Thursday, October 18, 2012

Best big kid gift ever!

Part of my efforts to be involved in my girls' schools and get to know the parents includes attending their classmate's birthday parties. I am perpetually in search of fun kid birthday gifts... preferably something easily handmade that inspires creative play and works for both boys and girls.  That's a tall order, but this gift meets all that criteria and doesn't cost a million dollars. Meet my official go to kid birthday gift, the fort building kit:

I found some inexpensive fabric shower curtains.  They worked great for this project because they have grommets along one side, which is useful for hooking/hanging the fort to things or using the bungee cords to attach it places.  I picked up most of the rest of the kit supplies at the dollar store:
a package of suction cup hooks
small bungee cords
a flash light (don't forget batteries!)
a package of plastic clips
glow bracelets
a length of rope (I found really cute woven pink rope at Jo-Anns in the trim section but they have rope at the dollar store too)

There's only a little bit of sewing involved in this project.  I cut 12" lengths of ribbon, heat sealed the ends, and sewed a little loop with long tails to each corner of the shower curtain.  The loops provide a way to hang the curtain over a bed post for example or you can use the tails to tie it to something like the rung of a chair.  I also put one loop in the center of the curtain that you can use to thread the rope through to keep the center of your fort aloft.

Lastly I sewed a quick easy draw string bag to keep it all in and made a tag so the birthday kiddo knows what this bag of crazy items is for.

Now my only worry is that I won't remember who we've made a kit for since I'm making them for everyone!

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4 comments:

Melissa Graham said...

This is an absolutely wonderful and fun idea!! Thanks for sharing.

Stitches said...

OMG I love this idea! It would be perfect for ever kid in my life!

Anonymous said...

Pictures of it in action???

Anonymous said...

This is a great idea! Small question - what do you use the suction cups for? I'm trying to envision it and am drawing a blank. :(

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