Doc McStuffins party Ideas

 My daughter just turned 5 & wanted a Doc McStuffins birthday party, so I was happy to plan it for her & honestly was one of the easiest birthday parties I have planned for my kids.

We were just serving light snacks, so we had Jello, love wafer band aids, Doc McStuffins fruit snacks, apple slices, kettle corn popcorn (to resemble Lambie), Smarties as our aspirins & for drinks we had milk of course & water.

An Apple A day keeps Doc McStuffins away

You got a boo-boo? Lambie will take care of you! Have a love wafer band aid

Please don't be Stuffy. Take your smartie aspirins

Nurse Hallie says "Have some jello dear"

Have a Chilly glass of milk. It does the body good.

The decor was also very easy. We set up a waiting room, a doctor's office filled with lots of stuffed animals & all necessary equipment to fix the animals & then I had made just a few signs that I printed off on my home computer for wall decoration. 

                                                               THE WAITING ROOM

coloring station with stickers also

watching her Doc McStuffins movie playing in her waiting room before the patients arrive

                                                    THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE - THE DOC IS IN

This is an eye chart I made for her office

And we had favor bags for each kid , which my daughter filled all by herself, which consisted of a Doc McStuffins coloring page, a couple suckers, a notepad & pen, a face mask, some hospital stickers & a roll of gum.

Last but not least I wanted to get doctor coats for each kid to decorate for themselves, but I was NOT paying $20 each. so I was trying to think of another way to get them coats without paying that price, what i settled on was using white small adult t-shirts & cutting them up the front in half & voila there you now have the kids' lab coats. This was a great activity for the kids that they thoroughly enjoyed along with a favor that they could also take home, plus they could use them at the party to be the doctors. Can't beat that!!

Polka Dot Theme Wedding

When asked to create a modern, fun loving environment that was a polka-dot theme for a recent wedding I did, I was excited. Excited that they chose me, excited about the theme, & excited that they trusted me completely to do whatever I wanted to (with in their budget). I wanted the polka-dot theme to show through, but not in a huge literal way, sure I could have done the polka-dot ribbon on all kinds of vases & polka dot table runners & much more, but instead I decided to give them the modern day approach & give them their theme but not exactly literal. Take a look & see what you think about what I created.

Comfort Food for a Crowd

I know I have not written a blog post for over a month now & I apologize to all my lovely followers, but I promise to make it up to you with all that I have coming! I took a break to focus on some things in my personal life like my sisters' wedding, bridal shower & bachlorette party, my other sister came home for 3 weeks, Christmas &  time spent with my family making tons of wonderful memories which is what life is all about.

I am ready to get back at it now so let's start it off with an easy way to make grilled cheese for a big crowd all at one time. I love comfort foods with grilled cheese & homemade tomato soup a good go to, quick, easy, satisfying meal. The thing I don't like about having this for a meal for big crowds is that I could never get all the grilled cheese's done at the same time, so either someone got cold sandwiches or we had to eat in shifts which is just not ideal. So the other night I was thinking about how I could make them all at the same time, so they are all hot, all the way melted through & ready to sit down & eat at the same time. 

Here was my genius thought:

1.Get out a either a sheet pan or a big jelly roll pan & make your sandwiches as you normally would

2. Place that pan in a 375 degree oven AND place another pan on top of it. Let it cook for about 8 minutes

3. After 8 minutes take the top pan off & flip the sandwiches & cook for another 8 minutes. they are done when they are a nice golden brown.

My homemade tomato soup recipe I use is one I found online a long time ago (so I do not know where it came from, sorry).

Homemade Tomato Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

·         4 tablespoons butter

·         1/4 cup chopped onion

·         1/4 cup chopped celery

·         3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

·         3 cups milk

·         2 teaspoons sugar

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         1/4 teaspoon (scant) ground black pepper

·         2 cans (14.5 ounces each) diced tomatoes, un-drained

·         chopped basil leaves or fresh grated Parmesan, optional

Preparation:

In a large saucepan, heat butter over medium-low heat. Add chopped onion and celery; cook, stirring, until tender. Stir flour into the vegetable mixture, stirring until well incorporated. Gradually stir in milk and add the sugar, salt, and pepper. Continue to heat, stirring, until the mixture thickens and begins to boil.

Dice tomatoes smaller or puree in a blender or processor, if desired. Heat tomatoes in a separate saucepan then gradually add them to the first mixture, stirring constantly. If desired, garnish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese or fresh chopped basil leaves.