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Thanksgiving Fruit Turkey Recipe

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November 12, 2022 by ES Ivy

Little kids won’t really go for the fancy fruit salad  with Jello and cottage cheese that your Great Aunt Ida always brings to Thanksgiving dinner. This Thanksgiving Fruit Turkey recipe is an easy way to make plain fruit look fancy. It’s also a great way to take fruit to a Thanksgiving class party.

Don’t worry if it’s not perfect! As I’ll show you at the end of the post, it will turn out great even if you’re not too persnickety.

Thanksgiving Food - a fruit turkey! Kids turning up their noses at fruit ambrosia and Aunt Helen's green bean casserole? Here's an appetizer or "fruit salad" even the kids will eat! It's even a great activity at Thanksgiving meals for big families, because the children can help make it. See the blog post for tips and tricks so yours will turn out the pretty for your Thanksgiving table or buffet.

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Filed Under: Entertaining, Recipes & Cooking, Seasonal & Holidays, Thanksgiving

High school Homecoming mum tutorial

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September 14, 2022 by ES Ivy

It’s great fun to make your own Homecoming Mum. You can also save a TON of money if you know how to make your own. Homecoming mums can get outrageous, but they can also be pretty and lots of fun! If you have struggled with putting your own Homecoming mum together, or have ever wondered why some mums are prettier than others, than this tutorial is for you! I share all my tips I’ve learned making real flower corsages and making Homecoming mums for my daughters.Making Homecoming mums is lots of fun and saves money! In this DIY tutorial, I share all my tips learned making Homecoming mums for my girls.…

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Filed Under: Crafts

Homecoming Mum DIY Ideas Texas Senior White Mum

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September 14, 2021 by ES Ivy

Senior Homecoming mums are all white with either gold or silver. Gold if one of your school colors is yellow. Silver if one of your school colors is white. How can you make your own senior homecoming mum? Tips, tricks and tutorials.Homecoming mum DIY ideas tutorial supplies

The tradition of white senior homecoming mums is new since I was in high school – three decades ago! It reminds me of the story that my grandmother, who graduated from high school in West Texas in the 1930’s wore a white dress to her high school graduation. While I wore one of my Sunday best dresses under my graduation gown, I was only too happy to let my daughter’s revive this tradition, buying a white dress to wear under their graduation gowns. Our thought would have been why bother? You don’t see your dress under the gown anyway! But another trend that I’m thankful for is the common practice of taking photos with your gown unzipped, so that you can see the pretty dress or shirt and tie that you’re wearing underneath.

But enough about that! On to the directions, tips and tricks, to make your own white, senior Homecoming Mum!…

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Filed Under: Crafts, Teens & Family

DIY Easy Easter Table Centerpiece Idea

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April 7, 2021 by ES Ivy

Need an fun DIY centerpiece idea to make your Easter table festive? How about one you can use year after year? One that will become a treasured Easter tradition for your kids?

Easter table place setting - Need an fun DIY centerpiece idea to make your Easter table festive? How about one you can use year after year? One that will become a treasured Easter tradition for your kids?

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Filed Under: Easter, Food & Fun

An Easy Way to Dress Up an Easter Basket for your Little Girl

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March 12, 2021 by ES Ivy

I adored my Easter basket growing up, which my grandmother had dressed up for me by attaching plastic flowers to it. Now, with all the gorgeous silk floral vines available in craft stores, it’s easier than ever! I made two baskets for my own little girls (now bigger), and they love them just as much.

DIY Floral decorate Easter baskets

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Filed Under: Crafts, Easter, Seasonal & Holidays

Indoor Easter Scavenger hunt texting game

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March 10, 2021 by ES Ivy

Kids get to old for the traditional egg hunt before they want to give up having fun on Easter. And if course it’s before they want to give up getting candy! But there are fun things you can do with tweens and teens that are more than an egg hunt.

One year we made a texting scavenger hunt for our three teens/preteens. One of the best parts? The Easter Bunny didn’t have to get up early to hide eggs in the yard!

aster scavenger hunt for teenagers, tweens, older kids and even adults. Indoor or outside. Ideas for using smartphone texts and photos, riddles, clues, and tasks.

We all had a ball doing the hunt. I hope you do too!…

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Filed Under: Easter, Seasonal & Holidays

Make Your Own Valentine Fortune Teller

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January 18, 2021 by ES Ivy

Kids doing remote school from home because of the pandemic might have more time for DIY crafts this Valentine’s Day. What could be better than this Valentine Fortune Teller you can play with after you make it? Get the tutorial!

Valentine 8 ball top Valentine 8 ball answer
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Filed Under: Crafts, Seasonal & Holidays Tagged With: Family Fun Magazine

Homecoming Mums – How to make a Homecoming mum (with pictures) and save money

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October 26, 2020 by ES Ivy

DIY Homecoming mum tutorial. Make your own Homecoming football mum, tips to make yours special and save money!If you don’t live in the South, I’m told that Homecoming mums might be new to you. I wouldn’t know. 🙂 I grew up in the south, so I don’t know any different. In fact, I’ve always thought Homecoming mums were the best part about football!

On the other hand, even when I was in high school, Homecoming mums started getting bigger and bigger, and fancier and heavier. And that was before battery operated lights! And feather boas. Oh, my. And you wouldn’t believe how much those Homecoming mums cost!

You can save a lot of money making your own, and end up with something prettier and unique….

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Filed Under: Crafts, Teens & Family

Easy and fast DIY Athena Costume your girl will love!

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October 23, 2020 by ES Ivy

The books I write for kids are fantasy, so it’s probably no surprise that we’re big fantasy readers around this house. When my daughter was in middle school she finally discovered the Percy Jackson series and tore through them. (Can you call it “discovered” when her brother has been begging her for years and she only read it because her English teacher put The Lightning Thief on  a reading list?)

I made this Greek goddess costume for my daughter to be Athena from the Percy Jackson books. It's super easy, no sewing required! It would also make a great Book Week or Book Character Parade costume for lots of books, including Goddess Girls.

Some parents would be appalled that English teachers are encouraging kids to read something as commercial as The Lightning Thief. I think it’s great! To me, the main reason for assigning books is to turn kids into readers. The depressing books that most teachers assign discourage kids from reading….

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Filed Under: Crafts, Growing Readers, Halloween Tagged With: costume

Star Wars Luke Skywalker DIY costume

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October 23, 2020 by ES Ivy

Usually we have to wait years in between Star Wars movies, but Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out last year and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is coming out this December! (Published Aug 8, 2016)

UPDATE 2020:

Trick-or-treat alternatives and Costumes for Halloween 2020

Even if you’re not going to a big Halloween party this year, your kids can have fun dressing up. You might want to put together a costume from things you have around the house, as I did multiple years in a row for this Luke Skywalker Costume. All dressed up and nowhere to go? Consider dressing up as characters from your favorite movie series and have a movie marathon while you eat Halloween Candy! Love Star Wars? We got some things right, but we made a couple of mistakes when showing Star Wars to our kids. See my best order for introducing your kids to Star Wars.

Do you have older girls – teen and pre-teen girls? See our own favorite Rom Coms for mothers and daughters to watch together!

Luke Skywalker Costume Ideas

I love how the Star Wars movies continue to have strong female characters. We’re big Star Wars fans around this house, so we’ll definitely be going to see that.

In fact, our son has been Luke Skywalker for Halloween not one, not two, but THREE times! As you can see, even his sisters had to get in on the Star Wars costumes for Halloween as well. I’m sure that there are going to be a lot of Star Wars costumes at Halloween this fall.

Star Wars Halloween Costumes

Two of those times my son dressed up like Luke Skywalker from Star Wars: A New Hope, and as you can see, that’s a super easy costume….

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Filed Under: Disney, Family Movies & TV, Halloween Tagged With: costume

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Hello! from E.S. Ivy

Welcome! Ever wonder how another mom "makes the magic happen?" Look around and I'll give you a peek behind the scenes, to show you how to make family events magical - and even get your kids to read! Read More…

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High school Homecoming mum tutorial
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