Game Day Treats

I think I've mentioned it before, but my husband is an athletic trainer at one of the local high schools.  He's been doing this for as long as I've known him and I know I'm a proud wife, but I really must mention that he's SO good at what he does.  Not just his knowledge about injuries and treatment, but he's amazing at building relationships with his student trainers.  We miss him so much during football season when his days and nights are long and we don't see him as often as we'd like, but we know his school kids need him too and we're happy to share him for the season :)

Now that my schedule is a lot more flexible, I've gotten to know a lot of his kids and they are the sweetest.  Such good kids who work hard and deserve to be treated :)  I love surprising his kids with little treats throughout the year.  Nothing crazy fancy or anything like that, but the teacher in me really does love doing cutesy little things especially now that I don't have my own classroom.  

The first official home game of the season called for such treats.  

These would be great for birthday parties or game days, too!  So I wanted to share in case you need a few fun little treat ideas also :)

Making these football treat bags is super simple and just requires a white paint pen, a pair of scissors, brown paper lunch bags, and a little patience.  Just cut off the tops of the bags (it looks even better with jagged edged scissors) and use a white paint pen to draw on the football lacing details.  Simple, right?!  

You can fill the bags with anything, but I filled ours up with some candy, a bag of goldfish with a tag that said, "It's oFISHally football season!", blue gatorade bottles (our team colors are blue and white), and a few little football themed paper goods (napkins and paper straws). 

One year I had some extra time on my hands and even wrapped the gatorade bottles with this great football textured scrapbook paper (I drew the lacing on those, too).  Extra time doesn't seem to be happening very much lately so this year the kids just got the gatorade bottles :)  

As you can see, I also attempted football shaped chocolate rice krispie treats that year, too.  This should be in the "Pinterest Fails" category.  Looks like my 8-year-old tried to decorate those!!!  Ha!

In addition to the treat bags, I made the kids some game day cupcakes this year.  Y'all...these were SO easy!  I went ahead and just used a box mix for the cupcakes, but there's nothing quite like homemade frosting, so I used one of my favorite chocolate buttercream recipes to top these off.  I baked these in green cupcake liners and used a mini closed star cupcake decorating tip for the brown piping.  I used a mini round cupcake decorating tip for the white piping.  They're not the prettiest attempt at cupcake decorating, but not a total fail either :)

All of the paper goods (straws, napkins, coasters) are from Wal Mart.  Right now they have the best game day paper goods!!! I picked up lots of extras for the season in case they stop carrying them.  We love hosting Sunday Funday and these will make for some fun little touches.

If you're looking for a great chocolate buttercream recipe, these two are the absolute BEST!!!  You can't go wrong with either!!!  I used the Two Sisters Crafting recipe for the football cupcakes and it got RAVE reviews!!!

via Pearls, Handcuffs, & Happy Hour

via Two Sisters Crafting

Super Mario Bros. Birthday Party

As a parent, it's so much fun watching my kids get into things that I used to love as a kid.  I remember spending endless hours playing Nintendo when I was the age my boys are now.  Duck Hunt.  Super Mario.  Zelda.  The list goes on.  I still prefer the throwback version of the games even though today's graphics are, as my boys would say, so much "cooler".  Bless.

My boys love all things Mario.  The games...the figurines...the books...the plushies...so it was no surprise to me when my oldest said he wanted a Mario party.  He was so excited just thinking about it.  What was a surprise, however, was his insistence on having the party on the 20th.  9 days before his birthday and about 10 days after he told me he wanted to have a party.  So I quick whipped up an invitation and texted it to some of our friends because my planning...sad to say...was so last minute.   #storyofmylife.  I love how the invitation has absolutely NOTHING to do with the theme :)   

I started scouring Pinterest for ideas about 5 days before the party.  I needed simple and easy because I knew I'd wait 'til the last minute to throw it all together.  I put the PRO in procrastination.  For real.  

On Wednesday I ordered a few party supplies off of Amazon...tablecloth, napkins, and party favors...and on Friday I headed out to pick up some snacks, streamers, balloons, and a few extras.  Since the kids would be swimming and eating pizza I didn't have to do too much, but I did want to make it special since this was the first "friend" party he's had since we moved here 3 years ago (we're always in Indiana on his birthday).  When he woke up Saturday morning, he was ecastatic and that made everything SO worth it!

Happy birthday banner - Hobby Lobby (8 years ago)

Mario Tablecloth - Amazon

The set-up was super simple.  Streamers, balloons, and lots of snacks!!!  The boys were gifted those brick looking blocks for Christmas years ago.  I had them in the attic and knew they'd be perfect for this theme!  Do you see why it's so hard for me to get rid of stuff?!?!  I feel like I might always need it!  Even if it is only once a year ;)

There were so many great ideas on Pinterest, but since I waited until the day before the party to start putting it altogether, I knew I couldn't incorporate everything.  And really, there was no need to!   I found the polka dotted party cups at Hobby Lobby and picked up a couple dozen for people to use to store their snacks.  They went perfectly with our little theme.

The snacks couldn't have been easier....and cheap, too.  Cheese puffs, marshmallows, peach rings, jellybeans, malted milk balls, and cotton candy.  I got the candy at the Dollar Tree and was able to keep the cost to a minimum.  I made all the labels in power point and I had tons of leftover ribbon from different projects I used for an extra touch of fun.  When Landon saw all the snacks and the labels he said, "Mom!!!  This is SO clever!!!"  Thank you, Pinterest, for making me seem a lot more creative than I really am.

The "toadstool marshmallows" were super easy to make.  I used a bag of Wilton red candy melts and mini powdered marshmallows for the spots.  How easy is that?!  

These "star power" rice krispie treats were probably the most time consuming, but dangit...they were good!   I made the rice krispie treats following the original recipe, but when  I was melting the marshmallows I added yellow gel food coloring. After I cut them all out, I put little mini chocolate chips on each of them for their eyes.  

I made the cupcakes and then topped them with these cheesy rings I bought on Amazon.  Landon thought these were amazing.   Bless him.   I mean, he seriously couldn't have been more excited....

I also set out these little pirahna plants and some Super MarioKart fruit snacks. (#walmartforthewin)

I just used cardstock to make the pirahna plants and then glued a skewer on the back to make them stand upright.  I stuffed them in a little pot I found at the Dollar Tree (pack of 3 for $1) and then filled it with the scrunchy gift bag filler I found there, too.  These were really easy to make and made for really cute and inexpensive table decor.

The party favors sat right next to the snack table because I didn't want anyone to forget them on their way out.  I taped mini yellow paper plates (Wal Mart) to the wall as gold coins and then scattered a few more of those brick blocks on the shelves.  

The party favors were SO simple.  I mean, let's get real.  They all get thrown in the trash anyway, so I didn't want to go too crazy with them.  A little Mario figurine,  Mario mustache whistle, Mario tattoo, and MarioKart fruit snacks.   All in all, I think the party favors averaged out to about $1.32 per bag.  

 I had the lollipops leftover from a different occasion and just slapped a label on them and put those out for fun.  I wanted them out of my house and this was the perfect occasion to get rid of them :)  I made the labels in power point and bought the figurines,whistles, and tattoos on Amazon.  The little gift bags are from Hobby Lobby (12 for $3)

The kids spent the day swimming and playing on the water slide.  I also had a little bucket full of cheapie water guns they could play with as well.  I wasn't sure they'd get touched, but they LOVED them!!!  It was too cute! 

Obligatory family pic :)  I thought it would be fun to dress the part, too!  I found my shirt in the boy's section at Target for $9 :)  Landon has already requested that I give it to him because I don't need to wear Mario stuff....and really, it was probably too small for me anyway.  Ha!

It was a great day celebrating with our friends and seeing Landon so happy...and so very, very grateful...made everything so worth it.