PRESENT - fun & creative wrapping IDEAS for kids - BIRTHDAY gift - sock MONKEY/rubber band gun

You might remember this "CRATE" present from an ANGRY BIRDS GIFT

This box is much smaller. 10 inch X 10 inch X 10 inch and instead of money it has an armed monkey. LOL!

My son said his friend likes monkeys and he wanted to give him a rubber band gun for birthday. Hmmmm....how to put it all together as a fun gift.  

Started with a box from HEB. 10x10x10 and some sharpies

Even decorated the bottom. More details on the box in THIS POST

Tried to fold in the part of the box with the most writing or leave it for the bottom. Whatever is easier.

Rubber band gun and rubber bands

Sock monkey

I used a ribbon to attach him and tie his arms in place. 

Found these grenade "water bombs" on sale after summer at Walgreens. I've also purchased some before from Wal-Mart. Filled with air instead of water. :)

Started to fill the box with grenades and added the monkey

Tried to position him so he would look like he was ready for attack

Then filled the rest of the box with balloons and closed with little dots of hot glue instead of tape. 

Labeled the box with printed text. This also covered any other writing on the box.

You might also like:

Sunshine box

Thank you for stopping by!

PERECT royal icing for COOKIES! {{glossy, stackable, no runny mess}} Great for kids! SUPER EASY!

I wanted to share the icing recipe I make for the boys to decorate cookies. I don't have the step by step pictures, those might come later with the next batch I make. 

It's the most PERFECT royal icing for cookies! Simple to make, easy squeeze out, doesn't run off the sides and get everywhere, looks glossy and the best part....it dries hard enough to stack the cookies!!!! 

Ever make cookies, take the time to decorate and put in a storage container only to open it up the next day to one large massive stuck together cookie? No? Oh, me neither. I was just asking. :D

I've had this happen not only to cookies for the house but I decorated and bagged the cutest cookies for a gift and the bag stuck/sunk into every cookie. UGH! 

Well, not anymore!!!!!!

Santa cookies the boys made 

I made some too! DON'T TOUCH the hat, boot, or Texas! Mine! 

Ooooh Ahhhh! Okay, now for the recipe. Sorry, not in a cute printable link but it's so easy it doesn't need it. 

1 bag of powdered sugar (2lbs)

8 tbsp milk (I used almond milk)

8 tbsp light karo corn syrup

8-10 drops of lemon juice (bottle or fresh) I used fresh and the drops were smaller so I put 10

Siffting ....NAH!

Add ingredients little by little.....NAH!

Put it all in the mixer

Cover with a towel so your house doesn't look like a powdered sugar winter wonderland 

Turn on low for a few seconds then up to medium

Mix for 8-10 minutes

DONE!!

I separated into 4 bowels and added food color. I only did red (pinkish,) blue, green and left one bowl plain white. 

Icing tips....NAH!

I bagged with cuplers and tips only to take them all apart and just bag and clip the ends of the bag. I had the smaller tips and it was taking too long to cover the cookies. 

They were delicious!!! Um...I mean, I guess they were because Santa only left crumbs. Dang near licked the plate clean. Geez!

Hope this helps!!!

Thank you for stopping by!

KIDS Gingerbread House DECORATING party IDEAS ((graham cracker)) Holiday fun & tradition - HOW TO HOST

This is our 2nd annual decorating party and I stepped it up a notch. Last year we had 12 houses and this year......22 houses!!!! Yes, I am crazy. :D

This party requires a lot of prep work but is so worth it!!! 

First I pre-cut each board from cardboard boxes and covered with wrapping paper. Last year I found this thick glitter wrapping (pictured) but this year it's not only glittery but also has snowflakes on it too. No photo but you can kinda tell in the top photo.

Also, I HIGHLY recommend covering the table. This is probably a given with kids but seriously, cover the table. The icing turns into cement basically. :)

I'm going to link to a few other posts for things that need more details. 

How to make the houses and icing HERE

Make way more icing then you think you need. Kids go crazy and you don't want to run out.

I purchased Wilton tip #21 for each bag. I had a 20% off coupon and I use them over each year.

I made twelve bags. Some kids had to wait but it really worked out between icing & decorating. I wouldn't want 22 bags of icing on the table. 

I filled cups with candy and made two rows. 

I tried to make sure each side had the same candy. I wanted it symmetrical and even on both sides but it works out better if you spread it out. 

1. Candy corn 

2. Snowball gumballs

3. Candy lights

4. Double Crisp Santa chocolate

5. Squiggly hard candy (Christmas colors)

6. Mini Wheats cereal (looks like a snow covered roof)

7. Mini candy canes

8. Pretzel sticks

9. Mints

10. Rolo candy (Christmas colors)

11. Hershey Hugs (Christmas colors)

12. Mini M&M's (Christmas colors)

13. Snowman chocolates 

So cute! Some kids made snowmen and others make it look like they were melted. Favorite for sure!

14. Mini marshmellows

15. Gummy bears (Christmas colors)

16. Chocolate chips (Christmas colors)

17. Hershey Kisses (Christmas colors)

18. Holiday Spicettes

19. Shiny parcels (sprinkles)

20. Peep trees & snowmen (I used them last year and forgot to set them out this year)

We also had a hot chocolate bar again with chocolate spoons.

I found that a plastic grocery store bag works great to take them home.  The base is wide enough that the bag doesn't touch the sides.

Such a fun party! Any questions, just ask :)

Thank you for stopping by!

diy CANDY lights - Gingerbread house decorating - SO CUTE and SO EASY! Christmas fun!

Today we are prepping for our 2nd Annual Gingerbread House Decorating Party. It's not until next weekend but this helps instead of waiting until the last minute. These candy lights (found originally from Hungry Happenings) were such a huge hit last year so we are making them again. By "we" I mean my son. You may want to make these yourself instead of the kids. Knives and lighters are not kid friendly :) He was 11yrs old (12 now) and did a great job handling the lighter. I love how cute they are and so simple to make.

One of the houses from last year. So CUTE!

Supplies:

Almond M&M's

Mike and Ike candy

lighter

knive

We separated the candy and only used green and red but you could use all of them for colorful lights. My kids were super eager to just use the red and green. At first this seemed odd until I realized they wanted the leftovers. Sneaky boys!

Cut Mike and Ike candy in half, very carefully warm the cut end with a lighter and immediately hold agains the round part of the almond M&M. Hold for a few seconds and DONE!

I'm storing them in a ziplock until next weekends fun!

Decorating cookies??? 

PERFECT recipe for cookie royal icing HERE

Thank you for stopping by!

Christmas GIFTS - teachers, neighbors, friends - SANTA CAKES - baked in the jar! Fun idea that's inexpensive!

I love having super sweet and generous boys but sometimes it's hard to do on a budget, especially around Christmas. The boys want to give something to ALL the teachers...P.E., Art, Music, Receptionist, Nurse, Principal, Asst. Principal, Librarian, and to their main teachers as well. YIKES!!!! I wish we could afford notepads for that many. We still want them to know they are appreciated so we are making red velvet cakes in mason jars. I made these a couple years back and LOVED HOW THEY TURNED OUT!!! 

Red velvet cake baked right in the mason jars!

Found these at HEB (grocery store)

I first put all the jars in the dishwasher the night before. I could fit 12 in a 9X12 baking pan with 1/4 inch of water in the pan. I filled all the jars 1/2 way with red velvet cake mix by using a ziplock bag with the corner clipped. Just SQUEEZE and PINCH to fill. SO EASY AND MESS FREE!!!!

350 degrees for 40 minutes

Added the icing and hot gluing the ribbon and belt

You might also like

Idea for inexpensive treats for the class - blog post here PLUS free tag download

Thank you for stopping by!