Pinning the perfect party

My daughter is known for her birthday parties. It is the one day of decadence we have in our kids' lives.

Let it be known there are no outlandish locations, no bounce houses in our backyard. Instead, our at home parties are themed out, low-budged and planned with fun details we make ourselvess.

We've had luaus, 80s parties, dance parties, Fancy Nancy tea parties. It is to the point that last year the neighbor girl, when she got the invitation, asked her mother what she should wear.

My daughter picks her themes usually by the day after her last party. So imagine my surprise when, just a few months away, she still hadn't decided.

She toyed with an American Girl spa party, which I happily found pins for ideas for making fun thing like sparkle lip gloss and accessories for their dolls. (Truth be told: It was a great distraction from a harried project deadline at work.)

And then we realized one of her best friends does not play with dolls. Not wanting to have her feel left out, we went back to ideas.

My daughter considered a "Goddess Girls" themed birthday party as well. For those not in the know, "Goddess Girls" is a series about the Greek goddesses when they were in school. Sort of true to the mythology, except for little details like Artemis is boy crazy.

We realized we could make several of our ideas fit the theme too. For Aphrodite, who likes beauty, clothes and cheerleading (according to the stories), we could make the lip gloss and paint out nails. For Athena, who is wise, we could do a "wisdom challenge" (games). For Artemis, who likes sports and art, we could do outdoor games of some sort. For Persephone, who loves plants, we could add flower embellishments to jewelry or headbands. The only Goddess Girl we weren't going to embrace was Phoeme, who is into gossip.

But it still didn't fit right.

And then, on a car ride home, my daughter said: "Why can't we just have a water party?" She asked for a splash party in the backyard, lunch and ice cream cake.

Why not?

The perfect party may not be able to be pinned. It may just come from a child's imagination.

Let I learn that lesson....

Winter Olympics Party Ideas for Girl Scouts

Looking for more Girl Scout ideas? Visit my new scout leader resource site, Use Resources Wisely. 

The Sochi Olympics are just a few weeks away, and we're planning to celebrate it and help our Brownies kick off their Fair Play badge as well!

A Winter Olympics party has been on my must-do list for this Girl Scout year. It's a great way to take advantage of being stuck indoors.

Some of the great ideas I've found online for our Winter Olympics party next month:

Learning about Olympic Traditions

• Sochi and Winter Olympics Trivia
• Sochi Mascots
• Games Go Global Patch - World Association of Girl Guides & Girl Scouts
• Winter Olympics Sports

Games

• Olympic Ring "Snowball Toss"



• Indoor speed skating and tabletop curling
• Olympic ring torch toss



• Tabletop ice hockey

Quick Crafts to Go

• Snowboarder



• Olympic ring bracelets
  
• Edible Olympic Torches

The challenge? Narrowing our ideas down to an hour's worth of fun!

Looking for more ideas? Check our my Winter Olympics Party Board on Pinterest.

Santa's not stuffing us with toys

Santa's not stuffing us with toys this year. And I am so excited.

We've really tried to watch our consumption of toys and stuff, and have been doing considerable purging of late. Even this Christmas has been lighter from a "stuff" perspective. We still got the kids three gifts each, but they were smaller, like small Lego sets and photo books of our day at Disney World. It was a relief to have October arrive and not have to sweating Christmas gifts for my kids - or where to put them.

But what about from Santa?

We realize this may be the last year both my children "believe," and we don't want to diminish the joy of stockings on Christmas morning. But again, we didn't want to fill our kids up with candy or lots of trinky toys.

Our solution: Simple. Santa got each child a book for their stocking and a small item to quietly play with Christmas morning (my daughter is getting washi tape; my son a mini Lego set that was free with purpose.) But the "Santa gift" will be the best surprise of all. We found a Living Social deal for a trip to an indoor water park to knock off the winter blahs.

We're excited that this year Mr. Claus is giving the gift of experience. Hopefully it will be lighter on his sleigh, too.

Looking for experiential gifts? Here are some ideas:

 Family Experiences

• trip to a museum
• trip to the zoo
• an afternoon movie
• tickets to a children’s show at a local theatre or the movies
• ice skating
• rollerskating
• tobaggoning
• going to a minor league baseball game
• train ride
• trip to the beach
• skiing

Life Lessons From Paula Deen

Five years ago, my tiny daughter made a discovery with her dad: Paula Deen on the Food Network. She instantly fell in love with her food and Southern charm, and a strong resemblance to her grandmother didn't hurt, either. Hence, a longtime love of the "Grandma Cooking Show" was born.

Now, my third-grader learned this week that Grandma has been knocked off her pedestal, and the days of snuggling on the couch to watch her show are over.At nearly 8, 

At nearly 8, my daughter is in that tenuous middle ground where you want to fiercely protect her from the world but realize at some point you need to let her know what's going on. And the Paula Deen fiasco was one that made a difference. 

For the first time, we talked with our daughter - who thankfully knows nothing about the color of the skin other than it's like the color of your eyes or hair - about racism. How people in 2013 do sometimes treat others different based on how they look. How words can destroy. And how your choices can affect you for years to come.

It was a far cry from the talk we had with our 5 year old - how Paula Deen was in trouble for calling others a bad word. But it was effective for his stage in life, his personal challenges as he too grows.

On Wednesday, after breakfast, I let my daughter watch the end of the interview with Matt Lauer. Was she sorry? Absolutely, I believe. But still, it's hard to undo what's been done. And words are tough to take back.

I know my daughter has learned a lot from Paula Deen over the years around her stove. Now I hope she can learn from her recent life lessons - and the importance of repentance and forgiveness as well.

The hardest part is letting go

One of the hardest parts of parenting is letting your children blossom into whom they are meant to be. And that process of letting go is painful.

Those baby steps of watching your child not following through on something or not holding to your ideals can make you crazy. But it's worth the wait.

Case in point: As part of my daughter's Brownie troop's Household Elf badge and Wonders of Water journey (and admittedly inspired by Beth Terry's My Plastic-Free Life), we are bridging the themes into a small community service project: collecting  lids for plastic bottles to recycle at an Evansville company that specializes in it, For the next month, the girls are challenged to collect as many plastic lids as they can; the winner receiving a prize (a small water-related science kit).

But while my daughter is interested on the surface in saving plastic, the reality is it's harder to follow through. While mom dutifully washes lids to milk jugs, orange juice, and (admittedly) Diet Coke 2-liters, the lids rarely if ever make it to her collection. They languish on the kitchen table for days, until mom, frustrated, tosses them in the trash.

Does my daughter care about the environment? Absolutely. She's into gardening and composting, learning about saving electricity. But her heart is less into America's needs as it is in Haiti's, a result of her experiences in school.

The toughest lesson is that while our journeys interconnect, they are not one in the same. And my daughter's green journey, while started earlier in life, will weave the way it wants to.

Since I've been gone

Six weeks is an eternity in the blogging world. Yet it went by in a blink of an eye.

Here's what's been up with us during my blogging hiatus from Going Green Mama:

We did the Great Girl Scout Hike during Fall Break. An awesome way to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouting in America, several Girl Scout councils came up with the idea of having Girl Scouts cover every mile of the Appalachian Trail this year. More than 8,200 girls and leaders joined the fun - and we were part of it!

My daughter (and my husband and son) loved the scenery of the trail, which we picked up during a trek through Smoky Mountain National Park. We hit a small stretch near the North Carolina-Tennessee border, then another quieter route a few miles down the road. It was well worth making a memory.

I've been loving learning about essential oils. I know, it sounds crazy, but I am truly enjoying this adventure. It's been wonderful not having to reach for an over-the-counter medicine to battle the condition of the moment. Who needs medicine for motion sickness, headaches, stomach issues and more when you can just grab your bottle of peppermint oil? But the best part is the network of people I've met in Indiana who believe in trying natural first.

I've been happy being a Brownie leader...and a mom. This is a particularly big year, as my oldest participates in her First Communion, so are many additional activities we are enjoying. These seasons are so short in life. So my blogging may take a back seat - I will never get these moments back.

Wishing you all a wonderful week!
Robbie @ Going Green Mama

The TV Talk

Last night we finally had The Talk in our house.

“Grace has a TV in her room.”
“Yes, yes, she does.”
“I don’t.”
“No, we share our TV in our family.”
“But Grace has one.”
“Yes, Grace has one. But our family has one TV, and we watch it together. If you were in your room by yourself, you would be sad.”
“When I am four, can I have a TV?”

This is when my husband cut in with that never-in-your-life tone that is buried deep in that Y chromosome. “You will NEVER have a TV in your room until you’re out of the house!”

Silence.

I never thought we’d have the television battle just yet. Grade school, sure. Preschool, no.

Yes, we’re movie people, but we’re just not live-or-die by the television types. My husband, who grew up in the country, believes kids should enjoy the real world first. I never grew up with a TV in my room either, but in the short period I lived with my in-laws after our apartment flooded, I realized how jarring it can be. We’d turn on the TV, which was in our room, every night for hours to escape. It wasn’t great for us, nor for our relationship.

In fact, when we built our house, no bedrooms had a cable outlet. My mother protested it’d be an issue for resale value. My feeling is by the time we sell, it will all be wireless.

I realize we’re an oddity in this society. Though, if you pay attention to the dialogue about going digital, it seems that fewer people are relying on cable these days. Maybe we’re not so strange after all.

So, no, little one, you won’t be getting a TV for your room. You will someday remember fighting over shows with your brother, protesting when parents overrule and playing “movie theatre” on a blanket with your bowl of popcorn. And that is OK too.