DIY Party Mom

5 Steps to Have a Great Family Night

Do you ever just have "one of THOSE days?"

How about "one of THOSE months?"

I can not believe how stressful this month has been. My son was in a car crash (he's fine but it was rather scary since he was out of town when it happend), we had a BEAR visit our front door about dinner time looking for his next meal (let me tell you that was super freaky), my dryer finally went out after twenty years of service, we broke the electronic key to our car so it was un-driveable for two weeks (why does everything have to be electornic these days?), and there was a stabbing at the prison where Dear Hubby works so he's not been around much at all lately so I've been 'single parenting' lately.

Totally fun. (NOT!)

It sounds to me like we need a Family Night In this week. I need to know all my Munchkins are home and that they are safe and sound and nothing is going wrong for one night. (Knock on wood.)

To help plan for the evening, I've come up with 5 steps to have a Great Family Night.

1. Have a Themed family Dinner.

Coming up with a theme dinner is easier than it sounds and it really puts the family in the mood that tonight is something extra special. You can do something as easy as putting a sheet on the floor and having a picnic dinner. Or you can put out all the fine china on the table and eat by candlelight. Or you can even go with a theme from your family activity for the evening. If you're playing Monopoly, create a set of Monopoly dishes and enjoy a dinner from Indiana Ave or Charleston Place.

2. Clean Up Dinner Together

Have everyone pitch in to help clean up dinner and get the table cleared quickly. Even little kids can take their plates to the kitchen and bigger kids can help in larger ways. Doing it all together makes the clean up faster and no one enters the night with bad feelings because "they had to do all the work while everyone else just sat around." (No, never heard that one at my house...okay, complete sarcasm there. It's a daily occurence.)

3. Pick a Movie or Game

Now, really you should have already done this before you got to this step in the evening because of course, no one will be able to agree on a game or movie. If you already have something picked out, then the kids are more likely to go with it while only a little bit of rumbling in the background.

You can rotate who picks the game each night or let it be random by picking out of a hat. Just make sure it's something you can all do together.

4. Have Fun Snacks

I know you just ate, but who doesn't like a fun dessert while sitting around chatting, playing a game, or enjoying a good movie? It seems to loosen up the jaws and get conversation flowing.

If you are watching one of the Superhero movies that are in abudence these days, you can create something fun like Superhero Twinkies. If you are playing cards, you can make Guardsmen snack cakes. Or if you're just playing out in the sprinklers for the evening, you can enjoy Goldfish crackers and give them a fun theme name like "pool toys".

5. End the Evening While Still Having Fun

I don't know about you, but as a mom I can see when things start to go downhill and the kids are getting tired of the family time. When you can see this start to happen, find some way to end the evening on a high note. You can make it a race to a certain point in the game, you can have a "next hand wins" ending, or you can say anyone past a certain point wins. Just be sure to end the night when your family is still in a good mood.

These are just five steps to help you have a great family night that I've learned from experience with my kids. You can institute a no-electronics rule if you want. That depends upon your family and whether that will put the kids in a worse mood and hating every moment they spend or not.

The idea is to get your family to be together, laugh, and have fun. If that happens, its a win no matter what you do.

Why It's Important to have Family Nights

We had a moment last week that really made me stop and think.

I had gotten up for the day with all the thoughts of all that I needed to do that day. You know how it goes, you start thinking about all the chores that need to be done. The dishes that need cleaning, the floors that need sweeping, the bills that need paying, the errands that need running, the laundry that needs folding....

The list could go on and on and on and on.

For me, it did. I had so much to do that day that I just wasn't sure how it was going to get done. I was stressing. I was not looking forward to the day. I was in a slightly foul mood.

Then my kids asked if I would play a game of cards with them.

Ugh.

Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely LOVE to spend time with my kids. I have the best kids in the world. But the thought of adding something more to my "To Do List" was not adding good vibrations to my day.

But then I looked at my kids. Really looked at them.

They were so eager to spend time with me. They gave me that look like they were hopeful but they knew I wouldn't be able to do it.

I looked at my daughter who is only spending a few more weeks with us before heading off to college. My son who is heading into his senior year and already is a shadow in our home. My thirteen year old who is always so miserable at home because "there's nothing to do", and my nine year old who gobbles up any family time like it's the best dessert in the world.

I knew I had to play.

So we sat down to start playing cards. Soon Dear Hubby wandered in. Then the Daredevil decided to play. Soon, we were all there cracking jokes, actually spending time together with no arguments, snacking on every treat in the house, and having a good time.

At one point, the Perfectionist looked up, smiled really big at me, and said "I like this. We should do this more often." A glowing endorsement if ever I had one from my teenage son, and a challenge to me to get on the ball and have more family nights.

So now I've decided to take this quote to heart by Harold Lee and put aside my "important work" and make sure I do the really "important work" of making memories with my children.

I invite you to take up my challenge and have more intentional family time and host a family night each week. It can be something as simple as a family game night. As fun as a themed family dinner. As low key as a family cookie night. Or as beneficial as a family service night.

I've decided to give each of my family nights a theme to help me come up with fun activities that my kids will enjoy and remember.

1st week: Family Game Night
2nd week: Family Activity Night
3rd week: Family Movie Night
4th week: Kids choice
5th week: Service Project Night

I'm pretty excited about the thought of making my family time more intentional and not just stealing moments with my kids when we can fit it into our schedules.

What about you? How do you make family time more intentional and a priority in your life?

My First eBook and Dare to Share Linky Party

I have spent the last few weeks drowning in Superhero ideas, crafts, decorations, and food. Planning a great party is so much work.

But this week, I put all those ideas into action and I treated the young women in my church group to a Superhero party. We spent the evening crafting, eating, and getting to know one another. I was so thrilled to find they enjoyed the party as much as I did. They are such amazing young women and I'm so lucky to be working with them each week.

It's funny because I fought the idea of working with teen girls for so long that when the call was issued, I blanched. I didn't think I would be able to do it.

It turns out I just needed to step up and put my cape on. I'm so glad that I got the chance to learn that and be with the girls.

I stepped outside of my comfort zone the last few weeks and actually wrote my first eBook. I decided to put all that I learned and all the printables I have made for my Superhero party and share them with you all in one place.

I'm pretty excited with how it turned out and all the printables that are included in the book. There are 55 pages of ideas, projects, and prints for you to help you plan your own Superhero party.

Check out a preview of the Table of Contents:

You can get all that for only $5.00 and you can find our Superhero eBook here.

It's an instant download, so you can be reading, planning, and printing your party in no time at all. How awesome is that? I love instant technology when you're in the mood to craft.

Now it's time to PARTY!!!

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What have you been up to this week? I can't wait to see!

An InLinkz Link-up

Superhero Party and My FIRST Party Idea eBook

I'm still working on the last of the details for my Super Dad Father's Day party this weekend, but I did use all the party preparations to throw a Superhero party for the Young Women in my church group. We turned it into a fun night of "getting to know you" and Personal Progress excitement night.

The girls absolutely loved it and I learned things about them that I never knew, so it was a win-win.

Every superhero needs a place to change into their hero identity, so I created a Telephone Booth doorway to enter into the party room. I used a red table cloth and white strips of paper to create the look of an English telephone booth.

Once the heroes came into the party room, they found a cityscape made from a blue tablecloth, black tissue paper, and yellow squares and rectangles.

In the center of the background, I created a Newsstand filled with all the hero party treats. I used an old bookcase and put Superhero wrapping paper on the back.

On the top of the Newsstand, I put the Superhero Soda, cups, napkins, and our Personal Progress Party Favors.

On the next shelf, I made cupcake stands using spray painted Dollar Tree candlesticks and coasters found in the kitchen area at Dollar Tree. I wrapped the coasters in coordinating ribbon and placed my cupcakes on top.

I found red and blue star serving plates in the front Holiday section at Dollar Tree and used them to put my Superhero Twinkies and my Secret Identity Mustache Chocolate Covered Oreos on.

The last shelf on the Superhero Newsstand was made using acrylic containers from Walmart. I cut black squares and rectangles and pasted them on the containers to look like windows. Using red, blue, and yellow candies, I created a candy bar for the superheroes to munch on.

The girls used fun foam, stickers, glue, scissors, and ribbon to create their own superhero masks. I was really surprised with the creativity of the girls and how well they created their masks.

While we talked about how the girls were now superheroes, they could do anything they put their minds to, even Personal Progress. Since it was important to have goals and see those goals daily in order to achieve them, I created these Personal Progress tracking charts for each of the girls to take home as party favors.

I purchased mirrors from Dollar Tree. I used Sharpie Oil-Based Paint Markers to draw a table on the bottom with 9 rows (for the nine Young Women values) and 11 columns. In the first column, I put each of the values' initials (such as F for Faith, DN for Divine Nature, and so on.) The next nine columns were to put star stickers in when the girls completed that experience. The last square was for when they completed their value project.

At the top of the chart, I wrote "You are Braver then you believe, Stronger than you seem, Smarter than you thin. You are a daughter of the Almighty God."

We finished up the night by taking photo booth pictures in our masks in front of the cityscape backdrop and enjoying some sweet treats. We all had a great time and I'm looking forward to doing this again soon!

I am super excited about this next project that I've been working on for the past little bit.

As I was gathering ideas and preparing for these Superhero parties, I found so many great ideas, that I decided to put them all together to create a Superhero Party PDF eBook.

This book has all the information you need to plan your own Superhero party. Here's a sneak peek at the table of contents:

There are 55 pages of ideas, pictures, printables, and recipes for you to create a Superhero party that you will be the hero of.

You can find the PDF eBook in our shop here.

Superhero Chocolate Covered Twinkies

If you have never tried a chocolate covered Twinkie before, you are really in for a treat with these Superhero Twinkies. Not only are they chocolate covered, which is a true delicacy, they are decorated up to be your favorite superheroes, and the ideas on how to decorate them are endless.

Start by melting your needed colors in chocolate wafers. Most craft stores and even a few superstores carry the chocolate wafers in the basic colors needed for most superheroes. Blue can be a little bit tricky since the offered color is so light and most superheroes have more of a royal blue coloring to their costumes, but this can be fixed by adding a oil based food coloring gel to the blue to darken it up. Do NOT use a water based coloring as it will cease the chocolate up and ruin it.

Melt your chocolate slowly in a microwave safe bowl at 50 percent power in one minute increments. Stir until chocolate is smooth and creamy. Add a little bit of vegetable oil to your chocolate if needed to help it dip a little easier. Stir well.

If desired, dip the end of a six inch sucker stick into the melted chocolate and then shove it inside the end of the Twinkie. Allow the chocolate to harden so Twinkie will be on a stick when completely decorated.

Dip the Twinkie in the base color for the superhero suit.

Let excess chocolate drip off and then allow to harden in the refrigerator for a few minutes. Once hard, use decorating bags or squeeze bottles with melted chocolate to add the designs to finish the superhero costumes. Once complete, allow chocolate to harden.

Here are a few Twinkie superhero samples to give you more ideas.

Superhero Shepherds Pie

For our Father’s Day Superhero party, I’m making a Shepherd’s Pie in superhero colors to bring a little BAM! POW! and WOW! to the table.

It’s perfect for our little party since my kids love this casserole, it’s easy to make, and it has the perfect coloring to give my dinner a little bit of red, yellow, and blue.

To make this, you'll need:

1 pound hamburger

2 cans Tomato soup

1 can corn

10 potatoes

2 Tablespoons Butter

1/2 cup Milk

American cheese slices

Blue food coloring

Start by peeling your potatoes to make mashed potatoes. Cube the potatoes and boil them for 20 minutes.

While the potatoes are boiling, brown your hamburger. Add 2 cans of tomato soup and mix well. Pour the meat mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 inch casserole dish.

Drain and then add the corn to the top of the meat mixture. Spread it out so it covers the entire casserole.

If desired, add the cheese slices over the top of the corn. (My boys don't like the cheese, so we only cover half the casserole in cheese.)

By now your potatoes should be soft enough to drain and add to a mixing bowl. Add butter and milk. Mix potatoes. You want your potatoes to have a smooth consistency so they are easy to spread.