Such excitement in this house!

We absolutely love the new year here in this house. It brings about a fresh start and school restarting. HOWEVER, it also brings about PARTIES. My family hits party mode mid-October and we don't end that mode until the beginning of April. It's CRAZY.

In October, we got to enjoy my birthday with those who were closest to me (and celebrate birthdays). We then celebrated Halloween with Trunk or Treat at church and trick or treating around the neighborhood.

In November, we held a Creeper party for Bullfrog who turned 10 and then had a great Thanksgiving.

This was the second year that we didn't do much for Turtle's birthday, but she didn't care. We did hold a celebratory dinner for my friend.  We would have done Christmas as well ... but we all got the stomach bug. We were sick from Christmas day to the Sunday after (which caused us to miss my husband's work party as well).

Now that it is January ... we have a whole new set of parties to throw! So, what's on the agenda?

Recipes from the Minecraft Party

I held a Minecraft party for my boychild knowing that Bullfrog LOVED Minecraft. I had EVERY intention of doing super simple treats ... like apple slices dipped in caramel for the apples and purchasing mini cookies for the cookies. However, how do you say no to a little boy whose eyes light up when he asks you so sweetly to make a couple different goodies.

To start with, Bullfrog wanted Grinch cookies for the cookies. I made them a few years ago using sugar cookie mix. I really didn't feel like using a sugar cookie base this time, so I went searching for a new Grinch cookie recipe.

Creeper Party

My son turns 10 next week and all he has wanted for the past two years is a Minecraft Party. I wanted to make sure that it was a party that would be bigger so I could justify the bigger expense. I had NO idea that the party would be so cheap! I absolutely LOVE how this turned out ... however, my pleasure with the turnout had no comparison to how happy it made my son.

So, I turned to Pinterest for ideas and found many that I liked. I don't have a color printer though so I had to get a tad more creative. We decided to have a 90 minute party and do pictures, a snack bar, presents, and then two types of crafts.

I used leftover table cloth for the backdrop and then cut 2x2" blocks of black construction paper for the face.