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Holiday Kickoff Make ‘N’ Take Playdate

November 19, 2015 by Jaimi Erickson 1 Comment

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Stay-at-Home Mom Problem: Going an entire day without adult conversation! Solution? Host a playdate. With a free printable invitation, ideas for make n take items the moms can make for themselves, or use as DIY gifts for the holidays, the kids can play and you can get some adult conversation and build friendships.

This post contains affiliate links. Please view my disclosure for more info.

Stay-at-Home Mom Problem: Going all day (and sometimes longer) without speaking to another adult. It happens.

Playdates are great ways to connect with moms who are doing what you do each day-connection is important. I recently learned about the idea to host a holiday kickoff event. Our holiday planning can sometimes be overwhelming. I like asking other moms questions about how they prepare so I can learn. This is the why and how for hosting a holiday kickoff make ‘n’ take playdate.  I even have a free printable invitation you can personalize.

I think designing a playdate around a make ‘n’ take just makes the get together more fun for the moms. So many events we go to as moms are about the kids. This is a way to focus on us moms.

In the past, I made a habit of hosting playdates at my house. In fact at our last two bases (my husband is military for those who have not read about me) I was sort of the “playdate coordinator”. I really like connecting with other moms. It helps me realize I am not alone. It’s why I like that we have a private Facebook group just for us stay-at-home moms–we can share and connect in those moments when maybe we realize we have gone far too long without adult interaction. 🙂

I decided to invite a few moms over to get together and share our holiday organization ideas. A few of us already made a holiday planning binder at MOPS. It has been helping so much just to have everything I need for planning for the holidays in one place. This holiday kickoff event idea is credited to Marsha Ramsland. You can learn more about her in my holiday planning binder post.

Since I use essential oils, I figured it would be fun to share some DIY home and beauty items I make with oils as potential DIY gift ideas. We made them as special treats for us this time.

My friend Jessie, who has shared a guest post on the blog before, has a home-based business making wine jelly. (Yum!) So I asked Jessie if she could co-host the event with me so her Five O’Clock Jelly could be featured. Lucky for me, she agreed and was excited for the event!

One of the No-Stress Guide to Planning for the Holidays giveaways includes 3 jellies from her collection.

They are great for making Christmas cookies, using as a sauce over meatballs, or using as a quick appetizer with cream cheese as a dip for crackers. Head over to enter that giveaway and the others if you have not done that yet.

How to host a holiday kickoff make ‘n’ take playdate

  • Plan your location.

I like hosting playdates at my house, but you could arrange for a clubhouse space, or use the kitchen at your church and that would work great for a make ‘n’ take location.

  • Create an invitation.

You can download and print my invite template and fill in your info in the designated areas. Just highlight and delete my wording, or keep it if it works for your event. Add in the RSVP details and save it before sending to your friends. Many word processing programs have invitation templates that you can customize easily too.

Free printable invitation for a holiday kickoff make n take playdate. Moms can make spa and home items with essential oils and the kids can play. HOw to ideas included.

 

  • Decide who to invite.

For me this was easy because I have only lived in California for a year, so my social circle is not large. I invited the moms who sit at my table at MOPS plus my friend Jessie who is a fellow military spouse.

  • Email your invitation.

I like email because it saves paper, everyone seems to have a smart phone, and usually people can reply relatively quickly. You certainly could create invitations to mail out. That would be a really nice touch!

  • Plan food and kids activities.

KIDS

I keep the kids activities really simple. The kids usually occupy themselves pretty well, so I don’t create busy bag or table activities for my playdates. We have a small bounce house that we bought the kids as a joint birthday gift 3 years ago. It has been the absolute best toy we ever purchased! I set that out when we have a group of kids over.

 

Other than the bounce house, I usually have Crayola Color Wonder markers and Color Wonder paper on-hand. That way I don’t have to be so focused on the little kids coloring in the wrong place.

FOOD

My friend brought the bulk of the food. Jessie brought her wine jelly/cream cheese appetizer, meatballs with wine jelly sauce, and jelly thumbprint Christmas cookies. Her jelly really is so versatile!

Five O'Clock Wine Jelly-great easy appetizer or meal ingredient for flavorful and unique holiday dishes.

I provided simple drinks like my new favorite natural energy drink, water, coffee, tea-the staples. It worked.

  • Prepare for declines.

It happens. People can’t show up. It can be hard to get excited for an event and then have people not be able to attend, worse they could say they are coming and not show up! (I have had that happen too.) Just appreciate the friends who do show up. Don’t worry about numbers.

  • Prep your Make ‘N’ Take stations

1. Purchase supplies like glass jars, lip balm containers and metal spray bottles, shea butter, coconut oil, beeswax, etc.

2. Plan how you are going to set up the stations.

3. Type up and print off recipe cards for each station.

I typed the recipes, printed them, glued them to cardstock and laminated them. After adding some strips of burlap to clothespins with hot glue, I had little stands for each recipe card so they were easy to read.

Essential oils make n take recipe card stands used at a holiday kickoff make n take playdate.

4. Gather festive placemats, cloth napkins, or scrap pieces of fabric to use as placemats at each DIY station.

  • The day before the event prep your base for any lotions or lip balms. 

This was a genius idea I found on Pinterest so I always have my shea butter/coconut oil lotion base ready for adding oils.

  • The day of, quickly declutter and get organized fast, then set up your DIY Make ‘N’ Take stations where you have space. You can see in the photos I set them up in the kitchen. They needed to be accessible and out of the reach of little hands!

Holiday kickoff make n take playdate DIY spa and home item stations.

  • Set out your food.
  • Enjoy your holiday kickoff event!


I received nice comments about the holiday kickoff make ‘n’ take playdate. We shared some ideas for giving gifts-this is so helpful for the difficult-to-buy-for folks or if you are just not very good at gift-giving (like me)! It was nice to just to get to know a couple of ladies better.

I will be sharing all the DIY gifts we made at my holiday kickoff make ‘n’ take playdate over the next couple of weeks. They are really inexpensive ways to maximize your essential oils, give gifts that are useful, and maximize your budget.

Young Living essential oils starter kit

Want to start gathering DIY gift ideas for your friends and family? The 12 Days of Christmas DIY Gifts event on Facebook is going on now! I will be sharing my favorite oil on Saturday, November 21st , so stop by and check it out.

Holiday Kickoff Make N Take Playdate how tos and free printable invitation. Included are simple food ideas, kids activities recommendations and make n take station set up. Moms can get some planning and me time and the kids get to play!

Do you make or buy gifts for Christmas? What are your tips for planning for the holidays with kids?

Successful Mom Daily Checklist to help you gain balance between housework and play time with the kids. Get more done, and feel more successful as a mom and homemaker.

Enjoy your time at home!

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Filed Under: essential oils, homemaking Tagged With: Christmas, DIY, Holiday Guide, homemade, make n take, playdate, Thanksgiving

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  1. Kids Nature Mural Art for Outdoor Play | The Stay-at-Home-Mom Survival Guide says:
    July 15, 2019 at 8:40 am

    […] or other plant material laying around in your yard or the park. This is a great activity for a group playdate with friends […]

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What are your plans for the weekend? #friyay We What are your plans for the weekend? #friyay 

We are having a few neighbors over tonight. (Obviously not locked down here. 👌) 

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You know what’s funny? I took this pic not even You know what’s funny? I took this pic not even noticing what random things were out of place. 😅 Perfect for this post today. 👇

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It is not easy to cut things from our calendars or limit our focus each day. I feel that struggle so much. My whole family needs and deserves my time and attention. I am constantly in a state of re-balance, and making attempts to re-organize, as I attempt to balance four children and a husband.

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How have you been taking time to recharge while st How have you been taking time to recharge while staying at home? Making my list of favorite ways to refresh ‘cause moms with full schedules from morning to night need some simple ideas to get in quiet time. 👏 Do you need recharge time?

I like keeping it simple. 👌 Luxurious shampoo and body butter to maximize the spa feel after a hot shower, Bible study in the morning with my coffee, walking the dog solo are just a few of my break ideas. (I think hot showers are a cure all for a lot of stress! Time to think, feeling the strain wash away...all good things.) What do you think?

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When you really focus on fear, isn’t it pretty s When you really focus on fear, isn’t it pretty silly how much we let it run our lives? 

Anyone who knows my 7 year old daughter knows she has a “no fear” spirit. She can be a bit of an adrenaline junkie. She is always moving, seeking out fun and not intimidated by the unknown.

As a parent I both admire and cringe. 😅 

I find that I have to suppress my fear when it comes to her adventurous spirit so I do not diminish her true nature. I also have to be on the ball from a parenting perspective to talk through being smart while having fun. 

It is not as if we can ever see the results from the actions before we act though. 

Remembering myself how I truly only know what I see and what faith teaches me allows me to focus on eliminating fear from ruling.

For many years I was the opposite of my wild child. I was always thinking too far ahead to see what potential pain may come. That suppressed my nature. I see my kids so social, so eager to try new things and it energizes me to set that example too. 

Fear is not a worthwhile debate partner. 

“She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” ~Proverbs 31:25, NIV

Do you wrestle with fear in parenting and life in general or are you more of the no fear type?

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