Hop on Popcorn Bar and Party Supply Giveaway

I coordinated a Dr. Seuss Carnival for our grade school read-a-thon last month and we had a HOP on POPcorn Bar as one of the booths.  It was a huge hit with the kids!

Above are a few of the treats we had spread out on the table.
We bought the popcorn from our local gourmet popcorn company. We selected orange and green apple to go along with the book cover (I was tempted by the cherry red and cotton candy turquoise colors which would also be Dr. Seuss style) then I grabbed a couple of bags of pre-popped butter yellow popcorn from our local grocery store to fill the yellow bin. We also had smaller containers, found at the dollar store, filled with pretzles, gold fish crackers, M&M candies and marshmallows.  I’ve also seen Teddy Graham crackers used that look like the Lorax Brown Barbaloots.
If you are doing a smaller party I would have made the popcorn myself at home. There are great recipes for Jello Popcorn that would make your popcorn colorful and tasty like the popcorn below.
I’ve seen some beautiful displays of the Hop on Popcorn bar done, like this one from Kristi at LollyJane.com, which inspired me, but I wanted bright colors and casual buckets for our carnival theme. The party below was for teenage girls and looked stunning.

Our fabulous PTA volunteers (thanks Kimmie & Karyn!) manned the booth and made this eye-catching sign (thanks Sara).  Make sure to have disposable gloves and serving utensils (we used measuring cups) and we chose to have the volunteers serve the food. If you have a smaller party it would be fun to let the kids serve themselves. It still gets messy so make sure to have a table cloth too.

I used my Silhouette cutting machine to make the vinyl letters on the yellow tub. You could always draw words on a container with a permanent marker.

I had wanted to get these cute chevron treat bags I had seen at party stores but the price was always more than I was willing to pay. They happened to be a daily deal on Pick Your Plum the month before this party so I snatched them up that day. They offer these bags often, as well as other fabulous party supplies, home décor, jewelry and more.

I have recently become an affiliate for Pick Your Plum (you’ll notice their daily deals on my side bar) and they have offered to give one of my readers a $25 Plum Box full of swank crafting, fashion, baking, and home decor swag! I’m not sure of the exact contents but I know it is always something fantastic. Just check out their site to see some examples. Most items are under $10. Sign up for their alert emails to know what deal is up next.

Use the gadget below to enter to win a $25 Plum Box. Giveaway ends May 7, 12:00 midnight EST. U.S. valid addresses only. UPDATE: Midnight May 7. A winner has been selected and contacted by email. 
a Rafflecopter giveaway
If you need more ideas for a Dr. Seuss Party or Carnival, follow my Dr. Seuss Party Pinterest board.
This is where I’ve collected ideas that helped me plan this carnival.  I’ll be sharing more details about the carnival on obSEUSSed later this week.
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Simple Mother's Day Gift, Printable and Children's Books

My husband helped my kids decorate hot pads for myself and their grandmas for Mother’s Day last year.  If you’re looking for a quick and easy Mother’s Day gift idea, this craft is perfect. I love functional keepsakes. I use these hot pads almost every day and love to see them hanging in my kitchen.

They traced their hands on one side. Make sure to add their age or the date.  Then he let the kids draw whatever they wanted on the other side. Notice my toddler’s perfect scribbles.

My son also decorated an oven mitt to match the set. 

They got all of these at the dollar store. The hot pads were 2 for $1.00. The mitt was $1.00.  These are such a simple and inexpensive gift I decided to help all the kids at church make these for their moms for Mother’s Day this year.  I searched for a poem to make a tag to go along with the gift.  I found an anonymous poem and made a free printable tag for you. You can save this, print it and use it for non-commercial use (personal use only).

We are helping 80 kids make these for their moms. Some moms will get more than one if they have multiple children. We bought plain red, country blue, sage green and beige. See the Dollar Tree store products if you plan to order in bulk. I have no affiliation with them, though it is the best place I’ve found to get them.

My Favorite Mother’s Day Children’s Books
(*Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate and you may purchase these books through clicking the links or the picture of the book. I make a small percentage from the sales. I encourage you to try the books at your library first.)
Mother, Mother, I Want Another, by Maria Polushkin Robbins, is one of our favorites throughout the year. My husband introduced me to it when we had kids because he remembered his mom reading it to him.  It is a darling story about a mouse who likes to stall by asking for another drink, another toy and so on. Then at the end he asks for another hug.

Another favorite that I’ve have had for the past two years is My Mommy is a Blogger, by Sommer Poquette. I met Sommer at Evo’ (a conference for women in social media) a few years ago and was thrilled she had written a book that helps explain what I do for my kids.  My kids love the part that calls mommy a ‘booger.’ The story is silly yet still gets the point across. 

Here are a few other classic books about mothers that we love: (click the pics for more details)
 

Are you making any crafts or reading special books for Mother’s Day? I’d love to hear about your favorites in the comments below.

I am also a Google Affiliate: If you click or buy the links below, I recieve a small percentage.

DIY Lego Storage Container

If you’ve ever stepped on a Lego you know the importance of having easy Lego storage for kids.  I made these large Lego mini figure head storage jars out of plastic snack containers. They are easy and inexpensive to create and you're kids will love them.

STEPS TO DIY LEGO STORAGE HEAD:

1. Find a large container similar to a Lego mini fig shape. Empty the food.
2. Rip off label.  It leaves a sticky residue, you can’t paint over this well. I used detachol, soap and water to get it clean enough to paint. I recently saw some adhesive remover on the glue isle at Target you could try.
3. I used Krylon Dual Paint + Primer, Sunshine Yellow. I spray painted the outside of each container and lid (2 coats). Then I used a clear gloss to help protect it (1 coat).
4. I cut out vinyl using a silhouette machine using this method after finding a sample Lego face image online. These are simple enough shapes you could print a large face on paper and trace onto vinyl or onto the container and use sharpie markers to fill in the black. If you try the vinyl you’ll want a little black and white to complete the look. I also used vinyl to create a LEGO sticker on the back of the container to label it.
5. The containers with food cost $5-$8 then I spent $8 on spray paint (1 yellow, 1 clear can). I was able to create 3 containers for under $25 (and got to eat the food).

Before & After: Snack Containers into Lego Storage Box

 I think the Red Vines container looks the best.  I also liked the taller rounded shape of the Cheese Balls container too so I tried both. Look around for other containers at your local bulk food store or bulk food isle in the grocery store.  I really can’t stand cheese balls so we threw them away. We easily ate the Red Vines though so you may as well buy something you’ll eat so you don’t waste the food.


I love how they look in my son’s room. All three heads on his Lego style shelves. He can easily pull them out and find the Legos he needs then put them back away by himself.


 You may remember these baby food jars I turned into Lego party favor jars a few years ago.  See how I made them here.  One of my readers Mama Max made these jars and tried a larger pistachio plastic jar. She inspired me to make these larger jars so see her tips here.


 Here is my son with his 3 Lego storage heads.

Crochet Lego Blanket
His aunt made him this crochet Lego style blanket for his birthday last year and he sleeps with it every night. She lined the back with fleece. If you look closely you can see 6 bumps on each block that pop up to look like Lego bricks. I’m not positive where she got the pattern.


 We love all things Lego. See my LEGO Pinterest board for more inspiration.
If you don’t want to hassle with the mess and time to search for containers and paint them you can always buy them from the official LEGO. They have a head that sorts the bricks too. (disclosure *If you buy from these links I earn a very small percentage from the sale.)

Have fun and go play Legos with your kids today.

This post is not sponsored by or affiliated with the official LEGO. It is inspired by Lego because we build them every day at our house.