Cocoa & Conversation Relief Society Activity

For January, we wanted to keep it simple and we just decided to have a get together.

And we decided that the get together was going to be a hot chocolate party.

I mean, after I found these printables at {Upcycled Treasures} it was a must in my mind, cause Baby, it IS cold outside, and everyone wants hot chocolate when it's cold. 

And when I found this quote from Eliza R. Snow, it made me feel even better.  What makes you feel better than warm chocolate along with warm conversation?  Nothing.  The answer is nothing.

So, we got a lovely sister in our ward to host the party at her lovely, inviting house, and brought in all the fixins for a real party!  And this one was A LOT of fun to put together! 

I found these awesome little wooden scoopers and drizzlers on Amazon and prime got them to me right on time. We used the scoopers for most of the toppings, but to make the fudge and caramel sauces easy to apply, I actually put them on electric candle warmers to keep them warm and stuck a honey drizzler in them.  It was perfect.

The jars all came from the dollar store...and they were the perfect size!

I found the stir sticks in the craft section at Walmart, and glued snowflake buttons to the top...and I LOVE how they turned out!

I found these little labels on {Upcycled Treasures} as well, and because I loved them so much, they kind of dictated what we served as toppings, but the list was pretty extensive and I couldn't think of anything else I'd want anyway!  We had white chocolate chips, tiny marshmallows, crushed peppermint, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, cinnamon sticks, carmel sauce, and chocolate fudge sauce.  And of course whipped cream to top it off!

A little red and white bakers twine was just the thing to hold these labels in place.  I loved the way it all looked!  I brought in my snowballs, my snowmen, and my mini trees to round out the display, as well as some apothecary jars filled with pinecones and berries. 

My favorite purchase for this party is a toss up between the scoopers and these awesome cups, which I also found on Amazon.  I just loved them so so SO much better than foamy cups.  And they came with that awesome cardboard sleeve!  Then, these labels made them just theeee cutest!  I think everyone else appreciated them as well.  Plus, they had lids so sisters could take some for the road.  

Because one serving of all this just wasn't enough!  Gotta do at least two different versions of toppings, right? 

If anyone came to this party cold, they definitely left feeling warmed up. :)

I used {this hot chocolate crock pot recipe} which I found on Pinterest and everyone liked it, plus it was easy to make, serve, and keep warm in the crock pot. 

 We all just had a grand time visiting with each other.  Sometimes it's nice to just get together without a program!  

We are all sisters, after all.

Lego Birthday Party (on the cheap!)

For about a year before his birthday, even before the Lego movie came out, my son has been telling me he wants a Lego party.  So, with lots of time to prepare, I put this together.

Found this awesome free invitation {here on Pinterest} and I downloaded a free Lego looking font to fill it out in word.  I also changed the top of the invite to say "Everything is Awesome!  Everything is cool when you Party with Me!"  Thank you Lego Movie for such a great caption!  My son helped me make these invitations.  We printed them out, and then cut colored cardstock for the back.  We also cut circles out of cardstock and stuck them on using a 3d foamy sticker so they stood out a little bit.  He loved them!

We used the same technique to make this awesome lego banner.  I just cut construction paper in half and then a ton of circles and stuck them on with foamy stickers.  Then, clothes pinned them to a ribbon using mini clothespins from Walmart.  I love those things!  

Together with my awesome bunting from Target that I use at every party, it made a pretty great backdrop for our food table. 

I created some food stands to give it some height using shoe boxes and some primary colored wrapping paper.  It was just the ticket. 

Our drink was orange juice, which of course I labeled "Lego Juice".  Legos are fun because they're so organized and orderly.  To stick with that idea, I got these square compartment trays from the $ store to display the food. 

Then I made these "Lego Cookies" using graham crackers, colored frosting, and m&ms.  They were cheap and easy and the kids loved them.  Win! 

I decided to serve little finger foods that looked like they'd been chopped off the top of legos and call them "Lego Bits" - thank you Walmart for selling those smily face fruit snacks.  That and the mini marshmallows were perfect.  

Then, I made these "Lego Crackers" using string cheese that I sliced and stuck on with easy cheese.  Cheap, easy, and the kids loved them.  Another win! 

Lastly, we had "Lego Corn" which was popcorn of course.  I made these bags using dollar store colored lunch bags which I cut the top off of and used that to make the circles.  Then, we used the same technique as we used on the invite and banner to stick em on. 

Lastly, I made an icecream cake.  My son doesn't really like cake, so this was perfect!  And if you've never made {this icecream cake} you gotta try it!  There was never anything so easy that seems so impressive when you serve it!  When I frosted it, I just stacked up some oreos on the top and frosted around them to make it look like a lego.  It was a big win!

Couldn't have been happier with the way everything turned out! 

And this guy was pretty pleased himself.

We borrowed these kid sized table and chairs from our church which were perfect for the space we had and the amount of kids we needed to seat!  So, when the kids got there, we had them sit down and color a lego head.

And our first game was pin the lego head on the lego guy.  I found these little stars like the one my son is wearing at a school/teacher store near me and turned them into stickers by putting some double stick tape on the back.  These were given to the winner of each of our games.  And by the end we had a lot of specials running around our house! 

I made these bean bag toss's from boxes that I wrapped in yellow wrapping paper and decorated with construction paper.  We just used a "sword of exacto" (haha) to cut the mouths out.  I made the beanbags out of felt and they, too, got the circle treatment but I glued their circles on with hot glue.  Whoever got the most beanbags in the mouths was the special!

I made this lego toss using poster board and construction paper which I cut and taped together to make different sized circles.  

The kids had 4 legos to toss and whoever got the most points was the special!

Honestly, the kids weren't really into these games.  There were a few who participated in every game, but most of them were just running around playing.  

Our last game was musical chairs which we played to the "Everything is Awesome" song.  Honestly, we could have just done without any of the other games and played this one over and over for the whole party because after the first game when everyone cried when they got out, they LOVED playing this!  And we played it like 10 times until finally they were excited about who got out and cheered for the winners!  It's hard to loose when you're 5.  But, the more they played, the more they loved it! 

Then we all ate. 

Opened gifts. (self made crown there) 

And had cake! 

And before everyone left, they got a goodie bag. 

Which included these little coloring books I made using free lego coloring pages I printed 4 to a sheet, cut them in half so they were 2 to a sheet, and sewed them all together.  I also found this awesome image of the "you are special" quote from the movie that we used as the cover page and a lego "thanks for coming" that we used as the back.  I stuck in a "The Special" star and a box of crayons from the $ store. 

My kid could not have been happier.  And I think everyone had a great time!

If you want word copies or PDF's of any of this stuff, just email me!

Back 2 School Relief Society Activity

In August, we had a Back 2 School night with our Relief Society.  This one was a lot of fun to put together!  To create this vignette, we brought in the portable chalk board from the church, and strung up my Target special bunting that I use for every party.  I also pinned up my book page wreath handmade for me by a friend of mine as a housewarming gift.  Love it!  We stole the stool from under the podium to raise up our vintage school desk one of our members just happens to have, which seemed just a little too small next to that chalkboard, and threw some books and lunch boxes on there for good measure.  BYU even made it to this party in the form of a crate from the Creamery we somehow inherited while we were attending years ago.

We strung jute string across the ceiling and clothespinned and paperclipped flashcards to it to create a school themed bunting.  On the chalkboard, I wrote welcome to class, in true 'first day of school' fashion. 

 

 And the podium table was just decorated with a bunch of nicknacks from around my house.

The more I looked at my house, the more I found I could use to make this look like a vintage school room.

  Globes were a must.  I put some $1 flags in a vase, and got a pack of pencils and put them in a mason jar.  I had recently bought a slate chalkboard from Hobby Lobby to do the '1st day of school sign' with my son, and wrote Back 2 School on it in chalk.

I also filled a container with scrabble letters, and bought a bunch of cheap rulers to put in a pitcher.  These pinwheels I made using doublesided scrapbooking paper.  I just hot glued them onto scewers.  They don't spin, but they sure look cute!

I used some photo albuns to raise up my vintage lantern, pulled in a vintage clock I have, and at the last second thought it would be a good idea to use a statue of the Savior in our display.  

He is, after all, our greatest teacher.

I just love the mix of the neutrals looking like a vintage school room with a little bit of those bright colors still thrown in.  That bucket was filled with bookmarks which we gave the sisters at the end of the night.  Loved the colorful rainbow of ribbon they provided in the display.

I found this quote to go along with our theme, printed it off on cardstock, punched a hole in the top and looped different ribbons through.  Easy peasy!

To make it feel like a school room, we brought in all the classroom tables and put them together, so each table sat six people.

We had set up different displays in the center of each table as well.  Most with bundles of books from my house.

And more pencil bouquets.

At each seat, we placed a notebook for them to take home as well.

These were just the mini composition books Target and Walmart sells during back to school season, with a "Search Ponder & Pray" label stuck to the front of it.  Our last mini class was on studying the scriptures, and this gift tied in with that lesson.

On the side board, we had a back to school bunting hanging, as well as grade level printables found on Pinterest.  Here is another shot of the flashcard bunting we made across the ceiling.  That really made it seem festive!

On this table, there was more stuff from my house.  These giant crayon penny banks were perfect for our display.  I also threw my magnet letters in a few jars - amazing how that classes them up.  Maybe I'll start doing that at home!

More pinwheels - I loved the feel those gave to this activity!  I found this printable (along with most of my other ideas) on {here on Pinterest} and just clipped it to our clipboard.  Had an apothecary jar filled with apples.  And this is actually how I store our blocks.  I love the way they look on top of my kids dresser.  A decoration that can be played with!  Cute and functional are my favorite.

Our dinner that night was a school lunch.  We had veggie cups with rach dip, apples, chip bags, sandwiches, lunch drinks, and rice crispy treats (which didn't make it in time for the picture).

I was surprised at how fast we ran out of chocolate milk!  You're never too old for that stuff, I guess.  However, hardly anyone drank regular milk.  Curious...  

When I told my helpers my idea for the food, no one was too excited about it, but it was actually really good!  

The display over here consisted of my oversized scissors, some mini trunks, another globe, and a vintage style lantern.

I had fun making these plates.

Just added some paper leaves using double stick tape and voila!  Apple plates!

We had 3 mini classes:

Home Economics - we learned how to make our own laundry detergent.

Mathematics - we learned about Budgeting and Finances

Reading - we learned about studying the scriptures.

All in all, it was a great activity!