Since I'm stuck to this office desk for some hours, there is time to plan my coming weeks IN GREAT DETAIL! Birthday gifts and parties are on the near horizon and I want to do everything on a shoestring.

February contains both my kids' birthdays, followed by Valentine's day 72 hours later. And I threw in a modest neighborhood Superbowl party to kick off the month.

Here's the plan of the SuperBowl Kick Off--

Football Invites on the Go. My son is big into football this year so I decided to have a very casual open house on Superbowl Sunday. We don't really care about the game, but there's a few new neighbors on our street and this is a good time to get everyone to meet. We're a close knit street and there's less excuse to help each other out in coming years if they've all met.

Most of the neighbors are on email and they received invites on the computer. Those few who aren't received smart funny invites I made ON THE GO.

Since I didn't have much time at home to make cards, I just took the whole project with me when waiting while my daughter practiced ice skating for an hour. It all fit in a school folder.

blank cards
glue
scissors
colored paper scraps
Sports section of the Sunday paper
Pen or marker

1. Cut out newspaper pictures of football logos, helmets, scores, words such as 'touchdown', etc.

2. Using colored paper scraps, cut out a goal post.

3. Glue the goal post to the card front.

4. Glue a newspaper cut out helmet or logo or part of a player - I cut out some of the players heads (which usually had a great yelling or tackling expression) in a pleasing arrangement on the front. You can overlap a bit of the goal post for example.

5. Glue a couple words on the card front in a pleasing arrangement. I used the words 'Sunday' and 'NFL'.

6. Inside use a marker and write the WHAT: WHEN: WHERE: stuff.

7. On the left inside, glue another bit of newspaper graphics or words. I put another player's head which had a great yelling expression and drew a cartoon text bubble with a pen that said inside, "Be There!".

It looked hilarious.

Use this concept for any party theme. For an Easter or spring party, grab a Gardening or Home magazine and cut out plant stuff! There's tons of ads in the sunday newspaper with pictures of foods, sports, etc.

I made these general party invitations a long time ago and they can be customized for any subject:


Pack of 6 party invitations in a ransom style. Inside contains 'Or Else' and the who/what/where stuff. Great for getting your guests off their butt! Order here.

Watch upcoming posts for How To: Party Decorations on a Shoestring, On The Go!