Creating a Sleeping Beauty - worthy Spa Party

This Sleeping Beauty -worthy Spa Party shop, inspired by the Sleeping Beauty Blu-Ray release, has been compensated by #CollectiveBias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #DisneyBeauties

This year my daughter turned 5, quietly. 

It was a crazy time of year, school supplies and clothes shopping, the beginning of school to prepare for and Summer was coming to an end. I just couldn't get friends together and orchestrate a big party for her just then. There were not enough hours in my day. But sometimes good things are worth waiting for.

With my daughter now gone for the afternoon, I have missed our special time together. She is learning and growing at such a fantastic pace and I am so proud of her. She really deserved a celebration. So I decided that the Sleeping Beauty DVD release was the perfect occasion to throw a Sleeping Beauty worthy Spa Party ...and secret belated birthday bash for my little girl.

No, really, throwing a party can be easy!

With two now in school and my toddler underfoot, I wanted to make the party memorable, but also easy on me. So I turned to Walmart to pick up all our party essentials plus the Sleeping Beauty Diamond Edition DVD Gift set, that would be the centerpiece of our celebration. 

We headed into Walmart to pick up everything we needed for the party. I told my daughter that we were getting together for a Royal Spa Party, but didn't let on that it was also to celebrate her 5th birthday. She helped me shop and had no idea what I had up my sleeve! 

We found the Sleeping Beauty DVD back in the electronics section and my daughter was so excited we were getting a copy. The movie was my favorite growing up and she hadn't watched it yet. I was thrilled for the chance to show it to her and all her friends.

If you have done any shopping in your local Walmart lately, you might have noticed that the costume section is bursting at the seams with great Disney items. My idea was to make each little girl attending our party feel like a princess, so I picked up a costume for each guest in a variety of characters. My daughter wanted to go as Aurora and asked each of her friends who they wanted to be for the party. I loved that there were so many Walmart exclusive costumes with lockets at a great price. 

I also found many small Spa themed items to go in the girls' goodie bags. From heart toe separators and finger nail polish to lip gloss and princess candy bracelets, there was plenty to keep all the little princesses looking their best.

For a treat, I skipped the typical cake and went for a quick Fairy Godmother Puffed Rice Treat. I used strawberry marshmallows to make them pink, sprinkled the treats with candy sprinkles before cutting them out with a star cookie cutter. Adding on a cookie pop stick, they were ready to grant the kids' sweet wishes. ...and as an added bonus, they were already in individual servings.

My daughter's big request for the party was fresh flowers. Now, I had to agree that most spas put a lot of effort into the decorations and these pink roses were perfect for our main table. 

The Fairy Godmother wands were the centerpiece for my table and I decorated the rest with princess stand-ups and bottles of matching nail polish, feather boas, and marked each place at the table with a Sleeping Beauty coloring sheet and boxes of crayons or markers.

Princesses love to color.

To keep with our Disney princess theme, I found an assortment of items from American Greetings for the party. From plates to cups and decorations, my favorite was the pack of invitations and thank you post cards. It is such a nice idea to make it easy to teach proper manners to my little host. Those cards were easy for her to fill out, with help, to thank her guests for coming to our party and for the wonderful gifts they brought. 

Did you know you can save $3 with any $10 purchase of Disney-themed American Greetings Celebrations supplies at Walmart? The coupons were right in the party section and coupons are available in-store through October 31st.

My side table I used for all the plates, napkins, glittery wands and the goodie bags. It is nice to keep the main table free for sitting and eating.

My buffet held snacks, drinks and later our food which I had delivered during the party. I wanted to spend as much time enjoying the kids and not serving food. Having a simple buffet means everyone could help themselves.

Of course any self respecting spa offers refreshing lemon water, I had pink lemonade for the princesses, and healthy salads and pita wraps were available for everyone as well.

Because I didn't have time to move everything out of my kitchen/dining area for the party, I chose to use existing pictures for my theme. I taped a Sleeping Beauty silhouette over an already existing picture and then decorated another frame with cut-outs of the 3 fairies from the movie. I love how it turned out and it was so simple.

And since my piano is just there in the dining area... of course I had to decorate it as well! You can see all the costumes hanging by the entryway to greet guests, and more Sleeping Beauty silhouettes and princess stand-ups were used here as well. 

Once the guests started to arrive the house was a whirl of activity! Some girls were shy about getting dressed up at first, though all of them were excited to pick out their own costume to take home. (Instant Princess Halloween costumes!) The girls were much more interested in the crafts and activities than checking out the food. I found a large bag of self-sticking jewels for their crowns so no messy glue was needed.

At this age adorning things is still more important than adorning themselves, so creating the perfect princess crown was serious business!

Then I put on Sleeping Beauty for all the parents, princesses and even the little princes, to enjoy. I just let the DVD keep playing throughout the party so kids and parents had a chance to watch whenever they wanted.

How long has it been since you watched Sleeping Beauty? 

Most of the adults agreed that we didn't remember all of the scenes in the movie, just the key moments. It is such a classic, now that I own it I know I will be watching it over and over until I have it memorized.

The kids loved the movie and our Sleeping Beauty-worthy Spa Party was the perfect chance to get together with friends, princesses and little princes alike. 

It was also a perfect way to celebrate my daughter's 5th birthday. She was shocked when her friends arrived with birthday gifts and well wishes. Many of the gifts included more Disney princess items to her delight.

Because planning and throwing a memorable party doesn't have to be a lot of work, here is a great Party Planning Checklist to use for your next big birthday bash. My rule is keep it organized, keep it simple and get help when possible. My favorite help is food delivery, to be sure! 

Here is a recap slideshow of the fun:

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Our Sleeping Beauty -worthy Spa Party #DisneyBeauties #shop #flipagram We enjoyed a Sleeping Beauty - worthy Spa Party (and belated birthday) for my daughter and her friends. Come check out the fun on the blog today. #DisneyBeauties #shop #party #Disney made with @flipagram ♫ Music: Taylor Swift - Red

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I don't know how many years I have left of princess parties, fairy wands and glittery finger nail polish, but I know, at least for one night, I was able to celebrate my little #DisneyBeauties the way they should be celebrated.

Do you have a favorite Disney Princess? 

When was the last time you watched Sleeping Beauty?

Game Time Made Easy with DiGiorno + DIY Cheer Pom Craft

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community. For Game Time we stocked up on DiGiorno pizza currently on rollback at Walmart. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser. #GameTimeGoodies

My 6-year old just had the chance to attend his first basketball game with his grandparents. We are college b-ball fans, bleeding green and yellow for Oregon, and his excitement about basketball has been infectuous. The cheering and electricity he experienced on the court has bled over to watching it on TV. So I decided to throw a little at-home viewing party that we could all enjoy together.

Cheering on our favorite sports teams builds up quite an appetite so I wanted to have plenty of crowd pleasing food favorites on hand. To me, game day means pizza day. I love my pizza to be fresh, cheesy and piled with toppings, so I knew it had to be DiGiorno!

To keep my team happy and be kind to my wallet, I headed into Walmart to pick up our pizzas, salad bar fixings and some supplies for making hand-held pom-poms to cheer on our team. I was really excited because Walmart is currently running a special $4.50 rollback price for DiGiorno pizza. That sounded like a slam dunk to me.

I grabbed both Three Meat and Supreme Rising Crust pizzas in the frozen aisle. I thought these would be perfectly matched with our salad bar and drinks. All of it is easy game food to feed a crowd and let me enjoy the game along with them.

Don't you just love how the cheese gets all crispy and golden around the edges of the pizza? I usually pick that off and eat it first. I am a crust-in sort of gal.

Weird, huh?

I have a 6 and 4-year old who don't mind salads, but it never fails to amaze me that when they get to choose the toppings, they say it tastes better. My son likes to pile it up higher than his pizza. I think balance is good.

Okay, the only thing that could make pizza and a great game better would be hand-held cheer poms to shake during free-throws or after after our team scores. Originally I was going to make big poms, but my kids wanted a bunch of them so we went pencil top size for convenience. I have to admit that it worked out even better than I planned.

Whip these up in your favorite teams colors and hand them out to guests at your next party for added spirit.

You Will Need:

• Tissue paper in your team's colors (2 - 3 peices for each pencil topper)
• scissors
• pencils
• clear heavy duty tape
• ruler* optional

Start by cutting each peice of tissue paper in half. Then stack the halves (4 - 6 peices) in a pile. You can experiement with alternating colors or block of colors, as you like. Fold the stack in half and then fold up the bottom fold twice, about 2 inches. This part will wrap around the pencil as in the picture above.

On the open side start cutting uniform strips down to the fold. My strips were less than 1/2" wide.

Then roll the pencil, tightly, in the bottom fold. Make sure to keep smoothing the strips down as you roll so they don't get tangled.

Then tape the tissue paper to the pencil. You can choose to wrap the entire pencil in tissue paper to match or leave it as is.

Once everything is secure, open and separate the strands of tissue paper. Be sure to concentrate on the base so the whole pom will take on a fuller appearance.

Then hand them off to your fans. No explanation needed.

My kids loved shaking them at the screen. The bonus was there wasn't nearly as much yelling during the game, just a little whoosh from the frantic shaking of pom-poms! Score one for Mommy.

She shoots, she scores for game time success! Good food, good friends and a great game of basketball on the television. Does it get much better than that?

Don't forget to stock your freezer now with that rollback pricing while it lasts.

What is your favorite DiGiorno pizza? Will it make an appearance in your house on game day?

Ready for Spring with Claritin - My Spring In Your Step Mom Meet-Up #spon

*Disclaimer - I was provided a 'Claritin Spring In Your Step Mom Meet-Up' Package for my party and post as a member of the Claritin Mom's Crew. All opinions and experiences are my own.

I look forward to Spring and Summer all Winter long!

Oregon is especially dark, cold and wet from Fall through mid Spring, so we all get excited to get outside and moving again. Unfortunately our family also suffers from seasonal allergies.

Did I mention we live out in the country? On a farm? With lots of dust, pollen, grasses and all manner of things that set us all off?

That is just my family, but many of our friends and their children also suffer during the warmer months from allergies. That is why I love being a part of the Claritin Mom Crew. I already use the products for my family, but I also enjoy spreading the word. We don't have to let our allergies keep us indoor during the best months of the year, right?

This Spring, yeah... I know Summer has snuck up on me already!... I was given the chance to host a 'Spring in Your Step Mom Meet-Up' with friends to ensure we are all ready to tackle the dreaded allergy season.  I was sent a box of goodies to get us started talking and preparing for our allergy attacks.

With the new baby, we decided to meet-up with friends at the park. It is so much easier to chat with friends when the kids can play and the adults can chat. Yes, most of us had to deal with kids and allergies of some sort. Whether it came from pollen, dust or a particular plant, it can get in the way of the fun we want to have as a family.

One of the big hits were the cooling eye masks sent in my box. Yes, even the kids enjoyed them.

My family enjoys Children's Claritin because it works for us. I can give it to my son and he doesn't have scratchy eyes or is cranky for the whole day. My husband and I also use Claritin because when I start to feel my eyes getting irritated I need relief fast!

Of course, take according to the package directions. And as with all medication, keep out of reach of small children.

Have you ever tried Claritin? Do your children suffer from indoor or outdoor allergies? Click HERE for a coupon to try Claritin for yourself.

Join the Party with Ultimate Blog Party 2013!! #UBP13

Welcome to the party! The Ultimate Blog Part is blogging party created by 5 Minutes for Mom and it grows by leaps and bounds every year! Check out how to participate on their party post, create your own, link up and start visiting other great blogs out there.

I love parties. Time to spend with friends, mingling and meeting new faces. Every year I am excited to meet new bloggers and find amazing new blogs through the UBP. This marks my 4th year linking up and we have grown around here.

This blog is all about my family, our food and life on the farm. We love throwing a good party. Here are some of the party highlights from the past year:

We threw a magical Cinderella Princess Party for friends.

We got a little crazy with our in-home Men In Black 3 viewing party. This post was full of crazy treats and craft ideas.

And most recently we threw a March Basketball Party for our fellow sports enthusiasts. With a sandwich bar and lots of munchies to keep everyone happy.

Of course, I invite your to browse around my recipes. I love spending time in my kitchen and though sweets are always popular around here, I do make a variety of dishes for my family. Here is a highlight of the past few weeks:

1. Chocolate Brioche
2. Korean Tacos in the crock pot with homemade Kimchi
3. Baked Lemon Pasta with Kale
4. Homemade Sandwich Cookies (Faux-reos)
5. From Scratch Banana Pudding Parfaits
6. Mini Heath Chocolate Cakes

And the farm? Well, this time year the guys are busy tilling and planting. My chickens are busy scratching in the yard and I am getting set to plant our family garden out back. You can expect to find more gardening tips and tricks on my blog as the weather heats up here in Oregon.

I am currently getting ready for baby #3 in June, a little boy we are going to name Elliott. This means there will be a few more product and baby focused posts, but family and food have always been the reason why I created this blog back in 2007 with the birth of my first child.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you will come back during the growing season and check out what we are up to. Life is never boring around here - it is always an adventure!

Connect with me on my Facebook page, Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest.

Go DUCKS! Our Perfect #KettleMadness Basketball Party

In this house we are die-hard University of Oregon Duck fans, but some of our family and friends root for the state rival, the Oregon State Beavers. I wondered if these two groups could get along during basketball season? Well, we shared our love of b-ball, great food and time with friends in our #KettleMadness Basketball Party this week. It was all good fun.

My husband and I both attended the University of Oregon and I worked as an RA in the athletic dorm. This really ignited my interest in college sports. Of course, we have shared this passion with our kids who have turned into little mini duck fans. I love throwing parties and since our beloved Ducks are currently doing so well in the championship games, I thought it was a great chance to celebrate.

For the party I created a couple fun and simple crafts. Just a little something to add a personal touch to our party. My kids love craft time and it really got them excited for our big event.

I created these easy Basketball print shirts for my kids to wear. They only take a few supplies and a few minutes to create, just give them a full day to dry before wearing.

1. Lay out your t-shirts flat and put a piece of cardboard or a place mat inside to keep the paint from bleeding through.
2. With a small paint roller, roll a small amount of orange fabric paint onto a basketball. For the most definition use a side with lines and texture.
3. Press the paint side of the ball down firmly onto your t-shirt.
4. Allow to dry completely and follow the laundering suggestions on the paint bottle.

I also painted some glass gems with acrylic paint basketballs to decorate the serving table. They were fun to put around the food and really caught the kids' attention. They are also a great way to decoratively hold down your napkins or plates if there is a breeze, or kids zooming past. Draw the black lines first on the flat (underside) of the gem and allow them to dry completely before painting over the top with orange. I made mine the night before and they were dry and ready to go for our party.

For this party I went simple! Walmart offers a wide range of vegetable and deli trays to keep your guests full and happy. I went with a sandwich bar, vegetable platter, cutie "basketballs", cocktail weenies in the crock pot and a wide variety of crunchy Kettle Chips. Check out my right sidebar for a printable coupon for $1 off your own bag of Kettle Chips.

I had a lot of fun decorating for this particular party. Instead of only using my teams green and gold colors, I chose simple basketball orange. The theme is not only classic, but easy to incorporate with our favorite foods. I found orange paper lanterns and using a simple black marker turned them into basketballs to hang. I had basketball toothpicks for the cocktail weenies, and made simple orange paper cones for the kids to hold their chips in. Paired with an orange banner and paper basketball plates, our theme was hard to miss. For a big crowd using these homemade paper cones and paper products allowed for easy clean up afterwards.

I love serving parties with a buffet or "build-your-own" option. With plenty of choices, it kept even the pickiest kids happy and allowed me to just enjoy the party and not be a slave to the kitchen.

Of course, simple finger foods like chips are always a big hit and easy for the kids to get excited about.

We had the basketball game playing in the living room, but the kids really enjoyed playing a little basketball themselves with this desktop style game. It is a lot trickier than it looked and Dad had to show the kids about finesse.

Now, you didn't think I would leave out dessert, did you?

Our final "slam dunk" of the evening was a batch of homemade sandwich cookies. I made the dough up the day before and rolled them out to bake right before the party. They were filled with a simple vanilla buttercream. Since most of my other party items were store-bought I wanted to add a little homemade touch to our spread. It also made the whole house smell amazing as the guests arrived.

One of the highlights of any party are the finger foods or snacks. You know, the things you crunch on in between game action and great conversation? I remember enjoying Kettle Chips with my family as a kid. They have such a rustic and bold flavor it is easy to see that they are real potato chips made with real ingredients. The Kettle Brand Potato Chips have been keeping it real and natural since 1982, and though I might have only been 4 when they first came out, they left a big flavorful impression on me and were always a treat.

In the championship game spirit I kept track of our favorite Kettle Chip flavors for our own little "chip bracket championship". This big flavor competition was decided by my guests.

I surveyed our friends before the party to find their favorite flavors, threw in my family's and a wildcard option. I collected everyone's opinions and also watched how fast the bowl had to be refilled. For this party I offered: Backyard Barbeque, Sea Salt and Vinegar, Jalapeno, Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper as well as New York Cheddar flavored Kettle Chips.

The overwhelming winner was definitely Backyard Barbeque. The sweet and tangy flavor really appealed to both kids and adults alike. I was really rooting for my favorite, Sea Salt and Vinegar, but I knew with the crowd they were an underdog going in.

Our party guests each went home with a "goodie bag" filled with a basketball pen, small soft basketball as well as their favorite Kettle Brand Potato Chip flavors.

Our party was definitely a hit with both the parents and kids. We would have to rate it #1! We did prove that yes, rival team family and friends can come together for a night of good food and basketball fun.

Learn more about Kettle Chips and connect with them on Twitter and Facebook for future promotions and product announcements.

*Disclaimer - I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Kettle Chips #cbias #SocialFabric . All opinions and experiences are my own.