Birthday Balloons Pinsperation

Ahhh...I'm totally lovin' Pinterest. If you haven't tried it, you should really consider it. It is so helpful to keep all of the things I used to "bookmark" organized.

For the first time this year, my school is not allowing birthday treats (desserts) in the classroom. The idea is to promote healthy eating habits and to recognize kids birthdays in the classroom without the connection to food. The new policy is not bothering me a bit, because the kids in our community tend to have a friend birthday party, a birthday party with extended family and a special celebration with their immediate family. That's probably enough cupcakes for the week...but I'm just the teacher. Some of our parents are not too excited, but I'm sure the kids will adjust to the new policy in no time.

This summer, I started thinking about how to help each child in my room have a "happy" birthday without food. I discovered the inspiration to make birthday balloons for my students at Mrs. Randall's Learning Library. She used fancy straws from Target to make a birthday balloon for her students.  They were so adorable that I pinned them. And for once, my Target actually had one of the treasures that another blogger posted about (the straws).

I used my old Sizzix machine and a balloon die cut to cut out the balloons on fancy paper. Here is how they turned out.  I will probably add  a fancy bow to the jar, but that will have to be on the list for tomorrow.

I made one for each of the gals on my 1st grade team too.  You never know when you might need a fancy straw for a girl's night out.