Fun Kids Activity: Wedding Planning

Most of the time, I'm a last minute kind of girl, but every once in a while I do plan ahead. For example, I encouraged my daughters to start planning their weddings a couple years ago when they were 11, 8 and 5. They each made a binder that we can pull out when the big day arrives. We have pretty solid plans.

I picked up some old bridal magazines that the library was giving away. Then I took the girls to the paint section in Lowe's to pick out their wedding colors. I printed pages with categories of decisions they need to make. It gave them some structure, but they could choose to include or ignore any of the pages, depending on what was important to them.

Each girl started with an opening page, so we can remember how old they were when they made their plans.

I made one template page for them to fill in with a lot of the details. I'll write their responses below.

Emma - Age 11

I will be 20 years old.
I will weigh 197 lbs.
My fiance's name will be Bryan.
My fiance will be 20 years old. He will have brown hair and brown eyes.
We will get married at Disney World.
We will have 2,000 guests.
I will have 5 bridesmaids.
Their names will be Alli, Gwen, Kylie, Maddie, Chloe.
Our food will be Chicken Alfredo.
Songs that we'll dance to Tik Tok, Hey There Delila.
After the wedding, we will live in Florida.

Emma is going with a classy jungle theme for her reception.

Alli - Age 8

I will be 25 years old.
I will weigh 110 lbs.
My fiance's name will be Alex.
My fiance will be 26 years old. He will have brown/blond hair and blue eyes.
We will get married at a beach.
We will have 58 guests.
I will have 6 bridesmaids.
Their names will be Emma, Gwen, Sophie, Maddie, Harley, and Gracen.
Our food will be cake, punch, crackers and dip.
Songs that we'll dance to Who Let the Dogs Out.
After the wedding, we will live in Chicago.

Alli was very specific about her colors.

It says "My Bridesmaids Dresses color is going to be sea song and my flower girls Dress is going to Be Firmament and my Dress is going to be candy. My furniture color is going to be ocean voyage and the room is going to be Apple4."

Gwen - Age 5

I will be 15 years old.
I will weigh 31 lbs.
My fiance's name will be Hudson.
My fiance will be 15 years old. He will have yellow hair and blue eyes.
We will get married at a ball.
We will have 100 guests.
I will have 2 bridesmaids.
Their names will be Emma and Alli.
Our food will be cake, punch, ice cream, circle eat, jawbreakers, candy and cheese. (Circle eat is bologna and is still one of her favorite foods)
Songs that we'll dance to Hey There Delila, Boom Boom Pow, ball songs, and Fireflies.
After the wedding, we will live in a castle.

Gwen chose an elaborate dress.

And then she drew a picture of how it would look on her.

I really wish I would have asked the girls how much their weddings will cost. We should probably start saving money now!

Making Your Own Wedding Plans

I highly recommend this activity with your kids. When you're ready, gather these supplies and let their imagination take over!

• 3 ring binder
• Sheet protectors
• Bridal magazine(s)
• Paint color cards
• Scissors, glue, pens, crayons or markers
• Template (Here's mine, or you can easily make your own)
• Blank pages for things you didn't think of

Kelly's Wedding

We had a great time at Kelly's wedding last weekend! instead of writing about it, I'm going to share a few photos. I was completely enjoying the beautiful event, and wasn't thinking about taking pictures. They're not great quality, but you'll get the idea!

A fun direction sign and table signs. The swirls were rhinestones!

Another sign along the road that let us know what we were in for.

 

 

 

 

Kelly and three of her bridesmaids

Me and mine...15 years ago!

Kelly and Tyler

Kelly at the reception with TJ sneaking into the background. It's a funny thing he's done since he was a kid. :)

Tyler and Kelly Domino. Guaranteed to Last a Lifetime! You know...because Kelly and I work at the manufacturer of Craftsman tool storage.

I loved the lanterns with different colored lights.

The prettiest cake I've ever seen!

Except of course our tower of goodness! As in, "Oh my goodness!"

And we're still happy, happy, happy!

That's all for tonight!

Wedding Coloring Books

I don't remember who it started with, but I've been making wedding coloring books for at least ten years. I mean, I just make them for friends and family, not professionally or anything like that. I got my first images by scanning Emma's Barbie coloring book, but I've collected many more images from my best pal, Google.

I re-use images, but the key to a successful wedding coloring book is personalization. Here's how Kelly's book turned out. I'll type the story under each picture so you don't have to squint.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Kelly. She always dreamed of getting married...some day.

 -----

Kelly grows up and meets a handsome man named Tyler at a wedding. Tyler likes Kelly's big hair and asks for her number.

Kelly gets ready for her wedding day. She is upset that the invitations go out with two stamps.

Side note: Kelly took an invitation to the post office, and the post officer weighed it and gave her stamps. But when Kelly returned to the post office with the invitations, she found out that the post officer had given her the wrong stamps. Kelly had a melt down! A George Washington stamp was added next to the pretty stamp on each pristine linen envelope.

 -----

Kelly's friends and family help her decorate The Holy Trinity Parish Life Center.

Kelly tries to have a good breakfast, but she's too excited to eat.

 -----

Kelly's sister, Amy, helps her get ready for the wedding. Their hair is done, and they will put their dresses on at the church.

Kelly and Tyler text and go out on some dates. Tyler moved to Waterloo and Kelly drops a few hints that she would like a ring.

 -----

One day, Tyler takes Kelly on a helicopter ride over Chicago. "Kelly will you marry me?" "Yes, Tyler! I will marry you!"

Tyler waves goodbye as he heads to the ceremony. He feels nervous about the wedding, but he's sure he wants to marry Kelly.

 -----

Kelly is beautiful, and Tyler is a handsome prince. He asks Kelly if she likes his crown. She's still thinking.

Help Kelly and Tyler decorate a beautiful wedding cake!

 -----

[Word Search uses words that mean something to Kelly and Tyler.]

Kelly always wanted to be a dancer, so Tyler and Kelly do a dance number for guests at their reception in Kalona. Everyone claps politely, but they think it's a little strange.

 -----

Kelly is glad she saved enough frequent flyer miles to go to Maui for their honeymoon! Tyler wants to run on the beach, but Kelly tells him to slow down.

Tyler and Kelly live happily ever after. Soon, their adorable daughter arrives with dark hair and brown eyes.

THE END

I mean the end of Kelly's book. NOT the end of the post. Read on, reader. Especially if you love my idea and want to make your own. I'm about to spill my secrets. 

How to make a Wedding Coloring Book

If you're interested in making a coloring book, you can either ask me to send you my template or follow my tips.

Page Count

Plan to have either 12 or 16 pages. It needs to be a multiple of four because each sheet of paper has four pages, two on each side.

Layout

Unless you're a graphic designer or have a fancy copier that can create a book, the layout is TA-RICK-EE. I use my ghetto design software of choice: Microsoft PowerPoint. It's not fancy, but it works every time. I put two coloring book pages on each slide. You have to zig zag your pages from the bottom so they end up in the right order when you fold them together. Use a pattern like this.

Copy

Print your PowerPoint file and take it to be copied. When you duplex (copy from 1-side to 2-sides) a landscape document, turn every other page of your original upside down. Like this: 



Finish

I usually just fold the books in half. I would prefer to saddle stitch them (put a couple staples in the fold) to hold them together, but I haven't figured out a cheap quick way to do that. They stay together pretty well if you give them a good crease.

Display

I suggest putting the books in a cute chest or basket, and don't forget crayons! You can buy crayons in bulk from party stores. Make plenty of copies of the book because if you make them cute enough, a lot of the adult guests will want one in addition to the kids who need quiet entertainment.

And there you have it! Now you know everything I know about making coloring books. They're super easy and very fun!

Kelly's Bridal Shower (and a ukulele tangent)

Did I tell you about the bridal shower I hosted for my friend, Kelly? Don't lie to me and tell me I did, because I know I didn't, and you're only saying I did because you don't want to hear about it. Too bad, sucker!

This was the easiest shower I've ever planned, but we all had a great time! I invited the ladies from work and a couple coworkers' wives. I reserved the back room of a bar that's near the office on a weeknight, immediately after the office closed. I ordered drinks and appetizers. So far, so good. No cleaning and no cooking!

Just in case things got out of hand, I thought it would be best if we all remained anonymous. Therefore, I prepared fake name tags for everyone. Kelly's said Olive Tyler because she's in love with a guy named Tyler. And she's going to marry him! Everyone else got to choose their own. (I left off a couple raunchy ones because I try to keep it real classy here.)

• Anita Bath
• Barb E. Dahl
• Carrie DiBabi
• Crystal Boll
• Emma Royds
• Gaye Barr
• Helen Back
• Iona Braugh (real person who went to college with my Aunt Claire)
• Marsha Mellow
• Mary A. Richman
• Missy Sippy
• Paige Turner
• Peg Legge
• Sharon Weed
• Summer Love
• Wanda Kiss

Then we played a few games. First we did a Purse Scavenger Hunt. On the back of that page, we used crayons to draw the bride and groom. The winners of those two games won traditional shower prizes...Halloween decorations!

The last thing we did was play a game called Fortunately/Unfortunately. It's a good travel game my mom taught me. She's a fun person to travel with! When I was little, we took an annual seven-hour car adventure to Ponto Lake, Minnesota. Remember when I wrote about the lake here? One of the best things about the trip was that my musical mama would bring her trusty ukulele and several copies of her 25-page camp song sheets. My mom typed the song sheets on a typewriter and had them mimeographed at the library. Until one sweet day in the 80's when my dad got a deal on a copy machine that took up half of our our den. Anyway, we would sing our little hearts out in that Oldsmobile. I remember people looking at us as we drove by, and I remember thinking they must be wishing they were in our car. At the end of each song, we would flip through our song sheets and shout out the number next to whatever song we wanted to sing next. After a couple hours, my dad would say "That's enough!" And then my brother would take a nap in the back window and my sister and I fought over who got the seat and who had to pile pillows and bags on either side of "the hump" to make a comfortable place on the floor.

My dad and I were the night owls in our family, so I usually stayed awake with him while he drove. A lot of times he would let me sit on his lap and steer. We played a game to see whose eyes were better, and whoever was the first one to read roadsigns was the winner. My dad always won, but I think I could beat him now. One time I was sitting on my dad's lap in the middle of the night, and he used the steering wheel to explain the solar system to me. That was pretty cool. I decided that some day I would teach my kids about the solar system when they were sitting on my lap steering the car. But then someone came up with a few safety laws, which is the main reason my kids don't fully understand the universe.

WHERE WAS I??? Oh, yeah. We played Fortunately/Unfortunately at Kelly's bridal shower. We all took turns telling the story about Kelly's wedding day. I started the game by saying, "Fortunately, Kelly woke up on time on her wedding day." The next person said a sentence that started with Unfortunately, the next person's sentence started with Fortunately, and so on. Make sense? It's actually a pretty fun game.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about the decorations! I kept them elegantly simple to go along with the sophisticated feel of the shower. I printed pictures of Kelly and Tyler and put them in the bathroom.

Kelly with one of the pictures in the bathroom

P.S. A few months ago, I saw an advertisement for a Uke Circle. It's a thing where ukulele players get together and jam. I called my mom immediately to see if she was interested, but she just laughed. Maybe now that she has DG (Dollar General) sunglasses, she thinks she's too cool for her uke. And then she reminded me that her uke is at the cabin in Minnesota. I may organize a special Uke Circle up there as a nice surprise for her. At her cabin. I think she would really like that surprise, don't you?

Gemstone Sludge

Yesterday we had Alli's 11th birthday party, and I decided my giant midget wrestler name will be Gemstone Sludge. Alli is crazy obsessed with Angry Birds.

She wanted to do something out of the ordinary, so we went to Niagara Cave near Harmony, Minnesota. On our way there, we stopped a train in Cresco and then had some play time.

I had never heard of Niagara Cave, but it's one of the top ten caves in the US. It is two hours from Waterloo, and is totally worth the drive! Unless you're one of those people who doesn't like caves.

We bought some sludge in the gift shop while we were waiting for our tour. The good news is that the girls each enjoyed sifting out a bunch of rough gemstones. The bad news is that the sludge is a set-up. Someone mixed a few glassy stones into bags of sand and marketed it as Gemstone Sludge. It's all a bunch of marketing mumbo jumbo. If you're looking to get rich quick, hear me now. Stay away from the sludge at the Niagara Cave gift shop. I'm not saying I don't recommend sludge, just be smart about it and don't get addicted. 

We didn't have enough people with us to have our own cave tour group, so we went with some strangers. They were making weird monkey sounds throughout the tour and took a super long time taking photos. I tried rolling my eyes at Ryan, our guide, like "can you even believe these people?", but he pretended he didn't see me. Later, I thought about the people I had brought. For one thing, Alli and some of her friends were wearing fake mustaches. Also, Ryan didn't seem to appreciate my jokes about the rocks looking like various body parts of people in our group. And he didn't even smile when Gwen, my youngest, asked if he was a cave man. There is a decent chance Ryan was in cahoots with the monkey-noise-makers, and they probably all were eye-rolling at us. But at the time, I genuinely thought we were the normal ones.

If I ever become a cave tour guide (you never know), I would make up legends and names of formations just to mess with people. My Aunt Claire was a cave tour guide in Hannibal, Missouri. I'll try to schedule an interview with her and will post anything interesting that I find out. 

When we got home, the girls played a game I'll call Dicey Bags. I loved a similar party game when I was little, but I can't remember all the rules. I made up some rules, and the girls loved the game!

Dicey Bags
What you need:
- 1 brown paper bag per player, each filled with a different prize. Fold over the top so players can't see inside.
- 1 die per player
- 1 pad of paper & pen for every two players

How to play:
- Each player chooses a die and a paper bag. Pair up the players and give each pair a pen and pad of paper.
- Players take turns rolling the dice. Whoever rolls the higher number wins a point. No one scores on a tie. Use the pen paper to keep track of points. The first player who gets to ten points wins the round!
- The winner peaks inside their bag and decides to keep it or trade it with their partner.
- At the "head table", the winner stays, and the loser moves down to the lowest table. All other winners move up toward toward the head table. Play as many rounds as you want! 

The girls didn't want to stop playing, so I rummaged around the house for prizes to put in the bags. The prizes kept getting worse and worse. We hit a low when someone won a kitchen scrubbing sponge.