New Year's Eve Countdown Tree for Kids!

While it's nice to go out with your significant other on New Years Eve, sometimes it's nice to stay home with the kids. Afterall, they are only little for a short amount of time. This year we decided to do just that...stay home for New Years and I have to admit...I am giddy with excitement! I wanted to do something special for the kids but did not have time to run out to the party store for silver and gold decorations. The solution? Leftover pink balloons and streamers from the girls' birthday parties combined with some horns and party hats I picked up at Walgreens on my lunch break.

I wanted to make it look festive so naturally the Christmas Tree came to mind. Within a few minutes our Christmas Tree was transformed into a New Years Tree and I have to admit...I am totally in love with the results! This may be the start of a new tradition for our family as the kids woke up so excited to see the tree.

They were even more excited when I told them that they get to POP the balloons at each designated time to see what activity we are going to do! You can make as many balloons as you like, one for each hour or just a handful. I figured a handful of balloons would be enough for us this year, I want to also relax and enjoy each others company. Here is what our schedule looks like. I have 3 little girls so obviously customize the activities to go along with what your kids are interested in.

11am- They find out they are going to our local ice skating rink for a fun NYE ice skating event. That will take up the majority of our afternoon, then I accounted for time for lunch, errands and naps.
3pm- Baking New Years Eve cupcakes!
5pm- Movie time, their choice.
6pm- Order pizza
7pm- Make Cotton Candy
9pm- Sparklers
10pm- Sparkly Bracelet Craft
11pm- Get ready to bring in the New Year!

S'mores Bites

This has become a serious family favorite, requested a many family gatherings. The great thing? It's only a handful of ingredients! It also looks a lot more impressive than it actually is which is always a huge plus.

Ingredients
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
6 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar
12 Marshmallows
4-5 Hershey bars
Mini cupcake pan (24 count total)

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease pan with non-stick spray
2) In a medium size bowl mix graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar and butter with a spoon
3) Evenly distribute mixture to the 24 mini cupcake cups. You can press along the sides and bottom to make a “cup”.....but the easier thing to do is to take a long thin shot glass if you have one and use that. It does the work for you, amazing little hack I learned to do after making these dozens of times.
4) Pop the graham cracker crust in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Do not over bake, time yourself!
5) While your crusts are baking,  cut 12 large marshmallows in half.
6) Remove the pan from the oven and place two sections of a Hershey bar in the graham cracker cup and cover with 1/2 of marshmallow (cut side facing down)
7) Pop these babies back in the oven for a minute or two, depents on how brown you want the marshmallow. Don't multitask, stay by the oven as you don't want these to burn!
8) Optional: Take any leftover chocolate that you and your kids have not eaten and put in a glass. Pop it in the microwave for a few seconds and then drizzle over your smores bites! Sprinkles are a fun touch too if you have them on hand. Everything tastes better with sprinkles for kids doesn't it?
9) Let cool for one hour and then use a toothpick to pop these beauties right out!

Life has been crazy the last few months. With 3 little girls and a full time job, there has not been much time to blog. However, that doesn't mean that we haven't been coming up with new recipes and cooking! Looking forward to getting back into blogging and sharing a lot of the recipes we have added to our rotation!