November 23, 2015 by Krista

The Perfect Holiday Dessert

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #ShareTheJoyOfPie #CollectiveBias

I love this time of year. The lights, the colors, the music, the movies, the good will and the food. I love holiday food, and my sweet tooth does too. I love the hunt for the perfect holiday dessert.

But the holidays can be stressful too. They are busy, they are bustling and there is always something to do or some where to be. Add in a big family meal with all the traditional fixings and the favorite family recipes. Things can get kinda of hectic and crazy.

My grandma has always made the Thanksgiving pies and they are amazing. Her apple pie has a special little spot in my heart. I love using her recipe and making apple pie from scratch. My mom made pies too, but she had a little help from Marie Callender. And I’ll be honest, baking pies from scratch doesn’t happen often. I just don’t have a lot of time for it.

Marie Callender’s® Dessert Pies are already a part of my childhood and I love the go to option of Marie Callender’s® Dessert Pies. You get delicious pies, quality ingredients and the hot-from-the-oven satisfaction without the prep work. You can find them in almost any grocery store and I grabbed a few favorites last time I was at Walmart and some Reddi-Wip® to help put together the perfect holiday dessert.

MARIE CALLENDER’S PIE BAR BUFFET

The beauty of the pie buffet is that everyone gets the dessert they want without you spending hours and hours in the kitchen. There’s a great selection of Marie Callender’s® Dessert Pies so everyone is sure to find something they like. Add some delicious toppings and you’ve done it: the perfect holiday dessert. Check out how you can put together your own pie bar.

Ingredients:

Marie Callender’s frozen pies. Choose your favorite flavors.
Assortment of toppings. See my list below for ideas.

Directions:

Bake the pies according to the directions on their box. Depending on what kind you choose, baking times and temperatures will vary.
Put your toppings in easy to serve dishes so your guests can top their pies just the way they want. You may consider labeling the toppings so there is no confusion. I just explained the options verbally.
Let the pies cool as directed, slice and set out. You will want the pies on one end of your serving area and the toppings on the other end.

Let your guests serve themselves. They can choose how much pie they want and what, if anything, to put on it. Everyone gets just what they want.

PIE BAR TOPPING IDEAS

Reddi-Wip® topping
Caramel syrup
Lemon glaze
Orange glaze
Cranberry glaze
Cinnamon sugar
Mini marshmallows
Chocolate chips or shavings
Ice cream
Nutmeg clove sugar
Citrus zest

MARIE CALLENDER’S PIE BAR BINGO

Want to have a little more fun and encourage your guests to try more than one type of pie? Do people really need to be encouraged to eat more pie…? Anyway, here is a fun printable game similar to bingo. The winner is the one with the most boxes checked off and combinations of pie tried. Right click, save and print!

See what a completed game board might look like below.

So, simplify your holidays and choose Marie Callender’s® Dessert Pies and enjoy stress-free, delicious sweets to accompany your holiday meal: the perfect holiday dessert. Grab yours at Walmart today! And check out more amazing ways to use Marie Callender’s® Dessert Pies this holiday season!

October 13, 2015 by Krista

BOO It Forward with the Game Night BOO Kit

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BOOItForward #CollectiveBias

I’ve mentioned before that when I was growing up, we didn’t do much celebrating of Halloween. My mom doesn’t particularly like the holiday and so it was minimally recognized. One thing we did get to do, though, was BOO’ing our friends. I have three siblings and each of us would get to choose a family to BOO. Some years, we would go all out and make fun Halloween cookies and treats to share and some years it was a little more simple. But, it wasn’t really about what was in the goody baskets, it was putting them together as a family. And, of course, delivering them was the best part!

This is a tradition I wanted to share with my family now. We made three kits to share with some friends. I wanted something simple and easy. Life is busy and I just didn’t have hours to spend baking Halloween goodies. Lucky for me, MARS/Wrigley has an amazing BOO it Forward campaign going on and putting together our BOO kits was super simple.

SUPER SIMPLE PRINTABLE GAME NIGHT BOO KIT

Materials:
– BOO It Forward Printable Card for each kit
– MARS Mixed Minis Chocolate Candy Assortment (52 oz)
– MARS Chocolate Mix Fun Size Candy Assortment
– Sunkist® 8oz cans in 6pk
– Pin the Face on the Jack-O-Lantern Printable Game for each kit
– Halloween Bingo Printable Game for each kit
– Bowl or other container for each kit

PUT TOGETHER YOUR BOO IT FORWARD KITS

Directions:
– We grabbed some of our favorite goodies at Walmart: some Sunkist® soda and an assortment of delicious MARS chocolates. I also grabbed a couple of big bowls that were on clearance to stash all our loot in.

– I decided we should probably put in something else and it was Big J who thought of including the Halloween games we’ve been playing around here the last couple weeks. So, I made up a few more of the Pin the Face on the Jack-O-Lantern game and some more of the Halloween Bingo game I shared yesterday. We put them in ziptop baggies to keep them together.

– I put the minis on the bottom of the bowl.

– Then, I tucked the games at the back, just under the mini candy bars.

– Next, I stuck in two of the soda cans on each side of the bowl.

– I took the BOO It Forward printable card, folded it in half and taped it together with some fun Halloween washi tape. This will let your friends know how they can pass on the fun Halloween cheer. Cut the directions off the We’ve Been BOO’d poster and put that in with the card. Your friends can then hang the poster in their window so others will know that they have already been BOO’d once.

– Then, I put in the last can of soda and filled in the spaces with the fun size candy.

We loaded the kiddos up in the car and delivered our three baskets. Mr. Napping and the two oldest boys left the goody baskets on the doorsteps while Baby N and I stayed in the car. And just like their momma, they thought the best part was the delivery! Who could you BOO to share the Halloween spirit? Check out more awesome BOO kit ideas and get out there and share some goodies!

You can save $1.00 on TWO (2) 2L or 6pk 8oz cans of any flavor Sunkist® Soda, 7UP®, Canada Dry®, A&W®, Squirt®, or Sun Drop® by using this coupon when you purchase items for your BOO Kits! And how would you like a $1000 eGift Card to Walmart? Well, here’s your chance! Check out the widget below:
#booitforwardsweepstakes

October 1, 2015 by Krista

Halloween Bucket List Printable

How is it already October?! Didn’t we just go back to school a couple weeks ago? According to my calendar, we’re almost half way through the semester! Along with October comes lots of fun things: sweaters, pretty colors on the trees, pumpkin everything and, here at While He Was Napping, October Spooktacular. It’ll be a month full of fun Halloween posts to help you get in the spooky spirit, and, before you know it, All Hallow’s Eve will be upon us. Make sure to check out the archives from the pat five years too, for even more fun Halloween ideas.

HALLOWEEN BUCKET LIST PRINTABLE

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD

A month seems like a long time, but I often find it’s not. I created a Halloween Bucket List for us to use so that we can make sure we get all the haunting good fun we can manage out of Halloween before it’s gone for another year. My mom doesn’t like Halloween, so we didn’t do much to celebrate it when I was growing up. I enjoy doing fun Halloween activities with my boys and I want them to have some fun memories of the Halloween season when they get older.

To get your own FREE copy of this fun printable, click on the image above. Another window will open and you can download the file and save it to your computer. Then print it. You can frame it and mark off the completed activities with a dry erase marker… or just let the kiddos color in the Jack-o-lantern after you do the activity. That’s the route we’re taking this year – simple.

Want more fun countdown ideas? Check out these other printables:

Kid’s Halloween Activity and Boredom Buster Jar
We use this one as more of a boredom buster jar for when we need something to do and my boys are having a hard time coming up with something. I don’t have to spit out idea after idea because they are in a whiny mood and shoot down every suggestion. They pick a slip and they can do that or go play in their room.

Halloween Countdown Calendar
I did this one with Big J back when he was my only crazy boy, but I think I will try it with my younger boys this year… I always have a had time finding things to keep them out of trouble. Their attention spans don’t seem to be as long as Big J’s was at this age. I’ll take all the ideas I can find!

Halloween Bucket List (2013)
More fun activity ideas from our Halloween Bucket List of a couple years ago.

June 1, 2015 by Krista

Printable Summer Bucket List

We are so close to Summer I can almost taste it! Our summer is already shaping up to be a pretty busy eight weeks and I want to make sure we get some summer fun in there too or it will be over before we know it! And Big J keeps asking if we can go back to the splash pad yet… I’d love to stop saying, “not yet.” So, to help us focus and make sure we get some fun in our crazy schedules, I made up a Summer Bucket List printable.

There’s two more weeks of school here (UUUUUGGGHH), and then the fun begins! Are you out of school yet? Has your summer fun already started? If so, you lucky ducks! These last two weeks are draggggging. Maybe we can speed them up a little by getting some planning done before summer vacation starts.

There’s lots of boxes and our goal is to cross them all off! I put our bucket list inside a frame and then wrote on the glass with a wet erase marker (overhead marker). If we decide we need to make changes to our list, it’ll be easy to edit. And it creates a fun way to display our list as well. I can leave it out in plain sight, in a prominent spot in our dining room. I’m hoping this will help me remember to do the things on it, and will (hopefully – pretty, pretty please!?!) help motivate my kids to get the work done so we can go out and PLAY!! That’s right, I’m bribing them with fun. There are worse things, right?!

Want your own Summer Bucket List printable to help you accomplish all the fun you want to have this summer season?

GRAB YOUR COPY OF THE BUCKET LIST PRINTABLE RIGHT HERE!

Go, go, go! The link above or either photo will take you to the download page so you can get the file! Happy Summer, friends!

February 25, 2015 by Krista

Springtime Activities Boredom Buster Jar Printable

What’s your weather been like lately? Is it finally warming up or are you still covered in snow? We’ve had pretty mild weather recently and have been doing some fun springtime activities. Now, we have a storm forecast for this weekend, yuck. Ah, but that’s what the winter boredom buster jar was for, right? If you’re expecting sunshine instead, I’ve got a spring boredom buster jar for you! It’s full of fun springtime activities that – shhh, don’t tell the kids – will help them learn a little too!

SPRINGTIME ACTIVITIES BOREDOM BUSTER JAR

There are 10 springtime activities in this printable set. I tried to make the activities ones that older kiddos could enjoy too. They are also a little more educational-based than the last boredom buster jar. Don’t worry though, it’s all pretty basic stuff and it’s still fun. Promise.

MAKING YOUR OWN SPRINGTIME ACTIVITIES BOREDOM BUSTER JAR

Links below may be affiliate links. This means I will receive a small percentage of any purchase made though the link. Your cost is not changed in any way and your support helps me keep this site running. Thank you!

Materials:
– Plastic bottle
– Dirt/soil (here’s a whole terrarium kit on amazon if you don’t want to piece it together)
– Pebbles
– Seeds
– White flowers
– Food coloring
– Dishwashing Soap
– Glycerin (get glycerin on amazon)
– Unflavored gelatin (get unflavored gelatin on amazon)
– Silicone molds (find lots of fun silicone molds on amazon)
– Jars
– Skittles
– Empty egg carton

You can gather these items and have them ready when you are so you can get in and do the project right away, or you can make gathering the items part of your activity. There’s a few more items required, but they are common and you probably have them on hand right now.

Make sure you click over and download the file at the link below so you get both pages. Don’t just right click and save as on this one. You’ll be missing part of it! Have fun!

GET YOUR SPRINGTIME ACTIVITIES
PRINTABLE BOREDOM BUSTER JAR!