To Eat “Peeps” or Not to Eat “Peeps”… That is the Question!

You all have likely seen marshmallow “Peeps” for sale in the stores around Easter time. Not sure what I’m talking about? This is the way the original ones looked when I was a kid.

It would seem that folks either love them or dislike them very much. I fall into the latter group. I have never understood why people love them, but to each his own! Each year just before Easter, they show up in stores and I am always amazed at the flavors that are now available! For the sake of honesty, I have never tried any flavor except the yellow ones. My throat says “Umm, not happening!” every time one gets close enough for me to smell it. So maybe some flavors are better than others. I can agree that they are quite cute and colorful! The other day I found the following colors and flavors at our local store:

Pink…

Blue…

Purple…

Dr. Pepper flavor…(really?! I don’t care for Dr. Pepper either.)

Rice Krispies Treats flavor…I do like real Rice Krispies treats.

Fruit Punch flavor…

Party Cake flavor…this one at least sounds good.

Sour Watermelon flavor…

Cotton Candy flavor…

This is a new one I haven’t seen before. Peeps Delights S’Mores flavor dipped in milk chocolate. This one is almost tempting me to try it…almost. 😉

Oh and they also come in bunny shapes which really are quite adorable!

So here is the million dollar question…do you like marshmallow peeps? I am actually curious and would like to know! If your answer is yes, which flavor do you like the most? How about taking a survey of your family members? Do you get more likes or dislikes? According to Wikipedia, Peeps have been marketed in the United States and Canada since 1953. So I’m guessing there are a TON of people that really like them! LOL 😉 If you are one of those, I hope you enjoy them! If you don’t care for them, yea…I understand! 😉

Marshmallow Peeps – Love ’em or Hate ’em?

It’s that time of year when the cute little yellow marshmallow birds are spotted all over the place. Yes, I’m talking about Marshmallow Peeps. They seem to go with Easter, don’t they? It seems to me people either love them or hate them. (I’m sorry, but I have never cared for the little guys.)

What I didn’t realize until this year is that there are MANY colors and flavors of peeps! (If you don’t like the original, is it possible to like the other flavors?) There are the classic yellow Peeps and also blue Peeps…

Pink Peeps…

Purple Peeps…

I found out today that there are also Sour Watermelon Peeps…

Dr. Pepper Peeps…(Double eww!)

Sparkly Wild Berry Peeps…

Fruit Punch Peeps…

Party Cake Peeps…

And last, but not least, Hot Tamales Peeps.

WOW! So I gotta ask…do YOU like Marshmallow Peeps?? (I think just the texture of them kinda grosses me out.) IF you like them, what flavor do you like? If you do like them, this must be your favorite time of year with a gazillion Peeps at your disposal! Enjoy!! 🙂 If you don’t like Peeps, hang in there…it’s only a few more days till Easter and they will hopefully go back into hiding again! 😉

Easter Basket Ideas From Dollar Tree

Easter is only a few days away now and if you are still looking for some goodies for those Easter baskets, here are a few things I spotted at a Dollar Tree store. They have LOTS of plastic eggs for sale! 😉

I found this cute little Kitty in my Pocket surprise packet that has 1 kitty inside.

Looks like there are 10 different kitties.

My package had a cute brown kitty inside. 🙂

I’m not exactly sure what this “wack-a-pack balloon” is, but it looks like you “wack” the flat package and it swells up into a balloon that has a message on it.

Then there are some cute Easter notepads.

And some glitter putty…

Some cups for dying/coloring eggs…

A wooden Easter egg to paint or color…

Some Softee Dough kits…(like Play-Doh)

And some magic towels that come in a small round package, but swell up when you put them in water and they become a small towel or washrag.

Of course, they also have lots of Easter candy! Hope these ideas will be a help to you for filling up the kiddos Easter baskets! 🙂

Little Easter Bunny Bucket

Coming at you today with another cute Easter craft! This one needs the use of a glue gun so it might not be a good craft for the wee ones. But it would be really cute for you to make them for the kids. 🙂

You will need a small white bucket (I found this one at the Dollar Tree store), 1 white chenille stem (aka pipe cleaner), a small piece of white cardstock, a pink marker or crayon, 2 large wiggly eyes, 1 small pink pom pom, scissors and a glue gun with a glue stick.

You’ll begin by cutting the white pipe cleaner into 4 even pieces. (Sorry for the bad lighting and that the pipe cleaner doesn’t look white. It really was white! Lol)

Continue with your project by cutting a small strip of cardstock paper between 1-2″ wide. I cut off the end of a full size sheet of cardstock (8.5″ x 11″).

Cut the strip in half and place the 2 pieces together so when you cut the paper, you will cut both pieces at the same time.

Cut out the shape of a bunny’s ear. You should end up with 2 ears the same.

Next color the inside of each ear pink, leaving a white edge on the outside.

Now it’s time to glue things together! Start by gluing on the 2 wiggly eyes on the plain side of the bucket.

Glue on the pink pom pom for the bunny’s nose.

Put some glue on one end of each piece of the white pipe cleaner and tuck the end under the pom pom. These are the bunny’s whiskers.

Glue the bottom of each ear to the front inside edge of the bucket.

Draw on the bunny’s mouth with a marker. You’ll probably need to use a permanent marker so the mouth doesn’t wipe off.

And your bunny is ready to be filled with Easter goodies! 🙂

I hope you’ll have fun making these little Easter bunny buckets and that your kids will be tickled to receive them! 🙂

Easter Egg Hunt Ideas

Hello, everyone! It’s been one of those weeks today but I wanted to at least share a quick Easter egg hunt idea that I came across.

Another idea for keeping the egg hunt more evenly divided is to write names or the first letter of the child’s name on each egg. For instance, all of Bradyn’s eggs would have a “B” on them. The kids can only pick up the eggs that have their letter on them. We’ve used this idea for a couple of years now and it works pretty well. 🙂

Hope those suggestions help you! I’m off and running once again…😉

Easter Basket Ideas From Dollar Tree

If you still need some ideas of fun things for the kids’ Easter baskets, head to your closest Dollar Tree store! The one I was in the other day had lots of things left and some of them look pretty cute! I wanted to share with you a few things I found and hopefully they will be available at your local Dollar Tree store too.

Easter bunny erasers. These guys are so cute!

Easter designs on pencils.

Scratch and find the bow-tie bunny.

Ice cube trays shaped like a bunny’s head. I think you could use these for making candy too.

Or there were ice cube trays of the bunny’s bottom! LOL If you use these for making candy, you could stick a tiny marshmallow on for the tail! 🙂

Glitter putty in an Easter egg.

2 different kinds of bubbles.

2 colors of Play-doh in the same cup.

Lots of soft and cuddly stuffed animals! So cute!

They also have things that aren’t made just for Easter but would still work great in an Easter basket. Like this “play clay” hair salon. We had a similar one in a Play-doh set and the kids had a blast with it.

There were little figurines that would fit inside a plastic Easter egg and some Silly Putty that always comes in an egg. And of course, they have LOTS of candy and plastic eggs for sale. 😉 Hope you can find just what you are looking for to fill those Easter baskets!

Easter Finds at Dollar Tree

I know that the Easter holiday isn’t until April, but I saw some fun Easter items at a Dollar Tree store today. If any of these look good to you, don’t wait too long to head to your local Dollar Tree store because they tend to sell out of items fairly quickly! The Dollar Tree stores close to us have increased their prices to $1.25 for each item. But that is still much cheaper than other stores.

Let’s start with this adorable Easter box. They had 2 sizes of boxes at our Dollar Tree store, but items can differ from one store to another. This is a square box that is open on the top.

They also have a TON of plastic Easter eggs!! The packages go from as few as 6 large eggs to as many as 18 smaller eggs.

Here are some cute bunny treat bags! There are 4 in a package.

This is what they look like. They are made from cloth and I plan to put Easter treats inside a plastic bag before I put them inside of the bunny bags.

I found some adorable stuffed animals! 🙂

Colorforms Sticker Story Adventure boards make for some great quiet time play!

And, of course, there is a LOT of candy! SweetTarts Jelly Beans looked pretty yummy to me.

Don’t forget chocolate bunnies!

I hope this will be some help for you as you plan your Easter shopping list of things to get for the kiddos’ Easter baskets! 🙂

Simple Handmade Easter Boxes

If you’re looking for a quick last minute craft for Easter, you might like these easy little Easter Boxes that are perfect for some small Easter treats.

You’ll need a piece of cardstock or heavy paper, a ruler, pencil, glue and scissors. Start by making a square out of cardstock. I made mine 8 1/4″.

Draw lines to divide the square into equal thirds in both ways or into 9 equal squares. For the 8 1/4″ square you’ll need lines every 2 3/4″.

You will need to make 4 cuts. Choose a side to cut and then cut on both sides of the middle square on one outside row. Cut in only as far as the edge of the center square.

Make the same 2 cuts on the opposite side of your paper.

That is all the cutting you’ll need to do. Now place your ruler on the line under one row of squares.

Bend those 3 squares up against the edge of the ruler.

Remove the ruler and press each of those 3 squares flat and make a firm crease with your fingers.

Do this bending and creasing for all 4 sides of your paper.

Next, fold in and bring together 3 flaps to form a side of the box.

Now we’ll glue them together. Fold in one flap and apply glue to the top side.

Lay the 2nd flap onto the glued section and press together.

Now apply glue to the top side.

And press down the 3rd flap. The edges of the box should match up evenly.

Repeat these steps for the other side of the box. Turn the box over so the freshly glued side is down against the table and press firmly with your fingers.

And there is your box! 🙂

You can use the box as it is now or you can add a handle to it. If you’d like to have a handle, cut a strip of cardstock for it. Mine was approximately 1 1/4″ wide by 8″ long.

Put glue on approximately 1/2″ of one ends of the handle strip. Place the glued section on the inside side of the box close to the top edge.

Bend the handle over and apply glue to the other end for approximately 1/2 ” Hold in place as the glue starts to set up.

Your Easter box is finished! Well done! Now let’s add some Easter grass…

And last, but not least, add some Easter goodies!

You can decorate your box or write the recipient’s name on it or leave it plain. I hope you’ve enjoyed making these cute Easter boxes with us! 🙂

Things to Put Inside Plastic Easter Eggs

Do you buy the plastic eggs for Easter? Do you use those for your Easter Egg Hunt? Do you have a hard time coming up with things to put inside the plastic eggs? I want to share a few suggestions for you here.

#1.) Candy. A lot of moms and dads want to cut back on the candy their kids get at Easter time but everyone wants a little candy, right? There are lots of kinds of candy that are small enough pieces that they will fit inside an egg. One suggestion is jelly beans. There are many flavors of jelly beans so if you don’t like the first ones you see, keep looking. These jelly beans are actually Sweet Tart flavors.

#2.) Mini Fruit By the Foot. Depending on the size of your plastic eggs…and how much you squish them…these will fit inside an egg. 😉 At least I got them inside our eggs! Lol

#3.) Kid Band-Aids. These are Toy Story ones so, of course, they are cool.

#4.) Stickers. I found some colored Easter egg stickers, but there are a million kinds of stickers out there! We also had kittens and puppies and dinosaurs and Minions and…yep, you got the picture.

#5.) Pom-poms. These are great for making crafts or the larger ones make very soft balls for throwing in the house.

#6.) Pipe Cleaners or Chenille Stems. Yep, just wrap them up in a circle and they’ll fit inside a plastic egg.

#7.) Letter Stickers to spell the child’s name.

#8.) Puzzle pieces. This one is fun because after the Easter Egg Hunt is done, there is a puzzle to put together.

#9.) Loom Bands. Do your kids make bracelets out of these colorful little rubber bands? Hide some in an Easter egg.

#10.) Hair barrettes, clips or pony tail holders.

#11.) Small Lego sets. This is a larger sized egg that this Lego set is pictured with. But how cool would it be to find Lego in an egg?!

I hope these few suggestions help you find things to fill your plastic Easter eggs. There are tons more things you could use, so just spend a little time wandering down the aisles of your local store and I’m betting you’ll find plenty of ideas. 🙂

Easter Basket Stuffers at Joann Fabric Stores!

Easter is just over a week away! Are you still looking for some fun crafts for the kids to stick in their Easter baskets? Then take a look at what I found at our local Joann Fabric Store! These prices are amazing! Up to 70% off the original price! WOW!!

A Pop! Basket Glitter Art Kit and a Pop! Flower Glitter Art Kit. Remove the paper over all the stickers with the same number and sprinkle on the glitter from the little glitter packs. Regular price on each is $3.99, but I only paid $1.19 each.

A Pop! Butterfly Felt Sewing Kit and a Pop! Butterfly Melty Bead Kit. (Similar to Perler beads) Original price $3.99, on sale for $1.19 each.

A Pop! Butterfly Foam Glasses Kit and a Pop! Bunny Foam Glasses Kit. Original price $2.99 each, sale price $.89 each.

A Pop! Butterfly Foam Door Hanger Kit and a Pop! Cracked Egg Foam Kit. Originally $2.99, on sale for $.89 each.

A Pop! Felt Birdhouse kit. Regular price $5.99, on sale for $1.79! Yes, really!

A Pop! Unicorn Foam and Felt Kit and a Pop! Fairy Foam Kit. Both regularly priced at $2.47, on sale for $1.85.

Little Makers Unicorn and Mermaid Foam Mosaic Kit. Makes one of each. Regular price of $2.47, on sale for $1.85.

A Pop! 100 piece Easter Chick Puzzle. Regular price is $1.99, I got it for $.59.

I bought 1 more item that is not listed as Easter, but will work great for some fun on Easter. This adorable 101 piece puzzle also has 101 things to spot in the garden after you’ve put the puzzle together. Regular price is $6.99, it’s on sale for $4.89.

I bought all these items $21.14, plus tax! I was pretty excited! Hope this will help you find some fun things for your family’s Easter baskets!