Free Printable: Secret Santa Drawing Gift Tags with Wishlist

With Thanksgiving being less than two weeks away, I thought I would bump up my post on the Secret Santa Drawing Tags. I received many nice emails and comments requesting the template so I thought I would put up a free printable. As always, this template is for your personal use only please.  

Secret Santa Drawing Tags (unfolded and folded):

To download the free printable for the card, click here.

To download the free printable for the belly band, click here.

All you need to do is download and open the files (they are in PDF format).

Fill in the amount you want to use as your minimum. You can leave the Secret Santa name blank or fill it out yourself. 

Print out as many copies as you would need onto white cardstock. You can use regular printer paper if you don't have cardstock on hand. Cardstock will definitely be more sturdy and last longer. The cards are designed so that it's convenient for the Santa to keep the list in their wallets for quick reference. 

Trim the cards down using the green borders as a guide. 

Trim the belly bands so you don't see the white trim. 

Fold the cards so that the bottom section of the card that says "Your Secret Santa is..." is on top like in the picture below.

Wrap the belly band around the folded cards and tape to secure and you are done!

Just make sure the person entering the drawing writes their names within the red lines of the card so that their name would be covered with the band.

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a quick email. Hope this helps!

Free Printable: Inspirational Greeting Cards

Sometimes you need a little pick-me-up. A simple card is a good way to let a person know you're thinking of them. Here are a few inspirational cards available to print for free.

To download, click on the card you want and it will open a new page. Save the file onto your computer. Print it out on white cardstock, fold it in half and trim down to give as a greeting card.

Enjoy! I would love to hear how you use the card(s). Who are you giving it to and why? How is this person special to you?

*Please note that these files are for personal use only. You may not sell, resell, modify, change or distribute this file in any way. It is for non-commercial use only.

Buttons and Bowties Baby Shower for Our Little Boy

When I was pregnant with Gabby in 2009, my cousins threw us the cutest pink and brown birdie baby shower. It was the first "crafty" party in our family and the start of many more themed events. It was no easy fete considering we had a guest count of over 100 people!

This time around, my cousins truly outdid themselves with a buttons and bowties theme for our baby boy. Everything from the invitations, food signs, water bottles to the place settings, party favors were all handmade. 

It was such a wonderful afternoon surrounded by amazing friends and family. Our little growing family is definitely blessed. 

Invitations: The invitation had a blue felt bowtie attached to the top and placed inside a hand-sewn fabric shirt pocket sleeve. It was designed to resemble a man's button down shirt.   

DIY PVC Sign Holder

Games & Prize Gift Bags

Signs for Gifts & Reserved Chair for the Mom-to-Be

 Prize Gift Bags

 Candy Quiz Game Pieces and Prizes

Place Setting: Wrapped Utensils, Personalized Water Bottle, Game Card & Thank You Gift

 Thank You Gift: DIY Fabric Bowtie on an Alligator Clip

 Table Setting: Chair Covers Convert to Large Drawstring Bags (Another Gift for the Guests)

 Button & Bowties Personalized Water Bottles

 Game: Guess the Number of Buttons in This Jar

 DIY Bowtie Onesie Clothesline

Button & Bowties Dessert Table

 Lifesaver Mints in Matchbooks

 Mini Hershey Chocolates Wrapped in Colored Paper

Reese's Peanut Butter "Cuffs" 
Chocolate Button Lollipops

Buttons & Bowties Cake

Button & Bowties Cake & Mini Cupcakes

Dum Dum Lollipops in Orange, Blue & Green

Carrot & Cucumber Buttons with Ranch Dip AppetizerMen's Ties in a Jar as Centerpieces: Ties were used as a game - who can do a tie fastest while blindfolded 

Photo Booth PropsPhoto Booth Circle Dot Background

Opening Gifts with Gabby

39 Weeks and Counting

First of all, I wanted to thank all the readers who have been emailing me about my various blog posts. I love receiving feedback and it's encouraging to know someone out there finds my posts helpful. Even though I haven't updated the blog in awhile, I definitely read all my emails and try to respond to them as soon as I can. 

With a very active 3.5 year old girl and a little boy coming in a few days, I'll definitely have my hands full again. What's a post without pictures so here's one from several months ago. Our little guy sure is flexible! 

Little G #2: 

DIY Three Tiered Beer Cake

If you're looking for a birthday, Valentine's Day or Father's Day gift for a guy who has everything, here's a quick and easy gift he'll be sure to love. Since it's summer, it could be even be a fun way to bring drinks over to a friend's house for a backyard bbq.

Supplies Needed:


* 24 Pack of Beer or Soda
* Cardboard
* 2 Spools of Ribbon
* Scissors, box cutters or exacto knife
* Hot Glue Gun

Here is how I separated the layers:

* Top Tier - 3 cans
* Middle Tier - 7 cans (6 around, 1 in the center)
* Bottom Tier - 14 cans (10 around, 3 to 4 in the center)

First, arrange the cans into the three layers on a table to see how big you would need to make the cardboard circles. To make round circles, you can use various sized plates or bowls to trace the circles. Cut out the circles using an exacto knife, box cutters or a strong pair of scissors. You can use any cardboard you have laying around the house. I just used an old Pampers box for cardboard - nothing fancy.

Next, line the cans on each layer of cardboard so you know where you want everything to go. Then, doing one can at a time, take one can out and quickly hot glue the bottom of the can to the cardboard. You have to be fast or else the glue may dry out especially if you use cold cans.

To put the layers together, glue the tops of the cans and place the layer on top.  Don't worry about glue being on top of the cans because the glue peels off easily. Wrap ribbon around each layer tightly and hot glue the ribbon. Put a ribbon on top and voila, you're done. I topped mine off with a small sign glued to a stick.

Overall, it's an inexpensive yet thoughtful gift that he'll get a kick out of. It's fairly fast to make and you may already have all the supplies in your house - just add the beer!

Catching Up

You could say my poor blog has been a little neglected lately. Somewhere between laundry, storytime, park dates, dinner and birthday parties, my blog has fallen through the cracks. I do want to start catching up before fall and winter is here again though. I have posts and projects piling up waiting to be shared. This will be on my summer bucket list. 


Anyways, Gabby's at such an interesting age right now. Yes, she's in the midst of her Terrible Twos and heading towards her Thunderous Threes but also so much fun. She's talking a ton and saying the funniest things. It's incredible seeing how her mind works and how she views the world. I need to stop thinking she's still a helpless baby and face the fact that she's two going on thirteen. 

I better stop here for today and figure out what to make for dinner. I'll leave you with a few Instagram photos in the meantime.

G Calling Her "Fwends"

Wanting to Take Pluto Home

Future Olympian

Lego Party Free Printable Banner

I received so many nice emails and messages about the my Lego Party post that I wanted to answer some of the common questions I received. Hopefully this will help you too.

* Lego Font - this is a free font. I just googled "Lego Font" and picked a site that was easy to download. I got the one I used here.

* DIY Lego Birthday Banner

I printed the letters in Lego font with a yellow border on cardstock paper. I carefully hand cut out each letter and mounted it on red and black cardstock. I figure I would save on ink this way and the banner ended up nice and sturdy too.

The red cardstock is 5.25 inches square and the black cardstock is 5.5 inches square. I punched out holes in the top corner using a Fiskars rectangle hand punch.

Click here to download the free printable banner.

* Lego Kit Kat Box Favor - I don't have a printable up right now but could make one for you. I would have to customize it with a name, birthday and include the Lego Mini-Figure of your choosing. Email me at bigklittleg at gmail dot com. For mine, I listed my brother's name, his birthday in the Lego serial number format (example: February 23rd was "0223") and picked the Lego Surgeon Mini-figure. I may just do a generic one that you could update yourself so please check back later on for that.

If you have any questions about these or anything else, feel free to email or comment. :)