How to Party Strawberry Shortcake Style

Strawberry Shortcake- remember her?

Well, if you have kids, you know that she has made a comeback. She is a bit more hip than she was in our day, but she's still the super sweet girl who tries her "berry" best to get along with everyone.

Then:


Today:


Well, how could I resist such a girl being quite a goody-goody myself! Some of the things that I adore would make others cringe. Anyways, I passed on my love for Strawberry Shortcake to my daughters. Sunshine had a Strawberry Shortcake party when she was 3 and now Peanut chose Strawberry Shortcake for her most recent birthday- the big 5. I thought that it would be fun to share a couple of ideas (or more than a couple)-just in case you're having your own Strawberry Shortcake party- now or in the future!

Decorations

Pink balloons a must! I hung them in bunches like a flower and put little strawberries on them that I made out of construction paper.

Strawberry Shortcake posters from the dollar store! (economical and cute!)

Strawberry Shortcake pillows and blanket. (made with love by Grammy)

Strawberry Shortcake themed tablecloth- luckily I saved Sunshine's, so I didn't have to buy a new one.

Games

Pin the strawberry on Strawberry Shortcake's hat. (Strawberry version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey.) I made a hat out of poster board or you could use a picture of Strawberries hat and paper strawberries for them to tape onto the hat.

Strawberry, Strawberry, Strawberry Shortcake! (Duck, Duck, Goose) The kids run if they are tagged Shortcake.

Strawberry hunt- hide little strawberries- made from poster board or print out clip art and paste to construction paper.

Other activities:
A Strawberry Shortcake video is great for when the guests first arrive as they wait for the other children to arrive. I found a cute video where the characters where actually having a tea party.(for only $5) Also, great for getting the kids into the theme of the party!



Craft- We painted themed window sun-catchers. Another steal- 4 for a $1 at the local dollar store.

I also made little booklets for the kids to color. This way half of the group colored while the other half worked on their craft. Less hectic this way.

Festive Food
Tea sandwiches made with different berry flavors. I cut them out with a flower cookie cutter.

Tea cookies- raspberry and apricot flavored.

Fruit of course: Strawberries and other fruit with dip.

Cupcakes made with strawberry icing. I topped mine with little pics that I put Strawberry Shortcake stickers on.

Beverages: Berry juice served in a tea pot and little tea cups.

This was so much fun and I believe even more fun for the 10 little sweeties who had a Strawberry Shortcake Tea to celebrate Peanut's 5th birthday. (She thanked me with a hug and whispered in my ear: "Mom, you're the best!" Sniffle, sniffle.)

Have a "berry" great day! Couldn't control myself!

Jen

Painting with Dandelions

After a bit of inspiration from Jen at The Ramblings of a Crazy Woman. I decided to try something that I have never tried before. The girls looked curiously at the paint and dandelions and wondered how they were going to paint with the bright colored weed. After dipping the tip of the dandelion in water, the girls painted small construction paper eggs with the plant by dabbing it into watercolors and then onto the paper. They used a variety of colors to paint the eggs. After the eggs dried, we glued them around the border of a colored paper plate. (I cut out the center circle and cut into an egg for them to decorate later. No waste, here!) Last, I tied a ribbon on the top to hang it. Wallah- a colorful Easter wreath! They turned out really cute. To get a better idea of how to create your own wreath, be sure to stop by Jen's blog. If I can get this computer to work better, I'll be sure to post our project.

Yeah! I was actually able to upload my pics!












Happy Easter and many blessings!

Jen

Awards and Apologies

If you've been stopping by Creative and Curious Kids this week, I'm so sorry that I haven't been around lately! Computer issues, again! So I have all of these ideas in my brain and pics on my camera that I'm just am not able to share- boy is that frustrating! Anyways, I'm mooching off of my older sis at the moment and using her wonderful computer that works so beautifully. Isn't family wonderful? Speaking of wonderful, I have the most wonderful bloggy friends who appreciate the hard work that I put into my blog! This week I received two award from two of my faithful readers! Thank you so much for thinking of me!

The "Smart Blogger" award was given to me by Preschool Playbook. Thanks, Trish! You are a pretty smart cookie yourself, I must say!


Accordingly, The recipient of this award is not your everyday blogger. If you visit their blog, one thing is for sure, you will learn something (but most of the time, a lot) that is really worth the time you spend reading their post. Their post is always well-written, with good grammar, very insightful, inspiring, and thought provoking. Their posts leave you wishing that you’ve written it. They always have great stories to tell, either about life, about themselves, or about their family. Once you read their blog, there’s one thing that will stick in your head; that they are absolutely, no doubt, a Smart Blogger!

Link the one who gave this award and let them know you posted it.
Pass this to as many Smart Bloggers as you can think of and make sure to write something about them (like why you think they are a Smart Blogger).
Let them know they have an award by dropping them a comment on their blog.

Okay, here are the smarty-pants blogs that I love to read!!
Parenting Pink- one of the very first blogs that I discovered-written by a very intelligent momma of three little girls. She is also the editor of the Parenting Pink Website- wonderful resource.

Jiggity Jigg - very well written and quirky blog. Makes me smile often and think about things that I normally might not think about! Thanks Jen for your "smart" writing!

I also received this creative award from Acorn Alcove- Thanks a bunch!



The rules for this award is to pass it on to 5 other great blogs and let them know.

Here are my five great blog selections for the Kreative Blogger Award:

The Ramblings of a Crazy Woman Take a peek at all of the creativity going on over here!
The Masked Mommy This is one of my new favorite blogs- she inspires a clutter queen like myself to get my act together!
Kiddio Love all of the creativity at this site. Lots of craft and website suggestions!
A Duck in her Pond This blog is written by a very creative young gal- funny and full of energy!
The Snail's Trail Recently came across this creative momma of two snails! Values education and real-life learning!

Congratulation to all of the above recipients! Thank you for sharing all of your wonderful ideas. I enjoy reading and learning from your blogs!


Take Care!

Jen

Creative Blog Feature!

Oh my goodness! I was just over at Ramblings of a Crazy Women and she has the most adorable Easter Crafts posted. You have to stop over- cute hand and egg wreaths and bunny projects galore. Had to share- lots of creativity going on over there.







Have a great day! Back to birthday party planning for Peanut!!

Jen

Aboriginal Art

www.flickr.com

Today, Sunshine learned about Aboriginal Art, which was very cool. Next week, she will be studying Australian music. Peanut was interested, so she decided to create her own Australian picture. They decided to draw a turtle and a kangaroo. Below are some of the symbols that they incorporated into their animal drawings:


Neat, huh? Take Care!

Jen