illinois, so activities were a MUST to keep these girls entertained. I'm going to do a more at-length post with better details and instructions this week, but I will give you a run down of a few things we did do:

Cat ears + whiskers. Upon entering the party, each girl was able to pick out a set of ears. We used face paint to add on a nose and whiskers. 

For younger kids, I almost always have a coloring station set up to fill in that awkward time in the beginning as you are waiting for everyone to show up. 

Grooming Paw-lor! Little girls love getting their nails done almost as much as they love kittens, so I knew this would be a real hit and it was!

Collar Decorating Station. Every girl got to decorate a collar for their stuffed cat. We purchased the collars at Dollar Tree (they came in sets of 2) and bought wooden hearts for the name plates (simply got glue a small piece of ribbon to create the loop)

Judging by the look on our girl's face, I think it's safe to say the day was a success! 

See ALL the games and activities we played here!

SHOP THE PARTY

{DIY} GAMING TABLECLOTH

One of my favorite details on our Gaming Party are these DIY tablecloths! This DIY started out much like many of mine do - with the thought of 'how can I get the biggest bang for my buck?' I knew I wanted something fun for the table top since we were keeping the decorations at a minimum, but I didn't want to spend a lot either. 

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My solution was to jazz up some plain, black, plastic tablecloths I picked up at my local party store. 

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By drawing on lines similar to the backdrop of the main party design, I was able incorporate the theme to every detail. (You can see that design mentioned in the 'Game On' sign on the TV here).

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I drew on the lines using a silver metallic Sharpie paint pen and using a long ruler. If you don't have a ruler long enough, you can easily use the piece of cardboard, posterboard, etc to create the straight edge. 

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I just drew on the lines in random lengths (some going the entire length of the tablecloth) and added filled circles at the end of the lines that weren't connected to anything. I probably spent a total of 20 minutes on the entire thing. 

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I LOVE how the results turned out. And, there's no end to the possibility of options that you could do for any theme!

GAMING PARTY

We are so excited to finally share all the details from the gamer party we styled last year (yup, it took us that long to finally get around to this - yikes!). This party was for a small group of boys that were going to head on over to Dave & Busters to kick start their fun before heading back home for an all-night gaming slumber party. This theme is absolutely perfect for a gaming truck party and has been a real hit in our shop since it hit the shelves. 

Invitations were sent out in small boxes and really set the tone for the event. Each box was sealed with a label reading the guest's name that they had to tear into to get to the invitation. Upon opening it, the guest was first greeted by their own personalized VIP all access gamer pass to be worn to the party. Underneath that they found a small insert with some information (small inserts are so helpful when you have too much information to fit on an invitation - especially when hosting a sleepover!) and the custom invitation on the bottom. 

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Shop the invitation here

The party table was adorned with a centerpiece made out of tissue fans and a black spray painted television - something every gaming party needs, right?!

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A key factor to the gaming design was that bright green glow we had in our invitation and we really wanted to carry that into our party designs and decorations. One fun way we incorporated it was by placing neon glow stick necklaces beneath each plate. This created a soft glow from beneath and was a huge hit with boys. 

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(Pssst...these 6" circles are in our party package as centerpiece or tshirt designs, but they look super cute as plate toppers, too dontcha think?) I also shared the DIY details on how made these tablecloths for super cheap here!

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The way that neon glow matches our theme makes my party loving heart happy! 

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A party is just not a party without a snack or dessert part, and we knew we needed to keep these gamers well fed ;) We provided a good mix of sweet treats with snacks such as pretzels and popcorn (easily carried off to continue on with their gaming!).

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I love the simplicity of this banner. It is such a fun way to showcase being a year older!

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These cute chocolate molds were perfect for this party! 

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We made these 'playstation buttons' using a classic mold to create chocolate covered oreos (we used black candy melts vs. chocolate so they wouldn't be brown) and then piped on the designs using icing. 

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Before leaving the next morning each boy was given a small pinata favor box. 

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Erasers found here.

SHOP THE PARTY

{Free Printable} My Heart Pops For You Valentine Stickers

Hi there! I am in love with these sweet Valentine Stickers so much, that I am giving them away FOR FREE to all of you because I want you to be able to share in the fun!

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They print easily onto Avery's 2" Sticker paper if you want to use them as labels, or you can print onto cardstock and attach them with twine. 

I used ours to put on small bags of popcorn and M&Ms, but these would be cute with loliPOPS, soda POPS, or even POP rock candy packets! #seewhatIdidthere

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Just click on the link below and download it instantly! Be sure to tag us on Instagram or Facebook @NestlingDesign so we can see how you styled yours!

Valentine Collection 2017

I am over the moon excited to share with you this year's 2017 Valentines Collection! I really wanted this year's to be fun, personable, and easy to use. Every design has an option to personalize it with your child's name and photo - or to instantly download the design with space to write it in yourself. 

Are you ready?!

Vintage Baseball Valentine

These valentines would be adorable to hand out with cracker jacks, mini Babe Ruth bars, or Big League Chew gumballs. 

Construction Truck Valentines - 4 Designs

Muddy Buddies make the perfect pair with these construction truck valentines!

Orange You a Cutie Valentines

This time of year my kids are obsessed with cuties, and I wanted an option that would be fun to hand out with these healthy treats. Your teacher will thank us ;) 

Donut Valentines

These fun valentines are a great teacher gift when paired with a fresh baked donut. 

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Fruit Valentines - Instant Download Only

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Gamer Valentines

If you're like me you have a kid who's obsessed with all things video games. These valentines are perfect to hand out with these erasers. 

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Kitty Cat Valentines

A cute twist on classic puppy chow with pink M&Ms instantly turns this into delicious kitty chow to go with these purrrfect valentines. 

Nuts About You

These would be super fun to hand out with individual bags of small Nutter Butter cookies. 

Robot Valentines - Instant Download Only

These fun robot valentines feature a matching label to wrap around a Hershey Miniature Candy bar. 

Rocket Ship Valentine

Sunshine Rainbow Valentines

Superhero Valentines

We paired our super hero valentines with tattoos we found at Hobby Lobby - they match perfectly!

Wild About You Valentines

Animal Crackers are such a fun (non candy treat) to hand out and goes perfectly with these safari valentines. 

Deer Valentines

Dinosaur Valentines

These fun valentines would be DINOmite to hand out with these small erasers we found at our local Meijer. 

Fortune Cookie Bag Toppers - Instant Download Only

These fun bag toppers fit perfectly on 4" treat bags. 

Holiday Gender Reveal Party

Let me start by stating how jealous I am that gender reveal parties were not a thing when I was pregnant with our children! Gender reveal parties are such a fun way to announce the big surprise of whether you are going to have a boy or a girl. And when you find out the big news during December, what better way than to celebrate with a Christmas themed event?! Our "Buck or Doe? Soon We'll All Know!" theme paired perfectly with Christmas, and I am so excited to finally share how we styled this party. 

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SHOP INVITATION

Guests were greeted by asking to cast their vote by either wearing a 'buck' pin for a boy or a 'doe' pin for a girl. 

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We filled the dessert bar with popular holiday treats such as cookies, reindeer food, and eggnog. 

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All the printables shown in this party are now in our shop as an instant download, which means there is no wait to get started on your party planning! CHECK IT OUT HERE

Mommies out there, let us know - did you throw a gender reveal party to announce the big news? 

Free Printable Fall Bucket List

Fall is hands down my favorite time of year. Crisp air, changing leaves, scarves and boots...what's not to love?! Our family loves to make a bucket list for each season, so I thought it would be fun to share with all of you :)

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I have the file in several sizes - 8x10, 18x24, 24x36, and 36x48. The two larger sizes are perfect to have printed up as engineer prints for super cheap. This size (24x36) only cost about $5 to print up at Staples:

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It would also be super easy to throw into a festive frame and mark off with dry erase markers, too. I purposely left off the year so that you can just print this off once and reuse it again next year ;) 

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You can download the free printable here!

What's your favorite thing to do during Fall? 

Fall Baby Shower Inspiration

Fall is finally here and there's no sweeter way than to celebrate a new one with a Fall themed baby shower. Pumpkins, apple cider, and leaves? Yes, please!

I've gathered up a few ideas that I think would make the perfect "Falling in Love with Baby" party. 

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Set the tone with these Fall Baby Shower Invitations

Decorate the dessert bar with this fun Fall garland

Decorate simple pumpkins like these

Bake this Apple Cider Cake with this recipe

Serve seasonal donuts

Serve these festive mocktails

Use leaves to decorate your place settings

Use pumpkins as centerpieces