Have you seen the mixes in a jar and thought it might be a cute gift for someone special? They aren’t that hard to make, and I’m about to share with you a really quick and easy way to make your own. All you have to do is take a look at your favorite recipes in your collection right now. Add all the dry ingredients in a clean jar, then write (or type) the instructions for the recipe on a cute recipe card. Make sure you put down what additional ingredients need to be added, along with bake temp and time. Easy! Now if you are short on recipes, you can find some specifically for gift jars at Idea Queen. We are all short on time during this season, so hopefully these two quick tips will save you some time! Read More →
Aside from a gift basket filled with their favorite (and useful) things, what else can you get men for Christmas? Some are about impossible to buy for, because they really don’t NEED anything. My dad is one of those men that is about impossible to shop for. When he needs something, he goes and buys it. When he’s hungry for something specific, he cooks it. He doesn’t use dip mixes or fancy kitchen gadgets. No special coffees or unique mugs will do. For years we bought him tshirts and sweatshirts, but now he has more than he’ll EVER need. This year I think we came up with a pretty good idea. We took something he uses on a regular basis (his note pad) and plan to spice it up. Card stock was glued to the front cover, then we plan to decorate it. The kids will get involved of course, helping to decorate it with ribbon...
During the winter when the kids are stuck inside, it’s fun to pull out recipes like this one. In the past we’ve made all kinds of different playdough recipes that keep the kids busy for hours. The best part of this one is it’s edible! This peanut butter playdough recipe comes from the page Fun Recipes for Kids. Enjoy! Peanut Butter Playdough What you’ll need: 1 (18 oz.) peanut butter 6 tsp. honey Non-fat dry milk or milk plus flour to right consistency Mix all ingredients together. Shape and decorate with raisins, chocolate chips; you name it! Be sure kids wash their hands before mixing and playing, so it CAN be eatten when they are finished. Read More →
No matter what the occasion, a gift basket can make a perfect gift. Kids especially will love getting a gift basket full of their favorite items. Idea Queen has an entire page of gift basket ideas just for kids. You’ll find ideas for both boys and girls, plus some specific types of gift basket ideas. Here’s one gift basket idea you’ll find on the page, which would make an excellent Christmas gift: Kid’s Bath Gift Basket Fill a basket with: Bubble bath No-tears shampoo and conditioner Bath crayons (they let kids write on the tub or the wall, then they wash off) Bath toys Bath mitt or decorative face cloth Printed towel Robe Slippers You can see more gift basket ideas for kids like this one at Idea Queen. Read More →
This particular recipe comes from our pork chop ebook, which has over 30 different recipes for pork chops. Enjoy! Pork Chop and Potato Casserole 4-6 pork chops 1 can golden mushroom soup, mixed with 1/2 can water Sliced potatoes Sliced onions Season chops with salt and pepper, brown well. Place chops at bottom of casserole. Top with layer of potatoes, seasoned with salt and pepper, and layer of onions. Pour soup mixture over top. Cover and bake in 350 degree oven for 1 1/2 hours. Uncover and bake additional 30 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Read More →
I try my best to avoid Jo-Ann.com, because it’s so hard for me not to buy something when I get there. When I saw the email this morning about free shipping though, I knew I had to take advantage of it. After all, I was in need of a whole lot of stuff to finish sewing projects. Use the code DECFSE72 from now until December 12th to get free shipping on any order. A few restrictions apply, but I didn’t run into them just buying fabric and notions. Standard shipping takes 4-8 days, so I should have it all within the next week or so. I can’t wait! Read More →
With the holidays coming up, we’re all looking for inexpensive gift ideas. Making homemade gifts are sometimes the cheapest, and the most special. Some of these ideas I may have mentioned before, but just in case you missed those posts, I’ll repeat them. Homemade food gift ideas include: - Homemade Bread - Cookies, Brownies, and Desserts - Dip Mixes - Soup Mixes - Jar Mixes Now if you the person you are giving to doesn’t like to do any cooking at all, mixes are probably not going to work. However, you can still make them one or two of the items above. Then you can do like we did and make “coupons” good for any items you’re good at making. I went through some of our favorite recipes and made coupons for them. You can see an example below. Read More →
Nope, no new pages on Idea Queen this time. I thought about it, but figured I had better just link to where this particular idea came from. I was browsing around this site yesterday trying to come up with extra ideas for homemade gifts. This one in particular stood out to me, and I knew it would be something super easy for me to get done. Clothes dryer pads are an EXCELLENT idea for a Christmas gift, since they are both personal and useful. Since we make candles, there is no shortage of fragrance oil here! Plus I had extra batting from my son’s quilt, so thought this was a perfect project and Christmas gift for several on my list. Now just because I have access to 70+ scents doesn’t mean you can’t easily get fragrance oil or essential oil. Check your local craft shore or even health food store. Actually, you can even find...
With computers being so important in today’s world, it’s also important to give your kids time on the computer. There are lots of games out there that aren’t just fun, but educational too. You can seek out specific sites such as the ones listed on our toddler games page or the ones on the free kids sites page. But there are other games out there like ones you’d find on Amazon.com that are great too (see “PC Games”). I’m personally found of games like the Reader Rabbit series and certain computer games that teach typing skills. While software isn’t free, games like this do make good gift ideas. With Christmas coming up, computer games might work well as stocking stuffers! Read More →
Looking around I can see this is one item people may be having problems finding. I’ve checked the big suppliers I know that carry just about everything, as well as places like Nick.com…….and come up with nothing. What I did find was not “real” Christmas cards, but ecards featuring Spongebob. So if you are looking for them, it might be as close as you can get. AmericanGreetings.com and search “Spongebob”, and you’ll see quite a few different cards. There’s only 2 or 3 maybe that are Christmas specific, but also quite a few that would work for any occasion. So for those of you looking for Spongebob Christmas cards, there you go! If it’s not quite what you are looking for, you might also want to think about making your own. Especially if you have Spongebob wrapping paper left over,...
