Savory Sunday: Yogurt Drops

Easy, Cost Effective and Tasty: Yes, that is just my type of recipe or snack. Years ago, I learned that half of what you are paying for at the grocery store is convience! Shredded cheese in a bag, add three dollars to the cost. Umm no thank you, I will shred it myself.

Baby food: Yuck, bain of my existence, why make it harder for yourself and why pay someone almost triple what it will cost you to make at home. I came across these yogurt drops in the baby food section and was like wow, these are great but really $4.29 a bag? umm that is a big no!

I loved the concept of yogurt drops, thus it was time to create my own. Starting with a cookie sheet, piece of parchment paper, a ziploc bag and some yogurt. We had our own for a fraction of the cost and the best part is, I know exactly how they were made!

I started with a strong flavored yogurt, Black Cherry seemed like a good one to start with,  after all you will only be getting a small bite at a time.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Fill a ziploc bag with yogurt and snip off the corner, or if you have a pastry bag, that would work as well.

Gently sqeeze dime sized amounts on the cookie sheet.

Place the cookie sheet into the freezer for about 20 minutes and instant drops!

Frozen drops and into a storage container! Love this fun and easy snack!

What do you like to enjoy on a hit summer day?

Best part, we created applesauce drops for Bean!

Bella Kai: Preschool Graduation and End of Year Celebration

With graduation season in full force, it was time to share one of the preschool graduations/end of the year celebrations that I helped to plan. When Peanut was in preschool, his teacher asked me to coordinate the graduation/end of the year celebration and of course I jumped at the chance.

There were three big challenges: little if no budget, little time and very limited resources. What was I thinking? Hello? Talk about adding stress where it wasn't before! These are my favorite types of parties to plan because I feel as if my skills are really being tested. When you have a big budget, it is easy to make the party look stylish (again this is just my opinion!) and spend money on little things. When there is no money or very little you have to be resourceful and use what you have.

Simple, Fun, Colorful and Memorable was what I shooting for.
Starting with the invitations, I really think they captured what the theme was.

Now, what to do with the kids that again was simple, fun and could include all of the children. We had children going to kindergarten (age 5) all the way to just starting preschool (age 2). I kept racking my brain and racking my brain, I also wanted to incorporate an end of the year memory activity. After days and I do mean days of searching (these were the days before Pinterest) and talking with my colleagues, it hit me! Why not do t-shirts? They are easy, each child can modify it to his or her own desire and best of all, the parents can send in a shirt. This helped with the budge for three reasons, one it saved me from having to create 18 different whatevers! Each t-shirt was something that the children already had and liked. (always a bonus) and three, it was one less thing I had to stress about.

The children were asked what they wanted to put on their shirts and after seeing a couple others putting their hand prints, they all wanted too. The shirts ended up having their hand prints, the year, their name and the room number. At some point, we included the children from the rest of the school that were going to Kindergarten and all of the children in Peanut's room. The more the merrier right?

I have to admit I think t-shirts ended up being the hit of the day! There is just something so cute about seeing children's hand prints!

 

After the t shirt decorating, we sang a song about the end of the year and going to kindergarten, we also sung it again and changed the wording for staying in preschool for another year! We did our best to include everyone!

 

Here are the lyrics to the song:

 

Now I know my ABC's,
Colors, shapes, and days.
I sang some songs,
Learned some poems, rhymes, and fingerplays.

I played outside on sunny days
And inside when it rained.
My little hands and little feet
were busy every day.

My Teacher was (teacher's name), (Ms. Michelle)
I kept her on her toes,
She tied my shoes, combed my hair,
and even wiped my nose.But now it's time to say "good-bye"
To all my preschool friends.
School is over, summer's here,
But learning never ends!

 

After singing, we enjoyed some cake! The cake was phenomenal, not only was it exactly what I envisioned but it tasted great too (or so I was told, cake is not an item, I actually eat). Isn't it adorable?

Faithfully cakes did a fantastic job, I told her what I was picturing and out came the perfect cake!

 

 

 

When cake was over, we ventured outside for some bubble blowing, after all bubbles are a super fun activity and have a huge impact for very little money. Using items that the school had on hand, the children helped to make bubbles. You can read the recipe that was used in this previous post or find the recipe under the recipes tab of my blog!

The ending part of our celebration was to let go of balloons with a special note attached hoping that someone would get them and send a note back to the children.
Below you will find the tag and the balloon cluster before the children let them go.

 

 We had the children let go of the balloons in age order, starting with the children going off to kindergarten and working our way down to the two year olds, the staff and then the parents that joined us. The children loved to see the balloons float up into the air. While the balloons were floating we were asking the children where they thought the balloons would end up. There answers were great! China, Hawaii, my house, to the president and my grandma in Heaven. You couldn't help but smile! There is just something about a child's innocence.

 

It was a beautiful way to end the year and celebrate the next step in the children's lives.

Cost breakdown of the party:

Balloons, ribbon and tag: $5.00 ( a local party store gave me a 50% discount, when I told them what it was for, SCORE!)

Invitations: design free (there is a reason, I learned how to do photoshop :) )
printing: we used the teacher's paper allotment for the school year.

Lunch: provided for the children under the school meal program guidelines. There was no choice in the matter under federal guidelines, the children must eat the lunch provided. Using a cookie cutter of a smiley face, and a balloon, we just dressed up the lunch. Cookie cutters, were things that I already had on hand.

T-shirts: children provided. We provided the t-shirt paint, about $10 using a Micheal's coupon.

Bubbles: supplies already on hand. If you are buying them for a special occasion, it will usually cost about $3-4 dollars, depending on the brand of supplies you purchase and also the amount you decide to use.

Paper supplies: napkins, plates, forks, cups and spoons: $12 and the left overs were kept for next years celebration.

Cake: $50, now I know what you are thinking, yes $50 is a lot of money and we could have had
probably got one cheaper somewhere else. With everything else being cheaper or stuff we already had, I wanted a centerpiece. The rave reviews that were received about the cake, made it worth it. There was so much cake left over that we were able to give everyone in the school a piece, about 80 people. Yes, 80 people. The students and the staff throughout loved us on this day!

Total cost of the party: $77 dollars. If you break it down to a per person cost, if you go by the amount of people that ate cake; it breaks down to 96 cents a person! If you go just by party guests, it is $1.27 a person. Either way it is a huge score!

How do your children celebrate their preschool graduation? or kindergarten for that matter? I would love to hear the details.

Travel Tuesday: Pearl Harbor

As many of you know or are discovering from my blog. I love to travel and visit new places. There is something about learning about a new place that really appeals to me. When I hear of an activity or a place to visit, you can betcha, I am on my computer working away trying to find information and coupons for the place! Throughout the year, I am hoping to share places with you that I have traveled and my tips and tricks for making your visit there wonderful. It is a goal of mine to have all of my kiddos visit every state before they graduate high school. Not only do I want them to see our beautiful country, but there is something to be said about having your children learn and appreciate different cultures. 
 
My first place to share with you is Pearl Harbor. I absolutely adore anything in Hawaii and Pearl Harbor combines my love for Hawaii and my love for history. Yes, I am a history nerd :) Proud of it! You can visit the official tour website : Pearl Harbor Tours or the National Parks web page: Pearl Harbor

First, Pearl Harbor is free. You can't beat that price, now, you are not allowed to carry bags into the museum or monument for security purposes. It cost about three dollars to check your bags. Me, I just lock them in my trunk or leave them at home. 

The down fall of the park being free is that you have to go early, they only give out a certain number of tickets and then they are gone. The summer months especially fill up quickly, as do national holidays, Veterans Day, Memorial Day, December 7, Labor Day especially.

I have been lucky enough to visit Pearl Harbor on a few occasions, my first being Veteran's Day and my second on December 7.  What an experience I will never forget.

You will begin your trip to the monument by watching a brief (about 15 mins) video of the events leading up to the attacks at Pearl Harbor, you will also be given the opportunity to listen to a survivor speak about the morning. Let me tell you, prepare yourself for tears and goose bumps. Having seen the movie on four separate occasions, I can honestly say I still cry and learn/see something new each time. When the movie is over you then walk to one of the boats that takes you over to the memorial it's self. It is a short ride but very humbling as you listen to sailors explain the events of the morning and show you where exactly they take place. When you enter the memorial it is quiet, they ask that you refrain from speaking loudly and honor the victims of the attack by staying so.  I have been a few times and I tell you I learn and see something new each and every time I go. Here are some of my favorite pictures from my multiple trips.


welcome sign and my sister

If you are nice one of the sailor just might take his picture with you.
 He told me it was an honor to be bringing visitors to P.H.

This always gives me chills- how anyone survived is a miracle.

by far my favorite- this is a plumeria flower in the oil that still leaks out to this day.

some of the ship is above water and if you look carefully you can see the majority is not.

one of the battleships presently there- just gives you an idea of how big they really are.

The wall of names- the men and women who perished that day- divided up according to branch of service.

the survivors who passed away and wanted to join their fellow service men. They were buried at sea.

the anchor from the Arizona! Talk about huge!

a flag always flies above and you can actually purchase one as a souvenir

each one marks the placement of  a ship in the harbor that morning.

flags from inside the memorial

One of my favorite stories to tell about Pearl Harbor is from when I took Peanut there for a visit, you can read all about it here. A good night not Good Bye.

This is just one of many places that I highly recommend you visit when you visit Hawaii. Learn and embrace what Pearl Harbor means to our nation.

Bella Kai Events: Art Party: Decorations

The final post in the Art Party is the decor and I would have to say that to me the decor is the most important part of the party as it helps to set the mood! Pumpkin's favorite part of the party and I think mine as well was the ceiling decoration. I used polka dot balloons (about $1.25 a pack, I used one) and four table cloths from the dollar store (they were 2 for $1.00), can't beat that! and a pack of paintbrushes, I actually bought them for another project but they worked wonderfully for this! I took the paintbrushes and dipped them in different colored paint! Here was the result!

love

side view

Looks so cool from underneath

I found a banner online and decided that I was going to purchase it, usually I would make it myself but time was becoming an issue. I paid $6.00 for the digital file and I can even use it in my classroom for my students birthdays! So it is a bonus. Then using construction paper, the kids and I make paper chains, we tried to work on patterns (but they were just too into make the chains). I love the impact that they have for such a little bit amount of money and time.

Using simple black table cloths I set the table for the food and main events to take place. Using paper plates, I created palettes. I love free items or items that are so cheap and have a huge impact. Look how cool the palettes look and the best part, the kiddos knew exactly what they were from the get go.

 Using left over paint chips from my previous projects, I made a place tag for each guest with the title "Artist and then the child's name?" Don't you just love the way they turned out?

In addition to all of the paint chips under the children's names, I used them as a centerpiece. Laid them on the table and placed white daises in colored water in the center of the table. The flower stems were in the colored water and by the time the party was in effect, the flowers had started to change colors! They looked phenomenal. At the last minute, I added some sparkly pipe cleaners, just to add a little bit more flare!

The little flag banners you see in the back of the pictures, were bought from a party store on sale for five cents each. The best part is that I can use them again.

You might remember one of my first posts was a crayon wreath, you can read about that here. This one I made and decided to keep for the kids playroom! Have to love when you can make something and use it again and again. The wreath hung on the door of the art center. It hung next to a welcome to Pumpkin's Art Gallery sign.

Here is a close up of the welcome sign: We added a butterfly clip to it because Pumpkin loves her butterflies.

The poem that was the entire theme behind the party:

Finally my favorite piece of the entire party was pumpkin's headband, it was just so full of color and fun. I found it on etsy, but I am sure you could easily make one. It is felt rolled up and glued on a stretchy headband, with a gem in the center of each colored circle.

her headband and white pillowcase shirt with the number 3 embroidered on it and a pair of dark blue jeans with the same white ribbon on the bottom of the cuff.

Party breakdown:

Food: $25.00 for everything- with leftovers :)
Decor: $10.00
Pumpkin's outfit: $32.50 (pair of jeans with added ribbon trim, white pillowcase dress and headband)
Event rental: $10.00-

Not bad for a party $77.50! The best part is everything but the food is being reused in someway or another!

Bella Kai Events: Art Party: Food

Ok, ok, so I am bragging a little bit when I share Pumpkin's art party but I absolutely love the way it turned out!

The food is always the big challenge, how to come in under or on budget and not spend a small fortune and oh yeah the biggest part, how to make the food fit the theme! That is my biggest pet peeve, it has to match.

This year money is super tight (as I am pretty sure most people can relate) and I wanted a high impact for a little bit of money.

I started looking at Pinterest and to be honest, couldn't really find anything that really worked for what I was looking for, so I went to my teacher bag of tricks and away we went!

I started with the main menu, simple and easy. Spaghetti (it's pretty kid friendly) and colored it. Now, I always try to come up with creative names for the food to fit the theme, so we had "yarn" sprinkled with olive oil and Parmesan cheese. Love, how fun and festive and best yet, it cost me $2.00. Not only is is cost effective but it is simple to make, cook your pasta as your normally would. When it is ready, divide it into Ziploc bags and add the food coloring.  Shake!

It really looks like yarn! I love it!

Next, were the fruit kabobs! They were as always a simple and big hit! You can read how I make them here. They added a huge splash of color for a little bit of money!

Love love love the fruit!

I always try to have an adult drink and children drink, this way if parents decide to stay they aren't forced to have juice. I started with bottled water and purchased some cheap duct tape with paint splatters and simply taped them around the bottle! They were simple and wonderfully effective. The best part is I got the case of water for free with a sale and coupons, the tape was $3.00!

For the children, I wanted something more fun. I decided to go with sprite (it has less caffeine and sugar) and colored ice cubes. They were awesome, if I do say so myself! The best part of the drink is that the sprite, turned colors and every glass was a different color. We called it creative juice, because it was far from just regular sprite!

 

 

In addition to the fruit, we had veggie trays, and popcorn bowls.  But my favorite part of the party was the favors, I took chocolate and melted it and colored it! Then using premade rice krispie treats, added a Popsicle stick and dipped the treat into the chocolate, thus creating a paint brush. They were a super big hit and the best part, they cost me .25 a piece!
At the last minute I decided to send them home as a favor and dropped them into a Ziploc bag, added some ribbon and a paintbrush tag!

 

We served ice cream in cookie bowls and I have to say that this was the hardest part of the food preparation! The bowls were a pain in the butt. First you have to mix the dough and then form the cookie bowl shape over a turned over muffin tin. Then gently pull off and add ice cream! I love the way they look and the idea but I don't know that I will make them again because they are just that time consuming!

 

 

Finally the utensils, served as the artist tools! After all, you need tools for eating and for painting!