DIY Five Nights at Freddy's Party

Having a Five Nights at Freddy's Party and want some DIY ideas?

Keep reading to see how you can throw an inexpensive FNAF party!

This year my daughter wanted a Five Nights at Freddy's (FNAF) themed birthday party.  The first thing I said was "huh?!?".  I had no idea what FNAF even was let alone how I was going to make that happen.  After my daughter gave me a short explanation of what FNAF was and I started thinking "I can't believe this is a game I actually had no idea my kids were playing", I went to work trying to figure out how I was going to pull it off...cheaply.

Obviously I could get online and just order a pack of the FNAF party supplies but that's pretty costly and I think those packs look pretty generic.  So armed with a printer, cardstock and my experience over the course of 13 years of DIYing my kids birthday parties each year I went to work planning a FNAF birthday party.  

The Dollar Tree is always my first go to for party supplies.  They don't always have everything I need but they are the place to start because what they do have is only $1 each!  I picked up balloons, some tissue puff ball thingies (yes that is their official name...I think?), table confetti, popcorn bags, table clothes, paper plates, cups, utensils and napkins.

Next I stopped at Party City.  I know, I know...Party City doesn't scream DIY but...I wanted premade FNAF items that were just easier to buy than make, like the table centerpiece...I would have spent more money and time making one than just buying the $8 one they had.  They also had a door cover and a window decoration.  Total spend there...$18.

I stopped at Walmart and ordered cupcakes.  Of course they did not have FNAF themed ones even though they have every other theme ever.  Oh well, it's not the first time I've made plain cupcakes fit the theme I wanted.  I purchased cupcakes with a bright pink frosting.  Then I bought mini Oreos and M&Ms and used them as eyes.  Apparently one of the FNAF characters is a pink cupcake.  I think total for the cupcakes, M&Ms and Oreos I spent $10.  I could have made them myself and saved money but the cupcakes are like $7 for a dozen at Walmart so I saved myself the trouble of making them.

Next is always my favorite part...using my printer.  I printed off several pictures for the walls that I found on Google.  

I found water bottle labels for free here.  

I also made a "Happy Birthday" banner.  I was lucky to find that for free here.  

I also found a pizza banner for free and printed that out.  I used string and cut up straws to put it together.

I printed out a FNAF image that I found on Google and used that to make napkin rings.

I created a popcorn station by covering a bookshelf with a table cloth.  I then put popcorn containers and bags on it with several different popcorn seasonings that I already had.  Since the party was in the media room in the basement we already had a popcorn machine next to that bookshelf.  Some table confetti and the tissue puff thingies hanging completed the station.

I made a string of balloons to hang over a few table clothes that I hung over a part of the wall to make the backdrop.  I put the banners over that.  I hung the items I got from Party City.

I ordered a couple pizzas for the kids.  They ate popcorn and watched movies.  It was a pretty simple yet very fun party.

Alright, I think I explained everything I did to throw this FNAF party.  I must admit I still don't quite know anything about FNAF but my daughter couldn't tell.

Feel free to share your FNAF party ideas in the comments below.

Fifth Wheel Sign with Family Name and State

Because we travel so much in our fifth wheel, in fact we used to live in a fifth wheel (take a look at that adventure here), I made a cute sign to hang from the neck of the fifth wheel.  It was pretty easy to make.  I took some scrap plywood that I found in the barn and traced the state of Illinois on it.  My other half cut it out for me and I spray painted the edges blue.  Then I printed out the text I wanted to be on it in the correct size.  

I used a pencil to shade the back of the paper then positioned it where I wanted on the sign and traced the text on the front of the paper.  This left an imprint on the wood so that I could use a small paint brush and black paint to paint the letters.  

I then put a couple coats of clear spray paint on it.  My other half drilled the hole and added chain to hang it.  Easy, cheap and cute!

Bring Some Life Back to an Old Graveyard

Our family loves going on bike rides together.  When we lived in Indiana we would ride past an old graveyard in our neighborhood that was no longer being visited by relatives.  Many of the headstones were unreadable.

We decided to brighten the place up.  Each time we went on a bike ride we stopped at the graveyard and each of us put fake flowers that I had purchased at the Dollar Tree on a gravesite.  Over time the place started to have some color and life again.  This was just a cheap way for our family to make the neighborhood graveyard look lively again.

How to Create a Changeable Bible Verse of the Week Wall Decoration

I have been trying to motivate myself to memorize more Bible verses.  I find it easier to memorize them if I see them printed out.  Here is how I took some unused space in the kitchen and created a changeable Bible verse board.

Below is the unused space above the calendar:

First I printed out a cute image that I found by doing a search for Verse of the Week.  I printed it on cardstock and cut it to size, then I laminated it.

My daughter had a clipboard she wasn't using so I printed out the first verse I wanted to memorize and clipped it to the board.

I pulled out my small plastic tub full of various command hooks and hangers.  I put the hook adhesive on the back of the sign and clipboard.

Lastly, I used the adhesive to stick them where I wanted to hang them.

Now I can just clip a new Bible verse that I print out each week to the clipboard.  It is so easy to change out.

32 Random Acts of Kindness for my 32nd Birthday

I am so excited to write this post.  I had so much fun doing 32 Random Acts of Kindness in celebration of my 32^nd birthday (goodness…I’m getting old). 

Five years ago, I did something similar for my birthday (see that post here) and it was such a rewarding feeling so I decided to do it again this year.

I loved getting my children involved in this because it is another way of showing them that serving and doing things for others is such a rewarding feeling. 

Below is a list of the 32 Random Acts of Kindness that I did in celebration of my 32^nd birthday.

1 – Mini muffins to the Fire Department

2 – Donuts to the staff at the local library

3 – Mini pies to my daughter’s orthodontist staff

4 – A box of candy to the Police Department (they gave us a shout out on their Facebook page afterwards!)

5 – Butterfingers candy to the Village Hall

6 – Hid $1 bills in the toy section of Dollar Tree

7 – Gave the lovely women at the local food pantry a fruit arrangement (my awesome sister made the arrangement for them!)

8 – Gave nurses in Labor and Delivery at the hospital a basket of treats (I had a baby this month)

9 – Left a children’s book in the waiting room at the hospital

10 – Put change on a vending machine

11 – Left a candy bar and a thank you note for the mail carrier

12 – Homemade hot chocolate to our neighbors

13 – Left a tip for my birthday dinner (we got carry out because of our new baby but I left a tip anyways)

14 – Donated clothes to Goodwill

15 – “Thanks a Million” candy bag for the principals at my children’s schools

16 – Left a jar of change at the library for people to use for late return fees

17 – Put a positive note on a public mirror

18 – Left wet wipes on a changing table in a public bathroom

19 – Put free popcorn on a Redbox

20 – Box of M&Ms to my children’s bus driver

21 – Bag of Hershey kisses to the staff at our bank

22 – Fake flowers and a positive note on a random car

23 – Pack of duck eggs to our neighbor, who’s yard our ducks always venture into

24 – Bag of Lifesavers to the local EMT station

25 – Retractable erasers and thank you card to my children’s piano teacher

26 – Tea for the office secretary at my daughter’s school (who usually is the one who helps my daughter with her diabetic needs)

27 – Paint and hide rocks around town (not sure if this is a “thing” in other towns but in our small town people do this)

28 – Gave a customer a dozen quail eggs for free

29 – Gave a homeless person one of our blessing bags (see how to make those here)

30 – Put a book recommendation inside a library book

31 – Donated money to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (my daughter is a type 1 diabetic so this nonprofit is one we are very familiar with)

32 – Donated toys to a local charity

I did not complete all of these in one day, rather I took the month to do them.  For many of them I had my two oldest kids with me so they helped a lot.

This did take a little bit of preparation to do.  I took some time to print out small personalized cards for each act and I also made small cards that explained what I was doing for each act.  I have these files so if you comment or email I can send you the editable cards so you can modify them for your needs.

  

Overall, each individual act doesn't seem like much but once I started doing them I began to look forward to doing the next one.  I'm sure I will do something like this again and I really encourage my readers to try to do something similar, even if it is just one random act of kindness.

Please comment any ideas you have for a Random Act of Kindness!