Save on Watch Your Mouth Throwdown- A 2017 Top Holiday Toy

Disclosure: I am a US Family Guide Blogger.  I will be reviewing this game to try out with my family and review for my readers.  

Have you tried the game Watch Ya' Mouth yet? I have to admit, I have not. I have seen it many times though, and the people playing it always seem to have a lot of fun.  I have seen celebrities play it on talk shows, and they always break out into fits of laughter.  

This year there is a new version to the game,  Watch Ya' Mouth Throwdown Edition.  Instead of just trying to say phrases, players will now go head to head with hilarious and challenging tasks.   With the holidays coming up in the next few week, it looks like the perfect game to play when all the relatives are in town.   Multigenerations can all join in on the fun! 

It is already looking to be a must have game. Throwdown Edition has already been awarded Top Holiday Toy of 2017 by Toy Insider, and on the 2017 Amazon Holiday Toy List.  

Would you like to save some money on the game? By being one of my readers you can save 15% on Amazon with the coupon code  15WYM using this link 

http://amzn.to/2i6NKwG

If you already have this game, I would love to hear what you think about it.  I will be posting our experience with playing the game soon!! 

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Celebrating the Holidays on the Budget (a new series)

I am going to start something new between now and the end of the year. I will be sharing a lot of tips on how to celebrate the holidays on a budget.  I don't normally talk a lot about my family life  on my blog, but there is a personal reason why I want to start this series of posts. I will be honest and say, I am not really looking forward to the holidays this year. In fact, I am feeling anxious about them. There has just been so many changes this year that we are still adjusting to.  We moved to a very small space less than half of the square footage of our house. We barely have enough  room for a Christmas tree. (I had 3 at the house)   I will not be able to bring out  my decorations, which are all pretty much in the back of  the storage unit  anyway.  We no longer have our beautiful fireplace and mantle, which makes me sad.  My oldest daughter moved across the country at the end of September, and will most likely not be able to come home for Thanksgiving or  Christmas.  This will be the first year we will be apart for the holidays. Many of our usual traditions will have to be totally different this year.  My family (parents, siblings, nieces and nephews) live too far for us to go visit. Money is tight, and I am not sure how we are going to afford many presents.  I know there are other people who  also not really looking forward to the holidays.  Two of my best friends have lost both of their parents, and do not have much family close enough to see for the holidays. These special "family" days are also  hard for them.  This time of year it is when friends become your family. 

Since I know that many others may have similar struggles, I thought it would be good to share tips on saving on food, great gift deals I find, how to decorate frugally in a small space, and basically how to simplify the holidays  I am hoping as I share the ways I am adjusting to our new circumstances, that others will also be able to benefit as well.  I don't want to sound like I am being a downer. I really am not.  I am happy and optimistic person by nature. I know there is a reason for  this season, and lessons to be learned. So follow along and we will get through these next two months together. 

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Kings Cake and other traditons

With today being Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday, I thought I would share the meaning behind some of the traditions of today.    I do not live anywhere New Orleans and I am not Catholic,  so the idea behind the Kings Cake is relatively new to me.  I think I heard of it for the first time only a few years ago.       The Kings Cake is a very colorful pastry/cake that can only been enjoyed after Jan 6  and before Ash Wednesday.    Mardi Gras day is the last day of the year you are supposed to eat this special treat. 

The King Cake came to the United States with the French Settlers and is still enjoyed today.    The circle shape of the cake symbolizes the unity of Christians,  and the shape of a kings crown.   There are 3 colors on a Kings Cake,  purple, green and gold.   Each color has a different meaning as well,  purple symbolizes justice,  green symbolizes faith and gold symbolizes power.   Another tradition is to bake a mini  baby Jesus in the cake.  The person who find the baby has good luck for the next year, and will be the host of the next Mardi Gras party.

I did a search for Kings Cake recipes and found a good one  here

The Paczkis are something that I LOVE and eat because I am from the midwest where we have a big Polish population.    I am a teeny bit Polish on my father's side a few generations back, so I can justify eatting them..  LOL!          Paczkis are deep fried doughnuts that are filled with fruit or custard filling.    The story behind how the Paczki tradition started was that all the lard, eggs, sugar and fruit  in Polish households needed to be used up before the start of lent when they  was forbidden.      They are enjoyed on Fat Tuesday because they are extremely fattening.  One Paczki has  over 300-400 calories and 22+ grams of fat.  Good thing they are only available one week during the year.     The cities in the midwest  where Paczkis are enjoyed are Chicago, Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit,  Toledo, Grand Rapids and Milwaukee.   One suburb of Detroit, Hammtramck  with a huge Polish population even has a parade in honor of the paczki.. 
If you would like to attempt to make these,  I found several recipes on how to make them here












I just heard about another tradition that is enjoyed today,  a potato type of doughnut called a Fastnact.    This is a German tradtion  which is popular in the northeast United States.    Instead  of calling today Fat Tuesday, it is called Shrove Tuesday by the people of German descent.    I am not finding a lot of history behing the Fastnachts, but I did find a recipe which could be found  here

No matter how you celebrate today  either Mardi Gras,  Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday..  Enjoy!!

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Faux Chocolate Tree

Doesnt this look good enough to eat?!  I would so want to eat some of the eggs on this tree if they were REAL.     Krafty Kat painted plastic eggs to look like chocolate, and it looks amazingly real.   If you would like to see a picture tutorial on how to make a chocolate egg tree, you can see how on Krafty Kat here

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Heart shaped Valentine Pops

 

 

 

 

 

Last night Kara and I made heart shaped Valentine suckers for her class.    What we did was based on the idea in this months Family Fun. http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/sweetheart-pops-978367/  We did not follow the exact recipe because warming the canes actually makes them harder to work with, so we skipped that step. 

This is how we made our Valentine Pops

We used mini candy canes that I got on clearance a few weeks ago and made heart shapes on parchement paper.

We used red Wilton candy melts for our centers.   We used the microwave   melting method until the candy was smooth.   (Melt 30 seconds at a time, stirring at each interval.   It took only 90 seconds to melt completely through)   With a spoon I filled the heart shaped canes with the candy   The first through I put the stick in before filling.  I then decided it was better to put the stick in once candy in the heart and then added a little more to cover the stick.  

We added some sprinkles before placing the cookie sheet full of hearts in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes.    The freezer hardens the candy and gives it a nice shine.

We wrapped each heart with red saran wrap and tied on a curling ribbon. 

Kara used a fine tip marker and wrote who they were from on the side of each stick.

It took us about 2 hours to make 32 pops start to finish.   

I wasn't sure how she was going to get them to school without any of them breaking when I realized that the candy cane boxes were the perfect size.   It was a little time consuming, but the pops were easy to make. We will definitely make them again using different flavors of candy. 

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Owl Valentines by Sugar Swings

Owls are everywhere this year including Valentines cards.    Sugarswings.blogspot.com show how to make these really cute owl valentines from peppermint patties, tootsie rolls and M & Ms.    So cute!!

http://sugarswings.blogspot.com/2011/02/owl-valentines.html

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Valenetine Smores Bites

 

 

I came across this reipe today.  These look SOOOOO good!  They can be made at hone with just a hanful of ingredients.   Crazy Domestic has a great step by step tutorial on how to make these delicious looking treats.  



http://www.crazydomestic.com/2011/02/every-holiday-my-mom-sends-my-kids.html

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Chocolate Doily Pops

Check these out!  Mega Crafty has a picture tutorial on how to make chocolate pops that look like a doily.   There are not as complicated as you might think.  If you would like to show how they are made and maybe try them yourself you can see how at MegaCrafty.com

http://www.megacrafty.com/2011/02/doily-pops.html

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Toadally Awesome Valentines

 

 

 

 

 

If you are going to be making your Valentines this weekend like we are,  you might want to check out this really cute idea from CrapIveMade.com.   She uses plastic toads stuck to cards to tell her son's friends that they are toadally awesome.   While it is probably too late to have cards printed, they can easy be made with markers, stamps or stickers.     You can see how  these Valentines were made on CrapIveMade here. 

http://www.crapivemade.com/2011/02/toad-ally-awesome-valentines.htm

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How to make cupid arrows

Need a quick last minute treat?    Dollhousebakeshoppe.com  show how to quickly make cupids arrows out of gum drop hearts and pretzels.    You can see how here.

http://blog.dollhousebakeshoppe.com/2011/02/cupids-arrows.html

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Valentine Sweets

Better Homes and Gardens emailed me with some new Valentines recipes today.  I thought these looked interesting and very festive.  Whats not to like, they are  white cherry chocolate shortbread.  I LOVE cherry and choclate together.   To see this recipe and several others, check out the Better Homes and Gardens site here.

http://www.bhg.com/holidays/valentines-day/recipes/valentines-day-treats/?page=13

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