First Day of School Free Printables

Today is the first day of school for Skylar and Brody!  Can't believe I have a 3rd grader and 6th grader!!  I hope all of you had a wonderful summer and ready to start the new school year.  I am still in shock that I have a middle schooler.  Where did the time go?  Even though I may have shed some tears this morning, I was happy to see that both Skylar and Brody are excited for the new school year.

I will be counting down the minutes for when they return, and I hope they talk my ear off with details of their first day.

In case school hasn't started yet in your household, here are some free printables for your first day of school photos!!  Just click on the link below and print out the grades you need! Hope you all have a great school year!

Teacher Appreciation - "You've Bean a Great Teacher" - Free Printable

It's that time of the year again!  Teacher Appreciation Week for most schools is the first full week in May.  We always enjoy spoiling our teachers and thanking them for all that they do. We really should be doing that throughout the year, but it's fun for everyone to do it all during the same week.

As always, I try to do something fun and affordable every day for all of their teachers (including Specials teachers so it can add up and get expensive quickly!) and end the week with a gift card of some sort.  I am still trying to decide what to do this year, but I was looking through some photos and found past gifts that I did not get to post here yet.

A couple years ago I found these cute tubes filled with jelly beans at my local Target.  I love that Teacher Appreciation Week is after Easter so sometimes you can find treats on clearance after the Easter holiday that isn't marked with Easter bunnies or other signs of Easter.

Thankfully I was able to find 2 different flavors so Brody and Skylar can give different flavors to their Specials teachers (since they have the same Specials teachers).  And I scored 8 of each flavor so that they had plenty for all of their teachers.

I made a cute, personalized tag that says "You've Bean a Great Teacher" to add the special touch!

It didn't take too long to add that personalized touch to all of the candy before handing to their teachers. Here are all of the tubes ready to be given to their teachers...

You can download your own free printable tags HERE or click on the photo below (yours will not include my children's names).

Print the PDF on white heavy cardstock paper.  Cut the cards out and punch a small hole to attach to the jelly bean tube.

If you are unable to find individual tubes of jelly beans, I'm sure you will find plenty of stores with bags of jelly beans on clearance right now and you can fill your own cute container.  You can find some candy tins or jars in the Wedding Favor section of you local craft store (maybe even dollar store!)  Or you can buy some online.  I love these adorable glass jars:



Or these candy tubes:



Or you can just put in little treat bags from you local craft store or dollar store. I hope you make your teachers smile next week!

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Top 5 Travel Essentials

Happy President's Day everyone! 

It's hard to believe that the school year is more than halfway over!  Do you already have your summer vacations planned out?  We are not sure exactly what we are doing yet, but I have already been browsing online and looking at various websites to get ideas for our next summer vacation.

I was inspired by Tripping.com to think of travel essentials I would never leave home without, I instantly thought hand sanitizer and daily medications.  But then I thought more about it and I realized there are several more must-haves that I can never go on vacation without packing.  Check out my top 5 travel essentials and see if any of your must-have items are on my list!  They are not in particular order, but I usually travel with all of these 5 things.

1. DSLR Camera

Without a doubt, when going on vacation, I cannot leave home without my digital SLR camera.  I own a Nikon D3200 and even though I am not a trained photographer, this camera really takes amazing photos and makes it seem like I'm a pro!

I can catch my kids at their best moments, giving each other big hugs...

Or I can capture beautiful scenery to help remind us of the locations of our fun vacations...

(Interested in visiting Florida yourself?  You can check out Florida vacation rentals on Tripping.com)

And it is definitely a must-do to take a photo of famous international landmarks!

 

And even better, if I pack our tripod and camera remote control, I can take a picture of the entire family!

2. Swimsuits

Unless we are going on a ski trip, I almost always pack swimsuits.  They are small enough to throw into the luggage, because you never know if you want to just relax and spend the day on the beach or your hotel pool.

And both my kids are like little fish, they are great swimmers and could spend the whole day in the ocean or in a swimming pool.

3. Matching Family Attire

Ok, so I admit this is a little weird.  I probably add extra stress when it comes to packing our suitcases, but I pack a couple or more matching outfits for the family to wear. They don't have to match exactly, but I like to pick outfits that are in the same color scheme and that look good in photos, so I know for sure that our clothes will not be an issue and clash in the photos that I take.

Before packing these outfits, I usually lay them out on the floor and take a picture of the group of outfits so I remember them when we get to our destination.  If you need ideas, you can check out my Pinterest Board filled with family photo outfit ideas.

And if you end up not packing these matching outfits, you can always buy some during your vacation!

I think I already mentioned the following two travel essentials earlier, but here they are anyways...

4. Hand Sanitizer

Of course I am going to pack my handy dandy hand sanitizer.  There are germs everywhere, especially when we fly on an airplane, better safe than sorry, right?

5. Medications

This is the boring stuff, but any daily medications are packed into my carry-on bag so in case we get separated from our luggage, we still have our medications!

And finally, although it is not an actual "item" to pack.  I always go on a vacation with an open mindset and ready to say YES to adventure!!  Whether it's riding horses on the beach, going on a wooden raft down a river in Jamaica, and even doing a ropes course on a cruise ship and walking the plank over the middle of the ocean,  vacations are perfect for making incredible family memories!

So what travel essentials are on your list? Hope you have fun planning your next vacation!

Sweet Metel Moments is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Summertime Christmas Party Inspiration

We survived the first week of school, woohoo!  Brody and Skylar both love their teachers and I am happy to report that my kids are currently enjoying school.  Skylar always loves going to school, but Brody prefers sleeping in, going on vacations, and the lazy days of summer.  So I was really surprised and happy to hear him say one morning before school last week, "I'm excited to go to school today".

Now that the kids are back in school, I finally have some time to blog again.  And since Christmas in July is a popular thing in the blogging world, I thought I would create an inspiration board for a summertime Christmas party.  I know it's August already, so I missed the whole "Christmas in July" fun, but in reality, living in Florida, it can feel like a summer day when December 25th comes around so you can use the inspiration for a winter Christmas party in Florida as well.

When it comes to planning any party, I instantly think of what the kids would want.  So when planning this inspiration board, I pictured a fun after-school play date in our back patio with Brody and Skylar and their friends.  So there would be lots of finger foods (both sweet and healthy), and frozen hot chocolate as their drinks (and dessert!). As for decor, I would use some fun polka dot and striped printables that I created for a family Christmas party a few years ago.  I am obsessed with polka dots and stripes when it comes to party decor! Just click on the links below to go to the original source of inspiration.

1. Frozen Hot Chocolate

2. Cheese, Cracker, and Sausage Christmas Tree

3. Melted Snowman Bark

4. Watermelon Christmas Trees

5.  Sweet & Jolly Christmas Party Printables by Sweet Metel Moments

I found this super-cute card from Paperless Post that would match my polka-dot themed decor.  Click on the photo below to check it out, or go HERE to check out their whole Christmas card collection.

Hope this post inspires you to get ready for the holiday season, better early than late! :-)

First Day of School Photos 2016 - Free Printables

The summer has flown by!  We had an amazing time together as a family.  I hope to post more pictures of our UK trip and travel tips from our summer break.  In the meantime, it is time to get ready for back to school!  I've already seen back to school photos from friends and family on social media.  I love seeing their cute smiling faces with their new bookbags and lunchbags.  

As a tradition, I take first day of school pictures of Brody and Skylar.  It is hard to believe how much they have grown up and changed in the past few years.  Here are some pictures from the past...

If you need a printable to add to your back to school photos, just click HERE or the photo below and print what your need for your child!

I hope everyone has a wonderful first day back to school and an awesome school year!