In Appreciation

To say Thanks to the teachers at my kids school this year, the parents put together a little end of the year "Appreciation" pot luck for them. And since I do not cook, I only had one option.

Cake pops!

Ever since I tasted Terri's cake pops, I've been a little obsessed, to say the least, with all things cake pops. I even have a Bakerella book that I've studied within an inch of it's life, although it hasn't helped my technique.

terri's cakeballs served up on an Art Party palette

Anyway, to match the color scheme of the luncheon (using leftover crepe paper streamers from our last school event), I purchased supplies in yellow, orange and red. Two sand buckets from the .50 cent bin at Michaels and some green floral foam bricks were the base of my cake pop centerpiece. Just trim the bricks to fit using a regular kitchen knife, leave them a little bit big for the bucket and really push them in so they are nice and snug. Use rice to fill up the rest of the bucket and to cover up the foam.

I followed the directions in the cookbook from Bakerella, and used 3 different length lollipop sticks to vary the height in my centerpiece.

I also made the cake pops with out sticks in them (technically cakeballs) and put them on square paper plates. Add a little print/cut/party magic, and these super cute little flags and signs hit my "thank you" message home.

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Until the Fall

Well, that's it. School is officially over for the year.
YAY SUMMER!!! I am NOT setting the alarm. I am NOT packing endless lunches that don't get eaten. I am NOT driving across town to school twice a day. I am NOT going to miss it for one second!

Until,

about a week from now when the two of them are driving me nuts and I want to need to have to drop them off somewhere anywhere for just a moment of sanity!

Oh, summer. How I love thee/despise thee.

To celebrate the end of the year, all the school kids participate in the "Spring Dance Festival", and I'm going to force you all to watch!

autumn is the blond with the black pants and purple plaid shirt

jack is the little cutie all the way on your left - taking it very seriously

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A Holiday Bake Sale

Last Thursday night, the kids had their annual Holiday event at school. All the students - Kinder through 8th grade - took turns singing and dancing with their class. Of course there is also an auction and buffet to raise funds for the end of the year. What did I bring? Why pumpkin muffins of course! Easy, and slightly more healthy than lard frosting with sprinkles, I baked my little heart out.

After making about 70 cupcake size muffins, I had this sinking feeling that my "slightly healthier" choice might sit in a box as if sprinkled with the plague. After careful consideration, I decided to add a frosting drizzle and that I would need a little cupcake stand.

Frosting Drizzle: start with powdered sugar, add a little bit of water or milk and mix. add a little vanilla and a pinch of cinnamon. mix until you have drizzly consistency. (I know, its not super precise, but with this one feel free to experiment!)

Cupcake Stand Criteria: A) it would need to fit all 70 muffins without having to refill, B) it would have to cost less than a million dollars, C) it would have to be something that wouldn't really matter if I broke/lost it and D) it had to take less than 45 minutes to shop for.

This is what I came up with: 3 cake boards and 2 plastic ice cream dishes, and a little hot glue = $15.

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Before & After: Photo Booth

Okay, I will TRY as hard as I can to give you all the condensed version of the story. This is Jack, two years ago when he was 3. The preschool he attended had a parent ed component that required all of us mommies to go to a parenting lecture once a week. (Really. And I did for 6 years. I would like a gold star please.) ahem. Anyway, one of the semester projects was to build a toy for our child - something age appropriate that reflected what our child was interested in.

Well, my little guy was into performing. Performing with his little wooden banjo - and singing at the top of his lungs! Adorable right?

Fast forward a couple of years....

At the School Carnival parent volunteer sign ups... "Who would like to be in charge of the photo booth?"  "Um, me? I guess? Since no one else is raising their hand?"

Why do I always do that?!?! How am I going to pull this off?!?!?! and then, it hits me... the Stage. YES! All it needed was some updated fabric, balloons, cute signage and printable photo props.

To set the "stage" for your School Carnival, check out our Customizable Printable Photo Booth accessories. Just print, cut and say CHEESE!

Included in this collection are:
• Printable Photo Props
(Mustaches, Lips, Alien Eyeballs, Superhero Masks, Comic Book Expressions, Pirate Eyepatches, Princess Crowns and Sunglasses)
• Pennant Banner (editable - type in your own info)
• Signage  (editable - type in your own info)

Need to make a booth too? you will need...

• 3 3/4" PVC pipes
• 4 3/4" three way PVC connectors
• PVC pipe cutter or hacksaw
• 8 3" PVC couplings (for the footing)
• just about 5 yards of fabric (that is if you want to make a little table cloth for the prop table)
• pre-cut 1/2 sheet of 3/4" laminated mdffor the base
• strong glue (construction adhesive)
• 1 inch Drill bit

Drill 1 inch wide holes near the four corners of the wood base (not to the very corner!). Glue 4 of your couplings on the bottom of the base directly over the drilled holes. Adhere the other 4 couplings on the bottom of the base to the center front, center back and on either side of the center (space them out to carry the load). Cut 2 of the four PVC pipes in half, stick them into the drilled holes. Attach your 4 three way connectors to the standing pipes. Measure the length across each of the three spans and cut the remaining pipe to fit.

Make curtains for each of the three sides to be enclosed. Sew, glue or staple to finish them.

Tie balloons to the top corners of the booth. Print out props, banners and signage to complete your photo booth! 

diagram of the structure - note the pvc pipe uprights touch the ground through the center of the 3" coupling

left: 3/4 schedule 40 PVC with 3 way connector  right: 3" coupling glued to bottom of base

A Success! Over 130 people at our tiny school had their photo taken!

a line was forming before the Photo Booth was even ready!

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P&C Real Life Party: Back to School

Dawn of "Not Just a Mommy" fame, used our Back to School Printables to throw one final bash before jumping for joy her precious children went back to school. How did she do it you ask? Well, careful planning, tons of inspiration, and a helpful little voice inside her head. Read her full post here, or browse the Cliff's Notes version below...

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Back to School Bash 2010

It came, it went, it was awesome. Our last hurrah for the summer, our annual Back To School Bash. It's really just a glorified playdate with friends we didn't get a chance to spend alot of time with. My boys are apparently in high demand and should quit school altogether and just be socialites.

I couldn't wait to share the pix, it was so much fun to put together. I have a Favorites folder full of inspiration and I wanted to use them all, but alas there was just no room.

Must every party include paper straws? That's a big 10-4 good buddy! And what, you say, is that runner made of? Why yes, it is real chalkboard cloth. No one believed me that it was, but I found it at Jo-Ann's, it comes on a bolt just like any cloth. I've had it for awhile with big dreams of putting a ribbon edging on it and make it an 'official' runner, but eh.

And since we all know the trick to an appealing table is having different heights, I figured nothing would be more appropriate than using some of our favorites books.

And double shout-outs to Paper & Cake, I used their too-fun Back To School collection for my water bottle wraps, veggie fries containers and labels for the applesauce cups. They had so much stuff that comes with the download, but I just couldn't use it all. I was having a hard time reeling in the crazy and I had to draw the line.

I was going to make strips from their printed paper to wrap the sandwiches in, but that little voice in my head (which is getting littler by the day) said 'STOP. STEP BACK FROM THE PRINTER AND DROP THE SCISSORS, YOU ARE INSANE'. So I put it under them instead.

How could I not have Trader Joe's Schoolbook Cookies and alphabet tater-tots? The bags in the back were serving double duty as decor and favors. I wanted to have the flash card match with each guest's name, but we had 3 T names, so not everyone could. See how the crazy doesn't stop?

We asked each guest to bring a gently loved book for a book swap, which is a great way to get a new book or two without buying anything. I wanted to read Countdown To Kindergarten since several friends are starting this year, and it's the little one's fav, but alas, time flies when you're having fun!

Thanks again ladies for another great kickoff to the new school year!

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