Last week I guest posted a fun Springtime game on Whatever Dee-Dee Wants….  did you see it?  In case you missed it, here’s a sneak peek:

It’s been getting warmer around here and the trees are even starting to blossom. This is my favorite time of year in the desert. Everything is pretty and green… well, there’s a little more green and a little less brown. The temperatures aren’t so high that you have to stay inside during the day; the evenings are a nice mix of chilly and just right while the mornings are just brisk enough to make you grateful for the sunshine. Spring. I think this is probably my kids’ favorite time of the year too. We get to play outside: ride bikes, go to the park, eat ice cream on the porch swing. We are gearing up for Spring Break and I can’t wait to have less structure in our lives for a few days to just enjoy this gorgeous spring.

 

CONTINUE READING THIS POST AND
PRINT YOUR OWN SPRINGTIME BINGO GAME
ON WHATEVER DEE-DEE WANTS…

 

Today, I’m hanging out over at Ask Anna and sharing my Spring Break Planner printable.  Are you on Spring Break yet?  We have sooo much planned for these two weeks, but a lot of it is “big people projects” like landscaping our backyard (FINALLY!).  We also have a fun trip planned and my boys were driving me crazy with “Is today our vacation?!” and “How many more days until vacation?” every fifteen minutes.  This little Spring Break Planner has been a life saver.  It has the things around the house that we need to get done, as well as the fun we have scheduled into our Break.  This way, it’s easy, especially for Big J, to see what has to be done in order for us to have fun.  I thought I was going to be in serious trouble when he came home on Friday, peppering me with vacation questions.  Luckily, this has helped him know what to expect… and saved me from answering the same question of the 500 billionth time.

These are colorful, bright and great for at-a-glance referencing.  If you slip them in a sheet protector and use a dry or dry erase marker, they are reusable and you only have to print it off once.  Ours is hanging on the fridge where everyone can see it.

Head over to Ask Anna and download and print your own FREE copy of the Spring Break Planner.  Not planning a Spring Break anytime soon?  Maybe the days of Spring Break are far behind you.  Don’t worry, I have something to help you stay organized too.  Get a FREE weekly planner over at Anna’s too.  I’m planning to use that one this summer when we are doing our “summer school” so the boys will know what to expect each day and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, it won’t be one stressful, crazy day after another for eight long weeks.

GET YOUR FREE HIGH RESOLUTION SPRING BREAK PLANNER PRINTABLE & WEEKLY ORGANIZER PRINTABLE AT ASK ANNA!

I am LDS, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, known to most as the Mormons.  Next weekend is General Conference, when we have the chance to listen to our leaders on a worldwide level.  It’s always one of my favorite weekends – partly because they broadcast the service and I can watch it right at home on my couch in my jammies… yes, church in sweatpants.

But with three little kids, it can be difficult to entertain them long enough to actually get to hear much at all.  My mom always had fun little quiet activities for us to do while we were growing up and watching General Conference.  My favorite was always Conference Bingo.  But the boards I remember were designed for much older kids than mine and there is no way I’d ever get them to sit and use it, so I created a Bingo board for my kids to use this year.

 

GENERAL CONFERENCE BINGO

If you would also like to use this Bingo board, you’re more than welcome to download and print out as many as you need.  Click on the image below and it will take you to the download link.  You’ll have to download and save the file to your computer and then print it out.  I know there are tons of options out there, but here’s one more:

 

I wanted something basic with simple, bright pictures that used both sight and hearing in order to get the bingo.  I’m hoping it will encourage them to listen and watch, so maybe I can do a little of both as well.  I’m not going to give them strict rules.  If they notice “family”, whether it’s from a speaker speaking about them or if they see a family on screen, it counts.  I didn’t want it to be so hard, they give up and return to the usually scheduled arguing, rough-housing and general horseplay that accompanies mom and dad trying to do… just about anything.  I’ve got my fingers crossed.

Everyone can probably agree that food is one of, if not the, most important aspect of a party.  It can make or break a host or hostess’ reputation.  Of course there are other important elements as well, but people will remember the food.  If your decor is stunning and awesome, they might remember that.  But if your food is sub-par, your party will forever be “when we had those soggy sandwiches?” or “that was the mushy wrap things that smelled weird, right?”  So, for our Big Hero 6 party, we did simple but delicious food.  Kid-friendly, but also adult-satisfying, food.  We did a small dinner and a popcorn bar with the movie.  I will give you the details on the popcorn bar next week, that was a ton of fun!

We have the reputation of making good food, so I wanted something yummy that makes everyone happy.  It’s a bonus if everyone can make their own the way they like it.  I themed the food to the movie and played off of words, as well as the visual aspects.  Let’s check out the full menu, shall we?

BIG HERO 6 PARTY
AMAZINGLY SIMPLE FOOD

– Mini Hiro (Hero) Sandwiches.  Hero sandwiches are also known as hoagies and subs, among other terms.  They are simple and delicious.  I wanted everyone to be able to make their own and make them the way they like it.  So, instead of large rolls or a true foot-long loaf, I opted for dinner rolls.  My deciding factor in this decision was that we were going to have about a dozen kids at this party.  Have you ever seen a three-year-old try to hold a foot-long sandwich?  And it’s even worse when it’s just a small piece of the sandwich.  So we did mini Heros and named them after one of the movie’s main characters.

– Fruit tray. Since we were having a popcorn bar with the movie, I didn’t want a lot of sweets with dinner.  For the fruit tray, I chose ‘Wasabi’s Laser-Sliced Apples’, ‘Baymax Berries’ and Go-Go’s Mag-Lev Pineapple Discs.  It was simply apples sliced with our Apple Peeler Corer (affiliate link), whole strawberries and pineapple rings cut into wedges.  We dipped the apples in lemon juice to help keep them from browning.  You could use pineapple tidbits, if you can figure out how to get them out of the can in rings, so they still resemble Go-Go’s mag-lev discs.  I decided it would be easier to just cut them up myself.  Actually, Mr. Napping assembled the fruit trays.  Yep, he’s a keeper.

– Aunt Cass’ Melt-Your-Face-Off Chicken Wings.  Because chicken wings are delicious and I wanted something that was a little more grown-up food too.  We had three different kinds of chicken (confession: some were in strips, not wings) in varying levels of spiciness so everyone could enjoy it, regardless of their palate’s spice preference.  I just bought these frozen and popped them in the oven half an hour before guests started to arrive.

– Fred’s Tropical Citrus Punch.  Blue raspberry Kool-Aid with pineapple juice and lemon slices in it.  I mixed up the Kool-Aid with 2 packets of powder, 1 1/2 gallons of water and 1 1/2 cups of sugar.  It’s more water and less sugar than called for in the directions.  Then I poured the pineapple juice that was in the pineapple rings in.  I’d guess it was around 1/3 to 1/2 cup of juice.  Then I sliced a lemon and put the slices in the Kool-Aid.  It was pretty much gone by the end of the party.

– Strawberry Honey Lemon(ade).  I have a thing for real lemonade, so it had to make an appearance at the party.  I mixed two cups lemon juice, 1/2 cup sugar and 1.5 gallons water together.  I had intended to use honey as the sweetener, but we had babies coming and I didn’t want to have to worry about them unintentionally being given honey.  I pureed one pound of strawberries and combined that with the lemon juice mixture.  Then add one tablespoon of vanilla extract.  I love vanilla in lemonade.  Feel free to omit it if it’s not your thing.

 

EASY DECOR IDEAS

Because I had a budget for this party, I did really simple decor.  I wanted the focus to be the food, and the Go-Go’s Disc Toss game and the Build A Baymax activity.  I spent about $15 on decor.  Yes, that’s it.  I found some paper lanterns on clearance at Target.  I did buy some LED Waterproof Paper Lantern Party Lights (affiliate link) on Amazon to put inside them.  They were a little more spendy ($19 for 30), but I only used nine and the batteries are supposed to be replaceable.  They lasted almost two days before they died, but a single light wasn’t very bright and we ended up putting three in each lantern.  Overall, I was pretty happy with them.

 

That was as fancy as I got though.  I stuck to balloons and streamers after that.  I did put Baymax eyes on the white balloons.  I’d seen it on Here Comes the Sun and I loved Kelly’s idea.  They turned out even better than I remembered, especially for just being sharpie on a balloon.

Want more Big Hero 6?  You can check out Go-Go’s Disc Toss Game to get the kids moving and the Build-A-Baymax activity that calmly entertained 6 kids for over 20 minutes!  Great for parties, but they also work for an afternoon boredom buster too!