Taking the Planes Characters on the road this Holiday Season

 This holiday travel shop with Disney Planes the Movie has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions and experiences are mine alone. #PlanesToTheRescue #CollectiveBias

We usually don't travel around the holidays. In fact, the longest holiday drive we take is about 15 minutes. We live surrounded by multiple generations of family, so keeping my kids occupied in the car is usually not an issue. This year though we have a little surprise in store for the kids.

We will be packing up the family to go on a special North Pole bound train ride and I know the kids are going to have a blast. My only concern is to get to the station is an over 3 hour drive.. and I have 3 small children to keep entertained for the entire way there.

I like to be prepared, so while picking up some car ride essentials at Walmart, I took a peek down the toy aisle. 

The die-cast 3-pack, Secret Hangar Meeting, is currently on Rollback at Walmart, along with several other great last minute gift ideas, or "car ride boredom busters". My children are huge fans of Disney Planes and Planes Fire and Rescue, so I knew this would be a big hit.

I have fond memories of driving my own die cast cars around the back seat of my parent's mustard yellow Matador during family road trips.

The cute Disney characters inspired me to also create a No Sew Felt Board or Flannel Board for my daughter who loves to create her own. Dusty and his friends from Planes would be my inspiration.

To get started, you will need:

• Foam Core Board
• X-Acto Knife
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Felt, in various colors
• a collection of ribbon, washi tape or lace 
• Felt Glue
• Hot Glue Gun
• Freezer Paper
• Pencil
• Assorted Permanent Markers

I started by cutting foam core board. I wanted my felt board to be like a book, small enough to fit in my daughter's lap in the car, but big enough to tell an entire story. In the end I cut my cover pieces to be just larger than a 9" x 12" sheet of felt. I allowed for a 1/2" around the edges so cut them to be 10" x 13".

Then with glue, I started putting down my felt for the storyboard. I went with a solid blue sheet on one side for the sky. 

Now is when a stash of ribbon, lace and washi tape comes in handy. I glued red striped ribbon over the page edge and then "finished" the edges of the felt with strips of my choice. I went with a typeset alphabet and metallic ruler tape for this part.

On the other side of my felt board I created a sky and mountain backdrop. I wanted the felt back for this project to be smooth, so I inset the mountain then glued it all down. This will be perfect for staging the woodland fires for my daughter's stories.

I made a simple "binding" for my foam core book with extra wide ribbon. This part I attached with hot glue for added durability.

Then I finished the outer edges with a little bit of lace.

On the outside of the Felt Board I used adhesive washi sheets for quick covers.

Then it was time to start on the removable felt pieces for storytelling. 

One of the easiest ways to cut felt for an intricate project like this is to use Freezer Paper. I found these cute flames online. I printed them out and taped them into a window for easy tracing. Then I covered them with a sheet of Freezer Paper (wax side down) and traced.

Then on a low setting, I ironed the wax side down onto a piece of red felt. It doesn't take long for the paper to stick and the stencils are reusable with a little more heat.

Using Freezer Paper makes it really easy to cut out simple shapes and designs. I tried cutting these little flames freehand, but this is much better.

To complete my little Fire and Rescue scene, I cut out more flames, trees, clouds, a smoke jumper and parachute, Dusty and another generic plane.

The best part about a project like this is we can keep adding felt characters and pieces to our collection and my daughter can use it over and over on our car trips as well as at home. I would point out that this is a nice and quiet car activity, but we all know the kids will be supplying the sound effects, right?

And it is so much fun to have more adventures with Disney Planes Dusty and all his friends.

So if there are young children and car trips in your future this Holiday Season, or maybe just are looking for a last minute gift idea, think of creating your own personalized Felt Board with a Disney Planes theme, or stop by and stock up on these great Planes toys currently on Rollback - Disney Planes Flight to the Finish Speedway Rollback to $24.97, Disney Planes Fire & Rescue Die-Cast Vehicles, 3-Pack Rollback to $14.97, or Disney Planes Fire & Rescue Deluxe Talking Vehicle Assortment Rollback to $19.97.

Either way, you will be a big hit this season with the kids.

Do you have any long car trips over the Holiday Season? How do keep everyone entertained?

Ready to Own the Galaxy? Fuel up with Guardians of the Galaxy

 This Guardians of the Galaxy movie shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions and experiences are mine alone. #OwnTheGalaxy #CollectiveBias

In case you were stranded in some distant galaxy for the past few months, you might have missed hearing about the latest and greatest Marvel movie released on DVD and Blu-Ray this week, Guardians of the Galaxy. 

I picked up a copy at our local Walmart. There isn't much better than celebrating a fun new release than to grab some movie toys, enjoy movie inspired snacks and have an old fashioned family movie night.

After we grabbed a copy of the movie, I headed over to the toys section. Keep your eyes open for special new toy displays for these Guardians of the Galaxy action figures, masks and blasters. And don't forget, if you are a video game fan, there are now Guardians of the Galaxy Rocket and Groot figures for use with Disney Infinity 2.0. More on that and the special promotion at the end of the post.

I grabbed a few packs of the mini action figures. My son is at the age where role play with action figures is becoming huge. My daughter liked them too, but I did have to rescue Groot and Drax from a tiny tea party she threw them.

I am not sure that Drax is the tea party type.

The most popular of the action figures is by far Groot. But, then again, who doesn't love this character? I may need to pick up another few to avoid fights during playtime. We need a whole "forest" of Groots, right?

But my favorite movie toy, by far, are the Walkie Talkies. These long range FRS radio walkie talkies are perfect for getting siblings to play together. They aren't any fun to play with alone. It is also a fun chance for them to save the galaxy for hours on their own.

The toys were a great way to build excitement for the movie, which my kids didn't have the chance to see in theaters. 

What I like even better is that they can go off and have more adventures with their favorite characters like Star Lord, Drax or Rocket. Now I can't wait to see how they will save the galaxy next!

Since we had such great time playing with our new Guardians of the Galaxy toys and worked up an appetite before movie time, I created some simple and fun snacks for either more playdate fun or movie viewing. 

All of these treats are simple but with a movie tie-in twist! 

I created Gamora's Sweet Popcorn, Awesome Sandwiches (PB & J, of course!), Groot cheese sticks and offered "Fountain Water" to wash it all down. I hear that is some of Groot's favorite! Rocket will pass though.

Gamora's Sweet Popcorn

You Will Need:

• 8 c. popped popcorn
• 4 Tbsp. butter, unsalted
• 3 Tbsp. corn syrup
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 3 oz. JELL-O gelatin in grape and lime (half a package of each flavor)

Sift through the popped popcorn to remove any unpopped kernels. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

In a medium saucepan, combine half the ingredients (2 tablespoons butter, 1 1/2 tablespoon corn syrup, 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 a package of gelatin power). Over low heat, melt the butter and dissolve the gelatin and sugar. Let it come up to a simmer for 2 minutes. Pour over half of the popped popcorn.

On a parchment lined baking sheet, spread the hot popcorn in a single layer. Bake for 15 minutes then let cool completely. Break the popcorn chunks apart when cooled enough to handle. 

Repeat the process for making the remaining color.

Mix and enjoy! 

For our Awesome Sandwiches I channeled my 80's childhood and whipped up some classic peanut butter and jelly with the crusts cut off. Yeah, I think a young Star Lord would approve.

I wrapped the sandwiches, those crust-less beauties are a little messy, in freezer paper and traced the Mix Tape on top for added fun.

Of course we listened to Star Lord's beloved Mix tape (we picked a soundtrack up at Walmart when we got the movie and toys) as we snacked on our Groot cheese sticks.

It seems I am not artistic enough to make a dancing Groot to adorn my cheese, but craft paper crumpled and wrapped around the cheese was enough to make my kids smile. So, I went with it.

And we had to have a drink to sip on for movie viewing. After wracking my brain, it seemed fitting to grab a little Fountain Water. My kids were familiar with this part of the movie already from previews. 

If you haven't watched the movie yet, believe me, you'll understand soon.

Now, don't tell my kids, but they will be getting Disney Infinity for Christmas. They are going to be so excited! I just have to go back and grab them a Groot or Rocket Racoon figure for Disney Infinity 2.0 (offer good from 12/7 - 12/14) to take advantage of the instant $5 Walmart Gift Card promotion. With qualified purchase, the cashier will give you a gift card at check out.

So if you have a Guardians of the Galaxy and Disney Infinity fan at home, don't miss out on this promotion ending tomorrow! 

Now that I showed you all our movie fun, how will you and your family #OwnTheGalaxy? Any plans to buy the movie or merchandise for gifts?