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Tuesday

A Cheesy Fundraiser

Whether you think fundraisers are 'brie'lliant or not.......
CHEESE sure makes a great theme!
Especially when you're dealing with Jr. High and Sr. High students.





This church fundraiser was mostly coordinated by our pastor's wife,
who asked for a bit of help with some puns and décor from me. 
Take a look!



Our church needed to raise funds to hire a new Youth Pastor.
An idea to bring in a cheese sandwich food truck resulted in the fundraiser's theme...
(I love a cheesy theme!)


Of course there is always a very, very small budget when decorating for a church fundraiser. 

**Balloons and gift bag centerpieces to the rescue.


Balloons are (in my opinion) the easiest and most cost effective way to decorate a big space.


I simply tied up a yellow and an orange balloon and taped them to rocks for weight.  Each rock was put in a gift bag.



The tables were numbered, so I numbered each gift bag as well. Yellow tissue paper sat sticking out of each bag.



The best part of using gift bags as centerpieces, is that all the checks and donation paperwork can go directly in the bags after the evening is through...no missing money!




Plastic yellow tablecloths add lots of color as well.




On the evening of the event, the cheese sandwich truck parked itself in the church's parking lot and everyone placed their order.
(It sure helped that the weather was amazing!)

Inside the church was salad, fruit and cheesecake for dessert.
(get it?)

Each table also had lots of cheesy snacks...


Cheez-Its, cheese sticks and Cheetos were greatly appreciated by the teens!


Here's a look inside the cheese truck.


Everyone had a 'grate' evening...aw, come on- you knew I was going to put that in!  The best part is we raised enough money for a Youth Pastor.


I just HAVE to close with a cheesy joke...

What's the most religious cheese? 

Swiss cheese...cause it's the one with all the holes.
(Get it?  'Holy' cheese.)
 

Pretty bad...maybe I should try one more? 
This one is AH's favorite cheese joke...

What do you call cheese that isn't yours?

NACHO CHEESE!

Hahahaha!









Here's another 'budget-friendly' fundraiser dinner.




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It's the first day of school around here!

Both kids are in Junior High School...together. 


Our daughter is in 8th grade and our son is in 7th grade.  This year they're in the same small, private school. Not only that, but they will be in the same lunch and band class together.  Yikes!

As you can imagine, we've been discussing and 'role-playing' how to treat each other at school. 
Just the basics like:  What to call each other in the halls... meany, weirdo, little bro', shorty-- will not be acceptable.  (Please know those names are not acceptable at home, either...but especially not tolerated at school!)
We also covered no teasing, making fun of each other or taking each other's things. 
No touching, pulling, shoving, head tapping or slugging when they pass by each other. 
Yes, I think you're starting to understand our day-to-day life.

Their job is to stick up for each other, help one another and show their friends that they DO care about each other.  Can they do this and survive their Junior High experience?  We'll see.
I can not wait to hear how their first day of school went!


Both of my kids have many HEAVY and EXPENSIVE books!  Last year my daughter ripped her backpack the 2nd week of school from overloading it with her books. We had a bit of trouble taking care of the books as they were lugged around from home and school and sports.

This school year I'm trying out an idea (click on this link) to create book covers from Duck tape.
Gone are the days of paper sack book covers that would rip halfway through the semester.  Do you remember those? 
Well, check out these fancy things!


The kids chose Duck tape colors and patterns that they liked.
(There's a million choices found in the craft stores.)
 


Do not ruin the book by applying Duck Tape to the actual cover of the book, instead you'll need to create Duck Tape 'fabric' or for us oldies...create a Duck tape paper 'sack'. 

On a kitchen counter or a table, lay out strips of Duck Tape, (sticky side up) overlapping each strip a little bit, so they stick together.  Press as flat as you can without letting the tape stick to you.
Make your strips long enough to cover the length and the width of the book. 
From experience...always go a bit longer than you think you'll need.


Use a contrasting color for the inside of the book cover.
Place contrasting colored Duck tape strips directly on top of the sticky strips you just assembled.
 
Fold Duck tape 'fabric' around the book, creating a front flap and a back flap.
Trim off edges.
 
Use one more piece of tape to secure the flaps and create 'pockets' for the corners of the book to rest in.



With Composition books and subject notebooks you can apply the Duck tape directly to the cover.


Decorate just the front or both sides.
 
This can be done with Washi tape, too!
 
Make all kinds of designs and patterns.


 
Have a great school year!



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