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Lately for birthdays, I've just been making cupcakes and putting them on simple little homemade cupcake stands .  I can match the stand to the party's decor and it's a lot easier to frost a cupcake than it is to try to decorate a cake.  However, for my daughter's Tie-Dye Birthday Party , I decided to try my hand at making an actual Tie-Dye cake, instead of just cupcakes.  I happened to find this Shirt Cake Pan in my basement when I was looking for other party supplies in my basement, and it ended up working out perfectly.  Of course a regular cake shaped pan would be just as cute. Check out our Tie-Dyed Cake... Pretty cute, don't you think?  Here's what you'll need (feel free to make any of this from scratch, I just used store-bought supplies)... * box of white cake mix + ingredients to make it * 2 containers of white frosting * shirt cake pan or any other shape (I happened to get mine years ago at a garage sale and it seems Wilton no longer makes them, but ...

We made these yummy lollipops at my daughter's recent Tie-Dye Birthday party .  They were a fun little treat for the girls, but they were so easy, they'd be a fun little treat to make anytime. Check them out... Now look at how easy they are to make! Here's what you need... * Hard candy (photo shows Jolly Ranchers and Lifesavers, but I found that the Jolly Ranchers "melted" the best) * parchment paper (affiliate link) - found in the baking aisle * a hard object (to smash the candies) * sturdy plastic bags (small freezer bags worked great) * lollipop sticks (affiliate link) - found in                                                     the cake decorating section of most craft stores Here's what to do... 1. Unwrap your candies and separate by colors in your plastic...

Last week my "baby" turned 8!  To celebrate, we had a small party here at the house with a tie-dye theme.  My birthday girls and her friends had a fun time, had some yummy and colorful treats and left with some cool little projects.  In this post I'll share an overview of the party's projects and treats, with links to full posts with all the details.   (Click on the photo or the links in the descriptions for the full posts!) First, let's start with the food... Though I have very little cake decorating experience and have been just making cupcakes for all of our recent parties, I did make this tie-dye cake that turned out pretty cool.   I just used boxed cake mix, canned frosting and food coloring and I only used a regular rubber spatula and spoon for the decorating, but it turned out well enough to impress a bunch of 8 year olds.  The inside of the cake is even "tie-dyed" as well ~ pretty cool!  (Full post HERE )  I also made some Trix Krispi...

Here's the last of our activities from our Cousins Christmas party and the one that the kids thought was the most fun.  After everyone played the Roll-A-Snowman game and enjoyed their Snowman Sundaes ,  I got the supplies ready for this super silly activity. Check out these funny toilet paper snowmen... Here's all we needed: rolls of toilet paper (I used the cheap 4 packs from the Dollar Store) construction paper circles for the buttons construction paper triangles for the noses piece of fleece for a scarf ( I originally planned on using crepe paper, but I didn't have any on hand, so I raided my fabric bins for some leftover fleece pieces) tape You could also add hats or other snowman accessories . Here's what we did: The kids paired up so there was one " build er" and one "snowman".  (You could easy do it in larger teams too) .  I gave each team a fresh roll of toilet paper, 3 circles with a piece of tape on the back, a triangle nose also with tape...

Need a quick and easy idea for drinks for your kids' classroom party?  Maybe you're having a party at your house this winter and want something cute and simple?  Do you wait till the last minute, but still want something fun?   Check out how I added a little extra cheer to some regular bottled water... So cute and super quick and easy.  I made up little labels that I could cut out and stick on the water bottles using regular clear packing tape.  I opted for this method over printing directly on regular sticky labels for a couple reasons.  One, I can never figure out how to get my images the right size to align properly on the labels.  They're always too big, too small or running off one side.  The other, more practical reason, is by using packing tape over the label, I avoid the chance of the ink running and the image being ruined by a drip of water.  I wouldn't put these bottles in a cooler full of ice, but the image should be fine if j...

These cute pillowcases and sleep masks were the favors for my daughter's slumber party.  The pillowcases were very easy to make and also provided a little activity for the party.  The sleep masks involved a few more steps, but I made them without having to do any sewing at all.  The total cost for both items was less than $4 per girl and I think they turned out really cute. Check them out... I ended up making 13 sets of them all together ~ 9 for the girls at the party, one for a good friend who couldn't make it, and 3 for the "little sisters" ~ my youngest daughter and two nieces who had their own sleepover the night of the party. First, for the pillowcases... Here's what you'll need:     * plain pillowcases ( I got them in a 2-pack at Walmart for $5)    * Heat n Bond Ultra Hold    * fabric (I used one yard of fabric total for the 13 sets of pillowcases and sleep masks)    * letters to trace ( I just found a font on my compute...

Without a doubt, this was one of the favorite activities of the evening at my daughter's slumber party.   The girls had a great time designing fashions using some unconvential materials.  It cost less than $10 for the materials for nine girls and it was super easy to set up and clean up. Check it out... How cute is that?  Here's all I did... We had a group of nine girls here, so I simply divided them into three groups.  (I put slips of paper into a basket with the numbers 1, 2 and 3 on them so the groupings would be random).  I gave each group a roll of toilet paper and a package of aluminum foil ~ no need to get extra soft TP or heavy duty foil, the cheap stuff worked just fine! The girls divided up into different areas and got to work.  Some groups decided to only design an outfit for one girl while others designed all their outfits simultaneously.  Some girls wanted to only be models, others chose just to design.  I didn't have any hard and fas...

Nail painting is such a big part of my girls' lives.  A few years ago, I made them these Spa Bags and they pull them out every few weeks to do their nails.  If I want to give them a special treat, I just let them buy a new bottle of polish.  It doesn't matter to them if it's the cheap stuff, but I do get bonus points if it's a fun, bright color or it has glitter and sparkles.  For my oldest daughter's recent slumber party, I knew I wanted to include nail painting in the evening's activities.  I took the idea of the "Spin the Bottle" nail painting game (where you spin the actual bottle of polish and the girl it points to has to paint their nails that color), and put a little twist on it using actual spinners. Check it out... I actually had some blank spinners left over from my teaching days (but you can find similar ones in the Math resources section of teacher supply stores or order some online ) .  I used two of the spinners to make the game.  On the...

The "sweet" in this recipe actually refers to the corn and the salsa itself.  The dressing in the salsa is made from sugar and vinegar, so it has a yummy sweet and tangy flavor that everyone comments on whenever I make this dish.  By the way, I love making it not only because it's delicious, but also because the majority of the ingredients I have on hand in my pantry and I just have to run out for a couple peppers, an onion and a bag of chips before I have a people over or head to a potluck party.    ( I adapted the recipe slightly from this Super Summer Salsa on allrecipes ~ and don't worry, even though it's a delicious summer dish, it's perfect for tailgating and football watching too!) See how yummy this looks... It's great with chips but just as yummy just by the spoonful! Here's the recipe (which is a great example of "eating a rainbow") Ingredients : 1 can (10 oz) sweet white corn (drained) 1 can (14.5 oz) sweet yellow corn (drained) ...

Today is a special day for me...  It's the 20th Anniversary of my 21st Birthday!   At the original celebration two decades ago,  I spent my day surrounded by college friends  and went out to a bar around 9 pm to start a long night of drinking .   On this 20th Anniversary,  I'll be spending my day surrounded by my three kids and will go out for an early dinner at a kid-friendly restaurant  so we can be home and in bed by 9pm!       Despite the fun (although somewhat hazy) memories of the original night, I know I'll like today's celebration just as much. Plus, I know I'll be feeling MUCH better tomorrow morning than I did the first time! To celebrate this special day,  here are Five Fun Ideas for Birthdays  that I've shared here  at Come Together Kids... Here they are... 1.  Birthday Countdown Stand     How many more days until the big day? This cute little countdown stand  makes it m...