Lego Party Ideas

A few weeks ago my 7 year old wanted to have a Lego Party with some of his friends.  Here is what we did (just cutting and pasting the rest of this post from my own blog):

The Lego Party was a huge hit. Mark had a great time and all his friends seemed to also. I had tons of fun putting it together and was really happy with how it all turned out. And let's be honest, I'd much rather plan a party than clean house, pay bills, etc. So, it really was a great week. Although my bathrooms, floor and laundry may complain of neglect.

Here was the invitation Mark and I put together and delivered:

And here are some pics from the party:

(click to enlarge)

Each picture above is numbered and a coordinating number is below with a description/explaination:

1. We decorated in traditional Lego colors with balloons streamers, and different colored plates, cups, forks, etc.

2. One of the games we played I printed off of Lego.com, it had two similar pictures and the kids had to find and circle the 15 differences between the two pics. The winner got to pic a lego person keychain/bag charm as their prize.

3. For another contest we had everyone build anything they wanted to out of legos. We had spaceships, Star Wars ships, a house, and other things that I had no idea what they were, but everyone loved what they made and loved playing with all their creations together after this game. For this game everyone got a bag of Lego Brick candy that I got at the bulk candy store in the mall for a prize.

4. Here are the Lego Brick Candy prizes. We had one for the most colorful creation, one for the fastest looking one, one for the person that used the most people, etc.

5. These were the prizes for the other games. They are Lego figure keychains that the boys like to hook on their backpack zippers. I took Mark to the Lego store at the mall and he picked them out so of course they are all Star Wars.

6. These are the gift bags I put together for the boys. I found the idea online and just bought bags and coordinating cardstock and then used a craft punch to punch the circles out of the cardstock and then attached them with pop dots to the bags. Inside the bag was a lego poster again a download from Lego.com that I had printed on 8x10 photo paper at Fred Meyer, and a set of lego stickers (from Lego.com) that I printed on sticker paper from the office supply store.

7. The first game we did as the boys arrived was to have them guess how many Legos were in this jar. They all guessed super low, and I would have too if I didn't know how many were in there. Can you believe there are 300? 

8. We had a tallest tower contest to see who could build the tallest tower in 2 minutes and it couldn't fall over. 

9. I used the bags as place cards at the table so that boys who knew each other would have a friend to sit by (some of the kids were from church and some from school so they didn't all know each other before hand)

10. I found the basic idea for these Lego cakes online from Betty Crocker and thought they turned out great. I'm not a cake decorator by any means so they definitely aren't perfect, but the boys thought they were great!

The time actually flew by and the boys were totally content to just build and play with their Lego creations. I had to pry them away to eat the cake before their parents came to pick them up.

submitted by Emily (www.delightfuldistraction.blogspot.com)

Halloween Carmel Apples

Caramel Apple Recipe

1 pound brown sugar

2 sticks butter, at room temp

1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1 cup light corn syrup

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

12 apples

12 dowels


Topping:

1 (12 oz) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 TB shortening

Combine ingredients in a 2-3 quart saucepan. Heat at medium low temp, stirring constantly but slowly and frequently scraping the bottom of the pan. Cook caramel to the soft ball stage (236) degrees. Pour into a small deep metal or heat proof bowl and let cool to 200 degrees. Line a baking sheet with wax paper. Push a dowel or stick into the top of each apple. Dip apples into caramel using a straight up and down motion. (Too much agitation causes the caramel to separate and become oily). Place dipped apples on baking sheet and place in the fridge for 15 - 20 min. Next, dip caramel apples into melted chocolate, then sprinkle with decorative candy.

TIP: Granny Smith and Fuji apples are the best apples to use. Make sure you wash and dry them because there is a waxy film on the apples which will make the caramel not stick.

To make the sticks I cut a 12 inch dowel in half. Then cut out 5 inch by 1.5 inch scrapbook paper. I spread Mod Podge on the back of the paper and rolled it on the stick. It sealed perfectly!!

Submitted by Brandy Dunaway
www.dunawaydivasanddad.blogspot.com

Cute Anytime Gift Idea

Supplies needed:
2 colors of cardstock (Valentine's is coming . . . think pink!)
cellophane
coordinating ribbon
and . . .
Chocolates!

To make these little cuties . . . borrow your friend's scallop cutter to get the cute edge on the smaller circle. (Or you can probably buy that fun cutter at your local craft store.) Then I used the Creative Memories cutting systems circle patterns to cut the larger circles. I used a bit of 2-sided adhesive to stick them together. Finally, I used the CM circle maker to do the smaller circles for the coordinating gift tags, and a corner rounder to finish them off.

I've had my eye on these chocolates for two years now . . . they are from Costco and I think they are so cute! One box was $10.-12. I think, and dividing them up for these gifts had enough for the women I visit teach and for the elderly couples and widows in our cul-de-sac. (And of course a few left over for me to sample.)

These are nice because they are a small but delicious gift for a single person to enjoy.

submitted by
Alisha