My daughter loves painting! However, she was growing tired of painting paper. So this year, we made cookie cutter Easter shapes! Actually, we had a duck and used a half of a plastic egg as a cutout. I also used a knife to create bunny faces and baskets.
First things first, you have to make the salt dough! This is super simple. all you need is salt, flour, and warm water. You can knead the dough by hand, or use a mixer with the kneading attachment like I did.
So here is the recipe I used:
*this made a lot more than I expected! So you may want to make only half!
•4 cups all purpose flour
•1 cup salt
•1 3/4 cup warm water (add more of its too dry)
Combine the ingredients and knead for about 6 minutes. If it’s not forming into a nice soft ball add more water (or if it’s too sticky add more flour).
Then it’s time to roll out the dough! Just like you would for sugar cookies! Beware, your child may think you are making cookies! My 19 month old just kept pointing yelling cook-ies!
This is a great activity for your toddler to help you with. Next, get out your cookie cutters or Easter shapes and start making those eggs! I used a half of an Easter egg that opened sideways, a duck mold, and then made a couple baskets and bunny heads using a knife. **one thing I forgot to do was to use a straw to make a hole on the top of the eggs for the string to go through. So I ended up hot glue gunning ribbon.
Put your oven on 200 degrees. Place your salt doughs on a cookie sheet and place them in the oven for 2 hours (depending on the thickness you may need a little less or a little more). Once they are done they should be rock hard.
Then the fun, painting time! We used a combination of acrylic paint (which is best but hardest to come off and not non toxic) and water proof fingerprint. My son attempted to paint and did decent for his age, but when he kept trying to eat the painted cookies we had to end the painting time.
my daughter likes to squirt the paint in an old egg carton that way the colors stay separated.
Once we finished painting she sprinkled on some glitter. Unfortunately we don’t have any mod podge or clear finish to put on top right now, but we still love them!
If you have any clear finish or modge podge this is the time to coat it in that for a nice shiny finish!
Since we forgot to make the holes for the ribbon, I used the hot glue gun to attach the ribbons. Then we hung them around the house (high enough that my son couldn’t reach these “cookies.”
Hello! Guest writer here! I am the blog founder’s twin sister, Jessie, and I’m here to share my decorations and ideas from my little girl Madison’s first birthday party. You can use these decoration ideas for anything from baby showers, birthday parties, to graduation parties depending on what your theme is. If your theme involves stars, pink, or gold then you are in luck!
The dessert table before the desserts!
Let’s first start with the pink and gold theme. All of the tablecloths, plates, napkins, and containers are from Walmart. I wanted a good deal, but also wanted it to look good and found the best deals there. Michaels was another store I frequented for ideas and supplies. All of the numbers, letters, and banner supplies were purchased there.
Okay, before we dive too deep into how each decoration was made, let’s check out some pictures!
The birthday girl’s chair!
All of the banner pennants in this article were purchased from Michaels. The letters on all of the banners are stick on letters from Michaels too. However, they don’t stay on the thick fabric of the pennants so need to be glued on. I used a hole puncher to make 2 holes at the top of each pennant and put string through them. I purchased some glitter foam sheets from Walmart to make the stars and used a cookie cutter to trace them.
The happy birthday banner hanging above the food table.
Again, I used the materials I purchased to make this banner and it was fairly easy because everything was cut out besides the stars. This banner was definitely worth the time to put it together, it was super cute and personalized to her party. I moved the pictures that were originally above the banner and replaced them with picture frames of Madison.
Balloons were purchased at the dollar store. I used the cork board from the kitchen to put pictures of her from the first year-a simple and affordable decoration. The 12 month banner was also made from the pennants. I simply traced the star cookie cutter and cut out stars instead of using the pennant shape. If you don’t have a cookie cutter you could print out a star from a computer and trace it! I found little pink clothespins at Michaels and hot glued them to the stars so the pictures could be added below the banner. This could also be a cute idea for other types of parties. You could write someone’s name and have pictures of them beneath it or for graduation with pictures from each school year. The options are endless!
Again, I cut out stars and added the stick on letters with glue. These stars were cut from glitter foam paper.Stars, stars, everywhere!
I made the twinkle banner, the stars hanging from the chandelier and the star wands on the table that I used as party favors and a centerpiece. For the stars hanging from the light, I cut out stars from the foam paper and attached it to felt pink cloth I had. I cut the outline of the pink cloth around the gold star so it looks like an outline for the stars.
As for the wands, I purchased gold straws from Michaels and they were very sturdy made from cardboard and didn’t bend. I decided to use the foam paper to cut out two stars and stick them together around the top of the straw. I also included 2 cut pieces of ribbon on the wand. I put one on each side of the star and pushed the stars together (they have sticky backs, but you could easily glue them). They were a hit!
Yum! I made chocolate covered pretzels with pink chocolate melts and gold sprinkles. I also made the sugar cookies with star and number one cookie cutters!No, I didn’t make this beautiful cake. However, I thought the stars sticking out of the top were so cute and easy to make! They simply used some wire and cut out stars they hot glued to the wire! Pictures, pictures, everywhere! Super cheap decoration-pictures on string! I used pink string and taped the pictures. For a twinkle twinkle theme you could also use string lights around the house for decorations!A giant number one made with pictures!
There are great tutorials online about making the number one with pictures for your baby’s first birthday. Most people recommend using cardboard from a large appliance box. I didn’t have any available, so used regular printer paper. I simply cut pictures and fit them on the paper with glue, then laminated the paper. I am a teacher so I happen to have a small scotch laminator at home that worked perfectly. I lined up all the papers to make the number one and adhered it to the wall with tape!
You might be wondering about her outfit and this wonderful sign. I’m sorry to tell you that I didn’t make them. A local woman made them both for me. My sister (aka the blog writer) made her beautiful dress and headband. Hopefully there will be a post on that coming up soon! Yes, Madison wanted the cake.
If you are a very busy person with many kids, making all of these decorations might be too time consuming. However, even making a small amount of them is very rewarding. It not only adds a personal touch, but can be used as a keepsake or for future parties!
Thank you for visiting this blog and YOU can make these decorations too with a little time and effort!
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my daughter likes to squirt the paint in an old egg carton that way the colors stay separated.
