Delightfully Diet Ginger Ale Lemon Cake

Ginger Ale Lemon Cake

Sometimes I dread going to birthday celebrations. I always know there are going to be really delicious but entirely too calorie laden foods, drinks galore and – of course – birthday cake.

So whenever I can, I try and take control. I am the one hosting the party and I have control of the menu. So when we celebrated my dad’s birthday last week I made sure that everyone came over to my house and I served all of the foods I felt good about eating.

Including cake!

That’s right… a cake that I can enjoy without guilt. Plus it’s super easy to make and very, very tasty! The guests had no idea and kept talking about how moist it was. How? By using a few simple ingredients…

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Mother Daughter Piggy Paint Spa Party

This article is sponsored by Piggy Paint

Over the past few weeks I’ve felt as if I haven’t had a chance to really spend one-on-one time with my daughter. We both keep very busy between playdates, preschool, and family activities so when I was offered the chance to create a special moment with her I took it!

Even though she’s only two she has proven to be quite the girly girl. She is obsessed with all things hair and makeup, including nail polish. So when I went in search for a safe nail polish to use for her I chose Piggy Paint. And as I’ve mentioned before, we love it!

In addition to the three colors we already have, and the nail polish remover we recently purchased at our favorite hair cutting salon, we received some new colors to try out. We decided to share the fun with friends and invited a few moms and daughters over for a Motehr Daughter Piggy Paint Spa Party.

Piggy Paint Mother Daughter Spa Party

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Rainbow Cupcakes – Perfect for St. Pattys Day!

Rainbow Cupcakes

St. Patrick’s Day is getting closer and these rainbow cupcakes are the perfect way to celebrate! Not only are they super easy to make, they’re lots of fun too. And the rainbow is quite a favorite amongst the kiddies.

Now these cupcakes can either be from scratch, like mine, or made from a box of white cake mix prepared just as the box tells you to. I used Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake recipe. If you don’t have Baking From My Home To Yours then I highly suggest purchasing it. It’s amazing!

You can see how gorgeous this recipe is in cake form on my friend Ezra Pound Cake’s blog. I also made it for my son and daughter’s first birthdays.

Here’s how to make Rainbow Cupcakes:

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Kids Reptile Birthday Party (San Diego)

Reptile Birthday Party Dessert Table

On Friday my baby, my first born, will be 4 years old. And I cannot believe how fast time has flown by!

My boy is kind, curious, funny, and constantly moving. He is smart as a whip and picks up on everything and loves his little sister dearly.

For his 4th birthday party my son insisted on having dinosaurs. But since his 3rd birthday party was a dino party we tried to think of variations that would fit his interest. And he decided on reptiles.

Since he’s obsessed with reptiles, bugs, and really anything creepy crawly (he’s the kid digging in your garden for earth worms and other critters) it was perfect!

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5 Crowd Pleasing Super Bowl Party Recipes #SB47

Super Bowl Party Recipes

With the big day getting closer we’re starting to prepare our Super Bowl Party menu including a few favorites from game days past. Below you’ll find a variety of super bowl party recipes that are proven crowd pleasers!

From appetizers, to crock pot meals, to main courses, we have just about everything you need to host the perfect super bowl party. So invite the friends over, pull out your football field table runner and football coasters and serve up some delicious dishes.

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Miss M’s Ladybug Lemonade Birthday Party

Ladybug Lemonade Party

There’s something simply magical about a child’s birthday party. No matter what age they are, birthday parties are filled with joy and cheer! So when we asked my daughter what she’d like for her second birthday we were thrilled to hear that she wanted to include her love of ladybugs. And with that her ladybug lemonade birthday party was created.

After quite a few months of pinning great ideas, designing her birthday invitations (and asked the wonderful Cherish Paperie to print them), and coming up with a few ideas of my own for the food, decorations, and entertainment the day was finally here. And we were ready to party!

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My Favorite Things Spa Party with NIVEA

My Favorite Things Spa Party

As a mother, one thing we often forget to do is pamper ourselves. We spend so much time making sure everyone else is being taken care of that we forget to take a few moments for us.

This weekend I decided to take a few moments for myself. And invite a few friends over to enjoy themselves as well.

One of my favorite types of parties to throw is a My Favorite Things party. Each guest brings their favorite item to share with the others; 5 of the same thing $6 or under in value. Since we’ve already shared our favorite thing, our favorite baby item, and our favorite children’s activity, I thought that we could spin the theme a little differently this time.

A My Favorite Things Spa Party!

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DIY Football Field Table Runner

DIY Football Table Runner

As I mentioned before, it’s football season! And that means one thing… my husband will not respond to a thing I say on Sundays unless we’re coming out of church or it’s during a commercial. So I do what I do best when I have no one to talk to… I craft! And this weekend I made this awesome football field table runner for our dining room table.

Not only is this a festive and fun piece for the house, it can also be brought to the game to spice up a boring folding table or a truck bed. Why not make tailgating fun with a little crafty decor, right?

This table runner is quick, easy, and the best part is there’s no sewing involved! So grab your glue, get some felt, and lets make a table runner! Then grab the scraps and make the football coasters to go along with it.

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How to Make Football Coasters

Football Coasters

 

Everyone in America knows that football season is upon us. Why not make watching the game a little more enjoyable with these fun DIY football coasters? With a little bit of felt, corkboard, and glue you can create these awesome coasters that are perfect for protecting your tables and properly holding your beer as you watch the game.

What’s even more awesome about these coasters is the fact that they take less than 10 minutes to make. No… seriously. All you do is cut, glue, and use!

We used these coasters for our tailgating party this weekend to go along with the football field table runner I made. Both paired perfectly together and made our game-time meal more enjoyable. These would also be perfect to pack up and take to the game for a proper tailgating party.

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Lego Duplo Party Playdate with HouseParty #LegoDuploParty

Our HouseParty Lego Duplo Playdate was an absolute blast!

I had so much fun figuring out what foods to serve, how to decorate, and how to keep the little ones entertained. Now normally when we have a playdate I grab whatever’s in the fridge and whip it up into something appealing for both the mamas and little ones.

HouseParty was kind enough to send along 4 of Lego Duplo’s new Read & Build Kits for us to play with!

2 of the 4 Read & Build kits were raffled off to my guests to take home with them so they could continue the fun. The other guests assured me they’d be picking up a few kids of their own because the kids had so much fun!

For this party I wanted to get a bit creative and really play on the Lego theme.

Lego Duplo Read & Build HouseParty

The Lego Party Food

I started by creating a Lego Duplo Pinterest Board. I was able to find amazing ideas and creations from other pinners, bloggers, online articles, and sites.  I had grand plans of cookies, skewers, and more detailed goodies but when it came down to it, I stuck with the basics. Foods my 1-4 year olds would love AND eat.

You can read all about the food I served here.

The Lego Party Decor 

Then I started thinking about the decorations I wanted to use. There were plenty of ideas for using the legos in the design of the party so I started with the basics, a simple lego brick, and built on that. I absolutely LOVED the fun use of lego-themed garland most of the sites posted but a majority of them were birthday themed.

Lego Duplo Read & Build HouseParty

So instead of going the wording route, I simply stuck to construction paper, scissors, and tape.

From there I decided to add a few more touches to the food decorations by turning the cups into lego heads, adding a lego head in between my two platters to serve the lego brick foods, and made a few empty boxes into legos to go with the theme.

You can read all about the decorations I made here.

Lego Duplo Read & Build 

I wanted to make sure that the Lego Duplo Read & Build kits were front and center throughout the party so I included them on the bar area of my kitchen right at eye level so that as people served themselves they’d see the boxes.

Alongside the Read & Build storybook kits were the Lego red plates and Duplo napkins that came in my HouseParty kit. I also was excited to pass out Lego Duplo play guides, magnets, and stickers to each of my guests.

Lego Duplo Read & Build HouseParty

Two of the sets were opened for the kids to play with on the table. I filled up a vase with some extra bricks we had lying around (shhh… don’t tell, these aren’t LEGO brand). The rest of our collection of Lego Duplo blocks were kept in the playroom on our train table so the kids could build and create as they pleased.

Lego Duplo Read & Build HouseParty

Play Time

Because I had two areas set up for the kids, the adults were able to converse and chit chat as the kids played around us. I loved having the playroom set up for the majority of the Lego fun. It made clean up a breeze and allowed a great space to build and create.

Lego Duplo Read & Build HouseParty

Although a few of my other toys were quite appealing and the kids quickly spread throughout the house with more than just Legos in hand.

I’m sure if I had a bit more time, help, and money I could have done more but the simplicity of this party was perfect. The kids had an absolute blast playing, building, and reading. 

Disclaimer: I received a HouseParty Lego Duplo Party Kit in exchange for hosting a Lego Duplo Party. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.



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