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How To: Easy Children’s Holiday Cookie Decorating Party

December 21, 2010 0

Last Friday, we had four of Eben’s sweet little friends over for a dreidel playing, cookie decorating, candy cane and cocoa consuming – fun for all. Wow! It was fun, fun, fun! The children played several rounds of dreidel, created the most beautifully decorated holiday cookies you have ever seen and just had a overall grand time.

The mister, Eben and I made the organic sugar cookies and organic frosting the night before – a favorite among the children were the gingerbread and snowmen shapes.

This type of a party is simple and can be thrown together in a few minutes. As Eben would say it was, “Easy, peasy, lemon squeezey!” I used our everyday dinnerware, a reusable snowman and miniature holiday trees as the centerpieces and kept things extra simple by only offering cookies and organic peppermint cocoa. We created a fun ambiance, by turning on all of the holiday and Christmas tree lights and playing A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Want to throw a holiday cookie decorating party this week? Here is my sugar cookie recipe to get you started:

Ingredients:

  • 5 cups all-purpose organic flour
  • 2 teaspoons organic baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 1/2 cups organic butter or Earth balance, softened
  • 2 white organic sugar
  • 4 organic egg or egg substitute
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°.
2. In a bowl mix together flour, baking soda and baking powder.
3. In a larger bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Add in one egg at a time and the vanilla. Gradually add the dry ingredients.
4. Cover and chill dough in refrigerator for at least 1 hour or overnight.
5. Roll out dough on floured surface until 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
6. Bake 6-8 minutes and cool completely.

How do get into the holiday spirit with your children?

Strawberry Picking In December?

December 21, 2010 0

A couple of weekends ago, my family visited our local farm to pick strawberries – wait for it –  in December! Am I the only person who thinks that picking strawberries in December is fantastic? Just another perk of living in sunny Florida.

They were delicious and we had a fantastic time!

Do you live in a climate where you can pick strawberries in December?
Does your family do unexpected outdoor activities during wintertime?

Palm Beach: Best Neighborhood Holiday Lights

December 20, 2010 0
We spent Saturday night visiting the best neighborhood holiday lights in our area. The combination of lights, figures, time and creativity put into the displays was fantastic! It was a great way to spend the evening together as a family.

Last weekend we used Grandpa Sweet Greens GPS and made a list of all the homes in our area that are known for their amazing holiday light display. It was fantastic.

If you live in South Florida, here is a list of some of our favorites:

+ 74 West Palmetto Road, Lake Worth, Florida.
+ 9510 Sun Pointe Drive, Boynton Beach, Florida.
+ 3852 Satin Leaf Court, Delray Beach, Florida.
+ 49 Springdale Road, Lake Worth, Florida.
+ 4988 Palm Way, Lake Worth, Florida.

You can see more of the pictures from our Holiday Light Adventure here.
Does your family spend an evening visiting holiday lights in your area?

photos via Jay Lyon

Inhabitots: Make Recycled Holiday Gift Wrap And Tags

December 20, 2010 0

It only takes one post-family Christmas living room littered with huge piles of torn wrapping paper, ribbons, boxes, bags, tissue paper, and gift tags to make you realize how wasteful gift wrap can be. Chances are a large portion of that gift wrapping will wind up in the recycling bin or trash can. Luckily there’s other more eco-friendly ways to make gifts look pretty under the Christmas tree using supplies you can find in your recycling bin, stuff slated for the garbage, or household items that can double as gift wrap. Jump over to Inhabitots for my six ways you can recycle common household items into fantastically green gift wrap.

Have a Lovely Weekend + A Few Green Things

December 17, 2010 0

Hello, Everyone. Are you excited for the upcoming holidays? Have you decked the halls? Picked out and wrapped the gifts? Are you baking and creating this weekend?

Today, Eben’s day at school has been packed with fun starting with a pancake breakfast, movie and book exchange and ending with a pizza lunch! When he gets home – four of his lovely friends are coming over for a cookie decorating and dreidel spinning party. What could be more fun than children and cookies?

Since the mister was raised with Hanukkah and I was raised with Christmas – we have combined our family traditions and will start celebrating “our holiday” tonight. Eben is so excited he can barely stand it. After our cookie decorating get together, we are having Hanukkah dinner (again!) followed by candle and holiday tree lighting, exchanging gifts and ending with a viewing of Avatar.

While I get ready for The Great Cookie Decorating Party of 2010, here are a few green things I have been meaning to share with you:

– Yum! Pies in Jars.
– Do you give your children pajamas on Christmas Eve? These are super cute!
– For your listening ears, here is a FREE Christmas music sampler.
– I still love these mini gingerbread houses. Maybe next year?
– How cute are these countdown favor tins?
– I love this felt ball garland. How cute would it be on the tree?
– You could still make a swirled crayon ornament.
– Do you know the proper way to accept a gift?
– I love this picture of holiday feet, how cute!
– There is still time to enter the last giveaways in The 12 Days of Etsy. Hurry!

I hope you have a nice, cozy weekend with the ones you love.

xo,
Sweet Greens
………………………………….
p.s. Did you enjoy Sweet Greens Holiday Giveaway Week and The 12 Days of Etsy. Did you win? You can see all of the winners at the bottom of each post.

photo credit

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