How to Celebrate the Fourth of July on a Low Budget

The Fourth of July can be a fun summer holiday to celebrate. With all of the fireworks, food, and family, its a great time to get together. You can have a fun Fourth of July without spending a lot of money. Below are some tips that can help you cut costs on foods, decorations, and have fun on this bright and fun holiday.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Coupons
• Plenty of friends and family
• A menu
• Family planning and organization
• Picnic basket
• Vivid imagination

Step 1

Watch for sales on some of your favorite Fourth of July foods at the area grocery stores. Clip coupons where necessary and stock up on everything that you will need before the holiday.

Step 2

Plan a potluck or family gathering with all of your close friends and family. Assign everybody one dish to bring, and also suggest that everybody bring some of their favorite meat to cook on the grill. This will cut the costs and some of the extra responsibility from your plate. With everybody bringing extra food and planning together, everybody can spend less money for their celebration.

Step 3

Stay at home in your local town and read the papers to find out about local events. Watch the fireworks in your hometown instead of heading out of town. Have your children participate in any of the fun games that are available. Pack a picnic and head out the park after all of the games are over, enjoy a picnic meal, and watch the fireworks under the stars

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How to Go Organize a Poetry Contest for Children

A poetry contest is a great way to involve children in literature and get them excited about reading and writing. By organizing simple rules, contacting schools or summer reading programs, you can find children who might be interested in entering the contest. The main key is letting everybody know what a great job they did even if they didn't win. Poetry contests are great for schools to hold or even libraries. Follow the tips below to organize a poetry contest for children in your area.

Things You’ll Need:
Written rules for the contest
Participation from area newspapers
Participation from area schools or libraries
Interested children to enter
Ribbons
Certificates

Step1

Decide on which age groups you would like to attract for the poetry contest. The best grades to choose would be kids who have learned how to write or spell for a few years. A great age group to try would be grades 4-6th, and perhaps junior high as well.

Step 2

Write down and form a group of rules for the poetry contest. Figure out how many lines the poem will be and the theme that the children will be writing on. You could decide on a different theme for each age group. Some ideas could be favorite animals, holidays, summer memories, even school days.

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How to Throw a Birthday Party on a Budget

Celebrating a birthday party should not put a hole in your wallet. With the help of friends, family, and some cool games or electronic devices, any party can become a day or night to remember. Here are some great tips and ideas for having birthday parties without spending a lot of money.

Instructions

Things You’ll Need:
Garage
Backyard games
Catering services
Friends and family willing to bring side dishes
Favorite movie snacks
Rental DVDs or VHS
Karaoke machine

Boom box

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Step 1

Have a backyard barbeque. Ask friends/family to bring a side dish and you can cook the meat. Have the party at home along with some fun backyard games to play such as volleyball, croquet, badmitton, Frisbee, or other fun yard games. Blast your boombox or stereo for some fun dancing, too.

Step 2

Cater food for the birthday party or buy a long sub sandwich and cut into mini sandwiches to feed everybody. Have sandwiches and chips for an affordable meal. Try restaurants such as Subway, or purchase long sub-sandwiches at Wal-mart's deli and add any of your favorite cheeses or vegetables.

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How to Create a Widget Featuring your Blog, Content, Or Website

Creating a widget that features contents from your blog, articles or website is a great way to market on the web. It allows others to subscribe to your contents and place it on other websites. Also, you can post the content on any other websites that you own, gathering different visitors from many areas on the internet. You can create a widget for free at Widgetbox.com and have it placed on your favorite website or blog within minutes.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Blog or a website
• Account at Widgetbox
• Friends who will post your widget on their website
• Other websites to post your widget on

Creating a Widget Featuring Your Blog, Content or Website

Step1
Open your internet web browser, and go to Widgetbox (see resources below).

Step2

Register for an account by clicking "Register" and fill out the simple form. They will then send you an activation email for you to sign in to your account.

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How to Make Handmade Birthday Gifts for under $10

There's no need to spend a lot of money on birthday gifts. Creating a personalized gift can be more meaningful than picking up an item at the store. With just a few supplies or a computer, you can create handmade personalized gifts for under $10 that can be made into a treasured keepsake forever.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

Construction Paper
Stickers
Markers
Stampers
Photos
Computer
Windows Movie Maker
Printer
Printer paper
Frame

Step1

Buy some construction paper, stickers, stampers, and markers or crayons. Create a handmade birthday card using some of your favorite greetings or create your own. Decorate your card with stickers, stamps, glitter, and markers.

Step2

Take some favorite photos from the birthday person. Decide on a theme such as family, friends, or birthday, etc. Use some construction paper or decorated paper that you can buy at the scrapbook store. Find some stickers to match the theme. Add a small story or description to go with the page and add to it. Create a scrapbook page that you might put into a book, and then frame it. This would make a great keepsake that can be displayed anywhere in the home or even as an office desk decoration.

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How to Stay Cheerful during a Hurting Economy

Life may seem difficult when all of the things in the world seem to be spiraling downward. High fuel costs, rising food prices, the verge of unemployment, and other downfalls of life can give us a dim outlook about our current situation. By remembering that we have family and friends who care about us, and taking time to spend moments with those in our lives, it can be easy to get through the tough times in our life. Below are some simple steps that can help you try to stay cheerful even when the moments don't seem to improve as fast as we would like them to.

Things You’ll Need:

Hope
Love
Family
Friends
Thankfulness

Step1
Take as much extra time as you can to spend it with your family and those you care about. Turn off the television and shut off the computers. Too much media in the news and digital distractions can cause stress. Get out the board games, a deck of cards, take walks, or ride bicycles together as a family.


Step2
Plan mini vacations and small get aways that won't cost alot. Pack up a picnic basket and head to the nearest park. Organize a small game of baseball, volleyball, horseshoes, or any other fun outdoor activity.

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Give a Homemade Poetry Card as a Father's Day Gift this Year

Father's Day is coming....
Read the article below for a great handmade gift for Father's Day...

There are many places where you can purchase holiday and special occasion cards. Some of them run fairly cheap, while some of them are really expensive. Every now and then, you will find a card that speaks right to you, but then, there are times when you wish you could find just that exact card that says what you want it to.

For Father's Day, there is nothing more special than creating a handmade card from his cards. A handmade father's day gift is something that will touch his heart, and be more meaningful when it is coming from those that he loves. If you and your children can't find just the right card, how about making one instead?

Some materials that you will need for this project are some pictures of your children, and you if you want. Or you could have a group photo of all of you taken too. Then you need some construction paper with the color of your choice, some markers, and some white paper. The white paper can be lined or unlined. This is where you are going to write your mini poem to that special guy on Father's Day. For decorating the card, you can get some markers, crayons, glitter, and some stickers too. This will be a card from all of you, so it can look however you would like it to.

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