Apricot & Goat Cheese Bites

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

Spring is here and there is nothing I love more during this time than the great weather. Great weather leads to fun get-togethers with friends and family. When I spend time with friends and family, I love to serve delicious, easy food, especially easy appetizers. I like to always serve various easy appetizers since we usually grill our main dish and sometimes that can take long. My go-to appetizer for any get together is super easy to make, only has 3 ingredients and can even be a vegetarian appetizer: Apricot & Goat Cheese Bites!

Don't my bites look amazing? Like I mentioned before they are super easy to make. All you need are RITZ Original crackers, apricot preserves and goat cheese. I always, always have a box of RITZ Original Fresh Stack crackers in my pantry. They are super yummy alone or with toppings. The other day at Walmart, I even found the Limited Edition RITZ Ultimate Butter Fresh Stacks!! The Fresh Stack size is super convenient and make taking your RITZ on-the-go even easier!

To make my super simple appetizer, all you need are RITZ Original Fresh Stacks crackers (I estimate 5 per person, which is the recommended serving size), 4 oz of fresh goat cheese and 1 jar of apricot preserves. 

To assemble, you just place a cracker on your hand and spread the goat cheese on top. 

Then, I place all my goat cheese topped crackers on my serving dish.

Then I top each cracker with 1/2 tsp of apricot preserves. 

It really doesn't get any easier than that! These really are a favorite in our home. The kids love them as after-school snacks too! I also love how versatile this appetizer can be. You can top RITZ Original Fresh Stacks crackers with any of your favorite toppings and they will be amazing little snacks!

RITZ Original Fresh Stacks and RITZ Ultimate Butter Fresh Stacks can be found at your local Walmart. The Limited Edition RITZ Ultimate Butter Fresh Stacks will be available while supplies last. 

More recipes can be found on Snackworks.com!

Do you have creative ways to top RITZ Original Fresh Stacks crackers for appetizers?

Simple Football Table Ideas

Football season is here and I am super excited! I love to cook all sorts of classic football food and share with friends. When I cook, I like to display my food in a cute way. I looked all over Pinterest for ideas and came up with a simple setup that came out amazing!

To set up a simple but cute table you need the following: football themed or green tablecloth, football napkins, a football, penalty flags, a crate, pieces of wood to use as a stand and a tray! For food, keep it basic with homemade burgers and fries. Oh and don't forget the beer!

Need simple and cheap decor: use your napkins as a garland. This was genius!! 

I wanted something to really stand out for kickoff weekend and my special treat for today was chocolate-covered football strawberries from Shari's Berries. I mean how cute are these? Shari's Berries have always been my favorite. I have been gifted them for birthdays and anniversaries. They are big and juicy and always ripe! 

Set everything you plan on serving out on the table. Use crates and wood pieces as stands. Try to keep a rustic, manly look but with a Pinterest twist!!

I made classic homemade burgers. They are an all-time favorite in our home. My secret to a moist, juicy burger: BBQ sauce. I add ketchup and a little barbeque sauce to my meat mixture. 

We love Sam Adams Oktoberfest as our football drink of choice. Once Oktoberfest isn't available, we jump over to a Winter Ale. 

A simple tablescape shows I made an effort. I can also setup and then turn around and watch my game. Sundays are football daysino u home and we watch every game we can on the NFL network! Oh and Go Dolphins!!

DIY MARVEL Avengers Birthday Pinata (Under $5)

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

I love celebrating my children's birthdays. With three kids and a niece, I've DIY'd my life out when it comes to birthday parties. I let my children pick the theme they want and I go from there. I like to DIY a lot of items for my children's parties for two reasons, one to save money (I'm always on a budget!) and two, I like having unique items. I love the challenge that comes form making each party different than the last. One thing I definitely make them are pinatas. A pinata is the number one requested item every year so I have learned to make my own and for cheap. I'm talking under $5 cheap! Adrian's party theme this year is MARVEL Avengers Assemble (again!) and here's the pinata I whipped up in under one hour!

Here's a tip for themed party planning from a seasoned expert (me!): purchase a couple themed items like tablecloths, cake plates, cups, loot bags and a fun item like masks. The rest can be solid colors that match the theme. I learned this early on and have saved hundreds on parties! 

To make a MARVEL Avengers pinata, or any themed pinata, you need a few supplies.

-themed plastic tablecloth

-an empty box (you choose the size depending on the amount of children attending the party)

-paper streamer (in colors that match your theme)

-scissors

-glue

Step 1: Lay out the tablecloth and pick the scene you want on your pinata. For my Avengers pinata, I made sure I used a scene where all four characters appear. I cut two of these (one for the front, one for the back of the pinata)

Step 2: Glue or tape the tablecloth scene to the box. It doesn't matter if the tablecloth doesn't cover all the way, you will cover it later!

Step 3: Take one roll of streamer and measure to the side of your box. Then cut more streamer that same size to cover the box by overlapping. For example, I cut 12 strips the same size to cover one side of the box.

Step 4: Stack your cut streamer and cut into the stack (as pictured below). Do not cut all the way to the top, leave about 1/2 an inch solid on top.

Step 5: Glue your streamer to the box one strip at a time. Make sure the strips overlap each other.

Step 6: Continue glueing your strips until the whole side of the box is covered. Then repeat on the other side and bottom. If there is excess streamer hanging off the side of the box, just trim it with a scissor.

NOTE: You need to make a flap on the top of the box to insert candy or toys into your pinata. I take my scissors and just cut a square about 2 x 2 inches.

Once you have covered all the sides with streamer, your pinata should look like this!

Step 7: Grab your streamer and cut about 1 inch strips. Cut a lot.

Step 8: Crumble the streamer pieces.

Step 9: Now you are gong to glue the crumbled streamer to the cardboard that is still showing on the front and back of your pinata. Just dab glue on the cardboard and press a crumbled paper piece on top.

Step 9: Continue all the way around covering all the cardboard and the edges of the tablecloth. Repeat on the back.

TA-DA!! You made a pinata. I told you it was easy! All you do now is fill it with candy and hang it from a tree for the kids to whack at it!

I purchased all my pinata-making and birthday party supplies at Walmart in the American Greetings party section. They have so many fun themes available so you are sure to find your child's favorite!!

Birthday parties are so fun. I really hope my kids don't outgrow themed parties any time soon! What kind of things do you DIY for parties? Have you ever made a pinata?

Adrian's Big Hero 6 Party!

My Adrian turned 8 years old this past Monday, the 10th! I still cannot believe he is eight years old. His behavior in school hasn't been the greatest so far so his annual big birthday party was cancelled. I was trying to instill some discipline in this child but since I am a sucker for birthdays, I decided to have a small get-together at the house, with a couple of his friends. Well the small get-together ended up becoming a small party with a few friends, a Big Hero 6 theme and a trip to the movie theaters to watch Big Hero 6!

As usual, this party was all DIY since the movie had just been released. I had to get super creative for this one. If you haven't seen the movie, Big Hero 6 is about a 14 year old robotics genius and his robot, Baymax. I centered the party theme around Baymax since I hadn't seen the movie yet and he is just so adorable! First DIY project was the invite:

I stayed with a white, red, purple and black color palette since those are the colors I noticed the most as I watched the trailer over and over trying to get ideas!

I was super lucky to find this Baymax plush at the Disney store. I actually went today and they were sold out! I was able to get a simple white cake and cupcakes made at our local Publix and then just added a decorated marshmallow on each cupcake.

These jumbo marshmallow pops take all of 30 seconds to make and were a huge hit. I found hte jumbo size marshmallows and paper straws at Target. I added the Baymax eyes with black edible gel. 

The goody bags were the most difficult part to figure out. I eventually found some packets of Crayola Model Magic (which I thought kids could use to create their own Baymax), small puzzle cubes, ring pops (they are a favorite among Adrian and his friends) and bounce balls. I kept it simple with white gift bags and I just glued on a tag I made on the front. 

On Thursday night (2 days from the party), Adrian begged me to make him a Baymax piñata. Since I obviously can't say no to his super cute face, I agreed to make it. It was quite the labor of love but I was able to finish just in time!

I asked everyone on the invite to arrive by 3pm since the movie was for 4:30pm. We played Twister while we waited for Adrian's friends to arrive!

Then it was movie time. We had to wait in line to get in. This was the most popular movie over the weekend. I expect you will see more Big Hero 6 parties popping up soon! The movie was a huge hit and we all thought it was amazing. Disney really outdid themselves with the story line and animation. 

After the movie, we went back home and had pizza. Then it was cake time! This is truly my favorite part. I love to see him standing in front of his cake making a wish. It is such a sweet moment. I made sure he had sparkler candles, his favorite!

After cake and some glow tag, the kids came back inside and decided to pull the Model Magic clay out of their treat bags and have a Baymax building competition. It was a little tense there for a bit but so so fun! The kids got super creative with their Baymax creations!

It might not have been the big bash he was hoping for, but I know he had a good time at his party. I know his friends did since they called the next day to come over again!!

Shared at these fabulous parties:
Moonlight & Mason Jars Link Party #81
Lou Lou Girls Fabulous Party #32
Create It Thursdays at Lambert's Lately
Artsy Fartsy Link Party
Cook it! Craft it! Share it! Link Party
Pretty Pintastic Party

Ivanna's #Instaparty Part 1

I believe everyone should have a birthday party at some point in their lives. It has been my mission to make this possible for my loved ones. If you are an avid reader of my blog, you know about Ivanna. If not, Ivanna is Adrian's cousin on his dad's side of the family. I have known her since she was 2 and I consider her my niece. She turned the big 1-0 on Saturday and I hosted a party for her at my house. She is too old for the whole princess/cowgirl/pirate thing so we decided on an Instagram-themed party!

Ivanna is constantly on Instagram so this was the perfect theme. I created her invites: 

This was the setup. (Excuse me standing right in the middle. I live in a rented home and the house has these tacky mirrors I can't do anything about!). We kept it really simple since she is a simple girl.

This was her favorite part: a big 10 made out of her Instagram pics. This was a surprise, she had no idea I was doing this. I used the Walgreens Photo app, uploaded the pics and they were ready for pickup in about an hour. Fabulous!

She loves marshmallows so I made these super easy marshmallow pops with giant marshmallows I found at Wal-mart. 

I ordered a white cake from the Publix bakery. The bakery called me about four times to make sure my order was right. They just couldn't understand a plan white cake. I love white cakes because you can decorate it your own way. Once again, I kept it simple, a ribbon and some bunting!

I also created these Instagram-themed cupcake toppers. We ordered the cupcakes from the same bakery with the frosting in her favorite light-blue color. I also created the #selfie printable and placed it right next to a photo backdrop I set up for #selfies. 

All Instagram parties need lots of pics!! Here's a pic of Ivanna and all her party attendees. They loved taking pics with the props. 

For the party and social media postings, we used #Ivannais10. If you took a pic at the party, you had to use the party hashtag! The girls loved this idea.

Of course, I had to get a pic of Adrian being silly!!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Ivanna's #Instaparty!!!

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