Category Archives: party

Pet Peeve

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I am a party pooper and I don’t care.

In fact, I wish more moms felt the way I do.

I have a pet peeve which goes against my love for crafting.

I hate gift bags, goody bags, and here’s a bunch of crap bags.

I know it’s expected now at birthday parties and showers but I just struggle with it. The goody bags at my kids’ parties are probably the worst around – a lollipop, stickers, and a tattoo – and the tattoo is only if I really like the kid.

Goodie bags are expected at parties now and I have learned to deal with that.

What I cannot deal with are the expectations for goody bags at school.

Preschool at that.

My daughter’s preschool sent out a message stating that bags would be placed in each students cubby “in case we were going to bring treats to share with our friends.”

They are two. They don’t need any extra goodies. A costume day and fall festival was more than enough to celebrate Halloween.

I refused to prepare any treats. We went to school empty handed.

This is the goody bag my daughter came home with.

Let’s just take a peek at what was inside.

Nice haul for a five hour school day, huh.

This bag was from one kid.

Here are the contents of the bag:

Impressive but ridiculous.

Isn’t anyone else tired of plastic trinkets littering their car and the “I get something” expectation that now comes with going to a party.

Now we are going to have the expectation at school.

I stand firm by my decision to not bring anything.

Plus, some of the goody bag contents were not labeled so no one else knows I didn’t participate. – ha!

Halloween Party Food

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Last year we held our first ever Halloween party and it was a ton of fun for everyone (a ton of work too but let’s focus on the fun for now).

My husband and I baked, dipped, frosted, stirred, cooled, and heated till we were on sugar overload.

Below this picture of our buffet are four of the treats and how we made them.

Witches Hats: Use Keebler Fudge Stripes cookies as the base, melted chocolate (orange colored), Hershey Kisses on top

Eyeball Cake: Boxed cake mix prepared and baked in a soccer ball cake pan, colored icing

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies: I don’t particularly love pumpkin flavor but I found these irresistible – every time I walked by the kitchen I would pick one up. I found the recipe at Relatively Reagan.

What you need:
Box spice cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup butter
1 cup pumpkin pie filling or puree
1/2 cup milk
 
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large mixing bowl beat the butter and pumpkin with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add all the remaining ingredients and beat on low speed until combined.
Using a small cookie schoop dop mounds of the dough onto the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them about 3 inches apart.
Bake about 10 minutes and cool completely before frosting
 
For the Filling:
Stick of butter
block (8 oz) cream cheese
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla and couple of dashes of cinnamon
Put filling on one pie and cover with another

Oreo Mummies: Dip Oreos into melted white chocolate, place on wax paper, drag a fork sideways through the chocolate, place candy eyes on top, cool in fridge – Here are some sources for candy eyes (I have never bought anything from these companies so I’m not recommeding, just listing) : One Stop Candle and The Baker’s Kitchen. I am using some I found at Michael’s this year.

Do you have any favorite Halloween treats you make?

The 36th Avenue

All Made Up

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In one of the most ironic occurrences of my life…I won a make up party.

What? Jennifer won a make up party? The girl who never wears make up?

Me. Shorts loving, pony tail wearing, wash n’go me won a make up party.

It’s as if Mother Teresa won a sex toys party….uh, bad image and not quite right in the analogy department…..

It’s as if Lady Gaga won a white polo shirt….Getting there…..

It’s as if I won a make up party…Yep that’s it.

A few weeks ago I used my Mother’s Day gift card and flippantly put my name in the fishbowl on the salon counter.

Well, I won. They pulled my slip of paper and called to arrange a make up party. During the call I was told by the Eastern European make up artist that we would be treated to 1) having our make up done, 2) drinking wine, and 3) possibly mini massages. At least that’s what I think she said. I was a little unclear due to her strong accent. For all I know I could have just agreed for my friends and I to become the oldest mail order brides ever.

I invited 5 brave friends who graciously showed up. I’m pretty sure the part in the email where I highlighted “free wine” was the catalyst for the five yeses.

Everyone gathered excitedly in the salon foyer waiting to be glamed up. We must have looked like a rough and haggard group because they brought us to wait in the employee break room which had the lighting of a romantic Italian restaurant.

Glasses of red wine were waiting for us as well as our ever so flattering brown robes. We could have been back up singers for Friar Tuck. Maybe we should start an all girls religious rock group – The Monastery Mommas.

The resemblance is striking, isn’t it

So there we were. Drinking wine, eating the cupcakes I had brought, and having hand massages. In groups of two our make up was done by our very enthusiastic make up artists.

Here’s my before shot…

Roughly 14 layers later I was done.

Large amounts of concealer, foundation, eye shadow, eye liner, and lipstick were involved in my transformation.

Would you like to see the end product?

I will say I was most impressed by their work

Just take a look.

Apparently, it’s all about the lighting and I’d have to agree.

I must remember to rid my home of those eco friendly light bulbs we’re using.

A good time was had by all at the party and I walked away with a little more make up knowledge.

In fact, I’m thinking of spiffing things up today and adding some chapstick to the mix.

In fact, it’s strawberry chapstick.

A little color on the lips always brightens ones face.

See, I did learn a few things at the party.

CARS Bingo & Party

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When Alex turned 5 four years ago he requested a CARS party.

It was tons of fun and fairly easy to put together.

Since it was a race car party we needed a race track cake. The track is made of black sugar crystals while the side boards are cardboard. We made the “start” and “finish” signs and placed some of his hot wheels on the cake.

Race Car Birthday Cake

The first activity of the party was to take some Crayola Air-Dry Clay and use it to form their own race cars. This activity didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked. Some of the kids were not satisfied with their creations and complained since it didn’t look like Lightning McQueen.

While the clay didn’t go over so well, the bean bag toss was a huge hit. We took a large piece of wood, cut 5 holes in them, and modged podged some large CARS stickers on with various point values underneath. HUGE HIT with the 5 year old crowd.

Creating Cars from Air-Dry Clay
Bean Bag Toss

Another favorite outdoor activity was “The Big Race.” Alex and I decorated 2 diaper boxes and turned them into cars. Alex put race numbers on them as well as headlights and wheels. Two at at a time the kids raced around the yard usually laughing the entire time. The plastic helmets I bought added to the excitement.

“The Big Race”
Little Brother wants to play too

After running around the backyard the kids were ready for an inside activity. I made the CARS Bingo cards, laminated them, and created call cards. I went a little over board and created 15 individual cards. All of the kids loved the bingo game and played several rounds.

CARS Bingo Game
It’s a Printable!

Would you like a copy of the CARS BINGO game?

Please go here & print a copy.

Please consider becoming a follower of Big D and Me if you decide to download the game

Having difficulty downloading? Contact me and I’ll email you a copy.

Todays Creative BlogTuesday To Do Party A Crafty Soiree Weekend Bloggy Reading

Killer Cake & Entry Way

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Finally, the last installment of Andrew’s Lego party.

Go here for part 1 (lego bingo) and here for part 2 (lego party boards).

Andrew decided he wanted a “Killer the Croc” cake. Actually Killer the Croc was a third choice since I vetoed the first two choices in the name of difficulty. I need to watch a few more episodes of “Cake Boss” in order to tackle those particular mini figures.

So, who is Killer the Croc you ask? Apparently, he’s a bad guy from the Batman Legos.

Step 1: I made 2 sheet cakes and placed them next to each other. I then iced over both cakes and outlined the shape of Killer the Croc with a toothpick. With the outline already drawn, it was easy to know where to cut the cake.

Andrew wanted a strawberry and vanilla cake. Ask and you shall receive!

Step 2: Spread the colored icing for his body and his pants.

Step 3: Add white icing for his mouth

Step 4: Add red icing for the eyes

Step 5: Use a thin icing point and outline the eyes, teeth, and muscles? scales? in black

When Andrew saw the cake before the party he said,”This is my best party ever.” Now that’s a pretty good review even before the party started.

I put together a simple Lego display guests saw when they first entered our house. The boys created the “6” and chose the minifigures to display. I copied a picture of Killer the Croc, and gave him a word bubble which said, “Andrew, we love you to pieces.”

I’m pretty sure we will have another Lego party in our future so I hope to use some of these ideas again.


Todays Creative Blog

Lego Mini Figure Party Boards

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For Andrew’s Lego party we created large wooden character boards.

During the party we took pictures of each guest behind the boards. When Andrew sent a thank you card in the mail, each guest also received a photo of himself as a Lego mini figure.

Below you can see Andrew is “Jay” from the Lego Ninjago sets.

On the back side of the boards are different characters I painted for our Halloween party. Since we already had the boards cut, it was a simple tracing and painting process to complete this set.

Below – “Penguin” from Batman Lego sets

Steps to Create Lego Party Boards:

1) cut board into desired size

2) use a tracer to copy image directly onto board

3) cut out head section

4) paint

5) cut large blocks for legs so the structure will stand up.

“Batman and Robin” mini figures

Below: The large board slides into the ground blocks in order for the structure to stand.

In case you missed it, we also played Lego Bingo – go here for a copy.

One more Lego party post coming soon!

Todays Creative Blog

The DIY Show Off Katie's Nesting Spot The Shabby Nest

Lego Bingo

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For Andrew’s 6th birthday party we had wonderful plans…

Early May is typically hot in Texas so we planned on taking the kids to the park to use water balloons and play.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? Except…that it turned out to be forty degrees outside and raining.

Therefore, the night before the party, Derek and I scrambled for new inside activities.

One of the activities we decided on was Lego Bingo. Derek created the board template and  I inserted the Lego mini figures.

The game was actually a huge hit with the kids. The winner of each game received 2 silly bands while everyone else received one.

The Game includes: 9 different bingo boards & 42 call cards (Cuts these cards apart and use to call out mini figures)

If you would like a copy of the Lego bingo here it is – Lego-Bingo.

If you decide to print, please consider becoming a follower of Big D & Me.

I’ll share more of the party soon – check back for more Lego party ideas!

Todays Creative BlogTidy Mom Chic on a Shoestring Decorating 504 Main

Not Your Typical Party

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I have been to a few home parties in my time – scrapbook parties, stamp parties, and candle parties to name a few. But never a Pure Romance party.

Where should I find out about this party you ask? Why naturally at Caroline’s preschool!

The school has a circle drive for drop offs and pick ups as well as a larger parking lot. One day as I was walking from the larger parking lot to the school’s entrance, I noticed a truck parked immediately in front of the preschool door.

It was a simple brown truck but the sign on it is what grabbed my attention.

Pure Romance Party: Not Your Typical Party – Call Meme for details

Hmmm. Who is Meme and what’s this party all about?

Well, I met Meme.

Okay, I didn’t actually meet her. I stalked her.

Just as I noticed the sign on the door, a couple got out of the truck.

I slowed my pace down in order to get a good look at them. They both appeared to be around 50 years old and didn’t stand out one way or another. The gentleman was balding while the woman wore sensible shoes.

I followed them into the preschool where they just happened to go down the same hallway I needed to go down. They stopped at the 2 year old classroom, greeted the teacher, and asked for a boy. That’s pretty much all I got. I had to move on or it would have been obvious I am made of stalker material.

I continued on to pick up Caroline but I have so many lingering questions:

1. How do you get into that party business? “Hey Herb, I think we could spice things up. How ’bout I become a romance party planner?”

2. Do all the guests know what you purchase at the party?

3. Are there product demonstrations? Is the hostess required to have a fruit bowl lying around? (okay that one was unnecessary…but kind of implied don’t you think?)

Thoughts? Questions? Ever Been to this Type of Party?

Lego Man Cake

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Alex had a Lego party for his 9th birthday. Derek suggested making a Lego brick for the cake but I quickly dismissed that suggestion since it did not seem like a challenge. Alex provided me with this figure as inspiration for the cake. So I went for it and think it turned out all right.

Step 1: You need: 2 boxed cake mixes, frosting dye, and 5 large containers of frosting. No, I don’t even consider making my own frosting.

Step 2 – Place both cakes side by side and then carve out the general Lego man shape. Follow up with an initial layer of frosting. Place the cake in the fridge – it’s easier to put the next layer of frosting if the first layer is more solid.

Step 3 – Create the bodysuit? armor? training clothes? with orange icing. I used clear icing bags and a basic frosting tip for the rest of the icing.

Step 4 – Use gray icing for the equipment and part of helmet. I started questioning my cake decorating abilities at about this point – hmmm… 2 hours till the party, I wonder if the grocery store could make a lego brick cake in such short notice?

Step 5 – Using a wider icing tip I created the white sections of the helmet

Step 6 – The first attempt at making “Lego skin” was too pink (very bad in the eyes of a 9 year old boy) so I tried again and got a brown color. Good enough.

Step 7 – I added the black icing sections.

Step 8 – I added the red sections and called it done.

There were certain parts of the cake I wasn’t thrilled with but Alex was excited with the cake and that’s all that counts in the long run.