Gingerbread Party

Joelle's gymnastics class celebrated the season with a Gingerbread House Decorating Party and Gift Exchange.

Since they are all girls, I thought pink and green was a fitting color scheme.  I premade the houses using graham crackers and royal icing.  It was much easier than I would have thought!

I found aprons at Hobby Lobby for $5.00 and had them monogrammed (thank you Mandy Crawford).  I then added ric rac to the top and bottom to jazz them up even more!  Luckily, I found an old shower curtain rod to hang them up.

The girls played, decorated the houses, ate snacks, then opened presents.  They each drew names and brought a gift for that friend.

I think they had a great time!

The Pajama Elves

Do your kids get new pajamas on Christmas Eve?
This is a tradition in a lot of families.  If you

already do, or want to start, I recommend

getting the book the Pajama Elves By Hayden Edwards.

It is a sweet story about Santa's special elves that deliver

magical pajamas on Christmas Eve.  The pajamas are

tailored with special powers that help children sleep

on Christmas Eve.  We started this a few years ago

and each Christmas Eve the elves deliver a box to

the front door. The Pajama Elves is available on amazon.

Camo Cupcakes

For Deer Hunting
Weekend

Drew and Andy are going deer hunting

this weekend with some friends so

I made some camo cupcakes with

a chocolate deer head for them to 

take.  I was told I was "girling up"

their trip but I don't care.  Those were

not Andy's exact words but I can't

write those...

I used a boxed cake mix then separated the batter into

three bowls.  One I left as is and the other two I

added green and brown food coloring to.

Drop small spoonfuls of each color into cupcake

liners and continue until they are 2/3 the way full.

Bake as directed.

I googled deer head image and found this one.
I copied and pasted then printed on a piece of paper.

 I placed a piece of parchment paper on top of the

print out.  I melted a container of melting chooclate

then poured it into a squeeze bottle (sort of shown 

at the top right corner).  It was actually pretty easy!

 Once they cooled they peeled right up!

Thanksgiving Table:

I'm so excited to host Thanksgiving tomorrow 

for the first time....especially because

it is my favorite holiday!

I went ahead and got out all the

Christmas decorations so my table

looks much more winter wonderland

than Thanksgivingish but now I am

ready for Christmas!

1. Christmas glittery trees on table

Pottery Barn

2. Glittery reindeer on table Uppitys

in Marietta, GA

3. Napkin rings Pier One

4. Silver candlestick holders Target
(filled with epson salt)

Raider Red End of
Season Football Party:
The Gifts

The players received a trophy

but I also filled a bag

with different kinds of candy

and wrote a brief letter

explaining what the candy meant.

I made Coach Randy a special

framed picture with all the

player's names inside the 

football.  The coaches also

got a gift card to Sports

Authority.  The packaging was

super simple.  I used a brown

bag and cut strips of white

paper to make it look like a 

football.