8 yr old birthday gift guide

EIGHT! How? Why? I thought for sure I wasn't fit to shop fir a big, eight year old but these gifts were a hit! By far, my little artists favorite gift was the art cart my sister and I put together for her. You can see more of it here. Art supplies were at the top of her list. This was the first year that she didn't ask for too many toys other than a few that she asked her grandparents for. I'll share them all below. 

Bike- The cutest big girl bike. She learned how to ride a bike without training wheels this summer and was in need of the next size. She had this bike and we loved it so much. It was awesome and we will save it for Kourtney. The only request Jules had for a new bike was that it was pink and had a basket. I love the color and stye of the new one.  We have it set on the lowest seat setting and she reaches the floor with her tippy toes. We went with the 20 inch and it's the perfect size for her to grow with.

unicorn onesie - She is so into these. I got her this one and later found this white one so ordered that for Christmas. Her grandma also got her the matching robe. 

iPad case- I just got a new phone case in that exact print and she wanted the same for her iPad. I would link the one we got but the photo quality was terrible and I don't recommend. 

beanie - loved this one and might have gotten the girls every color as Christmas gifts. You can't beat $5!

Mouse- If you're following us on instagram you know we are mouse house obsessed. Jules and I decided to tackle the project of revamping her dollhouse and went on the hut for some cute "people" to live in there. She ended up stumbling upon these mice and it has proven to be the most expensive little obsession ever. But they so cute! These little guys add up so we have been gifting her and Kourtney one each birthday and plan on adding more as Christmas gifts so they can have a little family of mice. 

slippers- So cute and come in a ton of different colors. 

Easel- LOVE this table top easel. I had a hard time finding full standing easels because they were all sold out and not available until after Christmas. I wanted something with storage on the bottom for paper and supplies and couldn't find exactly what I liked. My sister is the one that suggested just getting this one and getting a rolling cart to go with it. It was the perfect idea and it all kinda spiraled from there. This easel is made from metal and surprisingly heavy. Its super sturdy and the perfect size to store away when we need. I really love that we can also put it on our dining table or move it to our back patio. We ended up spray painting it pink to match the cart. Biggest hit! Kourt is 5 and loves it just as much as Jules. So good for any age. 

Dress- We always gift the girls a "fancy" dress on their birthday that they wake up to. This one is still 40% off!

Locket- I didn't include this on the image above but this is a gift that she really loved. I added a picture of our dogs in it and she almost cried when she opened it up. I shared how I added the picture on my instagram. 

L.O.L dolls- Not on her list but Kourt wanted to go shopping for Jules and picked these out. They are perfect for birthday girls! Jules loved them. 

Here are a few other gifts that she got from her aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas that she really loved. 

Birthday art cart

At the top of Juliannes birthday list was art supplies like her grandpa and uncle have. They are artist so they have all the super cool things that they let her use when she visits. She really wanted was an easel and   canvases. Who knew easels were so hard to find. All the ones that I liked had some sort of built in storage but they were all on backorder until after Christmas. I ended up finding a table top one made with a metal frame that I really liked. I loved that it was easier to store away if we needed and something that we could fit on our dining table or easily pull outside to do some art. From there it kinda all spiraled like all my ideas usually do. I knew I wanted something to store all her supplies in so I found the cutest pink cart, decked it out with some glittery stickers, and filled it with all the girly art supplies from scented markers, to rainbow washiest tape and canvas aprons that we are going to deck out in tie dye and iron on patches. I also added a few things that we already had like paints. I love the little target acrylic paints. She loved it all! This would make such a cute gift for kids of all ages. Jules is 8, Kourt just turned 5 and she has really enjoyed using it with her sister, and I'm 34 and I dug into that cart with her. You could be never too old or too young to love some good art supplies. 

Shop the links below:

free homeschool printables

 

Enjoy! Be sure to tag me on instagram so I can see these in action.

P I N  M E 

virtual school must haves

 We are in our second full week of virtual school and finally getting into he groove of things. Wanted to share a few things that are making things run smoothly for us and allowing Jules, my 2nd grader, to easily navigate virtual school on her own. 

Touch screen chrome book - I asked a few weeks ago on my instagram account  for chrome book suggestions. Top answer was a touch screen! We ended up going with this one and highly recommend it. At first I wasn't too sure how a touch screen would be helpful but it's been so convenient for Jules. She is only 7 and hasn't had too much experience on a laptop, so using the track pad and clicking, highlighting, dragging, was difficult for her. She is comfortable with her iPad and this mimics just that. 

Headphones - We love these. All she asked for were some unicorn headphones when she started Kindergarten. We have had these since she was 5 and they have held up so well plus they're pretty cute. 

Clear caddy - I've shared this in a previous post (here). It's slowly changed and got filled with things that are needed on the daily. She filled it with markers, colored pencils, glue sticks and highlighters. The larger section holds her white board, the weekly class work schedule her teacher provides that she can easily see and check off as the day goes, she also keeps her chapter book that she reads for the week, along with her login and password sheet. Super easy and convenient to see and grab so she isn't always getting up and looking for things or asking for help. 

Stylus pen -Didn't think we needed this too much but she works on a website where she needs to type out sentences or she has the option to write them out. Again, she's 7 so she isn't the best at typing and she was falling behind while the class was moving on. So we clicked the write option but her finger was giving us super giant letters. This pen is so handy and allows her to have better control of the answers she is writing on the computer. It makes writing easy, just as if she were doing it on a piece of paper. Also another way the touch screen comes in handy, we just fold it in half, it turns into a iPad type of thing and she can lay it flat on the table and write her answers.

Laptop stand - okay, I shared this exact pink one in my stories last week and it was sold out by the end of the day. I linked a few similar ones down below.  We are working at our dining room table and don't have room for an actual comfy desk chair. I love that this has a ton of different heights it can be set at. She is sitting for long periods of time and obviously gets tired. This allows her to stand up and do her work! I also love that it brings the computer screen to her eye level. Before we got this we were  stacking books to bring it up. 

Mouse - Another super handy thing to have. This is my mouse but ended up giving it to Jules to use on one of the websites that her class uses. Just something that makes things easier for her so she's not getting frustrated and falling behind trying to figure it out. 

Fun water bottle - She loves having her very own special cup. I fill it with water and set it in her clear caddy every morning. another thing that makes things simple. No need for her to get up and ask for water and miss something. 

Tall basket - I got our basket last Christmas. We needed something to keep her school books in. She's got lots! I was looking around the house and this one worked perfectly! She keeps it next to her chair and can easily grab her books when needed. 

Blue light glasses - must have! We have these clear ones from target. They are from the big girl section but fit Jules (7) and Kourt (4) great! 

Collapsable crates - These are so cute and I love that this color matches out little school set up so perfectly. I've shared these before but we love that so much! We use these for anything and everything you can think of and stack them up in our hall closet. We have stickers in one, paints, markers, glue, glitter, you can literally use them for everything. 

School schedule - Not pictured but something that has been extremely helpful for Jules. I printed out the daily hourly schedule that she can see and cross off items as the hours pass. She is a visual person and loves lists just like me so seeing how much she's gotten done and how much she has left is super encouraging to her. 

Hope this was helpful in your virtual school learning. You've got this, mama!