Poke the Rainbow Activity for Kids on St. Patrick’s Day

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St. Patrick’s Day is a favorite among adults to raise a glass with Guinness or Jameson in hand. For kids, it’s all about the leprechaun, a colorful rainbow, wearing green and the gold. We made an easy, fun and non-candy Poke-the-Rainbow activity for kids on St. Patrick’s Day.

The rules of the game are simple. Each child takes a turn to pick one cup to poke through. Once the leprechaun is found, everyone can reach for the gold. The best part…everyone walks away with a treat. Who will be the first to poke the cup with the leprechaun?

Important side note: this game could be really fun and adult-friendly with each cup filled with a mini shot of Irish liquor. Cheers!

Materials:

  • plastic cups {white}
  • napkins in every color of the rainbow
  • pot and gold coins
  • white tissue paper
  • mini leprechaun or photo of leprechaun
  • non-candy gifts such as bead necklaces, buttons, bracelets
  • rubber bands
  • foam core board, white
  • hot glue gun and glue
  • stickers, shamrock cut-outs

Directions:

Randomly place the non-candy items in the cups. Pick one special cups for the leprechaun.

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Cover each cup with a napkin, and wrap a rubber band around the top.

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Once all the cups have colors, arrange in a rainbow-like pattern on a foam core board, and glue all of them in place. Glue the bottom of the cups so the top of the cup is facing outward.

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Make white tissue paper clouds, and glue them on the end{s} of the rainbow.

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Write, stencil, glue or stick letters on the foam board for simple directions.

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Set up in the classroom {this will be a hit if you’re in charge of this year’s classroom party} , or at your St. Patrick’s Day celebration, and make sure the pot of gold is under the rainbow.

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DIY Tropical Leaf Eggs

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We are seeing green! The color is not exactly visible on the snow-covered ground outside yet, and we know Colorado has more snow in her, but inside we have Spring fever. We’re dreaming of warmer days, and the vibe is showing up in our eggs. We love the clean, modern, tropical eggs that adorn our kitchen this year. Here’s how you can do it.

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Materials:

Directions:
Step one: Tape a piece of white tissue paper onto a piece of cardstock.

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Step two: Print a photo of palm leaves on the tissue paper. We were able to print 9 at a time with our printer without editing the file {thanks for sharing the file, Studio DIY and Balloon Time}.

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Step three: Cut the leaves out in small circles, leaving some white around them.

Step four: Paint a small amount of Mod Podge on the egg where you will place the photo.

Step five: Press the photo of the leaf down gently onto the egg. Try to get out all the wrinkles by pressing down on each of them to smooth it out.

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Step six: After about 2 minutes, paint a thin layer of Mod Podge on top of the leaves, and the surrounding area. Do not swipe the paintbrush too many times over the leaves, or it will make the ink run. Just paint it enough to cover it with a thin layer.

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Step seven: Let the eggs dry, then display.

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Cocktail to Cupcake: Gluten Free Champagne Cupcakes

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Pop. Fizz. Clink. Bake.

Yes, you read that right – we added the word bake at the end of Pop. Fizz. Clink.

We can do that because we had some bubbly action in our kitchen as we participated in the Wayfair Cocktail to Cupcake Campaign. The fun challenge was to make a yummy cupcake with our favorite cocktail on the ingredient list. We love our Italian bubbly, and we wanted to make it gluten free so we could actually eat it. The result is a delicious Gluten Free Champagne Cupcake.

Sip and bake – now that’s something we can get use to.

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Gluten Free Champagne Cupcakes
servings: about 16
recipe adapted from DC Cupcakes

Ingredients:
Champagne Cupcakes

  • 1.5 cups gluten free flour
  • 1 cup gluten free oat flour
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1.5 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 1/4 cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon Champagne

Champagne Buttercream Frosting

  • 16 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 3.5 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp half and half
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/8 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 cup champagne
  • 1 cup strawberries, diced

Directions:
Champagne Cupcakes

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Set cupcake liners in the cupcake baking pan.

In a medium bowl, cream the butter and slowly add the sugar. Blend with an electric mixer until combined.

Add the eggs, and blend.

Pour the vanilla, champagne and milk in a separate measuring cup.

Combine the flours, baking powder and sugar in a separate medium bowl.

Pour 1/3 of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, followed by 1/3 of the milk mixture. Continue this process until all the flour and milk is fully combined. Do not over mix.

Pour the batter into the cupcake liners {fill 1/2-3/4 of each liner}.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool.

Champagne Buttercream Frosting

In a medium bowl, cream the butter and add the sugar slowly. Beat with an electric mixer until well mixed.

Add the vanilla, milk, salt and champagne, and beat until the mixture is fluffy.

Then, place in piping bag and decorate your cupcakes.

Top the cupcakes with your diced strawberries, then place a safe, indoor mini sparkler on top.

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Enjoy! And remember, you don’t always have to drink your cocktail. You can eat it, too.

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This #Cocktail2Cupcake post is sponsored by Wayfair, but we would love them and their products even if it wasn’t. Thanks for supporting the wonderful companies that support us. 

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DIY Watercolor Animal Cards

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Valentine’s Day is one of the top holidays when the puns just can’t help themselves! Some are cute, some are cheesy, some are just plain genius – all work because we become big piles of love mush {or love stinks grinches}, so on Valentine’s Day we eat them up {most of the time}.

An easy and pretty way to decorate a card for someone you love is with watercolors – you don’t need to have an ounce of artistry for this one – just add color to the paper. We hopped on the train of puns with these! Embrace your creative side, brainstorm the puns, get the kids messy in paint and send a little extra love in the mail this year.

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Materials:

  • Watercolor paper
  • Watercolor paints
  • Paintbrushes
  • Water
  • Blank fold-over notecards. If you don’t have any, cut card stock and fold them.
  • Elmer’s glue
  • Sharpie marker, thin tip

Directions:

Trace and cut out animal shapes on watercolor paper. You can find images online, trace and cut. We used our Silhouette electronic cutting machine to cut the animals for us. If you like to create, the machines are worth the investment. We love ours.

Paint the animals with watercolor paints. Let them dry.

Apply glue to the back of the animals, and stick them to the cards.

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Write your words with a thin black Sharpie marker.

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DIY Marbled Coasters & DIY Yarn Wall Hanging

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We are still dreaming orange and blue from our Super Bowl 50 Broncos party yesterday. If you haven’t seen it, take the time. It’s got it all – fashion, pretty girls {Jodi and Kaitlin from The Every Hostess}, a bar cart with really good Vodka and a special cocktail recipe.

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As promised here’s DIY #1 from the shoot yesterday, DIY Bronco Marbled Coasters.

Keep reading for the second tutorial – DIY Yarn Wall Hangings.

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Materials:

  • 4X4 white tile, The Home Depot
  • Nail polish
  • Disposable Container
  • Warm water
  • Toothpick
  • Disposable Gloves
  • Felt pads

Directions

Fill a throw-away container with really warm water.

Drop 4-8 drops of nail polish into the water. We chose to do one color for each coaster.

Swirl the polish in a swift manner with the toothpick. Quickly, dip the entire coaster into the water with your gloves on. Once the coaster dips under the water, it will ‘collect’ all the polish.

Pull the coaster up out of the water. The nail polish will be swirled on top. Let them air-dry.

Once dry, add felt pads to the bottom.

Add them to your serving tray or bar cart.

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Love the pop of color from the coasters. They make for a lovely hostess gift, too.

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Finally, here’s tutorial #2 from our Super Bowl party – DIY Yarn Wall Hangings.

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Materials:

  • Yarn
  • Wire hangers
  • Scissors

Directions:

Cut long strands of yarn.

Decide on a color pattern, or see where your creativity takes you as you go.

To tie it onto the hanger, fold the yarn in half, and loop it through. No glue needed. Tighten the knot.

Repeat until the hanger is covered.

Lay the hanger on a smooth surface and straighten all the yarn ends. Cut the ends of the yarn at different angles.

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We like all the pretty stuff and looking good, but we get really into the game too! Go Broncos!

Cheers!

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VENDOR LOVE
Photographer: Meredith Moran | @meredithmoranphoto
Clothing and Jewelry: Denver Street Boutique @denverstreetboutique
Cocktail: 10th Mountain Whiskey & Spirit | @10thmtnwhiskey
Event Stylist: J. Sorelle | @jsorelle3 and The Every Hostess | @theeveryhostess
Models: Jodi, the beautiful brunette of J. Sorelle | @jsorelle3 and Kaitlin, the bombshell blonde of The Every Hostess |  @theeveryhostess
Bar CartWest Elm
DIY coaster and yarn wall hangings: J. Sorelle