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!!!

Murder Mystery Mardi Gras

My mom knows how much I enjoy planning group dates so she bought me this game.

What I loved about this game, is that it has the whole date already planned, 

you just invite people...

dress up.... 

and enjoy some food together as you play.... (we did party food, appetizers and desserts)

Decorations aren't a must, but were way fun to buy and put up

I have never celebrated Mardi Gras, infact I had to look up when Mardi Gras was. 

This game was lots of fun and the most appropriate way to celebrate this risque holiday.

I recommend the games 100%, have fun!

Help Husband Plan Our Valentines Day Date

Dave at HotDateIdeas.com is a great inspiration for this Date Idea. To see his take on this date and look at some other romantic date ideas, click the link above!

SO... February 14th was coming and my husband was busy busy with school, work, and applying to grad school. Was it really fair for me to remind him that it was his year to plan Valentines Day? So I thought I would help him out and this is a great idea to get husbands involved in the planning.

Every day I texted him a question, "do you like it hard or soft", "do you like it hot or cold", "do you like it fast or slow", "do you like it wet or dry" and so on ... and every day he picked one or the other, which in the end, ended up planning our date.

Wet or Dry - meal - alfrado or chicken fingers

 Hott or Cold - desert- pie or ice-cream 

 Fast or Slow - activity - airhockey or billiards/ laser tag or minature golf. 

          Hard or Soft - gift - hammer or socks (practical gifts, we are poor collage students)
   

it was alot of fun... He loved the suspense.... and I loved that he was planning our romantic date! 

Valentine Crafts

Valentines Day is now one of my new favorite holidays. I have the most incredible husband, I am head over heels for him, & there is a holiday to celebrate that!

I saw this in a local craft store and wanted to do this craft so bad, but the wood letters were $3 a piece and the scrap booking kit was $12 and I just couldn't afford it, but I also couldn't forget about it, and with a little creativity and time I figured out how to make it for

ONLY $2.50!

$1 foam board at the dollars store

$.25/paper in the discount section of my local craft store.

I came home picked a font on my computer, resized the letters, and printed them off.

Then, I used the letters to cut out the foam board with a razor, my husband helped me with this part, he did such a good job because he is so precise.

While he was doing that I used the letters he wasn't using to cut out the fancy discounted scrapbook paper.

Then we glued them on the foam board.

My next decoration idea was to buy this glass vase, also at the dollar store and fill it with those conversation hearts. It wasn't as cute as I thought it would be, but I sure loved snacking on those hearts. I also filled the center with newspaper so I didn't have to buy as many hearts to fill it.

Next year I want to make a special valentines frame to put along these two crafts, I want it to say "A Life without Love is no Life at all"

Ninja Turtle Date

We love making pizza, and wanted a fun themed date to go with it, so we all dressed up as characters of ninja turtles. Then we made and ate pizza together.

We decorated with pizza box's, and pizza slices made out of construction paper. We put man holes on the ground. When we were done we hoped on the old sega set we have and played a teenage turtle, ninja game, I am so lame at any type of video game so the pizza part was defiantly my favorite part.

The Best Pizza Crust Recipe

Heat oven 425 degrees

2 cup warm water (not hot)

2 TBS Honey

2 TBS yeast

I let that sit while I prep some of the toppings

Then I add

1TBS oil

3-5 cups flour

1 tsp salt

kneed that and let it rise for 5-10 minutes while I prep more toppings

Roll it out on a pizza dish or a PIZZA STONE (worth the investment if you love pizza, put mozzerella sticks around the edge and roll in to make stuff crust.

Throw it in the oven 5-10 minutes, pull it out put toppings on and put it in for another 10 minutes.

TOPPING IDEAS

BBQ- chicken, pineapple, purple onion with some mozzarella cheese

ALFRADO- chicken, bacon, onion, tomato, with a white cheese

PIZZA SAUCE- with all the classic combinations, Supreme is our favorite

BREAKFAST- whipped up eggs, with sausage, italian seasoning, cheddar cheese (make sure crust is thinner for this dish)

Sesame Street Party - 1st Birthday

 FIRST Birthday

So it started here with the announcements. I recreated the sesame street sign and customized it for my son, then printed all the information on the back.

I have the blank template I made that you can download for free here 

For Decorations we made our kitchen hallway into a street, which was my husbands idea, he is actually way more creative then I am, and usually gives me the best ideas.

Then I made characters out of construction paper and hung them up everywhere

The night before the birthday party, we made sesame cupcakes as a family. My husband and I had a blast, but I think it confused our son, because all night we wouldn't let him eat the cupcakes and then the next day we are begging him to smash it in his face! Poor kid.

I can't believe I am the mother of a one year old, and soon to be the mother of 2 BOYS! I have a feeling that the years are going to just start flying by faster and faster....