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Gruffalo Party Food and Movie Night

2013
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We have been having so much fun with The Gruffalo and the Virtual Book Club for Kids this month!  Our friends at The Gruffalo North America sent us a copy of The Gruffalo DVD (affiliate link) to watch so we decided to invite some friends over for a Gruffalo Movie Party!

Gruffalo Party Food: Cupcakes, Brownie Bites, and Popcorn Mix!

I came up with three Gruffalo themed snacks for the kids to try while they watched!

Gruffalo Cupcakes from Coffee Cups and Crayons

The Gruffalo cupcakes were just chocolate frosted cupcakes with candy on top.

The horns and teeth were cut up marshmallows
The eyes were orange M&Ms with gel icing
The ears were Raisinets
The nose was part of a Dot candy

Quick tip:  Use your kitchen scissors to cut your candy to shape.

Gruffalo Footprint Brownie Bites

To make the Gruffalo footprint brownie bites you can just make brownies in a mini muffin pan…or just buy them from the bakery section at the grocery store like I did!  Then just pipe white frosting onto the top to look like his footprint and they are ready to eat!

Gruffalo Popcorn Mix

And since it was a movie party I made a Gruffalo popcorn mix for the kids to munch on!  The mix was made of popcorn, orange M&Ms, Raisinets, mini-marshmallows, and peanuts.

Once all the food was ready it was time to watch The Gruffalo!  My kids had been waiting all week so were super excited and they were not disppointed–the movie was a hit!  The kids loved the narration and graphics and I appreciated how true to the book it was while still keeping us interested enough to see what would happen next.  We definitely recommend it and have already watched it twice!

Head on over to The Gruffalo YouTube channel to watch a sneak peak of the movie!

For even more Gruffalo party inspiration check out:

The Gruffalo Facebook page

The Gruffalo on Pinterest (there are TONS of fun ideas on their boards!)

Toddler Approved’s Gruffalo Crumble

Eats Amazing’s Gruffalo Themed Lunch

Mama Pea Pod’s Adorable Birthday Party

Linking to:

VirtualBookClub

Disclosure:  The Gruffalo sent us a copy of the DVD to review but did not sponsor this post in any other way.  All opinions are my own. :)

Filed Under: Birthday Parties, Reading Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Go Orange for Hunger: Super Hero Capes

2012
16 Comments

Today we have invited all of our friends to a Hunger Hero play date at the park in support of No Kid Hungry’s Go Orange days.  All of the kids are bringing food donations for our local food bank–and turning into Hunger Heroes!  I made bright orange capes for all of our Hunger Heroes to wear out of plastic tablecloths from the Dollar store.

They were super easy to make!

You can get 8 capes out of 1 108 inch table cloth.  I began by unfolding the tablecloth and using the folds to cut the tablecloth in half, and then into fourths, and finally into eighths. You end up with a 27 inch cape.

Then I folded the top corners in to make a cape shape.  Next I used scissors to poke a hole where each shoulder would be and tied a piece of yarn through each of the holes to tie the cape on.

And voila–a Hunger Hero!  I can’t wait to give these out at the play date this afternoon!

I am proud and excited to join Moms Fighting Hunger in supporting No Kid Hungry’s Go Orange for hunger days!  The statistics on childhood hunger in America are shocking.  1 in 5 kids in America are affected by hunger, that’s over 16 million kids.  And we’re not the only country facing this problem.

Moms Fighting Hunger aims to help you find ways to help in your community.  All month long bloggers have teamed up to share the many ways you and your kids can get involved.  Follow us and join in the fun!

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/MomsFightingHunger

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/MomsFightHunger

Pinterest:  http://pinterest.com/stacyofksw/moms-fighting-hunger/

This is a Moms Fighting Hunger Blog Hop!  So go and check out all the awesome ideas!

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Filed Under: Birthday Parties, Special Days Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Letter P Pancake Themed Activities

2012
13 Comments

After school got out for the summer my oldest went to camp each morning for a week.  The younger two were bummed they were missing out on all the fun so we invited some of their friends over for a pancake themed play date!

Everyone wore their pajamas to get into the letter P and pancake spirit and we started off the fun by making pink pig noses! (Did you catch all the P words so far?) We talked about the sounds animals make and how letters make sounds too.  Instead of oinking they pretended that they were pigs that said, “Puh!” and had lots of fun puh-ing around the pretend pig pen.

*Note: I wrote puh with the uh because it was the closest I could get to spelling the P sound.  When making the P sound you actually want to make sure your jaw is dropping and there isn’t any “uh” sound at all.  It’s more of a lip popping sound and motion.  Teaching kids the correct way to make each sound helps them as they start to put the sounds together to read and spell words.*

After being little piggies they were ready to read!  We read If You Give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff which is one of our favorites.  The kids love to predict what the pig will ask for next and as you can tell by the title there are lots of P words to play with.  After we read and discussed the story the kids got to put their noses back on and “puh” when we found the letter P.

If You Give a Pig a Pancake is a circular story, the plot line literally comes full circle, so what better way to sequence the story events than on a round pancake!  They all did a fantastic job of recalling story events and then placing them in order–such a great book to use to work on these skills.

By this time the kids were ready for a snack so we painted some pancakes to eat!  My husband premade a bunch of pancakes for the kids the night before and they used a mix of food coloring and 2% milk to paint designs on the cold pancakes.

Then I put them in the oven to warm and dry the designs while they kept painting.  I love how fun the colors look on the pancakes–we usually only paint toast and I can’t wait to do this again.  It would be so much fun for a birthday breakfast!

While they ate the 4 year olds played with our word chunk sliders.  The first word the “an” chunk slider makes is pan so it was perfect to start with.  They had fun sliding the stick to make and read the different “an” words and came back to them later to work with other word families too.

Then it was time for some games!  They had a blast with the pancake relay.

But the pancake toss was much more fun for me as a spectator!  It was hysterical to watch them practice their gross motor skills by trying to toss and catch the pancakes.  There were definitely a lot of giggles during this one!

After some games we practiced writing Ps a couple ways and then turned the letter P into a picture!  The 2 and 3 year olds made the P into anything they wanted and the 4 year olds turned their Ps into pictures of P words–including a great big pizza!

Then it was lunch time!  More pancakes, of course.  Each of them got a pancake pig, scrambled eggs, OJ, berries, syrup, and even some mini-chocolate chip pancakes!

 After lunch we had time for one last game–pillow case races! There are so many fun things you can do with pancakes and the letter P.

What other If You Give a Pig a Pancake activities have you done?

Linking up to:

kids crafts

Lasso the Moon

Filed Under: Birthday Parties, Food, Learning Activities, Reading, Themed Parties, Writing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Batman Birthday Party!

2012
12 Comments

Someone turned 4 last week!!!  And had his heart set on a Batman themed birthday party. So, we ordered some cool Batman capes from Sew Plain Jane and invited his friends and cousins over to have some fun!  At the last minute I made the girls Batman shirts using Heat and Bond and some polka dot material.  The birthday boy is, of course, already well stocked in the superhero shirt department!

We had a bounce house and Batman tattoos for the kids to enjoy as they arrived.  Then once all of the guests got there we passed out the capes and got ready for some superhero training!  The first stop was the Super Strength area.  To be a real bat friend the kids had to show us how super strong they were by lifting the dumbbell.  They also did their best superhero pose in front of the awesome photo backdrop that my friend Elaine made for me.  She came over to help me with it and ended up doing the whole thing–a super friend for sure!

The backdrop is just a white sheet tacked to the fence with card stock signs and stars taped to it with double-sided tape.  Elaine cut everything out on her Cricut using the Cricut Plantin SchoolBook font on the roly poly setting and I love the way it turned out!  To make the dumbbell my husband stuck a dowel into the middle of two foam soccer balls from Target (he made an X with a knife where the stick was going to go to make it easier to push in.)  Then he spray painted the whole thing black and we had a super easy and cheap dumbbell for our little superheros!

Next up was the Splash the Villian task.  It is hot and humid here in FL and I wanted to make sure to work some water fun into the party to help cool things off.  For this game the kids threw water balloons at all of the Batman villians I had laminated and stapled to the fence.  Once all of the villians had gotten wet their task was completed!

The last training activity was Sound like a Superhero.  I got the idea from one of my favorite blogs, Critters and Crayons, who threw an awesome superhero themed party for her son.  She rolled out 100 square feet of bubble wrap for the kids to run and jump on to make Pop! Pow! and Bam! superhero sounds.  Such a fantastic idea!  We didn’t have a long path to play on so we wrapped plywood with the bubble wrap and let the kids go crazy.  They had a BLAST making superhero sounds!

FYI: If you are planning a superhero party you must check out all the cool superhero desserts and party ideas on her blog!

Once the little bat friends had completed their training they got a call on the bat phone!  Batman and Robin were frozen by Mr. Freeze and the new superheroes needed to save them.  But before they could reach them they had to make it over the beam and through the noodle forrest.  Luckily the bat friends were professionals and were able to use the water squirters to save the day!

I saw the frozen Batman and Robin idea on Green Jello and immediately knew we had to try it!  I see this becoming a fun summer staple!

After all that hard work the superheroes needed some refreshments.  We served super “hero” sandwiches, aka subs, and chips and fruit.  Simple and easy.  The kids’ placemats were comic book pages and the sides were served in Batman buckets we found on clearance in the dollar section at Target.

I ordered Batman printables for the cake table from Anders Ruff and loved how they turned out!  I made my own cake (which is obvious in the close up shot!) and cookies and bought the rest from SuperTarget.

The Batman fondant cookie toppers are from The Cake Diva.  (And they would have looked even cuter if my icing wasn’t running all over–picture them centered to get the full effect!)

You know the party was a success when you get this kind of smile at cake time!

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Tangled Art Birthday Party!

2012
7 Comments

When my niece turned 6 a couple months ago my sister threw her the coolest Tangled art party!  They planned tons of fun activities and we had a blast!

When the kids arrived they each got to decorate their own art smock and play pin the bow on the braid.  The yarn braid is not only a fun party game, but would be a great place to store clip and ribbons in a bedroom or bathroom.

Once the smocks were ready they put them on and headed out back to make a huge group mural on huge inside-out cardboard boxes.

They also made rings, decorated flower magnets, and each got to paint their very own canvas to take home!

And how cool was this lunch???  The kids each got their own “starving artist” bag lunch, paint brush fruit kabobs served in a paint can, and orange slice boats on Jell-O water!  All served on artist palette placements my sister made out of foam sheets!

Instead of a traditional cake my sister made Rapunzel’s tower out of glazed donuts, a cupcake, and a frosted waffle cone!  There were also artist’s palette cupcakes and paint brush rice krispies treats!  A fabulous party for the sweet little 6 year old!

Filed Under: Birthday Parties, Crafts Tagged With: , , , ,

Cowgirl Birthday Party Ideas!

2012
8 Comments

Yee haw!  A cowgirl party is so much fun and can be easy to do.  Most of the details you’ll see in our party were put together just days before the party.  Well, except for booking the horses, those were set as soon as we had a party date — they are a very important part of the party!  We had 2 horses come to the first hour of the party to ensure the kids would get plenty of rides and the kids had a blast!

We had two different play areas set up to occupy the guests while they were waiting to ride — the Craftin’ Corral and Rodeo Tricks!

In the Rodeo Tricks section they could blow bubbles, jump rope, hula hoop, and twirl batons.  At the Craftin’ Corral they could make horse themed door hangers and decorate wooden horses.

We also had a photo area with lots of cool props for the girls to use to dress up with and get their photos taken.  I love photos with an oversized frame!  We gathered all props from our indoor dress-up box and Halloween bin and made the frame by cutting and nailing together leftover pieces of floor molding and spray painting it pink.  I added in the chalkboard with her age and wrote the 6 with a chalk pen, I highly recommend chalk pens for photos — the writing looks so much crisper.

   As you can see the girls loved dressing up for photos!  An easy party activity using stuff you already have around your house — what could be better than that?

After the riding was done all the little cowgirls gathered in the backyard for a “campfire” lunch from the chuck wagon!  I didn’t get a better picture, but we made a chuck wagon out of PVC pipe and a 6 foot table.  We constructed a tent-like frame out of 1/2 inch PVC pipe and connectors.  We then put brown fabric on the table, set the frame on top, and covered the frame in white muslin.

After they got their cowgirl food — hot dogs, trail mix, veggies and “ranch” dip (get it?) and macaroni salad — the cowgirls ate around the “campfire”.  Our campfire consisted of wood logs with tissue paper flames.  I set up hay bales in a circle around the campfire for them to sit on, but they were too itchy so the girls used them as a table. Another fun party detail was our pink lemonade jar drink.  I had seen cool Mason jar tops with orange slice designs online, but they were not in our budget.  We decided to make our own version by punching a hole in the lid and using skinny straws.

After lunch it was time to dance at our cowgirl hoedown!  We strung poms above the deck and played fun country and group line dances and boogied down!

  After lots of dancing it was time for cake!  The birthday girl loved her dessert table — especially the rope initial we made for her.  After the party we even hung the H in her room!

We kept the desserts super simple and ordered a pull-apart cupcake cake and horseshoe cupcakes from SuperTarget.  I made ridiculously easy smores pops by dipping marshmallows in dark chocolate and graham cracker crumbs.

Then it was time to send all the little cowgirls home with their pink cowgirl hats and these adorable Cowgirl Cookie favors from the awesome Bakerella!  They looked so pretty in the jars and were so yummy that you should make them even if you’re not having a cowgirl party.  Bakerella makes it so easy for you with step by step instructions and even a free printable!

If you are planning a cowgirl or western themed party and want to make your own rope letter or number be sure to read:

How to Make Your Own Rope Letter

And you like the photos in this post head on over to the Best part photography and book her for your next party if you’re in the Tampa area!

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Pirate Party Ideas!

2012
6 Comments

Arrrgh Mateys!  Grab an eyepatch and pirate hat and listen to the tale of how we threw a pirate themed birthday party!

Ahoy landlubbers!  Yo ho ho!  We couldn’t have a pirate party without pirates, so the first thing we did was pass out eyepatches and pirate hats to everyone.  And encouraged lots of pirate talk!

Then as we waited for everyone to arrive the little swashbucklers went out back to play in our pirate themed stations.

  • A DIY Pirate Tattoo Parrrrlor
  • A Panning for Gold Doubloons station where kids could sift through the watery sand for gold doubloons
  • A “photobooth” area — okay it was really just a cardboard cut out we taped to the kids’ picnic table, but they loved it!
  • An island area with the sand box and water table for free play

And 3 cardboard pirate ships set up for cannonball practice!

We stuck sails in our old appliance boxes, cut out areas for the kids to stand in, and threw bunches of ball pit balls all around.  The kids tried to get the “cannonballs” into the other ships.  This free play area was a huge hit!  The pirates had a blast and the adults were definitely entertained watching their pretend play!

Then once all the bucanners were there we were ready to find our treasure.  But that sneaky Captain Hook had stolen our treasure and had put obstacles in the way of finding it!  The kids had to get the coconuts, swab the deck, pop the cannonballs and walk the plank before they could reach the hidden treasure.

  • Oh Coconuts! – Captain Hook shook all the coconuts off the coconut trees and the pirates could not pass through until they were gone.  (The kids had to gather all the ball pit balls that were on the yard.)
  • Swab the Deck – To get through this challenge the kids had to dunk large sponges into a bucket of water then run across to the other bucket and squeeze the water into it.
  • Pop the Cannonballs – Oh no!  Captain Hook sent cannonballs (round, black balloons) flying everywhere, the pirates had to pop them before anything happened.
  • Walk the Plank –  Before they could reach the treasure they had to walk the plank without falling into the alligator pit.  We made a plank out of a 2×4 on cinder blocks over a blue tablecloth.

We did a little research into what pirates ate…and decided NOT to serve any of it at our party!  Instead we went with shrimp cocktail, fried chicken, homemade mac and cheese, etc.  But we were able to add in a little bit of pirate-ness with a treasure box cooler and fruit bowl boat filled with melon and grape “cannonballs”!

How cool are these party printables?!?  DimplePrints designed this fabulous pirate collection for us to use and we could not have loved it more!  She has great party supplies and invites that she customizes for you to print and create at home.  If you have not checked out her shop yet you must — there are so many cute packages to choose from!

I had envisioned a chocolate covered pirate hat cake outlined in white icing with a 3 in the middle — simple and classy.  Unfortunately, I forgot to do the cake until right before the party!  As I was setting up the table I realized I was cakeless and quickly carved a pirate hat out of frozen pound cake.  All I had time for was a quick coat of chocolate frosting and a cupcake topper.  Not bad for the last minute, but not exactly what I had planned.  If anyone has a cool pirate cake they’ve made email me the photo – I’d love to feature it instead!

The birthday pirate had a swashbucklin’ good time at the party!  Y0 ho ho!

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Mickey and Minnie Food and Dessert Ideas!

2012
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It is always fun when you can come up with party food that fits your theme.  We came up with lots of Mickey food ideas while planning my daughter’s 2nd birthday party and have decided this was one of the easiest party food themes ever!

Appetizers and Snacks:

Mickey can be found all over the snack world — fruit snacks, cheese and fruit packages, dried fruit packages, juices and more can be found almost all of the major food stores.

My favorite was the Mickey shaped cheese we found at Walmart.   It’s perfect to serve with crackers and was actually pretty good. We decided to skip the other snacks and serve my daughter’s favorite hummus and chips and spinach dip and bread in cool Mickey shaped chip and dip bowls we snagged on clearance at Target.

Lunch or Dinner Food:

We served Mickey burgers and Hot Diggity Dogs, aka hot dogs.  During the summer you can actually buy pre made Mickey burgers at Target, but ours were made by hand by my sister who was in town for the party.  It didn’t take her long at all and they held together really well.  We also served Mickey shaped pasta salad and veggies.  We got the Mickey pasta from Disney World, but you can also find it online.  We have a huge red and white polka bowl with Mickey feet on the bottom, also on sale at Target, that we served the pasta salad in.  Unfortunately, I did not remember to take photos of any of this so you’ll have to use your imagination!

Other ideas we saw, but didn’t use, included Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets (Target), Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes, and Mickey PBJs.

Wait!  Here’s a pic of the birthday girl’s lunch.  At least you can see what the burgers look like cooked!

And how about this one?  Totally looks like Mickey’s profile — spooky!

Desserts:   

Minnie cake with Oreo ears, Oreo Minnie and Mickey cupcakes, brownie bites, sugar cookies, red licorice and white chocolate covered pretzels, and Mickey Mouse mini-waters.

This was definitely the easiest dessert table I’ve ever done.  Half of the items were store bought, including the cupcakes that I ordered and just asked them to top with plain white frosting.  I made the cupcake and water bottle wraps by cutting strips of paper with my paper cutter and then taping them together with clear tape.  The Mickey heads are stuck to the front of the water bottles with double sided tape.

How to Make the Mickey and Minnie Oreo Cupcakes:

Use chocolate frosting to stick mini-Oreo ears onto a regular size one.  Lay on wax paper to dry and stiffen up a bit.  Use a red icing writing tube to draw a bow on the Minnie ones.  Sprinkles with non-pareils and let firm up.  Place in the refrigerator until party time!

How to Make a Minnie Mouse Cake:

The bottom layer of the cake is just a box mix baked in a 6 inch pan that I frosted red.  I used the leftover batter to bake the head in a small round Fiesta ware bowl.  The ears are Oreo cookies that I stuck on with small wooden skewers and the bow is ribbon that was just set on top.

Originally, I had planned on making a cake head with sugar cookie ears, but the ears were just not sturdy enough and at the last minute I had to use the Oreos.  If I were making it again I would definitely still use the Oreos and instead make a smaller head so it was more proportional.  You can still use a oven safe bowl to bake it in, you would just need to cut it into a smaller sphere.  Stick the cake in the freezer overnight and use a serrated knife to make carving easier.

For Minnie and Mickey party ideas read:

Minnie and Mickey Party Games

Minnie and Mickey Favor Bags and Mouse Ears

How to Make Minnie Mouse Centerpieces

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Mickey and Minnie Party Games

2012
3 Comments

Instead of traditional party games at my 2 year old’s party we went on a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse adventure!  The kids had to help the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse friends get to The Birthday Dance Party.  Unfortunately, there was trouble.  So who did they ask for help?

 Toodles, of course!

 

 First, they had to get Mickey’s microphone away from the sleeping giant.  Luckily, Toodles had a lullaby they could use to help him stay asleep.

 

Then, they had to find Pluto’s dog collar that had fallen into his dog dish (otherwise known as a kiddie pool filled with ball pit balls.)  This time they were able to use buckets from Toodles to scoop the dog food out to find the collar.

Finally, they had to use the mystery mouse-ka-tool, the parachute, to fluff Minnie’s flattened bow.

 Then it was time for The Birthday Dance Party!  They loved doing The Hot Dog Dance in the bubbles!

For more Mickey and Minnie birthday party planning ideas check out:

How to Make Mickey and Minnie Favor Bags and Mouse Ears

How to Make Easy Minnie Mouse Centerpieces

Mickey and Minnie Food and Desset Ideas

Filed Under: Birthday Parties Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Minnie and Mickey Favor Bags and Mouse Ears

2012
10 Comments

Birthday party week continues!  And today is all about celebrating with Minnie and Mickey.  First up — favor bags!

We made Minnie and Mickey Mouse bags for each of the kids that came to my daughter’s party.  Inexpensive and easy and cute!

 Here’s what we did:

  1. My oldest helped me paint mouse faces on each of the red bags.  We used red bags because that was all we could find enough of, but it would be cute to use buckets and chalkboard paint if you found a good deal on them.
  2. Then I made bows for the girls’ bags by looping ribbon into a bow shape (#2) and tying it in the middle with a skinny ribbon (#3).
  3. I glued the ribbons on the Minnie bags and then wrote the kids’ names on the faces with a white paint pen.

Here’s the ones for the girls — cute right?  None of the boy ones made it into this photo, but they were the same minus the bow.

They other favor I made was a little more involved, but a definite hit at any Minnie or Mickey themed party — mouse ears!

 The Suburban Mom has a great tutorial for how to make your own Mickey or Minnie ears!  You have to check out her instructions if you are thinking about making them.  I basically followed her directions, but took a few short cuts.

I liked the way the covered headbands looked, but am just not that ambitious.  Instead I bought fabric covered black headbands at Target for about $1 each and fit the mouse ears around them.

 And they were a hit!  Look how cute the birthday girl looked in her Minnie ears!

If you are planning a Mickey or Minnie Mouse themed birthday you’ll want to check out:

How to Make Minnie Mouse Centerpieces

Mickey and Minnie Party Games

Minnie and Mickey Food and Dessert Ideas

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