Wednesday, October 28, 2020

Ornament Guessing Game

4:00 AM Gail @Purple Hues and Me Christmas Games, Festive Christmas Ideas 14 comments

Welcome to the fourth day of our Festive Christmas Ideas Blog Hop!

You will find new festive Christmas ideas every Monday and Wednesday between Oct. 19th through Nov. 18th. Check out the previous days here: Day 1- Gift Guides Day 2 - Gift Guides. Day 3- Handmade Gifts.

Today - Day 4 it's all about Christmas Games!

I hope I'm not coming across as a party pooper, but I'm not much for playing games during my family's holiday get togethers. I played enough games as a child and growing up and with my son and friends. Now that we're much older and with no children around, we always use this time to catch-up with family and friends. But I must admit, you do have to set the mood for entertaining. You want to make sure everyone feels welcome and have an enjoyable time! To that end, I have a couple of games or maybe activities that would add to the festive mood. First, would be the

Ornament Guessing Game!

With this game, you can use your decorated Christmas Trees to create an interesting holiday party game that anyone can play and enjoy!

But make sure you are counting the ornaments on the tree as you hang them, or count beforehand while they are in boxes that you have set aside to hang for that particular tree. Write down the number of ornaments for each tree.

This would be an ongoing game since every one isn't arriving at the same time. But when they do show up, tell them that you are doing a holiday Ornament Guessing Game - with a prize. And then give each person a handmade card like this one.

Tell them to guess how many ornaments are hanging on each one of the three Christmas trees in the house. That's how many trees I usually put up, but you can do just one tree, if you like. Be sure to designate where the trees are located - like #1 in front room, etc.

Give them a pen and have them write down their guesses, along with their name, and put the cards in a specially decorated box. Once everyone has arrived and submitted their cards, the hosted decides which guess is the closest to the actual number of ornaments hung. Then, the hostess can make a toast to announce the winner and giving them a nice handmade gift as the prize. Who would love that!

For the next activity game - I'll call it Guess the Nostalgic Christmas Songs. I love R&B music - I grew up with brothers and a sister who were quite talented playing different instruments. Me, not so much, although I took piano lessons for many years! Here's a picture of my brother, Bill, at the piano.

For this game - which is perfect for after eating, you can have someone act as a DJ and play popular holiday jingles to see who will be the first to correctly name the popular Christmas song from your festive playlist! It's nothing formal - just a lot of fun!

Only, my playlist is not the usual popular Christmas songs everyone loves and knows. My list would consist of party or dance Christmas music - R&B/Soul - nostalgic music to dance to.

The Christmas season and R&B music are a natural pairing because both focus on love, joy, and happiness. Singers such as Mariah Carey and the late Whitney Houston have had huge hits with Christmas albums of holiday classics, while other R&B legends like The Temptations have put unique, romantic spins on holiday tradition. Songs that will ensure your holiday get togethers are filled with lots of cheer and memories!

Get your Festive Christmas Party ready with these couple of games that will surely keep everyone happy and entertained!

Be sure to check out what fun games the rest of the creative bloggers are sharing below:
Free Christmas Word Scramble Game Printable My Pinterventures

Cute Printable Christmas BINGO Game Intelligent Domestications

Christmas Lights Scavenger Hunt As For Me and My Homestead

Christmas Gift Exchange Game The Aspiring Home

Christmas White Elephant Gift Exchange With A Twist Little Vintage Cottage

Christmas Gift Exchange Dice Coffee With Us 3

Grinch Bingo (A Free Printable) From House To Home)

Bobbing For Candy Canes Christmas Party Game Bloggetti

Fun Family Christmas Games An Alli Event

DIY Holiday Ice Breaker Game Interior Frugalista

Christmas Movies Word Search Simply Inspired Meals

Printable Christmas Pictionary Game Craft Rocker

Christmas Bingo Game With Free Printables Across The Blvd.

Mix It Up Gift Exchange Game Polka Dot Poplars

Baking Cookies Christmas Bingo Game for Kids Pretty DIY Home

How Many Words: Cozy Wool Mittens Eye Love Knots

Christmas Pictionary Christmas Tree Lane

The Office Christmas Trivia Printable Domestically Creative

Ornament Guessing Game Purple Hues and Me

Christmas White Elephant Game For Families Mom Home Guide

Christmas Family Feud Game Creative Cynchrocity

The Best Games for Large Groups Farm Girl Reformed

Great Family Board Games Tikkido

Super Fun Snowman Sasquatch Relay Race Our Sutton Place

Christmas Light Bingo with Free Printable Domestic Deadline

Switch Steal Unwrap Gift Exchange-The Christmas Game My Humble Home and Garden

Monday, October 26, 2020

Handmade Soap Gift

Everybody loves receiving handmade gifts and I love giving them! You can easily customize handmade items to fit the person. A dear friend loves purple - almost as much as I do! But deep down I think she copies off of me - but that's what friends often do! It's a huge compliment. Sorry, I digress! So I thought she would love getting soap not only in her favorite colors - but in plaid to boot!

You know when you get really excited about making something… especially for gift giving. Then it's an epic fail? That was me trying to make plaid soap! Plaid is all the rage now. It can be found in almost anything, so can you imagine plaid soap, too! Who wouldn't love this for a gift? I had made lots of soaps before. I even had a crafting class devoted to making soap. It was easy and we all had fun! But this time, let's just say it didn't go as planned.

I was inspired by a pinterest pin on making plaid soap - it looked really pretty and I wanted to tweak it by using my favorite colors. I read the directions over and over and thought them simple enough. But boy oh boy, something went wrong - big time! Mine didn't turn out or resemble what was pictured in the least - not even close! What a disaster! So I had to go to plan B.

I had to salvage what I had concocted so I could at least have something to post for our Festive Christmas Ideas Blog Hop! Yes, we're in the second week of ideas for a festive Christmas! And today, it's Handmade Gifts!

Disclosure I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites, this post may contain links. I may receive a very small commission at no cost to you! The affiliate money I earn helps pay my crafting expenses. Thanks so much for your support!

To make a Handmade Soap Gift - It's suppose to be quite easy. All you have to do is melt the pre-made melt and pour base, add whatever colors, scents and other ingredients you wish, then pour the mix into a mold and wait for it to set. And then remove from the mold.

Materials Needed:

Melt & Pour Soap Base - Clear Glycerine or Shea Butter Soap Base
Soap Mold
Essential Oils - Sandalwood
Soap Dyes
Spray Bottle with Rubbing Alcohol

There are basic steps to making soap and that remains the same:

Decide how much of the soap base you will need. One cube of the melt and pour base equals one ounce. Then cut up your soap base into even, small chunks and place in a microwave-safe bowl, and microwave until melted starting with 30 second intervals. Next, add in essential oils and stir well. I'm using Sandalwood essential oils. I love how it smells - but it is also thought to be beneficial for acne, anxiety, cracked and chapped skin, depression, dry skin, insomnia, nervous tension, scarring and stress. It's a great natural remedy, benefitting your skin, mind and health.Quickly add the essential oils and color dyes to the base - about 20 drops for 4 bars, stir well, then pour into soap molds.

Spray the top of the soap with rubbing alcohol to eliminate any bubbles.

Allow the molds to set for a couple of hours, then gently remove.

Now, for making the plaid design, cut the soap into 1/2" strips.

Make another batch, the same as before, except add a different color dye (fuchia)

Pour into mold, set, and cut into 1/2" strips.

Pour a 1/4″ layer of melted clear glycerin in mold and immediately place the soap strips in one direction in mold leaving a gap between the colors.

Once that sets (about 10 minutes), spritz the top with rubbing alcohol and pour another 1/4″ layer of clear soap and add in the soap strips going the other direction to form a plaid soap pattern. Then melt about two cups of white melt and pour. following same directions as before. Be sure to spritz the top with rubbing alcohol again before filling up the mold with the solid soap. The alcohol helps the layers stick together. If you look hard enough you can see a plaid design here in each mold.

But here's what happened: When the soap set, I couldn't see a plaid pattern anywhere. I unmolded the soaps to see what they looked like underneath and all I could see were the color strips, but no plaid design. Oh no! But did I tell you that the soap bars smelled really great!