Printable Inside Out Bingo Game

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

Have you seen Inside Out? We saw it on Father's Day and my kids are obsessed. I'm glad there is finally a movie that talks about emotions in a way children understand. My kids are in the "tween" stage and it's not easy. They are all over the place when it comes to their emotions, especially Amberly. Well ever since we saw the movie, she is all about talking to us about how she feels, which I am completely OK with. I would rather talk about emotions all day than have a child who is confused and feels like she has no one to talk to. I started thinking about how else we could incorporate talking about our emotions as a family and then it dawned on me, a game. We love playing games together. We have family game night once a week and believe me, we go through a range of emotions from joy that we are playing a game to anger because someone cheated to sadness because not everyone can win every game. Since the movie just came out, I haven't found any board games at the stores, so I created my own: Inside Out Bingo!!

Who doesn't love Bingo? It's a fun game for all ages, especially for tweens! I tried to incorporate as many aspects of the movie as I could from the characters to the train of thought to ice skating, it's all there!! It's easy to print out too. Download the game cards, tokens and call-outs below. Cut out the tokens and call-outs and you are ready to play!!

The cards are sized 5 x 7inches. Print them out on cardstock or photo paper, whichever you have handy!!

              

           

                        

  

                    

         


My kids have loved playing this Bingo game. We have played often and just as I expected, there was a range of emotions displayed throughout the game. The kids even play with their favorite Inside Out plush toys. As we play, I ask them which emotion they are feeling and they grab the respective toy if they are feeling angry, sad, joy, etc. I then take the opportunity to ask Why? and they actually answer me. They feel better once they can put into words exactly how they feel and family game night has gone by a lot smoother!

Aren't those plush toys cute? They are available exclusively at Walmart in the toy aisles!

What interesting things have you come up with to get your kids to talk to you about their emotions? Games? Crafts? Please share!!

Sweet Teacher Appreciation Gift Basket

May 4th-May 8th is Teacher Appreciation Week and if there has ever been a profession that should have a week of appreciationm it's is a teacher. In my opinion, these men and women are saints. They teach our kids, care for our kids and dedicate their lives to teaching others. I could never be a teacher. I do not have the patience to teach. It takes a very special type of person to be a teacher! I am super appreciative of Adrian's teachers. He is not easy and she handles him and 19 others like a pro. My friend asked me if I would help her out and make a little something we could gift the second grade teachers this week to show how much we really appreciate them. I know teachers like to have a little stash of treats at their desks so I decided that a small basket of sweet treats would be perfect!

This is the easiest gift basket I have ever put together. I had to make 4 baskets and I didn't want them to be huge so I purchased little loaf containers at Michael's and a variety of chocolates in 0.55 oz packages. I also purchased different kinds of Mentos, just to include some sort of candy.

Then I just added a ribbon and a tag. I made the tags a little oversized (so it looks cuter!) and attached them with hot glue. VOILA!! super easy and cute gift basket!

FREE Sweetest Teacher Printable Labels

Wanna make these for your kids teacher? GREAT! I have the printable for you, just click here! I told you this was super easy and i know your child's teacher will love them. I can't wait to give Adrian's teacher and the other 2nd grade teachers their lsweet baskets tomorrow!!

Easy 30-minute Mini Cheesecakes & Holiday Party Tips! #TasteTheSeason

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

Are you planning a holiday party? Trying to come up with a fun food ideas? Well then I have the perfect dessert for you to make: mini smores-inspired cheesecakes! These are my favorite dessert to make during the holiday season because they are easy to make and fun to eat. They bring in the deliciousness of cheesecakes and the goodness of a smore all into one! They only take a few ingredients and 30 minutes of your time!!

EASY 30-MINUTE MINI CHEESECAKES

Makes 24

Ingredients:

5-6 graham crackeres

2 tbsp melted butter

1 8 oz package Philadelphia cream cheese, room temperature

1 egg

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp grated lemon peel

Kraft Jet-Puffed mini-marshmallows (about 3 per cheesecake)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line miniature muffin tins with paper liners.

In a bowl, crush graham crackers into fine crumbs. Pour melted butter over crumbs and with your hands work together. Place about 1/2 tsp (or a pinch) into each paper cup.

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla until light and creamy. 

Fill each muffin liner with the mixture almost to the top.

 Bake for 15 minutes. Cool in pan. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

When ready to serve, top each mini cheesecake with 3 mini marshmallows. Using a kitchen torch or a lighter, toast the marshmallows. Be careful not to get to close to the liners or they will catch fire!

Serve to your guests and get ready for lots and lots of compliments! The yummy taste of a warm marshmallow and cold chessecake is like heaven in your mouth!!

I want one right now! These are also a great make-ahead dessert. I have made them up to 3 days in advance and they hold up perfectly!

Everything you need to make these delicious cheesecakes and throw an amazing holiday party is available at Walmart!

HOLIDAY PARTY TIPS & TRICKS

My friends, planning a holiday party does not have to be stressful or expensive. Here are a few of my tips and tricks for an amazing holiday party!

1. USE WHAT YOU HAVE! Do not go out and buy decorations for a holiday party. I'm sure you have everything you need already. Borrow ornaments from your tree. Hang lights. Gather pine cones from outside and place them all over. Fill vases with ornaments. Cut paper snowflakes. 

2. PLAN A POTLUCK OR THEMED PARTY! Holiday parties are for having fun, not stressing over food in the kitchen. Plan a potluck and have everyone bring a dish. Plan a themed party such as a dessert party and state it in your invite. Desserts can even be made in advance or bought at the store!

3. ASSIGN DUTIES. Put the kids to work. Have them help you clean up and set out decorations. If a friends asks "Do you need help?" don't be afraid to say yes!

4. PURCHASE DISPOSABLE DINNERWARE. Do not set out your fine china for a party. Buy fun holiday plates and funny napkins. If you are serving wine, do set out your wine glasses, but everything else should be disposable.

5. DIY. If you need more decor, DIY. You do need to plan ahead for this but it is doable and can double as decor in your home for the rest of the month. Use printables.There are tons of free printables online that you can just print out, cut and set up! I even have this cute one for you to download!

Hope these tips and tricks help you out this holiday season! Oh and make the cheesecakes, your guests will love them!!

If you need more inspiration, check out the Cooking Up Good website. It has recipes, sweepstakes, loyalty programs, coupons and more! What's not to love? If you're looking for a new dinner idea or a chance to win some awesome prizes, be sure to check it out!

FREE Thanksgiving Printables

I host a huge Thanksgiving dinner at my home every year, huge like 20+ guests huge. I make all the food and just ask everyone to bring beer or wine. I like to change up my decor and make our big buffet-style Thanksgiving seem a little fancier, even is we do use disposable plates and cutlery. Yes disposable, there is no way I am washing that much dinnerware! Anyway, I created some printables to help decorate my home for Thanksgiving and I wanted to share those with you!

Gobble Till You Wobble Printable!

I heard someone say this last year and I knew I had to create a printable with this saying! Mine is 4 x 6 but if you need it bigger, just let me know!

Right-click image to save and print

Gobble Till You Wobble Utensil Holders

OK these are my hands down favorite printable ever. These are so perfect to fancy-up my plastic cutlery for my guests. I already started putting some together, but I need to get on it if I plan on being ready in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

Right click image to save and print

The printable is an 8 x 10 size. Cut down the line in middle and fold on the score. Then you glue the sides and slip in the cutlery. Super simple!!

Tell me: Do you host Thanksgiving Dinner? What are your tips nad tricks for hosting a crowd?

Celebrate Fall with a FREE Printable!!

Happy First day of Fall!!!! I'm having my first pumpkin spice latte (I couldn't do it before it was officially Fall!) and it's a rainy day here in South Florida. I love the fall season and I actually start making an effort to step up my decorating game! This year, I'm going to include this super cute printable in my decor and I want to share it with you!

Click on picture for .jpeg file!

Click here to download the .pdf!

Celebrate Back To School With A Snack Station! FREE Printables!

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

It's almost Back to School time here in South Florida. We are about three weeks from the big day. I wanted to do something special for the kids to celebrate but I didn't want to have a huge party. I wanted something simple, featuring their favorite kid's snacks. I thought and thought and came up with a Back to School Snack Station!!

#AfterSchoolSnacks #CollectiveBias

I wanted to get the kids excited for going back to school, especially Adrian who is dreading going back. I took him to Walmart to pick some out some fun snacks. I asked him to pick out snacks that were "after-school" type snacks that he enjoys.

He loves cheese & pepperoni Bagel Bites and the Delimex chicken & cheese Taquitos so we got those. He also grabbed cookies because no snack station is complete with cookies! 

Then he was off to have some fun and I started setting up my snack station. I created a banner, food cards and labels. I also went around the house and grabbed as many school supplies as I could find. While I was setting up my station, I put the bagel bites and chicken taquitos in the oven. These are such easy-to-make snacks to have on hand, especially for after school! 

Once I had everything I needed, I set up my station. I kept it to a school color theme of red, yellow and black. I used pencils, crayons, composition books and of course, apples! Nothing says school like apples!!

I 

I set out the cheese & pepperoni Bagel Bites. Those are Adrian's favorite.

 

These Chichen and Cheese Taquitos are delicious. We may or may not have made a second batch!!

No snack station is complete without milk and cookies!

When Adrian came in from playing asking for a snack, my station was ready. He grabbed some snacks and on to relaxing he went! Oh and just in case you are wondering, he's a tad bit more excited for school now so my snack station worked wonderfully!!!

Love the snack station idea? Well guess what? I have FREE printables for you to download! Hope you have as much fun with these as I did!!

Click here to download 

For more information and savings on Bagel Bites: http://coupons.walmart.com/?cid=18373031
For more information and savings on Delimex:  http://coupons.walmart.com/?cid=18373032

For savings and great Bagel Bites recipes: http://www.bagelbites.com/Savings-and-stuff#Recipes

What's your kid's favorite after school snack?

Our Summer Goals & FREE Printable

School's out and even though the summer season doesn't technically start for a couple more weeks, here in Miami, we have deemed it Summer! The kids started summer camps this week and are loving life. I even get to sleep in for an extra half-an-hour every morning! Woo hoo!!! This year, I am trying something new with the kids, Summer Goals. I want them to work towards something and learn this summer. I sat them down the other day, with paper and markers, and asked them to write a list of all the things that wanted to work towards this summer, a Summer goals list that I would put up on the fridge and they would follow.

At first, it was hard for them to figure out what goals they wanted. I started them off with an exercise goal. No sitting around all summer! From there, we moved onto a reading goal, then a chore and then a place they would like to visit. Goals are good. Achieving a goal teaches children perseverance and that hard work pays off! They could write down as many as they wanted, but at least four. 

Let's start with Gian, only because he finished his list first and he wrote it in crayon (super adorable!):

 

His list reads: swim faster, jump rope, read 4 books, learn to make my bed. He left the table before we discussed a final prize for completing goals so his list doesn't include his reward. 

Now Adrian:

Adrian dreams of one day becoming Lebron James so his summer goals are focused on exercise. His list reads: squat 10x times a day, push-ups 10x a day, 100 jump-ropes, cleaning my bedroom, 100 books every day (in other words, read 1 book a day), go to a waterpark.  He left the table quickly also, so no reward here either. It's hard to get these kids to sit for more than 15 minutes. I have no idea how teachers are able to do it!

Amberly took the longest writing out her list, in fact, she did it twice since she realized that the colors she chose for her first list didn't match! #artistproblems

                           

Her list reads: read 3 books a month, help with laundry, jump rope 10x a day, go to a waterpark, learn to sculpt, do flips in the pool, go to Legoland, go to an art museum. Her reward is a My Little Pony Equestria Girls Apple Jack doll (most complicated toy name ever!)

JC and I are working with them to achieve all these goals. A biggie on all three lists is jump roping, they are obsessed with learning how to jump rope. First, we got Adrian a rope since he watched a video that shows basketball players warming up by jump roping and he decided that he needed to do that too. Then, Amberly and Gian saw him using it and wanted to learn also. So we took a whole afternoon and worked on that (quite a feat!). We are going this weekend to the library to check out some books so they can get on the reading goals. Little by little, they have about 70 days of break, I know they will be achieving all their goals. 

Want to try something like this with your kids? I created a fun printable that you can use to help your kids create their summer goal list!

Download here

Have you talked to your kids about summer goals? It's never too early to start!

Free Printables: 4th of July

One of my favorite holidays is the 4th of July! I love that it's a summer holiday. I love that I get a day or two off of work. I love the fireworks.

I know the holiday is still a couple of weeks away but just like Halloween, (my other favorite holiday), I like to be prepared ahead of time or else I won't have any cute things ready for our day. We usually got to the beach all day and then get home, shower, change and go out to see fireworks.

I have created a couple of printables that I plan on using this year. I wanted to share these with you as well.

This set includes: 

Cupcake Toppers

Drink Flags

 Sparkler Holders

Download here