Maxly’s 1st Birthday, The Office Themed

I’m not superstitious but I’m a little stitous that I’d make the cut for the Party Planning Committee, or at least Jim Halpert and Dwight Schrute would approve.

This past weekend I threw the world’s best boss aka my daughter, her very first birthday party, The Office themed! Fact: it was the best.

Although I knew my theme, to be honest I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going for when it came to anything else. Because let’s be honest, The Office is life. I thought perhaps I would just do the “Kelly Birthday Decor” but with each passing day and much creative thought, I put my thoughts into actions and the party ended up being 100x better than I ever could have even imagined!

I punned out hard.

I was a hella fangirl.

I was creative, thorough and dedicated.

I spent months planning the party (and if you want to do something along these lines I advise you to do the same!) and worked on the final touches and fine detail literally until the morning of the party. I’d say it was enjoyable and appreciated by all who came. That’s what she said. Honestly though you can’t just walk into a store and say “Hey! I’m throwing an Office Themed birthday party show me your best selection!” You have to put your best foot forward and use your imagination. (It was nearly impossible for me to find brown balloons.)

I didn’t have Angela’s famous double fudge brownies but we did have Todd Packer’s laced cupcakes! Actually a lot of the snacks, drinks and main course food was based off of the tv series as well! We had Pizza by Alfredo, I raffled off  Kevin’s M&M’s, we all downed Kit Kat bars as Andy tried to figure out what to break a piece off of. Break me off a piece of that fancy feast! Obviously we had pretzels in honor of Stanley’s love for Pretzel Day! Michael Scott’s Paper Company Cheese-balls were almost a must have. Ryan’s “Mexican Lemonade” quenched our thirst. When I started planning The Office themed party I was stumped. All of the episodes were specific food was featured ignited my inspiration, and helped turn my vision into a reality. 

Along side food, what’s another important aspect of a party? That’s right, music! Over a span of a few days I created the ultimate Office playlist. Including the show’s own theme song, Chris Brown’s Forever, Life is a Highway, Goodbye Toby, Little Drummer Boy, The Monster Mash, Karma Chameleon, and 30+ more memorable tunes for The Office.

As noted above I went with the classic Kelly Kapoor It Is Your Birthday decor, but detailed it quite nicely with not only the brown and gray balloons taped to streamers, and the birthday banner, but also sprucing it up with an actual Dundie trophy, vinyl printouts from the show and party games such as pin the beet on the Dwight! And I was a lucky camper that the wall color of my location of choice was the same mustard yellow as Dwight Shrutes infamous collared work shirts.

For Maxly’s first birthday, The Office Style, we had to be in style!  Our little trio was wearing matching Dunder Mifflin shirts as if we were headed to the company picnic where Jim and Pam find out they’re expecting! (No, I’m not pregnant!) Originally I was planning on ordering our attire from Redbubble because they have EVERYTHING and ANYTHING related to anything, especially The Office. Although I love their products, I was on a budget and headed to Amazon, I wasn’t disappointed! Mommy and Daddy’s white and maroon baseball Dunder Mifflin Tee’s were spot on, as well as baby’s Dunder Mifflin onesie.  The party favors were a big hit as well! Obviously adorable little goodie bags for the kids but the adults received vinyl stickers of each characters face! (Heck if I were a guest I’d be over the moon with stickers of my favorite cast!) 

Mommy and Daddy aren’t the only ones in the house that are obsessed with The Office; humming the theme song unconsciously, quoting Dwight as an everyday response to a normal conversation or just honestly watching the nine seasons on repeat. We aren’t the only ones who love it. My baby dances along to the theme song at the start of each show, and loves Michael Scott’s and Dwight Schrute’s voice. I swear it’s kept her attention and soothed her since being a newborn. So obviously our trio is superfans of The Office, and I like to be creative and do fun and memorable things, so why not throw an awesome and cool fun party?! As I mentioned before, I started planning months in advance so every detail was perfect and everything ran smoothly.

I hope you enjoyed this little look into our lived and my daughters first birthday party! Heck, maybe I’ve even inspired you to throw your own Office Party!

Below are a few more photos from the party & the fine touches that made it perfect.

 

 

 

DIY Baby Attire

I have an artsy fartsy mind. I can write, I can take pictures. That’s about it when it comes to creative skills. I suck at measuring, I suck at cutting. I can’t paint. I don’t think I can sew. I can’t do pottery. I want to be artistic but God Bless me, I just cannot do it. Thanks Mom & Dad for unblessing this wannabe composer. Maybe I can’t but some of the beautiful people in my life are good with their minds and their hands. Thank god.

My mommy bestie Alysha is just that. I always see cute things on Etsy or Amazon or in stores, then I think to myself, “I can make that.” Then I think again and realize “I cannot make that.” Shit. But Alysha can. Yay! It’s amazing. One of the many reasons I love her.

Most recently she was scrolling through Etsy and saw the cutest best friend onesies . She knew our girls had to have them. But as a stay-at-home mom, $28 +shipping is a price that’s just too high to pay. So for $9 she replicated the outfits for our dolls and I’m in love.

Left: Stevie Rae (Alysha’s princess); Right: Maxly (my princess) 

10 Stay-at-home Mom Side Hustles

Rather than saying “pinching pennies” I’d prefer to think about these side hustles as saving and making money in smart, modern and fun ways.

1. Coupons. Ok, I’m not talking Extreme Couponing like those people you see on TV who have a stockpile in their basement of cat liter and cat food because they got it all for free…even though they don’t have a cat. I’m talking regular everyday couponing. You can simply clip manufacturers coupons from the newspapers, there are websites where you can print coupons but my favorites are Cartwheel via Target and Walmart Savings Catcher via Walmart. In my case I formula feed my baby so I also subscribe to Similac Strong Moms and receive coupons in the mail as well. I also am a Pampers Parent so every time I buy a new box of Pampers wipes or diapers, I scan the barcode into my phone, earn points and ultimately earn coupons that way too. The beauty of all of these money savers is they’re combinable. Being able to stack your savings whether it’s once, twice or three times. The savings totally add up and sometimes you are getting your beloved products for free.
2. Rover. I personally do not use this pet sitting app because my little chihuahua is too sassy to share her space, but I have handful of friends who do use it and love it . The concept is essentially like Airbnb except for dog-boarding in a much more comfortable, safe environment for your furry friend. One of my best friends has only done Rover four times, a total of eight dog sitting days of fun and earned herself over $300. Not a bad side gig at all if I do say so myself, especially if you don’t have your own dog.
3. Consigning Clothes. I am a culprit for hoarding my clothes. I am equally a culprit for just donating a bunch of clothes all at once to Savers or Goodwill because I was too lazy to go through them one by one, or at least I used to be. Nowadays since I am not working and have no need for more than half of my clothes, I’ve been taking the extra time to go to “nicer consignment shops” like 2nd Time Around. I used to try to consign my clothes to locations like Plato’s Closet but I quickly learned that they hardly take any of your stuff and if they do you only get a little amount of money on the spot. I’m talking like $2 for 5 shirts and a pair of shoes. At smaller and higher class consignment shops you get a percentage of the profit in which they sold your item for and monthly you get your earnings. One month I got 80 bucks for a dress and a pair of shoes. And if you get really into this I’ve bought clothes at Savers and Goodwill for super cheap, turned around and consigned them for almost triple my money spent. You have to work the system!
4. Swagbucks. This is my new favorite money maker and most recent obsession. Swagbucks is an app that you can access on your phone or you can log into your account on your computer. (I prefer to do it on my computer because there’s more opportunities to earn that way.) You take surveys and watch videos for cash and giftcards. It sounds lame I know but it isn’t because you see your earnings instantly and Swagbucks comes with so many more perks, it’s hard to list them all. For instance if you’re anything like me you shop online, probably too much. When shopping through Swagbucks you earn a percentage of cash back on your purchase depending on the website you’re buying from. Amazon does 3% cash back, Walmart does 5% cash back, the earnings are endless. There are also games and trivia offered to earn money too. And like any good program, you yourself earn money and incentives for signing people up through your membership code. It’s amazing and so fun. When I feed my daughter I’ll take a survey and BOOM, baby is fed and momma just made $1.25. It’s that easy.
5. Babysitting/Nannying. Whether it be friends or family, watching other peoples kids is an awesome side gig that’s fun and pays! If you aren’t lucky enough or are looking for a larger cliental, you can always check out Care.com for local listings! And the best part is you can most likely bring your child(ren) along because who doesn’t love their young ones to socialize?
6. Recycling cans and bottles.  In our household we are big beer drinkers and seltzer drinkers. I recycle everything as it is and have been cashing in our cans and bottles for years. I know it’s only $0.05 per item but it adds up. I promise. We used to bring them to Stop & Shop and cash them in by hand until we discovered a much better and less time consuming way. All around Connecticut there are recycling centers where you lay everything out on the belt, and you get credited for every can/bottle you bring opposed to being rejected by the Stop&Shop machines because the store doesn’t sell that brand. We usually cash in our recyclables every few months so the funds are larger rather than going once a week, etc. Typically we get anywhere from $50-$75. Cha Ching! It may not seem that impressive but when mommy isn’t working, that $75 is a trip to the grocery store!
7. Uber / Lyft Driver. Now I have not done this personally, but it’s on my to do list. I wouldn’t do this with my baby in the car of course, but since I do own an SUV and live just outside some crowded popular cities, being a driver would earn me some serious extra side bucks. I have friends who Uber / Lyft via as a driver and they love to do it for an hour or so a day when they have time because it’s extra money in their pockets. It’s a safe, easy and practical way to earn some extra dough.
8. Have a tag sale. Primarily tag sale season is in the spring and in the fall. Psh, you can sell your stuff anytime of the year! If you’re like me you have boxes of unused stuff in your basement or garage, and as my baby grows she’s outgrowing lots of baby stuff as well. Add that to the tag sale pile as. And if you aren’t keen on putting in the work of having an actual sale or pulling a permit to do so depending on the town you live in, there is always online. Whether it’s Craigslist or a Facebook Tag Sale group those are great ways to sell your things. Extra bucks in your pocket for things you’ve held on to for no reason aside you’re to lazy to rid of them. Currently I’m planning a tag sale for May and have several baby items such as a car seat base listed on the New Britain, CT Facebook Tag Sale Page. Easy Peasy.
9. Collecting change. I know, sounds a bit petty but I assure you it’s not. As does anything, spare change adds up. Whether its from the bottom of your purse, from the bottom of the dryer, under your couch cushion. It’s amazing how much cash you have when you add all of those quarters + together. I typically will cash in my change every other month and get at least $50. You’re probably thinking ugh Coinstar, I hate Coinstar, it keeps a percentage of my money… go to a bank. Most if not all banks have the equivalent machine to transition your change into paper money. Any they don’t keep any percentage. You keep every dime, literally.
10. Shop at the dollar store. No harm in this! AT ALL. And I bet you didn’t know you can use manufactures coupons at dollar stores. I myself am a huge fan and shop there specifically for hand soaps, hand sanitizer, dish soap and the large refills of hand soap. For instance, spending $1 on a large dish soap at the dollar store vs $2 and change at Target for the Target brand… those dollars add up. They even sell laundry detergent at the dollar store and fabric softener, and it’s just as good as Gain or other well known brands. Even for me and I have super sensitive skin. It’s amazing the treasures and savings you find at the dollar store if you actually take the time to look.