Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer (Holiday Classroom Party)

I got to do my first party as "Room Mom" for Noah's class! I think it turned out really cute! Here's some of the details:

The theme was Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer. Each Parent brought in a food item and we had a pretty nice spread! 

For the gift table I brought in a small Christmas tree from home and decorated it with the ornaments I made for each child. On Rudolph's scarf I put each child's name and the year. However the reindeer candy canes proved too tempting for some of the preschoolers! Needless to say some didn't make it home!

For some take home goodies I made these super cute, and actually pretty easy, cookie pops. I know everyone loves to make cake pops, and they are cute, but man are they time consuming! Here's what you would need to make your own Rudolph cookie pops!

So to make these you will need to buy some type of Oreo cookie. Place a popsicle stick inside the filling and dip inside your melted chocolate. Be sure to fill in the edges and around where you inserted the popsicle stick. Now add your broken pretzels for the antlers and mini m&m's for the eyes and nose. Place them on a cookie sheet, on top of some parchment paper and place them in the fridge to set more quickly. I used sandwich baggies to cover the cookies.

Another take home goodie I made for the class were these super cute Rudolph hot cocoa treats:

I used plastic sandwich baggies and filled the corner with a scoop of hot cocoa mix. On top I sprinkled some mini chocolate chips and then placed several marshmallows on top. I tied the top with some brown pipe cleaner "antlers." I glued on some eyes and a red nose and voila!

I made stations in the party room for the kiddos, but for the most part we moved from station to station together its a small class).

We first made Rudolph goodie bags to put our take home treats inside. I brought in my stamp pad and we were able to work on finding the letters to spell our names. I had pre-cut the the ears, nose and antlers for sake of time.

The number one reason I enjoyed doing this? 

That guy, right there^^^

We also made some Reindeer Sugar cookies at another station. So for this I really cant take too much credit! I found a candy kit with the pieces to make Rudolph's face and I bought pre-made sugar cookies from Publix as well as some chocolate frosting.

Noah's came out pretty cute! And he actually made it first instead of eating the pieces! That takes self control, people!

Lastly for our game station we played "Reindeer Ring Toss."

I constructed Rudolph's face and glued it onto a box wrapped in some packing paper. The antlers are cardboard and I had to reinforce them with some wood skewers.  The rings are just some small green paper plates with the inside cut out. Some of the kids tried tossing the rings, others just liked moving them around the antlers and decorating Rudolph. 

Over all I was a great success and I'm pretty sure the kids had fun! 

First class party as room mom: CHECK!

Salt Dough Ornaments

     
I have been wanting to post this for a while now. Since the new year we've been passing around a yucky bug and I haven't had much of a chance to post. But don't fret! I am now back :)

     Who remembers making salt dough ornaments in kindergarten  I do! And now I'm making them with MY kindergartner :) Time flies....

To make your own salt dough you will need:

1/2 cup of salt

1/2 cup of water

1 cup of flour

     Mix salt and flour in a mixing bowl. Slowly add in the water while mixing. You might not need all of it. You want it be kinda dry, but if it gets too sticky, then add a little more flour. Once its the right consistency, knead the dough and then roll out and use cookie cutters to make your shape. Be sure to use a pencil and make a small hole at the top so you are able to make a tree hanger.

     There are several ways to cook the dough. You could simply let the dough sit out for about 3 days to harden. You could also set your oven to it's lowest temp and bake for 3 hours or until hard. OR, if you are really impatient, LIKE ME, you can just pop 'em in the microwave for 3 minutes! If they are still wet after 3 minutes, continue cooking in 20 second intervals until hard. Allow to cool.

     I made star ornaments covered in gold glitter. Using Modge-Podge and a sponge brush, I coated each star and then covered with glitter. Once dried, I applied a second coat of Modge-Podge on top to seal the glitter on. We had a lot of fun!

Christmas Photo Book

I love getting the photo Christmas cards in the mail. I like to save them and look at them through the years. I especially like seeing kids that I don't get to see as much anymore grow through the years. I started having so many that I decided to make a cute little book with them. I organized them by size and put a whole punch through them. Then I just loosely tied some ribbon so I could add more as the years go by! Now I will proudly display every Christmas :)

Christmas Lights In Atlanta

Centennial Park is located at 265 Park Ave West in the heart of central Atlanta.

We have enjoyed this park several times since moving here, however, this was the first time we came to see the Christmas display. This is a free event and is open daily during the holiday season. The lights were beautiful and the weather was nice. It is sure to become a family tradition!

The Beautiful Christmas Tree

Me And My Oldest Son, Roman

CNN World Head Quarters

Outdoor Skating Rink

My Son, Wishing He Was A Tad Bigger

Beautiful City

Stones Depicting Athletes 

Statues Depicting Athletes

In Commemoration Of The 1996 Olympic Games

 Across the street from Centennial Olympic Park is The World Of Coke and The Georgia Aquarium. Between the two is a small park called Pemberton Place. There you can see all the large ornaments from The World Of Coke as well as the red and white Christmas lights in true coca cola fashion.

Roman 

The World Of Coke

The Georgia Aquarium

The View From Pemberton Place

Yes, He's A Ham

The American Cancer Society International Headquarters

Christmas Banner

I went through all my old Christmas cards the other day and reminisced (my favorite). I had quite a few and wanted to use them in my decor, so I decided to make another (yes, another!) burlap banner. Here it is:

I picked out cards that had a similar color scheme. For these I did red and green (I had a lot of blue and gold cards as well).  I sized out my triangles and then using Modge Podge glued them to the burlap triangles. I stacked books on top of triangles until it was dried to prevent curling. I used a whole punch and red sheer ribbon to lace through. Super cute! The second banner is simply velvet ribbon with JOY written with a Sharpie on the burlap. I like the overlapping look of the two.

As for my chalk board sign, I made that a while back. I change the phrases to go with the seasons. Its nothing more than a piece of plywood painted with chalk board paint and some scrap burlap.

:)

Mason Jar Snow Globe

I love, love, LOVE Anthropologie... HOWEVER, I do NOT love their PRICES!

I fell in love with the pins on Pinterest floating around with other peoples versions.... so I decided to make my own:

 

I collected my jars that I have been saving. Ran them through the dish washer and with a little vegetable oil and a rag I removed all labels and residue left behind.  I bought little bottle brush trees and tiny winter figurines from Walmart. I sized them out on my lids to be sure each would fit and used a hot glue gun to glue them to the lid.

I used white glitter for the snow. I used about an inch of glitter in each jar.

Then with some burlap and red ribbon I made a cover for the lids. Using a hot glue gun, I secured the burlap onto the lids. 

Once the burlap was tied down, I then trimmed it so I didn't have too much hanging over.

 

And done! $40.00 for one Anthropologie Jar, $12.00 for all 8 of mine! *Pats self on back*