Monday, December 12, 2011

Bubble wands, teethers and hand kites oh my!


BUBBLE WANDS

I recently saw a bubble wand kit that would be perfect for my girls.  Until I saw the price tag! It retailed for $20 and you could only make one bubble wand. You dip these into bubble water and swing around making a ton of tiny bubbles.   I knew my girls would love it so I decided to make my own for them.  Here is what I used and how much it cost. Would cost less if you use what you have from home.
.89 one wooden dowel
$1.99 Super Glue
$2 Bottle of bubbles
$3.99 Copper colored aluminum wire
scrap ribbon
That's only $8.87 for TWO!

You can make any shape wand you want. I wanted two star ones but as you can see it didn't happen.  Simply attach the metal shape to the wooden dowel that I cut in half.  I super glued the wire to the wooden dowel and wrapped a bit more wire around the wire shape to make it stronger.  I then glued some ribbon around all the wire to make it pretty.  DONE!
BTW-If you get super glue on your fingers don't freak out.  You don't have to use fingernail polish! Just get a sink full of warm water, lather your hands up with soap and rub a pumis stone on your hands.  Works like a charm.

TEETHING RING


I ordered some wooden rings online in hopes to make my own hand kites for the girls.  Well they were a bit too small. Will read more carefully next time.  I decided to use them to make teething rings for a family gift.  I simply melted some beeswax, olive oil and cocoa butter in a small bowl.These are safe for kids to chew on and a wonderful all natural finish. I then dipped the unfinished wooden rings into them and laid them down on newspaper.  I heated the wooden rings in the microwave for 30 seconds to melt off excess oil and then let them cool.  I then simply looped them on some ribbon and I was DONE!  Pretty cute huh? These sell for up to $30 each on Etsy and about the same in shops.  My total cost was $6. Woot woot!

HAND KITES

These are hand kites.  Children hold the ring and run around watching the ribbon fly in the wind.  They can also throw them into the air like a shooting star. I am in love with these.These also sell on Etsy for $7-10 each.  These two were soaked in beeswax, olive oil and cocoa butter.  Here is what I needed to make these.


Wooden Ring-found mine at Home Depot bag of 7 for 7.99. Found in the curtain department and unscrewed metal clips out of them. 
Ribbon-.50 cents each. I used 6
Total cost for the two-$5

How to make them cheaper?

I could of used ribbon I already had
I could of used something different than wooden rings but I liked these.
I did use a beeswax candle (bought from Goodwill) , olive oil from the kitchen and already owned cocoa butter(can leave out)
All items could of be bought from second hand stores

My girls will be very happy on Christmas and it was worth me sneaking around trying to make them.  One of a kind items are always better than any plastic toy you can just go buy.  Cheers!



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