July 31, 2024 Easy Summer Birthday Desserts
By the time those summer birthdays come around in our family, I am burnt out. My daughter loves chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, so I whipped up this fun little cake with rainbow frosting.
And just because you’re celebrating a birthday, doesn’t mean you have to bake. How cute is this stack of frosted (!!) whoopie pies from Concord Teacakes? Throw on a fun cake topper and you have an instant party!
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July 29, 2024 Looking for the Perfect Party Favors?
I am always on the lookout for ideas for party favors. At the end of the summer season at Target last year I picked these bubble makers up for just a couple of dollars each. I like the idea of one big party favor lately, instead of lots of little things, so this was perfect. I added on a personalized tag (made with my Cricut) to complete the look. How cute are these for our art themed birthday party?
Tags: birthday
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July 13, 2024 How to Up Your Child’s Summer Reading Game with Hummingbird Books!
Want to up your child’s summer reading? Hummingbird Books can help! Just read 10 books (download the form here) and bring in your completed form (before September 1st) to the store to claim your prize pack like we did! You get your choice of Needoh from Hummingbird, a coupon for a free burger from Shake Shack and a free scoop from Van Leeuwen!
Make sure to check Hummingbird Books out on Sundays at 11am for their complimentary storytime at The Great Oak Tree inside the store.
Join their rewards program and for every $300 spent, earn a $20 voucher.
Hummingbird Books
55 Boylston Street, Chestnut Hill, MA
Monday – Saturday 11am to 7pm
Sunday 12pm to 6pm
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June 28, 2024 A Second Mother’s Day at Hidden Pond
Year two of our mother daughter trip to Hidden Pond! We can’t wait to do some of our favorite things we did last year and try a few new things this year! We stopped at Lil’s Cafe in Kittery on the way up to Kennebunkport to get some crullers, Lil’s makes the best!
This year we are in #6, First Light, just before you get the the front office, and very close to the pool.
Speaking of the pool, it’s the first place that we head to as soon as we put our bags down. This year, they have a glow stick party and blow up toys and we are just in heaven!
S’mores are back and we fancy them up with our own cookies, just to be a little extra.
We had dinner at a sister property downtown, The Boathouse, that offers valet parking, which is a plus – street parking at night is hard to come by – you either have to find street parking or get lucky in a pay lot. You can also use the hotel shuttle to get down here. Lovely views of the water, make sure to bring something warm to wear at night, as it is cooler by the water. They do not take reservations, so go early if you’d like to grab a seat outside on the deck.
We woke up the next morning do go searching for sea treasures. We went to middle beach and did manage to find a few small pieces of sea glass and a few small shells. Does anyone have any recommendations foe sea glass beaches in Kennebunkport?
After our beach walk, we came back into town and did a candle class at Sea Love. You get to pick your scent, pick your vessel, pour your wax, and decorate your label. Such a fun way to make a memory for our trip. Come back two hours later and the candle is all ready to go. A fun thing to do if you’re having a girls trip, if you’re in town for a bachelorette weekend, or just looking to do something with your family. The scent combinations are endless! We can’t wait to go back next year to try something entirely different.
We have been looking forward to craft hour for weeks, and making a tie dye shirt for grandma, who couldn’t make the trip this year. Ryan was here again this year, and always makes craft time a blast, even offered to go above and beyond and teach this little one how to ride a bike without training wheels!
Spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the pool with a few other moms and families. Perfect way to end the day.
The next morning, pastries and coffee were brought to our door, but we decided to have a special morning out and headed over to Earth for our last breakfast in Maine.We were the only ones here it was so early!
There is just something so good about a hotel breakfast!
And a trip to Maine would not be complete without a stop at Congdon’s in Wells. Make sure to wake up early, because they go fast. I mean the kids love the strawberry frosted, I can’t stay away from the lemon filled (and when you are in Maine, how do you pass up a blueberry filled, right?) and I also love a good chocolate coconut, because you can’t really find those around here very much these days.
Year two was just as good as year one. Customer service was top notch, as was expected.
Hidden Pond
354 Goose Rocks Road
Kennebunkport, ME 04046
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June 27, 2024 Mother’s Day at Hidden Pond
Two years ago (2022) we started a wonderful tradition of going to Hidden Pond for Mother’s Day. It’s a wonderful time to go before it starts getting busy. We have the property to ourselves for the most part, the restaurants aren’t crowded yet, parking is a breeze, and while the weather is a bit cooler, we almost prefer it.
We stayed in a one story cottage, #12, Firefly. Two bedrooms, each with their own bathroom and one with an outdoor shower, which is the highlight of the trip for me.
They have everything you could need at the cottage, kitchen items should you decide to stay in for a meal, or even have a chef come in and cook you one! Don’t feel like eating in? Head to Earth, their on site restaurant for a delicious meal or have the shuttle take you to one of the sister properties other restaurants for the night.
They have a bunch of bikes to choose from on the property – feel free to grab one from the bike barn and keep for the length of your stay. Bike down to the gym or to breakfast!
At 5:30pm every night they offer s’mores at the fire pit. Such a fun family activity. We took advantage of this every night after getting out of the pool.
I loved the individual bags of s’more kits.
Every morning, they drop off a thermos of hot coffee and some delicious baked treats at your front step.
One night we decided to bring in pizza from Roma Pizza in town. I recommend calling early if you go on a weekend, they do get busy.
The next day for lunch we wen to the Clam Shack, right in town, for some of the best lobster rolls I’ve had. 5oz of lobster, served with your choice of butter, mayo or both (but butter is the right answer here). You won’t be disappointed.
We came back to the pool where they have a food truck and go these amazing donuts as a little sweet treat! You can get a variety of snacks there, from tacos to chicken fingers to salads.
I think our favorite part about the trip was the kid’s craft hour with Ryan. And our favorite craft was the tie dye. Make all the mess, do none of the clean up 🙂 Took these home for a special memory of an unforgettable trip.
Hidden Pond
354 Goose Rocks Road
Kennebunkport, ME 04046
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June 7, 2024 I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for Summer
We found these cute ice cream cone cups at the Dollar Store and used them two ways. The first was for end of the year teacher gifts for our younger staff members. I made these cute printables and attached them to the straw.
Next, I filled them with these little waffle cone bites snack and of course tied on a gift card to Trombetta’s in Marlborough so they can get a free ice cream over the summer!
The second way we used them was for birthday party favors. Same things inside, the waffle cone bites and a gift card, but we personalized the outside of the cones with the names of our friends using my Cricut. I got a ton of compliments on these by strangers who were having parties at the same place.
You can make these as expensive or as inexpensive as you’d like. You could make a basket with a box of cones, sauce, sprinkles and other fun candy toppings; you could make a basket with waffle cones, brownies, whipped cream and amarena cherries; even just get ingredients to make Coke floats! Sky is the limit with the creativity of this gift.
Ice cream cones: Dollar Tree
Waffle Cone Bites: TJ Maxx
Gift Cards: Trombetta’s
Tags: Homemade
Tags: events, ice cream, teacher, teachergifts
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June 6, 2024 Back By Popular Demand: Bluey’s Big Play – The Stage Show
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored. All opinions are my own.
I have to admit that Bluey was not a show that we regularly watch in our house. Right now it is all Pokemon all day every day, cringe. So I had some catching up to do. I made a Bluey cake to get us in the mood. A supermarket cake that I did a little surgery on, cut it up, scraped off the frosting, made it multiple shades of blue, added some bits of chocolate for the eyes and nose and viola! Kids were impressed at this weeknight special treat!
So off in the early morning to the city to catch the Saturday 10am performance of Bluey. Two bigs and one little. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go with the little, could she handle 50 minutes of sitting in a seat? We were about to find out. Of course I forgot the snacks in the car, but luckily we were able to head downstairs where JP Licks was sampling their new Bluey flavored ice cream. Success! It was a hit all around, 4 thumbs up. We grabbed some Bluey coloring and activity sheets, some crayons and headed up to our seats.
Pleasantly surprised at the show. It kept the kids interest and even made me tear up for a hot second. The “puppets” were amazing. There was a little bit of audience participation in the middle of the show which was fun.
The best part came at the end when there was a surprise…
A big game of keepy uppy in the audience, using these enormous balls!
Tags: cake, events, hosted, kids, theatre district
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June 5, 2024 Let’s Par-tee at Trombetta’s: Mini Golf Birthday Party
If you’re looking for an affordable birthday party option, Trombetta’s in Marlborough is your spot. Perfect for kids ages 5-8, they can host birthday parties of any size. You can bring your own food or have pizzas delivered from one of the local shops (Plum Tomato or Post Road Pizza). Bring your own drinks and snacks, party decorations and balloons to make the party room as fancy or as simple as you’d like.
We brought our own cupcakes (golf themed cupcakes with golf ball rings I found on Amazon) to pass out as favors at the end because we had the kids make their own sundaes at the party. At the beginning of the party, kids chose from 5 kinds of ice cream. While they golfed, Trombetta’s pre scooped the ice cream. When it was time to come back into the party room, each guest sat down to their ice cream and was able to add the toppings of their choice: candy, sprinkles, hot fudge and whipped cream.
We also made these fancy sprinkle cupcakes for those who wanted cupcakes instead of ice cream sundaes. You can bring your own cake or you can have Trombetta’s make you an ice cream cake.
When the kids were ready to go home, we passed out these gift cards as favors, $5 gift cards for them to come back and either spend on golf or get another cone for free.
Trombetta’s Farm
655 Farm Road, Marlborough, MA
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June 4, 2024 Let’s Get Crafty! Teacher Gifts: Crayon Wreath
I’m always looking for something crafty to give to our teachers along with a gift card, whether it be for Teacher Appreciation Week, the holidays or end of the year gifts. I found these wreath frames at Michael’s. I always buy extra boxes of crayons in September when they are $1 during the back to school sales, so these were pretty inexpensive to make.
I used a hot glue gun to do the first row of crayons and then did a second row on top to fill in the gaps. Add a picture hanger on the back and this is done in less than 30 minutes! I left mine plain, but you could certainly add your teacher’s name or a bow to make it a bit more fancy. What are your go to teacher crafts?
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June 3, 2024 Let’s Fly! Paper Airplane Birthday Cake
Every year for the kids, I get them one “fancy” cake (read: professional), and then one cake that I make. My son has been very in to making paper airplanes, so naturally, I made him paper airplane cake toppers. I Googled some colorful maps, printed them out and carefully folded them into small planes. I glued them onto toothpicks, and viola! Simple, yet fun.
A simple two layer vanilla cake with vanilla frosting and Oreo crumbles in the middle.
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