The super talented Amy Atlas put together this adorable airplane party for her little boy’s birthday. See more photos and inspiration here.  I love the “wrapped” juice boxes! And the blue and orange color palette – one of my favorite combos.

via Party Perfect

The nice folks at Envirosax recently came out with a new line of reusable bags called La Boheme, and they’d like to give one of them to you!

The designs in this series mix the “romanticism of Bohemia and the ideals of the Art Nouveau movement” to give you five new great-looking bags to schlep around your stuff. I’ve found Envirosax’s bags to be even better looking in person than they are on the computer screen, and they’re nice and big to pack full of library books, extra clothes, groceries, valentines, or whatever it is you happen to be toting around. (If you’re not familiar with Envirosax bags, you might want to read my review of them here.)

The winner will get to choose one bag from the La Boheme series as their prize. You know the thing I love most about having giveaways is reading your comments, so comment away!

To enter, just leave a comment on this post by midnight MST on Friday, February 5. Anonymous comments won’t count. The winner will be randomly chosen and announced by February 8. If I don’t hear back from the winner, another winner will be chosen. One entry per person please. Thanks and good luck!

I’ve wanted to write a post for a while about talking to our kids about the tragedy in Haiti, and involving them in the process of helping the survivors. If you’re a parent, you’ve probably been struggling with the same issue, and unfortunately there’s no clear way to do it.

We’ve done our best to explain to our kids the nightmare the Haitian people are going through, and how we, along with others from around the world, are giving money to help them to rebuild their homes and lives. My son’s school is holding a shoe drive through a group called Soles4Souls, so my daughter and I gathered all of our gently used shoes from around the house, and talked about how they will be given to little girls and boys who lost their shoes in the earthquake. Our neighbors held a garage sale, and their boys set up a stand collecting donations for Haiti. We’ll probably do the same at our garage sale in a few weeks.

One Phoenix mother has been making these hearts with her daughters, while talking with them about the devastation from the earthquake. She’s selling these hearts in her Etsy shop, Blueberry Kisses, for $4 each, with 100% of proceeds being donated to the Haiti Relief fund. Buying some of these hearts for your kids for Valentines Day is another small way to show them the efforts we can all take to help those who have lost so much. You can have these hearts backed with a brooch pin or hair clip, so you or your kids can wear these sweet helping hearts. Or buy a bunch, and string them up for Valentine decorations.

If any of you want to share how you’ve helped to involve your kids in understanding and helping with Haiti relief efforts, I’d love to hear about it. Thank you.

Hearts for Haiti (and lots of other handmade goodies including bags, bows, and birthday t-shirts) available at Blueberry Kisses

(Thanks for this find, Laura!)

I made strawberry shortcakes from scratch for the first time last week. It was a special request from my daughter that she wanted to make them with my mom, so we girls got together to mix, roll and bake. I found a low-fat version online from the Mayo Clinic. I substituted butter for the margarine because I have not been a margarine eater since I left home many years ago. Plus, the recipe only called for 2 tablespoons, which didn’t sound too terribly fattening.

Here’s the recipe from the Mayo Clinic, which I think would make a very sweet dessert for Valentine’s Day. You could even cut the biscuits into heart shapes. (These biscuits are super delicious, by the way. So flaky, which kind of surprised me since they didn’t have much butter.) Here ya go…

Healthy Strawberry Shortcake

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose (plain) flour, sifted (I never sift.)
2 1/2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder (My baking power may have only been single-acting.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons trans-free margarine (Or in my case, butter)
3/4 cup fat-free milk

For the topping
6 cups fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
3/4 cup (6 ounces) plain fat-free yogurt (or a squirt from a can of whipped cream.)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Using a fork, cut the margarine into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the milk and stir just until a moist dough forms.

Turn the dough onto a generously floured work surface and, with floured hands, knead gently 6 to 8 times until the dough is smooth and manageable. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a rectangle 1/4-inch thick. (I’d like to see someone roll dough into a rectangle. Is this on You Tube?) Cut into 6 squares. Place the squares onto the prepared baking pan and bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes.

Transfer the biscuits onto individual plates. Top each with 1 cup strawberries and 2 tablespoons yogurt. Serve immediately.
Nutritional Analysis
(per serving)
Calories    250     Cholesterol    2 mg
Protein    7 g     Sodium    486 mg
Carbohydrate    45 g     Fiber    4 g
Total fat    5 g     Potassium    368 mg
Saturated fat    1 g     Calcium    220 mg
Monounsaturated fat    2 g

With the help of randomizer.org, I’ve selected the winners!

The PUR water filter goes to Bess, who said “Wow. What an amazing cause. Clean water should be a basic right for every child in our world. As a mother of three young children I can honestly say that this is a cause which truly speaks to me. Thank you for sharing this information with us!”

And the Kate Landers Event winner is Donna, who said “in need of a theme for my son’s 5th b-day coming up and this would be a great start! Thanks for the chance.”

Thanks to everyone who entered, and to PUR and Kate Landers Events for providing the prizes!

a little note: Donna also won the last FFFM giveaway, which is super good fortune for Donna, but I want to make sure the rest of you aren’t annoyed. I was wondering if I should let the same person win every 6 months or something like that, or just leave it as is and let the universe decide who wins with no strings attached. If you have strong feelings on this, just let me know. Thanks!

Thanks to Stephanie for alerting us to the Olive Juice Kids big sale. This adorable dress is on sale for $19.95, and there’s a big selection of other  kids’ clothes and accessories that are up to 60% off.

Does this dress remind you of a little girl who sleeps with her friends in two straight lines? If you have a Madeline lover in the family, you should check out the Madeline party just posted on Kate Landers’ event blog. Here are a few pics:

Remember to enter the Kate Landers Events giveaway here on FFFM by this Friday!

I got my Family Fun magazine today and had time to peruse while the kids were playing in the yard. I was inspired to make these “Squid Dogs” or Hot Dog Octopuses tonight for dinner. They were a hit. Here’s how it went down:

I broke lots of spaghetti trying to stick them in the dogs, overcooked the dogs in order to get the noodles done, and half of the octupuses ended up looking like they had hair plugs, but nobody seemed to mind.

I’m giving my laundry room a new year makeover. It’s only halfway there, but I love it already. Lots of white and IKEA organization. I just ordered these vintage crate labels to frame above the dryer. (Tried to find some from an Arizona citrus company, but no luck.) I’ll post “after” photos when the deed is done. In the meantime, I hope you’re all feeling juciful and splendid. This spring-like weather sure has me feeling that way!

$6.99 each at thelabelman.com

While I was planning my daughter’s lollipop birthday party, I gave serious consideration to starting a company that sold unique kids’ birthday party decorations and party-ware. I still might, but in the meantime, I guess I wouldn’t mind sending the business to someone else

I got an email last week from Kate from Kate Landers Events. Like me, she saw the need for a company that offers custom, classic and seriously adorable party products. On her online shoppe, you can pick and choose your invitations, tableware, favors… even monogrammed hair bows and felt hair clips.

I’m loving these personalized favor bags:

Custom round stickers…

And if you’re into birthday hats, check these out:

Kate has graciously offered to give away the winner’s choice of either one Fabulous Festoon Trimmed Party Hat of your choice, one Exquisite Felt Party Hat of your choice, or a set of 10 classic paper party hats of your choice.

To enter, just leave a comment on this post by midnight MST on Friday, January 15. Anonymous comments won’t count. The winner will be randomly chosen and announced by January 18. If I don’t hear back from the winner, another winner will be chosen. One entry per person please. Thanks and good luck!

I’ve been on a quest for comfortable slipper socks, and I’m happy to say I found them. Soft, cozy, and flat on the bottom. I don’t like the feeling of a big foamy insert under my feet, and these have none. I got the SM/MED size, which says it fits size 5 – 7 1/2. I wear a size 7, and these feel a little big, so if you have small feet, these might not be the right slippers for you. I got them at the Walking Company store at Scottsdale Fashion Square last week, and they were having a big sale because the store is closing. If you’re in the area and looking for quality comfortable shoes, you should check it out. (I saw some girls buying these cute knit UGG boots there, and I think they were 40% off the sale price.)

$12 at The Walking Company