Don’t you just love the Oscars? All the glitz and glam is so easy to get wrapped up in. The next thing I know, I’m up until midnight making sure I’ve seen the last award handed out.
Once upon a time, before babies arrived, I attended Oscar parties. They were so much fun and I truly miss going! This year I decided to throw my own little party for just our family. I don’t know about you, but my favorite movie of the year was Saving Mr. Banks. I wish it was nominated for more awards other than Best Original Score, but regardless I decided to theme some snacks for the evening after the film, Mary Poppins.
This is honestly the most impromptu “party”, having just decided to put it together this morning. The kids and I watched Mary Poppins last night and during the animated sequence Miss Mary ordered some Raspberry Ice, cakes and tea. So this morning Victoria and I ran to the store and we found these adorable Strawberry Shortcakes and also some Black Raspberry Sparkling Ice. Then I jumped on-line and found this website with “Free Mary Poppins clip art”. I DO NOT recommend using the clip art from this site on items you make for sale because I’m certain they are copyrighted to Disney. However, for our impromptu party they worked perfectly.
If you loved Saving Mr. Banks and want to throw your own Poppins Oscar party tonight, you can use the clip art in the fashion that I did. Here is a PDF named Mary. It’s of the penguins and Mary Poppins flying. It’s sized for the straw and cupcake decorations.
I hope you all enjoy the Oscars tonight and if you have snow headed your way, I hope you’re at home warm and safe. Maybe if Elsa wins her Oscar for Frozen she’ll stop this crazy snow!
This Monday, March 3rd is Read Across America Day.
Read Across America Day coincides each year at or around the birth date of Dr. Seuss, born Theodor Seuss Geisel on March 2, 1904. On this special day the nation will celebrate and inspire the joy of reading throughout schools and communities with the help of his brilliant books. As with the majority of parents and teachers, we’ve read many of Dr. Seuss’s famous rhyming masterpieces dozen of times to our children. My son, Gavin, even had a Cat in the Hat themed birthday party when he turned five. And I’m certain that most of you reading this could recite the first page and more without even looking at the book!
Now on to the Disney history…
In 1927 Theodore Geisel married Helen Marion Palmer. They had met while attending Oxford University together. Helen is credited for encouraging him to focus on being an artist for profession instead of his original plans, which were to be an English teacher. What is unknown to most of Dr. Seuss’s fans is that Helen was a successful author herself. During WWII Palmer was the author for several Walt Disney story books including Donald Duck Sees South America and several Song of the South related books. Being part of the 1940s decade of Disney history, her authored stories for Walt Disney have become quite valuable.
This photo was taken from Amazon.com.
For Read Across America Day I’m excited to share with you one of the books she authored with Walt Disney. Look forward to seeing that right here on the blog next week! In the meantime, if you’re planning on celebrating Read Across America Day I’d love to share with you some photos of my son’s Cat in the Hat themed birthday party. There are a few simple and cute ideas that you could use to celebrate Dr. Seuss and his books throughout the week! Please excuse the quality of the photos since the party was two years ago and I never thought that I would use them on a blog!
The Candy Buffet
The candy buffet was filled with red and blue treats to honor the Cat’s hat and Thing 1 and Thing 2. Such color themed items were red Swedish fish, red and white striped mints, red and white chocolates, in addition to blue raspberry gummy treats, blue rock candy, blue cotton candy and a blue and white swirled lollipop tree. Each guest was given a empty treat box to fill up with their treats of choice before going home.
Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes
These cupcakes were incredibly simple to put together. I give most of the credit to Weis grocery store. I asked them to put an extra amount of blue icing on the top of the cupcakes for the Things’ hair. All I had to do was add candy eyes, wrap them in a red cupcake wrapper and add on the Thing 1 and Thing 2 circles.
Cat in the Hat’s Marshmallow and Chocolate Hat Pops
To make this treat I used two regular sized marshmallows, which I put a pretzel stick through and then dipped in white chocolate to keep them together. After that was complete I dipped the top third in red chocolate and allowed it to cool. While it was hardening, I piped a white chocolate base and allowed that to cool. At this time, if you want the pop effect you have to insert a cookie pop stick into the chocolate base while it’s still warm. Hold it in place for a few moments while it hardens. Once the marshmallow’s red chocolate had hardened I dipped the opposite side in red and placed it to the white chocolate base while it was warm. This part is a bit tricky if you have them on a stick. It’s much easier if you omit the stick!
Crafts and Reading
The kids attending Gavin’s party started their time at the craft table. They each made a Cat in the Hat’s Hat pencil holder. They were made with the use of a can hug, card stock and construction paper. This craft idea came from a Michael’s Craft Store that hosted a craft for Dr. Seuss’s birthday earlier that year. I also printed a bunch of age appropriate activity sheets with questions regarding Dr. Seuss books. At the table next to the craft area were all of the books that the kids could read or look through to find the answers if needed.
The Cat in The Hat Placemats
Each child had a custom-made placemat to use at the “Kids Table”. I created them by mounting pages from the storybook onto cardstock and then laminating them.
Games
The kids played two games- Pin the Extra Hat on the Cat and Catch Thing 1 and Thing 2.
Pin the Hat is self-explanatory. However to Catch Thing 1 and Thing 2, we blew up blue balloons and wrote 1 and 2 on separate balloons. The kids worked in teams of two and captured each balloon Thing with the use of a net and then locked them outside of the room. It was a contest between the teams to see who could capture them first. The kids loved popping the Things once it was over!
Photo Op
To end the day each child had a photo taken with the birthday boy, of course posing as Thing 1 and Thing 2.
I hope these photos inspire you to add a bit of extra fun into Read Across America day on Monday. Don’t forget to stop by the blog next week to check out my vintage Disney find by Helen Palmer!
My son, Gavin, is a HUGE Disney Infinity fan. I have to admit that I enjoy playing the game with him, although with my lack of good gaming skills I just hold him back! One of the things that I really like about the game is the creative side known as the “Toy Box” mode. Seeing Gavin create a world of his own is a pretty cool experience. It’s amazing to watch his six-year-old mind inventing before my eyes.
As you could probably guess, when I asked what kind of party theme he would like to have for his upcoming birthday, Gavin instantly said, “Disney Infinity!” Unfortunately it’s not an easy task to be able to set up enough game systems for his entire class to play together. So another theme was chosen for the party that he’ll invite his classmates to attend. And in addition we will have a small party on the day of his birthday with his grandparents where he can challenge them to an afternoon of Disney Infinity game play.
Even though it will be a small gathering, I still want the afternoon to have a festive feel so of course I’ve started to look for Disney Infinity party supplies. If you’re trying to find them too, let me save you some time and tell you, I can’t find a thing created by Disney! So I’ve started making my own and thought I’d share how with you.
First, let me start by telling you that the images that I’m using are the property of Disney. I am using them solely for the purpose of decorating my son’s party. I don’t sell the party supplies, but I will tell you how I made them, so you could do the same for your child’s party too.
So here’s what I worked on last night…
Cupcake Garland
The card on the bottom of the above photo came as part of the original game set. What’s super cool about this card is that it can be easily used for so many different decorating ideas. The bottom of the card has an open area that is perfect to use for personalization. All you have to do is scan it into your computer, insert the picture into Publisher, add a text box and then you can add your child’s name, or whatever birthday message that you’d like! The font I used is called Captain America and I used the eye dropper tool on Mr. Incredible’s shirt to get the right color match for the font. Then I hole punched the personalized cards and laced ribbon through them. I plan on using red ribbon, not the green featured in the photo. Once the cupcakes are made, I’ll attach each end of the RED ribbon to red and white straws and insert them into cupcakes.
Party Garland
Every Infinity character comes with a card like the one in the top right corner of the photo above . I’m in the process of scanning each card into my computer and resizing them for a party garland. It a simple, yet perfect way to add a touch of Infinity to our little gathering.
These are two of the ideas that I worked on last night and I’ll share more as I continue to work on Gavin’s two different parties. Did you notice on Facebook what Gavin’s other party theme is? And I also have a little princess turning three years old soon too. YAY- Parties!!!
Look for many Disney-Inspired party planning posts coming up in the near future!
My kids are pretty obsessed with Disney’s Frozen’s adorably silly little snowman named Olaf. This weekend I stumbled across a Disney Frozen Activities page that had a really cool “Build a Snowman” activity sheet. I printed it out for the kids and we made this simple puppet in a matter of minutes. Here’s how!
First stop by http://www.catchingupwithkate.com/free-disneys-frozen-olaf-printables/
Print out the “Build a Snowman” activity sheet. If you’re looking for other Frozen fun visit http://movies.disney.com/frozen/downloads/activities . There are a bunch of other fun coloring and activity sheets on this page too. However, for this little project you will only need the Olaf printout. Since I printed it out on basic copy paper, I chose to laminate the sheet to make it a bit sturdier.
2. Once printed cut out all of Olaf’s parts.
3. Next, put him together by using a hole puncher and brads.
4. Once together, flip him over and add the puppet stick. I used a wooden skewer and taped down the pointed side. That’s it! Super simple and my kids had a blast playing with him. Now it’s time to get our dance party on and pretend it’s “In Summer!” If you’re surround by two feet of snow, like us, just watching Olaf’s YouTube video is enough to warm your heart.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a Disney topiary in your home’s landscaping?
I’ve always admired Disney’s beautiful topiaries found throughout the Walt Disney World Resort. These living sculptures bring the grounds to life. They’re part of what makes a vacation at Disney feel magical.
The weather this winter season in Pennsylvania, as with most of The United States, has been horrible. This week is continuing in the same pattern as the rest of the winter. On Wednesday school was cancelled, so the kids and I decided to bring a bit of Disney magic into our dining room. We started our own Mickey Mouse topiary.
Gavin received this Chia Pet kit for Christmas from his grandparents. If you’re wondering where to buy one, my mom purchased Gavin’s kit at our local CVS store. We thought this day would be a perfect day to try our hands at a bit of horticulture. I’ve never tried to grow a Chia Pet and wondered how well they’d work. If you like to see the process, check out our photos.
First we submerged the Chia Pet in a tub of water for an hour. The entire “pet” wouldn’t stay under the water. I’m assuming that’s how it was supposed to be, but the directions didn’t tell us that.
While the planter was soaking, you mix 2 teaspoons of the seeds with 1/4 cup of water. They sit for an hour also. Eventually the consistency of the mixture will be a watery gel.
After the hour ended, we filled up our Chia pet planter with water, placed it in the plastic tray that was included in the kit and then the kids got to work. They loved it! What a mess we had making our topiary!
Here’s a close up look at the finished piece. Now we have to water him and HOPEFULLY we’ll have our very own Mickey Mouse topiary in our dining room! The paperwork says that within three days it should begin to grow. I promise to give you all an update next week.
This was our first attempt to make a living sculpture of our pal. However, for my daughter and nephew’s Mickey and Minnie themed birthday party, my sister-in-law and I decided to make a Mickey-Inspired and Minnie-Inspired ribbon topiary for the guests’ tables. If you’d like to stick to crafting and want to leave the seeds to someone with a green thumb, below the photo you’ll find a link to the post where you can see the steps to make this ribbon topiary.
It’s Oscar’s Night!
