Monday, February 7

Valentine's Soiree {A Children's Party}

Last year about this time my girls and I hosted a sweet Valentine's party for their friends. With both of my daughter's names beginning with the letter "M," I decided on a "M & M Sweet Shoppe" theme. A week or so before the party, we hand delivered some lollipop style invitations, with "M & M Sweet Shoppe" on one side and the invitation information on the other. We attached them to lollipop sticks, wrapped them up in cellophane and added a little ribbon to dress them up a bit. It was a fun way to let their guests know that something special was in store.

By using almost all store-bought baked goods and snacks and sprucing them up a bit, the party was relatively simple to put together and easy on the budget, too. I had set a budget of $100, and came pretty close to that figure in the end even with the crafting supplies added in.

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I made the cupcakes and cake myself, which saved some money as well. It was my first experience using marshmallow fondant, and I have to say, it wasn't all that difficult, even for a newbie, and it tasted great! I've heard horror stories about the "cardboard" taste of fondant, but with this recipe, marshmallow fondant makes a pretty tasty treat. I made my own rice crispy treats, too, but added a little melted white candy coating and sprinkles to the tops for color.



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I used Oreo cookie sticks and Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies and covered those with white chocolate candy coating and sprinkles as well. The pudding parfaits were a combination of store bought pink (cotton candy flavor) pudding and some vanilla pudding tinted red that I made at home. I added a little whip cream on top and put the parfaits in champagne glasses which, of course, the girls loved.

Using various red and pink candies in jars and adding some sweet labels really dressed up the dessert table, as did the pink and red poms that I made from tissue paper to hang over the table. A few M&M's, some Hershey's kisses and some marshmallow twist lollipops I bought at Walmart rounded out the treats.

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After a few snacks, the girls were ready to begin crafting. I created a simple project for them and had all of the supplies ready and cut out before the girls arrived that day. Each child had a small terra cotta pot filled with green tissue paper, and they were to make their own Valentine's rose bouquet to take home with them. I used white, pink, hot pink and red felt and cut out circles for the roses. Then on each circle I drew a spiral from the outside edge, circling around until I reached the center of the circle. Then I cut each spiral out.

It was a little time consuming since each girl needed 6 or 7 roses to finish the vases, but it was a simple task that I worked on while watching TV one night. And I have to say, if you're going to have crafts with kids, it's always worth the extra effort to have the craft supplies ready to go at party time. Then it's just a matter of a few easy directions and a few steps for the kids, and they've created their own little masterpiece.

It was such a wonderful party and so nice to have a little "girl-time" with my kids and their friends. I hope it inspires you to throw a little girly soiree of your own!
Linked to: Craftomanic, Skip to My Lou, Making the World Cuter, Blue Cricket Design, Tip Junkie, Life as Lori, My Delicious Ambiguity, House of Hepworths, Craft Edition, Today's Creative Blog, Crafts Keep Me Sane, Under the Table and Dreaming, Funky Junk Interiors, Tater Tots and Jello, The Girl Creative, Sumo's Sweet Stuff
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Thursday, February 3

{Customer} Superbowl Party Decor!


Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?? I know some Green Bay Packers and some Steelers fans who are definitely ready! With the BIG game this weekend, I thought I'd share some cute photos a party-girl friend of mine, Melissa of Buckets of Grace, sent me using some of the Shindig Parties TO GO Superbowl Printables.


Melissa made some adorable Game-day centerpiece signs using the plain striped pennants that come in the Printables Collection and a few other supplies like small wood dowels, some ribbon and a football graphic. She added a wide piece of ribbon around the center of the jar, a 2" party circle to the front, and some color-coordinated ribbon hanging from the pennants. So cute!


Melissa also used the 8.5" x 11" sign that comes with the printables to embellish her over the mantle wreath display and cheer her team on.


Melissa, thanks so much for sharing these pictures with us -- I can't wait to see what you do with the rest of the Superbowl printables. I just love all of your creativity!



And just in case you're more "into" the black and gold, I've got a Steelers version in the shop, too. These are huge collections and specially priced at only $19 this week for the game, so hurry on over and get started today on your own fun Superbowl decorations.



And while we're talking football, how about these great football cake balls from Bakerella. The girl has mad talent, don't you think? She's got another cute idea here, too:



Visit Bakerella to get all of the how-to details on these adorable and relatively easy football field cupcakes.



This is a great idea, too. Astro-turf football coozies from Green Bean Crafterole. So simple and quick to make but such a great addition to a football party.




And how about this Chili and Grilled Cheese Footballs from Family Fun?
My kids might even eat these.




Or these game-day deviled eggs from Southern Living and My Recipes...



And if you REALLY want to go all-out, try this "Junk Food" Stadium from Holy Taco......
it might be a heart attack-waiting-to-happen,
but I'll have to give them a thumbs up for creativity!

Have a great day today -- only one more day til the weekend!


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Tuesday, February 1

More Cute Valentine's Treats!

With so many fabulous ideas out there for Valentines Day projects, I thought I'd share a few more today. And these are truly so simple that you could whip them up in minutes with a few store-bought ingredients. First up.....


It doesn't get much cuter than this!
"Love-Bug" Marshmallow Pops from the Decorated Cookie.
I LOVE THESE!


And the next goodies are all from Suzie's Confections, using all easy-to-find ingredients such as these large pretzel sticks and covering them in melted candy coating and sprinkles.


Buy a bag of fortune cookies and dip them in the candy coating and sprinkles, too.
These would make a great favor for friends and teachers.





These are chocolate covered rice krispy bites.


And graham cracker sticks covered in chocolate and sprinkles rounds out the super-easy, super-quick Valentines' ideas. I love all of these projects because they allow even busy moms a way to have fun and be creative with the kids.

Only a week or so before those classroom parties -- we better get on the ball!
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Valentine's Treats - Yum!

I'm finding and sharing some more cute Valentine's treats today from across the web. Some are super easy, too, which is always helpful around a busy holiday with classroom parties and all the rest. I love these ideas because they translate well into party themes of all kinds, not just Valentines. Change the sprinkles.... the frosting colors, etc. and you can make them work into your own child's birthday party theme.


Heart shaped Cookie Pops from the Idea Room using a "play-dough" cookie dough recipe (it's not really play dough, in case you're a little worried..... it just works like play dough for easy molding.)




And another super cute creation from the Idea Room, a stuffed-cookie with Valentine's sprinkles. Talk about easy! Wrap them in cellophane with some sweet Valentine's ribbon and hand them out to classroom friends.



And how adorable are these marshmallow pops from The Decorated Cookie? Using food markers makes this activity simple and quick, too.




LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this version of ice cream cone cupcakes from Girl.Inspired!


Talk about cute..... just look at that "spilled" cone!




Heart-shaped cake pops from Oopsey Daisy with a great tutorial, too.



And my favorite idea of all from Bakerella, using only store-bought
OREO Cakesters and a small cookie cutter.





Now there's no excuse at all for not whipping up a little something special
for Valentine's Day -What a perfect after school activity!

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