Valentine You Are Dino-Mite!!

Edible Dinosaur Valley

Party inspiration can come from anywhere. This whole party was inspired by a $3 dinosaur banner I picked up from Target at the dollar spot last month. I added the red heart stickers to spice it up for the holiday. Valentine's Day and Dinosaurs! What could be more fun?!

Don't let this T-Rex fool you, he wants to be your "friend-a-saurus"!

Another inspiration I had was from What Happens At Grandmas and her dinosaur table. I have always loved this idea and have been waiting for the right time to implement it.

I washed a sheet of plexi glass I found off a framed poster I had in the house. You can use any cut glass or plexi glass placed on top of green or floral print paper. I also added some large, paper palm leaves found in my party supply stash.

For this party we catered to the herbivores, but you could easily take care of the carnivores simply by adding meatballs, you know those things that also look like large boulders?

The nacho volcano was a hit. It's made of refried beans, Tostitos Black Bean Dip, and Tostitos nacho cheese. You can find the instructions here.  At the base of the volcano I added shredded lettuce and Tostitos scoops.

Trees, that happen to be in the shape of broccoli, and carrots made a delicious, crunchy snack for the Triceratops. However, you can't have an edible tablescape and not have something sweet for Valentine's Day. Bloody bones (Halloween leftovers) from victims of the tar pit (chocolate pudding) have surfaced. The rocks scattering the landscape are actually chocolate! And they are so good!

For a fun activity we chipped away at giant dinosaur eggs in order to excavate a mini dinosaur inside. You can find these Dig It Up Dinosaur Eggs from Mindware. If you have older kids who want more of a challenge they also have the Big Dig Dino Model. You excavate the dinosaur bones and assemble. We have done the T-Rex and were impressed with the high quality pieces.

Getting ready to excavate

I hope you have a Dino Mite Valentine's Day!!!


❤️
MJ

For more of my party ideas, home decorating, favorite recipes, twin activities x 2, and all things

"Mrs.Party Planner" please check me out on facebook and "like" the page. New blog posts will appear in your news feed.You can also follow me on www.bloglovin.com, on Instagram and Pinterest

Creamy Dairy Free Hot Chocolate

It's freezing cold here and it's been a long week. Lots of ups and downs. This morning I decided to end the week on high note with a "sweet" surprise for my kids after school. Homemade chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate.

We don't have any food restrictions, but I have been trying to limit dairy in my diet. When I came across a hot chocolate recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe that suggested using chocolate almond milk I had to give it a try. I adapted the recipe to my liking and it's a winner!! No one here had any idea that I used chocolate almond milk in place of dairy milk.

Creamy Dairy Free Hot Chocolate

Ingredients

2/3 cup of cocoa powder (I used 

1 cup of sugar

1/8 tsp salt

2/3 cups of water

half gallon Silk Dark Chocolate Almond Milk

Instructions:

In a saucepan, add cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and water. Whisk together and stir constantly to prevent burning. Turn down the heat and simmer for 2 minutes.

Add Chocolate Almond Milk and let simmer until hot, but not boiling. Serve immediately or transfer to a slow cooker. You can keep it on warm for several hours.

Then top with whip cream (if you don't need to be dairy free), marshmallows, Piroutte chocolate wafers, sprinkles and enjoy! 

Cheers to Friday and sweet gestures towards the ones you love!

❤️
MJ

For more of my party ideas, home decorating, favorite recipes, twin activities x 2, and all things

"Mrs.Party Planner" please check me out on facebook and "like" the page. New blog posts will appear in your news feed.You can also follow me on www.bloglovin.com, on Instagram and Pinterest

Quick and Easy Super Bowl Party Ideas

Whether you are there for the game, food, or commercials, I've got some easy and delicious ideas for you. Get your game face on and lets go!!

This is not a sponsored post.

First, the table decorations. Here is how you can make a super easy and cheap football banner. I found the 12 x 12 football field and black and white striped paper at Hobby Lobby for twenty five cents a sheet. I used four sheets for this banner, that is approximately three feet long. I cut the pennants with my Cricut Explore Air 2 within minutes. However, if you do not have a Cricut Machine you can do what I did for many years and simply cut the triangles by hand. Make one to your desired size and use that to trace the rest.

I then used a hole punch and thin rope I found in my husband's tool box to string this all together. Any kind of thin rope, twine, or yarn will work. For the penalty flags I used yellow cocktail napkins.

 

The goal posts were fun, cheap, and again easy to make! These will look great at any football party or tailgate in the future. I got the idea from WISE DIY. After a quick trip to Home Depot and a yellow spray paint session, they were complete. I also used green floral foam from the Dollar Tree to hold the posts up.

Next, and maybe most important, the food. For our party we have a mix of salty and spicy. A nacho bar is always easy and a fan favorite with kids and adults. Tostitos Scoops accompanied by an individual serving of Tostitos Nacho Cheese Dip is a great game day snack. Salsa, guacamole, jalapenos, onion, tomatoes, olives, peppercinis, and green onion are other toppings you can set out at your nacho bar. And for convenience, you can order the Tostitos products right off Amazon and have them shipped to your doorstep!

The most popular game day snack in this house are my baked boneless chicken wings. These are a healthy version of wings. You can also turn down or up the spice level depending on your crowd. Add some crisp celery and carrots, then serve with blue cheese or ranch dressing. I shared these on the blog last month, you can get the recipe here.

To add a little extra fun to your party.You can print these free Super Bowl Bingo Cards or these from Here Comes The Sun.
And lastly, another fun addition, or something to keep the kids occupied, is to throw around these inflatable footballs from Amazon. Note inflatable so they hopefully won't break anything!

Enjoy the game!!!!

❤️
MJ

For more of my party ideas, home decorating, favorite recipes, twin activities x 2, and all things

"Mrs.Party Planner" please check me out on facebook and "like" the page. New blog posts will appear in your news feed.You can also follow me on www.bloglovin.com, on Instagram and Pinterest