| "In
the Kitchen with Nigella Lawson"
by Joanne Spataro
  If you're throwing a swank soiree, either formal or casual, you'll need a great
setting, your best buds, and tasty dishes to serve. Nigella Lawson is the author of the
cookbook, "Forever Summer," a guide to making fun summer food. This influential,
critically-acclaimed British food writer and television host of "Nigella Bites"
has gained international acclaim for her easygoing, joyful attitude to cooking and baking.
She sums up her approach to culinary matters as "minimum effort for maximum
pleasure." Find out more about her and join our cooking discussion group to join our
culinary wizards ask a question or just swap recipes.
Loretta's Party Chili
 This recipe from Loretta is offered up by a member of our
momscooking discussion group for our ChiliUSA
collection. Loretta's says that this is a family and party favorite which she
often uses at her Super Bowl Parties and she says that the "secret ingredient"
is the canned chilis that give it the little "pizzazz" it needs.
Christmas Gift Exchange Story
  Jenn sent in this story that is used for a Christmas Gift
Exchange. She says, "Have each guest bring a wrapped gift for the gift exchange.
Everyone sits in a circle while a narrator reads the following story. Each time the words
LEFT, RIGHT, or WRIGHT are mentioned, the gifts are passed in that direction. Each person
will keep the gift they are holding at the end of the story."
It's a lot of fun and you can print our the story to use at your party.
Halloween & Fall Centerpieces
  This craft is great for decorating your
house, classroom, or party table. It can easily become a Fall decoration if you decide to
make the wooden craft spoons into pumpkins, apples, or acorns just by using the
appropriate colored acrylic paint. For example, if you would rather make pumpkins instead
of ghosts for your centerpiece, then by painting the wooden craft spoons orange and making
pumpkin faces you have a fun pumpkin Halloween or fall centerpiece. Halloween Pots are
simple to make, kids from age 4 and up can have fun making these festive Halloween
decorations.
Halloween Gourds
What better symbol of Halloween than all
those beautiful pumpkins! Pumpkins are in the gourd family. You know, those funny shaped
pieces of produce that can look anything from a telephone to a bumpy baseball.
Belinda's Sourdough Sam's Doughnuts
  Why was an old miner called a
"Sourdough"? Miners who had been around awhile were called
"Sourdoughs" because they were there long enough to let their bread starter
grow! Check out this great kids recipe from homeschooling stay-at-home mom Belinda Mooney
and then bake some donuts from the days of the California Goldrush! Here is a fun recipe
for a Gold Rush party!
Elaine's Orange Salad
  This recipe comes from
Elaine Lotz who says, "This recipe has been handed down so many times I really don't
know where it came from! I usually don't give out the recipe so I get invited to parties
just so they could have the salad for their party.
We are a large family made up of two of my husband's boys, three boys and one girl. So, I
had to learn how to cook for a crowd (and teenagers).
Luckily, I grew up in a restaurant owned and run by my Mom."
Cereal Box Puzzle Craft
 This craft is brought
to you from Kathy Ross the author of many highly popular and fun craft books. This craft
is from her book, The Best Birthday Parties Ever! is a great collection of birthday
activities, cakes, hats, games and more. The "Cereal Box Puzzle
Craft" follows her "Puzzle" themed birthday party. This kind of party
also includes puzzle games and a charming puzzle birthday cake!
End-of-the-Year & Graduation Parties
 The end of the school year and marking milestones are great times to have
parties. Here are some ideas from our craftzone members for end of year parties that are
good for the end of the year and just about any time of year.
Jelly Bean Carrots
 This is a fun craft to give you a great presentation to store your jelly beans.
It uses a little orange tulle, is really easy to make and is great fun as a project
with your kids. They also make wonderful party favors
and decorations. Hope you like it.
Milk Jug Easter Bunny Baskets
This craft is the Milk Jug Easter Bunny
Baskets from Melina Hoodle a day care professional from Little Lakers Daycare. This
is very cute and a lot of fun to do. What a great way to collect your Easter treats!
Easter
Pins
 This craft to us by Paulette an active member
of our Families First community. This simple yet beautiful Easter pin can be made by
children as young as five with some help from an adult. What a terrific idea Pauletter,
thanks again!
Survivor Party
 Having a "Survivor" theme bash? You’ll need the right food,
decorations, and attire to make your island party a hit! You can make it totally
authentic, minus a rat buffet or an au natural Richard Hatch! Speaking of clothes, or lack
of them, your guests should look like they just got off the island or out of the outback.
It’s so easy, too! Find
out more!!
How Can I Save Money
on Birthday Gifts and Parties?
by Jonni McCoy
 When it's time for a special occasion, we tend to throw out the
budget. Some of us even resort to using our credit cards for these events since we had not
planned for them in our budget. With a little foresight and creativity, we can handle
these gift-giving days as well as we handle our daily expenses.
Play Dough Galore
 We have 7 terrific playdough recipes. We have received many requests for
playdough recipes . This week we decided to feature five types of dough that we have
collected over the years and have also added a recipe from "365 Days of Creative
Play" and an offering from author Rebecca Rupp. Have fun!!
Shoebox Aquarium
  This craft comes from
the very popular book, The Absolute Best Play Days. It is great for children age preschool
age and up. The book is geared towards creativity and fun learning. It can be
successfully used by parents who home educate their children and parents who want to
enrich their children's learning life. This week's Craft of the Week is making an
aquarium. This is featured in the fish section or theme of Pam's book which also
includes other terrific "fish" activities and related books that help kids
explore the world of fish.
Meet the Author
Diane Warner's Big
Book of Parties
 interview & "Amateur Night"
FREE excerpt
hosted by Joanne Spataro
  In her newest book, "Diane Warner’s Big Book of
Parties," you’ll learn everything, from party etiquette to making the
invitations! Diane also reveals what makes the perfect party, and her answer may surprise
you. She also tells us what are the top five party no-no’s, and how to avoid falling
prey to them!
Irish Cream Fudge
 This week's Dessert of the Week features Irish Cream Fudge.
This delicious treat makes a great gift and
family dessert. This recipe makes about 5 pounds of fudge. You can use any kind of
Irish Cream you choose. Also nuts are optional and if you choose to add them, any
type your like will work well with this recipe.
Creamy Crab Dip
This week's Recipe of the Week features a terrific dip - Creamy Crab Dip. This dip is
great for any party. Add chips, crackers, carrot sticks or even pretzels and you
have a party!
Cone Table Santa
 This
craft is brought to us by popular craft expert and author Kathy Ross. Cone Table Santa can
be found in Kathy's wonderful book Christmas Decorations Kids can Make.This
craft makes an excellent centerpiece for any table. Children who are 4 years
old and older will have a good time making their own Santas.
Christmas Tree Craft
This craft is brought to you by a
good friend and member of our Mom-to-Mom community Martha Wisniewski She shares with
us a Christmas tree craft for the whole family. It uses simple wrapping paper, a poster
board and construction paper to make to make a fully decorated tree. It's great for parties too! Thanks Martha!
Santa's Candy Sleigh
  Do you want to have Christmas parties but don't
know what to do? This is an edible sleigh from best-selling and award winning author
Wilhelminia Ripple who teaches you how easy it is to plan your party. It is excerpted
from her book, "Christmas Parties...What I Do. Simply pull the crackers and candy
canes apart to eat Santa and his sleigh. See this craft as well as a Christmas interview
with the author.
Craft-of-the-Week & Kathy Ross present...
Sea Star
craft & sea star poem
  Kathy Ross presents this craft & poem and
says, "As for parties, the sea star would make a great invitation and the projects in
the book would make impressive decorations hanging from the ceiling and decorating the
table. I always think that making a craft is a great party activity."
Paper Plate Easter Bonnet
This craft features an adorable
Easter bonnet for the kids to make. The great part about this craft is that the
kids can decorate their hats as they please using flowers, ribbons etc...Don't forget to
have an Easter Parade after finishing!
Jelly Bean Carrots
This is a fun craft to give you a great
presentation to store your jelly beans. They also make wonderful party favors and
decorations. Hope you like it.
St. Patty's Leprechaun Hat
 This week's Craft of the Week features a cute St. Pat's
Leprechaun Hat. This is a good craft for younger kids and perfect for group settings.
Puffy Shamrocks
This craft is brought to you by Jennifer
Walker . These Puffy Shamrocks are a festive decoration for St. pat's day. She generously
offered this fun and easy craft for kids and adults alike. Thanks Jen !
Puffy Shamrocks
This craft is brought to you by Jennifer Walker . These Puffy Shamrocks are a festive
decoration for St. Pat's day. She generously offered this fun and easy craft for kids and
adults alike.
Thanks Jen !
Comments
"Building a
spacecraft" party idea
From: crafter
Make a space ship out of two paper plates.
Stuff them face to face and stapled closed. Paint or cover with aluminum foil. Then
decorate with pipe cleaners (antennaes), macaroni, buttons, etc. this should be a creative
activity and one he will enjoy playing with afterwards. Have Fun!
"Backyard
Party"
From: Bridget
Many of the water parties we went to this summer were somewhat free form. Kids just LOVE
playing in water.. so I'd be sure to give them some free time to do whatever is appealing.
- Tossing water balloons is also a big hit - just fill them up
ahead of time and put in a large pot or something :)
- You could also freeze little items (even a coin?) inside an
ice cube and see who can melt their cube the fastest, I've seen that one does as well.
- A great game I saw in a magazine, but never tried.. is draw
a large bullseye in sidewalk chalk and let the kids toss soaked sponges (found cheap at
the dollar store) to see who can hit the center.
Good luck and have fun!!
More Party Games
From: Linda
I've found that setting up a few
different game stations works well at these parties.
- If you have different kinds of bubble blowing toys, that's a
great station to have.
- You can also hang an inexpensive white sheet and have the
children spray washable paint on it with water bottle sprayers and then spray plain water
on top of the paint to make a cool design.
- Filling small kiddie pools with water and loading them up
with windup toys that swim or sailing boats is fun too. A sink or float pool is also
fun the kids try to guess what will sink or float. Give them lots of things to plop
into the water.
Hope this helps.
|
FREE Child
