Happy Valentine's Day!

Me: What kind of valentine cards do you want to give out to your class this year?

Monkey:  I don’t want to give out any.

Me: What?  You have to.

Monkey:  All the cards have love on them.  I don’t want to give them out to the boys.

Me: How about we get girl and boy valentines?  Look, here are baseball theme ones.

Monkey: (Looks at the back of the box).  Nope

Me: Why?

Monkey: (Reading the box)  Valentines, let’s take a walk in the ballpark together.  See!  It’s like I am asking him out on a date.

End scene.

I thought we could get one more year out of boxed Valentine cards, but I quickly found out that I was wrong.  I didn’t want the holiday to go by without it recognizing, so I started to brainstorm for ideas.  Where did I turn?  Why, Pinterest of course!  I found this Star Wars idea, but the Monkey was not having it.  I went back to the drawing board, and found this cute idea – Pixie Stix magic wands.  Winner!

This is a super easy idea, and can be adapted for any holiday (more on that later).  I bought a box of Pixie Stix at Sam’s Club (50 sticks for $12).  The ribbon was left over from Christmas.  I wanted to use hearts as the topper, but the Monkey said no way.  We found these cute Princess crown and Prince shields at the Dollar Tree (pack of 10 for $1).

Putting them together is a piece of cake, and can be done in four steps. 

1. Step One:  Tape the topper to the label on the candy tube (this will cover it up). 
2. Step Two:  Cut the ribbon into 12” lengths, and tie on the tube. 
3. Step Three: Use your scissors to curl the ribbon to make things extra pretty. 
4. Step Four: Admire your handiwork.

The Monkey loved the end result, and was super excited to give them out to her classmates.  I am sure that the class is going to LOVE them, and I am confident that their parents are going to HATE me.  Today is her classroom party, and I made cupcakes.  Totally not going to lie – these are from a box, and the frosting came from a can.  

Like I said, you can adapt these to any holiday.  Here are some ideas that you can build on:

St. Patrick’s Day à Shamrocks and green ribbon

Easter à Bunnies/Eggs and pink ribbon

Birthday à Balloons and any color ribbon

However you celebrate, have a Happy Valentine's Day.

Until next time....

   

Operation Baking Gals

A few months ago I came across an article (can’t remember where) about this great program called Operation Baking Gals.  GALS stands for Give A Little Support (so men can play along too!).  It’s a group of volunteer bakers from around the country who bake and ship homemade treats to military men and woman that are currently deployed in war zones.

I became a member of the program back in October, and this was my second time participating.  Teams are formed each month, and how much you want to participate depends on you.  Don’t have the time this month?  Don’t sign up.  It’s as easy as that.  Not a baker?  Send a box of Oreos.  It’s really not what you send – it’s the fact that you sent them something.  The men and women need to know that they are thought of, and that they service is appreciated.

I whipped up a quick batch of Banana Muffins to send, only because I had all the ingredients on hand.  I was short on time, so that’s the only homemade goodie I made.  I didn’t want the care package to look “skinny”, so I included boxes of Girl Scout cookies, peanuts, oatmeal packets, and candy that I had in my pantry. The Daisy Girl Scout troop that meets at our school made Valentines (it was a way for them to earn their Caring and Considerate petal).  I think a little note from a 5 year old would bring a smile to anyone’s face, wouldn’t you?

Operation Baking Gals is a fun way to give back, and would make a super service project for scouts.  If time permits, I would like to do this each month.  I am always looking for people to play along, so let me know if you would to.

Oh, by the way.....the boxes are free from the US Postal Service, and they have this neat image on the side.

Easy Banana Bread

• 4 large bananas (well riped), mashed
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• ½ tsp.salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mash the bananas in a mixing bowl.   Add sugar, eggs, and oil to the bananas, and mix well. Sift the dry ingredients together, and add to the banana mixture.   Spoon into well-greased muffin tins.  Bakes for 15 to 20 minutes, or until done (the tops of the muffins will bounce back).  

Until next time.....

Stupid Cupid, Stop Picking On Me

I find myself researching Pinterest all the time to come up with ideas to use at our Girl Scout meetings, and I am never let down.  Three of the activities we did last night were the brain child of Pinterest.  Scouts doesn't always have to be about earning badges, and reading stories.  It should be about having fun, and I think that's what the girls had last night.

Minute To Win It with Conversation Hearts

I have NEVER watched Minute To Win It, but I assume the contestants have one minute to do something.  Duh.  That's what the girls had last night.  They had one minute to stack as many conversation hearts that they could.  It sounds easy, but you have to know that candy hearts aren't smooth, and sometimes they are broken or stuck together.  For one minute, the room was quiet.  The girls worked hard to build their towers, but gravity was not their friend.

The Monkey stacking her hearts

We did another game using the candy hearts.  This time, the girls had one minute to transfer the hearts from one plate to the other by only using a pair of chop sticks.  Several of them said they had used chop sticks before, so they thought that would work to their advantage.  However, I quickly found that they didn't know how to properly use the sticks!  The rules stated they could only use the sticks, and they could not drag the candy from plate to plate.  Again, the room fell silent for one minute as each girl concentrated on their task.  Some girls struggled, and some girls had great success.  In the end, one scout transferred 27 hearts to her plate, and she was rewarded with a bag of Cotton Candy (much to her mother's happiness).

The Love Train

The last activity we did was The Love Train, which involves one of the most important thing about scouting -- teamwork.  The girls lined up (in alphabetical order, so we could avoid a lot of this: "I want to be first"), and I placed a balloon between each girl.  They had to walk across the room together without dropping the balloons.  If one fell, they had to start all over again.  They started off taking small steps, but gradually worked their way to walking "normally" across the room.  Once they figured out how to work together, they found it to be easy.  I was happy that they learned this out on their own without help from the adults!

Choo!  Choo!

We finished the evening with a small craft, and then the girls decorated sugar cookies for their snack.  They were then sent home with bellies full of sugar.

Until next time.....