Busy Moms Helper

Family fun, food, recipes, crafts, and free printables

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Danielle Hey y'all, I'm Danielle - the crazy behind this blog, where I share my creative life adventures as I survive life as a momma of 5 superheroes & wife to my best friend & fellow nerd. Life doesn't have to be perfect to be GREAT! You can reach me at danielle (at) busymomshelper.com - ABOUT -

Grinch Who Stole Christmas Party

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One thing I really enjoy doing is making themed family nights based on movies we watch together. Remember our Monster Party from this summer, before we went to see Monsters University? That was so much fun! The kids love things like this, and it’s definitely something that can bring the whole family together laughing. So I decided to do a How the Grinch Stole Christmas party!
Grinch stole Christmas Party / Busy Mom's Helper
I love the atmosphere of happiness, fun and love at Christmas-time. Now, I’m not talking the atmosphere at stores such as Walmart, where everyone is cranky, mean and in a hurry. That’s just horrible anytime, especially this time of year. I’m meaning the kids excitement, the counting down fun, and bright lights that put a smile on your face, giving to others, extra opportunities for serve – all of that just really lifts me up out of my normal slump. It’s WONDERFUL!
The Meal
For ‘Who Hash, we did mashed potatoes mixed with ham bits and cheese.
Who Pudding was simply Tapioca pudding turned green. Thinking back, I would’ve done it red.
Our drink was a pink-red Cindy Lou Who Punch. Simply some juice ice cubes in Cherry Pomegranate Crystal Light.
These Grinch Heart Cookies were just fun. I didn’t do them in heart shapes, but the cookie itself is pink (heart) and the cinnamon-sugar outside is green (Grinch fuzz, or whatever). Simple Snickerdoodles!
Want to print your own cards? Here’s some fun printables for you!
I included an empty one, so you can fill in your own little meal name!
The Activity
Needing something quick and simple, we did these coloring pages. Most of my kids LOVE art activities, so it was a winner! I even added this fun poem I found online (don’t know the source, but know that it wasn’t me that came up with it)!
Want some other fun Grinch Party Ideas? These two amazing blogs share some fabulous Grinch-ness!!!

Sugar Rush Party Series: Food, Drink & Goodies

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How have you liked the Sugar Rush Party Series so far? I hope you’ve had fun looking – we had fun planning and doing!!! This is the 3rd and last part in the series – the Food, Drink & Goodies (best part, right?)!
Sugar Rush Party Series: Food, Drink & Goodies / Busy Mom's Helper
For a fun little utensil wrap, I used candy bracelets/necklaces to hold their fork/spoon/knife – you can see in the photo above. The kids thought they were so fun, and the candy jewelry definitely didn’t last very long!

We did Sugar Rush Soda for the beverage. Simply buy a soda in bottles – such as IBC Rootbeer, or we did Crush Grape & Strawberry, since it matched our color scheme. Then we printed off simple labels with images or designs inspired by the movie, and tape them around the soda. I did two labels – One very simple, pink and blue, that say’s Sugar Rush’ then just has candy Canes and such. The other has Wreck it Ralph standing looking at the game Sugar Rush – remember after he crash lands? Ya, had to have an image of him SOMEWHERE!

Ok, I know this is one of the saddest looking cookie cakes ever – but we were trying to make it look like a kid-made, simple Hero Medal, like the one Vanellope made Ralph. So no fancy, professional decorating here -simple, yet cute.

Now, even though the cake wasn’t all that pretty – it tasted AMAZING! Like eating cookie dough, but being cooked. Love it! So I thought I should share the recipe for any other cookie-dough-lovers out there! Please note: This makes a BIG cookie! Like a large pizza kind of big!

Ingredients
16 tbsp. (2 sticks) Butter, melted
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar, packed
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 tsp. Salt
2 Large Eggs
2 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
2 cups Chocolate Chips
Frosting for decorating – as desired

Directions
Preheat your oven to 350 Degrees F. If you have a pizza baking sheet, use that (circular works best, obviously), otherwise do your best with a normal baking sheet. Spray it or PREFERABLY – line with parchment paper.

Mix all of the ingredients (except frosting) together until VERY WELL COMBINED. Using a mixer helps save the arm muscles, but it does work out fine.

Pour the batter onto your baking sheet and shape into a large circle, about 3/4 of an inch thick.

Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean and edges are slightly browned.

Allow to cool completely. Decorate as desired – have fun!

Check out the entire Sugar Rush Party Series

Sugar Rush Party Series: Activities, Games & Crafts

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Who’s ready for Part 2 of the Sugar Rush Party Series? Great! Today I’m sharing the activities, games and crafts we did at Wonder Woman’s Party.
Sugar Rush Party Series: Activities, Games & Crafts / Busy Mom's Helper

First, we did this Sweet Bingo game, covered with lots of yummy goodies pictures. Of course, we used M&Ms as the playing pieces 😀

Remember in the movie when Vanellope made a medal for Ralph? Well, of course we had to have the girls make medals themselves! I just bought some cheap foam pieces – already in a heart shape – from Walmart. Saved me the hassle of cutting – woohoo! Punch two holes for some ribbon to make it wearable. Then just use markers or foam-paint, plus some ‘sweet’ sticker pieces so they can make it their own. Wonder Woman HAD to put Stink Brain on hers, of course, just like in the movie!

There was no way we could do a Sugar Rush party without making our own race cars – out of sweet treats, of course! We had a variety of goodies for them to use: Cookies, Smarties, Gummie Bears, Candy Dots, and Peppermints. Of course, make sure there’s LOTS of frosting (like Vanellope says: “A butt load of frosting”)!

Also, make sure you have a frosting writing tube, because “A work of art like this must be signed” – Vanellope

Look at all the fun varieties!

Okay, so I must say that we also did Diet Cola Mountain with ‘falling Mentos’ – but of course, it was so quick that I didn’t get any photos! A tip for when you do it, though – have a tube or something so that you can VERY QUICKLY pour ALL of the Mentos in. The second the first one hits, you’ll want to move, so if you can instantly get the whole tube in, the better it’ll be. The girls were laughing like CRAZY when we did this – I definitely recommend it!

The Whole Sugar Rush Party Series:

Sugar Rush Party Series: Decorations

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Wonder Woman’s birthday fell on the first day of school this year. We had just moved into our new house (after only recently moving to Texas from another state) – so she had yet to make many friends. So I told her we should wait a month or two while she made some friends at school and in the neighborhood, then it’d be worth having a bigger party like she wanted. Anywho – end result: her Sugar Rush  birthday party a couple weeks ago.
Sugar Rush Party Series: Decorations

My kids love Wreck it Ralph. My boys will run around with their toy hammer saying ‘Fix it, Felix’ then taking turns being Ralph ‘wrecking’ things. It’s actually really cute! Wonder Woman decided that instead of a ‘boy party like Wreck it Ralph’ (her words, not mine), she wanted a Sugar Rush party. Fun, right?! This was a blast to put together, and the ideas are limitless…it was hard to choose!

Today I’m sharing the decorations from the party – how we ‘set the mood’, you could say.

How cute is this ‘lollipop’ walkway? All the girls thought it was just fabulous when they arrived, and it really got them excited (aka Hyper)! It was SOOO easy, too! All I did was use some Candy Cane stick decorations I had (they’re like $1 each at Walmart), since Candy Cane also fit in our theme, then wrapped cellophane around a balloon and tied it to the stick. Poke it in the ground lining the path to the party – Woohoo! They’ll feel like they’re in Sugar Rush, or Candy Land, or whatever ‘sweet’ thing.

My mom is the genius behind this cute little display. She set out the party bags (again, cheap at Walmart – and even have ‘sweets’ on them already), hung streamers, and decorated with some of our crafts, food and random candies. It was darling, and also helped give it the Sugar Rush feel.

This was a bit more challenging, I admit. We bought a bunch of the cheap, colorful tablecloths at Walmart, and used duck tape (Flat paint doesn’t let it stick well, just FYI) to hang them in one center area. Then, gently drape it to a side wall/ceiling to create a canopy look. You could go in a full circle, but the half circle worked best for us. We added some cute balloons at the center to help cover the duck tape, then used streamers to hang some down as a ‘floating centerpiece’. Sugar Rush is colorful, so this fit right in!

Coming Soon in the Sugar Rush Party Series: 

Tasty Spider Gift

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These are an oldie-but-a-goodie. My kids actually made them at my mom’s house last Halloween-time, and I snapped a photo of those ones so I could try to do them again. Behold, Tasty Spider Gift second edition! These fun little gifts are so simple, cost-friendly (Booyah!) and cute that kids AND adults alike will love them!

Tasty Spider Gift / Busy Mom's Helper

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Supplies
Tape or Hot Glue
Black Pipe Cleaners (or colorful, your choice)
Jewel, pom-pom – something for a nose
Candies to hide inside!
Directions
 
I got my little canisters at a Family Dollar, and they were only about 50 Cents a piece. So….take your little canisters……
….and glue four pipe cleaners per side (spiders have eight legs, remember?) to the bottom of the canisters. I used black because that’s what I had on-hand, but making fun colorful spider legs would be awesome!
Tasty Spider Gift
Next, glue on the Googly Eyes and Nose to the lid.
Tasty Spider Gift
Fill with candy, replace the lid and VIOLA!!! A really easy, inexpensive little treat craft for the kids (adult-kids also included)!
Tasty Spider Gift
Did you see my other fun Halloween Craft this week?

Monsters University Pre-Party

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Happy Labor Day! I don’t know about you, but I REALLY needed today, just a break from normal school-work-life. Can you relate? Anywho…even though this 3-day weekend is almost over, I thought sharing a little extra FUN thing would add a few more smiles! So this summer we visited my family back in Utah, and had So. Much. Fun!!! Seriously, my mom is such a fun, cute grandma, and loves doing extra fun things for the kids. While we were there she decided to take us to see Monsters University, and to get the kids excited we had a Monster’s University Pre-Party the night before. See, told you she was fun!!!
Monster's University Pre-party / Busy Mom's Helper

My uber-talented sister (well, one of them – I have four!) made this amazingly cute Cutie Cupcakes. The kids thought they were so fun – although some of them absolutely refused to eat the eyes, even though they’re just sugar candy.

My adopted-into-the-family-because-she-is-just-so-awesome sister created this Monster-Mouthed-Melon, who’s either eating up everything, or spitting it back up. Either way, tons of fun!
Advice: careful when transporting the finished product in your vehicle….this tipped over in hers, spilling fruit juice everywhere!

Finally, my mom and a bunch of us put together these Toothy Sandwich guys. Scary yet too cute to resist!

It was such a fun party, such a fun SUMMER! Sad to see it go, but excited for all the upcoming food, crafts and other exciting holiday stuff soon to be our way. Bring on the Holidays!!!