funny bone

#1 = Itchi

The Holidays are just around the corner — I’m not joking.
And birthdays keep showing up every year– LOTS of them!
It’s hard to be thoughtful and frugal at the same time —

We obviously need to be  —  C R E A T I V E.

Ever try to–

MAKE YOUR OWN GIFTS?

Remember when I told you how to  make your own soundtrack as a DIY gift? It’s easy, fun,  and cheap!

Well I came up with my latest DIY idea for this little guy, Owen — he lives in my building, right down the hall.  When his mom, Sara needs to run errands, I do a little babysitting.

Ahhh yes, an out-of-work Actress, living the dream…

O is a total riot! He’s been completely obsessed with anything Japanese since he fell in love with his preschool teacher, Junko.
Udon Soup is his favorite food. Japan is his favorite country. Yesterday when he came over, we watched the original KARATE KIDwhile he taught me how to make Rice Balls, barefoot. (Speaking of Karate Kid, have you noticed that Don Draper’s Secretary on MAD MEN is Daniel’s Mom from Karate Kid? Crazy, right?)

So for O’s 5^th birthday I decided to make him something Japaneseque. I Googled “Counting in Japanese” and VOILA!… (yeah, I know it’s French, but I don’t know how to say “Voila!” in Japanese). Wait a sec– I’ll just Google it. Oh —  it’s: “ほら”…

I see pictures and hear sounds on Youtube and decide to–
create my own “COUNTING IN JAPANESE” FLASHCARDS!

I go to Google Images and find a picture for each sound. Then I print each one out. Then I glue each picture to a piece of card stock and add a colorful stick-on number.

I make one card for each number:

• 1. Ichi (a kid scratching)
• 2. Ni (a knee)
• 3. San (sand)
• 4. Shi or Yon (girl yawning)
• 5. Go (“Go” sign)
• 6. Roku (big rock + the letter “U”)
• 7. Nana (a granny)
• 8. Hachi (an egg hatching)
• 9. Kyu (the letter “Q”)
• 10. Ju (juice)

Needless to say, O is beyond thrilled with his present. Now O, Sara and I ALL know how to count in Japanese. It’s actually a great gift for anyone 5 to 95 because it’s so easy and so much fun (unless you’re Japanese, then it might be really boring). O and I found another video on the youtube that gets us up to 20. And the crazy thing about Japanese is that once you know how to count the lower numbers, you can totally figure out the bigger numbers, so now we can go up to 100 or more!

Not only did I do a nice thing for O, but now if I ever get an audition for a Japanese speaking part, I can totally go out for it. (Assuming they want me to stick to numbers) Ahaha!

What creative gifts have you come up with?
Please share!

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