ModMommy~Holiday Traditions, Tips, Festivities, Birthdays

I am always looking for ways to bring the family together for holidays. Tips for making things easier. New ideas that can become traditions. Saving money while still having a great time. Craft activities for the holiday. Come by and see what we're doing at our house. I hope you'll leave your thoughts or comments.

Here's a site that I use a lot.

Personalized Gifts for Every Occasion Exclusively from PersonalizationMall.com We Carry Gifts for: Birthdays, Weddings, Babies & Kids, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Anniversaries, and more...

One of my favorite holdays is Halloween. I love the fall season. It's beauty is amazing. Since moving to (further) East Texas I've seen that the leaves really do change colors brilliantly. I can't describe the beautiful East Texas woods-the reds, yellows, oranges. It takes my breath away. My husband and I were taking a trip to the woods and our three year old asked us "What happened to all of the leaves?" We explained the seasonal changes and he was like "Ohhhhh." What a cool moment.

I always saved the kids costumes for dress-up when I could. This year I bought my youngest a really cute costume of "The Cat in The Hat". He was soooo cute in it. He decided the day of Halloween he would like to be a Ninja. Luckily we had a Ninja costume in the dress up box.

After Halloween, I watch the stores (CVS and Big Lot's this year). They offered costumes priced regularly $20 to 30 for 90% off. We got quite a few really nice costumes for $1 to $3. Every year I go to the Children's Consignment Sale here in our town and I've often gotten really nice costumes there for under $10.00.

These came from Clean Home Journal. I loved them. I am going to try them Halloween 2008!

Stack Some Jacks Create a tower of pumpkins-one for each member of the family! To make a family pumpkin tower, start by carving small pumpkins to represent each member of the family, including the family dog or cat. Don't worry about making an exact likeness advises pumpkin-carving expert Lisa Berberette, aka The Pumpkin Lady®. To suggest who the pumpkin is meant to be, include some telling detail, e.g., big eyebrows or lips, eyeglasses, etc. Then cut holes in the top and bottom, stack 'em on top of each other and secure with toothpicks. Place a tall candle inside the bottom pumpkin so the light shines all the way up-eerie and attention getting!

Pumpkin R.I.P.

To make your carved jack-o'-lanterns last longer, coat their cut edges with petroleum jelly. But once a pumpkin starts to smell and decay (usually a couple of days past Halloween), it's time to dispose of it. Scoop up the remains and add them to the compost heap. If you don't have a compost heap, place in a large plastic bag, secure tightly and discard.

Here's a nice site: http://www.celebrating-halloween.com/

Thanksgiving is such an important tradition to me. I want my children to grow up coming home for this day. Spending time at home, enjoying the beautiful colors of fall. The cool crisp air. This is a time to bond, to share, and to grow. Here's a site that I really enjoyed. I hope you do as well. http://www.celebrating-thanksgiving.com/

Oh, my favorite for decorating, crafting, etc. One of the traditions that I heard about this year (and we did) was to get a 100+ piece puzzle. Everyone participates in putting it together. On the last piece (we used the last 6 pieces) write your favorte thing from that year, your best memory, a special event, etc. Then the next year, re-do the puzzle and do the same thing. Hopefully we can fill up the puzzle pieces. We have 6 people in our family, so we each get one piece each year. The lady that suggested it said they used one piece each year. I didn't think that would work for us. :)

One of the best things about Holidays is the food/cooking.

Christmas Sugar Cookie Recipe

1 cup margarine or butter (2 sticks)

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3 ½ cups plain flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Put margarine/butter out to soften. It's much easier to mix the cookies if the margarine/butter isn't rock hard.

Mix the softened margarine/butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

Add the flour and baking powder and mix well.

Chill the dough for a couple of hours. It's too sticky to roll out when it's warm and just mixed.

Take a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of flour (plain or self rising) and sprinkle it on the area where you'll roll out the dough. You can also use a combination of flour and powdered sugar - half and half. This is to prevent the dough from sticking to the counter or mat.

Put a little flour in your hand (1 TBS or so) and rub the outside of the rolling pen. If you don't have a rolling pen, you can use a tall glass with straight sides. Just roll smaller amounts of dough at a time, because a glass is not near as long as a rolling pen. You'll also need to sprinkle a little more flour on top of the dough as it's rolled, since glass won't hold the flour like a wooden rolling pen.

Take about half the dough out of the bowl and stick the rest back in the refrigerator to keep it chilled. Roll with the rolling pen or glass going up and down and side to side to make a big circle with a thickness of 1/4 inch.

Use shaped cookie cutters to cut out cookies. If you don't have cookie cutters, a glass will do. You'll have traditional round sugar cookies. A thin glass works best. A biscuit cutter is great if you have one.

While cutting out cookies, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Place the cookies on a lightly greased or Pam sprayed cookie sheet. Use your fingers to brush off any excess flour that may be on top of the cookie from the rolling.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes. The cookies should be set and very lightly browned at the edges but still light colored.

Let the cookies cool before frosting.

A basic butter cream frosting works great with Christmas sugar cookies.

Butter Cream Frosting for Sugar Cookies

• 1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick)
• 1 box 10X powered sugar (around 3 cups if using a bulk bag)
• 1 tsp vanilla flavoring
• 2 to 3 TBS milk
• Food coloring
• Sugar sprinkles (for after the cookies are frosted)

Directions:

Again, let the butter/margarine sit out and soften. That makes mixing much easier, and it's also easier to get the correct consistency when adding the milk. If the butter is cold, then it gets too thin as it warms up. If this does happen, just add a little more powdered sugar.

Cream the butter and powdered sugar putting in about a half cup of powdered sugar at time. If the powdered sugar looks pretty lumpy, it's a good idea to sift it, so you don't have sugar balls in the frosting. Mix well.

Add the vanilla. Mix.

Add around 1 TBS of milk and mix. Continue adding a tsp or so until the frosting is the right consistency for spreading. If you discover you've made it too thin, stir in a little sugar. If it's too thick or starts to get too thick as you decorate add just a tiny bit more milk and stir.

Add a couple of drops of food coloring and mix if you want a single color batch. It's more fun, however, to divide the frosting into small bowls and let everyone make a color. Be warned that some people (mostly boys) will put in all the colors and make ugly brown frosting. It still tastes great. And, this really is about having fun.

If you want sugar sprinkles, then take some regular table sugar. Put a 1/4 to 1/2 cup or so in a zip lock bag. Add a little squirt of food coloring. Squeeze the bag until the sugar is all colored. It's fun also to divide the sugar out and make various colors like with the frosting.

Sprinkle on the colored sugar. You may need to very lightly tap the sugar on top of the frosting if the frosting is starting to set.

If you want the sugar sprinkles but not buttercream frosting, then make up the colored sugar and pat that on before baking the sugar cookies. If you try to put colored sugar on cookies without frosting after they're baked, the sugar will not stick.

(Recipe by Cyndi Allison)

http://www.christmasseals.org/ You can get free Christmas Address labels and seals from this site. You can also donate to support lung cancer research. You do not have to donate to get the labels.

I'm very interested in learning about Kwanzaa. I've been looking at a really good site about the traditions of Kwanzaa. Check it out at: http://www.celebrating-kwanzaa.com/ "Kwanzaa is a week-long Pan-African festival primarily honoring African-American heritage. It is observed from December 26 to January 1 each year, almost exclusively in the United States of America." I've learned that the traditional decorations for Kwanzaa are beautifully displayed art and colorful artwork. The women wear traditional African clothes called Uwole. They display fruits to represent idealism. The celebration includes feasts, gift giving, dances and the children show respect for ancestors by participating in dances, drumming, and more.

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/groundhog_day.htm

Groundhog Day at Activity Village - This one has a bunch of neat things on it.

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/groundhogday?

Enchanted Learning Groundhog Day-This one has more than just goundhog's day as do most of the others. It's a great place for homeschool mom's too.

http://www.activitiesforkids.com/holiday/coupon.htm

Groundhog Day Concentration Puzzle- Didn't finish this site yet. A lot on it though.

Love is in the air!

Here are some Valentine's Freebies that I found...

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977229567

http://www.angelfire.com/me3/Ritis/VCoupons/1.html Coupons you can print.

http://www.kidsturncentral.com/holidays/valentines/nvcoupon.htm Very cute coupons, appropriate for the kids, too.

I love Valentine's. It's romantic, fun, creative and fattening. I'll be back posting some of my favorite Valentine's things. :)

Here are some very cool ideas to use for home or preschool for Valentine's Day snacks. We are required to feed the kids foods with nutritional value at school. This kind of leaves out a lot of the really popular Valentine's party foods. Suckers, candies, etc.

1. Red and Pink Snack Plates

Use red and pink fruits and vegetables for a color theme on Valentine's Day. For a friendship fruit plate, use blood oranges, red and pink grapefruit, red grapes, apple slices, strawberries and other red berries. For a friendship veggie plate, use sliced red peppers, radishes, beets and tomatoes.

2. Valentine's Day Kabobs

Alternate red fruit or vegetables pieces with cubes of white cheese on a skewer. Or create tiny kabobs by adding a one piece each of a red fruit or vegetable and white cheese on a toothpick.

3. Heart Shaped Breakfast

Use heart shapes for a fun Valentine's day preschool breakfast. Cookie cutters or a steady knife can create heart shaped pancakes, waffles, toast or english muffins. Top with red jam or jelly.

4. Heart Shaped Breads

Prepare you own dough to make a heart shaped pizza or soft pretzels.

5. Create Pink from Red and White

Use red juices like cranberry juice or cherry juice to tint and flavor plain yogurt and milk to fruit and vegetable dips. Preschoolers will learn that white and red creates pink.

For more ideas, visit Preschool Valentine's Day Food and Nutrition. (Thanks to Kati Chevaux)

Here are a ton of links to Valentine's Day stuff. Craft ideas and more.

http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/valentinetheme/a/020199.htm This one was great.

http://theholidayspot.com/valentine/crafts/

http://www.allcrafts.net/valentines.htm

http://www.garvick.com/annual/valentines-day/crafts/

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977229567

http://www.first-school.ws/theme/h_valentines_day.htm

http://freebiesandstuff.freeyellow.com/valentines_day/crafts/index.htm

http://www.homeschoolzone.com/pp/valentine.htm

http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/valentine_crafts.htm

http://www.dltk-holidays.com/valentines/crafts-educational.htm I love this one, I use it a lot at work.

Oh, I love this one. Send a free e-valentine and get a coupon for Baskin Robbins. http://www.baskinrobbins.com/Spotlight/valentinesdayecard.aspx

Two more sites that I clicked through for Valentine's Day activities:

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/valentine_printables.htm

Valentine's Day Printables

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/valentine/

Enchanted Learning Valentine's Day

http://www.lovingyou.com/content/printables/ Printable love coupons. Very cute.

I love Valentine's Day!! I made the kids baskets with their favorite candies and a few things that they use a lot. They love getting their baskets almost as much as getting their Christmas stockings!! I got some great chocolate and beautiful flowers from my honey.

Here's a site with 50 Ways To Woo Your Lover...

From ParentsFreebiesAndResources: On March 17, everyone likes to feel a little Irish. St. Patrick's Day is a great holiday for kids and adults alike. It is a lot of fun to learn about the history of St. Patrick's Day, to hunt for leprechauns, four-leaf clovers, and that lucky pot 'o gold. St. Patrick's Day Tradition - There are many traditions and activities that help celebrate the life of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, the emerald island. With your children, locate Ireland on a map and research about the history of St. Patrick's Day, the shamrock, the Blarney Stone and where leprechauns come from. St. Patrick's Day is celebrated worldwide with people dancing and singing, watching St. Patrick's Day parades, eating green food, wearing green clothes (and pinching those who aren't wearing green!). Clover everywhere - Shamrocks are three-leafed clovers, and if you find a four-leafed clover, you are thought to be lucky! Decorate your house for the holiday. Create a centerpiece from pots of shamrocks (clover) that can often be found at this time of year in local supermarket. Add some gold ribbons and shamrock garlands to the pot to make them even more festive. For a great art project, cut shamrock shapes from coffee filters and have children add green and yellow colored water to the shamrock. For the St. Patrick's Day parade, make a green shamrock bracelet by cutting a one inch strip off a paper roll and paint green. Cut four heart shapes out of green craft paper and glue together to make a shamrock. Green, green and more green - Green is the theme of the day! Just about every child knows and loves the book Green Eggs and Ham. Simply tint some eggs green with a little food coloring and serve for breakfast. Read the story to your child as they eat their green treat. Prepare a green-themed dinner of pesto pasta and green veggies for dinner and don't forget the green cupcakes for dessert! A leprechaun visit - Leprechauns are little Irish fairies, and they are thought to be shoemakers. The Irish say that if a leprechaun is caught by a human, he will reveal where he hides his pot of gold. The night before St. Patrick's Day, do some harmless pranks and mess up the family-room after your children are in bed. Think of as many silly things as you can that your children will notice in the morning. Leave little gold coins or gold nuggets (beans sprayed golden) lying around. Hide a scroll (letter from the leprechaun - find print version at KidsSoup.com ) for your children to find. Read the letter together and tell your children about the mischievous leprechauns and their pot of gold. Together write a letter to the leprechaun asking him about his life and to please clean up next time he plays in your house. Discuss how you could catch a leprechaun and make a leprechaun trap together. If you are lucky enough to capture a Leprechaun don't take your eyes of the Leprechaun for even a second or he will disappear. Happy leprechaun hunting.... With a bit of the luck of the Irish, St. Patrick's Day celebrations can be fun and entertaining for adults and kids, and you might just create new traditions for your family.

Also visit http://www.thebestkidsbooksite.com/craftdetails3.cfm?CraftID=477 for some cool St. Patrick's Day Crafts, etc.

Here's a site with great St. Patrick's Day Stuff! Here.

Get paid when you shop ebay, target and many others. Check out BigCrumbs.com

Easter is so much fun for us. It's a great history lesson as well. I enjoy helping the kids with baskets, decorations, coloring eggs and the big hunt. I have shared the historical Easter traditions with my children as well as the religious Easter traditions. We've seen the Easter Pageants and parades. We've really enjoyed watching the kids most of all. They enjoy all of the things we do as a family. Whatever your traditions are based upon hopefully you and your children enjoy what you do in celebration.

Here's an article about making Easter baskets with kids. It is made from a paper sack. Enjoy. I'm going to use this one to make my children's gift bags that I give them before the Easter stuff gets started.

Here is one of my favorite Easter sites. http://www.celebrating-easter.com/

Here's a really cute Easter Craft you can use do decorate your home for the Easter holiday.

I love parties! I throw huge birthday parties. Here's some info I found on the net about planning "First" birthdays:

Three keys to a great party

1. Plan ahead. Whether you're inviting 20 guests or just two sets of grandparents, get your invitations out early so you won't be disappointed by no-shows.

2. Expect surprises. By now you know that the most predictable thing about a baby is unpredictability. So if the party doesn't go exactly according to plan, don't let the little last-minute surprises upset you.

3. Relax and enjoy yourself. Any party is a success if it lets you enjoy the people around you, so go with the flow and have fun!

Party-planning tips

Often parties for 1-year-olds are given mostly for adults, but if you plan to have a party with other children keep these tips in mind:

1. Set a time limit. Perhaps the most important rule of thumb for planning a party for infants is to limit the time. If you invite children who also are around a year old, keep the party to 1 to 1-1/2 hours.

2. Plan a theme. Let your imagination go when thinking about a theme for the party. Consider clowns, cowboys, teddy bears, princesses, cartoon characters, or animals. Maybe the theme is a color, or the party is centered around a specific song, movie, or nursery rhyme. To carry out the theme, have a few adults or older kids dress in costumes and entertain the younger guests. Your place settings, decorations, invitations, and even the cake can carry out the theme.

Read more about planning the perfect first birthday party at Very Best Baby

Here's a site where you can search by state to see which places offer free stuff on your birthday. http://www.onbirthday.com/loader.do OMG! I am so shocked at the ones for Texas alone. Check it out when you have time.

I'll be back to post some birthday ideas!!