Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Even though its a somewhat silly holiday--St. Patrick's Day has always been one of my faves. I had so much fun setting up this Top of the Morning brunch--I felt like it was a fitting theme for St. Patrick's Day!



I had a blast trying to pick out foods that were green and gold--and also fit the brunch theme. I tried to use ingredients that were naturally green or yellow, because no one wants to eat something with a bottle of food coloring in it! The pancakes were fabulous--colored with spinach and layered with some cream cheese frosting. The recipe is available here. The scrambled eggs cooked up to a lovely golden color. One of my favorite touches were the bell pepper shamrocks--just slice a pepper, pour in some eggs and cook over low! And there were quite a few green and yellow fruits to choose from--kiwi, pineapple and grapes.



And no party is complete without sweets! Rice Krispies, shamrock macarons, homemade marshmallows and chocolate covered pretzels were a few of the goodies we enjoyed. The pretzels were so fun and easy to make--tutorial available here!



To decorate the table, I grabbed as many green and gold things I could find around the house and played around with the table until I was happy. The background cost me less than $10 to put together and was fairly quick too! I love the way it filled in the wall and mimicked the stripes in our printables. All of the printables are available for free download below. The cute treat bag toppers are a fun gift for friends and the banner is a fun way to spruce up your mantle!



All of the decorations are available for download here! (Free until March 24th, 2015, then available for purchase on Etsy.) To say thanks, we'd love it if you'd like us on Facebook or pin an image to share the love (or luck!) with your friends.

I'm terrible at dipping things in chocolate. It's a fact. I can never melt it to the right consistency and I make a mess and I'm impatient.  BUT--these chocolate pretzels? They are adorable, simple and pretty much impossible to screw up. And easy enough you could make them with kids!



St. Patrick Day Chocolate and M&M Pretzels
Pretzel Snaps
Hershey Kisses or Wilton Candy Melts
M&Ms (green and gold!)

Pot of Gold Pretzels
For these, I used dark chocolate kisses for the pots and peanut butter M&Ms for the gold so that the pots would be a little darker and there'd be a little more gold in the pot.

1. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
2. Unwrap kisses and put them in the center of the pretzels.
3. Bake at 200 degrees for about 7 minutes--you can test an M&M and see if they are soft all the way through or if they need a few more.
4. Press a yellow M&M into the center (M side down!)
5. Wait to cool and enjoy!

Lucky Shamrock Pretzels
For these, I used yellow candy melts and green M&Ms--although they'd be just as cute with kisses!

1. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
2. Unwrap kisses (or don't, if you are using candy melts) and put them in the center of the pretzels.
3. Bake at 200 degrees for about 7 minutes--you can test an M&M and see if they are soft all the way through or if they need a few more.
4. Press four green M&Ms into the center (M side down!)
5. Wait to cool and enjoy!




All of the decorations are available for download here! To say thanks, we'd love it if you'd like us on Facebook or pin an image to share the love (or luck!) with your friends.

For our St. Patrick's Day brunch, we HAD to have green pancakes. And I wasn't crazy about dumping a bottle of green food coloring in the batter, so I did what any reasonable mother would do--I threw in a bunch of spinach! (Cue evil laughter.)

1 1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup vinegar
2 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
 2 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
handful of spinach
chocolate chips (optional)
cooking spray

1. Combine milk and vinegar. Let rest 5 minutes. This is essentially making buttermilk.
2. Blend milk & vinegar mixture with spinach--adding spinach until you get the desired shade of green.
3. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
4. Whisk buttermilk, eggs and melted butter in a separate bowl. Once whisked, combine with the dry mixture and mix until all lumps are gone.
5. Use cooking spray to coat griddle or pan on medium heat. Pour 1/4 cup batter onto griddle and cook until top starts to bubble. If adding chocolate chips, sprinkle them on before flipping.
6. Flip and cook on the other side until done. (If you want to avoid browning the top, cook on a lower temperature for longer without flipping.)


Since we were eating a reasonable amount of spinach, I felt like we earned some frosting, so I layered in some cream cheese frosting and did not feel bad about it at all. Not. At. All.

All of the decorations are available for download here! To say thanks, we'd love it if you'd like us on Facebook or pin an image to share the love (or luck!) with your friends.

And another set of Valentine goodies! I actually made these for a bachelorette party last year but loved the colors so much that I had to adapt them for Valentine's Day. So bright and fun!



The pack includes cupcake wrappers and toppers, mini candy wrappers, a banner, matching patterned paper, three coordinating signs and treat bag toppers. I think Valentine's Day is even more fun than Halloween in terms of sweets--I was pretty excited to go buy candy and cupcakes to dress up in the printables! I'm just so happy that celebrating holidays always comes with SUGAR.



I found these cupcake stands on Amazon and obviously needed them. Aren't they the cutest? I keep thinking of fun things I want to do with them!



And in case you are still looking for a design for classroom treats--these treat bag toppers would be a cute and easy way to go! You could fill them with just about anything you wanted and you'd probably have the cutest treats on the block.

This is my first year having kids in preschool--and as I've now realized, the stakes are very high for bringing Valentines to school! I took a bunch of our already existing designs and tweaked them for Valentine's Day--and love the result!



These little foldover toppers are great for birthday favors and Valentines too--you can fill little four inch wide bags from a craft store with anything you'd like! I love that you can fill them with random snacks you have in the house... or you can go Super-Pinterest-Mom and fill them with something homemade.



The seasonal cherry M&Ms might be my favorite flavor and look adorable with the tags! Finley and I dipped some pretzels as a Valentine craft--so I threw those in a bag too.  Or if you'd like to go the healthier route, I'm sure parents would appreciate their kids bringing pretzels and goldfish home more than a bag of sugar!



There's a little space on the back for you (or your little one!) to fill out for their special pal. Want to print some for yourself? Get the free printables here! Included is a page of each design, and one page with one of each if you just can't decide which you like best. They print best on plain white card stock either at home, or your local print shop. Make sure you do NOT shrink to fit when you print. Even though I told the FedEx lady not to, she still did and mine ended up a bit too narrow.

Happy Valentine's Day from RV Parties!

Choo choo! Who doesn't love a train party?  This was the perfect theme for my two year old who is beyond obsessed with trains.  There are more pictures and details on Hostess with the Mostess if you are interested in specific details!

It was a fairly low key party--held in our backyard with a few sweets and friends. I'm a little smitten with burlap... I seem to think it goes with everything. I tried my hand at sewing crepe paper... and think I may leave it to the professionals next time! I pined after the red paper suitcases for weeks until I finally caved and bought them. I just love them.  It was fun to incorporate red bandannas throughout the party--wrapped around a B, as a little satchel for party favors and as a bunting behind the kids' table.



The party was a lot lower key some of our parties--which was a lot of fun. Train lollipops, cupcakes, Vic's famous sugar cookies, cake pops and chocolate dipped pretzels and oreos--nothing too fancy. But everything was delicious. I can not say enough great things about Miss Lulu's Sweet Treats--everything she makes is delicious! I stretched myself and used a lot of our printables in creative ways--extra cupcake toppers got glued to burlap ribbon and the treat bag toppers served as a little sign for the favors.



It's easy to set a super cute table with items you can get at any party store.  Plates, napkins and flatware in matching colors can be easily coordinated in place settings.  I wrapped the flatware and tied it with some twine.  The glass Frappucino bottles get used at every single party--treat yourself to a few and save the bottles! My favorite part of the table was the table runner--the party favors were a last minute addition to the table and really brought it all together.  All the kiddos got a little bandanna full of train goodies and an engineer hat! I used the extra bandannas and hats as a bunting behind the table--another last minute idea that I loved.



Credits...
– Printables, Costumes, Sugar Cookies and Party Styling: RV Parties
– Photography and Cupcakes: Peanut Butter and Jenny Photography 
– Burlap Ribbon: We Can Package
– Cake Pops, Oreos and Pretzels: Miss Lulu’s Sweet Treats 
– Train Lollipops: Candied Cakes

In May, we hosted a barnyard playdate to celebrate our favorite local Kansas City kids' location, the Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead. Spring has been playing tricks on us, so even though it was very cold a few families ventured out to explore the petting zoo before gathering indoors for snacks, a dessert spread, a story and lots of playtime!


You can read all about the party over on Pizzazzerie - and see even more photos of all the details! We're pretty much in love with the classic primary colors in baked goods, snacks and decorations.

All of the dessert goodness was gathered on a table covered with denim and burlap - so very country! Little hay bales held the very best cake pops donated by Miss Lulu's Sweet Treats. Cupcakes from Boxer Lady Bakery, chick cookies made by RV Parties, and farm candies (gummy eggs and cow tails) rounded out the sweets. There were also kid size bags of fresh popcorn - easy for little hands to grab and enjoy!


Pretty much every big city has a farm like ours where you can visit and learn about animals and feed baby goats. And if you live in a little city, then you can probably visit a real farm!

We have all the files available for you - even the coloring wall - in the shop!

Vendors

Cow Tails and Gummy Eggs: Amazon
Mini Paper Bags: Hobby Lobby