Michaels Kids Club Events for April

Michaels Stores offer 30 minute Kids Club events every Saturday morning. They offer 4 sessions each week between 10a and noon. Each Kids Club events cost $2/child and are for children ages 2 and up.

April events are:

• Saturday, April 5 - Whimsical Works of Art - Kids can paint an original painting on canvas 
  
• Saturday, April 12 - Craft Easter Fun - An Easter Fun Craft
  
• Saturday, April 19 - Custom Wood Canvas - Create your own design on a custom wood canvas
  
• Saturday, April 26 - Mother's Day Duck Tape Heart Frame - Create a DIY heart frame for Mom
  

March Kids Events at Michaels Stores

Michaels stores routinely offers events for kids at their stores. They offer both Kids Club events that cost $2/child for each 30 minute session and FREE Family Events. In March, they have 4 events listed.

Their first event is NEA's Read Across America on Saturday, March 2 from 10-11:30a. There will be 30 minute sessions starting every half-hour. They don't list details of the event but I would assume it would include a story and Dr Seuss themed craft. The event costs $2.

On Saturday, March 9 they will kick off their Easter themed events with Paper Easter Baskets. They will start a session every 30 minutes from 10-11:30a. Sessions cost $2/child. These Paper Easter Baskets look very easy to assemble. I found a similar craft to make lanterns before my daughter's 2012 Rapunzel themed birthday party and used them for the kids to make lanterns. Last Halloween, we used orange paper to create jack-o-lanterns in my daughter's class.

On Saturday, March 16 they will have the FREE Family Craft Time with a Crayola Model Magic Duck from 1-3p. Families will be able to create their own duck to take home and keep or give as an Easter gift.

The final March event is Saturday, March 23 with the Kids Club Easter Egg Mosaic by Perler Beads. The event costs $2/child and there will be sessions every 30 minutes from 10-11:30a.

These events look like a lot of fun! So be sure to mark your calendars

Are you an Easter Bunny Fur-ist?

When it comes to a bunny are you a fur-ist? Do you care whether the Easter Bunny your child visits is white, brown, or some other color?

I never really gave it a thought. Growing up, I remember mostly white bunnies from the pictures. When my daughter was born, I brought her to the nearest mall and sat her on the bunny's lap without thinking about it. It was a white bunny. In my area, I have only seen white bunnies at the malls, egg hunts, and other community events.

Evidently in the area I used to live, most of the bunnies are brown. When I posted my daughter's Easter bunny picture on Facebook, I get comments on how nice the bunny looks compared to the ones they have. Every year my sister in law goes in search of the elusive white bunny to get her daughters' pictures taken.

I will say I have seen some strange white bunnies in my time. So, I'm not willing to say it is all about the bunny's fur color since I have not seen a picture. In the early 80s, there was a seriously deranged looking bunny at a park event we went to. We joke about it every time we see the picture. But in this day and age, I see no reason that a bunny at a high end regional mall should be described as looking like a rat with big ears regardless of its color. I was not able to find a picture of this

As long as the bunny looks normal, I'm not bothered by the fur color. I found this site which has Easter Bunny costumes for sale and I will say I think in general nicest bunnies are the white ones, but not because of the color. I think the gray bunny is as nice as the white bunny version. I like the pink bunny costume compared to the white one below it. Of the brown and white bunnies pictured together, I prefer the white mainly because of the ears and the white fabric is more forgiving in showing the bunch lines. The last bunny is tan and not a bad color, but I just can't get past the eyes, or should I say eye lashes.

As far as I'm concerned, the overall aesthetics of the bunny are more important to me than the color of the fur.

Now, let it be said that I am a bunny fur-ist in other bunny incarnations:

• Chocolate bunnies...must be chocolate, preferably milk (or dark for my husband). No white chocolate.
• Marshmallow Bunnies...I'm still a chocolate girl here, as in chocolate covered marshmallows. I'm not usually a Peeps fan, but the new chocolate covered ones might make me a convert. My daughter prefers her marshmallow bunnies as purple peeps. Although if I'd share a chocolate covered one she might change her mind.
• Cake Bunny...I'd go all chocolate, but we usually do a white face with chocolate ears and a chocolate bow tie (two cake circles, one as the face, one with ears shaped from opposite sides and the remaining center as a bow tie).
• Decorative Bunnies...I'm flexible here. I have white, chocolate colored, light brown, and we even have pink bunnies.

So what are your thoughts? Is it wrong to be a Fur-ist to prefer a white Easter Bunny? Where do you stand on the edible bunnies?

Michaels Knack Easter Cards

On Saturday, April 23 from 10a-noon Michaels Stores will have a Knack FREE Make It Take It Easter Card event. You will learn to make Easter stamps from foam. This event is designed for children ages 3 and up.

We have attended many Knack events at Michaels and have enjoyed many of them. This looks like fun, but might be better for older preschoolers.

Easter Egg Make It, Take It

On Saturday, April 2 from 10a-noon, Michaels Stores will have a Knack Family Event: Easter Egg Make It, Take It. These eggs look adorable. The event requires the purchase of a 7" craft egg ($5). The event is designed for ages 3 and up.

We have attended many of The Knack events at our local store. I have found that the events that require an initial purchase are better projects and often inspire me to replicate the project at home.

Chuck E Cheese's Outing

Santa brought my daughter a Chuck E Cheese gift card and some tokens (left from a previous visit). She has periodically been asking to go, but we have been busy and have not had the chance to go. Last year, the Easter bunny hid Chuck E Cheese tokens in a few eggs and may repeat that with some leftovers from today.

Sunday afternoon, I decided that we could go this morning and for lunch before school. Chuck E Cheese is always more fun with friends, so I invited some friends/classmates via Facebook. We had 4 friends join us.

Do you know that you don't have to buy food? Chuck E Cheese opens at 10a, so you could easily go for 2 hours before lunch. However, arriving early is a bit inconvenient when you have a coupon that includes tokens with your food purchase. I wish you could order your food with a specified delivery time. For example, we arrived at 10:30 and wanted our food around noon so we waited to order around 11:45.

Coupons are readily available for Chuck E Cheese. You can register for their e-mail coupons and these typically provide the best deals. I has the email coupons and my friends also had coupons from the newspaper, but my coupons were either cheaper or offered more tokens for the same price.

We ordered two large pizzas for 5 four year olds and 4 moms. (One mom opted for the salad bar and no pizza). There was one slice left that I grabbed on my way out the door, so it was the perfect portion.

Our kids had a great time and several hit jackpots on games. My daughter is 4 now, and I found she was much more independent with many of the games than she has been in the past (we probably have not been in 6 months).

Easter - Egg Treasure Hunt

My daughter loves treasure hunts. I know of people who hide the Easter basket and the kids have to find them. We have never done that and I did not grow up that way. Instead, I think we are going to hide a treat that would otherwise be in her basket and send her on a scavenger hunt to find it.

We typically do our egg hunt in the family room. I am going to put clues in eggs and hide them in the basement play area. I like to do cute rhymes that tie into the holiday theme and take her from toy to toy until she finds the actual gift:

• "Hop, Hop, Hop goes the Bunny, To the Tree of someone who likes Honey" (My Friends Tigger & Pooh Changing Tree)
• "The bunny Hopped to the Food to be Chopped" (Melissa & Doug Food Slicing Set)
• "Here Comes Peter Cottontail, Hopping down the Bunny Trail, Right to the Potato Pail"(Her Mr Potato Heads are kept in a Pail)
• "Easter Bunny is my Name, Hiding Eggs is my Game" (In the closet where we keep the games)

I have not yet figured out all of the rhymes I will use, but some other ideas I have are 

• Egg to Leg, Beg, Egg
• Tail to Rail, Sail, Pail, Trail
• Bunny to Honey, Funny
• Ears to Dears, Fears, Gears, Tears
• Grass to Lass, Pass
• Chick to Pick

Have fun creating a treasure hunt for your child. 

See other posts on Easter.

Easter - More than just candy in the baskets

Traditionally Easter baskets were a big candy fest. However, from a health perspective, that is not the best of ideas. My daughter was only 3 months for her first Easter, so we had no option but to start with non-food items.

I will typically include a movie. Conveniently, Disney usually has a spring release movie. This year, Princess and the Frog. Other recent releases include Monsters vs Aliens, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, and a few others. There are also Easter themed DVDs like It's the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown.

We also use Easter as an opportunity to give outdoors toys as spring is starting. We often do small items like chalk and bubbles. I was planning on a jump rope, but she asked Santa for one, so she got it then. My daughter will also be getting a new bike helmet as I discovered last night that hers is too small. This fall, I found sidewalk paint and 3D chalk sets from Crayola on clearance, and have those put away for her Easter basket.

For my daughter's first Easter, I found Candy Land board books at the Dollar Tree so they replaced actual candy. In continuing the candy theme you can give Candy Land game, Candy Land Castle, or Candy Land Sweet Celebrations. I gave my daughter Candy Land Castle last year at age 3, and it was very easy for her, so I suggest it for younger children. For girls, you could also give Strawberry Shortcake dolls continuing the idea of treats.

So, what are you putting in your child's Easter basket?

See other posts on Easter.

Easter - Group Egg Hunt

My playgroup is having an Easter party on Friday, so I am starting to plan activities. I am planning an egg hunt as one activity. I am hoping that the weather will be nice and we can do it outside. I usually fill the eggs with treats. If I am using food treats, I make sure to wash the eggs in soapy water and leave plenty of time for them to dry before filling them.

Since our playgroup is mixed ages (15 mos-4 yrs), I need to have eggs with treats appropriate for different ages and also some eggs at different hunt difficulties. A great tip that I am going to use is to color code the eggs, reserving one color for the youngest children.

Food Treat ideas include:

• Cheerios
• Raisins
• Goldfish
• Gerber Puffs
• Jelly Beans
• M&Ms
• Hershey Kisses

Non Food Treat ideas include:

• stickers
• temporary tattoos
• Mini erasers
• Coins
• Mini-bubbles (depending on the size of the bubbles and the size of your egg)

Each year after a holiday, I keep my eyes open for clearance sales on holiday merchandise to stash away for next year. However, last year's Easter purchases were eggs and craft supplies so I don't have any treats to use. I wish I would have thought of it earlier so I could order some treats.

For a craft project, we are going to decorate bags to use in our egg hunt. I have foam stickers that I bought on clearance last year and also have paper bags left from Valentine's Day.

See other posts on Easter.