Valentine's Day "Teachers Gift Idea"

This is an easy an inexpensive teacher gift for Valentine's Day...

I bought hand sanitizer and stickers. I added ribbon and a card....

The hardest part is getting the labels off...you will need a lot of Goo Gone!

Click here for the link, to where I first saw this great gift idea.

p.s. sorry for such a long time between posting...stay tuned for a good party coming soon! Hint: My Daughter's birthday is Valentine's Day!

p.s.s. I love hearing from you, please feel free to add comments, ideas, or suggestions!

Snowman Doughnuts Warm Your Heart!

Very easy and yummy to make!
You need doughnuts, candy corn and mini chocolate chips.

Now add these Marshmallow stir sticks for even more snowman fun...

You need marshmallows, Oreo Fun Stixs (yummy...a new find!), and edible markers
just be careful when putting the marshmallows on top, the Oreo Fun Stix break easy
Is this a warm, happy girl?

"I Predict Good Fortune This New Year": New Year's Eve Party Idea

This was the theme for our Family New Year's Eve Party 2009.

I made homemade Fortune Cookies for the party. Click here for the recipe.

(They were not that easy to make, I suggest eating them right away. They did not stay fresh over night)
Itinerary for the Party:

"Good Fortune" dinner (we ate out!)

Review photos from 2009

Reading of our "Blessing Jar"

Lighting of the full moon candles

Lucky Lotto Tickets (they were not too lucky!)

Good Fortune Cake


Homemade Fortune cookies!
This is our blessing jar...we write down "blessings" throughout the year...It is fun to see what we wrote...a good idea is to date the blessings
This is our new "Blessing Calendar". We all got a new calendar, and we are writing something "good" that happened that day.

We want to appreciate the positive everyday!

This calendar is our own private journal, and a similar idea to "The Happiness Project" blog

We will continue to have our Family blessing Jar!!!

This was a HUGE hit!

A "Fortune Cake"... I wrote quotes on strips of paper,

we took turns reading each one. We will use these again for good conversation starters at dinner.

For ideas and quotes feel free to email me for ideas
The lighting of "Full Moon Candles"

We do this every full moon..(every month!)

the next full moon on NYE will be 2028!

Light these candles:

white for health

blue for job and school

green for money

red for love

Make a wish and let them burn...
May 2010 bring everyone much Happiness, Love and good Fortune!

Merry Christmas From Our Family to Yours!

Merry Christmas...

xoxo

Cheryl

Slow Cooker Drinks

This was a great idea I saw in a magazine, for our Tacky Christmas Sweater Party, we had Mulled Red Wine.

The slow cooker kept the wine hot and it smelled so yummy....

Recipe:

2 bottles of dry red wine, such as zinfandel

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 cinnamon sticks

5 whole cloves

4 allspice berries

The Ultimate Tacky Christmas Sweater Party

This party was a huge hit!

There are lots of photos, please enjoy...for other Christmas ideas see side bar under Christmas Ideas!

This is our annual Family Christmas party where all the cousins get together for a gift exchange, (We all like to have Christmas at our own houses Christmas Morning).

Last year everyone was instructed to find the perfect Christmas sweater...
The "Tacky" family photo!

Please note, Grandma and Grandpa shared 3rd Place!

Grandma's sweater lights up! (QVC!!!), and Grandpa found his on Ebay!






Zoie and Thomas won First and Second Place!!!!!





These were the Gifts for the Tacky Christmas Sweater Contest:
Singing, Vacationing Santa, he sings "It's 5 o'clock somewhere...."
2nd place...
3rd place
Decorations made by my daughter at school!

How cute is this milk jug Snoopy!


Cheese Whiz...a must!
Crock Pot Drinks, recipe on next post
Little Debbie Snack cakes where a huge hit!


Pigs in a blanket...nothing says party like these!
Two color jello (so "Tacky"!)
Deviled eggs...

We did have other foods but these were some of the highlights!

This party was so easy to pull together, I used my best Tupperware, and finest paper plates!
We had our Kids gift exchange first...


note the extra cute Martha Stewart kids cooking set...Thanks Aunt Jenny!

Now let the real party begin!

First we had a contest of how "guess how many M&M's in a jar" (I forgot to get a photo)

Next was the "Dirty Santa" Gift exchange.
click here for rules and ideas
We had silly gifts...




The Elvis Popcorn was a big hit!

Elvis Popcorn stolen by Ron!
Next game was fun..

We took a prize (we used a small box of candy), wrap it good, then wrap it in another box, then another, another , another...make it hard to unwrap. Use lots of tape...

You need one dice and oven mitts.

Start rolling the dice, when someone lands a six they have to put on the gloves and open the present, in the meanwhile, everyone else keeps rolling the dice...the next person who gets a six steals the oven mitts and unwraps...winner is the one to finally reach the prize




oven mitts make great gifts!
Tupperware jello mold was another special gift!
This was the yummy leftovers, cheese whiz, cocktail weenies, and ding dongs!

Til next Christmas...

Get those sweaters ready.

Angel Wing Cookies

These are usually called "Viennese Crescents" or "Mexican Wedding Cookies.."

We decided to name them "Angel Wing Cookies"
My Angel making cookies....
I make these Cookies every Christmas!

Enjoy this recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Confectioner's Sugar

2 cup flour

1 cup butter (softened)

1 cup blanched slivered almonds (chop finely or ground them)

2 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp salt

Heat oven to 325. Grease cookie sheets.

In large bowl mix by hand all ingredients.

Shape into "angel wings" (crescents).

Bake 15 minutes

Cool cookies completely, then sprinkle with confectioner's sugar