Fairly OddParents Birthday Party Goody Bags

It took me most of the day to get it done, but my Tackle for this Tuesday was to create and print all of the necessary tidbits pertaining to the goody bags for the girls' quickly approaching birthday party. I used a Publishing software on the computer and printed some things onto card stock and the rest onto regular white paper. Here is what all of the supplies looked like after printing, but before sorting, cutting, and attaching.

I used my paper trimmer to cut everything apart so that all of the edges would be clean. Here is the finished product with the contents laid out for picture purposes.

I picked up pink and green gift bags from AC Moore, on sale this week 3/$1. Score! Each bag is labeled with each guest's name alongside the gender-appropriate fairy. The green card stock is the TV show's theme song lyrics (those really get stuck in your head!). The big page is a foldable fortune teller with a Fairly OddParents theme. Do you remember those things from elementary school? You fold them up in just the right way and you can use your hands to open and close it, at last revealing the answer to whatever question you asked it in the beginning. Sort of a poor man's magic 8 ball. There is an Air Heads candy which has a picture of Cosmo and Wanda on it. This was my soon to be 7 year old's idea, as the Fairies float in the 'air'. The packet of pixy stix has a picture of two pixies from the show on it. I bundled several green and pink straws together with a fairy wand and tied them with green fiber. I wasn't sure what I was going to do when I bought the straws, but it turned out cute, I think. I found one store in all of my shopping that had Fairly OddParents stickers, and I bought the only three packets they had!

Because Cosmo and Wanda regularly take the form of goldfish in Timmy's room, we had to have Goldfish crackers. A picture of the Fairy goldfish was attached to help make the mental connection.

Similarly, a picture of Chip Skylark (singer character from the show, famous for singing the song "Icky Vicky") was attached to the packet of mini Chips Ahoy cookies. The Fun Dips were tossed into the mix, not for any Fairly OddParents significance, but just because my birthday girls really wanted them included. :) Oh, and there is a coloring sheet that will also be included in the Goody Bags, but they're off being photocopied at the moment.

On the back of the bag, I listed 10 Fairly OddParents trivia questions. The answers were attached to the bottom of the bag. Since this party will be at the bowling alley, I didn't need to plan any games, but I thought a little trivia was a fun idea.

I had lots of fun planning this party so far. Now all that is left is making the cake!

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Let the Fairly Odd Times Roll...

My two little girls have birthdays coming up very soon. I have been getting the party plans together, but still haven't sent out the invitations. Yikes! 

In all fairness, I ended up with less time than I originally thought I would have to plan the party. My girls' birthdays are the 8th and the 10th of April, which falls during Holy Week this year. In my mind, I had the party date set for the weekend after Easter. Family members, it turns out, have plans that weekend, and wouldn't be able to come. So... I chopped off two weeks of the planning cushion and set the date for the weekend before Easter. Talk about scramble time!

A bowling party was requested, as was the theme "Fairly Odd Parents," which is a cartoon on Nickelodeon. I got to work right away, and reserved the date at the bowling alley. Check. I sent out a "save the date" email to the invitees to buy a little more time to get the invitations together. Check. Then I scoured the web looking for ideas to pull the theme together, cutting and pasting the thoughts into a document. Check.

Armed with ideas, I found myself ready for my Tackle it Tuesday: create and send the party invitations.

Mimicking the Fairy Godparents rule book "Da Rules," I fashioned the invitation to be "Da Rules" for having a good time at the birthday party, with the party information details being the rules. A little Fairly Odd Parents clip art was added to help explain the theme. Check.

Okay, so I was well on my way to getting these things on their merry little way to the party invitees. Shucks! I didn't have envelopes to fit those bad boys! After checking prices online at the office supply stores for envelopes fitting the measurements of the invitations (which came 100 per box), I decided to attempt making my own. Wrapping heavier grade paper around an invitation, I created the pattern and made the few that I needed. Check. (Afterwards, I found a lot of internet sites providing printable templates and more ideas to create your own envelopes.)

The next task that needed to be completed was sealing the envelopes. A little scrapbooking adhesive tape closed the envelope, but it needed some flair. Hmmmm. I didn't have any Fairly Odd Parents stickers, so instead, I found shiny gold stars to use. I added a straight black line, and voila! A fairy godparent wand! Check.

The last thing to do is get these to the post office. So, I'm off to do that now. Since the envelopes are homemade (nonstandard), I want to make sure I have adequate postage on them. After all that work, I want to be sure the invitations actually make it to their intended destinations!

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Tackle It Tuesday: My little part of the Gala

My oldest daughter is in first grade at a small Catholic elementary school. Every year, a Gala is held as a fundraiser for the school. This year, the Gala planners challenged each grade to put together a basket to be auctioned off at the event; and each grade was given a theme. The theme for my daughter's class was "Harrisburg - Our Capital City". 

J. T. Williams, View of Harrisburg, Penn. (Baltimore, 1855). Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Initially, I was planning on donating a print of the Harrisburg picture above (I had this on hand already). But soon, the challenge of the theme took hold, and a TACKLE formed in my mind. What else could I get to make the first grade's basket a hot item at the Gala?

I talked to my friend, Toni, over at The Shopping Adventures of Cheapo McFrugalpants. And together, we came up with a list of possibilities.

I called a frame shop where I've previously had pictures framed to inquire about the possibility of donating a percent-off gift certificate, which could be used to frame the print I was donating. The proprietor was happy to work something out, and agreed to make such a donation. Score!

I also sent out a few emails to local businesses who might be willing to make a donation to their downtown "neighbors." A local theater was kind enough to donate two gift certificates, each with a $50 value. Wow-wee!

A friend and neighbor of mine recently published a cookbook called Settings. It features recipes and anecdotes from Harrisburg and the surrounding area. I thought this would be a perfect addition to the basket! I called her up to buy one, and she actually provided one at no charge as a donation! What a wonderful and generous person! She even signed it upon request.

Things were going so well, that I wished I had started earlier. The Gala is mid-March, and time is running out. I am still planning on picking up a gift certificate to a restaurant that is unique to the city. Whether or not I can get that as a donation is yet undetermined. Wish me luck! But I am happy with the progress I made, and thankful for the generous benefactors out there!

"Cheers" (also known as: alcohol!) was the theme my husband's group (school development board) was given for the basket they're putting together. Everyone is sending in bottles of wine for that one. In addition to the bottle of wine he already took in, I am contemplating sending in some additional item for that theme. Wine glass charms? Homemade jalapeno/apricot jelly (goes great with cream cheese over crackers!)? Any other thoughts?

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Shindiglet: Book Club discusses The Prince of Tides

Shindiglet - Like a grand shindig, only a much smaller to-do. There are times, when even a small group of people getting together creates an occasion for celebrating with a theme. And if it is within my power, I always try to make that happen.

A book club meeting, for me, is such an occasion.

Over the weekend, I had a Book Club meeting. The book was The Prince of Tides, by Pat Conroy. This story's setting is largely in Coastal South Carolina. The main character's family were shrimpers. I was in charge of bringing the food. And you know how I love a theme...

Being a morning book club meeting, my challenge was to find an appropriate breakfast or brunch food that would tie in to the book's setting. Shrimp was necessary, I immediately decided. My thoughts then quickly headed back to last summer's vacation to Charleston, SC. After a long, hot day strolling the streets of Charleston, my family settled in to a refreshing seafood dinner at a very colorful restaurant. Looking at the menu, I landed on three magical words: shrimp and grits. I had never had grits before. And the cheese-laden, bacon-y sauce sounded too good to pass up. This particular restaurant, shaped the grits into cakes and fried them to a golden crisp, and ladled the shrimp & sauce over top of that. It was totally mouth-watering. I, however, did not think I could pull this off at 8:00 on a Saturday morning, but grits sounded like the ideal pairing with shrimp and breakfast. So I did a search for shrimp and grits casserole recipes, and found one that sounded worth trying: Cheesy Shrimp-and-Grits Casserole.

Photo courtesy of joyd at RecipeZaar.

The night before Book Club, I hit the grocery store to get my supplies. I wandered around forEVER looking for grits. Having never bought them before, I really didn't know where they would be located. I first looked by the rice. Nope. Then the ethnic aisle (why not?). Not there either. Okay, grasping for straws, I searched by the flour and corn meal. Notta! I almost gave up on the idea and started thinking of other things to take to eat. I was completely deflated with that line of thinking, however. I really had wanted to work out this theme! With a lightning moment of inspiration, I headed to one last place to look for the grits - the cereal aisle! Lo and behold, there were the variety of grits nestled next to the oatmeal selection. Happy day! So I finished up my shopping list and headed home to get started.

I prepared the recipe that night, and needed only to pop it in the oven for about half an hour just prior to leaving for the meeting the next morning. Fortunately, we were only meeting across the street at my neighbor's house, so it was still nice and hot and ready to be gobbled up when I got there! I did bring along a fruit salad (strawberries, red grapes, and blueberries tossed in a honey-lemon dressing), to round it out, and as an option for anyone who doesn't like or can't eat shrimp. A jug of Southern Brewed Iced Tea fit in nicely with this fare, too! I was proud of the result, which was not too overwhelming, but helped set the mood for the topic of discussion. We all allowed ourselves to be immersed in the way of life described in the book, and we didn't escape without a few goes at a southern drawl in our voices.

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Tackle it Tuesday: What to do with the leftover lavender?

So my big tea party is over, and there are still a few things lingering about that have not been put back into storage - some of the china, for starters. I'm tackling that today, but that's not big thing. What I was really worried about was finding some use for the leftover flowers. I added the droopy blooms to the compost bin, but I still had many sprigs of lavender left over that I was sure could be of better use than compost fodder. I Googled and found several sites detailing the drying process of this fragrant plant. I decided that's what I'd do. So my tackle today is to arrange the sprigs of lavender to let them dry. Although I don't have much in the way of buds (it was more the greenery that I used for the table decor), I read that the dried leaves work in sachets and eye pillows. Lavender mixed with rice (or also salt?) make wonderful heating pads. But those decisions and tasks will be left for another tackle. For now, I'm happy to have the sprigs of lavender drying. I'm thinking of using the end products as part of next year's tea party favors. It would be kind of nice to have it recycled as such.
http://howtome.com/?p=260
http://www.seedsofknowledge.com/lavender3.html

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Tackle it Tuesday: Out of the Ordinary Shopping

Ever since I decided to make Rose Water Panna Cotta for the dessert at my Valentine's Day tea party, I knew I would have to go out of my way to find a couple of ingredients: rose water and lychees. I did see a recipe online on how to make your own rose water, but it sounded too complicated, and I would still have to go out of my way to find pesticide-free rose petals. No thanks, I'll just buy some! After doing some research, I located a few stores in the area where I might find these two out of the ordinary items.

I first visited an asian market place called Little Saigon. There, I found the lychees. I bought more than enough for the panna cotta recipe, because I found loads of lychee cocktail recipes online, too! The second stop I made was to India Groceries & Fashions. I found the rose water there. Yay! I felt ready to make the panna cotta!

In addition to the food items, I was also in need of a teacup and saucer with which to make a floral centerpiece. It just so happens, my friend and neighbor is a florist, and she offered to make this for me. That will really help bring the cost down. I went to a nearby antique market place to prowl around for one with a pretty floral design. I saw many priced $12 and up, and a few for $5, but then I found one priced at $2.50, and I thought it was just perfect!

I tackled that out of the ordinary shopping list, and I was happy!

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Tackle it Tuesday: Tea Party Prizes

Over time, I have accumulated different tea party related items that I found on sale or for which I had a coupon. I pulled it out today to take stock in order to see what else I needed for this year's tea party. I decided to tackle the wrapping of the items that would be used as prizes for the games this year. Here is a picture of the potential prizes, potential favor bags, boxes, etc.

After looking it all over, I had a good idea of what else I needed to get for favors and more prizes. Next, it was on to wrapping! Here is the final product:

So nice to have one more thing checked off the to-do list for the party!

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Tackle it Tuesday: The dreaded dining room table

This is my first Tackle it Tuesday! What better way to jump in than with the dreaded, catch-all dining room table. This mess has been a mental block for me for a while. I have been using it as my coupon (yes, I am a couponer!), cookbook software entry, and greeting card writing station for far too long. I finally got my own space in what I now call 'the studio' (formerly the nursery, sunroom, place-to-put-all-the-stuff-to-be-dealt-with-later area). It has just taken me a while to shift my projects up there.

I am at the point in my tea party planning that I want to start thinking about the table setting. It has been lacking luster the past few years, and I really want to do it up this year, what with the floral flourish theme and all. Party time is getting closer, so I need to get to work on it. But I just couldn't make my mind go there because all I saw was this chaos.

Now, I *could* have just cleared the stuff off of the table, polished it up, and voila! But I decided to tackle it a bit more thoroughly and organize this stuff while I was at it. I moved my mobile coupon station and all of the cookbooks and magazines up to my studio to be input at leisure (I would be holed up a year if I tried to glean the good recipes from all of those sources in one sitting!), put my ipod and various accessories where they belong, finished the Christmas cards (yes, I said Christmas cards - long story - company didn't actually deliver these until January, so I went back and forth on whether or not to send them late or just forego, finally decided to send them with the dubious distinction of being the last Christmas card folks got, why not?), put the kids' toys in their room, and put the box-o-diskettes by the back door so I remember to take them to donate to the school. There!

A swift dusting of the table made it shine, and I appreciated that I once again had a dining room table, where I could envision my friends gathered together for fun and companionship. Now I certainly have no reason to not plan a fabulous table setting for the Valentine's Day tea party! Oh, except maybe that I'm just not really really good at that kind of thing. I have my work cut out for me on this one!

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