Boo to YOU!

Happy October Everyone!  It's fall y'all, time for football and bonfires and pumpkins and the fun tradition of Boo'ing or Ghosting your friends and neighbors!  I picked up a few items to "Boo" our teacher with tomorrow.  A cute cup that says "You're a HOOT" I bought from Walmart for $5, embellished soap I made and her favorite candy.  

I embellished the soap bottle.  This can be done for any holiday and it's inexpensive to "make".  Here's what you need.  Bedazzled stickers - I purchased mine from Hobby Lobby.  You can usually find these in the scrapbook section or among the holiday theme items.  These stickers are currently on sale 40% off.  A bottle of soap I purchased at Kroger (they currently have lots of fall themed scented hand soaps on sale for $1). And you will need Goo Gone (I prefer the spray bottle as opposed to the squirt bottle).

 

Peel the clear label off the front of the bottle.  It comes off pretty easily in one piece as you can see below.  You can take the paper label off the back of the bottle but it is way more cumbersome and I like to keep that label on so the recipient knows what is in the bottle and can easily see the list of ingredients.

You can not see from this picture but there is a sticky residue left behind from the label that you need to clean off the bottle.  Next you need to hold the bottle with a paper towel to cover the back label  and spray a little Goo Gone on sticky residue you are trying to remove.  Rub the Goo Gone all over the front of the bottle until you feel the sticky residue starting to come loose.  Then I use a little plastic scraper to scrape the residue off the bottle.

Once you think you have scraped most of the residue off, use a paper towel to wipe the front of the bottle clean and make sure there is no Goo Gone or sticky residue from the label left behind.  Then just add your stickers to embellish the bottle.  And voila!  You have a cute holiday themed soap that cost under $2 to make.

It's All Greek to Me!

My daughter's class is studying Greece and her teacher wanted to have a Greek Day.  She had centers where students could make paper crowns that looked like olive leaves and branches, potato sack races (as their "Olympic competition") and a food station where the students could have a taste of Greece.  Below are the dishes I made and the recipes.  This was a lot of fun and the children really enjoyed it.  Enjoy!

A Taste of Greece Recipes

Greek Salad on a Stick

2 English cucumbers (cut into 1/4inch slices)

1 pint grape tomatoes (sliced in half)

1lb block of feta cheese (sliced into 50 square cubes)

1 can sliced black olives drained and rinsed

Toothpicks

Directions:

Stack a black olive slice, a cube of feta cheese and ½ grape tomato (in that order) on top of a cucumber slice and secure with a toothpick.  Repeat until you make enough for your class.

Fresh Figs with Drizzled Honey (Served with Vanilla Greek Yogurt)

2 pints fresh figs (Publix now has Brown Turkey & Black Mission)

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

Honey (enough to drizzle over top)

Directions:

Rinse figs and pat dry.  Tear stems off the top of the figs.  Slice in half, sprinkle granulated sugar and drizzle with honey.

KOFTA - Lamb Meatballs 

(we served this with Tzatziki sauce we bought from Costco)

1 lb ground lamb

1lb ground beef

½ a red onion
1 bunch fresh flat leaf parsley
2 eggs
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with non-stick parchment paper. In a food processor or food chopper chop red onion, parsley, eggs and all the spices together.  Dump the meat and the food processor mixture in a large mixing bowl. Work all the ingredients together with yours hands until the meat, onion, spices and parsley are all well combined.  Use a small 2in – 2 ¾ inch cookie scoop to scoop the meat into uniform size balls and place on sheet evenly. Bake 25 minutes or until set and no longer pink in the middle.

Brown Sugar & Cinnamon Baklava

1 16 oz package phyllo dough thawed (there are 2 rolls in each box and you will only need 1)

1 cup brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup butter melted

1 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ cup honey

Preheat oven to 350 degrees .  Butter a 9x13 baking dish.  Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside.  Unroll 1 packgage of phyllo dough.  Cover phyllo with a damp paper towel to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, and brush melted butter over the top sheet thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered.  Sprinkle 2 - 3 tablespoons of the brown sugar and cinnamon mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, melted butter, brown sugar & cinnamon, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 - 8 sheets deep.

Using a sharp knife cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. Bake for about 40-45 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.

Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

Remove baklava from oven and immediately pour sauce over it. Let cool. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it is wrapped up.

Spanakopita Cups

3 boxes/packages Athens phyllo cups

10oz frozen chopped spinach (thawed and all watered squeezed out)

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 cup crumbled feta cheese

¼ tsp garlic powder

¼ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Remove phyllo cups from packaging and place cups on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Place spinach, ricotta cheese, feta cheese, garlic powder and salt in a mixer at low speed.  Mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.  Spoon a tablespoon into each phyllo cup.  Bake for 8-10 minutes until cheese has melted.  Serve immediately.

Olive Oil Lemon Cake (from Eat, Live Run website)

4 eggs

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Zest of 1 lemon

juice of 2 lemons

powdered sugar for serving

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake liners in mini muffin tin.

Beat together the eggs and sugar until very pale and fluffy. For best results, use an electric mixer on high setting for five minutes. If you don’t have a mixer, beat by hand until very thick.

Slowly stream in the olive oil and lemon juice into the eggs and sugar mixture and fold in with a rubber spatula.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and zest. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, making sure you get down to the bottom of the bowl so everything is incorporated well.

Pour batter into prepared mini muffin tin and bake for 15 minutes. 

Let cupcakes cool in pan slightly before removing and dusting with powdered sugar.  Recipe makes about 60 mini cupcakes.

Steals & Deals Target Edition

Hi everyone!  I was out shopping at Target*** yesterday (I can't help myself).  They had some great items on clearance if you need to make any themed baskets for school events.  Below are some basket themes that coordinate with the items I saw marked down.

• Take Flight basket - they had lots of kites marked down from $2.08-$2.68, huge foam glider planes you can assemble marked down to $6.98, water balloon launchers, foam rocket launchers, bubbles and bubble machines on clearance as well.
• Where the Sidewalk Ends - They had huge boxes of sidewalk chalk marked down, all kinds of bubbles, bubble machines, glow bubble solutions and balls on clearance.
• Digging in the Dirt - Their entire line of Discovery items was marked down, from mini lanterns to butterfly kits, to bug vaccums and more ($2.08-$10.48) along with shovels, rakes and more.
• Super Hero Basket - They had super hero kites, super here kickboards and TM Ninja Turtle bubbles on clearance.
• Nerf Basket - They had their entire line Nerf water guns and super soakers on clearance.

Happy Shopping Everyone!!

***Target is Snellville

Deals & Steals

Our school has a Bingo night each fall that every class (i.e. room parent) must create a basket for.  I have also been at schools who hold fundraising auctions at their events or festivals that each class had to make baskets for.  If you need a full list of ideas click here for a more extensive list.  Walmart** currently has lots of games, toys, crafts, outdoor activities and school supplies marked down. I have a list of basket themes below that you could incorporate the items they have marked down if you wanted to get started on yours. Target will be marking their school supplies down soon as well if you prefer to shop there.        

• Super Hero Basket – they have lots of super hero games and puzzles marked down.
• Outdoor “Backyard Again” basket – they have lots of outdoor items such as glow in the dark bubbles, balls, rolling buckets, water sprayers, slip and slides, sling shots, bow and arrow, etc.
• Game Night Basket – they have lots of board games and card games on clearance.
• Lego Basket – They have little micro Lego character sets on clearance for $2.50 each. 
• Duck Tape Basket – Walmart has TONS of Duck tape and there are so many craft ideas for it now. Back in the sewing section they have sets Duck tape sheets on clearance for $7 and Duck tape craft activity sets (one makes a boy’s wallet and one makes a girl’s purse) on clearance for $7. 
• "Let’s Get WILD” theme – There are tons of items on clearance that are zebra or cheetah print like straw cups, lap desks, mirrors, notebook and notepads, locker décor, pens, pencils, travel pillows, tape, etc.
• Art Basket – they have markers, crayons, notebooks, scissors, glue, etc marked down in the school supply section. They also have sets of 9 art canvases for $9.97 in the craft/sewing section.

Here are some pictures of baskets I did last year with items I purchased on clearance. They are a good example of how things that might not normally "go together" work with the right theme title.  

The first one is a basket I made with a Dippin Dots set that was marked down for $11 and a set of ice cream shaped sidewalk chalk and a journal with an ice cream cone on the front.

The second one is a "Wild About Pink" basket I made from items I bought on clearance.  It had a zebra lap desk I bought on clearance at Walmart, a zebra travel pillow, a zebra journal, zebra Duck tape, pink slipper socks, black and white hair scrunchies, etc. and I bought the cute zebra cellow bag at Hobby Lobby.

**The Walmart I shopped at today is off Collins Hill Road if you are looking for specific items I noted in the basket ideas.

Back to School 2013

It's that time of year again and I'm not sure if everyone else is back in session but we are and I have compiled a list of the Back to School ideas/links I used this year!!  I hope you enjoy!!  Best of luck this Back to School Season:)

Back to School First Day Printables
Thanks to Pinterest there are some adorable signs you can print for your child (or students) to hold to take that "first day" photo with.  My favorite is this one from ohsoprintable.com.

Back to School Notebook Printables
Want to make that plain notebook super cute?  Check out these FREE printables from TeachersPayTeachers.com!  Just set up a username and password and there are TONS of FREE printables for all occasions.

Getting to Know the Teacher
I'm a huge advocate of getting to know your teacher.  Nothing is worse as a "lead"room parent at a school as when you see a class spend money and time buying or creating something your teacher will not use.  So asking your teacher to fill out a "profile" or "favorites list" is always helpful.  You can use the one I always have posted on my blog under Documents OR you can check out this cute one from lifesweetlifeblog.com!

Curriculum Night
As always I strongly encourage ALL my room parents to utilize the time you have during Curriculum Night to ask for volunteers.  I place a sheet out with EVERY school event I am responsible for like winter and end of year party trays, tents and coolers of ice for Field Day, snacks for testing.  Parents who work are much more likely to sign up to send something in and they will often do it during the euphoria of Curriculum Night before the grinding schedule of fall sets in.  So grab them while they're hot...and then in April when you are dragging a little you can pull out that sign up sheet and see you already have volunteers (you'll just have to remind them:).  To help further this process I bring treats.  This year I made cake pops to look like apples.  I followed these directions and used red Wilton candy melts to dip them in, green striped straws I bought at Hobby Lobby and I cut green apple Rips candy to make the leaves.  I picked up those napkins in the background that look like notebook paper at Target (in the dollar section).

Teacher Treats
I like to bring a "Back to School survival kit" each year to open house.  This year I included chocolate,skittles, soda, aspirin, Shout wipes, lint brush, a sewing kit, breath mints and hand sanitizer.  I own a Silhouette and so this year I cut vinyl to embellish the hand sanitizer (and then I made a few extra for the other school administrators and staff).  If you don't own a cutting machine, Hobby Lobby has a great selection of pre-cut vinyl letters that you can just peel and stick onto any tote or bottle to embellish or personalize.  This is an insane time of year for teachers and showing them you are thinking of them with ANY little treat is very much appreciated. 

Homemade Glow In the Dark Slime

One of my favorite end of year parties is a science party.  The kids LOVE them and I love that we can actually TEACH them something while they are having fun.  My typical science party includes making slime, making ice cream and "the diet coke and mento's" experiment (if the kiddos are 3rd grade and above). 


I usually order a Steve Spangler classroom slime kit.  If you don't know of this company I would HIGHLY recommend it.  They are amazing.  Their classroom slime kit is around $40 and though it pretty much blew my budget, it had everything I needed and I didn't have to do anything but show up with it to school.  It has every supply you need, a sealed container (so the bus drivers don't hate you) for the kiddos to take their slime home in, instructions and a detailed lesson plan.  The first time I ordered a kit in the May madness and end of year insanity I procrastinated and placed my order on the last possible day to be shipped to my house in time for the party.  And as always when you wait to the last minute...something goes wrong.  The kit came the day before the party...I actually checked the box at around oh I don't know FIVE O'CLOCK in the evening.  And that's when I noticed I had 24 cups and only 12 lids.  I had a complete meltdown and ran screaming around the house, "why me, why me" and then called the company to tell them the ruined the lives of 12 third grade students.  I calmly called the number on the order form and explained what happened and how my party was at 9AM the next day and I had 24 third grade students who were going to be so disappointed.  Oh and I was BROKE because I spent so much money on the kit!  (Ok let's all agree the truth was somewhere in between.)  Anywho, the chick who answered the phone asked me 3 times to recheck and recount the lids.  To which my snarky self explained I am not a Kindergartner and can COUNT and I was still short 12 lids.  Then she said not to worry I would have the lids by 8am the next day.  I asked her what crack rock she had been smoking because they were in Colorado and I was in Georgia and it was May, not December and Santa wasn't granting wishes and making magical deliveries.  She told me to trust her.  What choice did I have, so I hung up the phone and continued my rant. And I kid you not...when I awoke the next morning those 12 lids were on my doorstep.  The company had express overnight-ed them.  The bill that Steve Spangler paid was in the label part of the package.  It cost them almost $100 to ship me those lids.  Remember I paid $40 for the actual kit.  They seriously paid $100 so my 12 third graders would have a lid.  I love this company.  I can not say enough about them!  I ordered from them every year since.



Now, I didn't have $40 in my budget this year.  And if you don't have $40 in your budget here's how to make it on your own MUCH cheaper.  Here is what you need for a class of 30 or less:

1. Clear Glue (I used two and a half 5oz bottles)
2. Borax (2tsp)
3. HOT water
4. 1 Highlighter (I used an old green one)
5. 2 large containers with lids to transport the solutions in to school
6. Measuring spoons 
7. 8oz Plastic snack containers WITH lids for each student.  I used these I bought at the dollar store (they came 4 to a pack)
8. Plastic table covered for the classroom - your teacher will thank you.

First solution - In one container mix 2 cups HOT water with 2 cups clear Elmer's glue (you need to measure the glue exactly but I used one and a quarter 5oz bottles to get 1 cup). Stir with a spoon.

Second Solution - In another container mix 2 2/3 cup hot water with 2 tsp Borax.  Now if you want your slime a certain color you can soak an old highlighter in the water before you add the borax (and that will actually make it glow under a black light.  Or you can just make clear slime.  Keep these mixtures separate and bring them to school.

Now you can make the slime in any quantity you want but it's basically 2 parts the Elmer's glue solution to one part borax solution.  For each student I used 2 tablespoons Elmer's glue solution to 1 tablespoon borax solution. 

To make the slime you first place the Elmer's glue solution in the container you have.  Then you add the borax solution.  Cover securely with a lid and have the kids shake vigorously for 1 minute or until the liquid turns to a ball of slime.  Then they dump it out and play!  If the mixture is too runny you need to add more borax solution.  If it's too thick you can try to add more Elmer's glue solution or you can just start over.  That's it!!  And this slime stayed slimey all summer - until I got sick of seeing it and threw it out.  This total experiment cost me about $15 to make for the class.  And it also was a great "party favor".  It keeps the kids occupied and you can draw out the process by explaining how slime is made if you need to:)

Valentine Carrots

This year my teacher asked me to make a heart shaped lunch for my son's pre-school class.  We cut sandwiches into hearts with a cookie cutter, we cut slices of cheese from a cheese block into a heart shapes, we cut strawberries in half to look like a heart and then I made these heart carrot slices.  You take a carrot stick and using the potato peeler you shave or "whittle" one side of the length of the carrot into a point.  Then you cut a "v" out of the round top length of the carrot.  I used the potato peeler to "round out" out the "v" edges.  Then you slice the carrot horizontally into hearts.  Viola!