Puppy Birthday Party

Puppy Birthday Party

Not my party, but such a well done theme that I wanted to write about it!

Puppies, puppies, puppies - they were everywhere! As soon as the children arrived they were given a pair of homemade puppy ears glued on to a head band to wear during the party. Those who wanted could also have their face painted with a dog nose.

The living room was "The Adoption Center" complete with puppy holding pens and a veterinarian's office.  Each child picked a puppy to adopt. The puppies came from the Oriental Trading "Mini Bean Bag Pound Assortment". Each child named their dog and filled out an "adoption certificate" that the mom found online for free. 

Then the kids pretended to give the dog a check up with toys that the birthday girl already owned. Next followed a good grooming with brushes, combs and a tiny hair dryer. 

Finally the children decorated a pet carrier for their new puppy. The handled boxes came from The Container Store. The parents cut a flap out of one of the short ends for a "doggy door" and added a cutout bone as a name plate. Very cute!

Next came a trip to "The Pet Store" (dining room) where the kids could "buy" a collar, leash, dog food (chocolate cereal) and a little Frisbee for their new pup. The parents made the collars and leashes out of ribbon and office supplies.

Snacks included Twizzler tidbits "kibble", Scooby snacks (dog bone shaped graham crackers), popcorn, candy dog bones from Oriental Trading and, of course, cupcakes and ice cream. The cupcakes had vanilla frosting decorated with chocolate paw prints made from a Junior Mint surrounded by several chocolate chips.  

 

The party wrapped up with games including pin the paw on the puppy, pass the puppy (hot potato) and a dog pinata. While the parents agreed that the kids hitting a dog with a bat seemed odd none of the children seemed to mind. Of course, when one of the older children knocked its head off it was all we could do not to either scream in horror or fall to the ground laughing!

As the American Humane Society would attest, "No puppies were harmed during the party..."

Valentine's Day Child's Tea Party

Valentine's Day Child's Tea Party

In 2 weeks I'll be hosting my first tea party - for 6 little girls. It was Danielle's idea. It's the first "girly" thing she's ever wanted to do and I am secretly thrilled. I truly want her to be an independent, confident, physically active child. As a result I've made sure that she plays with boys as well as girls, that she can fish, climb trees and build a bird house. I've tried to create a balance with baking and art, but we are not girly girls in this house.

As an impromptu party I really want to keep the plan simple and the budget low. I'm going to have the girls play dress up with Danielle's trunk of dress up clothes (possibly removing the miner's helmet, firefighter uniform and chicken suit first). I found 2 Easter bonnets at Dollar Tree and added some flowers and feathers that we had on hand. If I had found 6 hats I would have used them as a party craft for the girls. I ran past Goodwill and found 3 more hats and several fluffy scarves. I washed the scarves and stuck the hats in a hot dryer for 1/2 an hour to clean them. Total cost for activities $14.

If dress up doesn't occupy enough time I'll have the girls play traditional kids party games: duck, duck goose, musical chairs and clothes pin drop. Maybe we'll sing "I'm A Little Teapot"...

We'll decorate with things we have on hand - pink and white crepe paper streamers, some paper lanterns and table cloths from Dollar Tree and home made heart doilies (instructions below.) I'm looking forward to decorating the table. My china is a modern black and white pattern, but I think I can make it work with enough pink and red paper in the mix.

The Menu (my favorite part!)

• Tea for grown ups and brave little girls & Punch for the less adventurous
• Tiny PB&J Sandwiches, edges dusted with pink sugar
• Fairy Bread (Graham crackers with strawberry cream cheese and sprinkles)
• Chicken Salad with red curry paste sprinkled with almonds on Carr's water crackers
• Mini Egg Free Chocolate Cupcakes
• Egg Free Shortbread cookies with jam

Egg Free Shortbread Thumbprint Cookie recipe
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sifted plus 3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Strawberry, raspberry or cherry jam

Beat the butter on medium-low speed until smooth, add sugar and vanilla. Sift together flour and salt. Gradually beat into butter mixture on low. Transfer dough onto a piece of plastic. Pat into 8-inch disk. Wrap with plastic; chill 1 hour.
Heat oven to 275 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick; cut into 1-to-2 1/2-inch rounds. Reroll until all dough is used. Press each round with your thumb and add a tiny dollop of jam. Chill 15 minutes before baking. Bake 25 to 30 minutes until firm but not brown; let cool. Cookies can be made 2 to 3 days ahead, and stored in an airtight container.

Heart Doilies How-To
This is not as hard as it sounds! Danielle can do it (as long as I help a little...) Once you learn the basic folding technique you can also use it to make lovely six pointed snowflakes. We used snowman napkins for our practice pieces since we had them on hand. I really liked the way they turned out.
1. Position a prefolded square paper napkin so that the closed corner faces you.

2. Fold right corner toward left corner and flatten, forming a triangle.

3. Fold left corner toward triangle's longest side and flatten, forming a narrower triangle.

4. Using scissors, cut a convex arc from triangle to create top of half a heart.

5. Cut off bottom of triangle from left to right to create lower heart half, leaving at least 1/4 inch intact on right edge. The more you cut at this point the more distinct your individual hearts will be. (Left side of triangle will be center of a heart.) Unfold.

6. Repeat with napkins in several colors, varying position of cuts to create doilies in different sizes.

Egg Free Mini Chocolate Cupcakes
aka "Crazy Mixed-Up Cake"
I've posted egg free cupcakes recipes before. This is our favorite easy cake recipe. It can be mixed in one pan and baked as a snack cake if you'd like. It's a great recipe for kids to start baking because its very simple. It came from a cookbook my grandmother gave me when I was first married, Reader's Digest Down Home Cooking.

 1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup low-fat milk

Preheat oven to 350. Grease & flour pan or use cupcake liners.
Sift together dry ingredients (you can stir them in the pan if you are using an 8-inch square pan).
Pour in all of the wet ingredients and mix with a fork.
Bake mini cupcakes 10-12 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. bake an 8x8 pan for 28-30 minutes. I typically frost the cupcakes with a simple chocolate butter cream frosting.

Washing An American Girl Doll...

Washing An American Girl Doll...

I am not a doll lover. Frankly, they give me the creeps. Barbies and fashion dolls are okay if a little trashy, but large dolls bother me. I hate their eyes - always staring at me.  I was a little scared of dolls even before I saw Trilogy of Terror or any of the Chuckie movies.

I've avoided buying the girls any baby dolls or the very popular 18" dolls. It was easy with Amanda - she preferred other toys. It's more of a challenge with Danielle. She clearly prefers playing with her stuffed animals to the one baby doll that she has so I've never had to confront my irrational fear head on.

However two of her very best friends received American Girl dolls for Christmas this year. I'm not a huge fan of "keeping up" so under normal circumstances this wouldn't be a concern. So what if Danielle doesn't have one?

Then one of the moms mentioned that she was considering having her daughter's January birthday party at our local American Girl Bistro.  Being who I am, I looked it up online. The site said "for girls and their dolls to enjoy a special day together!" So I called the store and asked about whether or not the doll had to be an American Girl doll. While they didn't exactly say "yes" they didn't say no either. The response was that any girl who brought an American Girl doll would get the special treatment for her doll. Anyone who didn't bring an American Girl doll would be welcome to borrow a doll for the duration of the party. Okay, not ideal, but not so horrible. What's wrong with a loaner doll for the day?

Then I remembered meeting friends at a "fancy dress" restaurant. The man hadn't realized that a jacket and tie were required. He spent the evening uncomfortably wearing an over-sized yellow jacket that the restaurant kept for just such occasions. We all felt awkward and out of place. The yellow jacket was as glaring in a room full of dark coats as a Scarlet A. I didn't want Danielle to feel that way if I could prevent it.

Luckily, one of her cousins had saved her American Girl doll from the mid-1990s. Her mother generously boxed it up - along with several outfits!- and mailed it to Danielle. She was lovely and Danielle was thrilled to get the package.

Then I noticed that the doll smelled...off. Musty. I tried Lysol. I tried Febreeze. I looked up American Girl cleaning instructions online. Following them I tried a gentle sponge bath. Then I tried soaking it in the sink... It still smelled weird.

I looked up the American Girl "doll hospital". Basic cleaning costs $24 (plus shipping). I even checked into the cost of a replacement body -$39! More than the price of the knock off doll sold at Target.  Finally, I put it in the washing machine, cringing the entire time at the thought of putting a $100+ doll in the washing machine. Here is what I did:

Step 1: Remove the head. Turns out it's only tied on to the cloth body. Brush hair. Sprinkle baking soda inside head, place in a sealed plastic bag with a small cloth bag full of activated charcoal. Creepy decapitated doll head.. yuck! at least the eyes are closed.

Step 2: Soak the body in the sink using mild detergent (Woolite) and baking soda.

 Step 3: Wrap and tie her in 2 clean pillow cases then into the washer for another rinse and a spin. Somehow I feel a little like I'm drowning a bag of kittens...


Step 4: She survived the washing machine! Now to dry her.
I've moved from the morbid to the vaguely obscene...

I'm drying her upside down to get any water out of the hollow vinyl arms and legs. I figure 24 hours in front of the fan and then a week in a bag with activated charcoal. If that doesn't get rid of the smell... well, I guess that's what perfume is for.

The Way to Wash An American Girl Doll...

Washing An American Girl Doll...

I am not a doll lover. Frankly, they give me the creeps. Barbies and fashion dolls are okay if a little trashy, but large dolls bother me. I hate their eyes - always staring at me.  I was a little scared of dolls even before I saw Trilogy of Terror or any of the Chuckie movies.

I've avoided buying the girls any baby dolls or the very popular 18" dolls. It was easy with Amanda - she preferred other toys. It's more of a challenge with Danielle. She clearly prefers playing with her stuffed animals to the one baby doll that she has so I've never had to confront my irrational fear head on.

However two of her very best friends received American Girl dolls for Christmas this year. I'm not a huge fan of "keeping up" so under normal circumstances this wouldn't be a concern. So what if Danielle doesn't have one?

Then one of the moms mentioned that she was considering having her daughter's January birthday party at our local American Girl Bistro.  Being who I am, I looked it up online. The site said "for girls and their dolls to enjoy a special day together!" So I called the store and asked about whether or not the doll had to be an American Girl doll. While they didn't exactly say "yes" they didn't say no either. The response was that any girl who brought an American Girl doll would get the special treatment for her doll. Anyone who didn't bring an American Girl doll would be welcome to borrow a doll for the duration of the party. Okay, not ideal, but not so horrible. What's wrong with a loaner doll for the day?

Then I remembered meeting friends at a "fancy dress" restaurant. The man hadn't realized that a jacket and tie were required. He spent the evening uncomfortably wearing an over-sized yellow jacket that the restaurant kept for just such occasions. We all felt awkward and out of place. The yellow jacket was as glaring in a room full of dark coats as a Scarlet A. I didn't want Danielle to feel that way if I could prevent it.

Luckily, one of her cousins had saved her American Girl doll from the mid-1990s. Her mother generously boxed it up - along with several outfits!- and mailed it to Danielle. She was lovely and Danielle was thrilled to get the package.

Then I noticed that the doll smelled...off. Musty. I tried Lysol. I tried Febreeze. I looked up American Girl cleaning instructions online. Following them I tried a gentle sponge bath. Then I tried soaking it in the sink... It still smelled weird.

I looked up the American Girl "doll hospital". Basic cleaning costs $24 (plus shipping). I even checked into the cost of a replacement body -$39! More than the price of the knock off doll sold at Target.  Finally, I put it in the washing machine, cringing the entire time at the thought of putting a $100+ doll in the washing machine. Here is what I did:

Step 1: Remove the head. Turns out it's only tied on to the cloth body. Brush hair. Sprinkle baking soda inside head, place in a sealed plastic bag with a small cloth bag full of activated charcoal. Creepy decapitated doll head.. yuck! at least the eyes are closed.

Step 2: Soak the body in the sink using mild detergent (Woolite) and baking soda.

 Step 3: Wrap and tie her in 2 clean pillow cases then into the washer for another rinse and a spin. Somehow I feel a little like I'm drowning a bag of kittens...


Step 4: She survived the washing machine! Now to dry her.
I've moved from the morbid to the vaguely obscene...

I'm drying her upside down to get any water out of the hollow vinyl arms and legs. I figure 24 hours in front of the fan and then a week in a bag with activated charcoal. If that doesn't get rid of the smell... well, I guess that's what perfume is for.

DDIY - I Didn't Do It! I'm not handy either...

Last year I naively suggested to Kevin that we make each other gifts instead of buying them. We are fortunate to have most of the things we want or need, so this seemed like a good idea when I was surrounded by mounds of torn gift wrap on Christmas morning.

I forgot about our deal until Kevin started producing amazing handmade gifts for me. For Mother's Day and my birthday he gave me pictures that he had painted or drawn himself. I felt like such a slacker!

 

I began my quest for the perfect homemade gift. First, lets be honest, men are harder to shop for than women. You can give a girl jewelry almost any day and she'll be happy. Many men like outdoorsy activities or sports. Chances are good that they already have the equipment they need. What does that leave us poor female shoppers? Most men hate to get clothes and, frankly, even the most progressive man secretly considers it our duty to provide them with food so home cooked or baked items fall a bit short.

Guys require gadgets; preferably gifts that plug in or at least light up. Short of learning to weld or solder most gadgets were beyond my humble abilities. And then I had my aha! moment. Kevin said in passing that he'd like a dip station for his home workouts. I looked them up online. As far as I could tell them were $200 metal frames. I could make that. Well, maybe not out of metal, but PVC piping seemed like a logical substitute.

First I found a website that described what I'd need to make the machine. Making a pipe dip station like the one shown would cost as much or more than buying one. I did a lot of research to determine that the typical width is 21-24" apart and the typical height is 36".

Thank goodness for the folks at Lowe's! Their slogan is "lets build something together" and they mean it! They let me use their computer to look up the instructions, loaned me a pen and paper to make the calculations and then (best of all!) made the cuts in the PVC pipe for me - for free! All together, the staff spent more than an hour helping me out. The components cost less than $40 and the hard work was done. Bargain!

I came home and this is what I had. Then I had what we'll euphemistically call my WTF moment. Could I really build this thing?!? "Its just tinkertoys for grownups," I kept reminding myself.

What WAS I thinking?!

According to the directions I needed:

• 8- 90 degree elbows
• 2- “T”s
• 2- 12 inch long pieces of pipe
• 7- 24 inch long pieces of pipe
• 2- 36 inch long pieces of pipe  

This was my working diagram. Note how scientific I am in my approach.

I was able to get most of the pieces from 2 ten foot lengths of 1 1/4 inch PVC. Each length cost $4.68. I needed a third section of pipe for the 12" pieces. Here were the cuts we made:
 
Pipe #1: cut into two 36" lengths and two  24" lengths
Pipe #2: cut into the remaining five  24" lengths
Pipe #3: cut into two 12" pieces

My first set of elbows was wrong - I needed ones with two wide openings to connect the pieces. Another trip to see my friends at Lowe's. Turns out that I needed "slip" elbows - great! They actually cost about half of what the first set did.  Now the cost of the project was just over $30. Then, oops! I accidentally ended up with three 12" pieces and six 24" pieces. Thankfully, I had left over pipe. I bravely pulled out the circular saw, put on some safety glasses and made my first cut.

Finally, I had all the right pieces in all the correct lengths. Time to build! The first version was exactly to the plan. However, it was a really wobbly. Also the front end was lower than the back because the T's used to stabilize the back actually raised that end up. I disassembled it and hid the pieces back under Amanda's bed.

I thought I could correct this by creating a T intersection on the other side as well. Off to Lowe's for another set of T's. By now I was confident cutting the PVC piping on my own and cheerfully sawed away in the garage. I read all about solvent welding and bought the proper primer and glue. Danielle happily helped me paint on the "pretty purple" PVC primer and we glued the pieces in place.

Then I realized that I'd basically built a cage.  I should have stabilized the sides instead of the font and back. Kevin was going to bump his knees the way this was. To correct it I needed ANOTHER set of T's to connect the ends that were now the sides and the new back. Man! This was getting complicated. Time for another diagram....

Suddenly- VOILA! I realized I could turn the whole thing UPSIDE DOWN and it would be fine - no additional pieces needed. Since I used 24" sections the original handles became the 'feet" and the feet are now the handles. There are days when my own genius astounds me.

Tragically, when Kevin tried it out Christmas morning it was still wobbly and clearly wouldn't work for its intended purpose... It didn't help that Danielle and I had missed two of the joints when we were gluing it together. Poor Kevin almost wiped out. Not quite the present I had planned.

I can see from this product that an angled frame would have solved my problem, but I'm not sure how I could have built one using the available PVC joints. If I had found this ad I NEVER would have attempted this project... Save yourself time, frustration and aggravation and BUY ONLINE. It's the same price ($98 including shipping) through Amazon.com

In case you want to learn how to do dips check out this site. Like many things, I've mastered the theory but can't put it into practice!

Now what to do with the large plastic frame we have in the garage...????