Cocoa Gift Cones

Ahhhhhhh, the school parties are all done.

I have worked all week on all the little details and trying to gather

volunteers to help.  I'm so glad it's done with and so glad it was such a success.

My daughter and I always try to make a little something together

to give to the sweet kids in her class.

I saw these cones at Target but they wanted $3.99 a piece

and that's not how I roll.

I tried to snap a couple of quick pictures of them but my cloudy day wasn't cooperating with my camera.

I found the cone bags at Hobby Lobby.

It took 2 1/2 cans of cocoa mix for for 1/2 cup mix each.

2 boxes of large candy canes crushed for about a 1/4 cup each.

1 bag of mini marshmallows at about 1/2 cup per bag

It made about 20 bags and cost me about $10.

Of course we had to put a tag on it.

I couldn't figure out how to transfer the clip art over from MS Word 

but our little tag read:

I hope that it snows this year

during Christmas break

for sledding and snowman building,

or skating on a lake.

If you get cold

and need a quick fix

here’s a warm hug in a mug

from me….

a candy cane cocoa mix!

See you next year!

Merry Christmas from Avery

It was fun and super easy for us to put together.  It would be an easy and great neighbor gift too!
Do you take out neighbor gifts and when you do what do you take and when do you take them out?

When we were kids our favorite treat was brought over by the Leavens family.  They brought over a veggie tray with salami on it and 1 piece of Almond Roca for each of us.  We devoured it faster than any sweets.  Knowing this though I still make sweet treats each year.  Maybe next year I'll be brave and do the veggies.:)

School Christmas Parties

Are you scrambling putting together ideas for your School Christmas Party this year?  Us too!
Thank goodness for Pinterest and all the ideas that are so easy to gather into one place.
We thought we would share some of our favorite ideas that we have gathered from Pinterest today
while we are still trying to complete some other projects.

This year for my daughter's class (thanks to some brilliant planning from my co-room mom Megan)
we are doing a "Santa's Workshop" theme party.
We only have a little over an hour to play so we'll be separating them into little groups
that will rotate around to 5 centers.

First we'll sneak in and decorate with lights and Dollar Store Santa hats on each of their chairs.

               images kelle hampton

                                                                                         image kelle hampton
Each kid will make a Reindeer shaped bag from a paper bag and accessories to be able to carry their goodies home with them.

                    
                                                                           image the best kids crafts
                                
                                                                                         image spoonful
We'll be having a Reindeer Food Bar.

                                                                                  images kelle hampton
I love the idea of using the canning jars but we are on a tight budget~so I picked up some cute cellophane bags from the $1 store that will be perfect!

Who can resist Play Dough~it's even better when it's peppermint scented and they can mix in the glitter for some extra sparkle!

            
                                                                               image simply designing
                             
                                                                                           image a fun mom
Megan has a little microwave she'll be bringing in so we can melt some chocolate and dip some marshmallows in chocolate and crushed candy cane~don't these look cute!  I'm still trying to decide if we should do Oreo's though.  I did some last year and they were to die for!
                         
                                                                                          image liv life too
           
                                                                                  image cupcakes and crab legs
We want to make some sort of ornament but it's got to be easy and quick~I'm thinking these button wreath's are a great fit and adorable too!  There's also these hand print reindeer....I can't decide~what would you do?
                                     
                                                                            image oriental trading company

                               

image all free holiday crafts

Last but not least we are going to have a cookies and milk buffet of little single bite sized cookies and milk.  I saw these cute milk bottle and thought they were perfect to do!

image kelle hampton

As you can see most of our pictures and ideas are from Kelle Hampton~I'm thinking her stuff is some of the most pinned ideas on Pinterest!  Her whole North Pole party idea was wonderful~make sure to head over and check it out!

We want to know what ideas you have~Do tell!

Peppermint Wreath

I love the peppermint decor this year.  I was strolling through Home Depot and found Martha Stewart's candy cane line.  I picked up a box of over sized candy canes and thought they would make a fun wreath. 

I used a fresh wreath from Costco, MS candy canes, peppermint picks and berries from Hobby Lobby. For the ornaments, sadly...I plucked them off of my "broken" ornament wreath from last year.  I loved that thing...darn it! I didn't put it in a safe spot, and it was smashed to the ground. At least I salvaged some ornaments from it? 

I wired all the candy canes and ornament balls on- to hold up in the cold weather- and hot glued all the picks.

It makes me happy! :)

I wanted to make it fun for the kids outside.  My boys don't get too excited over all the fancy Christmas decorations...

Sharing with,

&

Thrifty Decor Chick's Festive Outdoors Before and After Party

Don't Worry Grandma...there's no reindeer in sight.....

As a child my favorite memories of visiting my Grandmother were all the wonderful smells that came from her kitchen. Fresh made scones drizzled with honey butter and especially what was kept in the refridgerator downstairs.  It was loaded with treats, huge tupperware containers of chocolate chips, small, medium, large, and the tastiest peanut butter rice crispie treats frosted with even more chocolate.  I don't think any of us complained when we were sent to the basement to play!

My Grandmother was an artisan of chocolates!  She attended a little candy demonstration at a local high school and picked up a few recipes she became famous for making. The little candy company doing the demonstration was See's.  She started making the treats at Christmas time for her friends and family. Eventually she had my Grandfather shipping in chocolate by freight truck.  One year they had about 2 tons of chocolate and popcorn delivered from San Fransisco.  As a kid my family lived in Korea for about 3 years and I can still remember quite vividly the precious package of her chocolates coming in the mail at Christmas time from America.  It was almost magical opening up that box and savoring every bit of the love from our Grandma.

The last two years I have gotten together with my own dear Mother and made her famous fudge and caramels.  Candace was stuck at home with some very sick little boys and was sorely missed.  We girls have so much fun together in the kitchen!  This year we perfected the scrumptious candy cane fudge and my little girl had a blast licking every last drop of the marshmallow creme from the jar.  I don't know which was sweeter, the fudge or the memories of a yummy tradition that has now been passed down to 4 generations!  I searched quite a bit tonight and finally found my favorite photo of my wonderful Grandma and a photo from a special book made for her by my Aunt about all the things we loved about her and Grandpa. 

So do you have a favorite sweet you make during the holidays?

Peppermint Ice Cream & Oreo Cookie Crust Dessert

This yummy dessert was served at a Christmas dinner I attended the other day.  Our family was lucky enough to go home with an extra tray of it and it was devoured! It was so good...that I went to the store and picked up all the simple ingredients to make it:

Crushed Oreo Cookies

Peppermint Ice Cream

Cool Whip

Chocolate Syrup

*Real* Whipping Cream (1 c. whipping cream, 1 c. powered sugar) or the STUFF out of a can!

small Candy Canes

Layer in a 9x13 pan:

Crushed Oreo

Peppermint Ice Cream (cut in slabs)

more crushed Oreo

Cool Whip

drizzle with chocolate syrup

&

when served add a

blop of whipping cream and

candy cane

on top!

There's nothing fancy about it, but it was so yummy!


The DIY Show Off is sharing Christmas Desserts: