Game Theme - 40th Anniversary

Christi's parents will be married for 40 years in August.  She wanted to do something special for them, yet something that they would really enjoy.  They decided a game day with family and some of their friends would be the perfect way to celebrate.  A lunch of different kinds of dips and tortilla chips and flautas with the extras for those, were served.  Then everyone enjoyed some treats from the dessert table while they drank their coffee.  

 Without knowing how long people would stay to play, I made plenty of popcorn (2 different kinds) for snacking.  Just a plain buttered popcorn and a cinnamon and sugar popcorn that seemed to be a big hit. 

 Dominoe Brownies

 Mints with the number 40 on them and sugar cookies the shapes of hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs.

 Chocolate cake balls and white chocolate fudge dice added to the display not just in looks but in taste too.

I created this scrabble board with their picture from their wedding day and a picture of them from last year's Florida vacation.  I used the tiles to say

"Dan and Deb"

"Forty year anniversary"

 I turned tooth picks into croquet sets, complete with painted wooden balls for the tops.

 I made them cute little flowers to wear on their shirts.  Just a fun added touch.

 Onto the games.  We created a Family Feud game and played their Friends against their Family.  The highchair was used as our podium and on it was placed an ipad with a button on it for the players to hit.  One side was red and the other blue.  Whoever hit the button first, it would say whether red or blue was first.  We used a white board to write how many answers there were and put a piece of black painted cardboard behind it that we stuck lights in to make it a little more flashy and game showy.  Then we played the game similar to the TV game show and had a great time.  To end it, my parents did the fast cash round.  It was fun to go through the rest of the questions with everyone even after the game was over.  They also played catch phrase and then lots of visiting. 

What a great day spent with family and friends.  So glad for the example my parents have been to me in being married for so long through thick and thin.  Blessings to them and many more years of marriage bliss.

Purim Party 2013

Last weekend we were back at decorating and preparing for a wonderful celebration with brothers and sisters in Messiah.  Typically, our celebrations are just with women, but for this Purim party we were together as families.  What a great time of learning, worshipping, and just having a little fun together.

If you are unfamiliar with the story of Esther, which is what the celebration of Purim is about, then you should really read through that book in the Scriptures.  What a fascinating story!  God is never mentioned, but you can see how He moved among the people throughout the whole story.  Without going through the whole story, I want to give you an idea of why certain things were used for decorations.  Esther was a jew.  She was also the queen, married to the king who did not know she was a jew.  This is where the masks and the costume idea comes in.  She was someone different underneath than what the king thought she was.  Just as a costume or mask can conceal who a person really is.  In the end, Esther reveals to the king that she is a jew, which saves all of her people.  From her bravery and obedience to the Father she saved a group of people that another person was plotting to have killed.  So, that is why we went with the masquerade theme.        

Those who came in costume dressed up as Bible characters.  What creative costumes some of them came up with.  And most of the children had a grand time in the photo booth we provided for them.  Friends posed together.  Families posed together.  Was a super, fun time with many laughs and smiles.

This is Christi's little guy, Benaiah.  Isn't he just too cute?  : )

So, as you can see all who came had a wonderful time of fellowship and fun!  This was a CeLeBration filled with lots of memorable moments.  What a joy to come alongside this fellowship of people to help them and celebrate with them.

DIY Tutorial- Rainbow Cake Pop Stand

Sometimes you just might have on hand what you need to create something amazing!  In this case, my dad had what I needed in his barn.  I had my heart set on an eye catching cake pop stand that was a rainbow for the children's school program, and I needed styrofoam.  If any of you have priced styrofoam at the craft stores, you know that it can be rather expensive, especially if you need a big piece or large quantity.  

The first thing I started out with was some pink foam board that is used for insulating buildings.  Not sure how much this stuff costs if you were to buy it brand new.  My dad had some extra pieces laying around, so I used those to make my rainbow pieces.  

 I began by cutting out the arches to make the rainbow.  The biggest piece, which is red in the above picture, measured approximately 2 ft. long at the base.  That gives you a general idea of the size of it.  Then they are equally smaller as they went down in size. 

 I let the children paint them as they didn't need to be done perfectly as you can see.  I drew basic lines for them to follow, then they just filled it in.  We had to do 2 coats of some of the paint so that it was a really nice solid coat of color. 

 We sprayed them with some gold glitter to give them just a bit of sparkle.  It was hard to see it, but maybe in the right lighting or if we would have put more on, it would have been better.

After all pieces were completely dry, we glued them together tightly in the correct order of color.  My violet looks a little blue in the picture.  Weird.  Anyways just follow ROYGBIV and leave out what colors you don't have if you have to.  Make sure to glue it together so that it leans slightly towards the back.  As the cake pops go in, it will cause it to lean forward, so glueing it to lean back will balance it for display. 

I poked the holes in with a stick before I put the actual cake pops in place.  I started in the center and then worked my way to the outside of each color.  I believe this held about 45 cake pops.  Here is the final project all set up at the party.

It turned out just how I had it pictured!

Think of the endless ideas you could do with this foam board.  We would love to hear some ideas you might have of using this product to create an eye popping stand for your guests to enjoy plucking their cake pops from.