One Little Word for 2020 #OLW #OLW2020

I can see clearly now in 2020: Reach for 2020

My One Little Word for 2020

On New Year's Day I was still looking for my one little word for this year. (sidenote: 2018=Joy, 2019= Believe) I was reading other's blogs and posts and was gathering inspiration from their  OLW selections.  However, I was still searching for mine on Jan 1st while the Rose Bowl New Year's Day parade played on the TV in the background. The first float paraded by it's theme caught my ear....."Reach for the stars!"  

Yes, so full of ambition and potential-  Open to possibilities. Reach for the stars!   

However, we can reach for so much more than stars. So I singled out the word "Reach" and realized it's meaning could weave through many facets of my life. 

 Reach....for my loved ones. Spending that quality time with each of my children.  Knowing their love language. Giving hugs and touch.  Connecting with them. Same for my spouse! Taking the time to reach out to other family members too. Whether it's picking up the phone to call, commenting on a Facebook post, sending a package or letter, making the effort to attend that family gathering or hosting it for that matter! 

Reach......and stretch! Yes, to stretch my body feels so good. If only for 5 minutes while the coffee brews to ignite those muscles. Maybe that will lead to more opportunities to pursue exercise for me. Yoga...that's stretching right?....that's my kind of exercise! 

Reach....... out to others. It might be actually lending a helping hand or  it could be a simple smile or wave. Be open. Reach  out to others co-workers, neighbors, even strangers.  A kind word or compliment can brighten someone's day. Those sunshine rays will fill my soul too. 

Reach....deep within myself. What is it that I truly want and desire? Pull out my character , my being,  find my purpose.  Let those  dreams  rise to the surface and grab on to them! 

 Reach seemed to ring truer and truer to my values and wishes for 2020 

So I will reach for the New Year's bell 

and ring in 2020 with  

R-E-A-C-H!! 

Snowman Countdown

Snowman Countdown to Christmas

December 2016

I have many fond memories of the Christmas season from my childhood. Now that I have my own children I have enjoyed replicating many of these special traditions. One that I didn't even realize had stuck with me and had so much meaning was our countdown to Christmas. I've  tried many little advent calendars/Christmas countdowns with my children but none of them really "worked" like I wanted then to.   Little doors to open each day looked inciting until I am the one that has to find 24 little treasures that are cheap and small enough to fit behind those doors. NO!

Little fat stuffed snowman that has 12 pockets on each leg numbered 1-24. A little candy cane in each pocket should be easy enough, but  NO! Where is this fat little snowman supposed to sit to his legs can dangle? I did love this flat wooden tree that had 24 ornaments but we were doing it all wrong, We were taking an ornament off each day to reveal the  number behind it.  I thought that was the countdown to Christmas. Evidently, we were supposed to be putting an ornament on the tree each day.  oops!

Er'go, our new Christmas Countdown!! 

My sister was in town listening to my whoas about our non-functioning countdowns. In fact, she's the one who told me we were doing the Christmas tree ornaments countdown all wrong. So we reminisced about a simple little countdown we had as children. To our recollection, it was made of green felt with a Christmas tree shape at the top and a long thin strip of green felt dangling below. Along that strip, at about 1 inch intervals, was red yard that held buttons, 24 in all, one button for each day before Christmas. Some years we tied small candy canes on the yarn instead. As a child, I would get to take off one candy cane each day until it was Christmas Day!!  

Well, while my sister was here on her visit and we were out shopping at a friend's little craft barn, she spied a cute handcrafted snowman.  The snowman was made from a long,  narrow board.  (approx 3 feet long by 2 inches wide) An idea popped into her head to turn this into a Christmas Countdown. So she bought the snowman for me for Christmas and we proceeded to transform it.  We went to a little antique shop in my little town and asked if they had buttons. They scurried around and brought back 4 mason jars filled with buttons.  They let us dig through the jars to find just the right buttons we were looking for.  24 of them in fact.....big brown buttons, all a little different/unique. In fact one "button" we found actually looked like a belt buckle. In true small town Christmas spirit, they wouldn't let me pay them for the buttons. They even gave us the thin twine we needed to thread through each button.    We took home our treasures and began creating. 

First we spaced-out and aligned all the buttons down the center of the board.  We then traced around each button with pencil. We also used gold marker to # the back of each button so they could be re-tied to the board in the correct place every year (because each button was different sized---the had to go back in the same place) Next we cut pieces of twine long enough  (approx 8 inches) to thread through each button and tie it into a bow.  We were sure to dip each end of the twine into some Elmer's glue to keep them from fraying.  Next we found the center of each piece of twine, used a hand held staple gun and fastened each twine to the board.  

Lastly, we threaded each button onto the twine and tied into a bow! You can also add a candy cane to each button.

Children can take off a candy cane each day before Christmas or they can take off a button each day (and retie the twine) If they are taking off buttons, they can store them in the tails of the scarf. We folded over a section of the long scarf to create a little pocket to hold the buttons once they are taken off. .  

I found the perfect place to hang our new Christmas Countdown. It's on a thin strip of wall space in our kitchen right next to the end of the counter. 

I hope it brings excitement each Christmas season as we countdown the days to Christmas and I hope it helps to form childhood traditions that will last a lifetime in their memories. 

Michael's Minecraft Mania Birthday Party

Minecraft Mania Birthday Party

Yes, he is being a silly zombie in this picture But it is the only pic of the whole cake table that I have ! 

Do you know Creepers, diamond swords, iron ore, redstones? Well I didn't just a few weeks ago. I admit I didn't even know if they were saying "Mindcraft" or "Minecraft" even though that's all I was hearing most kids in the 5-15 year range talk about. 

As soon as my son was able to get the Minecraft app for iPad, (btw he had to earn it by reading 8 books)  he started absorbing himself into the Minecraft world as well. It didn't take long before we knew it would be a great theme for his birthday party which was just a few weeks away.

I quickly realized this was, yet again, another theme with no supplies available at the party stores. (secret: I kind of like it that way. It gets my creative juices flowing and the end result looks less "merchandised".  Honestly it is less expense too.) So I  patrolled Pinterest, browsed blogs and searched sites to uncover ideas to complete our party.

To start off the party, the kids threw beanbags at the large Creeper cut out.  This was the first thing that we made for the party. It was actually made from a huge cardboard box that his little sister's playhouse came in for her birthday just 2 weeks earlier.  My son drew the simple creeper face on the box and cut it out with his own pocket knife (no worries Grandma, he was supervised) He then requested the opportunity to spray paint it himself. (he claims that he knew how because he had spray painted at Papa's before) He did a great job spraying it with the black spray paint we already had.  I spruced it up a bit with a few green duct tape squares and some white squares created with large mailing labels.  I scored a huge roll of them for 10 cents at a garage sale the week before. (I knew I'd find a use for them!) I just placed random groupings of them all around the creeper face to make it look a little more pixelated. Now you can go all out and make your own Minecraft bean bags. But I opted to just used some red and blue ones I had around the house. Would you believe those creative kids pretended they were redstones and blue diamonds they were throwing at the Creeper!! Everyone wanted a second and third turn!! Bonus: The Creeper face/Bean Bag toss  doubled as a backdrop for a lot of our group pictures!

After a few throws at the Bean Bag toss, kids came over to create their own Minecraft swords.  I purchased 6  standard size white foamboards from Walmart for $1.77 each. We traced around the one (really expensive) real Minecraft merchandise sword from Target.  We were able to fit two swords on one board.  I sweet-talked my hubby and step-son into cutting out 12 Minecraft swords out of the 3/16th in thick foamboard. (He taped 3 boards together and cut it easily with his skill saw) . I already had several Sharpie permanent markers in many different colors. So the partiers used the markers (and crayons too) to design, create and color their personal Minecraft swords! This was a great activity. It took quite awhile but we had plenty of table space and they all enjoyed chattering about Minecraft as they created their unique swords. We took a great group photo of all the kids and their finished swords. 

Here is the group photo of everyone wielding their  finished swords, Creeper wristbands in front of the Creeper bean bag toss game. 

Then each friend got to make their own Minecraft wristband.  They were created with two pieces of green duct tape stuck sticky sides together. (I made one slightly larger than the other so the ends would wrap up and over the other piece of tape..just 1/4 of an inch or so....so that it looked polished.) I put a piece of Velcro on each end so they could take it on or off their wrist easily.  Each friend used the black permanent marker to create the simple Creeper face.


Next up, the Pinata!!  I provided each kid with a little green party sack. (I wanted to cut Creeper eyes and mouth out of black construction paper and glue it to each sack but I didn't get around to it) So they just had plain green sacks.  I put everyone's name on their sack before the birthday boy took the first swipe at the Minecraft Pinata!! My hubby also cut out a sword from some 1/4 in plywood we had in the garage. My son and I used black, dark blue, light blue and white Acrylic paint  (that I already had) to paint the "diamond sword". At first, we had planned to just use the Target purchased foam Minecraft sword to hit the piñata, but it was man from a sturdy cardboard box.  Therefore I was afraid the sword wouldn't  break the box or would break itself.  So now we had a very sturdy sword to use for the Pinata whacker. 

 (Homemade plywood "diamond: sword on the left, Homemade Creeper head Pinata, middle, store bought, foam sword on the right)

To create the Pinata, I got a square cardboard box. I wrapped the box in green butcher paper like you would wrap a present (This set wasn't necessary) I cut a small hole/flap in the top of the box  to insert the candy and toys. I poked a jump rope through the premade handle holes on each side of the box. We used the jump rope to hang the Pinata from our basketball hoop.  Next I used green crepe paper/steamers to cover the box.  I cut slits into one edge of green crepe paper steamers.  Then I used Elmer's glue to stick it to the box. To cut the slits more efficiently, I fan folded several layers of steamer on top of one another and cut several slits along one edge all at once. I just used black streamer to make a Creeper face on two sides of the box.  Then I taped a few green and black steamers on the bottom of the box to hang down while it was hanging up. Finally, use the secret hole at the top to fill the box with candy.  

At the party, each blind folded party-goer hit the Pinata with the wooden "diamond sword" once. Then we went through the line again and they each hit it once again before the Pinata spilled all of its contents!

Finally, cake time! (If you can call it cake) Michael chose the Minecraft landscape for his cake. The "cake" was actually different flavors of Rice Krispy treats and chocolate cubes randomly stacked on one another.  I made three different kinds of Rice Krispy treats. Regular Rice Krispy treats were the sand. Coco Rice Krispy treats were the stone. Black colored Rice Krispy treats for coal.   Chocolate cake was the dirt. Blue Jello  was the water.

To begin, I made a Devil's Food chocolate cake mix and baked it in a smaller 9x9 baking dish so it would be super thick. I made a batch of regular Rice Krispy treats and a batch of cocoa Rice Krispy treats. Then I colored  melted marshmallow with some Wilton black food coloring and mixed it with the Rice Krispy treats to make black coal. I cut the Rice Krispy treats and cake into large cubed pieces.  Then I stacked up a few of each kind leaving the chocolate cake for the top so I could ice the "dirt" with "grass".  To make the grass, I simply colored some buttercream icing (purchased in a tub from Walmart) with Wilton food coloring Evergreen.  I put the green icing into a piping bag with the grass tip and iced some grass on the top of each chocolate cake cube.   If you've never used a grass tip, get one and try it. It takes very little cake decorating skill yet makes a huge impact.  It doesn't have to be perfect for it to still look great! I've used the grass tip a couple of different times for grass but it also creates awesome looking fur for animals.  (I believe I used it for cookie monster.) Next I mixed up some blue Jello per the directions on the box and let it cool until I was ready to put it on the landscape.  (I searched all over for a square shaped container to put my Jello in.  But next time. I think I would just use my regular 9x9 cake pan for the Jello and cut the middle of it out to place on the landscape.) I tucked a few Rice Krispy treat pieces in front of the cake to give it  more of a finished edge. The little trees, Creeper and pig are all make from flavored Tootsie rolls. I kept the whole landscape in the refrigerator until the party. But I don't think you would need to. The Jello water held up for a long time. 


One of my favorite things was the LAVA! My son loves orange sherbet so we didn't even taste test this before the party.  It turned out to be well liked by all!! The LAVA is just a tub of orange sherbet, a tub of vanilla ice cream and a couple of two liters of Strawberry soda.  I mixed it up during the party and all the kids watched. (That way they all knew what was in it.  It looks kind of cool and bubbly while your pouring it too!) I served it in a cake server with the top turned upside down to make a punch bowl. 

Since there were no party decorations available at stores, I bought (@ Target) one set of the Minecraft cardboard cut outs that you fold and create 3D blocks etc. My neighbor had the deluxe kit and had done all the hard work of folding them, so she let me borrow them to decorate the table.  A few black and green balloons and steamers rounded off the Minecraft theme. 

Creeper Juice was super simple.  We just tore the labels off of the 20 oz. Sprite bottles and drew the Creeper face on each one. I displayed them on the cake table in a green Minecraft box that Target let me have. (I think the little Minecraft plush characters were displayed in the box at the store but they were all sold out. )  I covered each table with green plastic table clothes. (Paty City) I had a bowl of "blue diamond"  Rock Candy.  I finished off the cake table with green square plates, black napkins and green forks.  (Party City) I drew the Creeper face on the handle of each fork. 

I started out not knowing a thing about Minecraft and honestly I still don't know much. But I think Michael and his friends enjoyed it and that is all that matters! :) 

Leave a comment below or leave a question if you have one! 



FROZEN Birthday Party

Disney's FROZEN movie was such a hit our at house (and all over the country) that it was a perfect fit for my daughter's 4th birthday party theme. She watches the movie in the car all the time and she sings every song at the top of her lungs.  She has listened to the CD so often I had to buy a second one. This was such a fun party to plan.
        The first thing the guests saw as they arrived at the party was this gorgeous sign that my sister created for the door.  Some how one of my nieces happened to have a can of that fake snow that we sprayed around the whole perimeter of the glass door entrance around the sign. Very cool effect, if you can find snow on the off season.

 As guests arrived they colored pre-printed FROZEN coloring pages and created these Sparkly Snowflakes.  Materials:  iridescent white pipe cleaners (cut them in half.It takes 3 half pipe cleaners to create one snowflake) and crystal beads or pearls.  Each child made an X with the 2 pipe cleaners and twisted to hold them in place. Then they placed the 3rd pipe cleaner vertically between the X and wrapped it around once to secure the whole snowflake together. They chose little beads to put on the end of each pipe cleaner. Finally I helped them twist a loop at the top of the longest pipe cleaner so they could hang it up at home.

 Next guests got to experience having the magical freezing powers like Elsa by creating these beautiful FROZEN FRACTALS! Just add one cup of Epsom salts to 1 cup boiling water, stir to dissolve. I let the mixture cool before I set a cup of it on the craft table in front of all the kids. Each kid dipped a paintbrush into the mixture and painted it onto black paper. It looks just like water at first. As it dries, it slowly starts forming little crystalline sparkles. To speed up the drying process and make it happen right before their eyes, I used a hair dryer on their paintings.   It really was magical!

 I had plans and supplies for the little ones to get to create their own crystal bracelets. It was some stretchy cord and lots of crystal-like beads. But when I saw how difficult it was for some of the 4 year olds to even put beads on the stiff pipe cleaners, I knew the beading of bracelets wasn't for this age group. (At least not in a large group setting.) I should have just made them ahead of time and let them take them home as gifts. However, if you have older girls, I bet they would love getting to make their own crystal bracelets.

This was the tablescape for the FROZEN Birthday Party!!! 

 The table was covered with a gorgeous iridescent, sparkly, white paper table cloth. (Party City) 

The cake took center stage.

Here are the FROZEN cake and cupcakes I created. My sister loaned me a lighted, crystal wreath that I placed in the center of the table. In the middle of that,  is a simple glass vase filled with glass jewels. (My sister had those already too. Sorry I don't know where she got them. But you could fill the vase with just about anything, Easter grass, tissue paper, dragons tears, etc) The first tier is actually a round class microwave plate. (don't laugh...I told you I wanted to use the things I already had) I encircled the plate with drapy ice crystals.  (yeap, my sister's too!) Then I placed the cupcakes on this tier. 

I made cupcakes to make it easy to serve and eat for little ones. I crushed up some of the Rock Candy I made and used it to decorate the rim of the cupcake. Each cupcake was in a silver wrapper and topped with a diamond shaped , crystal jewel. (Yes, more leftovers from the 60th anniversary!! yea!!!) I was sure to take the jewel off the top before I served it because it was not edible. It was a fun surprise to bite into the cupcake and find out it was BLUE VELVET cake (mix available at Walmart) on the inside. You have to have ice cream at a FROZEN party. So to make serving easier, I scooped vanilla ice cream into silver cupcake wrappers & sprinkled them with blue sprinkles, the day before. I put them back into the freezer on a tray until party time. This was the easiest idea yet for serving ice cream at a party!!!! 

The top tier was a glass serving platter stacked on top of the microwave plate. I baked a two-layer, nine-inch cake and  iced with buttercream icing. Then there is the ICE CASTLE. I knew that is the one thing (along with a staircase) that I just HAD to have on top of the cake.  It is created with homemade Rock Candy (it is a simple recipe of sugar, corn syrup and water heated to 300 degrees, hard crack stage) It took some trial and error to figure out what exactly we could do with this candy and how to get it into something shaped like an ice castle. One of the hardest was to get it a bluish color. The first attempt of adding drops of regular liquid blue food coloring to the boiling mixture just created a green color. So we ended up adding a teensy bit of water to a teensy bit of Wilton Royal Blue food coloring and applying it to the hardened candy pieces with a paint brush.   To make the castle pieces, we free- handed ice castle shapes onto waxed paper and laid it out onto a large baking sheet with sides. Spray the waxed paper liberally with cooking spray. As soon as the sugar mixture reaches the hard crack stage, quickly pour it out onto your baking sheet. Spread it out gently, but quickly with the back of a large metal spoon. Watch it carefully, as it begins to harden (but don't wait too long or it will be too hard) Use a knife, even a butter knife will do, to cut the candy along your tracings. It will not cut it completely at this stage but it will at least form a crease so you can break it along that seam when it is hard enough to crack. We found it helpful to lift the edges of the paper and candy slightly to separate it from the tray before it cools completely. Let cool. Then gently run your knife along the seams. We used one square piece as the floor of the castle that we would build the other wall around. (We learned this technique the hard way. With the first cake I made, we just stuck the castle walls directly into the cake.  A few moments later, we noticed the backside of the cake was falling off. Basically it had just been sliced by the castle walls. oops) Now remove all of the other walls of your castle and simply start placing them around your square.  We used three large triangularly topped pieces for the main structure. Then placed the same shaped pieces (cut in half during creation) on either side of the building. Now, we planned to hold the castle pieces together with simple sugar or something. ( I don't have enough experience with candies to know what would have worked ) But at this point, 10 minutes until party time (seriously) we just got out the good old hot glue gun!! As long as you don't look too closely at the ice castle, it worked great! We, of course, made sure not to serve any parts of the ice castle to the guests. Although, it would have been edible without the hot glue! We stuck a few gorgeous clear crystal pieces that came off of a wind chime on either side of the castle. I thought these were the perfect shape to make it look more like a castle edifice. Since no Frozen or Elsa thing was available at any store or online for a reasonable amount, we borrowed an Elsa from our neighbors for the top of the cake. (I believe it is the Infinity Elsa used for the Wii game??)  I thought she was the perfect size and I just love that she is doing her "ice power" motion which looks like she just created the ice castle. 

Then we needed an icy stairway to the ice castle, of course. But .....I believe my sister's comment was something like, "You can't create a stairway out of thin air." I insisted we had to have a stairway. I know how much my daughter loves that part of the movie. I've seen her play on the playground pretending to form an icy stairway to the top of the slide. At home each night as we ascend the steps to bed, she blasts the staircase creating the icy stairway for us to climb. Then,  I also believe..... it was my sister who reminded me that the stairs from the Barbie house are removable.  Yeap! Those are Barbie stairs! I quickly retrieved the pink stairs from the large Barbie house in my daughter's room. We just covered them with aluminum foil. Then I whipped up a small batch of Royal icing and iced the stairs. I used hot glue to apply some crystals on both sides of the stairway and finally shook some sugar crystal sprinkles all along the stairs. Surprisingly the stairs were the exact right height to bring Elsa to the ice castle at the top tier. I cut off and iced a small piece of cake from one of the first flub-up cakes I made and placed it in the gap  in between the staircase and the cake.  This was the perfect place for Elsa to stand.  I used some more crushed blue rock candy to form a little walkway for Elsa to the castle and to surround the base of the cake.  

On either side of the cake, were glass vases filled with iridescent Easter grass with sticks of blue Rock Candy in them. (Rock Candy available at Party City.  The candy is pretty messy and turns their mouth blue so  I put it in baggies and sent them home with each guest. )  The clear forks and spoons were in a glittery, silver server. 

This is simply blue Jello (see recipe here)  cut into cubes to resemble little blocks of ice! 

"Some people are worth melting for!"

Guests drank blue juice (Blue Hawaiian punch & Sprite) in clear cups or they selected melted snowman. (aka water) 

 Above the table were our regular kitchen lights. I strung pearly beads all around them to make them look like a chandelier. I hung three dimensional sparkly crystal snowflakes from the ceiling and all around. (Thanks again, sis, for letting me raid your Christmas decorations) I borrowed more crystal containers, trees etc and decorated the fireplace mantel. These pieces created an icy atmosphere. 

"Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?" 

All of the kids got to build their own snowman. I displayed all of the snowman parts in various sized glass containers at different heights. Jumbo marshmallows (the bottom), medium marshmallows (body), flat marshmallows (head), and mini marshmallows (for feet) were used to form  OLAF.  Mini chocolate chips were for the eyes and regular sized chocolate chips for buttons.  We used orange Mike and Ike candies for OLAF noses. When we couldn't find shoelace licorice, we just cut regular black licorice into one inch pieces. Then used scissors to splice it into three sections for OLAF's little tuft of hair.  Pretzel sticks were the arms.  I had everything ready for the kids.  All they had to do was get the parts and use some melted white chocolate to assembly all of the parts of their snowman.  I gave each of them a toothpick to dip into the chocolate and apply it to hold all the parts in place. You have to have some patience. It takes a bit for the white chocolate to harden and hold. They turned out cute!! Each of them were unique and they really enjoyed creating it themselves.

As they finished creating their own OLAF, kids joined the birthday girl for "ice skating" to the FROZEN soundtrack. Just give each kid two pieces of waxed paper, one for each foot and they slide around on the carpet. It is actually a lot of fun.  If you've never done it, you gotta try it!! The ice skating scene from the movie was playing(on mute)  in the background . It turned into "freeze skating" when we turned the music off and on. It kept them entertained for quite a while. It was one of the favorite activities!! So fun and easy!! 

"Queen Elsa" and I found a sparkly, blue piece of fabric (at Joann's Craft Store) and tied it around her neck for her Elsa cape. Later we found the perfect flowy, blue dress and strapy, sparkly silver sandals (at Burlington Coat Factory). Her side braided hair was topped off with a bling-bling Queen crown.  

Another activity was, Pin the Nose on OLAF. The noses are made of thin orange foam. We even got out the two "Don't Break the Ice" games that we have. 

 This is the gift table that held the kids treat bags and provided a place to put the birthday girl's gifts as guests arrived. The table is draped with blue shiny fabric. I know, who has a crystal tree? Well, my sister did! She has used it on many occasions (including our parents' 60th {diamond} wedding anniversary) It was a perfect fit for FROZEN tree. We started adorning it in dangling crystal pieces that came from wind chimes but didn't get the whole tree covered in them. It really reminded me of the amazing scene in the movie when they were walking  in the icy forest as they enter the North Mountain. For the treat bags, I was  looking for some pre-made glittery bags.  When I couldn't find them quickly enough, the day before the party, I decided to go with plan B and use stuff I had around the house. I am glad about it now because they turned out really cute and didn't cost me a dime. They were  pretty simple to make too. I already had a ton of white lunch sacks. I snipped off the top edge with fancy cut scrapbook scissors just to make it a little more decorative. Next  I used some Elmer's glue to draw a simple snowflake design and I sprinkled the wet glue with blue glitter. The birthday girl even got to help by shaking out the glitter. It was fun getting to see how giggly she was to use glitter!!!  I let the glitter dry. I was afraid the glitter would rub off real easily and get all over the place. So I took a can of clear spray enamel sealant and lightly sprayed the snowflake to keep the glitter in place. perfect!

Here were some of the items the guests took home in their treat bags. Ring pop, lip gloss with glittery cap, blue rock candy stick, clear heart-shaped box with lid, (both previous items available at Party City) They also used the sack to carry home the crafts they  created during the party. (the sparkle snowflake and the Snowflake painting)

The next day, I created these simple thank you notes to mail to all of the guests. It is white cardstock cut into half and folded in half. I used the same glue, glitter and clear sealant technique that I did with the gift sacks to make a snowflake design on the front.  I placed a FROZEN sticker (this was just about the only true Disney FROZEN merchandise item that I purchased for the party {Party City} We already owned the FROZEN movie DVD and music CD. I wrote "Thank You" on the front in silver pen. Then I hand wrote personal thank yous on the inside with light-blue felt marker. 

I had a spectacular time planning this Frozen party.  My daughter enjoyed all the party planning and of course had a great time at the party too.  I hope it was a memorable event for all of the guests as well. 

If you haven't had a FROZEN party, you should consider it for a theme. It can work for anytime of the year, and for any type event. I think it would work for a girl or a boy. All age groups love the movie too.  A few blue items, crystal, glitter and sparkles go along way to create the FROZEN mood without having to purchase any Disney FROZEN merchandise (which is all sold out at the stores right now any way) 

Enjoy & LET IT GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!