Pirate Party: Part Two

June 24, 2014 by Kelly Dedeaux

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 Kelly Dedeaux

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!

Contains affiliate links that support this blog at no extra cost to you. See our Disclosure for more info.

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!

Grinch Who Stole Christmas Party

December 17, 2013 by Kelly Dedeaux

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!!!

Clean & Scentsible

And Everything Sweet

Sugar Rush Party Series: Food, Drink & Goodies

November 6, 2013 by Kelly Dedeaux

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

Decorations

Activities, Games & Crafts

Sugar Rush Party Series: Activities, Games & Crafts

November 4, 2013 by Kelly Dedeaux

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:

Decorations

Food, Drink & Goodies

Sugar Rush Party Series: Decorations

November 1, 2013 by Kelly Dedeaux

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.

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:

Activities, Games & Crafts

Food, Drink & Goodies

Tasty Spider Gift

October 9, 2013 by Kelly Dedeaux

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!

Contains affiliate links that help support this blog at no extra cost to you. See our disclosure for more info.

Supplies

Little Canisters with removable lids

Tape or Hot Glue

Googly Eyes

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!

Next, glue on the Googly Eyes and Nose to the lid.

Fill with candy, replace the lid and VIOLA!!! A really easy, inexpensive little treat craft for the kids (adult-kids also included)!

Did you see my other fun Halloween Craft this week?

Cute Witchy Hat

Monsters University Pre-Party

September 2, 2013 by Kelly Dedeaux

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!!!