Cub Scout Pinewood Derby Race Party

One of the biggest events in a cub scouts year is the Pinewood Derby Race.  In our pack, our leader hands the kits out in December which gives our scouts around two months to create their master pieces.  The kits contain a block of wood, four wheels and metal rods.  Each scout is allowed to use his imagination and create whatever they want as long as it stays within the rules.  The night of the race, each scout will have his car inspected and then wait his turn to race against his fellow scouts.  The winners receive an award and will get to race their car against the winners from other packs.  

These are two examples of my sons derby cars.  His Mario won first place in 2013 but the Angry Bird lost in 2014 and it was to big and we had to remove the sling shot so it would fit under the finish line. 

 

As for the party and the reason for this blog....one year I got creative and decided to make treats for the kids in the Pinewood Derby Theme.  Below find my treat creations and directions to make each of one.

 

S'MORES CARS

My first idea was S'mores Cars.  These are really simple to make. but the end result was amazing.  You will need:

• Marshmallows
• Mini Oreos
• Teddy Grams
• Gram Crackers
• Melting Chocolate

I made the white hearts but you can use anything as a grill to cover the whole I made dipping the Marshmallows.  To make it easy, have all your ingredients ready to assembly the car.  I broke up the gram crackers and separated the mini oreos in advance as my chocolate was melting.      

To melt the chocolate, I always us a double boiler.  Once your chocolate is melted, dip the marshmallow and place on gram cracker base.  While the chocolate is still melted, add the oreo wheels and teddy gram.  Once the chocolate hardens, everything is stuck together like glue.  The kids loved these and it was a huge hit for the parents as well.

CHOCOLATE DIPPED CAR PRETZEL RODS

 

My next treat was Chocolate Dipped Car Pretzel Rods.  You will need:

• Melting Chocolate
• Pretzel Rods
• Car Candy Mold

There really wasn't much to do on these but melt the chocolate and pour into the car pretzel rod candy molds I found at my local Micheal's Craft Store.  Make sure to gently tap the mold after you pour in the chocolate to allow air bubbles to escape.

CELERY CARS

To balance out all the candy treats, I also made these celery stuffed with cream cheese cars with grape wheels.  As you may have figured out, these were the last to go.  You will need:

• Celery
• Light Cream Cheese
• Grapes
• Toothpicks

Cut up your celery and add cream cheese.  Add the toothpick and grapes for wheels.

Next time I would not use the teddy grams because the longer they sat in the cream cheese the softer they became and ended up not being a good fit.  I would try gummy bears because they may hold up better.
 

STOPLIGHT RICE CRISPY TREATS

Rice Crispy Treats are so easy to make and should always be at any party.  Young or old, they are a party hit. For the derby party, I turned regular rice crispy treats into stoplights using M&M's as the different color lights.  You will need:

• Rice Crispy Cereal
• Marshmallows
• Butter
• M&M's (Green, Red and Yellow)
• Small tube of icing

Follow the directions on the rice crispy box to make the treats.  After they have cooled, cut into rectangles.  To make the M&M's stick to the rice crispy, put a tiny bit of icing on them and it will hold them on like glue.

I hope you enjoyed my treat ideas and end up using them for your scout party or race car theme birthday.  Thanks for read!!!

Rainbow Party Favors

Coming up with a creative and fun favor for a thirteen year old's birthday party was a little challenging.  I wanted something different, with a lot of colors and not to kiddish for young teenagers.  For this party I created two different favors.  

The first was personalized suckers with the birthday girls name.  I found the suckers at Oriental Trading in bulk.  I found the rainbows on yahoo images and then added the personal touch and printed them on labels.  If you use the 2"x4" you should be able to fit 2 rainbows on one label.  I then printed out and cut to fit the sucker.  This was simple and easy to do.

Also at Oriental Trading (one of my favorite online party stores), I found these make your own puzzles and rainbow crayons.  An idea formed to use these so that the teenagers could make their own master piece puzzles to pass to each other to solve. 

Step One:  I found the rainbow I wanted to use on Yahoo Images and then added the personal message.  I printed the rainbows on labels and then used different colored card stock to make the top.

 Step Two:  Cute the card stock into two different pieces.

 Step Three:  Cute each side into equal threes and fold in the center.

Step Four:  Add your stickers.  Pretty simple.

Step Five:  Gather the above items...plus a stapler (not pictured).

Step Six:  Place the items in the baggy, making sure that the pen is standing up before you move on to the next step.

 

Step Seven:  Flip the bag over, fold to fit the puzzle, tuck the corner up and then tape to hold it together.

Step Eight:  Fold the top down and tape.

Step Nine:  Add the top and staple together.

This was a pretty simple favor to make.  I would have liked to use paints (water colors) but the room the party was in did not allow such things. Enjoy :-)

Father's Day Craft Ideas

As per my style, I used to come up with crafty ideas for Father's Day.  Now that I am divorced, I kind of just look over that Holiday as just another day.  But since the day is coming up, it's a perfect time to toss in some of the gift ideas I created in the past.  I can't remember all of them but here is a few that I was able to find pictures of.

In 2008, I created the above basket.  I pulled all the pictures I could find of my kid and his dad and prepared these little sayings as if my kid was thanking his dad for something to go with each picture.  I then purchased his favorite beer, ribbon and basket to finish off the look.

• Birth Picture - Thanks for loving me from the day I was born.
• Group Picture - Thanks for just being you.
• Fishing Picture - Thanks for teaching me to fish.
• Holding his son Picture - Thanks for always supporting me.
• Jumping on Dad's belly Picture - Thanks for letting me walk all over you.
• Wrapped in Blanket Picture - Thanks for keeping me warm.
• Sleeping on Dad Picture - Thanks for keeping the monsters away.

I can't remember the rest of them because it's been such a long time ago.  You can use any picture and just come up with something cute to go with it letting the child thank his father for something creative and special.

__________________________________________________

In 2009, I just purchased a picture frame and took four different pictures of the kiddo holding a sign he colored.  After it was finished it said...I Love My Dad.

• Picture 1 - Kiddo holding a picture of the word "I"
• Picture 2 - Kiddo holding a picture of a heart.
• Picture 3 - Kiddo holding a picture of the word "My"
• Picture 4 - Kiddo holding a picture of the word "Dad"

__________________________________________________

This one I think was around 2011 when the little one was old enough to write.  I was showing my kiddo some ideas of what to do for his dad for fathers day and he jumped at the chance to make this.  It was chocolate...what kid wouldn't?  My kiddo wrote and taped all the candy to the board himself and was very excited to give this to his dad. 

 

"Dad, I wanted to give you a WHOPPing 100 GRAND for a Father's Day shopping SPREE but the money slipped through my BUTTERFINGERS.  It wasn't PAYDAY and a pet KIT KAT, a trip to New YORK, or an ORBIT around the MILKY WAY just wouldn't do.  So take a BREAK as I wish you MOUNDS of ALMOND JOY as you eat this and I hope it doesn't make you ROLOover and get sick.  If it does, I promise not to SNICKERs.  I love you to PIECES.  Your little GOOBERs."   

 

If I remember anymore, I will update this post in the future.

Harry Potter Office Party

One year my office decided to have a Halloween decoration contest, floor vs. floor.  I have always loved Harry Potter so when I was asked to help plan something because of my creative side...Harry Potter won!  We just so happened to have an empty office across from my desk so I spent my lunches for a week creating the below master piece.

Platform 9 3/4:

I used the door as my "train" and created it using brick wrapping paper for the background and plan red wrapping paper for the train.  I added the small touches of black and yellow to create the details.  I found the map and welcome letter online and printed on stone paper to give it the old look.  One year for Christmas my aunt bought the scarf for me and I had a few people bring in suitcases to finish the look. 

Hogwarts:

Inside the office, I divided the room in half with one side was Hogwarts and the other was Hogsmeade.  Upon entering the room you were greeted as if you had just stepped into Hogwarts as a new student.  We were all dressed as witches and one was even Harry Potter.

Sorting Hat:

It was short notice so the only thing I could find to fit my sorting hat idea was the Head from the Ned's game my son had.  I cut up little pieces of paper for each house and had the staff stick their hands inside the head and pull one out.  They could then read what each house was like on the wall.  I also printed off the words the Sorting Hat sang in the books.  It was a lot of fun to see my bosses stick their hands inside Ned's nose and pull out different houses.

Potions Class:

The first class was potions. I collected every bottle I could find and made old tags to glue on the outside. I filled each bottle with crazy stuff to make it look spooky.  For this "class" I also had a bowl filled with food coloring, baking soda and vinegar to create the boiling effect. I left some of the baking soda and vinegar out so the staff could mix together and make their own boiling potion.



Transfiguration Class:

For this class, I hit my local Dollar Tree store and grabbed some growing animal tablets.  I filled a bowl with hot water and had each staff pick a colored tablet and drop into the water.  They got to watch it "transfigure" into their animal.

Charms Class:

If you know me, then you know what a HUGE fan of Woody I am. He helped me out by becoming the charms teacher. The Dollar Tree had tons of magic tricks so I placed them around woody for everyone to try a charm trick for the rest of the class.

Care of Magical Creatures Class:

I used boxes and cut paper to make cages to hide the stuffed animals the girls brought in as our "creatures."  The cages on the wall is made out of paper as well and taped to the wall. I used an empty baby wipe container and made it look like a monsters mouth and filled it with gummy worms. The staff got to stick their fingers inside and try to figure out what creepy creature was hiding in there.  





Divination Class:

Professor Trelawney was away but she left the magic 8 ball to answer any questions the staff might have.  I think everyone had tons of fun with this old, but still a classic, toy.  So many questions were asked and answers given. 

Professor Umbridge's Office:

We were lucky to find a pink chair in one of the office's that I "borrowed" for the day.  One of the girls brought in all her cat figurines and I printed up the proclamations for the wall.  My son had a sword from his private costume so we used that as The Sword of Gryffindor.  One of the girls dressed in a pink suit and pretended to be the Professor.

Village of Hogsmead

On the other side of the room I was able to create what looked like store fronts out of large boxes. I cut out the bottoms and lined them on the table side by side. In each box I added tissue paper for curtains and used wrapping paper to create the inside of the store window.

Shrieking Shack:

I just used a dollar store pop out table topper as the shrieking shack with an added wanted poster of Sirius Black printed off the internet.

Ollivanders Wand Shop:

To make the wand boxes, I used pencil boxes I found for 10 cents each and wrapped them in black tissue paper.  I added a label I created to the top and also made an insert to tell you what each wand was made of. 

To make the wands, I used brown card stock rolled up and glued together.  I took a hot glue gun and created the handle shape with decorative crystals I found in a package sold at Dollar Tree.  We also put a fan behind the curtain to blow the hair of the staff members when they picked up the "right" wand for them.

Gringotts Wizarding Bank:

What is a store without money to buy anything?  Gringotts was easy to make with mint candy and fake money also sold at Dollar Tree.

Madam Malkins Robe Shop:

I added some of my old witches costumes to create this shop.

The Leaky Cauldron:

This station was the biggest hit of the party.  I had a table set up for the staff to "shop" for wizarding treats and made Butter Beer for each to take with them.

Most of the candy was also from Dollar Tree.  I made the Butter Beer with Cream Soda and butterscotch ice cream topper.



The party was a great success and my floor one first prize.  I had a blast planning and creating this Harry Potter party.  I hope you like my ideas and are able to use some of them for your own party in the future.



Gender Reveal Buck vs. Doe Party

This past weekend I hosted a gender reveal party for my niece.  This one was new for me since I’ve never heard of such a party but it seems to be very popular nowadays.  I was limited on time since she wanted to have it within two weeks.  Needless to say, these past few weeks have been busy.  I know my niece and she, like most WV gals, love the deer theme so I thought why not do a Buck or Doe party.  Finding anything for this theme was impossible so I had to create most of it.  I stuck with the original blue and pink colors to make it easier for decorations and such.

Invites:

My first course of action was to design the invites so that she could hand them out.  I also created an online event page to make contacting guests a lot easier.  To make the invites, I started my search for camouflage backgrounds.  Once I found the one I liked, I copied the image onto a PowerPoint slide and then started to create the body of the invitations.  I printed four to a page on white card stock for my niece to hand out. 

Guestbook:
Instead of a traditional guestbook, I thought it would be fun to create a wood scene and have everyone write their name on their guess as to what the baby would be (boy-blue or girl-pink) and then place in the wood scene to create a picture she could put in the baby’s book. I printed the stickers out on label paper and cut into strips to make it easier to stick on the picture.
 

Food:

As for the utensils, cups and plate, I created napkin wraps  to tie in the Buck or Doe theme and mixed the blue and pink together.  We had a cookout with hot dog, hamburgers, chips, dip, potato salad, pasta salad, fruit tray and veggie tray.

 

For the drinks, I went with blue Hawaiian punch and pink lemonade for the theme.  I also added 2-liters for those that wanted soda and bottled water. 

Favors:

For the favors, I created the simple “He” or “She” chocolates bars using blue and pink sharpie markers.  As I was walking in my local Walmart, I ran across blue and pink marshmallows,  so I decided to make baby rattles.  I used a pretzel stick and added a small marshmallow on one end and the larger on the top.  I dipped them in white chocolate and sprinkled them with pink or blue.  I had so many of these that I added two to each favor bag.  This was not an easy one to make.  The marshmallows kept falling off and the sprinkles were everywhere.  I’m not sure I would attempt to make these again.

 

 
 Cupcakes:

My niece loves cupcakes, so I decided to create a Buck and Doe topper with blue and pink icing.  What a mess this was but I think they turned out really well.   Make your cupcakes first and make sure they are completely cool before you put the icing on or it will melt.  I then but blue icing in one icing bag and pink in another (make sure to only fill the bags with half a can at a time).  I put both these bags into another one attached with nozzle.  As you squeeze out the icing the colors mixed together to form the swirls.

I found the Buck and Doe heart online and printed several to a page at the size I wanted.  Lay the page flat and put parchment paper over top of it.  Pour some melted chocolate into a bottle with a nozzle and start drawing the outline of your picture.  After one page is complete, put into the freeze to chill.  Once hardened, gently use your fingers to peel up the toppers and place onto cupcakes.  I made twice as many as needed because they break apart really easy. 

 

 

The Reveal:

When it came to the reveal, my niece talked about using a box with colored balloons.  I had another idea in mind.  Once I told her what I thought, she was excited to do it instead.  I made these once before for my son’s Mario party and called them Yoshi smash eggs, so I kind of knew what I was doing this round.  I took the eggs and cut a small hole in the bottom to drain the eggs out.  I put the eggs in an empty water bottle and used them for breakfast for the rest of the week.

After the shells are empty, I cleaned them out using hot water and soap and left to dry overnight.  The next day I filled each one with pink chocolate balls, sprinkles and a small piece of paper that revealed if it was a boy or girl.  To patch up the hole, use white tissue paper and glue to form a hard surface.  After one layer dries, repeat the process until the hole is covered well.  I used blue and pink tissue paper to decorate small plastic shot glasses to make a nice nest for the egg to be handed to each guest.  When everyone had their egg, my niece told them to smash them open. 

 

 

 

All and all this was a big party and tons of people showed up.  I had it outside because the weather was perfect and I didn’t want everyone smashing these eggs in my house.  I also only wanted to use edible fillings for the egg and not confetti because I didn’t want that to linger in my yard after the party was over.   

There was other things I did but forgot to take pictures because the past few weeks was so rushed and the day went by rather fast.  Hope you like my ideas and you use them to create your own personal touch party in the future.