Lego Birthday Party Ideas

I LOVE doing creative birthday parties, so this Lego birthday invitation idea really caught my eye (via Inhabitots). 

It got me thinking about one of my nieces who had a Lego themed party, and how fun it would be to do a Lego party for Sammy.  So, I thought I'd do some web surfing for more fun ways to incorporate this theme into a birthday party.  I admit I'm collecting and posting these links for my own use later on, but thought you'd also enjoy!



If you want to go the insanely expensive route, you can get this great cake mold in the shape of a Lego man.  When my super creative sister did her daughter's Lego party, she made her own cake that turned out great.  She used a rectangular cake as the base for a giant Lego brick shaped cake, attached cupcakes to the top for the "bumps," and frosted the whole thing one color.  Very cute, and no special pans needed! 

Want to take the theme to the extreme?  How about Lego shaped ice cubes?  The cool thing about this Lego shaped ice cube tray, is that you can also use it to make little chocolate Lego bricks, like Lisa Smiley did as cute, edible cupcake toppers!

I remember my sister also had some great Lego shaped fruit snacks for the kids to munch on at the party, as well as take home in their goodie bags.










Here are some more fun ideas for goodie bags or party game prizes, like edible candy blocks that actually snap together, Lego brick stickers, or small lego sets like cars and people.



Here are some fun Lego themed napkins, although just some bright, primary colored ones would do just fine too.



Here's another blogger who threw a great Lego party, and I loved this idea to make your own decorations out of the Legos themselves:

Here's another creative mom blogger who held a Lego party, with a great idea of making a Lego shaped pinata filled with Legos, home made decorations, and coloring sheets for the kids to do.

This blogger had a cool idea for a mailbox topper, to let the guests know which house the Lego party is at, along with many other great ideas to make yourself for your Lego party!  I love the idea of having the kids build Lego cars and race them for prizes!  I also liked their idea of just frosting a regular cake, and using actual Legos to decorate the top.

You can also do a regular shaped cake and top it with these cute Lego brick shaped candles.

If your birthday boy or girl really does love Legos, a fun gift idea for them would be a set of these cute Lego silverware.  They can be used at the party, and then for mealtimes to come, as a great reminder of their awesome party!


This site lists a bunch of great ideas for Lego themed parties too, including some great ideas for games and recycled, home-made decorations.

Of course, like just about any licensed character/product out there, you can buy a big themed pack of Lego party supplies, but I think it's way more fun to do your own if you can find the time!

Book Review: "Deceptively Delicious" by Jessica Seinfeld

It's an age-old struggle: child vs vegetable.  We all want our kids to clean their plates, but where veggies are concerned, well, we all know what happens (or more likely, doesn't happen). I heard about this book a long time ago on TV, and have always had it on my mental list of books I'd like to get someday.  Deceptively Delicious is a cookbook by Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld's wife).  In it she shares the recipes that she makes for her family, and how she hides vegetable purees in every one of them.  I picked up this like-brand-new copy at a garage sale a few weeks ago for $1.

My little boy is actually a great eater...he loves fruits and veggies, will try just about anything, and will always surprise us with the distinctive flavors he will just love...like Thai food, sushi (cooked of course), and Indian.  So why get a cookbook that's all about sneaking veggies into your kids' food, you ask?  Well, I really picked it up for a couple reasons.  1) The recipes I've heard are tasty, and if it tastes good AND has healthy stuff for you, it's a good one to have anyway.  2) My husband refuses to eat broccoli and cauliflower, among many other food items I consider staples.  So, I thought if nothing else, it would be fun to try to sneak something into his food and see if he'd notice. 

The first part of the book explains how to make the vegetable and fruit purees that are called for in all of the recipes.  Basically you want to steam the veggies and then puree them in a food processor.  This was not really new to me, since I make my own baby food, and it's basically the same process.  But, the book does a good job of explaining what to do to prepare your pantry for the recipes to come.

Last week, while my husband was gone in Chile on business for a week, I bought some broccoli and cauliflower, steamed and pureed it, and froze it in 1/2 cup portions.  I figured if the recipes don't work out, I can always feed it to Toby when he starts solid foods any day now.

Last night I decided to try a couple recipes for dinner.  The first one was the mozzarella sticks.  I figured it would never cross anyone's mind that these had anything healthy in them whatsoever.  However, turns out their creamy, white innards are perfect for hiding pureed cauliflower.  And so, with my sneaky mad-scientist-like laugh ("bwah-haa-haa-haaaaa"), I went to work.  I followed the recipe to a tee, including putting them in the freezer for 20 minutes before frying them.  However, while I do consider myself to be one who knows her way around the kitchen, they turned out to be more like white piles of goo with bread crumbs.

So here's a photo of my plate of...um...stuff, next to the cookbook photo.  Not exactly like the picture.  They seemed to be working great, until the frying part, during which they all fell apart and melted into the delicacy you see here on the right.  While they didn't turn out as planned, they did still actually taste really good.  My husband came home and I warned him that I made two things...one turned out good and the other not so good.  He went right for these while saying, "well, can you still eat 'em?"  as he scooped one up I replied, "yeah, maybe with a spoon."  But all was not lost, as I got the reaction I was hoping for, "Well they taste good!"  At which point I revealed to him, "they have cauliflower in them!"  Here I thought he would suddenly change his mind and start making fake gagging sounds, but to my surprise, he said, "oh, you tricked me!"  And then he had another.  So, while they did NOT turn out like the photo, and in no way are able to be dipped in ketchup like the book suggests, I still got the satisfaction of knowing I had just fed my husband cauliflower without him knowing, he ate it, he liked it, and after being told what was in it, he still liked it.  Now if I can just figure out how to fry the darn things without ending in a gooey cheese massacre, I'll totally make them again!

The other recipe I tried was the main dish.  I really need to get some groceries asap, so I was surprised to find that there was a recipe that used some of the odd things I had lying around that I wasn't sure how I'd use them up....a half of a butternut squash, some plain cooked noodles, and an opened block of cream cheese.  I made the "macaroni & cheese 1" recipe, which called for all of these things, among others.  The butternut squash was the hidden veggie puree, although you also could use cauliflower in this one.  I thought I'd do this one, since I know my husband loves butternut squash anyway, and didn't have to "trick" him into trying this.  I also had half of a package of diced ham in the freezer, and decided to use that up too by adding it to the recipe.  (My husband is a carnivore and requires some kind of meat every night for dinner.) This one turned out GREAT and was a hit with everyone.  While I used penne instead of macaroni, it looked as good and creamy as the picture in the book.  It was creamy, thick, flavorful, and filling, and adding a little ham made it into the main dish I needed for the night.

While I've only made 2 recipes so far, I think this is a fun book to have on hand, whether you have a kid who's a picky eater, or you just want to find ways to get more nutrition into your meals.  I am dying to try out some of the delicious looking desserts, like chocolate cake, brownies, cupcakes, and cookies...all with hidden nutrition inside.  I'll be sure to let you know how they turn out!

Great iPhone Apps for Moms

Since purchasing an iPhone back in February, I can safely say that it has changed my life.  This doesn't surprise me, being that it's an Apple product.  However, I was not prepared for just how much easier it would make so many aspects of life for me. In the words of the great Ferris Bueller, "if you have the means, I highly suggest picking one up.  It is so choice."

When I got my iPhone I was overwhelmed with the zillions of apps available, and was interested to hear what my friends' favorites were.  Originally I was going to share every one of my app's, but even that seemed to be a bit overwhelming.  So, I'm going to start with a few of my favorite apps for Moms in general.  (I'll share some more that I use for other reasons down the road, such as games, business apps, travel apps, etc...)  I'd love to hear your favorites if you have any I haven't listed!

Total Baby - $4.99 - I literally use this one all day and all night long.  It gives you one place to keep track of nursing sessions (or bottle feeding), baths, diaper changes, and doctor appointments for several kids.  You can even enter journal entries and photos to record baby's milestones.  I bought this when my 2nd baby was born, and it was worth it solely for the nursing timer!  I pretty much only use the timer, but do make occasional journal entries to record the date of a milestone.

2Do Lite - FREE - Keep track of all your to-do lists and organize them by categories. Very simple and intuitive...my husband uses this one as much as I do.

Shopper - $0.99 - Create shopping lists by entering items manually or scanning barcodes.  Connect your lists to actual store locations, and even get coupons and browse their weekly ads. You can even see what stores in your area may have coupons or sales for each specific item in your list.

Kare 11 - FREE - Great for getting our local Twin Cities weather and top news stories for the day.  I don't like how basic the standard weather app is, so this one will give me radar and a more detailed and extended forecast.  If you don't live in or around Minneapolis, see if your local news station has a similar app.

AllRecipes Dinner Spinner - FREE - This is from my favorite recipe website, and I've found a few great recipes using it.  Choose the type of dish you want to make, the main ingredient, and the amount of time you have, and it'll pull up a list of recipes to fit your criteria.  Save favorites to your recipe box!

Gate Guru - Free - Find out what's where in the various gates/terminals of your airport.  Great to find out what type of food is where, where the airline clubs are, restrooms, etc!

Sit or Squat - FREE -  From the makers of Charmin, this app will use the GPS capabilities of your iPhone to locate the nearest restrooms.  I haven't had the pleasure of requiring this yet, but I'm imagining that with two little boys, I'm safe to assume that some great fecal catastrophe is likely to befall me while out driving.  It's really only a matter of time.

SnapTell - FREE - Take a photo of the front cover of any CD, DVD, book or video game and you'll get a description, ratings, and links to where you can buy it!  A great way to find out more about something on a store shelf, and know if you're getting the best price.

Mall Maps Mobile - FREE - Great place to find maps of whatever mall you're in.  I've used this a couple times, since I do live in Bloomington, Minnesota, home of the Mall of America.  It's big.

Dog Parks - FREE - Great for dog owners.  Maps out your local area dog parks, and connects you with their websites and user reviews.  This would be especially handy if you are traveling with your dog and need to find a place for Fido to run off some energy and do his business.  But don't forget the poop bag!

Lose It! - FREE - If you're trying to lose a little baby weight, this is a surprisingly good app for being free.  Enter your weight goals and record the food you eat and exercise you do, and it will guide you to your goal.

CraigsPro - $0.99 - You'll get a warning that this has adult content, but that is because of it's unfiltered access to CraigsList ads.  I've used CraigsList way more since I've purchased this...it makes it so much easier to sell and buy stuff with an interface much nicer than the actual website.  You can save certain searches, and if you want to sell something, just snap a picture right there with your phone, enter your description, and you're done.

iGarage Sale - $1.99 - You've already heard about this one in a previous post, but it's a definite favorite.  Combines the GPS capabilities of the iPhone with the garage sale listings on Craigslist to give you an interactive map of sales in your area.  If you're a serious garage saler, it's TOTALLY worth the $1.99! I use this every week now that it's garage sale season!

RedBox - FREE - I love using the RedBox and paying only $0.99 to rent a movie.  I hate standing at teh machine browsing through screens of movies while a line of waiting people breathe down my neck.  With this app I can set my local RedBox location, and browse the movies available at that kiosk before I go pick it up.  If I know what movie I want, I can find out which kiosk has it, and have it reserved for me.

Craft Finder - FREE - From the folks at Family Fun Magazine, enter your child's age, amount of time you want to spend, and occasion, and you'll get a list of fun crafts with step-by-step instructions!





If you have a favorite app that I haven't listed that you'd recommend for other moms, please do share! I'm always looking for more!