Mint Chocolate Chip Brownie Trifle + Springtime Ice Cream Sundae Bar

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #SoHoppinGood #CollectiveBias

We are so incredibly excited that spring has finally arrived, and since we are in a new area now, we decided to celebrate with a little get-together so the kids could get to know some of our new neighbors better. I pulled together a super quick and simple build-your-own ice cream sundae bar for an easy and fun party. We had a great time!

And for the grownups, I also made a crazy easy but crazy delicious trifle with brownie bites, Blue Bunny® Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, whipped cream, and hot fudge sauce. YUM.

It seriously took about 5 minutes to put together, but it tasted so good and looked pretty too. Win-win.

Let's start with the kids' adorable sundae bar, then I'll share the trifle instructions.

My kitchen hutch was really easy to deck out for spring with fresh white serveware and darling pink dishes, so it seemed like the perfect spot for a springtime ice cream party. I'm a firm believer that a simple party is the best kind there is. No need to stress out and make your life hectic and miserable to host a get-together. All it took was some yummy treats, simple dishes, and minimalistic decor to make this spot perfectly party ready.

I found the cutest little waffle bowls -- adorable, delicious, and they cut down on dishes I have to wash after everyone goes home. They are a triple threat. I set them out on a cute tray along with some spring decor.

And I put out an array of fun toppings for the kids to choose from. From left to right, we offered salted peanuts, brownie bites, rainbow sprinkles, banana slices, and chocolate sprinkles. We also had hot fudge and whipped cream, which I kept on the kitchen counter so kids wouldn't serve themselves and accidentally drip/spray it all over. The less hot fudge ends up on my kitchen floor, the happier Mama will be.

The 'Bunny Treats' sign felt very appropriate to put out on display with our Blue Bunny®  ice cream options. How cool is that new clear packaging? Love that you can see the flavor swirls through the packaging -- it makes choosing flavors in the store way more fun since you can see exactly what you're going to get!

Our tasty ice cream bar options were Blue Bunny® Super Chunky Cookie Dough (the crowd favorite!), Blue Bunny® Homemade Vanilla, and Blue Bunny® Mint Chocolate Chip. I picked them all up (along with all our party goodies and toppings) at Walmart during my regular weekly shopping trip, so it was quick and painless to prep for this party.

A few more white dishes and potted plants, and this made a cute little ice cream party station.

Now to serve the hungry little party animals! Certain little guests kept things simple with just a scoop of ice cream and no toppings (what?! why?!).

But others went all out and requested EVERY topping available. That's more like it.

But I'm pretty sure there are no wrong answers when it comes to a sundae bar. Except for maybe not partaking from the sundae bar at all.

I've never seen these adorable waffle bowls before, but I think they are going to be a must-have for future ice cream nights at our house. They were so tasty, so cute, and the perfect size for a little sundae!

My talented sister Rebekah (of Ritzy Reba designs) helped me out by designing this adorable coloring page for the kids to enjoy after they finished their sundaes. How cute is this?! Just right click on the image and hit 'save' to keep it and print at home for your own party! Please use and enjoy this design at home -- not for any commercial use :-)

For anyone unsatisfied by a build-your-own sundae bar (although I can't imagine WHO that person might be or WHAT their problem is), this amazing trifle should fit the bill very nicely. All the fun of a sundae, pre-stacked and ready to serve.

Mint Chocolate Chip Brownie Trifle

1/2 gallon Blue Bunny® Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream, softened
1 9x13 pan of brownies (I used a box mix), cut into bite size squares
1 (16 oz) tub frozen whipped topping, thawed
hot fudge sauce (enough to drizzle on top)

In a glass serving bowl or trifle dish, layer ingredients as follows:
1 - ice cream
2 - brownies
3 - whipped topping
4 - drizzle of hot fudge
5 - ice cream
6 - brownies
7 - whipped topping
8 - big drizzle of hot fudge
9 - brownies for garnish

Freeze until ready to serve, and let sit at room temperature 10 minutes before serving to soften slightly.

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Visit Blue Bunny® for more delicious #SoHoppinGood ice cream ideas!

Super Easy Minions Movie Night

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MinionsMovieNight #CollectiveBias

Forrest absolutely loved seeing Minions in theaters when it came out, and he hasn't stopped talking about it since. He begs for every minion toy he sees, and has asked over and over when the movie will come out so we can buy it. I couldn't resist for long--I didn't get to see it with him in theaters, and I've been so excited to watch it after seeing how much he loves it, so I picked it up recently for us to watch together. And I thought it would be fun to invite a few of the kids' friends over for an awesome Minions movie night! They had such a blast together, eating yummy snacks and watching their new favorite movie with their buddies.

Today I want to show you a super simple party you can easily recreate at home to celebrate the release of Minions © 2015 Universal Studios. All rights reserved. I think I spent about 30 minutes getting everything ready for our little movie night, and the kids had such a great time watching one of their favorite movies with their friends. You seriously can't beat a fast, simple party--quick decorations, easy food, and the kids having a fantastic time watching a great movie with buddies!

Super easy setup, but it looks so fun, right? I started by clearing off a small entry table and draping a yellow plastic tablecloth over it and tacking it up against the wall. You can find these disposable plastic tablecloths in lots of colors at the dollar store, and they make the perfect party backdrop because they're so inexpensive and make a great colorful background. Yellow and blue balloons are perfect for representing the minions and their signature colors, and I tossed some blue paper confetti over the tablecloth for a little extra color.

I wanted the food spread to be simple and easy to prepare, and also relatively healthy for the kids to snack on while they enjoyed the movie. I set out plates full of sliced fruit as well as 2 yummy dips for the kids to dunk their fruit in.

To keep with the blue and yellow theme inspired by Illumination Entertainment's Minions, I made two yummy fruit dips: Pineapple Vanilla and Blueberry Marshmallow. Oh man, they were good, and so perfect to go along with the movie since they kept with the yellow and blue colors! You can find the recipes at the bottom of this post.

I also set out wooden skewers so the kids could make fruit kebabs to dip. Forrest stuck to a strict grape theme when making his kebabs. (Notice that there are little girls' hands reaching in from both sides of the frame. Ha! Hungry little cuties.)

I made really easy blue popcorn by simply popping a bag of popcorn, placing it in a big bowl, melting a bag of blue candy melts, and stirring it into the popcorn. So easy, and so festive and fun for a minions party! I also set out pretzels and blue raspberry juice with yellow straws.

They snacked on the food spread while watching the movie, and then we played a quick game of 'pin the goggles on the minion' when the movie ended. I cut the minion shape out of yellow posterboard, and made overalls out of blue construction paper. Easy and fast!

They also got a kick out of seeing themselves in homemade goggles inspired by the minions. I cut them out of black construction paper and taped them onto a wooden skewer for a photobooth type of prop, and they thought it was hilarious to wear goggles like the minions. "Say bee-do!"
 

Now, for those delicious fruit dip recipes!

Pineapple Vanilla Fruit Dip
adapted from Mandy's Recipe Box

8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 (3.4 ounce) box vanilla flavored instant pudding
16 ounce can crushed pineapple with juice
8 ounces frozen whipped topping, thawed

Beat cream cheese with electric beaters in a medium bowl until smooth and creamy. Beat in the pudding mix and pineapple; stir until smooth. If you want a more intense yellow color, add a few drops of yellow food coloring. Gently fold in the whipped topping. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Blueberry Marshmallow Fruit Dip
adapted from My Sweet Sanity

7 ounce jar marshmallow fluff
8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 cup frozen blueberries, thawed

Beat cream cheese with electric beaters until smooth and creamy. Beat in the marshmallow fluff and blueberries until thoroughly combined. Gently fold in whipped topping. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

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Make sure to visit the Minions website to see where you can purchase your copy, as well as some special offers from retailers! Have you seen Minions yet? What was your favorite part?

Kids' Holiday Cookie Party

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #GiftDeliciously #CollectiveBias

With Christmas coming up, I wanted to do a little something to get the kids excited about the holidays. And I thought a Christmas cookie party would be a great way to generate some holiday excitement.

We headed to my mom's house for our little gathering, since she has it decorated adorably. It basically looks like a gingerbread house right now, so it seemed like the perfect location for a Christmas cookie party. We kept it simple by focusing on red and white decorations. She already had her white tree set up with red ornaments, so we used a white tablecloth and red place settings to keep the theme going.

I set up one end of the table with sweet little gingerbread man cookie plates, and used the other end of the table as a cookie decorating station. I bought OREO, Chips Ahoy!, and Nutter Butter box packs at Walmart for our party, and set them out on a tray along with some decorations like frosting, chocolate candies, and pretzels. These snack-size boxes were perfect for our party (almost no prep to pull this party together!), and they'd also be perfect as stocking stuffers, neighbor gifts, or teacher gifts. I grabbed a few extra to give to Forrest's preschool teacher and our neighbors. Gotta love an easy, affordable gift that makes this season a little simpler.

 I set out a few examples of decorated cookies that the kids could copy if they liked, which, of course, the children totally ignored and let their artistic juices flow. Fine by me, as long as they have fun!

Don't laugh at my snowmens' faces. I did my best.

We dipped the Nutter Butter cookies in melted white chocolate to create a snowman body, then used black decorator icing for the eyes and smile and an orange mint for the nose. Broken pretzels make nice antlers for OREO reindeer, along with a red chocolate Rudolph nose. And the Chips Ahoy! cookies are so delicious sandwiched with frosting and rolled in colorful sprinkles.

Poor Darcy was feeling a little under the weather on our party day. She wasn't a very active participant, but perked up after sampling the cookies, and sure looked cute sitting at the head of the table.

After we finished decorating (and snacking), we let the kids bag up their cookies to take home and deliver to their friends, teachers, and neighbors. I love finding ways like this to get them thinking about how to make someone else's day special, even if it's as simple as delivering some cookies.

We're attaching these cute little tags to our cookie bags. Feel free to print them out and use them for your holiday gifting! Just right click on the image below to save it to your computer and print at home.

I'd definitely recommend stocking up on these cookie boxes to give during the Christmas season. They're easy to find in huge bins right by the checkout aisles at Walmart!

What's your favorite Christmas cookie?

Summer Field Day + JELL-O Giveaway

This post is sponsored by JELL-O brand.

To beat the end-of-summer slump, I threw my family and friends a fun and casual field day party. We had an awesome time, and it was such a great way to get out and have some outdoor fun, despite the heat!

I went with a green theme for the food and decor--it felt fitting for this hot and vibrant summer we've been having. For decorations, I just used a few dollar store basics: a white plastic tablecloth hung on the wall, a green plastic tablecloth over the table, and some cardboard stars taped to the backdrop. Simple and inexpensive, but festive and cute.

We had our get-together around lunchtime, so I pulled together a bunch of simple finger foods that the kids and adults could grab and munch on while they played. I made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and cut them into quarters for easy snacking. I also set out popcorn, grapes, 'worm' sand + dirt pudding cups, green strawberry-kiwi fruit juice, and Arctic Grapes.

The arctic grapes made with JELL-O Lime Flavor Gelatin powder were such a fun snack to have. They were tangy and delicious, and so refreshing in our hot, dry weather. You can find the recipe here to make them yourself.

The kids loved playing games in the water. We divided them into teams to transfer water from one bucket to another using small plastic cups. They thought it was so fun, and we loved cheering them on while they raced back and forth, sloshing water all over themselves along the way.

We also played 'pin the petal on the flower,' keeping with our 'green' theme. And of course, I forgot a blindfold, so this game was played on the honor system (no peeking!). We have a bunch of little cheaters on our hands, it turns out. But they had fun anyway.

My final party game involved placing cookies on the kids' foreheads and encouraging them to get the cookies to their mouths without using their hands . . . and it was a monumental failure. Forrest ended up in tears, and some of his little friends didn't seem to see the humor we parents found in watching them try to scootch a cookie across their faces and eat it hands-free. So we quickly bailed on that game and the kids went back to splashing water all over each other.

We had such a fun day playing with family and friends, and I can't wait to throw another little shindig for us all to enjoy!

Thanks to JELL-O brand for allowing me to partner with them to throw my family field day summer party. I had a blast! Already planning to try this at home with your little ones? I'd love to hear how it goes in the comments below. For more inspiration visit: http://jello.com.

For more ideas be sure to check out Krystal’s Kitsch.

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