Welcome to our Apron Full of Giveaways! I hope everyone is having a great week this week! As we do each week, here is our round-up of giveaways for our readers. We hope that this is beneficial to you and your family! Please let us know if you guys win anything- I love to hear the success stories!
Below are the contest links-if you are hosting a contest please link it up below. Sorry, we are not giving away the aprons just showcasing them! Please put your site name and then what type of contest you are hosting. For example, “MomAdvice (Kid’s Movies).”
Father’s Day is almost here and we have been stocking you with loads of ideas for celebrating the holiday from sweet gifts to printables. Today you will find me over at Snackpicks sharing how you can help Dad by throwing a backyard BBQ together. Backyard barbecues can be a breeze with a little bit of planning and preparation and my post today on Snackpicks shares some easy tips for pulling a great backyard BBQ off in honor of his special day.
Head on over to Snackpicks today to find loads of fun and creative ways to celebrate a Dad in your life!
I am a Snackpicks contributor, and Snackpicks has provided me with compensation for these posts. My participation is voluntary and opinions are always my own.
Father’s Day is only a couple weeks away and whether celebrating my awesome Dad or my husband who is an incredible dad to our kids, I think it’s so meaningful to give handmade gifts, especially if they can be made by kids – or at least with their help. Those seem to be the gifts that are saved and cherished through the years (though hopefully any edible parts of the gift won’t be saved for years!).
Like I did for Mother’s Day (turnabout is fair play!), I’ve combed the Mom Advice archives to bring you some fun and easy gifts for dad that don’t take a lot of money or time and I’m also including two new projects from this year because, well, I love them!
To round out our list of gift ideas, I found a few more sweet and memorable projects from other creative bloggers that you might want to make – just please be sure to pin from the original source I’ve provided if you’d like to add one to a Pinterest board. Thanks!
Our newest Father’s Day idea: a sweet Candy Bouquet!
These easy paper strip monogram art look fun to do and I think would look fantastic over the kid’s beds or dressers.
Hmmm, what do you think about adding bacon to a refried bean-layer dip to make a Smoky 5-layer Dip for your next gathering? Sounds like it might be a way to shake the normal up a bit…
This Strawberry Shortcake Skillet Cobbler not only looks yummy and uses in-season strawberries, but I love that it’s made all at once in a cast iron skillet – sounds like the perfect early summer recipe!
I hope you enjoyed this collection of gathered links to DIY crafts, food projects, and thrifty ways to spruce up your home. Nothing brings me more joy then to highlight other fabulous bloggers. Follow me on Pinterest for daily inspiration!
I don’t mean to brag, but my kids are so blessed to have such an incredible Dad. He is the ultimate go-to guy from helping the kids with their homework, to kicking around the soccer ball, to indulging my daughter in her fancy tea parties, to the ultimate bedtime storyteller.
This Father’s Day we wanted to make a gift that we just knew he would love to show just how special he is to us. Our Dad happens to have a sweet tooth so we decided to make him a candy bouquet that he could place on his desk at work when those sweet tooth cravings strike!
The best part about this gift though is that it only takes fifteen minutes to create, costs about $20 in supplies, and can be created with your kids in honor of their favorite Dad.
Welcome to our Apron Full of Giveaways! I hope everyone is having a great week this week! As we do each week, here is our round-up of giveaways for our readers. We hope that this is beneficial to you and your family! Please let us know if you guys win anything- I love to hear the success stories!
Below are the contest links-if you are hosting a contest please link it up below. Sorry, we are not giving away the aprons just showcasing them! Please put your site name and then what type of contest you are hosting. For example, “MomAdvice (Kid’s Movies).”
Father’s Day is just around the corner & today we wanted to share a monster of a Father’s Day gift with a cute spin on the monster theme with easy monster cookie bars and printable monster cards for a special Dad in your life.
This week’s challenge from Walmart was to create an inexpensive Father’s Day gift that would wow your Dad. Well, if your dad is anything like our Dad, he is certainly wowed with homemade treats and funny cards with a great sense of humor. Our idea was to mix up a batch of thick and delicious Monster Cookie Bars made with rolled oats, peanut butter, mini M&M’s (found over in their candy aisle), and chocolate chips.
Monster Cookies can be a bit of a monster to create as a drop cookie because of their monster size. I choose to echo the words of an amazing woman I once heard speak these wise words…
“Ain’t nobody got time for that.”
Wise, right?
Bar cookies get a big fist pump from this busy mom and if a celebration requires a cookie, I often rely on these chocolate chip cookie bars to get us through whatever baking requirements are made for those occasions. These Monster Cookie Bars are equally delicious and offer that crusty exterior with that soft interior that makes, in my humble opinion, the perfect cookie.
What Father’s Day would be complete without a card to accompany your sweet gift? We are so excited to debut these adorable Monster cards that you can print out to attach with your Monster Cookie Bars for your favorite Dad. We have included three fun printable cards for Father’s Day and then 1 that could be used for any occasion to accompany your sweet treat. Print these printables out on white card stock and you will be all set for this Father’s Day!
I can admit that this family has had Monsters on our brain after getting a sneak peek at the Monsters University movie that is set to hit theaters on June 21st. While our family was at the Disney Social Media Moms conference, we got an exclusive sneak peek at the film. It is FANTASTIC, and dare I say it, even funnier than the first one. I have no doubt that your family will love it!
Our Monster Cookie Bars would really pull together a fun family night out to see this fantastic film and you can find loads of fun Monsters supplies in the party favors aisle of your Walmart store including fun cups, plates, and other party favors for an inexpensive night to enjoy while tackling your summer bucket list or our 100 Days of Summer Pinterest Board.
Now that you have the printables, here is the deliciously easy and tasty recipe for these Monster Cookie Bars. We recommend preparing these in a metal 9×13 pan for best results!
Monster Cookie Bars
Recipe Type: Dessert
Author: Adapted from The BakerMama
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 15
Monster cookies made easy in a bar cookie. Be sure to pair these easy cookies with our free Monster printables.
Ingredients
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1-1/2 cups creamy peanut buter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup mini M&M’s (approximately half a bag)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13 pan with nonstick spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, beat together the butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add the sugars and beat until blended. Add the vanilla and eggs and mix until light and fluffy.
Gradually add the flour mixture until just combined.
Mix in oats until well combined.
Stir in chocolate chips and mini M&M’s
Press dough evenly into prepared baking dish. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until lightly golden brown and set in the middle. Let cool completely in baking dish then cut into bars. Store in an airtight container.
Happy Father’s Day to all of our Dad readers (I know you’re out there!) and here’s hoping you get spoiled by a few of your favorite monsters!
Be sure to check back this week for more great Father’s Day gifts on a budget!
Welcome to the Summer Edition of my weekly notebook! I know that once summer hits you all want to spend time with the kids and not as much on the computer (me, too!), so during June, July, & August the Notebook posts will be short and sweet with one or two photos and a handful of links.
Oh, but the links will still be the same quality that I always look for, just with a summer mentality! I’ll look for ideas that are quick, fun, memorable, involve the kids (or not!) and that will help to inspire you over the summer to cook seasonally, craft, and do projects that may actually get something checked off that to-do list!
Like this yummy looking treat that would make a special summer breakfast. Since I’ve already got blueberries on the brain (Blueberry Sangria Lemonade, anyone?), it’s no wonder I want to try Apple Blueberry Pie-Cake!
Hopefully, we’ll all be enjoying warmer weather soon and having some fun and creative kid water-play ideas will come in handy – like this awesome ‘carkidwash!’
Making a simple princess bed for our girls might just inspire some magical summer nights.
I hope you enjoyed this collection of gathered links to DIY crafts, food projects, and thrifty ways to spruce up your home. Nothing brings me more joy then to highlight other fabulous bloggers. Follow me on Pinterest for daily inspiration!
In the summer I am always looking for fun summer cocktails to share with my girlfriends and this blueberry sangria lemonade is the perfect summer drink to share with a good friend. You won’t believe how easy this blueberry sangria lemonade is to create and just how easy it is to drink…well, you might believe that last part of the sentence. This drink just screams summer, backyard fun, and begs to be enjoyed poolside.
Each month Walmart is challenging me to create a recipe using one of their produce items. Last month I tackled strawberries with a fun baked strawberry doughnut recipe and this month it is all about the blueberries with this easy blueberry sangria lemonade recipe.
Blueberries are one of our favorite summer fruits and we love to enjoy our summer bounty all year long. A few years ago I started freezing my berries in a different way using the Cook’s Illustrated method for freezing my berries and I can’t rave enough about how much better my frozen berries taste. You should definitely add this to your summer to-do list this year.
As we await our annual berry picking season, I wanted to offer some advice for selecting the perfect berries at the supermarket. Be sure to select a package of firm, plump berries with an indigo blue color and a silvery white frost. Avoid any with a green or red tint, which indicates under ripe berries. You will want to make sure there are no juice stains at the bottom of the carton or moldy or crushed berries buried inside of the cartons as well when selecting those berries.
Now that you have the perfect berries, you can start incorporating them in this easy sangria. All of the ingredients can be found at your local Walmart store. I recommend mixing this one up the night before your gathering to really allow the flavors to incorporate together and for the best flavor.
You don’t have to splurge on the wine on this one, but make sure that you buy one that you would enjoy drinking. I love the budget-friendly and always delicious, Barefoot Chardonnay for this recipe because it fits sweetly in my budget and really tastes great for an affordable wine.
If you grow mint in your garden, this is another fun drink to add a little mint to for fresh flavor. And don’t forget, that mint can be put to good use in our Perfect Mojito recipe too in those long and hot summer months!
Blueberry Sangria Lemonade
Recipe Type: Drink
Author: Amy Clark
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: 6
These blueberry sangrias scream summertime. Let the flavors meld together overnight for a truly delicious drink!
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1 (12-ounce) can frozen concentrated pink lemonade
1 bottle (750ml) Chardonnay, (I love Barefoot Chardonnay for this)
3 cups lemon lime soda
1/2 cup Brandy
Fresh mint for garnish
Instructions
In a large pitcher, combine all ingredients and stir. Refrigerate overnight to allow flavors to meld together.
Welcome to our Apron Full of Giveaways! I hope everyone is having a great week this week! As we do each week, here is our round-up of giveaways for our readers. We hope that this is beneficial to you and your family! Please let us know if you guys win anything- I love to hear the success stories!
Below are the contest links-if you are hosting a contest please link it up below. Sorry, we are not giving away the aprons just showcasing them! Please put your site name and then what type of contest you are hosting. For example, “MomAdvice (Kid’s Movies).”
Father’s Day is almost here and we have been stocking you with 
