Pressing Rewind: S'More Birthday Treats, Please!!

I always love to post about the treats we take to school for Emerson's birthdays.  While I was probably in a sleep deprived fog while making them, it will be nice to visit the blog one day and see how cute they turned out.  For Emerson's 4th Birthday (yes, you read that right!!...I'm a bit behind on the blog), we made S'Mores Pops for her classmates and friends.  If I remember correctly, they were super easy to make and turned out great; cute and delicious all-in-one!!  I found the idea on Tip Junkie (a favorite of mine), and just modified a bit.   Here's the process and final result in pictures!!

These StackerMallows were a must as they are flatter than regular marshmallows!!!

Important step that you can't tell from below picture....put them in the freezer for a few minutes and let the chocolate harden.  

...here's the cute (store-bought) cupcake cupcakes I took for all the kids to have in-class that day!!! Gotta love Target!!!

Valentine's Treats, 2012

Before we left for NYC, Emerson's class talked about her going to the M&M store and bringing back M&M's for the whole class.  Since we didn't get back from NYC until the Monday before Valentine's Day, there was no time to make cute treats.  Luckily, we hit the M&M store in New York and, as you may remember, bought way too many M&M's.  A perfect Valentine's treat for Emerson's classmates.

 

 

Supper Club | January, 2012

Last October, during an evening dinner with the Giovanellos, I mentioned the idea of a supper club.  There are several girls that have been together since the beginning days at Parkwood in Miss Linda's room and now they will be graduating in June.  Most of the girls will all be going to different schools.  So, in an effort to keep them all in touch and for the families to also stay in touch, we decided to start a monthly supper club.  

In January, the Giovanellos hosted the first one.  The theme for that evening was "Italian", fitting since Kelly is a great Italian cook; her meatballs are the best I have ever had!!  The Giovanellos provided the pasta and her yummy meatballs and we provided the appetizers; pizza dip and Totinos for the kids, which by-the-way were HORRIBLE.  The Hodgkinsons brought salad, the Arsenas brought a variety of breads. and the Wessons brought some delicious desserts all made by Chad.  It was certainly a feast!!  

The Appetizers

We all learned a new trick that night, one that I had pinnned on Pinterest just days before.  Stick a wooden spoon on the top of the pot, and the water will never boil over.  Who knew??

Let's eat...Yummy!!

All the girls took their places and dug-in for a delicious dinner.  

(Aurora -with her back to us, Kayla, Julianne, Melania, Emerson, and Abigail)

The guys didn't mind eating in the living room and watching basketball in front of the TV.    

While the adults conversed (well, the women gabbed and the men watched more basketball), the kids took over the whole house.  They played in the playroom, dressed up, played hide-and-seek and created their own band with instruments.

Emerson and Melania, such cute princesses!!

All the gals dressed up!!

(Melania, Emerson, Julianne, Aurora and Kayla)

It was a great night, with fantastic food, good friends, great conversation and great playtime for all the girls.  We are so happy to be a part of this group and to continue these dinners.  

Holiday Festivities | School Treats

School Treats

December 18, 2011

Between our trip to Target and our Jingle Jolly party, we took some time out of the day to make this year's school treats.  Thanks to Pinterest (my obsession), I was able to find two adorable, easy treats for the kids at school. 

Reindeer Food

We started our crafts by making Reindeer Food so the kids could all sprinkle it on their lawns Christmas Eve for the reindeer to eat.  We included very stale Cheerios from our pantry, store bought oats, red and green sprinkles and cookie sprinkles of all sorts.  Emerson did a great job making these bags almost all-by-herself.  I printed off an adorable free printable from The TomKat Studio (one of my faves), to serve as the gift tag and adorned with ribbon.  How cute!!  We hope all the kids sprinkled their lawns, sidewalks, or decks for their special reindeer visitors on Christmas Eve.  

Peppermint Play Dough

Our second crafty treat of the day, wasn't a treat at all.  We decided, instead of making an edible treat, we would make something the kids could play with and keep for months to come.  So we settled on Peppermint Play Dough.  It was a toss-up between gingerbread or peppermint, but ultimately the peppermint won out when I found the adorable candy cane cookie cutters at Michael's!  We used the recipe from a post on Pinterest via the Idea Room (again, love it!!).  You may remember our play dough making for preschool last year.  I always think it's going to be so messy and take forever, but it's really pretty simple.  I'm not sure I will ever buy PlayDoh again, except maybe for convenience. And, now I know you can any essential oil to it and make it whatever flavor you want.  YUMMY!!  Another great school treat idea!!

Had to buy these for the containers!!

Peppermint Play Dough Recipe

(via the Idea Room)

1 cup flour
1/4 cup salt
2 tablespoons cream of tartar 
1 Tablespoon Peppermint Oil Extract 

* I used Peppermint extract and used a lot more than a tablespoon
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup water

1. Mix flour, salt, & cream of tartar in a medium cooking pot.
2. Add water, peppermint extract and oil.
3. Stir over medium heat 3 to 5 minutes stirring constantly.
4. When mixture forms a ball in pot, remove.
5. Knead until smooth.
6. Play and explore with this fragrant, brightly colored dough as you would any play dough.
7. Put in a plastic bag and refrigerate to store.