Happy Halloween!

JP asked me to make a special treat for his class to celebrate Halloween.  He also got his teacher to go along with this plan by (I suspect) having her send home the "treat list" with a check mark next to "cake".  I suppose it doesn't help that I am constantly schlepping cupcakes and such to school to entice the staff!

I ended up spending my whole day working on this gem.  It was "just" going to be cupcakes.  Then I thought it would be cute to have something with a pumpkin theme.  I didn't want to shape frosting into pumpkins all day, so I baked 2 bundt cakes and slapped them together.  Goodness knows you can't have a class celebration without adding the names of ALL OF THE KIDS IN THE CLASS....sigh.  Why do I do this to myself??  The fact that I spent 5 hours working on something that will be destroyed by a class of 8-year-olds in 5 minutes flat has not escaped me.  The things we do for our kids!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!

Halloween Surprise!

As you may have realized, my family is big on celebrations.  Not expensive celebrations mind you (since I can't seem to get paid to roam the Internet and look for awesome craft ideas) but fun none the less.  This idea came from one of my many MANY hours looking at Pinterest and Craft Gossip (SWOON).  2 ENORMOUS beach balls that I spent hours (no, really...HOURS) coloring with a black permanent marker.  My husband hoisted them in to a tree and secured them with bungee cords, which allows for movement.  WHALAA!

While it was difficult to hide from the kids due to their size, I did want to surprise them with the actual unveiling.  My husband and I snuck out to the chosen tree and stealthily (HA!  Stealthily...with each of us carrying a 42-inch beach ball!) assembled the eyes just in time for the bus to drive by!  They were quite amazed.  And so was the bus driver....

Next year, we are going to attempt a crashed space ship.  Wish us luck.

Casino Night Fundraiser

 

Casino Night Meringue Tower and Pumpkin Pie Pops
 

I recently had the pleasure of working with an amazing group of the hardest working moms around.  Out school district, along with many others all over the county I'm sure, has had more than it's fair share of budget cuts.  Hoping to ease the burden at least a little bit we decided to hold a Casino Night Fundraiser.  Holy Hannah was it fun.  AND A LOT OF WORK.  Seriously.  I am still recovering.

 

Chocolate Fountain

 

Other than they joy of getting to work with these amazing women, I did get to live out my Vegas-style dessert buffet fantasy.  Chocolate fountains, meringues, tarts, mini pie-pops!  I was in heaven!

 

Lemon Tarts and Salt Water Taffy
 

 There are a few things I would do differently.  The meringue on the Lemon Tarts "melted" and spread.  The chocolate fountain is MESSY!!!! so maybe a smaller, separate table is in order and the Meringue Tower was so tall and glittery, I don't think people realized that it was edible!  Maybe an "Eat Me" sign is in order.  Just FYI...if you plan on making Mini Pumpkin Pie Pops with Cinnamon Whipped Cream, be sure you have A TON of them.  They were the favorite of the night!

Chocolate Cupcakes with real BUTTERcream
 

All in all, it was an incredibly rewarding event.  Both in terms of money for our school AND time spent with wonderful people.