Easter Candy Decor

Decorating with Easter candy can be pretty cute. Here are a few fun inspirational images I've found. {The Inspired Room} had this idea:

LOVE that flower centerpiece, but that's another idea all together. I want to focus on the place setting. Those candy eggs are so cute, right?

Not to mention the egg in the wheat grass is adorable!! And what cute springy colors.

Martha Stewart also had some good ideas, as usual. I thought this table was really cute:

LOVE those tulips in the Easter baskets. SO CUTE! And the bowls full of color coordinated candy are adorable.

Saw this idea on {Southern Living} I'm loving the look of a planter down the center of the table. And the buckets full of candy are adorable with the bows and everything. Cute ideas.

Easter Decor

Love these subtle Easter decorations from Potterybarn. Love the clear glass candlesticks and the way those candy eggs look surrounding the candles.

LOVE this easter tree - it's a tradition from Germany, where my family originated. I love this one. it's so pretty. Those branches sure look pretty, too, but some pretty flowers like that smell awful, so if you're going to cut branches and put them in your house like this - which is SO PRETTY! - smell them first.What a cute Easter table setting. A simple gift at each place setting and a few eggs and baskets scattered around.

Passover

A few times growing up my family participated in Passover - even though we're not Jewish. It was a really great experience and we all really enjoyed it. Someday, I'd like to do it with my kids. Martha Stewart explains {The Seder Ritual} really well. As well as {The Seder Dinner} including the order of eating everything and what's said during the dinner. {Here} is a menu for the Seder Diner from Martha.{Here} is what should be on the plates, and {here} are more table setting ideas. If you want to participate this year, Passover starts on Monday - the 29th, and this is traditionally when the Seder Dinner is.

April Fools Food

{Family Fun} has some great ideas for April Fool's Day! Here are my favorites:
How about some pie and cupcakes for dinner?

And some mashed potatoes and fish sticks for dessert?

Don't understand? Take a look at the link at the top for the recipes. Kids would love this!!

Bath Towel Solution

LOVE this idea from Martha Stewart (I think)! Just sew ribbons so they form a loop to the center of one side of your towels. Then, all you need are nobs in your bathroom. And they can be pretty nobs, too. :) No more towel racks, no more folding, no more towels on the floor...because this is seriously easy enough for a kid to hang up! And I think it looks just as good as towels folded perfectly over a towel rack...but honestly how often are towels perfectly folded over a towel rack?? It would be cute to use a different colored ribbon for each kid so each kid has their own towel. :) Love it!

Peppermint Cake

I love peppermint!! And when I saw this recipe from {Culinary Concoctions by PeaBody}, I knew I HAD to try it!! Check it out by clicking above

I Spy my ABC's

I saw this great idea on {Obsessively Stitching}

She made an ABC book using fabric with pictures of things that start with each letter.

icecream for "i", moon for "m", you get the idea. I love it!

What a great way to teach your kids the ABC's! Great {Quiet Book} idea, too.

She has a tutorial! Find {part one here} and {part two here}. It looks pretty simple!

And she also has one in a lower case alphabet, {here}. Check her out!! So many good ideas.

Nautical Party

Saw the cutest boy baby shower at {Over Cocktails}.
Love the invitation!
LOVe the way this looks!! Cute little take home gifts with starfish all over them!

I like how they used messages in a bottle as food labels.

Little ships on the tables...

So cute.

And bottles as name place cards and twine as napkin rings.

Love the bunting...it could totally be used during the 4th of July or for any blue party in the future. I also totally love how it's held up by poles stuck in sand in jars on the table!!

This is a great party idea - especially if you already have a lot of sea inspired things. Also a great idea if her nursery is going to have a nautical theme. Your gift could be the decorations. Love it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

To view all my St. Patrick's Day ideas, click {here}. Have a great and lucky day!

Shamrock Cupcakes

Here's a cute idea from {Gourmet Mom on the Go}

Just frost cupcakes with green frosting. Then, you buy a package of mini multicolored marshmallows and use the green ones. All you do to get that puffy petal look is cut the marshmallows in half with some scissors. Also, just cut a tiny strip to use as a stem. So cute! And so easy. My favorite combination. :)

*I've seen the other colors used as flower petals on cupcakes - so save the rest for Easter. :)

St. Patrick's Day Breakfast

For St. Patrick's Day, my mom always had a special breakfast, and that's a tradition I'd like to carry on in my family. Here are a few ideas.
Lucky Charms with milk that's been dyed green.
Yum!

Another idea I saw was to make shamrock pancakes. It would be easy to make these if you had a metal shamrock cookie cutter. You could just set it on your griddle and pour batter into it and let it sit there until it was set. And of course you could serve up some green fruit as well.Or even a green smoothie. Get this recipe {here}
Or, here's a great recipe from {Gourmet Mom on the Go}

Shamrock Shake
Ingredients:
handful of ice cubes
handful or two of fresh spinach (don’t see why you couldn’t use frozen, but fresh sure is pretty)handful of frozen peach slices or other yellow or green frozen fruit
1-2 frozen bananas
1-2 cups of pineapple juice
1 apple, cubed (golden delicious is great, or granny smith)


Directions:Throw all ingredients in a blender and blend. Enjoy.
Note: You could add some tofu for protein and make a great, quick Breakfast.
Keep in mind
1) you can throw in whatever you want, but if you start mixing in red/dark fruits, the color gets muddled and less-appetizing-looking
2) enjoy responsibly: 5 days in a row can cause problems in the poop/diaper department, especially if your kids aren’t used to quite that much fresh goodness.

Pretty St. Patricks Day Food

{She Who Eats} made these delicious looking treats.

If you're feeling adventurous you can try them for yourself. Check them out {here}.

Yummy little treats.

St. Patrick's Day Treats

I saw this recipe on {Bright Ideas}

Green Popcorn Balls

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup unsalted butter, plus extra for coating bowl and hands
1 tablespoon water
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon green food coloring, optional
9 cups prepared popcorn
2 cups green M&M’S® Brand Milk Chocolate or Peanut Chocolate Candies
1 cup mini marshmallows
Candy thermometer
2 quarts heavy bottom pot
Wooden spoon or spatula
Large pot
Waxed or parchment paper
Cookie sheet
Cellophane (optional)

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar, corn syrup, butter, water and salt. Stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Continue cooking without stirring for another 10 minutes, or until the syrup reaches the hard-crack stage—300ºF on a candy thermometer. Immediately remove from heat, add vanilla extract and food coloring and mix well.
In a large greased pot, combine popped popcorn with syrup, stirring constantly with a spatula or wooden spoon until completely coated. Stir in M&M’S® Brand Chocolate Candies and marshmallows. Once mixture is cool enough to handle, coat hands with butter and form 2 ½-inch balls. Place on tray lined with either wax or parchment paper until ready to serve, or, wrap in cellophane.

Here's a fun one from {Family Fun}

Pot of Gold

Ingredients
3-ounce box of lemon-flavor gelatin
6 limes
Sugar
1 teaspoon of whipped cream

Instructions
Line an 8-inch square baking dish with plastic wrap, leaving several inches of overhang on each side (this will make removing the gelatin easier). Combine a 3-ounce box of lemon-flavor gelatin and 1 cup of boiling water in a medium bowl, stirring until the gelatin is dissolved. Stir in 1 cup of cold water, then pour the mixture into the baking dish. Cover the dish with plastic wrap and chill the gelatin for 4 hours or until firm, then slice the gelatin into 1/2-inch cubes.
Cut off the top quarter of each of 6 limes, then, without cutting into the fruit, slice a thin layer of peel from the bottom of each one to help them stand upright. With a small knife, cut around the inside of each lime's rind to loosen the pulp, then spoon it out to make a shell.
Place a pinch of sugar and 1 teaspoon of whipped cream in the bottom of each shell, then fill each lime pot with gelatin gold. Makes 6

Or, here's an easy treat.

Leprechaun Pudding
It's just pistachio pudding, or any white flavored pudding with green food coloring in it, topped with whipped cream and little shamrock sprinkles! Love it!

St. Patrick's Day Party Ideas

First of all, I love this idea from Better Homes & Gardens. Love the green table cloth and the use of granny smith apples as a centerpiece. So, you could have the whole room be decorated in green, and then serve a rainbow of food like this table from {The Idea Room}.Another great food idea is pot of gold. {Family Fun} has this great recipe for Pot of Gold Soup, but you could also make potato cheese soup or scalloped potatoes.

One of my favorite drinks at party's is this sherbet punch. You just put a carton of any kind of sherbet into 2 liters of sprite. It's delicious! Of course, green lime sherbet would be great for St. Patrick's Day. And here are some rainbow cupcakes. I'd just frost them in a cute Leprechaun or St. Patrick's Day way.
{Family Fun} has the recipe for these.