Suessical Party!!!

We threw the boys a joint birthday party in August (I know, their birthdays are in July, but Punk knew he got to go to school as soon as he turned 5 and there was just no way we could throw a party in July and deal with him asking if it was time to go to school yet for 6 weeks).  I'm just now getting the pictures put up...sorry.  I should note that my super awesome friend Chelsea from Chelsea Heap Photography did the photography (her sweet son was one of our guests as well)...it's so awesome to have known Chelsea since she was just a little older than our boys are now and to see what an awesome talented woman she has grown into...okay, enough of that.

Knowing that this was the last year I was going to be able to pick the boys theme for their party and knowing that the rest of the parties I throw them are going to have to be super heroes and exclusively 'boy' stuff because my boys are really turning that corner into 'boys only' territory, I picked Dr. Seuss as the theme because I've been dying to throw a Dr. Seuss party for a couple of years.  I made crayon rolls and I Spy Bags again for the guest take aways.  We made a Lorax, decorated a bow tie (like The Cat In The Hat wears), we ate things like Oobleck Dip, Pulled Roast Beast, and Cold Who Hash.

My boys had fun and so did their guests!  We love throwing parties, I'm going to have to find some more excuses to do just that!

Punk at our "photo wall" with mommy made Truffela Trees.

All the pictures in our home where taken over by Dr. Seuss wisdom!

Bug concentrating very hard on making his bow tie "just so"!

Some of our great guests!

Punk working on his bow tie (blue OF COURSE!).

My photographer's cute son modeling his work of art!

These are the men of the party all cutting out pieces for our Lorax game...

...and cutting...

...and cutting!

Food table.

"Green Eggs and Ham" (that's green deviled eggs with a piece of crispy bacon...so good!)

"Apples Up On Top Salad" (Snickers and apple salad)

"Oobleck Dip" (Spinach dip and a bounty of veggies)

"The Eye Salad" (That's frog eye salad, and I didn't make it, my awesome friend Autumn did and it's so good!)

"Go, (Hot) Dog, Go!" (hot dogs)

"Moose Juice"

"Moose Juice and Goose Juice"

Bug on the run!

Bug on a bike!

All that cutting the men did going to good use...

...the kids had a blast making a Lorax...

...well maybe not this kid ;)...

But look at the concentration on this one...

...and this one.

And awesome handmade work bench with tools from one of their awesome friends
(and that friend's mommy and daddy who are so creative!)

Presents...

...and more presents.

Strawberry cupcakes with white chocolate cheesecake frosting (dyed blue)
Punk told me EXACTLY what he wanted...who am I to argue?!

Peppermint Marshmallows

Let me start out by saying that I kind of hate marshmallows.  Really, unless they are in cocoa (and I prefer whipped cream anyway) or in s'mores (there is no better substitute in s'mores) I stay far away from them.  I even prefer Scotcharoos (not made with marshmallows) to traditional Rice Krispie Treats (made with marshmallows).  So, why on earth would I learn to make marshmallows?  Well, really, it is because I am hoping that we will someday be able to throw a beautiful s'mores party for all of our friends and/or family (like the ones we've all seen on Pinterest) and how much more impressive and fun is a s'mores party with homemade fun flavored marshmallows?

I have been making marshmallows for a little over a year now.  I make them in all kinds of flavors, vanilla bean, chocolate, banana, orange cream, toasted coconut, apple, and peppermint.  You can make them in pretty much any flavor you can think of (and that you can get extract or flavoring oils in).

In case you've been living under a rock, hurricane Sandy is heading towards the east coast (where I happen to live right now), and bringing with her lots of wind and rain...and much cooler temperatures this coming week, so it's looking like hot cocoa weather and these peppermint marshmallows are excellent in hot cocoa. Plus, I was going through my pictures on my laptop the other day and Punk saw this picture:

Homemade peppermint marshmallows top hot chocolate on a stick.  Great for gift giving and super yummy.

He immediately asked if I would make him some "red square marshmallows".  I told him I would make them as soon as I could.  I then realized that I didn't have gelatin (which is strange, because I usually DO have it, but since we moved I hadn't picked any up yet).  Punk eats these out of hand, I love them in cocoa, it works out for both of us.

So, tonight I made yummy marshmallows and thought to myself when I taste tested them as I was putting them in the pan "Man, if people knew how easy and how yummy homemade marshmallows were, it would put Jet Puffed right out of business."

What you need:

A stand mixer with a whisk attachment (please don't try to do this with a hand mixer it will likely blow out your mixer).
A candy thermometer (again, don't do this without one, marshmallows are candy, they need to be cooked to a specific molten lava-esque temperature you can't guess at this)
A saucepan
9x13 pan
Cooking spray (I use regular Pam)

3 small envelopes of unflavored gelatin (I've never used flavored and, no, I wouldn't recommend it or try it)
1 cup of very cold water (divided)
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 tsp kosher salt
flavorings of choice (for peppermint I use 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract)

"Marshmallow Dust"
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Empty your three envelopes of gelatin into the bottom of your stand mixer bowl.  Add 1/2 cup very cold water, stir together and set aside.  In a saucepan place 1/2 cup water, 1 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup corn syrup, and 1/4 tsp salt, stir together and place over medium to medium-high heat.  Clip candy thermometer to side of saucepan.  Cook to 240° stirring occasionally.**

While you are waiting for the mixture to reach 240°:

Mix your corn starch and powdered sugar together (I call this "marshmallow dust" and just keep a container of it in my baking stuff).  Spray your 9x13 pan with cooking spray and coat with "marshmallow dust" (just put a few table spoons of the mixture into the pan and bump the pan around until your pan is coated then shake the rest out), you will need some of your marshmallow dust to coat the top and sides of your marshmallows after they are cut so don't use it all here!

Place your whisk attachment into your mixer.  Once your sugar has reached 240° turn your mixer on it's LOWEST SETTING and SLOWLY add your molten sugar mixture into your mixer with the gelatin (you won't get it all out, that is okay, don't try to get every drop, just pour it until it won't pour anymore, you don't want to risk touching this ish).  Once all of your sugar is in the bowl cover your mixer with a towel (so it doesn't splatter) and turn it up as high as it goes.  In a few minutes (my mixer takes about 5 minutes, but less powerful mixers can take longer, up to 15 minutes) you will have white, fluffy, luke warm, marshmallow yumminess.  When you have a white fluffy mixture you can add in your flavorings and any coloring you might want to use and mix them in using the mixer thoroughly.

Now you want to take a spatula sprayed with Pam and put your fluffy yummy marshmallows into the prepared pan.  You aren't going to get every bit out, it's okay, that's the part you just sacrifice, get what you can out and move on.  Once you have your mixture in the pan you want to wet your hands a little (yes YOUR HANDS they are often your best tool in the kitchen) and use them to smooth your marshmallows into the pan, if your hands stick they aren't quite wet enough.  Once you have the marshmallows smoothed out set them aside for about an hour.  Then you want to sprinkle the top of your marshmallows with marshmallow dust.

Wait at least four hours (I usually just wait overnight) then you can cut your marshmallows however you like. I am fond of just cutting mine into 1" squares using my pizza cutter, but you can use cookie cutters if you want to make fun shapes.†  After you have cut your marshmallows dust the cut sides with marshmallow dust to keep them from sticking.

These are NOT like store bought marshmallows, but they will last almost as long.  I've had them stay good in a ziplock bag for over 6 months.  They make a great addition to a cocoa gift for friends, neighbors, or co-workers.  And since you took all the time to make marshmallows don't feel bad giving store bought cocoa!

**240 degrees is MOLTEN HOT, please do not touch it, please do not let your children anywhere near it.  I do this when my kids are either in bed for the night or taking a nap, I just can't risk them grabbing this off the stove.

† If you use cookie cutters don't throw away the scraps, cut them into funky shaped mini marshmallows and dust them with marshmallow dust to use in your cocoa or let your kids eat them out of hand like I do!

Due to lots of requests for this recipe I'm going to post this blog before I take pictures of the marshmallows I made tonight, but I'll add in pictures tomorrow (or as soon as Sandy lets me!).

Punk is going to be so happy to see these in the morning!

Fat Mints

I made these:

last weekend when I was asked to bring a "treat" for Relief Society.  I ended up getting three dozen more than I needed, so those were sent to work with Bobby on Monday.

A lot of cupcakes:

They are dark chocolate cupcakes (probably my favorite recipe I make, it's a great base cupcake for all kinds of yummy frostings, toppings, and fillings), with a creme de menthe Swiss meringue buttercream frosting, garnished with half a Keebler Grasshopper cookie.  They taste just like a cupcake version of the Girl Scouts' Thin Mints (thus "Fat Mints").

Never made a Swiss meringue buttercream before?  Think it sounds too complicated?  You are so wrong, it's an extremely forgiving frosting, it's very stable, can be flavored with anything (flavored oils like I used for these, extracts, fruit purees, nut butters, the sky is the limit), colors well (I didn't color these), keeps well, and pipes beautifully.

So here's the recipe for a standard Swiss meringue buttercream, try it today!

6.25 oz (by weight) egg whites (separate your own eggs, don't use the egg whites only in a carton) this is about 5 eggs
1 cup sugar (use the regular granulated stuff)
1 pinch salt
1 lbs unsalted butter room temperature

Put about an inch or two of water in the bottom of a saucepan (use one that allows you to use your stand up mixer bowl on top of it snugly as a make shift double boiler) and bring to a low boil, turn down to a simmer.  Place egg whites, sugar, and salt in your mixer bowl and place the bowl on top of your saucepan.  Whisking constantly bring mixture to 150-160 degrees.  YOU MUST WHISK CONSTANTLY or you will get scrambled eggs and that is not what you are looking for.  I brought my mixture to 155 degrees (some sources say 160 must be achieved for food safety, I had sources that said 150 was sufficient).  Once your temperature is achieved remove bowl from heat and put into your stand mixer.

Using WHISK attachment whisk egg white mixture on high to stiff peaks.  This should take at least 5 minutes, possibly longer (some say as long as 10 minutes).  At this point you want to make sure your meringue is not too warm, it should be room temperature, if it isn't, let it sit for a few minutes until it comes down to room temperature.  Switch from your whisk attachment to your paddle attachment and add in your softened butter one cube at a time (cube=quarter pound or 1/2 cup) while running your mixer at it's LOWEST SPEED, seriously, have a teeny bit of patience here and use the lowest speed, get all of your butter in there.  At this point your mixture is likely to go through several stages as the eggs and the butter emulsify to become pure yumminess.  First your mixture is likely to look soupy and loose, keep mixing.  Then it's likely to look curdled and yucky, KEEP MIXING.  This could take 10-15 minutes, just keep your mixer going on its lowest speed, soon you will get a smooth, creamy, light, lovely, yummy frosting.

Once you get the perfect fluffy frosting add in your flavoring.  Use whatever you like!  Just add your flavors slowly and taste until the flavor is perfect!  For my creme de menthe frosting I used about 2 tsp of my homemade vanilla extract and 21-28 drops of creme de menthe flavoring oil (oils are much stronger than extracts, if you are using them be super careful not to over do it).  I have also made a peanut butter version in the past that used 3/4 cup peanut butter.

This frosting can be kept in the fridge (well covered, you don't want it to pick up fridge funk flavors) for up to two weeks or frozen for a few months before use, just bring it to room temperature on the counter and re-mix with paddle attachment on low speed until it comes back to fluffy goodness before you use it.

I would not suggest using this frosting for any application that will be sitting in the sun for very long.  There is a high butter content in this and they will melt in the heat for too long although this frosting holds up fantastically at room temperature and this frosting SHOULD be eaten at room temperature.

Tell me what flavor Swiss meringue buttercream you would make and what cake/frosting flavor combination sounds yummy to you right now!

I'm thinking an apple spice cake with a caramel sauce and white chocolate frosting sounds divine, fall is in the air here for sure!

Buffalo Chicken Cups with Celery Blue Cheese Relish

Ever have a recipe just wander around in your mind and never really work it's way out?  Well, I've had this one going on for a LONG TIME.  The other day Bobby emailed and said that we would be attending a "Hail and Farewell" (my first) in a couple of weeks.  The invite says "bring an appetizer or dessert to share", so I decided it was time to get this recipe out of my head and see if it works.  It does.  I don't know if this will be what I take to the party but I'm glad I figured out that this works and is yummy so that I can make it again and so that I could share it with you!

There are pictures with this recipe, but they are courtesy of my phone so they are not excellent quality, I think you can see what's going on though.

What you need:

Pre-baked mini phyllo cups (my box had 15 and since I was just making them to try this was enough)
2 stalks celery, cleaned, dried
1 1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/2 cup bottled blue cheese dressing (use the stuff in the refrigerated section, I used the WalMart brand)
3 Tablespoons whipped cream cheese (cold)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup cooked shredded chicken
1 Tablespoon cream cheese (whipped is fine)
1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 cup of Frank's Hot Sauce (more to taste)

How to proceed:

Pre-heat oven according to directions on your phyllo cups.  Dice celery very small (almost a brunoise).  Put celery in a bowl and add in red wine vinegar, toss to coat.  In a separate bowl combine dressing, 3 tablespoons cold whipped cream cheese and garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste.  Pour dressing over celery and stir to combine.  Add chicken to the bowl you made your dressing in (no need to clean it) add in cream cheese and butter, microwave 30 seconds, stir, if needed microwave another 30 seconds and stir again, you want the chicken, cream cheese, and butter to be well combined.  Add in the hot sauce, stir, taste, add more hot sauce if desired.

Place phyllo cups on a baking sheet, fill each with chicken mixture (enough to fill, but not over fill the cup).  Bake according to package directions (mine said 5-8 minutes).  Remove from oven and top each cup with a generous helping of your celery "relish".  Serve immediately.

These were super easy and super yummy.  Even my two year old Bug liked them...of course he will kind of eat anything...My husband liked them too and he's more picky (and doesn't really like blue cheese like I do).

Potato, Sausage, Broccoli and Gruyere Casserole

I am going to apologize in advance that this recipe has no picture, but I do promise a picture next week when I make it again for my parents' visit.  It was THAT good, I would be glad to eat it pretty much everyday.  Also, don't ask me about the calorie content, I don't know and I'm not going to try to find it out because I'm pretty sure I don't want to know.

This recipe was inspired by two things.  First, this good old fashioned comfort food recipe found here: http://www.food.com/recipe/joleans-cheese-potato-smoked-sausage-casserole-126623.  Looks fabulous and yummy doesn't it?  Well, except for the fact that I kind of hate Velveeta and I don't keep it in the house. Second, about a year ago I was at a "girls' night in" where my friend Lauren made a super delicious cheese fondue.  I have been dreaming about that fondue ever since and I asked her for the recipe just a few weeks ago.  Because she really is amazing she was happy to oblige.  I hadn't made the fondue yet though, mostly because with everything going on I didn't have time to make the fondue and come up with an array of fun dippers for it.  I had been thinking I wanted to make baked potato fries, blanched broccoli, Lil' Smokies, blanched carrots and maybe bread cubes for dipping.  Then I saw that first casserole and the genius that is this casserole was born.

Ingredient Roundup:

6-8 medium russet potatoes (I like mine to come from Idaho usually, but those apparently don't exist out on this coast)
1 package smoked sausage (mine was 14oz I know the weights vary depending on what kind you get, you could definitely use smoked turkey sausage or even ham depending on your personal tastes)
1 T extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1/2 - 3/4 of an onion, chopped (use a little more or a little less according to your taste, but don't leave it out all together then tell me the dish was a little "bland" because OF COURSE IT WILL BE)
1 large or 2 small cloves of garlic, diced very fine (more or less according to your taste, but again, if you leave it out you are going to loose flavor)
1 1/4 cups heavy cream (you could probably use half and half, whole milk, or maybe even two percent, but I would stick with higher fat contents, you are making a rich lovely creamy cheese sauce, if you skimp on the fat content you risk your sauce breaking)
8 oz cream cheese (you could probably use the 1/3 fat kind, but please, don't use the fat free kind, your sauce will not be the same)
4 oz grated Gruyere cheese (use Gruyere, you will thank me)
4 oz grated decent quality Parmesan cheese (not the green can people, it has it's place but not here)
2 cups chopped broccoli (either fresh blanched or frozen, I used frozen)

The "How to":

First clean your potatoes, peel if desired (I did, but you don't have to), cut potatoes into cubes (size is up to you, but I would go with 1/2 - 3/4 inch-ish cubes, mine were closer to 1 inch pieces and they were a little too large), place in a pot cover with cool water, boil over medium high heat until pieces are fork tender but NOT mushy, we aren't making mashed potatoes here!  Remove from heat, drain, salt potatoes to taste and put potatoes into your 9x13 glass casserole to cool a bit.  Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

Meanwhile cut sausage into half moons, add about 1 T EVOO to a large frying pan, add sausages and brown over medium high heat.  Don't skip this step, browning is where FLAVOR comes from.  Remove sausage from pan with a slotted spoon (leaving the drippings behind in the pan) and place into casserole dish with potatoes.

Add your chopped broccoli into the casserole dish with potatoes and sausage, make sure that your potatoes, sausage and broccoli are mixed together in the dish.

Add chopped onion to pan with drippings and cook until onions are translucent (just a few minutes).  Lower heat to medium, then add garlic, cook for about 30 seconds to one minute (careful not to burn your garlic).  Add in your heavy cream and your cream cheese, stir until cream cheese is melted.  Then add in Gruyere and Parmesan cheese, cut off the heat, and stir until cheeses are melted.

Pour cheese sauce over potatoes, sausage, and broccoli in casserole dish, stir to coat pieces, taste, add salt and pepper as needed, then place casserole in 375 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes.  Enjoy!

Next time I make this I am probably going to add more veggies (I'm thinking cooked chopped carrots at least), and I'm going to make a Panko breadcrumb topping.  Not that I didn't love this casserole the first time (because, trust me, I did), but I'm just not the kind that can leave well enough alone.  I think the carrots will add some good color and a little sweetness, and I think the Panko will add a little texture that may have been missing the first time.

Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

You've probably made something like this before...I think we made them every year in Girl Scouts when I was a kid.  They are totally just as yummy now as they were then.

Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

I should note that I also used a bottle cap as a donut cutter, I think it's just genius!  I also used butter to dip the donuts and I liked them better with just the top dipped as I felt there was too much sugar if I dipped the whole donut (I followed the directions and dipped the whole donut the first batch I made *pictured* but made them the other way for a second batch and liked them MUCH better).  Bug LOVED these and, as is normal, Punk wouldn't touch them because he distrusts ALL new food I try to introduce him to (but will eat just about anything offered to him by the sample ladies at Costco).

Cinnamon Almonds

You know what they are, you smell them before you see them and you are fishing out your wallet before you know it paying a small fortune for a cone of them at a fair or festival someplace.  They are yummy almonds surrounded by a lovely sweet spicy cinnamon mixture.  They are awesome to eat on the go because they really aren't messy and they are nuts so they are good for you, right? ;-)

I would never have guessed they were so easy to make (although, maybe I should have since they are made in tents all over the country), but they are super simple, can be made with any nut, and are impressive as a gift, in a bowl to munch when you have unexpected guests, or as an addition to your cookie or treat trays (Christmas is sneaking up fast!).

I found the instructions (via Pinterest, who'da guessed) here.

You probably have the ingredients sitting in your house right now!

Cinnamon Almonds (or any nut you like!)

3 cups nuts (I used almonds and walnuts)
1 cup sugar (the regular granulated kind)
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Place water, sugar, salt, and cinnamon in a saute pan and mix together over medium heat.  When well combined (but not heated through or anything) add in nuts.  Stir, keep stirring, DON'T STOP STIRRING.  They should take you between 5-7 minutes and they are done when all the moisture is gone and the mixture crystallized and holding onto the nuts (not all of the mixture will hold on, that is okay, in fact I measured that I had 1/2 cup sugar/cinnamon mixture left over at the bottom of my nuts when all was done and the nuts were plenty coated).  Spread them on a sheet pan immediately to cool.  Store in a cool dry place for up to a month (these would be awesome for sending to military friends/family).

The picture IS actually of the nuts I made.  I, personally, liked the walnuts even more than the almonds, and I think I'll try it with pecans when the holidays are a little closer.

Boston Cream Cupcakes

My husband is a huge fan of the Boston Cream Donut.  So much so that there are some little jokes about it at work and he has on occasion been sent into the office with the promise of said donut only to be laughed at a little when he finds out there are no Boston Creams available.  I often send treats into work with Bobby (typically because I like to make treats, play with new things and try new things out and we can't eat them all for obvious reasons), so I thought it would be fun to send a "Boston Cream" something into work with him, I have been playing with cupcakes a little lately and I came up with these tonight.  It's my own recipe, but it is a mash-up of things I have gotten from cookbooks (the cupcake itself is a mix up of the Death By Chocolate recipe in 101 Things To Do With a Cake Mix) and around the internet (the frosting is a change up of the recipe I got here).

Interested in making them yourself?  Here you go:

Boston Cream Cupcakes:


Cake:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
3/4 cup plain greek yogurt (or sour cream)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
4 eggs


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Ready 24 cupcake liners in cupcake pans.  Mix cake mix and dry pudding mix together in a bowl.  Add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.  Fill cupcake liners 1/2 - 2/3 full (this should make exactly 24 cupcakes).  Bake 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees or JUST until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean or with just a very few crumbs sticking to it.  Leave cupcakes to cool.


Filling: 
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
2 cups cold milk


Make pudding as directed on package with 2 cups milk.  Let pudding set up 5-10 minutes in the fridge.


Fill a pastry bag with a #10 tip (large round tip) attached with the set pudding.  Place tip into the top of cooled cupcake and pipe about 1 tablespoon of filling into each cupcake (you won't use all the pudding probably).  This part just takes a little practice and patience.  Make sure you get the tip well into the cupcake (about 3/4 of the way in for sure) and pipe slowly.  They won't all have exactly the same amount of filling, NO ONE WILL CARE, so don't stress it.


Frosting (this is where it is at with this recipe, this frosting is ridiculous!):
8 oz dark chocolate (you can use semi-sweet chocolate chips here)
4 oz cream cheese (that's half a regular package)
1 cup heavy cream
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
1 8 oz tub of Cool Whip (just use the Cool Whip and don't ask questions, okay?)


Place 8 oz of chopped chocolate or chips into a glass or metal mixing bowl with 4 oz of cream cheese broken up with your hands (I use the mixing bowl for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer).  Put 1 cup of cream into a pan and set on the stove over medium low heat and place mixing bowl with chocolate and cream cheese over it (you are creating kind of a double boiler).  You want your chocolate and cream cheese to start to melt, BUT you don't want to scorch your cream so watch them both closely.  When the cream starts to boil pour it over your chocolate and cream cheese mixture (it won't be fully melted, but make sure you cover it) and let it set to cool for 20-30 minutes.  When that time has passed add in your pudding mix and mix for two minutes with either the whisk attachment on your stand mixer or a hand mixer.  Now mix in 1/2 of the tub of Cool Whip then fold the other 1/2 of the Cool Whip in until the frosting is uniform.  Using your favorite tip pipe the frosting onto the top of the cupcakes (I like a giant tip like the 4B star tip I used for these today) and ENJOY!


Bobby and I have both tried them and they are pretty excellent...hopefully they get good reviews at his work tomorrow!

Party Part Two: The Favors and Some Thank Yous

I don't know what possesed me...something over at Pinterest I think, but I decided to do not one, not two, but THREE handmade sewn party favors (well, two and a reversible cloth drawstring bag to put them in) along with a table full of handmade goodies at Sarge's for our party go-ers to take home with them.

I'm not sure I'll do it again, but I am sure that if I do the favors will have to be done and sitting in a box AT LEAST a month before the party happens...I just can't be finishing sewing at 03:00 on party morning ever again...

So here is what I made:

Crayon Rolls (I got the pattern from this blog here):

I changed her pattern just a smidge.  I found after I did the first few that I needed another .25" on my fabric, so I cut everything 16.75" long instead of 16.5".  I also did away with the button she applied in her final step and just used the elastic to wrap around the crayons.  Honestly, I didn't have time for buttons, but I also felt like it was just one more thing for the parents of our youngest party go-ers to worry about them detaching and eating.

I also made these:

My mother and I had seen these (well, something like this) a couple of years ago and I bought the stuff to make them and then never really did.  I decided now was the time.  I took the pattern my mom and I had used (we did make a couple but never used all the supplies or made them for what we intended them for), this pattern from the same blog I got the cupcake recipe from, and some ideas I had rolling around in my head and mixed them all together to come up with this idea.  The dimensions on my finished bag are 5"x7" the window is about 2.5" x 4.5".

They are traditionally called "I Spy Bags", but in going along with my theme, I made them "Mater's Fishin' Bags".  I even added a Lightning McQueen to the list of things to find (as Mater is always fishing Lightning McQueen out of the brush), for my Lightning, I just printed a bunch of Lightnings out on photo paper, cut them out, laminated them and cut them out again.  They aren't two sided though and I think if I do something like this in the future they will be.

If you are looking very closely at this list you will see it says "Golf Leaf"
what is actually in the bag is a GOLD leaf, but I didn't notice the typo
until all the bags were made, so they went out like that, and I'm okay with that.

 Because I did have quite a few young guests (Punk is only 3 you know) and I knew i would have non-readers (like my own kids), I decided to add a picture of the things inside the bag.  I just took a picture of all of the stuff in one of the bags and printed it out, I laminated it to the printed list of things to find so that the list is two sided, one side for readers and one side for non-readers.  (The picture is not completely accurate for every bag as the colors of some of the items varies and the style of the army man varies, but I decided that was just okay).

There were a few other things in the drawstring favor bags as well.  I picked up Cars pencils and erasers in a clearance section of Walmart and Cars notebooks in the $1 section at Joanns, I also picked up some super cute Cars stickers at Oriental Trading Company.

This is a picture of the bags (they were reversible so there is one showing each side) and what was in them:

I made the bags too...here is the link to the tutorial online.

After I handed out the bags the children were encouraged to take their parents over to visit "Sarge's Surplus of Sweets":

There were Dum-Dum suckers, individually wrapped Twizzlers, Fruit Gems and an array of things I made for the table.

Dipsticks: (Pringles makes honey butter flavored cracker sticks, I dipped them in chocolate and packaged them three to a package in cellophane pretzel bags).
Hubcaps: (round pretzels (mine are Rold Gold Butter Flavored Pretzel Checkers) with Hershey's kisses centered on them, then placed in a 275 degree oven for 3 minutes, when they come out immediately press an M&M into the center of them), I found the idea on Pinterest, but it links back to foodgawker and I couldn't find the original blog they came from so if anyone finds it let me know and I'll link it here).

Traffic Lights:  Scotcheroos (with peanut butter chips substituted for the butterscotch chips, personal preference) with red, yellow and green M&M's pressed into the chocolate and cut into long rectangles.
Tires:  Chocolate glazed mini donuts (I didn't make them, Hostess did), I melted the chocolate on the donuts a little by just touching them to a warmed saute pan to make them stick together.  I didn't get a good picture of them, but there are four of them, three tires laying on top of each other and one standing on the stack of three, just like you see at Casa Della Tires in Radiator Springs.
Rocky Road Pops: I got the idea from this blog here, but I used two marshmallows and a combination of semi-sweet and milk chocolate to dip them in.

So, when all was said and done the guests left with a little bit of fun (the cars they "painted" at Ramone's), some of my handiwork (the Fishin' Bags, Crayon Rolls and Drawstring Bags), something useful and fun from the piñata, and a whole bunch of sugar (although there was a lot left at Sarge's when we were done and I sent it all to work with Bobby this morning).

I have to thank Bobby for being so patient with me through the planning and execution of this thing, my mom and April for sending crafty stuff from Phoenix so I didn't have to purchase it again, Pinterest (and my friends there) for so many awesome ideas, Casie who helped in the week before the party and was my kitchen helper at the party, Kristin who did an AWESOME job putting together the posters and banners I printed out but would never have gotten together otherwise, and Eric and Kristi for helping set up and clean up this mess.  I also want to thank everyone who brought their kids and had a good time.  That's really what it's about and I hope your kids remember us and the fun we've all had together for a long time to come.