Everyday Life – Page 3

Exploring Edmonton’s Ice Castle

January 28, 2016January 28, 2016 chantelledoll

Exploring Ice Castle's in Edmonton, Alberta

I admit I am not the best at getting my kids outside during the winter months. Once the snow hits and the temperatures plummet below zero, I am more then happy to pay admission to the nearest indoor playground and happily sip my coffee in the warmth as the kids play.

This past Saturday the temperatures hovered close enough to the zero mark that we decided to embrace the cold and check out the Edmonton Ice Castle. This spectacular frozen display is a man-built maze of icy castle walls built up in Hawrelak Park in the Edmonton River Valley. Continue reading “Exploring Edmonton’s Ice Castle” →

Celebrations, Crafts, Everyday Life, Little Hands

Giving Back With Kellogg’s Cereal

December 9, 2015 chantelledoll

We are continuing to give back to our community this Holiday season thanks to some help from Kellogg’s cereal, Hasbro Toys and The Salvation Army.

Free Hasbro Game or Toy Offer

Back in October, I stocked up on Kellogg’s cereal to take advantage of the Hasbro Game or Toy Offer they were running. By inputting a special code printed inside the box, I was able to order 5 coupons good for a free Hasbro toy valued at up to $15 or a coupon for $10 off a toy that cost $25 or more.

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It took just over a month for the coupons to get shipped to me, but once I had them they were easy to use at Toys R Us and Walmart to “buy” toys. I let my kids pick out one toy each for themselves and we used the other 3 coupons to pick out toys to donate to the Christmas Bureau. It was fun shopping together, and I was happily surprised by my son’s response of “Oh, that’s a nice thing to do for other kids mom!”

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There are lots of great organizations collecting new toys at this time of year, but I chose the Strathcona Christmas Bureau because of their connection with the wonderful Santa we always visit at Sherwood Park Mall. In the past we have made a monetary donation during our visit with Santa, but this year it was a lot more fun to toss toys into the large donation bin. I already had a few toys I had bought to donate, but thanks to the Kellogg’s coupons we were able to give more toys and make Christmas merrier for a few more kids.

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I didn’t have high hopes for our Santa visit after my daughter insisted she wanted nothing to do with Santa, so I was pleasantly surprised when she climbed up on his knee and happily chatted to him. I can’t say enough good things about this Santa and we had a lovely afternoon creating Christmas memories.

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Treats for Toys

Our boxes of Rice Krispies did not stop giving with the Free Hasbro Toy. With Kellogg’s Treats for Toys program, I was also able to plan a fun little activity for my kids that gives back to the Salvation Army.

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By simply making a toy inspired Rice Krispie treat and uploading the picture to the Rice Krispies website, Kellogg’s will make a donation of $20 to the Salvation Army to buy a gift for a child this Christmas. I uploaded our picture this morning and it was incredibly quick and easy.

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I had a teddy bear shaped silicone mould so I decided to use that for our toy inspired treats. With a bit of store bought icing and a selection of candies, we decorated our teddy’s and created a fun bedtime snack that gives back. It doesn’t get much sweeter then that!

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Thank you to Kellogg’s, Hasbro and the Salvation Army for helping us give back this Holiday Season! I love both programs and it is amazing that we were able to give so much with little more then the cost of a few boxes of breakfast cereal.

Celebrations, Two Legged Fun, Uncategorized

8 Great New Books for our Holiday Collection

November 16, 2015 chantelledoll

We are going on to the third year of our Christmas Advent book countdown. This year Auntie is spoiling the kids with a Lego City Advent Calendar for my son and the Little People Advent Calendar for my daughter, but I still love the annual tradition of opening a nightly Christmas book to read. Continue reading “8 Great New Books for our Holiday Collection” →

Everyday Life, Two Legged Fun

Giving Back Without Breaking The Bank: Operation Christmas Child

November 12, 2015November 12, 2015 chantelledoll

This week we are focusing our charitable efforts on a more global scale with the Operation Christmas Child Shoe Box program run by Samaritan’s Purse International Relief. The church my daughter’s preschool is run out of collects these boxes every year, so it was very easy for me to grab two boxes to fill and bring back. Annual collection week for all shoeboxes runs next week from November 16-22 so there is still time for you to fill a box and help make a huge difference in a child’s life.

The boxes are meant to be filled with a variety of toys, school supplies and toiletries. They are shipped all across the world to children in third world countries who might not otherwise receive anything for Christmas. The Operation Christmas Child site has great instructions on How To Pack a Shoebox, and I really love this expanded list of box-filling ideas from Passionate Penny Pincher.

Operation Christmas Child Labels and Boxes

Continue reading “Giving Back Without Breaking The Bank: Operation Christmas Child” →

Everyday Life, Two Legged Fun

Giving Back without Breaking the Bank: Coats for Kids and Families

November 4, 2015November 4, 2015 chantelledoll

As we head towards Christmas, one of my goals this Holiday Season is to make an effort to be more charitable. We are very fortunate and I want to start teaching my kids the importance of helping others and appreciating what we have.

Being charitable and making a difference in someone’s life doesn’t mean having to make large monetary donations. There are many great charities out there who make it easy to get involved and contribute with what you have. In the next few weeks I will share some of these great charities with you as well as some fun and frugal ways I have come up with for the kids and I to help give back to our own community and around the globe.

Coats for Kids and Families

With the approaching Holiday season comes the colder weather, and that has me currently focused on outfitting my kids in new boots and snow gear. I have been lucky buying at the end of season of finding good deals, but it pains me to see our growing collection of outgrown and barely used snow gear in the coat closets. Confession: I haven’t been that good at taking the kids out to play once it gets cold and snowy out!

Since we no longer need these items, I decided it was time to gather up all the two-small coats, snow pants, boots and hats and donate them to the Coats for Kids and Families program run through the United Way. This great program runs from October 1 to December 15 and donating couldn’t be much easier thanks to donation bins at all Page the Cleaner locations throughout Edmonton. Our location was just a quick 2 minute drive up the road.

While I could have likely sold a lot of the items through local Facebook Buy and Sell groups to make a little extra money for the holidays, this felt like the better option. My closets are cleaner and hopefully our donations will help keep some little ones warm this winter. Plus, maybe this is the kickstart I need to start saying goodbye to some of the other baby stuff I have cluttering up the basement!

Total Cost for us to donate to Coats for Kids and Families: $0

How are you being charitable this holiday season? Please share your ideas in the comments!

Celebrations, Everyday Life

15 Great Advent Calendars to Coundown to Christmas 2015

November 1, 2015November 1, 2015 chantelledoll

I grew up counting down to Christmas with the basic $1 chocolate Advent Calendar each holiday season. I loved opening the little cardboard flaps and discovering what design was on my little square of chocolate each day, and it was always hard to resist the urge to skip ahead. It was also the one time of year we were allowed chocolate at breakfast so it was that much more of a treat.

As Advent Calendars have grown in popularity, there seem to be a lot more options available these days. The chocolate versions are still widely available but I have also come up with some other fun options to consider this holiday season. Continue reading “15 Great Advent Calendars to Coundown to Christmas 2015” →

Everyday Life, Two Legged Fun

Signs of the Times

September 11, 2015October 13, 2015 chantelledoll

Judging by the looks of my Facebook feed this past week, it would seem that Pinterest has now made cute chalkboard signs a requirement for all first day of school photos. There were very few back to school photos I saw that didn’t have some type of chalkboard-inspired print or hand-lettered sign as a prop.

I loved seeing the many variations and was truly impressed by the planning and creativity that went into everyone’s back to school photos. Growing up, my mom simply snapped a quick first day picture of my siblings and I just before we were headed out the door to school. Our props were nothing more then our overstuffed backpacks.

First Day of School Chalkboard Sign Continue reading “Signs of the Times” →

Everyday Life, Two Legged Fun

Discovering Dino’s at Jurassic Forest

September 8, 2015October 12, 2015 chantelledoll

One of my favorite daytrips from Edmonton is to the Jurassic Forest in Gibbons, Alberta. It is quick and easy to get to from the city and is great for both the young and the young at heart. I mean, who doesn’t love seeing giant robotic dinosaurs?

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It had been a couple years since we last visited Jurassic Forest, and when I saw they had added on a dinosaur themed mini golf course for this year, I knew it had to be added on to this years Summer Bucket List.

Continue reading “Discovering Dino’s at Jurassic Forest” →

Everyday Life

Happy 2nd Blog Anniversary to Me!

August 7, 2015August 7, 2015 chantelledoll

Today marks 2 years since I started my blog!. While I haven’t managed to get in as much blogging as I would have liked over the past year, I am still proud of all the projects and parties I have managed to finish and share. My goals for the next few months are to finally get up some of the photos and tips from our Disneyland trip in my newly created Travel section, and to share some of our latest camping adventures. And, as always, I have a fun themed party in the works.

I hope you are enjoying Dolled Up Design and it has given you inspiration for your own parties and DIY projects. This is all a labour of love and there is a ton of time and effort that goes into photographing, editing and writing each post. It means a lot when I get comments or see that I have a new follower on the blog or Facebook page, and I would like to truly thank all who have shown their support.

In case you have missed anything over the past year, I have picked out my 5 favorite posts to share. Click on each link to take you to the post.

Do you have a favorite project or party on Dolled Up Design? I would love to hear in the comments!

Everyday Life, Friday Favorites, Two Legged Fun

For the First Time in Forever

July 24, 2015July 24, 2015 chantelledoll

Okay, well maybe not FOREVER, but it has been over 2 years since my husband and I have actually been out to dinner alone.

We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on July 17th and today we are dropping off the kids and checking out a local restaurant. Somewhere without coloring books and crayons, or chicken fingers on the menu!

How is this possible? It is all thanks to My Gym! I enrolled the kids in a weekly class in June and was delighted to discover they also offer a monthly Parent’s Night Out that allows us to drop off the kids for 3 full hours of uninterrupted adult time.

I was hesitant to book the Parent’s Night Out when I first enrolled the kids since they have a history of not liking the activities I sign they up for. Ball Hockey was a big flop for my son last year and my daughter wanted absolutely nothing to do with soccer this Spring. I actually only decided to try My Gym when I came across a half price Groupon – if they ended up absolutely hating it, I wouldn’t feel bad about “wasting” a lot of money.

Well, I am happy to report that they absolutely LOVE My Gym. The instructors are all amazing and my kids are actually excited to go to class each week. They do a variety of gymnastics skills and exercises, with free play and songs thrown in for good measure. The classes are a full hour of activity and my kids always come away with a big smile plastered across both their faces. It is a little pricier then some of the activities I have tried the kids in, but because of how much my kids enjoy it I was happy to start paying full price after our Groupon was used.

One other huge bonus for me is that I have even been able to have my two different aged kids enrolled in the same class! I think this has really helped my youngest get comfortable in a class setting and I love that it keeps things simple for scheduling on my end. And, when their weekly class isn’t enough for them, we have been taking advantage of the Practice and Play sessions. I can see this hour of free gym play being particularly handy come winter rather then paying admissions to other indoor playgrounds.

I am really looking forward to our Parent’s Night Out because I know our kids are in good hands and will be having a ton of fun while we finally enjoy some adult time. It is a Halloween theme and my son is excited to go in costume to play and eat pizza. I know I could have hired a sitter a long time ago to get a night out with my husband, but I have always felt guilty leaving the kids – this seems like the perfect win-win solution for all of us to have a great night.