St. Patty's Day 2012 (Part 1)

So, on Thursday (the 15th) my son came home from school and says "Mom, we HAVE to make something green to bring in to school tomorrow!" His teacher is pretty good about giving plenty of advance notice if there is an event or something coming up, so my first thought (since this was so last minute) was, "I don't think we HAVE to, but what can we make?"

Turns out, there was a note in his bookbag that day saying we could if we WANTED to, but not to go overboard since the teacher was bringing something in as well as a few of the other kids.

I had seen this post on another blog recently (thank you Pinterest) and thought that these would be quick and easy to make, they wouldn't be going "overboard" and they can absolutely be changed to fit into any color scheme or holiday. So we did :)

 Ingredients:

• square pretzels (ours were called "waffle" pretzels)
• Hershey's Kisses or Hugs (we used the "mint truffle" kisses. Honestly, I think they are seasonal and only available around Christmas)
• plain M&Ms (again, we had some in the cabinet from Christmas, so we just took out the reds and used the green for St. Patty's Day)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200°. 

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place the pretzels on and top them with the Kisses.

Bake for 4-5 minutes until the chocolate is shiny and soft (but NOT melting - they should still hold their shape). Ours were a little melty because I wanted to make sure the "truffle" inside softened up too.

 

 Carefully place an M&M in the center of each  Kiss and press it down to spread the chocolate.

Allow to cool completely (a few minutes in the fridge works perfectly, but we just let our set up on their own).

St. Patricks Day Super Party Giveaway!

Everyone is Irish on St. Patricks Day.

Ok...so maybe not EVERYONE, but so many people enjoy wearing green or pretending to be a leprechaun for a day (even if they aren't Irish and are too tall to be a leprechaun.), and that's alright with me. As I've mentioned before, I LOVE holidays and I feel that the more people there are to celebrate with you, the better it will be.

That's why I'm happy to announce my very FIRST giveaway which will provide the winner with ALL the decorations and goodies they need to have a green-filled fun time with their family and friends at their St. Patricks Day Party or Dinner.

So, without further wait, here are all the wonderful items the winner will receive!

300 Green and White Hand-Punched Shamrocks From Looneyjoontees

A Set of 3 Poms in Citrus, Key Lime and Fresh Lime from PomLove

A Set of 25 Dark Green Striped Paper Straws from CupcakeSocial

These adorable P.I.Y (Print It Yourself) Party Tabs and Designer Papers from Pen and Paper Flowers

A Set of 6 Glitter Green Shamrock Gift Tags from AlmondCrafts

A set of 24 Green Shamrock Cupcake Wrappers from Welldressedcupcakes

A Set of 25 "Lucky" Cupcake Toppers from Origami Delights

An 8.5' Long "Luck O' The Irish" Garland from Origami Delights

A set of 6 Green and White Kusudama Flowers from Origami Delights

Well...Thats a LOT of stuff!

So how do you enter??

Easy! Check out this widget for everything you can do! (you may need to click "read more" to view the widget.)

Upcoming Holidays

So, I am a HUGE fan of pretty much any holiday. Since tomorrow is Valentine's Day, I thought I would share the adorable craft that my sister found, and that I will be making tomorrow with my sons kindergarten class.

Valentine's Day Hat

UPDATE #1: For those of you like myself who like to save a bit a money, Here's a tip - wait as long as you can to buy the supplies for this. I waited until the day before Valentine's day to purchase mine and all of the Valentine's Day goodies were on sale 50% off. SO, even though I bought way more supplies than I actually needed, the cost was only $21.00. For a class size of 17, plus one for myself and each parent at the party and the teacher, it comes out to approximately a mere $1.00 per person craft.

UPDATE #2: I made one as a sample so the kids know what they would be making. Maybe a better picture to come later, but this is what mine looks like:

You can use green pipe cleaners and shamrocks if you'd rather make it for St. Patricks Day!

SPEAKING of St. Patricks Day: Keep your eyes out for my next post, coming later this week. I will be announcing a SUPER St. Patricks Day GIVEAWAY! Everything you need for your St. Patricks Day party!

Heres a sneak peek!

Those are just the beginning ;-)