Make Your Own Surprise Boxes

2 / 11 / 242 / 11 / 24

Have you ever seen these ah-mazing surprise boxes that open and unfold the moment you take the lid off? I recently spotted the idea on my Instagram explore page and of course I haven’t been able to find the Reel since, but I’ll definitely link it here if I come across it again.

The idea is simple – surprise boxes are gift boxes that sort of “self-open” to reveal all kinds of fun goodies the moment you remove the lid. They’re SO. MUCH. FUN.

I made the kids each one for Valentine’s Day and kind of went with a self-care theme, but you could make them for any occasion – a birthday, a graduation, a wedding shower, or anything else! Make surprise boxes for your kids, your partner, a friend, a parent, or anyone else! You can also make them as big or as small as you like and fill them with less expensive gifts or more luxurious items. Anything goes, really.

Here is how to make your own surprise box at home…

You’ll need:

(the following lists contain affiliate links)

-2 boxes with lids, one smaller than the other (you want them to fit inside one another with a little bit of space in between – I found mine at Dollarama)
4 larger gifts (the thinner / flatter the better)
4 smaller gifts (the thinner / flatter the better)
1 small square or circular gift (doesn’t have to be thin / flat, but needs a flat bottom)
strong tape or mounting squares (I love these mounting squares – they make the job really easy and they’re super sticky)
scissors or a utility knife

Here’s exactly what I included in my kids’ surprise boxes this time:

Animalz sheet masks
zazubean Valentine’s chocolate bars
iChoc chocolate bars
big bags of Pür gum
cute blemish patches
individual Spice Dragon Red Chai Herbal Tea bags
Mindful Mindy rollers from Rascal Remedies
True Lemon drink packets
Bob Snail fruit snacks
mini Lily Lou’s Aromas candles

Here are some other items I think would work well in a Valentine’s / self-care themed box:

these adorable face masks
the cutest star shaped pimple patches (or these miracle patches – the packaging is perfect)
these press-on nails that require no glue (G loves these and they don’t damage her nails)
That’s It fruit bars (each bar contains a full apple and 12 strawberries and they’re so good!)
Made Good Strawberry Crispy Squares
Pür gum packets
Bear Fruit Rolls in strawberry or raspberry
Glee Gum
these freeze-dried strawberries (or these peaches because the branding is cuter!)

Okay, now to make them… It’s actually not hard at all – gathering up the items I wanted to include was the most time consuming part!

Step-by-step instructions:

1. Using your scissors or utility knife, carefully cut down the seams of both boxes so they fold open and the 4 ‘flaps’ lay completely flat.

They should look like this. Don’t worry if the edges aren’t completely perfect when done… It doesn’t matter that much.

2. Using mounting squares (or loops of tape), adhere the 4 bigger gifts to the 4 flaps on the bigger box, keeping them as close to the top edge as possible.

3. Now do the same thing with the 4 smaller gifts and the smaller box, centring each object on its flap instead of keeping it close to the top edge.

4. Take your final gift, the small item that doesn’t necessarily have to be flat (mine is the small candle), and use a mounting square or tape loop to adhere it to the centre base spot on the smaller box.

5. Now gather up the four sides of the smaller box, place the lid on to hold everything in place, and tack it to the middle of the larger box using another mounting square or tape loop.

6. Gather up the four sides of the bigger box and place the lid on it to hold everything in place too.

At this point you could very much be done, but I’m a little bit extra and didn’t love the tops of the boxes as they were, so I decided to print off a couple of things to add to the top – a simple ‘Happy Valentine’s Day’ I found and customized on Canva and a photo.

I cut these out and just glued them onto the lids of the boxes with a glue stick and that was that!

When finished, the boxes appear to be regular gift boxes and I’m sure the receiver will think nothing of them other than the fact that they probably contain a lovely gift inside…

Of course when they remove the lids, they’ll be in for a SURPRISE, which totally makes the gift!

My plan is to keep the boxes and reuse them again and again to make surprise boxes for different occasions, which will mean it’ll be less work next time!

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Strawberry Ice Cream Chia Pudding Parfaits

2 / 13 / 19

Please tell me I’m not the only one who loves whipping up on-theme food for my kiddos on holidays and special occasions. I know, it’s a little bit nerdy and over the top, but I love it so much. Last Valentine’s Day I made the kids these strawberry ice cream chia pudding parfaits and oh my word… You should have seen their little eyes light up when I set breakfast down in front of them!

Besides the fact that they’re both nutritious and super delicious, the thing I love about these ice cream chia pudding parfaits is that they’re a lot easier to make than they look. In fact, you can do most of the prep work the night before so they come together super quickly come morning.

First up, you’ll want to cut a bunch of strawberry hearts… Just cut the green leafy part of the strawberry off to create a ‘v’ shape at the top, then slice! You’ll want fairly thin hearts to place along the inside of the mason jars, so keep that in mind while slicing. If prepping these the night before, just pop them into an air-tight bag or container in the fridge. And while you’re at it, wash and dry a few blueberries and add them in there too.

Next up, your chia pudding. I have a couple of posts about chia pudding (our tropical version | our chocolate version), but if you haven’t tried it, you really must. It’s so unique and delicious and my kids just love it! To make it, pour 1 cup of coconut milk into a jar along with 3 tablespoons of chia seeds, 1 tablespoon of pure maple syrup, and a little splash of good vanilla. Shake it up like mad and then place it in the fridge overnight to thicken. If you can, give it a couple of extra shakes before going to bed for the night to help prevent clumping. If not, no worries – it’ll be fine either way.

Alright… Now for the part that has to be made in the morning… The strawberry ice cream! Or nice cream as it’s often called.

Chuck 3 frozen bananas, along with 5 big frozen strawberries and a splash of good vanilla, into a food processor. I find this works best if the frozen fruit has had just 5 minutes at room temperature, but you can do it straight from the freezer too. Basically, you just need to blend it like CRAZY. It’ll take a little while and will most likely require you stopping the food processor to scrape down the sides a few times, but keep going {past the chunky stage, past the mealy stage} until your bananas and strawberries are the consistency of soft serve. Mmmm… so good!

Now it’s time to assemble! Line a mason jar with your strawberry hearts simply by pressing them against the glass surface…

Then gently fill the jar about halfway full of chia pudding…

And generously top with strawberry ice cream.

Finish off the strawberry ice cream chia pudding parfaits with a strawberry heart and a few blueberries on top and breakfast (or snack) is served!

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Valentine’s Day Tea {2018}

2 / 17 / 182 / 26 / 18

My goodness… Our EIGHTH annual Valentine’s Day tea. Can you believe that? This little tradition started when Miss G was just a tiny little nugget and we were living in an apartment building in Kuwait surrounded by all of our closest friends and colleagues. I think back to that time when there were 5 of us first time mamas, all on leave from work, all living in the same building, all with wonderful housekeepers to help take care of our homes… How lucky were we to have our journeys as mamas start out that way? We filled our days with coffee mornings, walks along the gulf, potluck meals, and loads of conversation about motherhood, babies, marriage, life abroad, and everything in between. It was lovely. And while hosting gatherings and little events was certainly easier back then, I’m so glad we’ve kept up our Valentine’s Day tea tradition.

In my post about last year’s Valentine’s Day tea, I finished off with:

My goal for next year? To take at least one photo of our Sam and maybe get to planning our little tea earlier than a few days before the get together – hah!

Well, one out of two isn’t bad, right?! This year I DID manage to get a photo that includes our sweet Sam {albeit a bit out of focus – oy}, but did I manage to plan the tea out with time to spare? NOPE. Not even close. With Brad gone the long weekend before Valentine’s Day {the weekend we’d usually host it}, I decided there was no way I was managing 5 days of solo parenting, plus preparing for the tea, and having our house not look like a tornado had run through it. I didn’t know if we’d just skip it or do it at a later date, but after spending most of the week playing catch up, Thursday night I decided that tradition is tradition and we were going to pull it off. On Friday I grocery shopped, did some snack prep, and cleaned the house a little bit, on Saturday morning I got the house ready, and on Saturday afternoon, we hosted our tea! It was certainly a tight timeline, but I’m so glad we pulled it off.

I kept things incredibly simple this time around and set out a few big batches of our super squishy homemade chocolate play dough with some heart shaped cutters and lose parts…

Placed some fresh tulips and heart-shaped balloons around the house…

And then focused on the food, although even that was kept very simple.

Our friends brought a big platter of crackers, cheese, and fruit which was a total hit, and then we had some simple heart-shaped pb&j sammies…

A variety of our favourite Love Child Organics snacks and a few of our favourite bliss ball varieties {we did a seed / fruit free version of our chocolate cranberry pumpkin seed bliss balls, a pecan version of our date-based chocolate almond bliss balls, and a batch of our oatmeal chocolate chunk energy balls}.

We also had some root veggie chips…

Some homemade banana muffins, some not homemade multigrain croissants with butter and fruit juice sweetened strawberry jam…

And some dark chocolate dipped strawberries. Plus a fruit and veggie platter. Plus coffee. Lots and lots of coffee for us tired mamas and papas.

And that was it. I think all of the kiddos spent some time playing with the chocolate play dough, everyone got something to eat and drink, and the majority of the afternoon was spent down in the play room with the kiddos running amuck and us adults chit chatting over the mild chaos. It was great fun and I cant wait to do it all again next year. Though I WILL throw my plans together a little earlier next time (*I think I can, I think I can, I think I can*).

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Will You Be My Valen-SLIME? Valentine’s Day Slime Favours

2 / 2 / 182 / 3 / 18

One thing both Miss G and I just LOVE doing is creating little favours for her classmates on Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day. Okay, and maybe on the last day of school too. ☺︎ And while we have given other things {these heart balloon valentines are proof}, our go-to is usually play dough or slime. A) because both are super fun, and B) because they’re something outside of the usual candy / chocolate.

Easy Heart Balloon Valentines

2 / 13 / 172 / 16 / 17

My goodness we cut things close this year. I’m not sure what happened… We had our idea weeks ago, our supplies were picked up in plenty of time, and somehow we started making Miss G’s class valentines just this evening. The night before Valentine’s Day. Oops.

Our Valentine’s Tradition

2 / 12 / 172 / 16 / 17

Today we hosted our 6th {or 7th?} annual Valentine’s Tea… The tradition started in Kuwait when Miss G was just 5 and a half months old and has happened every year since, except for last year. Last year our sweet Sam was fresh out of the NICU and as much as it pained me not to follow through with tradition, having people over just wasn’t worth it with our bubba’s health. We were well warned by our NICU nurses to make it through cold and flu season without him getting sick, so we weren’t taking any chances. A little family celebration over the weekend it was.

Valentine’s Card Creation Station

2 / 6 / 163 / 4 / 16

Each year about a week or so before Valentine’s Day, I set out a Valentine’s card creation station for Miss G. It changes a little bit year to year and the supplies have matured with her somewhat over the years {the valentine’s creative table she enjoyed at 2.5 can be seen here}, but overall the idea stays the same. It’s simply a collection of inviting supplies set out for her to use as she wishes – no expectations, no prescribed outcome.

Our 5th Annual Mamas and Munchkins Valentine’s Tea

2 / 15 / 152 / 19 / 15

When Miss G was just a teeny tiny fuzzy-headed 5 month old, we began the tradition of having some mama and munchkin friends over for a Valentine’s tea. It was nothing fancy… Just some coffee, tea, treats, and little cuties rolling around on a carpet while us moms chatted over cups of caffeine. After that first tea, we took the tradition home to Canada with us where the tea became more about mamas chasing their busy-bodied toddlers and less about visiting while sipping hot cups of coffee, but we loved it just the same {2012 | 2013}.

Well, today we hosted our fifth annual mamas and munchkins Valentine’s tea {hard to believe that’s even possible!}, which means we’ve officially had more of these little celebrations here in Kuwait than at home in Canada {sort of crazy also}. Sadly, Miss G woke up with a nasty cough yesterday and despite my willing it to disappear overnight, it didn’t. She woke up sicker than ever this morning, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to go through with the tea, of course. Luckily, I had messaged all of the moms yesterday to give them a heads up, and since almost all of Grae’s friends go to nursery or school and are exposed to sick germs daily, they still wanted to come {woohoo – what a sad tea it would have been with just the two of us!}

Broken Hearts Number Matching Activity

2 / 11 / 153 / 5 / 15

While I usually tutor four afternoons / evenings a week, I took this week off and it’s been lovely. More than anything, it’s allowed Grae and I some quality time at home in the afternoons, which has been really nice. As a result, we’ve been doing all sorts of fun little spur of the moment activities and projects, which is exactly what this broken hearts number matching activity is.

Glow Stick Heart and Arrow Valentines

2 / 6 / 152 / 7 / 15

When I asked Gracen what she’d kind of valentines she’d like to make for her friends this year, she quite surely responded with ‘Something fun with glow sticks!’, which is how our glow stick heart and arrow valentines came about.

Washi Tape Heart Art

1 / 27 / 152 / 7 / 15

This little project totally came about on a whim this morning while Miss G and I were hanging out at home, but I think it turned out adorably and Grae had a blast making her washi tape heart art piece, so I’m calling it a win. Not to mention that the project is great for building fine motor skills too, so double win.

Arrow Addition Matching Game

1 / 15 / 151 / 15 / 15

After the success of last week’s play dough subtraction smash, I decided that we’d focus on another playful math activity this week, and since Miss G’s been all about getting going with Valentine’s Day stuff since we took down our Christmas tree, I thought we’d incorporate that too. While hearts were {of course} the first thing that popped into my mind, I wanted to switch things up a little, so an arrow addition matching game it was.

Valentine’s Day Play Dough Favours

2 / 4 / 142 / 17 / 14

There’s no doubt that we love play dough. In fact, we’ve given it out as gifts and favours several times before. But that being said, I can’t take any credit for these sweet, simple little Valentine’s Day treats…

Simple Origami Heart Garland

1 / 13 / 141 / 15 / 14

Gracen is all about holiday decorations. So needless to say, when we announced that it was nearly time to dismantle our tree and put our Christmas things away a while back, she was not really happy about it. After talking about why we put Christmas things away come January, she asked, ‘So what’s next then? Like what should we decorate for?’ Hahaha – my little planner. ☺

Sticky Wall Colour Matching Game

2 / 15 / 139 / 22 / 13

One of the little activities I set up for Miss and her friends to enjoy at our Valentine’s tea was this sticky wall colour matching game. The idea came from No Time for Flashcards (an amazing activity resource for kids of all ages) and although I followed Allison‘s instructions pretty closely, I made a couple of little changes along the way.

Needed for the project was construction paper in rainbow colours, a heart-shaped paper punch, permanent markers in coordinating rainbow colours, and clear contact paper {which can be purchased at dollar stores and home hardware stores}.

First off, I punched out tons of hearts and mixed them up really well in order to make the activity more challenging.

Next, I rolled the contact paper out on the floor (paper backing side down) and drew rainbow-coloured hearts inside one another on the non-sticky side of the contact paper (using permanent markers for this part is key).

The following morning I peeled the paper off of the corners, and taped the sheet up to the wall before peeling the entire backing off. As you can see, I attempted to make it look cute by taping it to the wall with my black and white polka dotted washi tape, but it simply didn’t cut it. The ugly masking tape had to be brought out, but it worked perfectly.

When Miss G’s little friends came over, they began popping up the hearts all over the place {somewhat to Grae’s dismay}. And though most of them didn’t get put in the ‘correct’ places, they had a lot of fun with it. In fact, at one point I think we had 3 toddlers pressing their faces onto the sticky wall and slowly pulling them away before sticking them back on again. ☺

Of course, once everyone had gone, she got straight to fixing things. The beauty about contact paper is that the paper hearts can easily be removed and reattached if need be.

Grae worked hard on her project for a good long while and it’ll stay up for the next while for her to revisit when desired, which I know will be often.

♥

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