Parties Archives - Page 3 of 4

Easy Disney Kids Preschool Playdate Party

March 20, 2016 by Danielle

I received free products in order to host the Disney Kids Preschool Playdate. The opinions expressed here are my own. #DisneyKids

Wow, today was a bit crazy – but full of so much fun that I bet my kiddos will sleep very well tonight 🙂 We hosted our easy Disney Kids Preschool Playdate Party, and had such a great time! My favorite thing? That it was super easy to get everything together and prepped, then clean up was just as fast. LOVE easy party plans!

When we got our Disney Kids Preschool Playdate kit, the kids wanted to host it right then and there – as you can tell from my voice in our little unboxing video, I wasn’t feeling very well so made them wait until today….

Seriously, the kids couldn’t wait to use all these fun things! I was thrilled that it came with all the supplies I needed, minus a few fillers just for fun. This morning, I quickly set everything up – using the Mickey Mouse tablecloth as a backdrop, then hanging the dangly decorations from above to add some dimension. Stick on a couple of The Lion Guard posters and we were good to go with our background!

The kids wanted to keep all of the favor bags for themselves – of course I wasn’t about to jip the guests these fun things! Not only did they get the fun drawstring backpacks, but posters, temporary tattoos, switchable Princess Sophia/Jake and the Neverland Pirates hats, and more.

Hubby whipped up some Jake’s Veggie Pirate Treasure, with our own little twist on the recipe!

The original is from Dishes Inspired by Disney, but here’s our take on it…

Ingredients

1 bunch kale, rinsed and dried
4 cups of popcorn, popped
1 1/2 cups goldfish crackers
2 cups veggie straws or chips
3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. paprika
1 tbsp. onion powder
1 tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 tbsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper

Directions

Make the kale chips; preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Remove kale leaves from stem and tear into pieces. Toss kale with 1/2 tbsp. olive oil, spread onto a baking sheet and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until crispy.
Toss all of the ingredients together in a bowl, and enjoy!

For activities, we made Disney Junior themed Paper Bag Puppets – Doc McStuffins, Princess Sophia, Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Mickey Mouse. The kids loved using puffy paint – I was just glad to have some extra cleaning supplies (such as the all® laundry stain remover that came in our pack) for the bits of paint that ended up on clothes. You can’t expect to have a fun, exciting party with preschool kids and have no messes, so just be prepared!

We went outside and played a Walt Disney Parks game: there were 4 papers, one with a photo/name of the 4 parks of Walt Disney World.

The Magic Kingdom
Epcot
Disney’s Animal Kingdom
Disney’s Hollywood Studios

We taped them in different areas in our backyard. One person was ‘it’, would close their eyes and count to 10. The other would go stand in a ‘park’. Once the ‘it’ person reaches 10, before opening their eyes, they call out the name of one of the parks. Anyone standing by that one is ‘out’. They loved it!!!

We also played ‘Pin the Smile on Mickey’ and a Walt Disney World Bingo game. Such fun – especially at the end when they got to eat their treat pieces!

Our pack came with an awesome book called My Very Very Smelly Breath: A scratch and sniff book! It took awhile to get through the adorable book (teaches you the importance of brushing your dogs teeth) because the kids wanted to sniff each spot many times to ‘compare’, and each page has a hidden toy they could find.

We still had plenty of activities to do, but sadly our exciting time playdate had already come to an end – but it gives us plenty of fun for a round 2!

Other fabulous Disney ideas…

DIY Glitter Cupid Jars

January 28, 2016 by Danielle

Guys, I love glitter crafts. I know, it gets everywhere and is a disaster to clean up – but it’s so fun and sparkly! When you add it to fun Valentine’s Day projects, it just brings on a whole happy dimension. These DIY Glitter Cupid Jars are so cute, and would be perfect gifts or party favors!

Despite what you may think, these cupid jars are also super easy to make – and you can customize as you’d like! Choose different colors or stickers, fill the jars with different treats or surprises, just have fun with it.

If you’re not sure what kind of jar to use, just find what you have or use something inexpensive. These little jars that I used for my cupid gifts were just empty sprinkle containers! See – be imaginative and I’m sure you can find something perfectly useable 🙂

Supplies

Jars
Glitter
Spray Adhesive
Feathers
Adhesive Sparkles/Jewels
Stickers

Directions

#1: Spray the outside of your jars with the adhesive spray, then sprinkle with glitter so it coats the entire outside. Allow to dry while you work on the lids.

#2: Add a few sparkle/jewels to your feathers – don’t make them too heavy, but dress them up a bit. Then use a sticker (or a large adhesive jewel, up to you) to stick 2 decorated feathers onto the top of the lid – like cupid wings!

Now just fill with treats, notes, whatever it is you’d like to gift! Easy-peasy, right?

I’ll admit, I almost went a little crazy wanted to do adhesive spray and glitter to more things, especially in my craft room. I kept myself under control, but had a BLAST decorating these cute Valentine’s jars!

I still haven’t decided what I want to fill mine with – maybe chocolates? Heart candies? Heck, I could even use these to give some rolled up dollars to my kids’ teachers for Valentine’s day. Cute, or dorky? I’m gonna say cute and run with it 😀

More fun Valentine’s Day Posts…

Pennant Banner

January 6, 2016 by Kathleen Clegg

Are you a lover of sports or even just a good party? I love setting up decorations for whatever the thing is I’m celebrating. Since it’s football season, I thought it would be fun to make a Pennant Banner in honor of my favorite team, the Pittsburg Steelers. Now, if you aren’t a Steelers fan, don’t leave because you can use these same instructions for another team or even a theme birthday party.

You may be wondering why I am a Steelers fan, since I live in Southeast Idaho. Well, let me tell you, it all started way back in 1979, during Super Bowl XIII. Yes, I know I am seriously dating myself. That’s okay. I’ve earned every one of my years. in 1979 we lived in Hawaii and my parents decided to have a big Super Bowl party. The teams playing were the Steelers and the Dallas Cowboys and my younger brother decided he was going to root for the Cowboys. Well, I couldn’t really root for the Cowboys, so I picked the Steelers. It stuck with me and all of these years later, I am still a fan. My brother is a fickle man though and he says if he likes any team at all, it’s probably the Denver Broncos now. So now you know why I like the Steelers. I have been to their stadium once, but alas, they weren’t there. So sad.

To make a banner this exact size, you will need:

1 piece of stiff card board measuring 6 inches by 9 inches
1/2 yard of the main fabric
1/2 a yard of border fabric
1/2 yard of medium weight fuseable interfacing
matching thread
pins

First, make your pattern with the card board, as shown in the picture above. If you want bigger pennants, then use a bigger piece of card board and buy more fabric.

Trace the card board on your fabric. You will need 12 pieces of fabric. If you have a patterned fabric, be sure you get at least 6 pieces that are upside right. I used the same fabric for the back and front, but you could use a different fabric for the back if you want.

Now trace 6 pieces of the interface. If you do it just right, you will be using the negative space for part of them, thus not wasting the interface.

Next, cut your fabric binding. If you don’t want to make your own binding, you can buy it ready made at the fabric store. I cut 12 pieces of 9 1/2 inches by 2 inch for the sides of the pennants and then one that is 6 feet by 2 inches for the top binding.

Now you need to adhere the interfacing to the front side of each pennant piece, as shown below. If you don’t know how to adhere fusible interface, you can read this post for instructions. Do this for all 6 pennants.

Next, make your binding. The instructions are the same for the short pieces and the long pieces.

Fold the pieces in half long ways and iron the seam in.
Fold both sides in towards the center and iron.
At the end that will be the bottom binding, fold fabric in a quarter inch and iron.
Fold in the ends at an angle, to form a point and iron.
Iron the whole piece again.

Attach your side bindings to your pennant. Be sure when you do this, you get the pennant all the way into the center so you catch all of the fabric when you sew it. Also, be sure to cover one point with the other so it is covered completely.

If there is any binding over the edge of the pennant, cut it flush with the pennant fabric. Then sew the side binding in place.

Each one takes about 2 minutes to attach. I did 6 of them.

Next, attach the pennants to the top binding, spacing them evenly apart. For my spacing, I left 5 inches between pennants. Sew it all in place.

Now your pennant banner is done. I really love it! It isn’t difficult to make, but the whole cutting out and ironing part takes a little bit of time.

I used two different kinds of Steelers cotton fabric for my pennant. I think my husband wants a Seahawks banner too.

Are you a football fan? I have to admit that I started making this before the Steelers won this past weekend. I was a little worried that they wouldn’t make it into the playoffs. I’m so glad they did. What kind of banner would you make?

Check out these other amazing banners!

Reversible Valentines Day/St Patricks Day Banner

DIY Chalkboard Banner

Fun Easter Scrappy Banner

Printable Minion Birthday Party Banner

Minion Party with Free Printables

December 15, 2015 by Danielle

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MinionsMovieNight #CollectiveBias

Do we have any other minion-lovers out there? I’m pretty sure we do – those little yellow guys are ADORABLE! We’ve got a bunch of minion-wanna-be’s in our house, especially our twins! This is why they were thrilled when I told them I was putting together a fun Minion Party with Free Printables for their 6th birthday this month. From making banana bread (because minions LOVE bananas!), to creating our own costumes, to Pin the Pocket on Bob – we had a blast! Plus, it was super easy to put together and stay within our budget.

Minion Party

First of all, I’m sharing all of the printables I designed for this party for YOU to easily use for your own, whether it’s a birthday or just a fantastic movie night enjoying the new Minions movie Blu-ray/DVD combo pack hitting stores December 8th! We were so sad we never made it to the theater to see it, due to moving and all that craziness, so we’ve been counting down until we could run grab it from one of these stores!

First of all, you start a party or fabulous movie night with invitations! Download them HERE.

You’ve invited your guests, so now better get the decor figured out! I didn’t want to spend a fortune or tons of time putting this party together, so my ideas all utilize some tricks. I use a cheap, yellow rectangular plastic tablecloth for the backdrop, then twisted blue and yellow crepe paper rolls together for a border. I then added this Free Printable Happy Birthday Banner – it has 4 pages you can download: Page 1, Page 2, Page 3 and Page 4.

Of course, some people will want to put a name in the banner, as well – so here’s sheets covering the entire alphabet! Click on each to print them off – there’s 4 banner triangles on each 8.5×11 pdf:

!ABC DEFG HIJK LMNO PPQR STUV WXYZ Minions Sheet

I then included some dangly decor, plus those fun pom-pom circles – but instead of doing the full circle and hanging them, I simply opened them halfway and attached them flat on the backdrop. Much easier, and still as decorative! Add some balloons – and you can print off our Goggle Sheets to cut out and tape to them!

We had minion goggles on each chair, as well as a yellow ‘hard hat’ – you can find these really cheap at all sorts of locations. I also had aprons, just because of the baking part.

Which leads us to….Banana Bread! Nothing gets us in a better mood to watch the Minions movie than a yummy, moist banana recipe! To make it easier for a party, we already had the bowls, mixing spoons AND individual baking loaves (you can buy these many places, also – they’re about 4″x2″x2.5″ in size) at the chairs. I also set aside all of the ingredients and measuring spoons.

I’m giving you the recipe for two INDIVIDUAL loaves in this small pans – woot woot! These are the perfect size for each child to take home as a party favor – or to enjoy warm during your movie night. If you want a regular bread loaf size, just double or triple the recipe (most of my pans would be triple, but check your size first).

Minion Party banana Bread Ingredients – for 2 small, individual loaves

2/3 cup All-purpose Flour
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Salt
1/2 cup Mashed Banana
1 tbsp. Milk
1/2 tbsp. Vinegar
1 Egg
2 tbsp. Butter, melted
1 tsp. Vanilla
Sprinkle of Chocolate Chips (if desired)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F.
Mix all of the ingredients carefully in a bowl until smooth. Pour into the 2 prepared baking loaf pans.
Bake on a baking sheet (in case it spills over if filled too high) about 25-35 minutes, or until cooked through.
Serve warm or send home for them to enjoy!

For games, we assembled our own minions and picked out a fun costume for them – since those little guys are always dressing up, like in Illumination Entertainment’s Minions movie! We also had Minion Bingo.

We also played Pin the Pocket on Bob – you can cut out your own ‘Bob’ (or Kevin, or Stuart, whoever you’d like) from yellow poster board, then cover with blue overall cut-outs! You can download a sheet of Pockets HERE.

We also took a photo op in front of our backdrop with some minion pieces such as goggles, smiles, even their different hair tops or overalls. We had little figurines, stickers and stamps for party favors – and they fit perfectly in our Minion Thank You Boxes! You can Download it HERE – it prints on an 8.5×11 page with a single box shape on each.

To assemble the Minion Party boxes:

Cut out along the outside SOLID lines.
Fold along the dotted lines.
Tape the two sides inside of the box, making it a square shape.
Fill it with fun goodies, close and enjoy!

Along with the typical cake, we also gave the kiddos Minion Snack Mix! Basically we tossed popped popcorn with banana pudding mix, then included those candy eyes and minion shapes (found at many stores), as well as Gummie bits that we made!

Ingredients

2 packs Flavored Gelatin Mix
6 packets (2.5 oz. size) Unflavored Gelatin
2/3 cup Water

To make the gummies:

In a medium saucepan, mix flavored gelatin and unflavored gelatin with the 2ater and let it sit 5 minutes (with no heat).
Turn the stove to medium heat and stir constantly until it’s all melted and smooth – about 2-4 minutes is all.
Pour into a greased 8×8 baking dish, and let sit out about 2 hours.
Peel edges from sides of pan and place gummy sheet on a cutting surface. Cut into bite-sized chunks.
Enjoy in the Minion Snack Mix, as a good trail mix, or alone!

Here’s more recipe ideas for a Minions movie night party! Which is your favorite?

Inside Out Candy Bar Wrappers

November 9, 2015 by Danielle

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #InsideOutMovieNight #CollectiveBias

Who else has been eagerly awaiting the release of Inside Out? We certainly have – especially after seeing it in theaters a few times and absolutely loving it! For our movie night once we nabbed the DVD/Blu-Ray, we wanted to really go all-out, including making these fun Inside Out Candy Bar Wrappers! Don’t worry, I’m sharing the free printables with you!

We had so much fun with the fun wrappers – featuring the goofiest emotions ever: Joy, Fear, Disgust, Sadness and (or course) Anger! Swing by Target and grab the DVD/Blu-Ray, plus everything else you need for a fabulous movie night!

And guess what? The Inside Out DVDs and Blue-Rays you get at Target have 20 minutes of EXCLUSIVE bonus content and deleted scenes included! I don’t want to spoil any – but you really need to check it out asap! Riley’s First Date, anyone?

I love so many things about this movie – the laughter, the tears, and even the discussions it’s brought from our kids! It leaves a little bit for them to think about – what would my ‘islands’ be? Why do certain things make me feel that emotion? It even inspired this ‘Today I’m Feeling…’ printable I shared a few months ago. I made these Inside Out wrappers to fit a typical chocolate bar – but with space to cut them shorter for smaller bars, as well. They print 2 per page on an 8.5×11 sheet – don’t forget to have them in color, since that’s half the fun!

Downloadable Inside Out Candy Bar Wrappers

Cut them out, fit them to the candy bars of your choice, tape closed, and enjoy! These would also make really fun gifts or party favors!

Who’s YOUR favorite emotion/character from Inside Out?

MARVEL’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron Printables

October 9, 2015 by Danielle

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #AvengersUnite #CollectiveBias

Woot woot! My family has been eagerly waiting, and now we can celebrate the Blue-Ray/DVD release in style with these MARVEL’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron Printables! Nab them for your drinks, snacks such as popcorn boxes or candy tubs, and enjoy the humor, action and suspense of the newest hit!

The timing couldn’t have been more perfect, since we were heading to a big family vacation with my side, and everyone else was just as excited to watch it together. There’s about 20 of us here, which means one SUPER movie night with lots of snacks and drinks! First, we had to swing by Walmart for the Blue-Ray/DVD . Since half of us are kids, it made the night even better to have some costumes for our ‘little Avengers’!

I couldn’t get over how awesome the Hulk Buster add-on for the regular Iron Man costume is, and our little spidey-lover was having a blast! As you can see, our little Hulk was a bit short for the size we picked – but it works out best so that all the kiddos can enjoy it. Kind of ironic that our kid who is ‘Hulk’ wanted to wear the Hulk Buster first!

They even come with a fun wrist-band ‘watch’ that has a holographic character on it – so fun! This is the one that came with the regular Iron Man costume….

Whether you’re enjoying a Dr Pepper, some juice packets or a bottle of chocolate milk, these drink labels are fabulous with your favorite characters from the film! Then there’s the larger labels – they were perfect for a cotton candy container, box of chocolate, and a popcorn box!

Download the Drink Labels Here: Sheet 1 and Sheet 2 and Sheet 3

Download the Snack Labels Here

Which MARVEL character costume are you most excited to grab for your own movie party?

5 Tips to Get Game Day Ready

September 23, 2015 by Danielle

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Dr Pepper®. Game Day Greats brought to you by Kroger. The opinions and text are all mine.

Since moving to Texas, we’ve learned that college football isn’t just a sport – it’s pretty much integrated into daily life! So when this time of year comes around, we’ve learned that the simple, boring ol’ homegating/tailgating parties just don’t swing here – you’ve got to really give it your all! To avoid any last minute stress, here’s 5 Tips to Get Game Day Ready – based on my crazy family’s traditions!

That’s right – my family has a tradition of Dr Pepper® for our college football parties! Y’all know about my love for Dr Pepper® – if you don’t, well, you must not have been following me for very long 🙂 I swear it’s in my DNA – my grandma, mom and most family members on that side make it part of our daily routine. No, I’m not exaggerating – we love it that much! So when the Game Day Greats program that Dr Pepper® is participating in at Kroger began, I had to hustle over there and stock up. Well, stock up more than normal! We can’t have a college football party without a kitchen full of Dr Pepper® to drink – and even use it in many of our recipes! To us, it’s not football season without it!

Hubby pointed out that our cart was 75% Dr Pepper® – I just responded with ‘Yes. And the problem is…..?’ He just smiled and shook his head at me – he knows not to get between me and my drink!

Not to worry, I didn’t buy so much just to drink (although that’ll certainly be happening!) I have some majorly delicious plans for our Game Day party that includes not only Dr Pepper®, but cracker goodies like Keebler® Town House® and Cheez-It®. You better believe this homegating party is going to be Texas-worthy – after all, here it’s ‘GO BIG OR GO HOME’! Luckily Kroger has everything I need, so it’s just one quick stop and I’m all set!

5 Tips to Get Game Day Ready

Show your colors – whether it’s with team shirts or the decorations, leave no doubt who you’ll be routing for!
Head over to Kroger and load up on Dr Pepper® and other game day goodies. One stop and everything you need – win! Just like our family, make it a new must-have tradition!
Don’t forget the ice! Warm drinks during any party can be a dud, so be prepared.
Put away your breakables near the TV, and remove anything you don’t want to get spills on. Yelling in joy or frustration during a college game can result in quite the mess – so save your stuff!
Send out invites! You don’t want to plan a big hoopla, but have everyone go somewhere else. Let them know where the best place for the big game will be – your place!

So when am I going to share with you the amazing Dr Pepper® tastiness I have in the works? Better keep checking back in the next couple of weeks because it’s going to be EPIC! I’m diggin’ the cans right now, too, so ideas for using them for a tablescape or something fun are spinning around my head, too.

Which Dr Pepper® variety is your favorite?

While you’re at it, check out the in-store sweepstakes with Miller Coors®/Kellogg’s®/Dr Pepper® for fly away trips to Rivalry Games! See your Kroger store for more details.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Dr Pepper®. The opinions and text are all mine.

Three Delicious Party Food Recipes

November 19, 2014 by Danielle

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SeasonedGreetings #CollectiveBias

Wow, the holidays are already proving to be crazy busy and full of fun, especially all the get-togethers. I’m loving seeing so many family and friends, and don’t forget the amazing food! Today I’m sharing not one, but Three Delicious Party Food Recipes to help with your festivities!

Perhaps you have some long-time friends coming by for a weekend visit, or are hosting a neighborhood wrapping party? I’m getting together with some of my good friends early next week to do some pre-Thanksgiving baking prep, and it’s going to be a blast! Whatever the gathering, it’s so important to have some trusted, amazingly flavorful and quick-to-make recipes on-hand for you to feed the masses, or even just a few good friends!

For these delicious party food recipes, swing by Walmart to grab your ingredients. You’ll find the ‘secret’ behind the fabulous flavor in all of these is the Tabasco sauce in Original Red, Jalapeno, and Chipotle! You can find them in the condiments row, near the BBQ sauces.

Stock up and try any of these yummy flavors in some of your other holiday party recipes. Sometimes you can play for a bunch of people coming over to your house, other times it may be just a pleasant surprise! Regardless, be prepared to feed whoever something that will be knock-your-socks-off delicious!

My entire family loved this Jalapeno Cheesy Bread, and how couldn’t they with all that amazing cheesy-ness?! It has just the perfect amount of savory jalapeno flavor in the bread, and it’s accented by the melted toppings. Serve as a great appetizer, snack or on the side!

Ingredients – Jalapeno Cheesy Bread

3 cups All-purpose Flour
1 tbsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Salt
2 tbsp. Sugar
8 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup Tabasco Jalapeno Sauce
1 cup Milk
1 tbsp. Vegetable Oil
1-2 cups Colby Jack & Monterey Jack Cheese
1/4 cup Green Onions, diced
1/4 cup Butter, melted

Directions – Jalapeno Cheesy Bread

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Spray or line a bread pan, set aside. Combine the first 8 ingredients together until a nice dough forms. If it’s still really sticky, add a bit more flour. Gently need into a loaf shape, then put into pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until cooked through.
In a bowl, mix the colby cheese, green onions and butter together. Cut the top of the bread into a checkered pattern. Stuff the cheese mixture inside all the cut lines into the bread. Cover the entire loaf with foil and bake for another 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

One of my favorite parts of this Honey Spice Chicken is that it’s totally versatile! Add more or less of the tasty Tabasco sauce so it’s the right amount for your own preference. You can also top with a bit more honey drizzled on the chicken after it’s cooked to adjust the flavor combinations……I’m drooling just thinking about this dish!

Ingredients – Honey Spice Chicken

2-3 Chicken Breasts, boneless & skinless
1 tbsp. Olive Oil
8 tbsp. Butter, melted
1 tbsp. Garlic Powder
1 tsp. Pepper
3 tsp. Salt
1 cup Honey
1/4 cup Tabasco Original Red Sauce
1 tbsp. Soy Sauce
2 tsp. Lime Juice

Directions – Honey Spice Chicken

Preheat oven to 375 Degrees F. Spray or line a baking dish and place the chicken breasts inside with a single layer. In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients (except chicken) until well-mixed. Pour over the chicken breasts.
Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until chicken is cooked fully through.
If desired, drizzle a bit more honey over the chicken right before serving.

This Chipotle Pasta is now Hubby’s and our exchange students favorite pasta! Full of a rich, creamy sauce and veggies, the mixture of flavors in this recipe can win over any party guest!

Ingredients – Chipotle Pasta

1 box Penne Pasta
2 tbsp. Lemon Juice
3 tbsp. Honey
3 tbsp. Olive Oil
1 cup Tabasco Chipotle Sauce
1 Yellow Pepper, diced
1 Red Pepper, diced
2 tbsp. Garlic, minced
1/2 cup Onion, diced
2 cups Heavy Cream
1-2 cups Frozen Peas
1 cup Parmesan, for topping

Directions – Chipotle Pasta

Cook pasta according to package directions.
In a large skillet (or WOK, if you have one), heat the lemon juice, honey and olive oil over medium heat. Add the minced garlic and onion and cook about two minutes, or until starting to lightly brown. Add the peppers and cook until slightly tender. Add the Tabasco, heavy cream, and frozen peas. Heat until peas are warm. Mix in the pasta and continue cooking until everything is heated through.
After dishing, top with Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

Party fun with Lollipics

October 2, 2014 by Danielle

*We received free Lollipics to review for this post. All opinions are our own. See my Disclosure Policy for more information.

We’re almost through the week, can you believe it? Nope, I can’t either…but Woot Woot! As I promised in yesterday’s post, I’m sharing some Party Fun with Lollipics!

If you missed our big Frozen Birthday Party post yesterday, be sure to check out all the fabulous fun! So many great ideas for food, decor, games plus Free Printable invitations and more! I touched a bit on these super cute Lollipics that we used as both decoration and party favors, but wanted to go into more depth on the company and product as a whole.

I was first introduced to Lollipics at SNAP! Conference last April, and their staff were just amazingly friendly and down to earth. They even brought soda for us bloggers, knowing we need our caffeine! I was instantly impressed with their product, and thought the whole idea of putting an image, even a photograph, on a lollipop was pure genius! They gave us each a sample one there….this is how mine turned out:

Loved it! And they did that overnight at their facility there in Utah, from an old photo on my phone. I was then able to try one of their pre-made designs (they offer TONS….really, you can find practically anything on their site) for the Pirate Birthday Party a few months ago.

I just HAD to have some for our Frozen Birthday Party, and wanted to try out a design I create and submit on my own. I did these two designs, which you’re welcome to use for personal use!

The program on Lollipics is really so easy to use, it took hardly any time at all to get my order placed. The one big issue was deciding which of the wonderful colors/flavors to choose from! I finally settled on their Blue Raspberry and Grape, to stick with the blue and purple theme of our party. They taste great, and look fabulous! I used them in their Olaf Favor Bags….plus as a part of our beautiful centerpiece!

Be sure to check out Lollipics on their website, and get social with them!

Frozen Birthday Party

October 1, 2014 by Danielle

Okay, so I know the whole Frozen Birthday Party has been done a million times already all over Pinterest and such, but this was our first girl birthday since the movie hit theaters last year. Every since we saw it in theaters, Wonder Woman had been begging us like crazy to let her have her own Frozen Birthday Party, so after all that waiting I was finally able to give her one….and I get to share the fun with you today!

This post contains affiliate links. You can see my Disclosure Policy for more information.

If you follow me on Instagram, you saw a sneak peak on Saturday when I was (finally) all set up and ready for the party to begin. I was so excited to bring in all the fun Frozen ideas I’d gathered throughout the year, such as our Frozen Wreath, and items from her Frozen Inspired Bedroom. I’ll admit, I’m also a huge Frozen fan, so it was a lot of fun for me to prep it all!

Frozen Birthday Party Invitations

Don’t die of shock, but I actually passed out the invitations a whole TWO weeks before the party. Yup, I was on the ball for once! Probably won’t happen again for several months, but hey, I’ll take what I can get. I loved designing these fun invitations to be a fun envelope all by itself!

So there’s two sides to this, and you can fit two of them on a page. This FREE PRINTABLE Frozen Birthday Invitation already has it laid out for you!

You can click here to download the Frozen Invitation Inside. It prints 2 per page, about 5×7 in size.

And here’s the printable ‘outside’ part, that works as an envelope:

Just be sure to print it correctly…when you open the envelope you should see the ‘You’re Invited’ under the top flap. I included fold lines on the outside, plus the lines where you can cut the flap out.

Frozen Birthday Party Decorations

Let’s start with the decorations, since I was seriously STOKED at how beautiful it all turned out! It was based on blue and purple, of course, with lots of sparkles and ‘snow sparkle’ goodness thrown in. My baby sis had a Frozen party earlier this year, so many of the supplies are leftover from that (thanks Mom and Sis!).

For the backdrop, I just got some blue, purple and white cheap plastic tablecloths from Walmart for a buck each, and pinned them hanging from the wall. Over the top of the tablecloth drapes are two Iridescent Vinyl Curtains. The Tissue Pom-Poms are hung to the side for a little extra dimension and fun!

Another cheap tablecloth on the table, then some sparkly purple and white tissue paper as a ‘table runner’ in the middle. Gotta love budget-friendly ideas, right?! In the center is a large round vase filled with little blue and purple Sixlet candy balls, along with huge gum balls. Then just stick in some blue and purple candy cane sticks and rock candies, plus a fun snowflake wand as an attractive centerpiece. I had some ‘crystal garland’ leftover as a holiday decoration, so folded that around the base. Wrap some ribbon around the center of the vase, add a simple snowflake sticker, and there ya go! In the small vase I also have my Lollipics, made especially for this party…don’t worry, more details on those to come!

Wonder Woman even wore her Elsa Dress to add to the atmosphere! She wanted to let one of the girls wear the Anna Dress I made her (in less than 2 hours)….but that many girls and ONE costume wouldn’t have ended well, so we skipped that!

Frozen Birthday Party Food

So we’ve got the main atmosphere looking and feeling totally Frozen-ified, right? But you can’t have a party without some delish and fun food! We had a whole variety, so every single one of our young girls were able to find plenty that they liked!

First up, we’ve got the Frozen Hearts. Take some delicious strawberries (I love Driscoll’s Berries), dip them in melted white chocolate, then sprinkle some blue crystal sprinkles over them. Viola….delicious, healthy, and totally fun! Plus, cute as a decoration 🙂

Sven’s carrots were, surprisingly, a huge hit with our party guests! You can go with this, or call them Olaf’s Noses. Your choice!

As the main course, I couldn’t get the sound of my kids singing ‘finish each other’s….SANDWICHES’ out of my head, so sandwiches it was! Again, LOVING easy!

“What is that delicious smell? MMMMM….Chocolate!” Yup, break out some mini chocolates, or just chocolate chips, to give ’em some yummy!

I saw this idea on Pinterest, and LOVED how cute the Melted Snowman’s were! Just some vanilla yogurt, chocolate chips, candy eyes…and an orange candy for the nose. I used Reeses chocolate chips for the nose, but there’s others if you want.

A Frozen buffet table wouldn’t be complete without Kristoff’s Ice Cubes. Blue jello to the rescue!

The cups were also a handy ‘adding to the decor’ factor on our table. We just got some cheap plastic ‘champagne’ glasses, tied pretty ribbon around each, then added some fun purple and blue striped straws….give it a little ‘pop’! The girls loved them!

Notice the fun place cards for the food, also? Simply print off some pictures of the characters on paper with a fun blue background (or blue paper….even easier), cut a styrofoam ball in half with a slit on top, then you’ve got a darling place holder snowball!

Frozen Birthday Party Games & Activities

We had a ton of fun doing Frozen crafts and games during the party, even though the girls got so hyper and excited! What’s a party without a little crazy noise, right? To start it off, we made some fun foam Elsa Crowns. I used the template from My Sister’s Suitcase, so head over there for the tutorial. I was able to find LARGE foam sheets, so could fit many crowns onto one. Get random stickers, sparkles, foam shapes or letters to decorate.

Do you remember the game ‘Don’t Eat Pete’? Well, we’ve got a special Don’t Eat Olaf game board you can print right off! To play, print the game board using that link and laminate it (if you want). Use marshmallows, candies, pom-poms, whatever and put one on each picture. The person who is ‘it’ goes away, then the rest decide which picture is the one that time. The ‘it’ person comes back and one-by-one starts removing the candies. When they go to remove the one on the selected picture, everyone yells ‘Don’t Eat Olaf’ and the ‘it’ person can’t choose anymore. Using treats makes it more fun, since they want to get as many as possible.

We also made Elsa Wands, like the one in our table centerpiece. Just paint tall craft sticks, use ribbon to twist up it, add a snowflake, dangle ribbon, whatever you want to make it a cute pretty Frozen wand!

You can also do a Frozen Memory Game…just print pictures from the movie, double of each, laminate them and play away! Or even this Pin the Nose on Olaf game!

Frozen Birthday Party Favors

The girls got to keep their crowns and wands, plus these adorable Olaf Favor Bags! Just simple white bags, add some googly eyes, then cut out the black mouth and orange carrot nose. Simple, yet everyone loves them! Fill them with other favors such as the purple and blue candy canes, rock candy, stickers, blue and silver kisses, marshmallows, the blue and purple sixlets and gumballs, nab some fun Frozen favors, and especially some fabulous Lollipics!

Love them? Want some for YOUR next party, whether it be Frozen, like our Pirate Lollipics earlier in the summer, or your own theme of choice? Come back tomorrow to learn more about this wonderful company, plus a GIVEAWAY for a dozen free Lollipics of your own choice or design! LOVE THEM!

Everyone had an absolute blast at the party, and I was so thrilled with how it all turned out. Head on over to Shindigz for so many supplies and ideas for your next party! They certainly made my vision possible, and left Wonder Woman a very very happy Elsa!

Pirate Party: Part Two

June 24, 2014 by Danielle

I feel like I’ve been drowning in Pirate-themed madness the past month, but in a can’t-wait-to-see-what’s-next type of way! Now who’s ready for some amazing Pirate Party food, decor, crafts and the neatest Pirate thank you gift ever?! Oh, and don’t forget the Free Printables!

I received free Lollipics to facilitate a review. All opinions are 100% my own.

If you missed it, be sure to check out our Pirate Party: Party One for all the fun games and activities we did for Green Lantern’s 3rd birthday! I wanted to save the best for last, which means lots of food, decor, Free Printables and this AMAZING Pirate Thank You Gift: Lollipics!

Aren’t those just the cutest?! I first met the crew from Lollipics at SNAP! Conference, and instantly loved their products. I mean, how cool is it to just upload any photo or graphic and have them create your very own personalized, handcrafted lollipop with edible images? SUPER COOL!

Plus, they’re some of the nicest people ever….and came fully stocked with a mountain of Diet Coke for those bloggers needing a pick-me-up. I also fully support companies that provide quality products AND quality shipping. How often do you order something, and it ends up packaged half-properly? These guys take the time to put your tasty Lollipics into a very well packaged box, with more than adequate padding.

Call me crazy, but I think any company that takes the time to make the PACKAGING look nicely done deserves two thumbs up!

These Pirate Lollipics are one of their MANY stock images that you can choose from, if you don’t have a specific image of your own. And you don’t have to buy dozens of them…just a minimum order of 6! I used these as a fabulous Thank You gift for our party friends. Since we did a photo booth, the following week we printed their pictures and took them in an envelope with our cute printable, attaching their very own Lollipic for them to enjoy!

You can connect with Lollipics and their amazing, tasty treats to join in the fun!

Ready for more of our fabulous Pirate Party fun?

Pirate Party Food

Seaweed Wraps: we got spinach-herb tortillas (so they’d be green), then just did turkey, cheese and lettuce wrapped inside.

Polly’s Crackers: crackers and cheese….simple as that!

Salty Sea Water: blue Hawaiian punch bottles with the labels replaced.

Fish ‘n Chips: Goldfish crackers with potato chips

Jolly Roger Cannonballs: olives

Shark Bate: swedish fish (in a clean fish bowl, of course)

Pirate Party Decor

Although many of the games and activities served as decor, also, here are some of the other Pirate-y extras!

We used our Chore Treasure Chest to hold our pirate swords, hats, and eye patches (all found on Amazon) next to our photo booth. We made our spy glasses using empty paper towel rolls covered with brown paper, then gold paper on the ends and semi-middle. Super simple, yet they STILL play with them like crazy!

If you saw the boys’ Pirate Bedroom Makeover, you probably noticed this amazing Pirate Direction Sign. It was SUPER easy to make, and lots of fun! Tutorial coming soon…so stay tuned!

I had to incorporate ‘X marks the spot’ somehow, so I used poster board to cut out a big red X on our front door, with black cut out ‘Ahoy Matey’ greetings! This is now on the boys’ bedroom door.

I had so much fun with the printables for our Pirate Party, and even made some Pirate Booty signs to attach to their DIY Treasure Chests to take home!

Ready for the Free Printables? I bet you are! Here’s ALL the fun signs and tags I did for the party….

Thanks fer coming, Matey! Tag

Walk the Plank & Pirate Booty

Photo Booth & Treasure Chests

Hook Toss & Pirate Faces

Food Signs

Salty Sea Waters

Dig for Treasure & Food Signs

Pirate Booty Tags

Pirate Party: Part One

June 18, 2014 by Danielle

It’s been almost a month since Green Lantern’s 3rd birthday, and I’m finally ready to share his Pirate Party with you! There was a quite a bit, so today I’ll be sharing the games and activities we did!

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Better late than never, right? After the party was over, I got so busy doing the boys’ Pirate Bedroom that I just let his Pirate Party sit on the back burner for awhile. I guess this way we have a couple weeks filled with Pirate fun, right?!

Even with all the exciting stuff for his party, Green Lantern was in the wrong mood for a party that afternoon. We’d be like ‘time to open presents’ and our stubborn 3-year-old says ‘I too busy’! Seriously, what a pill! Once we convinced him to join in, though, he couldn’t get enough of the fun! We didn’t do a lot of complex activities at this Pirate Party, since it was geared towards 3-year-olds, but most of it can be changed up for any age level!

Walk the Plank

It doesn’t get much more simple than this, but the kids thought it was a blast! Just get a long board (make sure it’s sturdy…don’t want injured kids) and something to prop up the ends on. We used some extra bricks. The blow up Tick-Tock-Croc was from Amazon (and came with rings for a toss game….see below what we used them for).

Hook Toss

I quickly colored stripes on a plain poster board, cut holes and stuck three hooks through (ordered on Amazon), and then used the rings that came with ol’ Tick-Tock-Croc for a fabulous game of toss. The youngest friends (under 2 year olds) hung out by this the majority of the time, putting the rings on, taking them off, putting them on….it was super cute!

Make a Pirate Face

I found this awesome stick book at Walmart for a few bucks. It has a LOT of pages of pirate characters, then you use the included sticker sheets to make your own with eyes, noses, mustaches, skulls, and other pirate stuff! Some of the kids wanted their pirate to look ‘the right way’, others turned out quite unique!

Take Yer Photo – Photo Booth

Since the kids were moving around so much during the Pirate Party, I was so glad I did a spot for a photo booth. That way, I actually got SOME photos that weren’t blurry from all the jumping and running! I just used cheap $1 tablecloths in red, white and black hanging on the wall for the backdrop. For the banner, I cut out black and red poster board, taped each to some rope (thought that was more fitting than ribbon), and put skull stickers on them.

Dig for Treasure

My wonderful neighbor let us borrow her little sand box for this activity. We filled it with sand, but put some pirate treasure in there for the kids to dig up! You can get simple pirate things such as skull rings, ‘jewels’, or other small items. It helped to have a list of how many of what each child could get, so one person didn’t end up with ALL the rings or jewels!

DIY Treasure Chests

For this one, you’ll need a bunch of empty wipe containers. I spray painted them gold with Rust-Oleum’s Metallic Gold spray paint. The kids then used glue, glue dots and/or tape to attach jewels to their ‘treasure chests’. They were able to use these to take home some of their ‘booty’ from the digging for treasure activity!If using normal glue, I’d suggest doing this activity near the beginning to allow time for it to dry.

Sing Happy Birthday

Okay, so I know that’s a huge ‘DUH’ activity for the birthday, but I had to put it so I could show you this photo…..THIS was Green Lantern’s attitude for the party! While everyone was singing happy birthday to him, with candles lit on the cake, he sat there with his hand flat over his face. Yup, told ya, MAJOR PILL!

Stay tuned for PART TWO of our Pirate Party, where I’ll share all the decor, fun food and Free Printables! Oh – and the coolest pirate thank you gift EVER: Lollipics!