Football Sugar Cookies

I spent the better part of today shopping for ingredients for and preparing these sweet little treats for the flag football end-of-the-season party tomorrow morning at Pump It Up.

The cookies are not difficult to make or decorate.  They’re just pretty time consuming.  Luckily, I was able to get most of it done while the boys’ were at school.

I love how they turned out and hope the boys on the team enjoy them!  Even though we did not win our playoff game and, therefore, did not make it to the Super Bowl (which is tonight), I am so proud of the Greenhawks!  They worked so hard all season long and really bonded as a team.  Wildman and Cutie Pie are looking forward to signing up next season.

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Volunteer Thank You Gifts

So, I came across these darling Spring in a Cans on Etsy a while back.  I thought the idea was adorable and stuck it in my mental filing cabinet to be retrieved at a later date.  The inspiration reemerged when I found teeny tiny acrylic paint cans while wondering around Michael’s one day.  They were perfect for making my own “spring in a can” favors.

I thought these little gifts would be ideal for my Spring Fling volunteers!  They’re cute.  They’re spring-y!  They’re perfect!

I planted Bermuda grass seeds in a couple of inches of Miracle Gro potting soil and watered them every day.  Unfortunately, they did not grow as quickly as I thought they would.  It took 2 1/2 weeks for the grass to look like it does in these photos.  I’m taking 9 favors with me to my parent volunteer meeting tomorrow and will bring in the rest when my second batch of grass gets a little taller.  I need about 18 cans in all and don’t anticipate more than nine people showing for tomorrow’s meeting so my first batch should be sufficient for now.

The metal on my paint cans did get a little bit rusty from the water and from being outside but I think it adds a bit of rustic charm to the favors.  I hope the moms like them!

Super Mario Bros. Birthday Bash

We had an early birthday bash for Wildman at our house on Sunday.  The theme?  SUPER MARIO BROTHERS!  It’s his latest obsession.  I knew nothing of Super Mario Bros. prior to planning this party so I consulted the Internet for some ideas.  Most of my inspiration came from here and here.

The children each got their own Mario or Luigi hat and mustache.  I had some tiaras for the girls to be Princess Peach.

I made felt mushroom head pouches for the children to keep their collected coins in.  There was no sewing involved!  Score!  We played several games for gold coins: a Yoshi egg hunt, zip-lining onto colored squares that had coins taped to the back and the pinata was loaded with them!  The child with the most coins won a Mario t-shirt.  The winner was Wildman’s friend, O, who collected a whopping 35 coins!

One of the Yoshi eggs contained a “w”.  The person who found that lucky egg won a Mario Bros. cartoon DVD.

The children also played ladder ball for a prize of a Christmas book.

I served lots of veggies and dip, that awesome pineapple salsa, queso, pizza, lime sherbet/7-up punch, as well as lots of beer and wine for the adults.  A paper pieced goomba marked the adult drink tub.

In lieu of a sheet cake or layered round cake, I made mushroom head cupcakes.  The white dots are white chocolate discs used for melting and making lollipops.  I made 3 dozen cupcakes for our herd of 20 children.  Half were white cake and half were carrot cake.  All were a hit!

Luckily the weather cooperated and we had gorgeous sunny skies for the party!  It rained at 11 AM and by 2 PM (party time) all the bad weather had moved out.  Whew!  I didn’t know what I was going to do with all of those people if it rained.  All of our games took place in the yard!  I’m so glad it all worked out.

I made each child a Yoshi treat bag to fill up with their choice of candy from a candy buffet that I had set up on our glass dining table.  The kids were over the moon to get to choose their treats.  I had containers of chocolate coins, Mario fruit snacks, rainbow lollipops, rainbow candy canes, Sunkist gummy candies, gumballs, and extra mustaches laid out for them.

I’d definitely call this party a success!  I had fun preparing for it and the kiddos had a blast all afternoon long.  But given how much effort I put into making all of the favors and decorations, I think I’m going to institute the every-other-year birthday plan.  Next year, I think the boys will get to choose a fun family activity for their birthday.  It’s exhausting hosting birthday parties!!!