Category: Recipe

Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses -11

Our family Thanksgiving tradition is making Gingerbread Houses. This year we used graham crackers, we also tried chocolate graham crackers. I made buttercream icing to add the candies.

Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup Crisco
  • 4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon milk (if thick)

Directions:

  1. Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
  2. Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
  3. Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.

Here are some of our past Gingerbread Houses.

Transformers Birthday Cake -6

J is now 6 years old and getting into superheros and technology.  He chose to have a Transformers cake this year.  I made a 9×11 sheet cake and frosted it with gray street colored frosting.  I added smaller squares of cake for the buildings and made windows by cutting mini marshmallows in half. I added green shrubs around the buildings with frosting too.  I made a stop sign with lollipops and wrote “six” on them instead of “stop”.  I placed a few of his mini Transformer toys on the graham cracker road and on the buildings.  Here the “6” candle is backwards… I didn’t notice until I got the pictures back, but otherwise he loved it.

Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup Crisco
  • 4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon milk (if thick)

Directions:

  1. Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
  2. Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
  3. Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.

He got the Dino Transformers and a set of Schleich dinos for his gifts and was so happy!

Happy Birthday Big Boy!  I love you!

I have tons of other kids party themes: 

Bugs Birthday Party -1

We had a bug themed party for T’s first birthday!  I made bug balloons by filling latex balloons with helium and using rubber cement to hold them together.  For the Bee Balloon I used 2 yellow balloons and wrapped some black electrical tape around for the bee’s stripes.  Then I used tissue paper for the wings, black pipe cleaner for the antenna, and googly eyes for eyes.  I added a mouth with black sharpie.  For the Ladybug Balloon I found some red balloons with black spots. I glued a small black balloon for the head, used googly eyes for the eyes, and black pipe cleaner for the antenna again.  For the Caterpillar Balloon glued together 4 green balloons and used green pipe cleaner for the legs and antenna.  I used a sharpie for the mouth and added googly eyes to the caterpillar as well.  I set them up outside and it was a bit too windy for the balloons, most of them ended up popping before the end of the party!

We grilled burgers and hot dogs for lunch.  We also had ants on a lot and ladybug watermelon balls (I just put mini chocolate chips in the watermelon balls.) I taped black construction paper ants to my red and white checkered table cloth.

I filled red, green, and yellow water balloons for the kids to play with.

I got kind of carried away with the desserts and ended up making 3 sweets.  We had gummy worms in chocolate pudding with crushed Oreo’s on top.  We had a beehive cake with cream cheese frosting and bees made out of chocolate covered almonds and mini marshmallow wings.  And we had caterpillar cupcakes with candy faces.

I had my sister-in-law, Cloninger Photography, take T’s 1 year old photos and they turned out great!

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Boy!  I love you!

I have tons of other kids party themes: 

Diego Birthday Party -5

J is 5 now and loves Diego.  I tried my best to transform the living room into a jungle with twisted crepe paper vines, poster board and balloon trees, and stuffed jungle animals all around.  I try to decorate while he is not around so that when he enters the room he has a big surprise, I just love seeing him when he enters the party room.  I also set out his Diego books and toys for the kids to enjoy.

We had rainforest kabobs with fruit, yogurt, and coconut.

He just loved his Transformers that he got from his dad.

I made a 9×11 sheet cake and decorated it with his Diego toys.  I frosted the cake with chocolate frosting then added some green vines to it.  I tried to make trees with Pirouette Wafers and marshmallow on top.  I covered the marshmallows with green frosting.  I put blue frosting in the middle for a river and placed candy rocks along the river bank.

We had a treasure hunt too.  I placed the clues on his animals, each clue had animal facts about the next animal.  The hunt finally ended in a hidden door that I cut from the bottom of one the fake tree trunks that I had made out of poster board.  The kids all loved this!

Happy Birthday to my animal lover!

Be sure to check out my other kids party themes: Farm Birthday Party , Blues Clues Party,  Bob the Builder Party and Backyardigans Party.

Gingerbread House Tradition -09

My sister and I used to make gingerbread houses on Thanksgiving when we were younger, so I decided to start this tradition with my son.

We made gingerbread houses with his cousin on Thanksgiving Day! We used royal icing with a Mini Gingerbread House kit. Added all kinds of colorful Christmas candies and candy canes!

Backyardigans Party -4

J loves to watch The Backyardigans and play dress up.  I had a mirror set up low for the kids with a basket full of fun hats for them to try on and see themselves.  We played The Backyardigans theme song and the kids danced with their hats on.  J also loves music right now.  We decorated with our usually crepe paper and balloons around the room.

For the cake I made a 9×11 sheet cake covered in green frosting.  I found a Pablo candle and then placed some of his Backyardigans toys on the top.  I tried to make green trees from buttercream along the edges. I made the sand box with licorice and brown sugar.  I formed a shovel and pail out of Starburst candies. I made the picnic table out of wafer cookies and stuck a mini umbrella in it.

Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup Crisco
  • 4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon milk (if thick)

Directions:

  1. Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
  2. Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
  3. Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.

J really wanted a piñata this year so I found this Pablo one. We only had a few cousins at the party so I didn’t need much candy/toys.

He got some dinos, trains, and a toy bow and arrow (his favorite) this year.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy, I love you so!

Be sure to check out my other kids party themes: Farm Birthday Party , Blues Clues Party and Bob the Builder Party.

Bob the Builder Party -3

J had a 3rd birthday party with his cousin whose turning 2.  They are only 11 months apart so we decided to have a party together since their birthdays are just 3 weeks apart.  We decided to have a Bob the Builder party since they both like it.  We made a balloon bouquet for each of the boys and crepe paper round the room.  I put out all his Bob the Builder toys and books for the kids to play with for the party.

We made pizza bagels for lunch and had chips, salad and soda with them.  I found some small orange soccer cones to put on the table for decorations.

J loves playing dress up now.  He got some cowboy dress ups and some pirate dress ups too.

I got some orange construction cones and made some construction looking signs from cardboard and yard sticks.  Each boy had a sign that says how old they are and a sign that says their names.  I also made a gift box for each boy with Bob the Builder on the front.

We set out their baby books for family to enjoy!

I made a 9×11 sheet cake with some Bob the Builder toys on top.  I had a number 2 and 3 candle and a little construction sign that said, “Happy Birthday.”  I made a road and dirt pile out of crushed cookies and I added whole chocolate graham cookies for the finished part of the road.

Be sure to check out my other kids party themes: Farm Birthday Party and Blues Clues Party.

Blue’s Clues Party -2

J totally loves Blue’s Clues right now so I decided to give him a Blue’s Clues party for his second birthday.  I decorated with lots of blue balloons and crepe paper.  I love going crazy with the decorations while he is still so little because when he comes in the room for the first time his face lights up and he knows something special is happening.  I had his party right after his nap so before nap the living room looks normal and when he wakes up… SURPRISE!!!

For his cake I just made a single layer round chocolate cake with some chocolate cupcakes.  I covered them with my homemade blue buttercream and placed them on the table in the shape of Blue’s paw print.  I served chocolate milk with it.

Buttercream Icing

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup Crisco
  • 4 cups powdered sugar (2 lbs)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon milk (if thick)

Directions:

  1. Cream together the butter and Crisco with a mixer.
  2. Slowly add in 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time.
  3. Add the vanilla, if it seems too thick you can add a bit of milk.

I found some blue pinwheels and make a little Blue’s Clues coloring book for the kids too.

I printed out labels for the bubbles, and stuck them to the side of the bottles.

We got J a goldfish for his birthday since he still loves animals, and I am not the biggest pet lover.

J’s favorite song is The Hokey Pokey so we danced to is a couple of times.  He loved it!

I put out his baby book again this year for our family to look though.

Be sure to check out my Farm Birthday Party post!

Farm Birthday Party -1

J turned one year old today.  We celebrated with a small party with family, just how we like it.  J loves animals, especially farm animals.  His grandma reads him his favorite book, Noisy Farm, almost everyday.  His first animals sound was, “moo”, I was so excited when I found this cow balloon. I also found some cow spotted latex balloons and some “Happy 1st Birthday” balloons and decorated the around the room with crepe paper.

I decorated with crepe paper around his high chair too and put a table cloth under it since we moved it to the living room.

For his cake I made an 11×13 sheet cake and put a farm scene on it.  I used some farm toys from a game he had.  For the hay I just dyed some coconut yellow.

This was actually his first taste of sugar and he didn’t like it much.

He loves music so his grandma got him this perfect gift of singing pots and pans.  He just loves dancing to them.

I also put out his baby book for family to look at.

Happy Birthday to my baby!  I love you!

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