Simply Styled Home

May

29

Pink Yink Ink Drink Breakfast
Dr. Seuss Teacher Appreciation Week

simply celebrate Posted by Maegan / 0 comments

I first posted about the Dr. Seuss themed Teacher/Staff Appreciation week for my daughter’s school on my other blog, “Confessions of a Scrapaholic,” but I wanted to go into a bit more detail here at Simply Styled Home. This is the post for those of you on the PTSA and/or Hospitality Committee for your child’s school. This is where you will find step-by-step instructions to duplicate my Pink Yink Ink Drink Breakfast at your school. Ready? Let’s go!

I included drink orders with the Pink Yink Ink Breakfast invitation, and asked that the teachers and staff return them the Thursday before Staff Appreciation Week. They had the choice of a Pink Yink Ink Drink (triple berry smoothie) or a drink from Starbucks. The drink orders were printed on 3×4 shipping labels.

I took 1/2 the orders to the Starbucks about a mile away, and 1/2 to the other Starbucks a mile the other way. (Remember, I live in Seattle. We’re surrounded.) I pre-paid for all of the drinks to make pick up easy for the 4 parents picking up the 40 lattes the next morning. The baristas loved the sticker labels. They quickly and easily made the pre-ordered drinks and attached the labels. The drinks and breakfast were waiting for the teachers/staff at 7:50am. I wanted them to have time to enjoy their breakfast before school started.

I pink-a-fied the staff lounge by tying tulle to the tops of all the chairs, and on the cupcake stands. The table cloths were pink as were the cups, plates, napkins and utensils. I also placed pink daisies on the less colorful platters (like bagels). I didn’t get any good pictures of the drinks lined up (dangit!) because I was busy making the triple berry smoothies. I bought the frozen smoothie packets from Costco. I simply added milk, blended, and voila… pink yink ink drink! What you see above is the remaining breakfast items after everyone had left.

TIP: Check the teacher/staff questionnaires for food allergies and plan accordingly. There are a few teachers at my daughter’s school with wheat/gluten sensitivities and I wanted to make sure they had a yummy breakfast to go along with their coffee or smoothie.

You can purchase the Pink Yink Ink Drink Breakfast Invitation, Drink Order Forms, and Pink Folding Party Labels here.

May

29

Biffer Baum Boxed Lunches
Dr. Seuss Teacher Appreciation Week

simply celebrate Posted by Maegan / 0 comments

I first posted about the Dr. Seuss themed Teacher/Staff Appreciation week for my daughter’s school on my other blog, “Confessions of a Scrapaholic,” but I wanted to go into a bit more detail here at Simply Styled Home. This is the post for those of you on the PTSA and/or Hospitality Committee for your child’s school. This is where you will find step-by-step instructions to duplicate the “Biffer-Baum Boxed Lunch” for the teachers at your school. Ready? Let’s go!

The Hospitality Committee and Room Parents made “boxed” lunches for every staff member at the school. I included a questionnaire with the invitations asking the following questions: What is your favorite sandwich? Favorite bread? What do you like on your sandwich? Favorite chips? Favorite salad? Favorite dessert? Favorite drink? Favorite dessert? Any allergies?

I asked that the questionnaires be returned by the Thursday prior to Staff Appreciation Week. Once I received them, I forwarded the answers to the parents who signed up to make lunches (coordinated through SignUp Genius). Of course, there were a few teachers that did not return their questionnaires by the deadline. I had to “encourage” them via email to respond, and gave myself a four day buffer to make sure all the parents had the information they needed in time to prepare the lunches.

Let me just say, I was completely floored when I walked into the staff lounge and saw the “boxed” lunches. Clearly, I use the term loosely. I thought I was doing well with “Cat in the Hat” reusable bags and tissue paper for my lunches. I need to step up my game next year. WOW.

Tips For A Successful Lunch

The lunches at our school are staggered from 11:15-12:30 so we tried to organize the lunches by time. There were 50+ lunches, so those first few groups had quite a few lunches to look through before finding theirs, even with the sorting.
Prepare a check list (or print off the sign up sheet from SignUp Genius) with the name of each staff member and the person bringing their lunch. As the lunches arrive, check them off the list. Hopefully you will not need to call any parents to locate a missing lunch.
Make one or two extra lunches, just in case a parent forgets.
Bring ice and some extra cups. Drinks will be included in each lunch, but after sitting out for an hour or so, they may be sort of luke warm. The teachers and staff will appreciate the ice.

May

29

Gourmet Hop on Popcorn Bar
Dr. Seuss Themed Teacher Appreciation

simply celebrate Posted by Maegan / 0 comments

I first posted about the Dr. Seuss themed Teacher/Staff Appreciation week for my daughter’s school on my other blog, “Confessions of a Scrapaholic,” but I wanted to go into a bit more detail here at Simply Styled Home. This is the post for those of you on the PTSA and/or Hospitality Committee for your child’s school. This is where you will find step-by-step instructions to duplicate my Gourmet “Hop On Popcorn” Bar at your school. Ready? Let’s go!

We had eight different varieties of gourmet popcorn for the staff to enjoy throughout the day. If you have never made gourmet popcorn, don’t be intimidated! I made Birthday Cake Batter Popcorn (that was delish!) and it literally took ten minutes to make. You can find all sorts of fabulous popcorn recipes on my Simply Pop! Pinterest board.

I used SignUp Genius to coordinate with other members of the Hospitality Committee. I asked that they please drop their popcorn off at my house the night before so that I would have time to fill the glass jars and make them look pretty. I cut out the labels using the Sizzix “Big Shot” die cut machine and the Sizzix Bigz Circle Clear Die. I adhered them to the glass jars using Glue Dots.

If I had this to do again..

I would have planned to make 1/2 the varieties be sweet and the other 1/2 savory. The one savory flavor, cheese, was gone almost immediately.
Be very specific with the quantity desired. I requested the equivalent of two popped bags of microwave popcorn and got anywhere from 4 cups to 3 gallon sized Ziploc bags.
Depending on the number of staff members (and how many varieties you provide) it will last more than one day. Be sure to buy extra bowls. People will come back more than once and you don’t want to run out.

The Hop-On-Popcorn Menu and Circle Label printables are available for purchase here.

May

29

Hats Off To Our Teachers!
Dr. Seuss Themed Teacher Appreciation Week

simply celebrate Posted by Maegan / 0 comments

The main “slogan” if you will, was “Hats Off To Our Teachers!” A few weeks before the event, I asked my photographer friend and fellow parent, John Wolfe, to take Dr. Seuss Photo Booth style pictures of all the teachers and staff. It was a huge hit at the baby shower I planned a few years ago and I still had all the props. Score!

The Friday before Staff Appreciation Week, the 8×10 pictures were put on all the teachers’ doors and staff photos were put up in the staff lounge. (The hats were put on the doors by room parents on Monday. This is Zoë’s teacher and their classroom door.)

Next up, invitations. Each of the teachers and staff received this invitation in their mailbox which detailed the events of the upcoming Staff Appreciation Week. Included with their invitations were:

An invitation to the Pink Yink Ink Breakfast with a Drink Order Request
Lunch Preferences Questionnaire

I asked that order forms and questionnaires be returned to me via the PTSA box no later than the Thursday before Staff Appreciation Week. (More on the drink order and lunch preferences in a moment.) The invitation is not actually neon. I’m not sure what’s going on there. I had them printed as photo cards at Costco. You can’t beat $14.99 for 50 flat cards with envelopes!

One week before, I sent home a “Hats Off To My Teachers” hat with each of the students and asked them to please color the hat, write a note to their teacher, and return it to school on Monday. If you are planning a similar event and have access to the school district’s printer definitely use them. They are ridiculously inexpensive. I did have to sort the proper number of hats per classroom, but that was no big deal. Your school secretary will have a current student count for each class. Don’t use the school directory. Students come and go through out the year, and the numbers most likely will not be accurate.

For students that wished to color hats for additional teachers and staff, extra hats were available in the office all week long. I created a poster that was hung in the main stairwell letting students know where they could find extra hats. (To give you some idea of scale, the Cat in the Hat was 6 feet tall. The poster looks small in the picture, but it is almost 3 feet wide!)

Now that the groundwork was laid, I focused on the activities for the week, each one being Seuss themed, of course. I used SignUp Genius to coordinate sign ups with the Hospitality Committee and Room Parents for these activities. I made everything look pretty, but I couldn’t have pulled off an event like this without the wonderfully supportive parents at our school.

Jul

12

Angry Birds Birthday Party

simply celebrate Posted by Maegan / 17 comments

Angry Birds is sweeping the world. It is one of the most fun and addictive games ever created. I remember the first time I saw/heard my husband playing Angry Birds on his phone. My first thought was, “What on earth is that bizarre noise?” Kelly explained the game to me and I was convinced he had lost his mind and was wasting hours of his life.

Then I played the game.

I was just going to play ONE level. Fast forward fifteen minutes to me buying Angry Birds for MY phone because Kelly wouldn’t share with me anymore. RUDE! Before I knew it, it was 2am, my eyes were bloodshot from staring at the screen, and my cell phone was almost dead. LOL!

It’s not just Kelly and I that like to play Angry Birds. Both of our girls love the game. Heck, when we are stuck on a level we usually hand our phones over to Zoë so she can beat it for us. (I still refuse to buy the Mighty Eagle. That is totally cheating in my book.) Our new favorite is Angry Birds Rio. We love the monkeys.

Last winter I stumbled across a YouTube video of a playable Angry Birds cake. As soon as Zoë saw the cake she started asking for an Angry Birds themed birthday party. Done and done! As we watched the video (over and over) the wheels in my mind started turning. I was determined to make it her best birthday yet and I think I succeeded.

There was so much planning and preparation that went into this party. Instead of writing up one loooooooong post, today I am going to focus on the dessert table.

Nothing says birthday party like a table full of sugar. Zoë and I made a playable Angry Birds cake (more on that another day) but I wanted to have cupcakes on hand in case the cake got completely destroyed. Surprisingly (at least to me) almost everyone wanted mangled cake so we had over a dozen cupcakes left over!

Just in case the cake and four dozen cupcakes weren’t enough, I ordered giant Angry Birds cookies. We handed them out as party favors at the end of the party. I am not a fan of goodie bags filled with candy or teeny tiny toys that immediately get lost. I’ll take a big ol’ cookie instead over a bag of candy any day. The children agreed.

Stay tuned for more party details and tutorials on how to create your own Life Size Angry Birds game. Speaking of which, have you seen the video of our game in action yet? Take a peek!