Fakin' It

8th Birthday Oreo Class Treat

My middle child "J" just turned 8 and I wanted to come up with a fun snack to bring into his class to celebrate. There are nut allergies in the classroom and I didn't want anyone to be left out. So these little dandies only require 2 ingredients: Oreos and Candy Melts.

OK- there is a third ingredient. For smoother melted chocolate, add a little vegetable oil. See how much better the yellow ones look? I just dipped each Oreo in the melted chocolate and butted two up against each other, adding a bit more chocolate on the joint to keep them connected.

I love my little Pampered Chef icing bottle. It is a pain to clean but super easy to use.

I just piped on the number 8 and put in a cool spot for a couple hours until all the chocolate coating had hardened.

Using my Creative Memories Storybook Creator digital program, I created these fun tags to attach to each treat.

Voila!

Catholic Schools Week - Teacher Appreciation Gifts

It's Catholic Schools week and I am so grateful for my children to be in an environment where God is a part of everything they do. I was volunteering the other day which required me to sit in the main hall and sell raffle tickets for 2 hours. Every teacher who walked by was smiling, each one stopped to say "Hi" whether she knew me or not. I could hear the prayers coming from the lunch room. BLESSED doesn't even begin to describe the overall feeling.

I wanted to come up with some cute gifts to say thank you to our wonderful teachers.

YOU WERE "MINT" TO BE A GREAT TEACHER

I found these cute little bags at Hobby Lobby along with the Fish Scripture Mints. I included a citrus mint lip gloss and Tangerine Mint hand sanitizer for J's 2nd grade teacher.

For the assistant teacher I got a Starbucks gift-card and put that along with the mints in a bag that says "You Warm Heart."

My son C's fourth grade teacher has cushions in the corner of the room that the kids can pull out and use to read with on the floor. It is really a big deal for them and I noticed that some of the pillows were looking quite worn. I found bed pillows on sale at Kohls for $6. I bought some sports fleece to wrap around it. My son helped tie the knots and wrote "I am having a BALL in your class this year" on the note.

 

52 Weeks of Books: Week One - Chinese New Year

I am starting a new series called 52 Weeks of Books. One of my favorite ways to volunteer in the classroom is as a guest reader. I have spent a lot of time in the local library asking the librarian for age appropriate, fun books. Now I volunteer in the school library and get just as excited as the kids to hear a new story. I plan to feature one book a week that will usually relate to the time of year and is appropriate to read to a kindergarten, first or second grade classroom.

 Week One - Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year falls at different times each year because it is based on lunar cycles. This year it happened to fall earlier than normal, the last week of January. My go-to book is and always has been My First Chinese New Year by Karen Katz.

The cover does look a little baby-ish but this is a great way to introduce Chinese New Year to young children. The pictures are bright and colorful. The simple text allows for older students to ask questions and think about their own family traditions.

As a special surprise I often bring in a little something that goes along with the book I am reading. I brought in little rubber lizards to my son's Kindergarten class two years ago and the kids still remember. With this book I bring in Chinese Red Envelopes. You can make your own, get them at the local Chinese grocery, or order them online.

Since it is tradition to fill the red envelopes with money, I will usually drop a few coins in each or those gold wrapped chocolate coins.

 Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Rainbow Crayon Class Party Favor

L is celebrating her 5th birthday at school today. The public schools have put pretty stringent rules on what you can and can not bring in. No more homemade baked goods. They encourage non-edible items be sent in. I reluctantly went along with this but still needed to sneak in some homemade craftiness.

The theme for L's birthday is Rainbows and Crayons. She couldn't decide between the two so we did both.

 
Everyone in the class gets 5 crayons for L's 5th birthday. Her name is signed on the back of the tag.

If you would like to make you own, I am including images for the two printables I created. One general and the one shown above for 5 year olds.

  
Click on the image you want and it will appear full size. Right click on your mouse and select print. 

I have a ton of little lollipop bags. I bought 4 packs of 24 crayons for .40 cents each and put 5 crayons in each bag. Since the bags needed to lay horizontally, I taped the end closed with clear packing tape.  Each rainbow card was folded over on top so I could sandwich the extra plastic from the baggies inside and then staple it all together.

 
Smooth white cardstock works really well for this project.

 
For all the materials used, these ended up costing me about .20 cents per favor. Cute huh!?

Stay tuned for more rainbow crayon birthday ideas this week.

Thanks for stopping by Fakin It!!

Get Ready for Back to School with Fun Etsy Finds

I can't believe the start of school is just around the corner and the stores have all their school supplies out already. We still have quite a few things left to do on our Summer Bucket Lists.

While I am not ready to commit to the boring purchases of the glue sticks and rulers yet, I have had fun searching Etsy for unique school accessories!

I have always wanted to be one of those fun moms that puts cute little notes in her kids' packed lunches. That might be easier if I actually packed them a lunch instead of handing them $2 everyday so somebody else can feed them. But if I do decide to get up early and pack my kids a healthy lunch I would definitely want to include these adorable note cards from Mary Had a Little Party . She has all kinds of cuteness in her shop.

 
These pencils from The carbon Crusader would be perfect for an older student or even yourself. The sarcasm one cracks me up. I am totally sarcastic way to often. My youngest son is starting to pick it up now and totally gets it. I am such a proud mama. Not into sarcasm? There are lots of kooky sayings. Some I don't get but that is probably because I am not as young and hip as I think I am.

I may not pack lunches that often but I do try to send the kids to school with healthy snacks everyday. I love the concept of reusable bags but most don't have designs that boys would like. Sack Savers has cool designs for boys, girls and moms. Plus they are nicely lined! A win win.

 You know those blue or red nap mats that you can buy from Target or Walmart? Our school makes us buy those but they never said we couldn't also have a super stylish custom personalized nap mat cover with coordinating attached pillowcase and blanket. I am so getting this for my daughter next year from Princess N Sweet Peas!  They even have designs for boys!

 

Can I just tell you how much I hate those plastic pencil cases with Princesses, Transformers, Cars...? I hate the pencil cases and the lunch boxes and the backpacks! I don't know why they irk me. Perhaps it's because they lack originality. Perhaps it's becauseDora is cool this week but next week my daughter will want to ditch Dora for Little Mermaid. And I don't feel like explaining why she can't have a new backpack 3 weeks into the school year. These original pencil cases from Sticky Genius, can allow your child to be the stylish trendsetter.

Have a great week and happy shopping!