DIY birthday presents

I don't know about you, but I am dreading Annika going to school for one reason.  Birthday parties.  I am going to assume that she will be invited to some.  That part is fine, I'm glad she'll have friends, it's just the cost of going to multiple birthday parties.  It adds up.  We usually have an approximate $20.00 gift limit on presents, so if you add that on to our gift budget after cousins, it starts to grow quite a bit. 

Annika was invited to a birthday party last weekend for a church friend of hers.  Bree is such a sweetie.  Watching the two of them together is so cute, they have a love/hate relationship.  I think that's probably because they're 4 and 5.

Annika decided that we should make Bree a present.  I'm all for that.  Sometimes the handmade presents are more memorable. 

I saw this tutorial on Pinterest (where else?) and was originally planning on making it for my girls.  Then, while shopping at Wal-Mart, I found the cutest towel that looked like a watermelon.  Since there was only one, I changed my mind and decided to make my first one for Bree. 

The front

The back

 Annika wanted to make something for Bree herself, so she suggested making play dough.  We picked pink (Bree's favourite color) and then Annika added sparkles to make it more fun. 

Both presents were a hit, so we might have to make them part of our repertoire.