Our Amazing Spider-man @VuduFans Halloween Party #SpiderManWMT #CBias

In celebration of Halloween we decided to throw a Spider-man party. I invited family and friends over to eat some pizza and watch movies while enjoying trick-or-treaters and the festivities of Halloween. While the kids trick-or-treated the adults could enjoy watching The Amazing Spider-man movie.

Earlier this month I had pre-purchased The Amazing Spider-man at Walmart. By pre-purchasing the movie I had received early access to the digital copy through Vudu.com. The process was so simple and easy that I cannot wait to continue to make movie purchases like this in the future. And any day now I'll be receiving my hard copy of The Amazing Spider-man on Blu-ray in the mail.

Shopping for Food
We headed out to Wal-mart again to pick up some Marketside pizza. For $35 I was able to grab 3 pizzas, salad, and sodas for our party. Talk about a party on a budget! Plus, the pizzas were so huge we had to put them on the bottom of our shopping cart.

Closer to the official release of The Amazing Spider-man, Walmart will be releasing Amazing Spider-Man themed Augmented Reality triggers that will be included on the pizza box & display pallet, triggering special Amazing Spider-Man experiences on shoppers’ iPhone, iPad or Android in-store!

Movie parties don't have to be elaborate and what better to watch a movie with than pizza? Add a salad for some nutritional value and something simple for dessert and you're set. Plus pizza is pretty universal and liked by most. From the grandkids to the grandparents, everyone was happy!

Decorating for the Party
As soon as we got home we set up for the party. Earlier in the month we made a spider web pumpkin to greet our guests as they arrived.  We also had already pre-purchased our movie on Vudu.com so I simply logged in and got it set up to watch before our guests arrived. Since we were eating at my mother-in-law's house I was able to set up her Roku to play the movie.

I set out some snacks and goodies including some yummy pumpkin cupcakes in these adorable spider cupcake holders I picked up at Walmart. We also put up a few other creepy crawly decorations like the spider egg sack shown below.

It was rather easy to make! I took a pair of white tights and cut the feet out. Then I stuffed the foot with webbing and then covered it on the outside with webbing tying the top off. I added a few spider rings to the webbing to create the effect we were going for.

Preparing the Marketside Pizza

As we were waiting for our family to arrive we put the pizzas in the oven to cook. These pizzas were not only super easy to bake, they came out looking like we ordered them from the local pizzeria. Yum!

I was able to find a wide variety of flavors and sizes in the Marketside Deli inside Walmart and was so happy to find my family's favorite flavors. WE went with a delicious italian-style pepperoni with yummy chunks of mozzarella, a sausage and pepperoni combo, and a 5-cheese pizza for the kids. Although my kids usually end up eating all of the pepperonis off of my pizza!

Once the kids were done eating it was time to go trick-or-treating! Since The Amazing Spider-Man isn't really for young children, we thought it'd be easier to enjoy the movie while they went door-to-door.

My son and daughter chose their costumes, a duck and a ladybug, and my nephew decided he was going to turn his costume from last year (a tarantula) into a black widow for this year. How great are these costumes?

Enjoying the Movie with Vudu.com
Once the kids had headed off to trick-or-treat we settled in, grabbed a slice of pizza, and started the movie. I loved how easy it was to log in to my Vudu account and access the movies I've already purchased. We not only had access to the full movie but also additional bonus scenes not seen anywhere else.

How does Vudu work? 

It's simple! Just follow the three simple steps:

1. Pre-purchase your DVD or Blu-Ray
2. Log on to Vudu.com and enter in the redemption code
3. Have early access to your movie on Vudu.com before you receive your copy in the mail

You can even purchase digital copies of movies straight from Vudu! The selection of titles is vast.

And if you sign up now for an account on Vudu.com you'll receive a free movie!

In order to play the movie on our TV through Vudu we used my mother-in-law's Roku media player but there are plenty of other options to streaming movies through Vudu. We purchased a D-Link MovieNite Streaming Player from Walmart to access Netflix, Vudu, Pandora and more through our TV instead of hooking up our computer to the TV. 

If you don't wish to purchase a Media Streaming Player you can access Vudu.com via your Google TV, Apple TV, or your computer. You can also attach your computer to your TV to stream the movie on the big screen. 

Once the kids got back home we were able to enjoy some yummy cookies my sister-in-law made and the pumpkin cupcakes while we finished our movie as the kids sorted through their candy.

All in all it was a great Halloween and a perfect way to celebrate with family. Movie nights are pretty common in our home and we love being able to enjoy simple, easy meals while watching movies so the combination of Marketside pizza and The Amazing Spider-Man streamed through Vudu.com made the night even more enjoyable.

Pre-purchase your copy of The Amazing Spider-Man today at Wal-Mart and take advantage of all of the perks. Your movie delivered right to your door, bonus features on Vudu.com, and access to the movie before your movie arrives at your door!

For more about The Amazing Spiderman head on over to the Spider-Man Facebook page and follow them on twitter at @SpiderManMovie.

Disclaimer: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. All opinions are my own #CBias #SocialFabric 

Simple Ideas for a Magical @Disney Princess Halloween Party #DisneyPrincessWMT

There's something magical about Halloweentime. The change of the seasons, the feel of the air, and the decorations and dressing up.

This year my kids have caught on to the magic! They eagerly awaited the day we chose our costumes for this year (my son will be going as a duck and my daughter a ladybug, both homemade) but didn't want to leave it at that. So I decided to create a celebration separate from our Halloween party next week to allow the kids a chance to dress up and have some fun!

Planning the Princess Party
With the help of Wal-Mart and the Royal Ball Augmented Reality 2.0 app, my daughter and I planned the perfect Disney Princess Halloween party for her and her friends. We had an absolute blast shopping for the decorations and my daughter's special princess costume. You can read all about our shopping experience here.

Once we had all of the supplies it was time to get home and make things happen! We had invited 10 girls between the ages of 2-5 to our party and asked that they bring their prettiest Disney Princess dresses to the party. I was excited to find that most of them not only brought their princess dresses, but more to share! And even some adorable princess shoes to match. The girls were elated at the thought of dressing up and playing together as princesses.

I started our set up by planning out the menu. For our playdates I always like to keep things simple and utilize "hands eating" as much as possible (meaning I won't have to clean a bunch of silverware afterwards). I usually plan on making one thing and the rest are simple snacks to pour out or cut up.

The Menu
Since this was a princess party I tried to go along with the theme and create dishes that the girls would enjoy and that would fit the dainty princess theme. So tea sandwiches, pumpkin bars, scones, and fruit cups were what I set out.

We also had some pretty princess cups for juice and water and some coffee for the larger princesses. The girls were allowed to take their cups home to save me from doing more dishes to add to their princess favor bag.

To check out how I made the pumpkin bars, head on over to my Pumpkin Bars recipe post. 

The Decor
In an effort to keep the princess theme front and center, I decorated with simple ideas, pink and purple for the colors and functional decor for the rest. We set out the princess dresses on the curtain rod for the girls to "shop" for their dress of choice.

I added some princess crowns and a wand making station to the table next to the dresses so that they could complete their look as they went down the line. And the last stop was choosing their shoes (some of the younger girls opted out of wearing the shoes and ran around in their bare feet Cinderella-style).

The Activities
In addition to yummy food and fun outfits, the girls also had a few activities they could partake in. We set up our train table into Tink's Tea Party and the girls had fun preparing and serving tea to each other. They are quite creative and eventually everyone had a cup in hand!

The girls also had the chance to make princess wands with the help of their moms. We included some dowels, felt to make the star on top, and pretty ribbon in different colors so each girl could customize their wand to their personal preference.

For the most part, though, the girls enjoyed playing together inside and outside. Since we have so many toys for all ages, it was easy for them to choose an activity and play, play, play. I love watching their creative little minds figure things out and try new things.

For step-by-step directions on how to create your own Magic Wand, visit my DIY Magic Wand Tutorial post here. 

The Princesses
Friendship is very important to me and I am so lucky to have such amazing friends. I'm also lucky that my daughter has this opportunity to be involved and play with such an amazing group as well. I'm so excited to be a part of these little ones lives and watch them grow.

Playgroups have been an integral part of my life and I could not imagine life without running my playgroup. It's kept me active, informed, and entertained and has built friendships that I hope last past our kids early years.

Each one of these princesses pictured below are absolutely amazing. Their personalities shine and they love playing together. They truly bring joy to mine and my daughter's lives and we love hosting playdates for them!

Creative Entertainment with Royal Ball 2.0 App
If you're planning on hosting a Halloween Princess party of your own (or simply shopping for princess fun) I highly suggest checking out the Royal Ball 2.0 app to make your shopping experience a bit more fun for you and your little princess.

Not only can you unlock more fun as you scan different pictures with the apps, it makes shopping with kids that much easier. And your little princess will love being able to create her own outfits and decorate her very own carriage as you shop.

Create your own castle pumpkin by following this tutorial for Halloween Painted Pumpkins

To download the Royal Ball 2.0 App simply go to iTunes for Apple products or the Google Play store for Android. 

For more photos of my shopping experience, visit my Halloween Princess Google + album.

Disclaimer: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Disney Consumer Products, Inc. All opinions are my own. #CBias #SocialFabric”

How to Create a Magic Wand for a #Halloween Princess Party #DisneyPrincessWMT

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How to Create a Magic Wand
My daughter is obsessed with all things wands, swards, and sticks. Anything she can swing around and bop people on the head with (gently of course), she loves. And with our recent obsession with Cinderella since it came out on Blu-Ray we've been using sticks and swords to turn objects into other things just like the fairy godmother did for Cinderella.

As I was planning and preparing for our Halloween Princess party I decided to let the girls make their own wands customized to their likes and needs. It really was a simple craft and the kids had a great time doing it! With the help of mom and a glue gun to finish everything off.

So if you're little princess loves wands as much as mine does, I highly suggest trying your hand at making a magic wand. It's simple, easy, and takes less than 5 minutes!

Here's how!

What you'll need:

• wooden dowels, cut to size (we purchased 48" dowels and cut them in thirds)
• felt, any color
• ribbon, any color
• glue gun 

What you do: 

1. Cut out felt into the size and shape you want for the top of your wand. Cut out coordinating ribbon in the amount and length you prefer.

2. Do a dry run before gluing everything together to make sure the felt pieces fit together on the top of the wand.

3. Tie the ribbon onto the top of the stick and secure with the hot glue.

3a. Make sure to go all around the dowel so that the ribbon doesn't slip down.

4. Now it's time to glue down the felt pieces. Start with a small dab on one side of the dowel and adhere the first felt piece. 

5. Then add a few dabs of hot glue to the other end of the dowel and the felt piece already adhered. Place the second felt piece on top covering the top of the dowel completely and sandwiching the ribbon in between the two felt pieces.

6. Hand the wand over to your favorite princess and watch them play!

See how easy that was?

What type of wand would you make? 

A special thanks to my friend Kari of Mommy To Elodie for allowing me to photograph her putting her wand together at the party. It was rather hard trying to take pictures AND use a glue gun so I'm thankful for not burning myself. Plus Kari always has a creative edge when making crafts so I knew she'd make a gorgeous wand!

Disclaimer: I am a member of the Collective Bias™ Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Disney Consumer Products, Inc. All opinions are my own. #CBias #SocialFabric

Celebrate National Coffee Day with International Delight Iced Coffee

Today is National Coffee Day and in honor of this awesome day, we celebrated by throwing a party!

I invited some of my favorite ladies from my local playgroup over to enjoy a fun, relaxing morning of coffee, food, and chatter while our kids ran around us. It always seems easier to enjoy time with my friends when the kids are entertained by each other and contained in the house. The conversation flows more freely and we aren't up chasing them every few minutes.

I set out some glasses and International Delight's Iced Coffee next to my Tassimo so that my guests would have options of iced or hot coffee and the ladies loved it! Since it's in the mid-80s today many opted for iced over hot to cool down.

And no party is complete without some munchies! I set out some greek yogurt, pumpkin granola, and strawberries to munch on while my french toast casserole baked in the oven. Oh yes... I made it again!

The ladies had a little fun with the chalkboard signs I set out and played with what they wanted to say while enjoying their iced coffee. One of my good friends just had a little girl (you can see photos of her here) and we were pretty clever with her sign ;)

Once the french toast was ready I set it out with the cinnamon rolls one of the mamas brought over and we dug in. I added a few fresh strawberries on top of my serving of casserole and as always, enjoyed the deliciousness! Everyone went back for seconds (that's how good it is) and the dish was completely empty within the hour.

We got to chat a bit more as our kids enjoyed some food and I loved how easy the conversation flowed as we sipped our International Delight Iced Coffee. The Mocha flavor was delicious and many of my guests couldn't wait to go pick some up to take home. Since it's been pretty hot these past few weeks, iced coffee is the perfect way to cool down.

And with the cost of coffee house coffees rising, purchasing International Delight to use at home just makes sense. Plus, it isn't always easy to drive over to the coffee house with two kids so having the option of staying home is convenient.

I wasn't able to try out any of the delicious recipes from International Delight but passed out a few recipe cards to my guests to try for our next playdate. I was able to find quite a few recipes on the International Delight facebook app and cannot wait to try the milk chocolate muffins!

With the smell of coffee and cinnamon in the house, even our littlest guest couldn't resist opening her eyes and checkout out the party! We had an absolute blast enjoying our coffee-filled morning and definitely destressed while celebrating National Coffee Day.

For more information and recipes please visit the International Delight's Iced Coffee Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/UWMESu

What are you doing to celebrate National Coffee Day?

Disclaimer: I wrote this review while participating in an In Home Party campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of International Delight and received product samples to facilitate my party and review, and a promotional item to thank me for participating.

A Few of my Favorite Things

One of the best parts about running a playgroup is that the women I meet become more than just "other moms" they be come friends as well. And sometimes these friends come up with awesome ideas. Recently an idea was posted on our meetup page about having a My Favorite Things party. I wasn't quite sold on it until I found out what it was.

Don't know what a My Favorite Things party is? Well channel your inner Oprah and read on!

My guests' favorite things

A My Favorite Things party is a night in (or out) where each guest shares their favorite item under a certain dollar amount with their friends. For our party we chose a dollar limit of $6 per item. Each guest brings 5 of the same item under that $6 limit to share and gift to the others at the party.

When you get to the party, write your name on 5 pieces of paper. Each guest will choose 5 different people to give their favorite thing to (make sure to do this in advance to avoid duplicates or drawing your own name). Once the names are drawn, go around the room and explain why the item is your favorite and then announce who the lucky girls are to receive your item The party can be general, like our first one was, or themed!

My favorite thing - Earth Mama Angel Baby!

We each brought one of our favorite dishes to share and our favorite bottle of wine so that before we jumped into the fun of exchanging our favorite things we were able to eat and mingle together. Since each dish was a favorite I made little signs to go along with them. The party can also be hosted at a restaurant or other location outside of the home but since we all didn't have childcare this was the best option for us. Dads watched the kids outside while the moms enjoyed some time to chat and talk.

Once everyone had a bite to eat we got to sharing! And boy was this part fun.

When the kids heard that presents were involved they quickly came in to help pass out the favorites. Once they realized what was inside the presents, they weren't too excited about helping. Ignore my son, spiderman... he just got home from a birthday party.


Here's the favorites from our party:

• My Favorite - Earth Mama Angel Baby Happy Mama Hand to Toe Wash
• Elizabeth's Favorite - Krispy Kreme gift cards
• Clarissa's Favorite - Muir Glen Organic marinara sauce
• Jen's Favorite - Tresemme dry shampoo
• Kari's Favorite - Lush Bubble Bar in Dorothy
• Sophia's Favorite - Yellowtail wine
• Nikki's Favorite - Bath & Body Works CO Bigelow Mentha Lip Tint

In addition to these awesome favorites, Chobani was kind enough to send each of my guests Family 4 Pack tickets to Kidsfest AND 2 free product coupons.  Boy were these mamas excited about yogurt!

I also included my Lipton Tea & Honey Klout perk samples and some Hot Dog on a Stick temporary tattoos for the kiddos that I received in a prize package I won at the SD Mom's Night Out Tweetup. What fun is it to keep all these fun goodies to myself, right? Gotta spread the love!

Each mama went home with five new and fun items. I was so excited to see what each person brought and was surprised to find how diverse each of our items were. We're already planning our next My Favorite Things party and this time we're going with a theme: Baby/Kid's Favorite Thing!

I gave a little bonus to my guests courtesy of Earth Mama Angel Baby and shared my Baby/Kid item, Angel Baby Bottom Balm. I've blogged about it before and can't say enough about how awesome it really is. And EMAB was kind enough to also send samples of their awesome Monthly Comfort and Milkmaid teas (both of which I needed!). So stay tuned for our next party and what new favorites we come up with!

Check out more photos of my party on Facebook and G+!

What would you bring to the My Favorite Things party?

Disclaimer: I was given a free product or sample. I was under no obligation to receive the sample or talk about this company. I get no additional benefits for talking about the product or company.

A Dinosaur Train Celebration {Birthday Party Ideas}

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When my son mentioned having a Dinosaur Train themed party a few months back I was happy to start planning out all of the details. I searched through Google and Pinterest and even created a board of inspiration to go off of.

But I was surprised to find very little in the form of ideas and details. Most of the posts I came across linked back to the same two designs and I didn't quite love them. So I decided to pick and choose design elements from various sources and pieced them together to form my son's Dinosaur Train birthday.

The Cake

Any dinosaur themed birthday has to have a volcano cake. It's a must. And my kid is kind of obsessed with any thing that explodes. We recently purchased a mini volcano set from Lakeshore Learning Center that allows you to add baking soda and vinegar to watch the volcano erupt over and over again. It's one of the only toys that he asks repeatedly for every night when daddy gets home!

I had great visions of multi-tiered, fondant covered cakes with tunnels and trains but just couldn't come up with the money and lacked the talent to make one myself.

So this easy-to-do volcano cake was my go-to. And boy did it give me trouble! The bundt cake stuck in the pan not once, but twice, the day before the party. But I just went with the flow and pieced the second failed cake together to create my final product.

To read more about the volcano cake check out my post here with recipe and design details.

The Cupcakes

In addition to the volcano cake, I also made cupckaes for the kids. They're much easier to deal with when feeding 3 year olds and the kids love them for the frosting.

When I searched for ideas for cake toppers I knew my friend, Jeanna, over at the Sweets Fairy Bakeshop would know just what to do. She created these darling toothpick cupcake toppers with dinosaur train images on them and even created some decorative dinos and train fondant pieces to go along with the theme.

We placed the dinos and trains around the cupcakes and sprinkled the tray with the first bundt cake crumbs (way to reuse, right!?) to give the illusion of the cupcakes laying on dirt. Half of the cupcakes had the cute toothpick tags on them and half had whopper eggs on them to make dinosaur nests.

The recipe I used for the cupcakes is from Glorious Treats.

The Place Settings

Yes, I know it seems silly to have place settings for a kids birthday but I thought this added a special touch.

My husband's aunt surprised my son on the morning of his birthday by dropping off some dinosaur cookies. These cookies were absolutely adorable so I asked if she wouldn't mind making a few for his party too.

She packaged a few of them up for each kid and put them in a plastic bag with ribbon to make cute favors for the table. I also made some dinosaur and train paper hats for each of the kids as well and set them next to each plate, napkin and cookie.

To read more about how to make your own dinosaur party hats check out my post here.

The Food

In staying with the Dinosaur theme we created fun food names for each of the snacks we offered. Since the party started at 10am we stuck with a brunch menu. Here's what our menu looked like:


Sweetivore Grub
Rip Apart Raptor Bread - Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread
Ceratops Cookies - sugar cookies
Cephalosaurus Cupcakes - vanilla cupcakes
Chocolate Lava Volcano Cake - devils food cake with chocolate frosting


Herbivore Grub
Brontosaurus Burritos - potato, egg & cheese, and bean, egg & cheese
Herbivore Delight - fresh fruit with fruit dip
Dinosaur Bones - pretzel sticks


Carnivore Grub
Brontosaurus Burritos - ham, egg & cheese, and bacon, egg & cheese

I was amazed at how much the kids (and adults) loved the breakfast burritos. They were seriously the easiest thing I've ever done besides ordering pizzas and pleased everyone. And since we live in So Cal everyone loves Mexican food! We also served some hot carrots and had salsa on hand. We also had Jurrasic Juice for the kids and coffee & tea for hte adults. Since the party was held at a place with a cafe there was no lack of caffeine.


Here are some photos of the grub: 

Herbivore Grub

Carnivore Grub

Paper Goods

For the food and drink labels I simply designed a template in Word that included the name of the food and the dinosaur train image. I played around with the fonts and downloaded a Jurrasic Park font from FontSpace.

After playing around with the fonts, sizes and picture I decided to add a thick orange line around the wording and picture. After I printed the pages out I cut them to size and layered them with blue cardstock. 

I did the same with the favor bag tags but used a different layout and orange and blue cardstock (without the orange line). I absolutely loved how the signs turned out. They were perfect for the party.

If you would like me to email you the Word documents with the template for the paper goods just email me at simmworksfamily (at) gmail.com.

 Snacks

Jurassic Juice to drink

My son blowing out his number 3 candle

The Party Favors

We tried to include some fun goodies for the kids to take home in their favor bags. It all started with the wooden train whistles I found in the dollar section of Target. My son and I painted and personalized the whistles for each of his guests. He had so much fun in the process and was so excited to give each bag to his friends (later at the party when he found out he didn't get to hand them out he was a little upset but we remedied that by showing him all of the presents he received!).

Here's what else we included in the favor bag:

• Personalized train whistle
• Dinosaur Sticker Books
  
• Playdough
• Assorted Dinosaur Stampers in Plastic Dino Eggs
• Plastic Dinosaurs

All in all I'd consider this party a big success. I loved talking with my son about what he wanted to include and how he wanted to celebrate. And seeing the joy in his face every time he talked about his "Dinosaur Train party at Kid Ventures" was more than enough reward for us. I'll be posting more about my experience with KidVentures and their party packages soon!

I hope the guests had as much fun attending the party as we did throwing it!

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