Homemade Valentines

Valentines are really special when they are HOMEMADE, and even more special when they are personalized. I spend all year thinking of new ideas for my loved ones and spend the whole month making different ones for each person. Here are some from last year...

This was a homemade check I made last year, I tried to make it look as real as possible, (the background picture was an easter egg he had made the year before) We made it out for a Million Dollars, and he was in shock until he realized it was fake, then we all got a good laugh

FUN VALENTINE & GAME...

I made this for my sister, since she just married into this beautiful family!
THIS ONE would be a GOOD CHOICE for ANY VALENTINE. 

Have you ever played DON'T EAT PETE? Same rules I just changed the name to don't eat my valentine.

MAKE IT: I made a grid with pictures of her family and their dog and filled in the other spaces with other characters, I laminated it and gave it to her with a bag of candy. HOW YOU PLAY THE GAME: One person leaves the room, every one agrees on one picture, then they cover all the pictures with one candy, then the person comes back into the room and start picking pieces of candy, if it isn't the picture that was picked they can eat it, but if it was the candy on top of the picked picture, then everyone yells, DON'T EAT MY VALENTINE!

So my dad is always singing the song

NOBODY LIKES ME, EVERYBODY HATES ME, GONNA GO EAT WORMS

So I made a card with these picture of him and the words to the song on the front, then inside I put a picture of a worm that said...

AHHH!!!! SOMEONE GIVE THIS MAN SOME LOVE!

Hope this post inspired you to make your loved ones some personalized homemade valentines.

CARS Birthday Cake

It was my sons second birthday, and he just loves CARS and CARS 2, so that was what we did for his birthday party. I wanted to make a themed cake and we didn't have much time. So this cake worked perfect, just a standard rectangle cake, a number 2 road, and some new cars, which doubled as his present.

I made the buildings with an old cereal box. Then we took some ornament hangers off our christmas tree...yes our tree is still up... we shaped the hangers to hang Flin off the side of a building, since Finn driving up the side of the building in CARS 2, is my sons favorite part. I even put a car crash, since it's a boys cake. 

I gave him a big piece of cake, thinking I was spoiling him! But he only ate two bites and left the rest for me. It was a fun FUN birthday!

Miss America Party

I was so excited for Miss America this year, and I was excited to share my yearly traditions with a group of friends this year. Every year I watch the show with my paper and pencil and pick Miss America, I have gotten so good that the past two years I have picked Miss America out of the 53 girls right after they introduce themselves! (it's actually pure luck, but I like to think it's me!)

So here is how you throw a great Miss America Party...

FIRST invite people to come watch and bring a HEALTHY SNACK, believe me you will thank me after you watch swim suit. This year we had Hummus, Pita Chips, Shrimp, Grapes, Cheese, and Pistachio's

NEXT print off the TRACKER HERE- this will be where you write all the correct answers of who actually moves on, sometimes we also write what they wore or what talent they did, so we can keep track of who is who. This also tells you how many points each correct guess is

sized to be printed as a 11x17

THEN print of BALLOTS HERE, so that everyone can vote, this is the sheet where everyone writes their guesses. When everyone introduces them selves in the beginning is when you pick your top 15 and your first pick of Miss America on the left side, then during each competition you guess the next group. This year they did 4 eliminations instead of 3 so we did the 3rd elimination on the back of their papers, they do it a bit different each year so you have to be flexible.
(PS start your party 30 minutes before the show starts so everyone gets there and settled in, in time to vote or they will miss all the fun)

designed for a standard piece of paper

FUN COMMERCIAL BREAK GAME- so you see those dashed lines at the bottom of Top 10, I used these for a fun commercial break Game I came up with. I thought back to my pageant days and thought of some funny questions we could use, I came up with 5 questions and put them in a slide show, as your guest arrive, put their names into a bowl and draw one out during the commercial break, fill in the blank with their name, then that person writes down which option they would choose on the dotted line and everyone else try's writes guess at what that person wrote down, once everyone has something written on the dotted line, the person picked reveals their answer.

Here is the slide show I made, you can find by CLICKING HERE. 

You can also download it to the computer by clicking File, then, Download As

Also we make a CROWN and SASHES,  in the past I made the crown out of a big poster board, and decorate it with glitter glue, but this year we made PIPE CLEANER HEADBAND CROWNS 
I bought a pack of 6 head bands and a pack of pipe cleaner for $2.00 total at the dollar store, each crown takes 2-4 pipe cleaners depending on the design

and I always buy a dollar plastic table clothe and cut it into strips for sashes. As guests come in I have them write their own titles, This year I was Miss Mom!

I love the Miss America Organization because I participated in this program at the local and state level for 3 years. I loved the skills I took away from it, the opportunities it gave me to be involved in my community, their focus on education and the many scholarships they gave to help me reach my educational goals, and this is why I support their program every year!

This year I am supporting Miss Idaho Sierra Sandison and voting for her for the people choice award. You can vote for her too!   http://www.missamerica.org/videocontest/contestants/idaho.aspx

She is such a sweetheart! I was able to meet her at her farewell party, and she really impressed me. America would be lucky to have such a caring Lady represent them!

So who are you cheering on? Tell me in the comments ;)

ENJOY!!!

Whoville Christmas Party

This all started when my mom asked me how to do "Who Hair" for a christmas party she was invited to. I had so much fun looking for pictures  that I decided I wanted to do "Who Hair"! But where would I wear this "Who Hair"?  At my Whoville Christmas Party, of course

First was the "Who Feast"!

we carved the "Roast Beast" (HAM)

we scooped the "Who Hash"(HASHBROWNS)

with a side of "Green Eggs"(EGGS)

and some muffins were brought

Since there were so many christmas parties going on the weekends we made our party a BREAKFAST! 
So more people could come, and the food coordinated so well!

Just a side note, I had never cooked a Ham before this party. It's way EASY and delicious! 

So if you've never cooked a Ham, consider doing one this week!

As for DECORATIONS, I didn't have much time to pull this together, so I decided to focus on the table and one big decoration! For the table I bought 2 TABLE COVERS one to cover the table and the other folded twice to be the RUNNER, I cut out SNOWFLAKES and scattered them around, and toped it with COLORED PAPER PLATES no dishes, YEAH!!!

We also made this GRINCH to go in our fireplace, I just bought GREEN KID PANTS stuffed them with blankets, and then I got RED and WHITE MATERIAL and make shoes and the bottom of his coat, and my husband hung him with string, and our stockings we use at christmas were the perfect finish!

I used the fire place as our backdrop for pictures and then we all watched the movie 

HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS

We watched the animated version for three reasons- 1) it's shorter 2) we like it better and 3) we all brought our kids to this fun party! You can download the movie on Amazon by clicking here or you can do what I did and check it out at your local library

 We had "WHO PUDDING" while we watched the movie, and this isn't just any plain old pudding, this is my FAVORITE dessert and here is the delicious recipe.

WHO PUDDING

1 1/2 c. flour

1 1/2 sticks butter (softened)

8 oz cream cheese (softened)

1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. Cool Whip (from 8 oz carton)

1 (3 oz) instant chocolate pudding

1 (3 oz) instant vanilla pudding
3 c. milk

Remaining Cool Whip

Mix the flour and butter and spread into a thin layer in the bottom of a 13x9-inch glass dish. Bake 25 minutes at 325 degrees, let it cool completely Mix cream cheese and powdered sugar with mixer 2 minutes and spread over cooled crust (this part is very tricky, I like to pour the whole thing in and then carefully spread it around. Mix both puddings with 3 cups of milk for 1 minute; then fold in Cool Whip and pour it over the cake. Spread the remaining Cool Whip on cake. Serves 10-12

It was really an amazing christmas party, centered around the spirit of christmas and fun to share with our friends and our kids! Merry Christmas from my family to yours!!!