Planning a Pooh Bear Birthday Party

Being big Winnie the Pooh fans around here, we have thrown several “silly old bear” themed parties. Because there is so much Pooh related stuff out there, it is an easy party to put together. You won’t have any trouble finding Pooh plates, Pooh shaped cake pans, or even Pooh piñatas. All of that stuff is fine, but it’s more fun (and cheaper) to get a little creative. And making your own party stuff gets the children involved. For invitations think about brown honey pot shaped paper, or a red shirt shaped card with the word “Pooh” on the front. … Continue reading →

Birthday Parties Can Be Fun

I know a lot of parents who dread birthday parties. They don’t like the noise, the expense, or the amount of presents. I will admit that I don’t either. I have been to some very out of control parties. Over the years the parties seem to get more and more expensive and hyper. My brother emailed a story of a family who spent over $2000 on a birthday party for their son, who was turning one! Birthday parties don’t have to break the bank though. And they can be fun though, for everyone. Or at the very least, they don’t … Continue reading →

Popcorn Fun on a Cold, Rainy Day

I’ve been busy with the kids this week shopping for spring and summer clothes, and enjoying an easier spring break schedule. Today a mixture of ice and rain is falling, so we aren’t planning on going anywhere. It’s a good day to be lazy, watch a movie or two and have some popcorn. I try not to buy a lot of microwave popcorn. There are some very nasty sounding chemicals in it. I’d heard that you could pop your own corn in a regular lunch sack. I hesitated to try it, but it works great. We put a couple of … Continue reading →

Gloves, Hats, and Necklaces – Craft Ideas for Tea Parties

What’s a tea party without gloves? I have several ideas for decorating gloves, depending on the age group of your guests and how many adult helpers you have. If you are lucky you can sometimes find old dress gloves at thrift stores and garage sales. If you can’t find them or don’t want to glue things to almost antique clothing, gloves meant for keeping lotion on your hands, or those one size fits all stretch gloves that cost about a dollar work just fine too. Plain gloves are fine and will feel fancy to the children. But gloves with decorations … Continue reading →

Tea Party Birthday Parties

Tea party themed birthday parties can be loads of fun, and aren’t hard to put together. For invitations consider a teacup-shaped card with a string and tag attached mimicking a tea bag. You can write your party details on the tag and on the cup. Dressing up is the most fun part. You can invite your guest to come dressed up, or consider it a party activity. Position a mirror in the party room so the girls can see how they look. Provide boas, tiaras, and loads and loads of beaded necklaces and bracelets. Thrift stores and garage sales are … Continue reading →

St. Baldricks – Fundraising for Childhood Cancer

For the last few years I’ve looked for places and causes where we could volunteer as a family. I’ve found rare things like envelope stuffing, collecting food, garage sales for worthy causes, and things like that. I want my children to realize that not everyone is as fortunate as we are. I want them to have a spirit of giving. They are too young though to work at the Humane Society or the zoo. They are too young to do house construction. They are too young for a lot of things. And yet my twin fourth graders came home last … Continue reading →

A Family Important Events and Anniversaries Calendar

A friend of mine has one of those perpetual birthday calendars on her wall. You know, it’s the kind of calendar you can use year after year to remember people’s birthdays. She doesn’t use it for birthdays though, but for their family anniversaries. At first I didn’t understand. At my house we celebrate birthdays, and a lot of holidays, and our wedding anniversary. But that’s it for anniversaries. And I remember our wedding anniversary anyway. On my friend’s calendar she has all sorts of anniversary days marked: the day her children learned how to walk; the day they moved into … Continue reading →

Italian Sodas – Easy Recipes for Kids to Make

Italian sodas look beautiful and seem very fancy and indulgent. They are, however, extremely fun and easy to make. Start with a big glass full of ice. Add sparkling water or club soda, and a tablespoon or two of flavored syrups. These syrups can be found in the coffee section of most grocery stores, coffee shops, gourmet food stores, and are also available from Amazon. They come in myriad of flavors: vanilla, white chocolate, caramel, raspberry, pumpkin spice, peppermint, Tiramisu, amaretto, lime, cranberry, hazelnut, crème de menthe, Irish Crème, coconut, coffee, and even pomegranate and mango. A lot of the … Continue reading →

Easy Super Bowl Snacks Kids Can Make

We actually don’t watch a lot of football at my house. But the Super Bowl is fun, even though some of us are more interested in the commercials than the game. And of course there are the snacks, too! Here are some snacks kids love and that they can help make. Brown Sugar Dip (that tastes like caramel) 1-8 ounce package softened cream cheese 1 cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla Mix the package of cream cheese with the brown sugar and vanilla. It really does taste like caramel. We like it with apples. It’s also really good on pretzels. … Continue reading →

Flavored Hot Chocolate Fun

Our family loves hot chocolate. We like to get a little fancy with it and have fun coming up with different flavor combinations. Hot chocolate is hard to mess up. It’s a great way to have kids do some creative cooking. I have a selection of coffee syrups. Our favorite flavors are vanilla, caramel, peppermint, and raspberry. Here are some of our favorite combinations. I also like to mix a mug with ½ coffee and ½ flavored hot chocolate. Not only is it fewer calories, but it tastes like a fancy coffee store treat. Peppermint: Add either a splash of … Continue reading →