How to Throw An Owl-O-Ween Party

Let’s all pretend that the picture above is styled better with that wire rim propping Sir Owl up hidden out of sight. Because when I came home to take the real picture my dining room looked like a chicken slaughter house and Sir Owl had gone from the fluffy little guy so full of life above to a featherless zombie, below.

Long story short, 2 dogs + 1 feathery owl decoration (even when placed “really high up”) = how NOT to have an owl-o-ween party. Scroll below for some better ideas.

xo, Steph

Last week we were talking about easy ways to get people together and build community. For the past month I’ve been dreaming of putting together a Happy Owl-O-Ween party and sending out a big evite to all of our friends. The hubster and I weren’t able to pull that off this year, but Steph and I were still able to pull together everything you’d need to throw the best Owl-O-Ween party ever.

Sweet Bonnie Christine | Mahalo | Mr. Printable

These woodland creature masks are super adorable and make dressing up for Owl-O-Ween easy. The Bonnie Christine printable masks are only $5.00 for all four on Etsy (you can print as many copies of the four as you need to), the woodland felt masks are a splurge at $58.00 for seven masks, but the printable masks by Mr. Printable are totally free.

Wee Society

Wee Society’s paper bag animals are made from grocery bags using the instructions on their website.

Better Homes and Gardens

Owl pumpkins. Need I say more? Better Homes and Gardens has a super simple tutorial at the link above.

Amelie’s House

These cute little owls are made from cupcake liners. I can’t get enough of them, and I love the idea of these little guys perching around the house for the holiday.

Lauren McKinsey

You can hang an Owl-O-Ween gift tag on paper bags for easy favors, and the best part is it’ll cost less than two dollars.

Papercrave| domestifluff

I mean c’mon. Seriously… you get enough of these? Both Papercrave and domestifluff offer free printables for the best owl gift boxes ever.

Lilly Bimble

And last but not least, easy things for your e-vite or invitation. Lilly Bimble’s Owl-O-Ween clipart can be downloaded instantly from etsy for only five bucks and then used to make the cutest printable invitations, Facebook event invite photo, email evite, or whatever else you’d want to make with pictures of owls in hats.

Create the Cut

Or you can just throw feathers on everything, with this great clipart from Create the Cut.

So that’s it. What would you add for an Owl-O-Ween party? 

How Do We Love Our Community?

A few years ago Emily at Chatting at the Sky and her sister, The Nester, posted a series of posts on creating opportunities to get together in community and form friendships. They called it building a bench. I heard about that series of posts at this year’s (in)RL life conference in April. In a video, a bunch of different women from all over the place talked about how much the bench concept had changed their lives.

So today finally – after months of thinking about bench building, mind you – I actually read the posts. They’re good. Like, really good.

Let’s read them together…

Chatting at the Sky – The Bench

Nesting Place – On Friendships Part 2: Build an Automatic Bench (Part 1 is good, too! I shared that on our FB page yesterday.)

Two years ago, before the hubster and I were married, we hosted a monthly dinner and a movie night at my apartment. We watched a different Harry Potter movie each month counting down to the last Harry Potter movie, which we planned to see together in theaters. Each month we’d pick a different food theme: Potter and potatoes, Potter and paninis, Potter and pasta, Potter and pizza, etc. We asked people to RSVP and bring one ingredient toward the meal. Then we cooked a bunch of food together and watched a movie.

It was awesome. Some of our best friendships were formed.

We’ve been dying to host a monthly dinner and a movie series ever since, but somehow all of the busy lives in our group of friends have gotten in the way. There have been multiple weddings and vacations and new jobs and new apartments and the last two summers passed by without a single dinner and a movie series.

I’ve discovered that for me, building a bench – a regular date and time to get together with others – is essential to community. As we’re talking about God’s best in our communities this week, one of the things I want the most is to build another bench for my people to gather on. And maybe some new people, too.

It’ll probably be another dinner and a movie series, because there are few things that people like more than food and movies and sitting on the couch (easy interaction = yay!). But the hubster and I also have fantasies of forming a monthly cooking club and other fun activities.

What about you guys? What’s your favorite way to get together with others? What would you do if you were involved in a monthly get together of some kind?

Follow along with 31 Days to More of God’s Best and Less of the Mess with the outline at the bottom of this post or click the button below.

The Intro Stuff

What Does More of God’s Best and Less of the Mess Mean?
How to Get Involved
Where Does the Best Come From?
Free 8×10 Scripture Art Printable of 1 John 4:4b
Guest Post: More of God’s Best in My Life (Krystle)
A Dose of Hope and  Preview of What’s to Come

God’s Best in Your Life

Why Does Loving Yourself Matter?
How Do We Love Ourselves Best?
Eight Things for More of the Best in Your Life
Free 4×6 Scripture Art Printable of John 3:30

God’s Best in Our Families

The Best for Our Families: Why Loving Our People Matters
How to Share God’s Best at Home
Seeing the Beauty in the Undone
Six Things for Loving Our People Well
Dose of Hope: Philippians 2:3-4

God’s Best in Our Community

Why Loving our Community Matters
We Were Made for More

Original photo of Bench Along Limberlost Trail Shenandoah National Park Virginia by Dave Herman (dherman1145) from flickrcreativecommons. Adapted for this post by Stephanie Oh.

Four Fun Things For a Birthday

This weekend marked two birthdays ’round here. Why not celebrate with a round up of adorable and affordable ideas for a super fun birthday celebration for the people in your life?

ice cream tacos via yourhomebasedmom.com

Ice cream tacos. Hear me out on these. For those of us on a healthier diet, why not whip these up with brown rice tortillas (gluten-free, yeast-free), a big scoop of Coconut Bliss or So Delicious (both sugar-free, dairy-free, gluten-free), and agave nectar in place of the corn syrup. Here are the ingredients I’d use: Food for Life brown rice tortillas, Coconut Bliss or So Delicious sugar-free, agave nectar, Sunspire chips, cinnamon + stevia or coconut sugar. If you make them, holla and let me know how they are.

tissue paper flower via michael ann made

My friend taught a few of us how to make larger versions of these for her wedding, and I couldn’t believe how easy and pretty they are! This version is smaller, making it great for centerpieces, decorations tied to stair rails or taped to the wall, or bows on gifts. Click through for the full tutorial on michael ann made and check out this great pack of multi-colored tissue paper on Amazon (made in the USA)!

birthday card pack via ferrever paper products

These handmade birthday cards from Ferrever Paper Products come out to just $2.00 a card, way cheaper than specialty cards in the store and also way nicer. I love having bday cards on hand to send to friends and family members with a little note, and guess what else I love? Buying straight from the maker! Win win.

honeycomb garland via oh happy day

Can we pause in collective unison over how beautiful this honeycomb garland is? Apparently it’s even easy to make, which means I’m bookmarking it and looking for excuses. See the instructions at Oh Happy Day and the honeycomb balls for $1.29 each on Amazon (also made in the USA!).

How do you like to celebrate? Share your ideas and finds with us in the comments!