More April Fools Jokes

• Leave a message for your boss or spouse that said that a Mr. Lyon called. List the phone number of the local zoo.
  

• Tape a Slurpee cup or mug to the top of your car with clear packing tape or magnets. Drive slowly through parking lots to get lots of funny reactions.
  

• Steal the towels and clothes from the bathroom as your victim is in the shower!
  

• Glue a quarter to the sidewalk or other well-trafficked area. Watch nearby as people try to pick it up.
  

Festive Easter House Award Goes To...

My friend Marcelle pointed out this super festive house to me a few weeks ago. Although I don't know if I could ever pull off decorating my house this much, it made me smile. I loved it so much I went back to get pictures because if this doesn't epitomize festive, I don't know what does. I thought all you Festive Followers would appreciate this. :)


I am officially giving them the first ever "SO FESTIVE HOUSE AWARD!"

The best part is she said they decorate for every holiday. I can't wait to see what they do for the rest of the holidays. We will just have to stay tuned.


I am loving the carrots coming out of the flower patch.


Happy Easter!

Happy Birthday Marilyn

The idea to start this festive blog came to me as I was thinking about my mother who passed away 9 years ago.

(she's the one on the far left)

She was the most FESTIVE person I knew. And I only hope I can be as festive as she was. That is why I LOVE all of your ideas!!

She would have been 58 today and I can't help but give her a little tribute since this is the whole reason I started this blog.

A few of her favorite things were:

• M&Ms (she always had a secret stash)
• holidays
• birthdays
• taking meals to people
• being spontaneous
• bargain shopping

In her honor, my husband and will be playing this game tonight:

My sister found all of us a copy of the original 1960s Barbie game. This is the game that my mom would stay up and play until the wee hours of the morning with us and our friends when we had sleepovers. Since this game is rare, all of our friends loved playing it and we still do!

Happy Birthday to the most festive person ever.

April Fools jokes

April Fool's Day is such a great day for a little practical joke for your closest friends and family. Here are some of my favorites...

• Set the clock 1/2 hour ahead. Your roommates/spouse/family will all show up 1/2 hour early or you can tell them April Fools and have a 1/2 hour of extra time with them!

• Put a "For Sale" sign in your neighbor's yard

• Put a chicken bouillon cube in the shower head. (Just make sure you shower first :)

More to come...

Do you have any favorites?

Vintage Easter

I came across some vintage cross-stitched cookie jar lids that my mom used to use for each holiday. I have yet to find a cookie jar with a lid that has a place for me to use the cross-stitched holiday lids. But I could not let another holiday go by without using it.

So...I decided to use an old frame I had got from a thrift store and some scrapbook paper. I made a matte and viola...

a vintage Easter decoration so vintage is SO in right now!

(If any of you readers have seen a cookie jar like this, will you let me know?)

Easter mantle

This is the first time I have had a mantle of my own! I got very excited to decorate it for Easter. It's very simple, but I like the clean, calm look.

easter bunny game

This game is a childhood favorite! We would love to gather with the neighborhood kids in our front yard and play the Easter Bunny game. This could be really fun for a Easter party or family activity.

How to play: select one person as the "Easter bunny". Everyone else stands in a group on one end of the playing area. Everyone huddles and chooses an Easter egg color or design. Then you begin as follows....

(Easter bunny says ): "Knock Knock"
(Everyone else says):"Who's There"
(EB): "The Easter Bunny"

(Everyone): "What do you want?"
(EB): "Colored Eggs"
(Everyone): "What color?"

Then as the Easter bunny names off colors of eggs, the person with that color must run to the designated spot (like a tree). The games keeps going until either the Easter bunny tags everyone or everyone makes it to the tree.

easter candy bags

My sister Sarah and I had so much fun making these cute little Easter treat bags! The best part was that they were so simple and cheap!

What we used:

mini clear bags (from Michael's-with 40% coupon they were $2.25 for 50)
stapler
Easter candy
green crinkle grass (saved from a gift I got)
spring scrapbook paper

easter ideas

let's hear those easter ideas you have.

crafts, recipes, activities?

send them our way!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Don't forget to wear green today!

Green Tacos

It has been a tradition of my husband and I to have green tacos on St. Patrick's Day.

Yep, we dye the chicken, sour cream, onions, and anything else possible green.

My husband is into making homemade tortillas lately. So, I'm making him make us green tortillas this year for our green tacos. Can't wait!!

St. Patrick's Pot of Gold

I wish I could take the credit for this, but I must give the credit to Family Fun magazine for thinking of this brilliant idea for St. Patrick's Day. Click here for the original idea.

To make this edible pot of gold, all you need is to make lemon jello. After it is set up, cut into cubes. If you want to make the lime pots, simply take a lime and without cutting into the fruit, slice off a tiny bit of the bottom so it will stand flat. Then cut into the inside and scoop out the fruit. Put a pinch of sugar and 1 teaspoon whipping cream in the bottom and then fill it up with the gold.

How festive is that!

For a simple version, just use regular bowls since we are all about simple! :)

Just a Reminder

Today is "Pie Day" (3.14). Pick up or whip up a pie to celebrate!

Green Mean Machines

We love having "Green Mean Machines" on St. Patrick's Day for dessert. I'm not sure where we got the name for this, but since I can remember, I have looked forward to having Green Mean Machines on St. Patrick's day. And I still do. After you have a green dinner, try this simple, but refreshing dessert drink.

Green Mean Machines

1/4 gallon Lime Sorbet
1 liter Sprite or 7-up (more or less for thicker/thinner)

Mix these ingredients in a blender until you get your desired consistency. I like it thick, so I am very generous on the sorbet.

Enjoy!

Pie Day Recipes

Pie Day is coming soon. I wish I could say I was an expert pie maker. But I'm not. And in my blog-surfing (please say you do that, too) I came across this delectable site called Pie Love You.
It is actually my friend's sister-in-law's blog, and it has so many amazing recipes on it and she tells you how to make them.

So there you go. If you aren't happy with any of the pie recipes I have given you, there is bound to be one on her blog.

We would love to hear what your favorite pies are. Send pics and recipes to sofestive@gmail.com.

Peanut Butter Pie

Pie Day is coming up! Here is another quick and yummy pie recipe. The best part is--you don't even have to bake it.

Peanut Butter Pie

What You'll Need:
9” Oreo pie shell or graham cracker crust
1/3 cup peanut butter
4 oz. cream cheese
12 oz. Cool Whip
1 cup powdered sugar
¼ cup milk

Mix cream cheese and peanut butter. Blend in Cool Whip, milk, and sugar. Mix well and pour into crust. Refrigerate until stiff.

It's that easy! Enjoy!

March 14th is Pie Day!

3.14. You may recognize this number from your math class as 'pi'. In my family, we look at 3.14 as March 14th-- a.k.a. PIE DAY! We celebrate this holiday by eating pie and you should too :)

For a simple, but delicious pie, try this recipe:

CHEX PIE

4 cups crushed Corn Chex
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup crushed salted peanuts (optional)
1/3 cup margarine melted
1 quart vanilla ice cream (or other flavor)
hot fudge or favorite topping

Mix crushed chex, brown sugar, margarine and peanuts together. Press in greased pie plate and bake for 10 minutes at 300. Remove from oven and cool completely. Put ice cream on top of Chex crust. Freeze over night or at least for 2-3 hours. Serve with hot fudge or your other favorite topping.

***Photo instructions below***

Mix crushed chex, brown sugar, margarine and peanuts together. Press in greased pie plate and bake for 10 minutes at 300.

Let the crust is completely cool. (you don't want soupy ice cream now, do you?) Once cool, scoop softened ice cream into the crust.

Completely fill the crust with ice cream, making sure to firmly press it into the crust.

After you have completely filled the crust, put a piece of tin foil over the pie and freeze it for at least 2-3 hours. However, the longer you freeze it, the better it will be.

Finally, you get to enjoy this simple masterpiece!

Happy Pie Day!

Lucky Gift Ideas

I know St. Patrick's Day is not a huge gift-giving holiday, but if you are like me, you might want a simple idea for something to tuck inside lunches or under pillows.

I played off the shamrock theme by printing some tags that said, "I'm so LUCKY to be your wife, mom, friend, etc." I had some leftover paper from the $2 St. Patrick's sign that I used to mount the tags to.

Then just find anything in a green wrapper. I chose Mike and Ikes since they are my husband's favorite, but you could use green soap, Lucky Charms, or decorate shamrock cookies or cupcakes. Other ideas are Andes Mints, Air Heads or Laffy Taffy.

If you want a copy of the tags, leave me a comment and I'll send you a printer-friendly version.

$2 St. Patrick's Day craft

I'm all about cheap holiday decorations. I didn't have anything for St. Patrick's Day, so I decided to whip this sign up.

What you'll need:

• Green paint (I used Apple Barrel's Leaf Green)=$1
• Green scrapbook paper (I used striped, but any green print will work)=$.75
• Old 2x4 or piece of wood. (I used a piece I had made another sign with)
• Paint brush
• Mod podge
• white letters and shamrock die-cut (I just printed my shamrock off the computer)
  

Directions:

1. Paint your wood green and let it dry
2. Cut the green designed paper to fit the piece of your wood
3. Apply mod podge to the wood and then apply green paper on top of the mod podge
4. Attach letters and shamrock
5. optional: you can apply another coat of mod podge if you like to give it that finished look
6. decide on the perfect place to put it (that is always the toughest part :) you can also add other green accents like plants or candles to add to the green look.
   

Birthday Cake

A couple weeks ago we celebrated my little boy's 2nd birthday. We did a "Monkey" theme this year which was topped off with a "Monkey" cake. I found a great tutorial online for how to make it. There's a bunch of other great ideas there as well, so check it out! By the way, I am NOT a cake decorator by any means. I'm definitely an amateur so this simple cake was perfect for me to tackle. I think the trick with cake decorating is just having the guts to try it. You'll probably be surprised at what you can pull off. Anyway, it turned out cute, it was easy, and most importantly he LOVED it!

Birthday Dinner

Doesn't that look good? This, my friends, is a grilled hamburger. And that is what I would always choose to have for my birthday dinner.

On the other hand, my little brother would choose Fettucine Alfredo.


2 Reasons why you should let your children or spouse choose their Birthday dinner:

1. It will make their birthday that much more special.

2. It gives you a break from deciding what to make for dinner.
That is always a challenge for me :)

Use the birthday plate to serve the birthday person their choice dinner. Tutorial here.

Birthday Sticky Buns

We always got to choose what we wanted for our birthday breakfast, but we always chose Sticky Buns. I'm sure my Mom loved it too because they are so simple to make. You can prepare them the night before and just bake them in the morning so you can enjoy the birthday festivities! :)

Birthday Sticky Buns

1/2 cup margarine
3.5 oz butterscotch cook and serve pudding mix
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
1/2 cup nuts (optional)
15-18 Rhodes frozen rolls

Spray a bundt pan and place frozen rolls inside. Set aside. Melt margarine completely and add in pudding mix, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Place this mixture over the frozen rolls. Let rise overnight. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°. Cool for 10 minutes. Then turn the pan upside down onto a birthday plate or serving dish. Eat warm!

For the Birthday Plate tutorial click here.

Birthday Doors

A fun birthday tradition in my family growing up was the "Birthday Door". Every year for our birthday my Mom would decorate a door covered in pictures of us. There's always a birthday sign as well that usually coordinated with our birthday card and cake. It's always fun to see old pictures of yourself, remember all the great memories, and see how much you had changed since the year before. We would usually leave it up for a few weeks after your birthday as well. Since I've been married it's been fun carrying on this tradition for my hubby and now our little boy. He just turned two and he already loves his "Happy Birthday Door!"

My birthday door as a 4 and 5 year old (I had a Teddy Bear Cake and Party for my 4th birthday - hence the "Bear" sign on my door) Oh and I totally LOVE that I'm holding my little brother's hand. Cute!

Birthday Doors for my husband since we've been married

I can't even believe we've already celebrated TWO birthday's for this little guy! It's so much fun carrying on traditions for my own little family! The first year was "Tool" themed with a Hammer shaped cake. Then we had a "Monkey" birthday with a monkey cake this year.

Birthday Fairy

You have heard of the tooth fairy, I'm sure. You know, the little fairy that leaves you money under your pillow for your tooth? In our family, it wasn't the tooth fairy that we looked forward to.

It was the Birthday Fairy.

I'm not sure where this tradition came from, but we didn't care. All we knew was that the Birthday Fairy would visit us in the night before our birthday. It reminds me a bit of St. Nicholas Day.

Anyways, the night before your birthday, you get to choose your favorite shoe to put out by your door. I remember I planning out which shoe I would put out months before my birthday. My husband chose his slipper last year.

You leave your shoe by the door and then the Birthday Fairy comes and leaves a quarter for every year old you are, plus one for good luck. So, if you are turning 15, you would get 16 quarters.

I like this tradition because the older you are, the more quarters you get. So it actually pays to get old :)

The fun thing about Birthday Fairy money is you get to do whatever you want with it! If you didn't want to do quarters, you could do something else more specific to the birthday person.

Birthday Week

It's Birthday Week on So Festive!
That means you'll get to see lots of fun birthday tradition ideas. Every. Single. Day.

Stay tuned.