Not one to give up easily, I decided to create my own game.  I took inspiration from the cards I liked and then racked my brain to come up with more questions.  In the end I had 100 clean, laughter-inducing, conversation-provoking questions that were perfect for my girls’ weekend.

On the night of the party I passed around the questions and had each friend draw three – one to answer themselves, one to ask to anyone in the group, and one to put back.  We started the game around 8 pm and we were still playing it at 3:30 am.  The ladies loved it!  We laughed about prom dress descriptions, commiserated about house-cleaning woes, and shared stories about our lives that would never have come up in regular conversation.  It was exactly what I was hoping for.

A few months later, I created several more sets to use at a Relief Society (a LDS womens’ group) dinner.  I placed a set at each table and had the women play while they ate.  The effect was fantastic.  Women of all ages and backgrounds were able to laugh and relax together.

After the dinner, several of the women asked me where they could buy their own copy of the game.  That’s when I decided to make it official and add ChatterBox (titled after the nickname of my oldest daughter – who has been a fountain of questions from the time she could speak) to the MeckMom Etsy store.

As of today, you can purchase both the boxed set (handmade by me) or a printable set (to be handmade by you) in my Etsy shop.  The sets come with my original 100 questions but if you’d like to customize your set by adding a few questions of your own, just let me know and I’ll add them in for you.

I know I’m a bit biased, but I really do love this game.  If you’ve got a mom, sister, or good friend on your Christmas list this year, I highly recommend giving this game a try.  It would make a perfect gift!  Or better yet, buy one for yourself and share the fun at your next baby shower, girls night, or women’s meeting.  I’ve even used them at visiting teaching appointments and presidency meetings.  You just can’t go wrong when you get women talking.

I’m planning to create more sets in the future –  a group date set for teens is in the works and a family reunion set will be coming soon.  I may even create a supplement pack (25 more questions) for the Women’s Edition since it’s been so popular.  I’ll keep you posted on my progress.

Remember, if you want to win your own boxed set of ChatterBox you still have a few days to enter the “Best of MeckMom – Chatterbox Giveaway”.  Just comment on your favorite MeckMom idea on last week’s Talk To Me Tuesday post to enter.  The deadline is Tuesday night (Nov 10th) at midnight CST.  Thanks everyone, for your support.  I hope you enjoy ChatterBox as much as I have.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

As I mentioned in my last post, when my husband and I hosted our Halloween party last year we made a few changes just to keep things new and exciting.  Here are a few of the ideas we tried…

Team Bonding

One thing I love about this party is the opportunity it gives for you as a hostess to get new groups of people together.  There’s something about three hours of working as a team that really helps people get out of their shell and get to know each other on a whole different level.  Last year, we wanted to start that process a little earlier by encouraging my teams to get together before the night of the party.  When we sent out our Team Roster (a list of all the teams and the assigned captains) to all the party attendees we also issued a challenge: bonus points to any team that performed a harmless prank on another team in the week leading up to the party.  The rules were: 1 – it couldn’t cause any real damage, 2 – it had to involve at least 3 of the 6 team members, and 3 – they had to send us pictures of the prank for evidence.

I was amazed at how quickly the teams got to work.  Within 24 hours the pranks were on.  Houses were covered with balloons, cars were saran-wrapped, photos were photoshopped,  outdoor decorations were held for ransom…I could go on and on.  The effect was great.  By the time the party started, they’d already had a week of bonding and their team unity was much higher.

Buried Clue Packets

In the past we’ve had a problem with clues being disturbed or damaged when they were attached to the ingredients.  We decided to save ourselves a little trouble by giving the teams all their sealed clues at the beginning of the party instead.  We didn’t want to just hand it to them, so we gave each team a picture clue that lead to the same destination (a big water tower in our town).  The clue told them to look at the base of the water tower for their clue packets.  At the water tower, my husband had buried the plastic-wrapped clue packets in shallow graves and marked them with glow sticks and fake headstones (pictured above).  The teams had to locate their headstone and then use their hands to dig up their packet.  It was kind of a fun and eerie way to kick things off.  *One word of caution – you should have an extra set of clues on hand, just in case.  One of our teams was unable to find their clue packet in the dark and it caused a big delay for them.

Double Destinations

One of the tricky parts about hiding ingredients is that you have to find a place that is both easy to write a clue about yet hidden from outsiders.  We combated this problem last year by creating double destinations.  The clue from their packet lead the teams to a small film canister (we called these Hint Canisters).  Because the canister is small, it could be hidden in relative plain sight.  Inside the canister, there was a paper that lead them to a black box holding their actual brew ingredient (we called these Clue Boxes).  The boxes were larger so they were hidden within walking distance of the canister but in a much more discreet location.

For example, at one ingredient location the clue lead them to a large rock in a dry riverbed (it was painted with glow paint).  The film canister was hidden under the rock.  Inside the Hint Canister, the clue (again, written in invisible ink) told them to find their Clue Box at the back of a nearby cave.  Similarly, at another spot the Hint Canister was hidden in a knot of a tree near the parking lot while the Clue Box was hidden under a nearby bridge.

Blacklight Fun

Last year we had kind of a glow-in-the-dark theme to our party.  At the beginning of the party we gave each team glow bracelets and lanyards in their team color as well as one hand-held blacklight flashlight (purchased online for about $6 each).

They used the blacklights to read clues (written in invisible ink) and to find ingredients throughout the night.  For example, one ingredient was hidden on at old, abandoned waterslide park.  The clue from their packet  and the corresponding Hint Canister lead them to the top of a set of three waterslides.   They used their blacklight to find a large X painted at the top of the the correct slide and then followed the slide down to find their clue box.  *A little tip – blacklight paint can be really expensive online (the tiny bottle pictured above was about $12).  You can find glow-in-the-dark spray paint in the craft area of WalMart and it works just as well.  Fluorescent paint also glows well under blacklight but it is visible in the daytime so you have to use it carefully.  Also, whitening laundry detergent glows really well under blacklight.  I kept one of the blacklights in my purse for the month leading up to the party so I could check how different things would glow in the stores without having to purchase anything first.

Alternative Clues

Because we didn’t have to worry about attaching the clues to ingredients or having everything color-coded, we had more freedom when it came to creating clues.  Here are a few things we tried…

A rubbing on parchment of a famous town monument

An origami cat with a clue written inside to lead them to a pet cemetery

A chopped up picture of a riverbed that they had to assemble and read

A word search with all the party guests last names – the remaining uncircled letters spelled out the clue

A Google Earth satellite picture of a park with a highlight over the red train where the hint canister was hidden

A play on words with a street sign – the clue said to find the intersection of these two roads “A Pretty View” Ave. and “A Thiefs Child” St. – the actual intersection is called “Beuna Vista” Ave. and “Robberson” St.

Tiny Trophies

One last change we made was to give the winning couples a small ceramic witch hat trophy (sorry I don’t have a pic of these).  We created them by spray painting a inexpensive halloween candle holders gold.  We also had the winning team members sign our traditional GWC golden broomstick.  Since we plan to host this party every year, the broomstick should be pretty crowded with names soon.

That’s about it.  Overall, it was a great night!  I can’t wait to do it again.  Speaking of which, if hosted a party of your own last year and  tried new ideas last year that you’d like to share, please feel free to add them to the comments below.   I’m in the midst of planning the Haunted Halloween Challenge 2009 as we speak, so I’m sure I’ll have more ideas to post for next year.  Until then….just thought I’d pass it on.

• An Eye for An Eye: Often the most successful discipline takes the least amount of effort.  When my 9 year-old daughter left the lids off the markers and ditched them on the carpet (for the third time), I grabbed one of the washable markers and wrote “I love my MOM!” in big letters on her arms and forehead – then sent her out to play with her friends.  She was mortified, of course, but I’m pretty sure the message sunk in.
• Stairs to Nowhere: When I was little, my Dad would make us run laps around the house (one lap for each year of age).  I adapted this technique for my own house by making my kids run up and down our 15-step flight of stairs.  I love this one because it can be used for almost anything.  If they take 45 minutes to finish a 10 minute chore, 5 sets of stairs.  If they completely ignore me when I ask them to turn off the wii, 10 sets of stairs.  If they get out of a math test by telling their teacher I’m in the hospital having a baby, …well you get the idea.
• A Different Kind of Pillow Fight: There are few things I hate more than shouting – especially whiny shouting.  When they were little, I used to force the offenders to sit across from each other and sing the BYU fight song until they could be friendly again.  Now that they’re older I don’t have as much time to be the mediator so I’ve instituted a new rule – the kids are welcome to shout at each other as loud as they can as long as they cover their faces with a pillow and shout through it.  Generally I’ve found that the muffled result causes a lot of laughter and cools down any heated tempers.

Ok, you know the drill, I shared a few of mine now it’s time for you to share yours.  Good news!  This month I have a great little commenting incentive for you.  Mariah from the Etsy shop ‘look what Mariah Made with love‘ has generously offered to give away one of her incredibly popular Onsie Cuddle Sacs to a very lucky commenter.  These adorable little newborn garments are a perfect example of form meeting function – they’re made of gorgeous materials (don’t you just love that chunky grosgrain ribbon at the bottom?) and the clever design makes those frequent newborn diaper changes a cinch.  Whether you’ve got a little of your own or just want to have a fabulous baby shower gift on hand – you’ll definitely want to give this giveaway a try.

The giveaway will be open until next Tuesday (June 21) at midnight CST.  The winner will be chosen at random, contacted by email and announced here.  There’s no catch…you can choose any fabric you like from her collection and the shipping is included.

As always, to those of you who participate, thanks in advance for passing it on.

*This giveaway is now closed.

And the winner (chosen by the iPhone app iChoose) is #16 Rachal.  Congratulations on your big win, Rachal.  I’ll be contacting you via email tonight.  Thanks to all of you for sharing your parenting wisdom.

I have a fairly thick mattress to begin with, so adding an additional four inches of foam made it virtually impossible for my even my deep-pocket sheet set to stay in place.  It would look nice and taught while I was making the bed, but the moment I laid down I could feel the elastic corners start to creep up the edge of the mattress.  By the morning, I was left with a saggy-sheet and a crumpled bed.

My first attempt to solve the problem was a $10 set of sheet-securing straps I found at Bed, Bath & Beyond.  They promised a secure fit, but they were incredibly hard to put on and popped off all the time.  I gave up on those after only a few days.  Then, while walking through the dollar spot at Target, I found the answer I’d been looking for – elastic mitten holders.  You know, those little things that attach mittens to your kid’s coat sleeves?  I snapped up two pairs for a buck each and figured it was worth a shot.

Amazingly, my little $2 solution worked perfectly.  They were a snap to put on (literally) and they kept the sheets taught all night.  I’ve used them for several months now and I’m still a big fan.  If you’ve got sagging sheets or simply don’t want to invest in the pricy deep-pocket sheets for your thick mattress, you may want to give this simple solution a try.  You should be able to find mitten holders in the winter clearance area of any big box store or in your local dollar store.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

That’s why I was thrilled when I read a fantastic laptop-saving idea on one of my favorite blogs – ParentHacks.com.  The contributor, Marisa, recommended covering your keyboard with plastic wrap to protect it from crumbs, spills and sticky liquids in the kitchen.  I was a little skeptical at first.  I thought the plastic wrap might make it hard to use my touchpad.  Much to my delight, it worked beautifully.  I was able to navigate a web page, type and scroll without any trouble.

The first time I tried this, I cut the piece of plastic wrap so it was just big enough to cover the keyboard and tuck under the sides of the computer.  However, it was tricky to move the computer around the kitchen and didn’t protect the bottom of the laptop from my messy counters.  On subsequent tries, I found it worked best to wrap completely around the base of the laptop so the ends “grab” each other on the underside of the computer.

I’ve also found that this is a great way to protect your laptop from sticky kid fingers too.  If you share a computer with your kids, you’ll definitely want to give this simple solution a try.  Just thought I’d pass it on.