HollysHome Family Life

Praline Pecan Recipe with free printout - "Always Remember to Pray and Lean on the Lord"

2025-01-19T20:27:00.000-08:00

Living in Las Vegas we don't have many places to buy pralines. Whenever we visit the East and South we love to get pralines, especially at the Buc-ees gas stations.

So this Christmas I thought that it would be fun to try to make some pralines to give out as gifts.

I looked online and found this recipe on allrecipes:

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/21038/pralines/

Then I went to work!

The first batch came out like this:

The pralines spread all over and ran into each other. They also didn't harden. The second attempt wasn't any better. So on my third attempt I tried cooking them a little longer (just to firm ball stage or 245 deg.). I also poured the hot pralines into cupcake liners.

Once the pralines were hard, they peeled right out and had the perfect circle shape.

The cupcake liners worked great, as long as you didn't leave them in the liner for more than a day. If they were in for longer than a day the paper stuck to the praline. This was a little embarrassing because I gave a few people pralines with liners on them.

I discovered a way to save the pralines that stuck to the cupcake paper. I put them in a zip lock with a couple of pieces of bread and left zipped in the bag for about an hour. The paper peeled right off the praline and I saved my pralines!

Here is the recipe that worked for me:

I found some cute bags at Walmart to put the pralines in.

I could get about 5 or 6 pralines per bag.

I also came up with the cute Pray-Lean slogan to

"Always Remember to Pray and Lean on the Lord".

Here are my printouts.

I have several different versions to choose from.

The black and white version:

The heart version:

The flower version:

I hope that yours turn out great!

Please check out some of my other Christmas ideas here:

Pickleball Survival Kit - Free Printout - "Dink the Halls with Pickleballs", or "The Best Bruises Come with Polka dots - Die Hard Pickler"

2025-01-18T13:03:00.000-08:00

Most mornings you can find me on the pickleball court with my awesome pickleball buddies.

Even on the first day of the New Year you can find us in freezing cold weather, ready to play a game.

Because of this, I needed a fun gift to give to my buddies, so I came up with the pickleball survival kit.

In my survival kit I included:

A quality pickleball

A quality sports drink packet

A yummy protein bar

A soft towel

A cute pair of pickleball earrings for my closest friends

Band-Aids or ointment if it's for my bruise kit.

Most importantly for my survival kit I needed a cute Christmas card, or tag. This is what I came up with:

I thought it would also be fun to have a darker version to give out for a Halloween, or any occasion.

If you love this please check out my many other Christmas ideas here.

I also have some great Halloween ideas here.

Harry Potter Trivia Game

2023-09-12T15:42:00.014-07:00

This game is based off of an old game that I used to play with my seminary students called "Scripture Man." I updated the gameboard a few years ago. Then I thought that since I went to the trouble of making a new board, maybe I could adapt the game to use for other subjects.

Our family loves Harry Potter so I thought I would make a Harry Potter version. You can use any set of questions. There are so many places on the web with questions. You can use those, make up your own, or I have an easy set of questions for your convenience (below).

Harry Potter Trivia Game Answer Sheet

Each player receives a copy of the scoreboard/answer sheet below.

To play the game have the players fill in the grid on their answer sheet with the appropriate number of items listed across the top of the board. They will need to draw one snitch, two wands, three broomsticks, four house elves, etc. Here is an example:

After the players have drawn the pictures (example above) then you start asking questions. After each question you pick a coordinate out of a sack (coordinate squares are on the instruction sheet below).

Harry Potter Trivia Game Directions:

Game Playing Example:

Players write the number of points they get for the the picture in the coordinate that was called. If they get the answer wrong they get a zero, except if their drawing is negative points (a spider or the dementor). Then they have to take off that many points. Repeat the process for all twenty questions. Have the players keep a running total of their points. It makes the game more fun and competitive.

Since the game has 20 questions instead of 25 (the number of drawings in the coordinates) it makes the game a little more competitive because not every square's points will be used for the final score.

The player with the most points at the end wins!

Harry Potter Question Sheet:

I really hope that the game is fun for you!

I have several other versions of the game that are more generic:

Education Man, Scarecrow or Snowman

Scripture Man, Scarecrow or Snowman

Please check out all of my other Harry Potter activities by clicking here.

Thank you for visiting Holly's Home!

Education Man, Education Snowman, Education Cupid, Education Leprechaun, Education Rabbit, Education Garden or Education Scarecrow - A fun game to play while studying for a subject

2023-09-07T20:21:00.008-07:00

I want to thank whoever created this game. It's an old game that has been around that is usually referred to as "Scripture Man". It is a lot of fun to play in class. I thought it would also be good for general learning, so I made another version called "Education Man".

The reason that I am doing this post is because I always have such a hard time trying to find the game when I need it and the version I was using was very old. I was trying to update it and decided, "Oh, what the heck, just redo the whole thing instead of trying to cut a paste!" So here it is. Maybe it will help you also.

I have several versions:

Education Man - Nice Version

Education Man - Mean Version (lose all)

Education Snowman - Nice Version

Education Snowman -Mean Version (lose all)

Education Scarecrow - Nice Version

Education Scarecrow -Mean Version (lose all)

Education Cupid - Nice Version only

Education Leprechaun - Nice Version only

Education Rabbit - Nice Version only

Education Garden - Nice Version only

After playing this with my students a couple of times they informed me that they hate the bomb that makes them lose all of their points. Because of this I have made a nicer version where the bomb only causes them to lose 50 points. I have included both versions.

If you want to use it just copy and paste it into your printing program, or right click and save it into your pictures.

Education Man Nice Version:

Education Man Mean Version:

Education Snowman Nice Version:

To make the game go quicker you can tell the students to draw an 8 for the snowman,

and a squiggly line for the melted snowman.

Education Snowman Mean Version:

Education Scarecrow Nice Version:

Education Scarecrow Mean Version:

Education Cupid - Nice Version Only

Education Leprechaun - Nice Version Only

Education Rabbit - Nice Version Only

Education Garden - Nice Version only

I also have a Harry Potter version!

Just click here!!!

I also have BINGO games in every season that are made for learning. You have the students fill in the words with what you are studying and then everyone has a different BINGO board. It's a fun way to study. Check them out here.

Harry Potter Direction Signs - FREE PRINTABLES

2023-09-01T21:44:00.023-07:00

While traveling in London my husband and I found ourselves at King's Cross Station. Since we were there, we decided to get our photos at the Harry Potter Platform 9 3/4. It was about a 40 minute wait, but we are thrilled to be able to share these photos with you.

After the FREE printable signs below,

I will post a few more photos of the

Harry Potter Store at Platform 9 3/4.

You'll find them at the very end of the blog post.

Here are some printable Harry Potter Signs that I have made for our Harry Potter Party.

They are easy to print. Just right click your mouse and save them into your photos. You can also copy and paste them into your printing program.

Print on cardstock for the best results.

If you would like to print a bigger version take them to a printing store and print them out on Engineering Paper.

For Hogwart's Express printouts click HERE!

I have soooo many other Harry Potter ideas!

All of my ideas are FREE and easy.

Just click on the photo to see the LINK.

Thank you for visiting Holly's Home!

Platform 9 3/4 Harry Potter Store

As promised here are a few more photos of the Platform 9 3/4 Harry Potter Store.

King's Cross Station

King's Cross Station is an updated and busy station in the middle of London.

It is full of shops, eateries, and people.

The Platform 9 3/4 is not located in the station area,

but in the shopping area.

There is almost always a wait to get into the store,

or to get your photo taken.

The good news is that if you get your photo taken

you get to go into the store without waiting.

After we waited in line for photos,

they have attendants who pose you for photos.

They only had two different poses that they showed us how to do.

If you have your own ideas I'm sure that they would let you do them, if they don't take too long.

We had someone in line photograph our photo shoot.

They also have several scarfs for each of the

Hogwart's houses, so you don't have to bring yours.

Looking in the window.

Display cart in the center.

The stuffies.

Checking out.

Alice in Wonderland Minute to Win It Games

2023-08-27T00:44:00.015-07:00

This is a Minute to Win it game that I put together years ago. I never took the time to add it to my blog, so many of the pictures have been lost. I hope that you are able to use it at your Alice in Wonderland Event. Please drop me a note to tell me how your Alice in Wonderland event went.

I have so many other Alice and Wonderland ideas on decorating, crafts, card soldiers, etc. I really had a lot of fun with this theme. Please be sure to check out my page that will link you into all of my other ideas by clicking here.

Thank you for visiting Holly's Home Blog.

I have printable instructions at the end of the Blog

To start your Alice in Wonderland Minute to Win it Game separate your competitors into two teams.

One can be Team Alice:

The other can be Team Rabbit:

Once you have your two teams

you can begin the games.

Give the team that does the best on each task a point for winning

the challenge.

We first find Alice with her sister reading on a riverbank when a white rabbit goes running by. The rabbit pulls out a pocket watch and exclaims that he is late.

Print out two copies of the analog pocket watches below. You can do each set in a different color, one for each team. That way the teams won't mix up the pocket watches.

If you want it to be more challenging then do two copies in the same color and mix them up.

If you need it to be less challenging I have a blank version below that you can just write numbers on, or whatever you like for your game.

Place the twelve pocket watches upside down and spread them out on the ground so that the team members can't see the time. When you say go both teams turn over the watches and put them in correct order of time. The fastest team wins.

To print you can right click on your mouse and save them in your pictures, or you can copy and paste.

If you don't want to use the analog time pocket watches you can print out the pocket watches below and write numbers or whatever you want for your competition.

Alice then sees the white rabbit go down a hole. Alice runs after the rabbit, trying to catch him, and goes down the after the rabbit.

This game is a little like Duck Duck Goose. The group sits in a circle. When you say "go" one of the members of Team Rabbit gets up and runs around the group's circle and goes back through their spot and into the "rabbit hole" or the middle of the group. While he does that one of Team Alice gets up and tries to catch the Rabbit before he can get into the hole. They both have to run counter-clockwise. Once Team Rabbit reaches the "rabbit hole" (the center of the group) he cannot be caught. Each member of the group gets a chance until everyone has gone. Team Alice gets a point if they catch the rabbit, or the Team Rabbit gets a point if they did not get caught. The team with the most points wins the challenge.

To make this extra fun you could buy rabbit ears for Team Rabbit, and maybe have a white apron for Team Alice.

Alice then sees the white rabbit go down a great hallway lined with doors. She finds a small door that she opens using a key she discovers on a nearby table. Alice begins to cry when she realizes she cannot fit through the door. She finds a bottle marked “DRINK ME” and drinks the contents. She shrinks down to the right size to enter the door but cannot enter because she has left the key on the tabletop above her head.

Have enough cups of cool-aid for every team member to have their own cup. I only filled mine up part way so that no one got sick. Make sure you write "Drink Me" on the cups.

Each team stands in a line with their legs apart and their arm on the person in front of them. The first team member from each team runs to the table with the drinks, grabs a drink and drinks it, then places the cup in the trash.

After they have thrown their cup away they run back to their team and crawl through each person's legs in the line. When they get to the end they stand with their legs apart at the end of the line.

When the first person is done he stays at the end of the line, joining his teammates. The person at the other end of the line goes next. They repeat the same process, drink, throw cup away, then go through the legs. When every one has gone, the team that finishes first wins. If there is an uneven number then one person can go twice.

Alice then discovers a cake marked “EAT ME” which causes her to grow to an enormously large height.

This game is very similar to the last game. Place small plates with the words "Eat Me" written on them. Make sure there is a plate for each player.

This game is like Leap Frog. Each team gets in a line and spreads apart enough for a person to leap frog over them. Then all the people in the line crouch down. The first person in each team runs over, eats a piece of cake (make it small), throws the plate away and then leap frogs over every member of his team. When he gets to the end the next person goes and repeats the same process until both teams have gone the same number of times. The team that finishes first wins!

Alice begins to cry and her giant tears form a pool at her feet. As she cries, Alice shrinks and falls into the pool of tears. The pool of tears becomes a sea, and as she treads water she meets a Mouse. The Mouse accompanies Alice to shore.

Get two small buckets and fill them with water. Place a plastic mouse in each one. I got mine at the dollar store but I've seen them on Amazon.

Each team gets in a line. They start at the front of the line and pass the bucket of water over their head to the person behind them, trying not to spill the mouse. If they spill the mouse out of the bucket they have to refill the bucket, place the mouse back in and start over. The first team to get their bucket with the mouse in it to the end of the line wins.

Alice sees the White Rabbit and follows him to his house. While in the White Rabbit’s house, Alice drinks an unmarked bottle of liquid and grows to the size of the house. The White Rabbit returns to his house, fuming at the now-giant Alice,

For this game you need to have two good sized boxes. Cut out holes for arms and a hole for the head. The players will put the box on upside down and then the head will go in the big hole at the bottom of the box. Then they will put their arms out of the holes at the side of the box.

You will also need to lay out some markers, maybe some paper and glue and whatever supplies you like for the team to decorate the box and make it into a house.

Each team picks a person on their team to wear the box. When you say "go" they help the person put on the box. Then the team uses markers and whatever supplies that you have laid out to decorate the box. When you call "time" the team that has the best house on their person wins.

Alice wanders off into the forest, where she meets a Caterpillar sitting on a mushroom and smoking a hookah (i.e., a water pipe). The Caterpillar and Alice get into an argument, but before the Caterpillar crawls away in disgust, he tells Alice that different parts of the mushroom will make her grow or shrink.

For this competition you need gummy worms (caterpillars) and marshmallows(mushrooms).

Each person will have a partner from their team. They have to toss a a caterpillar to the other person's mouth. Once that person has caught a caterpillar then they can start catching mushrooms (marshmallows). They can catch as many marshmallows as they can in the time allotted. The team that's members catches the most marshmallow mushrooms wins.

Alice goes into the forest, where she meets the Cheshire Cat. The Cheshire Cat explains to Alice that everyone in Wonderland is mad, including Alice herself. The Cheshire Cat gives directions to the March Hare’s house and fades away to nothing but a floating grin.

This one is like an Easter egg hunt. Each person gets a grin. When you say "go" they have to hunt for the Cheshire Cat head to go with the grin. The team who Cheshire Cat heads wins

I have two printouts. The first one is smaller so you don't have to print as many. The second fits the face of the Cheshire Cat.

Small Smile Printouts:

Large smile printouts:

Another alternative could be to play pin the grin on the cat. The team that got the grin closest to where it should be wins.

Alice goes to the March Hare’s house to find the March Hare, the Mad Hatter, and the Dormouse having tea together. Treated rudely by all three, Alice stands by the tea party, uninvited. She learns that they have wronged Time and are trapped in perpetual tea-time

For this challenge you will need two child's tea sets and two plastic top hats. These items can be found at most dollar stores or you can find them online at Amazon or Dollar Tree, etc. Another alternative would be to use extra small Dixie cups. For extra fun you can decorate the top hat beforehand in a Mad Hatter style. (At our party we decorated a hat for everybody to take home as a gift. Check it out here.)

To play this competition each team gets a tea set and a plastic top hat. Each team picks someone to be the mad hatter. This person will hold the top hat on their head upside down.

Then someone on the team is chosen to fill the teapot with water. The rest of the team receives a small tea cups. When you say go the person with the teapot fills the teapot with water (they can dip it in a bucket of water to fill quickly). Then they use the teapot to fill the small teacups. Each person with a teacup runs over to the mad hatter and pours his water in the top hat. The team with the most water in the hat at the end of the time wins.

After getting fed up with the tea party, Alice leaves and journeys through the forest. She finds a tree with a door in its side, and travels through it to find herself back in the great hall. She takes the key and uses the mushroom to shrink down and enter the garden.

Print out a bunch of doors. I printed mine on brown card stock. To use the printout below you can right click your mouse and save it into your photos.

After you have printed out several copies of the doors, cut out the doors. Make sure there are plenty for each team. Tape a key behind one of the doors. I got a bag of keys online for cheap, but you could just print out a key or draw one one the back.

Tape all the doors to trees. (or hide them around the area) The team who finds the door with the key behind it wins.

Alice joins the Queen in a strange game of croquet. The croquet ground is hilly, the mallets and balls are live flamingos and hedgehogs, and the Queen goes about, frantically calling for the other player’s executions.

There are some super cute flamingo croquet sets out there. If you want to spend the money or the time you could use one of those. For ease and monetary reasons I have made mine simple.

Print out two flamingos and the hedgehogs. Tape the flamingos to two sticks or brooms and the hedgehogs to whiffle balls. I made enough balls for every contestant, but you could also use just two. You could also make a flamingo stick for every contestant and have everyone go at the same time.

When you say "go" a team member rolls his hedgehog ball from the starting line to the finish line. Then he runs the flamingo stick back to the next team member. The first team to get all of their balls across the finish line wins.

If you wanted to make this competition a little more challenging you could have a Queen of Hearts on each team who tries to stop the opposing team's balls from getting to the finish line. This is more effective if the entire team goes at the same time.

It would also be fun to have the queen from both teams wear a tiara with a Queen of Hearts card glued on. Tiara's are easily found at the Dollar Stores. You could also use my Queen of Hearts printout above. (If you want some cute printouts I have made them for decorations.)

The Knave of Hearts stands trial for stealing the Queen’s tarts. The King of Hearts leads the proceedings, and various witnesses approach the stand to give evidence. The Mad Hatter and the Cook both give their testimony, but none of it makes any sense. The White Rabbit, acting as a herald, calls Alice to the witness stand. The King goes nowhere with his line of questioning, but takes encouragement when the White Rabbit provides new evidence in the form of a letter written by the Knave. The letter turns out to be a poem, which the King interprets as an admission of guilt on the part of the Knave. Alice believes the note to be nonsense and protests the King’s interpretation. The Queen becomes furious with Alice and orders her beheading, but Alice grows to a huge size and knocks over the Queen’s army of playing cards.

Print out an Alice headband for every contestant but two. I printed mine on cardstock for more stability. Each team chooses a Queen of Hearts from their team. You could use Dollar Store Tiaras with a heart glued on for the Queen of Hearts or you could use the printout above.

All the Alices from both teams put on their headbands and the two Queen of Hearts put on their headbands. When you say "go" all the Alices start running around trying to keep away from the opposing queen. The queens go around trying to pull off as many Alice heads as they can. They need to be careful not to pull of their own team's Alice heads. After the allotted time (about a minute) you call stop, or blow a whistle. The team with the most remaining Alice heads wins.

All of a sudden, Alice finds herself awake on her sister’s lap, back at the riverbank. She tells her sister about her dream and goes inside for tea as her sister ponders Alice’s adventures.

I make a trophy out of Toblerone Chocolate Candy because they are tall and gold and have the appearance of an award's trophy. You can use anything, but below is a printout of the top of the award so that you make your own trophies. Give them out to the winning team.

Here's a photo of the awards that I made for my Minute to Win It New Testament Game.

The students loved getting an award and it was a lot of fun to play.

Here are your printable instructions for The Alice in Wonderland Minute to Win it Game:

I have lots of gift ideas and plenty of decorating ideas for your party. Check out my Alice in Wonderland page right here.

you can also play Alice in Wonderland BINGO here.

Check out all of my Minute to Win it games here.

Over Fifty Free Printable Popular Love Quotes in Classic Typewriter Style

2023-08-13T16:14:00.009-07:00

After my son and daughter-in-law got married I was asked to host a small reception at our house since the wedding took place in another state. My new daughter-in-law loves to read and they both shared a love for Taylor Swift, Psych, The Office, among other things.

I was working at a boutique store and we sold 5x7 framed quotes by famous writers. They were simply written with just a type writer font and I thought that I could easily replicate something similar..

I decided that this would be a cheap and easy way to make some personalized decorations with quotes by famous people that the bride and groom liked. I printed the quotes on a parchment colored paper and framed them in a 5x7 frame. Then I just tucked the quote in with the decorations as you can see above.

So here are some quotes that you can frame or use for whatever event that you might need it for.

Right click with you mouse and save them into your photos, or just copy and paste them into your printing program. Then print them out on parchment paper for an antique look.

Taylor Swift:

Harry Styles:

Jane Austen:

The Office:

Star Wars:

Lord of The Rings

Friends:

Robert Frost:

A.A. Milne -Winnie the Pooh:

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Donald Miller - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

John Lennon

Oscar Wilde

Psych:

Lao-Tzu

Saint Augustine of Hippo

Pearl Bailey:

D. H. Lawrence

Jurassic Park's Ian Malcolm

Joseph B. Wirthlin

Disney Quotes:

Olaf:

Alice in Wonderland:

The Princess and the Frog:

Hercules:

The Rescuers:

Cinderella:

The Incredibles:

Mulan:

Up:

Aladdin:

Beauty and The Beast:

Tarzan:

The Little Mermaid:

Pocahontas:

Toy Story:

Coco:

Eternals:

Bambi:

Monsters Inc.

Peter Pan:

Finding Nemo:

Sleeping Beauty:

Jingled Nerves Poem - Sung to the tune of Jingle Bells - Free Christmas Handout

2022-12-21T13:26:00.005-08:00

Who doesn't love the fun song "Jingle Bells, and who's nerves aren't frazzled every Christmas?

Here is the perfect poem to give out with some yummy fudge.

Whether you make the fudge yourself or buy it at the store, one thing is for sure! Everyone will love your cute Christmas poem!

When I handed mine out I put my fudge in a

cute box that I bought on Amazon. I wrapped the fudge with plastic wrap to help keep it fresh.

I used this smaller version of the poem and

folded it in half with the

"Jingled Nerves" showing at the top.

I placed it on top of the box, wrapped the box with twine, and then added a jingle bell which I bought at the dollar store.

I also attached a matching tag. Just cut out the tag and use a paper hole punch at the top.

Everyone loved the gift! I made them for a ladies' luncheon and everyone was thrilled with their gift. It was so much fun to put together.

To see all of my other fun Christmas ideas please click on the link below.

Fresh Lemonade Coconut Sugar Body Scrub With Free Printable

2022-01-29T10:37:00.007-08:00

Fresh Lemonade

Coconut Sugar Body Scrub

with Free Printable

For years I have loved making coconut sugar body scrub, and yes, I use it on my face! This year I have decided to add some of my lemons from my backyard, and I have to say, "It is amazing!" I like to think that my skin is getting natural vitamin C.

Recipe at the bottom.

To make this recipe I juiced two lemons.

Using a small grater I took the zest off of all of the lemons. The zest is just the yellow part of the skin of the lemon.

I added the lemon juice and the zest to two cups of coconut oil. Then I added four cups of sugar. The ratio of sugar to coconut oil is 2 parts sugar to one part coconut oil, or 2:1. Knowing this you can increase your batch to whatever size you need incase you are giving it as gifts. You can also add about a teaspoon of flour to help keep it from separating, but this is optional.

Mix your sugar scrub well and then store it in a airtight container. The container is the fun part, especially since it's a lemonade scrub. There are so many options, especially at the dollar stores. I found some cute mason jars at Walmart that included a cute lid with a straw so that it looks like a lemonade drink. My friends loved them and they have a useful container for when they are done.

Here is the free printable that you can use for your Lemonade Coconut Sugar Body Scrub

I also have this version of printable gift tags:

On some of mine I included a soft facial scrubby that I crocheted out of really soft yarn.

A few years ago I did a really easy pink lemonade sugar scrub that was even easier. It also comes with gift tags. Check it out!

I have other ideas for easy sugar scrubs. Here is one that I made with an Alice in Wonderland theme. Check it out!

It comes with the cute printables of the Cheshire cat that you see on the jar of the photo below.

Fifty FREE Candy Corn Ideas, Plus FREE Banner, Crafts, Recipes and Activities (I'm Crazy for Candy Corn!!)

2020-09-29T09:46:00.087-07:00

I love Candy Corn!

It is so much fun to decorate and to use Candy Corn in fun ways.

First I want to share with you my printable Candy Corn Banner, but after that you can scroll passed and

find all kinds of:

Candy Corn Crafts,

Decorations,

Recipes

and

Games.

Because of my love for Candy Corn I have designed a super cute banner that you can print out for your party.

Candy Corn Banner

So... I made all of these crazy Candy Corns to use as

a banner for my fire place.

I know.... it's a lot of candy corns!

I was inspired by a patchwork quilt design.

I think that the candy corn turned out really cute!

To use them just save them into your pictures or copy and paste them into your printing program.

Print them out and then cut them out.

To make a Candy Corn banner:

1. Print out as many as you like.

2. Carefully cut out each Candy Corn.

3. Punch 2 holes in the top corners of Candy Corn.

4. String your string through the holes.

5. Hang up your cute Candy Corn banner!

Easy as... Candy Corn? Corny!!!!

You can use them however you like.

You could scatter them on the table,

put them up on a wall,

maybe even as a card on a gift?

Here's a new look for an old favorite candy.

Here are the smaller versions:

Here's the larger versions:

Now for the other

50+ Candy Corn Ideas

Here are the rest of the Candy Corn ideas that I have found.

If you want to know more then just click on the photo and it will take you to the link.

Candy Corn Crafts

Click on the photo to see how to make the Candy Corn project!

Candy Corn Food Recipes

Click on the photo to go to the link for the Candy Corn recipe!

Candy Corn Games and Activities

Click on the photo to see the link of the Candy Corn activity!

Thank you for visiting Holly's Home!

Traveling Across the United States During the Covid-19 Pandemic

2020-05-20T22:14:00.024-07:00

January 2020

Two Months Prior to the Pandemic

Driving My Daughter to Walt Disney World

This year my daughter was awarded an internship at Walt Disney World in Florida.
She started her internship in January of 2020.
Since she wanted to have a car while she was in Florida I offered to help her drive out there.

We live in the Las Vegas area, so this was a trip of 2,400 miles.

I thought it would be fun to take our time and see the sights.

We chose the southern route so the we could visit family.
We stopped in Wickenburg, AZ for lunch with my parents.

We spent the night in Benson, AZ with my son and his kids.
We even got to celebrate my grandson's 7th birthday with him.

Then we stopped at The Thing Museum outside of Benson, AZ.

This is where my daughter got the fun idea to collect key chains from everywhere that we went. You can see our entire collection at the end of this blog.

We spent the night in Alamogordo, NM where we tried some Hatch green chili burgers.
We woke up early and saw the sunrise in the White Sands National Park.

Then we drove through the mountains to get to

Carlsbad Caverns,NM.

That was just the beginning!

In Texas we stopped at Chip and Joanna Gaine's Magnolia Farms for some cupcakes and a few souvenirs.

As we drove through Texas we tried some Texas BBQ on our way to New Orleans.

Since it was the off season we got to stay at a four star hotel right on Bourbon Street.

I really have to say that this was the highlight of our trip! We ate at a couple of the restaurants, listened to Jazz, and ate beignets! The best part were the amazing beds that we slept in.

The next day it was on to Orlando. We made it there in record time. We chose to stay at a Universal Orlando hotel where we bought season passes since we both would certainly be coming back. We spent a day riding all the Harry Potter rides as many times as we could, mixed in with a few of the other Universal rides.

We drove to the coast to see the Atlantic Ocean and then off to do the NASA tour.

I even got to meet an astronaut!

The last day we ate at the world's largest McDonald's before she drove me to the airport.

This was a perfect vacation to start the new year and to

bond with my daughter.

February 2020

During the next month or so I would get texts and snapchats from my daughter. Every waking moment, that she wasn't working at Epcot, she spent at either Disney World or at Universal Orlando.

March 2020

The Beginning of the Pandemic

At the same time that I was enjoying the fun reports from my daughter the News was reporting about a new virus that was devastating China called COVID-19. My friend's from Australia serving in a Japanese Mission were posting news of being quarantined and of toilet paper shortages.

That's when I started to worry.
I was worried about what was inevitably headed towards the United States.
Las Vegas is a world wide tourist destination.
So is Walt Disney World.

I began stocking up on some essentials such as toilet paper, canned meat, Lysol, etc.

As I was shopping I started to notice that the generic toilet paper was being cleared out, along with the big bags of rice.

I remember wondering why rice and not flour or sugar?

Was this the work or our local Asian friends who were seeing the news of their distant relatives?

The week before COVID really hit the US I went down to visit my parents in Wickenburg, AZ.

I took my mom grocery shopping and made her get toilet paper, plus a couple weeks worth of supplies.

She thought that I was nuts, but indulged me.

She kept insisting that her small town was very far removed from a virus that was in China.

While we were shopping in Phoenix we met family at the Cracker Barrel Restaurant.

I posted this picture on Facebook with the caption "Our last family get together before we all die from the Coronavirus."

I remarked that the accidental squares around our heads was our defense against the Coronavirus.

At that same time that I was in Arizona we sent our daughter to the store to stock up on supplies in the event that Disney World employees would be exposed to the virus.

At the time we were thinking a two week quarantine and then back to business as usual.

We sent her a list of essentials to buy just in case she was exposed to the virus at WDW.

After a little convincing, she did what we asked.

A few days later my daughter got word that WDW was going on a two week quarantine,

but that she would be going back to work.

The next day, Saturday, she was told that WDW was letting go of all the college interns.

My daughter's last day would be Sunday.

She had to be vacated by Wednesday!

Wow, that was devastating news!

My daughter was by herself on the other side of the country.

Somehow we had to get her home,

and I was the only one who could go and get her!

I was really nervous to drive her home across the United States in a pandemic.

March 14

Retrieving My Daughter From Orlando, Florida

I bought a ticket to fly to Orlando within two hours.

My husband drove me to an empty Las Vegas Airport.

I have never seen it so empty,

especially on a Saturday afternoon.

I boarded a plane where every person got their own row.

The atmosphere was eerily quiet.
Everyone was cautiously friendly.
It was such a contrast from my last flight to Orlando.

When my flight arrived at the Orlando Airport there were no signs of other flights.
The airport corridors were empty.
In this normally packed airport we were the only people walking through a barren airport.
The feeling continued as we waited at the luggage carousels.
My daughter waited for me, parked on the curb, just outside of baggage claim.
There were hardly any other cars,

and no one asked her to move,

on a Saturday night!

March 15, 2020

Walt Disney World's Last Day Before Shut Down

My Daughter's Last Day of Work

The next day, Sunday, was the last day WDW was open, and my daughter had to work that evening to help close the park.

Since she had several tickets that would go to waste we decided to get in one last WDW day.

We got up early and hit the park.

First on the agenda was the Pandora ride at Animal Kingdom.

We rode a few other rides.

Then we headed to Magic Kingdom.

We were riding Space Mountain when my daughter got word that they were allowing the interns into Disney Hollywood.

Disney Hollywood had been closed to the interns the entire time because of the new Star Wars Land.

We ran over to Disney Hollywood to ride the Star Wars rides, but I couldn't get in because I was on a guest pass.

I headed alone to Epcot to hang out.
At the time they were have the Garden Festival.

I walked around enjoying the topiaries and the fun booths,

while riding a few of the rides.

The day was beautiful and the people were so friendly.
My daughter met me at Epcot before she left for work.
We got in a couple more rides at EPCOT before her final shift of work.

I was going to head back to the hotel to rest up before our long drive back to Las Vegas the next day. Everything was so peaceful and beautiful that I decided to explore EPCOT.

I didn't really know if I would ever go back,

so why not see what it had to offer.

My journey took on a melancholy mood as I came across employees and interns around the park hugging and saying goodbye.

I have to admit that I choked up as I realized the gravity of the situation that was occuring in our world. How long would it be before we could all meet together?

How bad would this virus be?

Is it really as bad as we are being told?

Will we lose friends and loved ones?

As I made my way around the park I ran into my daughter as she was working.

I spied on her as I grabbed some pizza from a nearby restaurant that I was told had just barely opened.

As I was eating my pizza I could hear a band in the distance playing and thought that they sounded really good.
I headed toward the music and sat and listened.
I was one of maybe 30 people listening.
As I watched I noticed that the signs all said, "The Guess Who."

Was it really the original band?

After they were done playing I found my daughter and she informed me that all the bands that play during the Garden Festival were original bands.

Who knew?

I have always loved The Guess Who and they hold a special place in my heart because I had given my teenage son one of their classic hits albums.

We would listen to them on our drives to Disneyland. Who knew that I would be sitting 10 years later listening to the actual band the last night before Epcot would be closed indefinitely.

Luckily the band had one more performance before the the park closed.

After doing a little shopping for souvenirs,

I headed back to listen to the last act of the Guess Who.

It turns out that they stayed a few extra days to fill in for another band that wouldn't travel during these COVID times.

I sat there with the other 30 people.

The band was amazing!

They performed like they were playing in front of a sold out crowd!

I loved it!

My own private performance!
I would love to go back and see them perform there again.

I stayed to see the final fireworks.

It was easy to get a great view.

As we left the employees lined the exit waving their goodbyes.

Again tears welled up in my eyes as I thought of the uncertainty of our world's situation.

My daughter didn't get off work until midnight.

I headed to Walmart to stock up on a few things for our ride home.

Most everyone in this area of Orlando seemed fairly calm,

but you could see a few signs of panic shopping.

Organizing Our Supplies

In my mind I was thinking that we weren't sure what the drive home was going to be like so we had better be organized.

I found 5 clear buckets to separate our supplies into categories.

I had a snack bucket, paper goods bucket, food supply bucket, medical bucket and a bucket for cleaning supplies.

The buckets helped us to have easy access to what we needed as we traveled.

As I was headed back to Epcot my husband called panicked.

He had me pull over to talk to him.

He had gotten word that the country was going to be shut down in the morning.

He was worried that we would be quarantined in Florida.

I was too!

Luckily I had been shopping and I felt like I was prepared for whatever we were about to face.

Wow! Now what?

In the morning we waited for the President to announce whether we were going to be locked down. Since no announcement had been made,

we thought we better hang out until we knew for sure.

My daughter checked out of her apartment and was given a mouse ears graduation cap for her service.

I divide up our supplies and left the bedding in an area that could be easily accessible.

That way if we had to sleep in the car,

we could find what we needed without a hassle.

We also kept a small backpack for each of use to grab if we needed to go somewhere in a hurry.

We wanted to be prepared for anything!

We headed back to the hotel to wait for some sort of announcement.

If we were going to be on lock down we wanted to be somewhere that we were familiar with.

As time neared check out, I panicked and got the hotel for an extra day.

I felt like they couldn't kick us out if we went on lock down,

but they probably wouldn't let us check back in if we left.

We went to a nearby restaurant for lunch,

thinking that it might be the last time in a while that we would be able to sit down and eat.

As it turns out it was our last sit down meal at a restaurant for the next two months!

Then back to the hotel for a nap while waiting to hear. Finally the announcement was made.

The country was not going on lockdown,

but we would be quarantined by state.

What does this mean?

Would we be able to find hotels? Or gas?

What were the rules in each of the states that we were going through?

So many questions.

March 16

Our Journey Across the U.S.

Even though we had our hotel for another night, we decided it was best to get on the road.

We drove to Pensacola, Florida that night.

All through the hotel there were signs posted that in the event of a lockdown the hotel would be shut down and all guests would be referred to the WHO organization.

Well that didn't make us very excited!

Protecting Ourselves Against COVID-19

As we travelled we had a plan to limit our chances of getting the virus.

We carried a can of Lysol, baby wipes, vitamin D and hydrogen peroxide.

We washed our hands when we got back to the car. Sometimes we would even spray down with Lysol.

We each took several vitamin D a day.

At night and in the morning we would gargle with hydrogen peroxide.

I'm not sure if we were ever exposed,

but at least it felt like we did everything that we could to prevent becoming infected.

Changing Course

We got up early on Tuesday and hit the road.

We made it to New Orleans where we felt we should stop for gas, food and to go potty.

We found a McDonalds, tried to go in but it was locked.

Luckily there was a Walmart across the street where I could go potty while my daughter got gas.

While I was there I picked up some extra supplies.

We had made the decision earlier to take the I-10 on the southern route to Arizona,

even though it was longer.

My parents and my son lived along that route.

but both had asked that we not stop by since we had had so much exposure to groups of people.

While waiting at the Walmart I looked at Google Maps again,

and decided that we should save a couple of hours by heading north to the I-40.

Who knew that would be a horrible decision!

We got in the car and headed toward Dallas. Immediately it started raining.

That should have been a sign to turn around,

but we kept on going.

The rain lightened up and we made it to Arlington, TX where we stopped at Blaze Pizza for some food.

I love their keto pizza, so it was perfect.

When we walked in all the tables and chairs had been stacked up,

but we could still walk through and order.

Thank heaven for that!

They even allowed us to use their restroom.

Yea!

Back on the road we thought if we took turns driving maybe we could make it to Vegas?

The Apocalypse

Then about an hour later, when we got to Vernon, Texas.

The rain was coming down so hard that we could barely drive 30 mph.

Our car was hydroplaning!

Things were beginning to feel apocalyptic!

Our location was in the middle of the dark red blob on the above weather map!
We looked at Priceline and found a hotel at the next exit.

What a blessing!

When we woke up the next morning the rain had cleared and everything felt fresh and new.
It was a new day and we would be home late that night.

Once on the road we found out that there wasn't another major hotel for about a hundred miles .
We were so lucky to stop when we did.
Not only that, but the storm that we had been in was so bad that there were tornados in some places!

As we were driving we were getting texts from my son who lives in Salt Lake City.

They had just experienced an earthquake!

On the above meme Moroni is the angel you see at the top of The Church of Jesus Christ's temples. He is normally holding a trumpet up to his mouth to usher in a new millenium. Because of the earthquake in Salt Lake City, the horn that Moroni is holding fell off, so it makes him look like he's checking his watch.

Ok, this definitely must be the apocalypse!

New Mexico and Arizona

The next stop for us was Gallup,

New Mexico for gas.

Yes, I said Gallup, NM.

It's the same location that was later shut down due to the overwhelming number of Coronavirus cases! Luckily I don't think that we had had much exposure since we only got gas and used the bathroom.

We had to get a picture in Tucumcari!
We drove through Tucson in January on our way to Orlando, so it's true that we literally had been from

Tucson to Tucumcari!!

Detouring to See Such Fine Sights

Then we had to stop in Joseph City to see where our ancestors had lived and to take a few pictures.

The next town, Winslow, had a corner that we couldn't pass up!

Being Eagles fans we definitely had to get our picture there.

Since we were hungry we might as well eat a burger and a shake also!

An Unwelcoming Spring

Now it's time for some serious driving.

It would be late by the time we get to Vegas,

but at least we could sleep in our own beds.

NOT!

That's when it started snowing!

Not just a little snow, but like a major snow storm with trucks backed up on the interstate and not moving type of snow storm!

Since it didn't look like we were going to get very far, and it was starting to get dark, we looked at Priceline and luckily there was a hotel at the next exit.

We were completely unprepared for snow!
Maneuvering the best we could in flip flops we grabbed our things and got into the hotel as fast as we could!
When we got into our room we were able to finish off that Blaze Pizza that we had bought the previous day.
Luckily we had put the leftovers in the cooler so that gave us something easy to eat for dinner.
It was so nice to get out of the snow and rest up for our last day of driving. We only had a few hours of driving left, so tomorrow morning we will be back home!

Yea!

Since our bodies were still on Florida time,

we woke up at 4 am and headed out.

After uncovering our car from under the 6 inches of fresh snow, thanks to a very helpful stranger, we headed towards our home on the first day of spring.

About ten minutes down the road we hit a traffic stall.
Nothing was moving.
We were in between a line of huge trucks, all delivering much needed supplies to the western united States.

We sat there for over an hour with no sign of any change.

We managed to maneuver around several trucks to make it to a median where we could barely see some old tracks of a car that had previously used the turn around.

We headed back to the hotel to asses our situation and figure out our best options.

A Hundred Miles From Now

As we sat in our hotel, we were getting antsy and just wanted to get home.

We decided to go south to get out of the snow.

We drove down to Prescott and then back up to the I-40.

This added at least an extra hundred miles to our trip!

It felt so good to be out of the snow!

We stopped for a quick bite to eat in Chino Valley.

By this time we almost forgot that our country was in the COVID-19 quarantine.

Luckily Sonic is designed for COVID!

Waking Up In Vegas

We finally made it home!

Las Vegas never looked so good!

Such a strange trip in such a strange time.

Arriving home felt sooooo good!

When we were in New Orleans and changed our course for driving from the southern route to the northern route we added two days to our trip instead of saving two hours!

Who knew that we would hit such crazy weather?

Now that we've made it home and have quarantined for weeks on end we can look back and see how lucky we were to be able to find hotels when we needed them.
We could also find food, gasoline and bathrooms along the way.
When we left on our journey home we were so worried about not getting home because of a lockdown, or getting COVID-19.
We are so grateful that we made it home safe and that our loved ones are safe!

Reflections of Our Travels

It was kind of fun, but terrifying at the same time.

Every day that we started on the road we began by listening to the Harry Styles' album "Fine Line" followed by listening to "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire".

I will look back and remember spending time and bonding with my daughter in a turbulent time and trying to make the most of our situation.
The problems we anticipated were not the problems we encountered.
The towns that we stopped in on our way home ended up being some of the worst hot spots for the COVID-19 and we weren't exposed!
For this I am extremely grateful.

Eventually the panic did hit Wickenburg, AZ.
The shelves were cleared out, and my parents were so grateful that they had stocked up on supplies.
My mom keeps telling me that I saved her.
I know that I didn't but it is nice to know that they had everything that they needed while I was off on my crazy road trip.

Since I had stocked up on supplies before I left for

Florida, and then both my daughter and I had bought supplies for our driving home adventure, we ended up with a lot of supplies. I was able to take all of these extra supplies and make four large boxes full of items for homeless families during the quarantine. It made me feel useful to help families that are in need.

During our quarantine we did a lot of art projects. One of our projects was to put together a shadow box of all the key chains that we collected on our trip to and from Orlando. We missed a few states because we didn't stop in them, but we found a lot of fun keychains. We will always have this shadow box to remember the good and the bad of 2020!

I'm so thankful for this experience.

It made the beginning of our long and boring quarantine very exciting!

I feel so bad for those people who are suffering from COVID-19, and especially for those who have lost loved ones.
I pray every day that we will be able to find a cure or vaccine for this horrific pandemic.

I also pray for those families who are suffering from the effects of the the shut down.
I hope that we can all work together in building this incredible country back to normal.

Playing with Sourdough- Holly's Home Sourdough Bread Instructions

2020-05-03T14:05:00.080-07:00

I am not a baker!

This is a blog about how I learned to bake sourdough bread.

I have had a lot of help, and have used a lot of sources.

You can find links to the sources that I found to be the most helpful posted at the end.

This has been a fun experiment, and I want to share what I have learned.

I have a couple of good friends who like to bake sourdough bread.

This recipe comes from my good friend Vicki.

Vicki taught me her method of baking sourdough bread.

The instructions come mostly from her brother-in-law via texts back and forth.

Then she emailed me directions, along with calling me to talk me through those directions.

Vicki got the starter from another good friend, who really is an expert,

but does not have a blog.

You get the picture!

A lot of people sharing information, but no written instructions.

Sooooo!

I typed out all the instructions that I have gotten from my good friend Vicki

and here are the results.

I made a little checklist that you can use to keep track of what step that you are on.

I have found this very helpful when I have made my bread.

I put the recipe on my blog for future reference,

BUT if I can help others at the same time that is even better!

After the instructions I have included a few pictures so that you can see how much fun I have been having.

Here are the instructions:

Link to Sourdough Bread Instructions

PICTURES

Playing With My Sourdough Starter

Here's an example of a sourdough starter that is growing.

The rubber band helps you for a reference of how much the starter has grown since you added your flour and water.

I made sure that I froze some of my sourdough starter just incase I ruined mine.

This way I would not have to make it, or borrow it from a friend.

For my family of four I like to cut my dough into 3 pieces. I find that the paper bowls are just the right size that I need. I place the parchment down first so that the dough is easy to remove and doesn't stick to the bowl. I cook the bread in the same parchment. The bread is best eaten the same day so I save the other doughs to cook at another time. I have found that it will keep for several days in the refrigerator if no one smashes it.

Be sure to wrap it well with plastic wrap.

Since I didn't have a dutch oven I used a pizza stone with a metal bowl.

I have since gotten a dutch oven, but still prefer this method to cook the sourdough bread.

When I visited my grandchildren I decided to make it into Mickey Bread.

I took one of the loaves and cut it in half to make the ears.

Other creations that I have made:

Pancakes

My first experiment was sourdough pancakes. As you can see, I made them Star Wars style for Star Wars Day, of course!

Here's the recipe from my other friend who is an expert with sourdough. I added a couple of tablespoons of sugar to the recipe.

Sourdough Starter Pancakes:

Challah

I have always wanted to make challah bread. This really gave me a challenge. I didn't use enough flour, so I tried to make up for it later, which made the bread dry. I only ended up making one large loaf with six braids. It was harder than I expected, so with the extra dough I made two smaller loaves with three strands each.

These were much easier for me to do.

Challah Recipe

Pretzels

At this point I thought that I was done playing with sourdough, but then my friend posted a recipe for pretzels!

YES, PRETZELS!

Haven't we all wanted to know how to bake pretzels?

Sourdough Pretzel Recipe

Other Recipes

So my friend has a couple of other recipes that I haven't tried.

I thought that I would post them on here so that I could find them easily.

If she starts a blog I will link into her.

You can follow her on instagram at

morris_ partyofseven

Pretzel Bread

German Pancakes

Great Sourdough Links:

King Arthur Flour

Bake with Jack on YouTube

A Couple Cooks Sourdough Bread for Beginners

16 Creative Ways to Use Sourdough Discard

Star Wars Minute to Win it Games

2019-12-26T20:46:00.003-08:00

Every year we like to pick a different theme for our family Christmas party. This year's theme is Star Wars, so we put together a minute to win it Star Wars Game. The idea of the game is to train to be a Jedi Master.

The game is based off of the original Star Wars movies IV, V & VI. A list of all the games is provided at the bottom.

Please remember to follow me for more amazing games and ideas, and please leave a comment at the bottom.

Divide everyone into two teams. We did boys against girls. Each team races to see which is better at becoming a Jedi Master by competing in minute to win it Jedi skills tests.

Here is a scoreboard to keep score.

Scoreboard:

Team Captains:

I found these cute Star Wars vests at the Dollar Tree. I used them for our team captains.

Now that you have your captains, it's time to start playing the game.

A true Jedi must be able to use the force to find a lost droid. A member from each team must leave the room while the team captains hide the droid somewhere in the room. When the team members come back in the room, their team gives only the clues "hot" or "cold" to find the hidden droid. Both teams have to look at the same time, so they have to be able to communicate without getting confused by the other team.

The team that is able to find their droid first wins.

Once you have found your droid you need to learn how to fly a spaceship.

Each team is given a CD with the top of a water bottle hot glued to the center. They are also given some balloons.

Each team has to blow up their balloon and attach it to their spaceship. The team that can get their spaceship to lift off the ground (table) first, wins.

For this challenge each team had a lightsaber and five glow in the dark necklace rings. Each team had to put the rings together and then toss the rings from 10 feet away.

A team mate had to catch the necklaces with a lightsaber. The team that catches the most of their necklace rings first wins.

A jedi must know how to blow up a death star. Each team is given a death star with a fork in it and 10 quarters. The team that can roll the quarter into the fork prongs of the fork first wins.

Death Star Printout:

(print two on card stock)

As Luke found out, you must find your Jedi trainer in the most unlikely sources. One of your team members is your Yoda trainer, and it's your team's job to discover the inner Yoda.

Each team is given a roll of green crepe paper streamers, two green yoda ears and a roll of tape. Your team is to find the hidden Yoda in your teammate by using the items provided.
The best Yoda in a minute wins.

Yoda Ears Print Out:

(Print two each on green paper)

Sometimes a Jedi's ship can get caught in unusual places such as when the Millenium Falcon was inside a giant worm. A Jedi must know how to maneuver his ship out of tough situation.

Each team is given a slinky and a ping pong ball. Two team members hold opposite sides of the slinky 5 feet apart. They are to get the ping pong ball from one end of the slinky to the other without letting the ball drop through the slinky. If the ball drops through the team must start over. Team members can help get the ball through.

Knowing how to shoot a blaster and hit stormtroopers is a must for every Jedi, so target practice is very important.

Each team got their own nerf gun blaster with a set of nerf bullets. The nerf bullets for each team was a different color.

They shot at trash cans that had stormtroopers taped to the outside.(See picture below).
The team that got the most nerf bullets in their trash can won.

One of the hazards of being a Jedi is to lose an arm in battle. For example, both Luke and Darth Vader lost their arm.

A Jedi must learn to use an artificial arm.

Each team is given a plastic grabber (found at the 99 cent store)

and a stack of red paper, or blue paper
(a different color for each team).

The team folds paper airplanes and then one team member throws the airplanes with the grabber. The team with the most airplanes on the other side of the couch (or whatever works for you) wins.

When a good friend, such as Han Solo, has been frozen in carbonite, a Jedi must know how to unfreeze them.

Print out the 2 Han Solos and laminate them. Put them into an ice cube tray and fill with water and freeze. Give each team an ice cube Han. The team members can use their breath and their hands to melt the ice cube. You can do this while you are playing other games if you wish.
The first team to unfreeze Han Solo wins.

Knowing how to race a speeder across Endor could save a Jedi's life when escaping storm troopers.

Give each team a cut out of an Endor Racer (above) and a straw. The first team to blow their racer across the table, without falling off the other side, wins.

When a Jedi goes to battle, he could possibly lose his lightsaber, or get it destroyed. It is necessary for a jedi to know how to create a new lightsaber in case this happens.

Supply each side with a glue stick (for a glue gun), a roll of duct tape, a roll of electrical tape, a pair of scissors and some stick on plastic gems. Each team is to create a lightsaber.
Best lightsaber in a minute wins.

In order to defeat a Death Star, a Jedi must know how a Death Star is built. To do this the Jedi must build a small replica.

Each team is given a can of Pringles. They are to try to make a Death Star (a ring of pringles) in a minute. The team with the best ring wins. Or the team to make the ring first wins.

A Jedi must know how to defeat the Dark Side, like when Luke faced his father Darth Vader.

A team member from each team uses a lightsaber to keep a black balloon in the air. There is only one balloon. One team member hits the balloon, then the opposite team member hits the balloon. The first team to miss the balloon loses.

The best Jedis need to be recognized for their talents and skill. Princess Leia recognized all the accomplishments of her team with medals. You should do this also.

Using m&m minis as a base for my trophy, I put a layer of hot glue across the top. Then I put the paper medallion in the glue and held it until it cooled. It helps if you cut a little piece off the bottom of the circle to make it flat.

You could also hang it on a ribbon and put it around the Jedi's neck, just like Leia. If you did that you might put it on a York Peppermint Patty.

Trophy Printout:
(print on silver or gold cardstock)

I also have a Star Wars BINGO that you can play

Check out many of my other fun Games from Holly's Home. Just click on the photo to see the link.

Check out all of my fun Minute to Win it games by clicking here.

Cowboy Minute To Win It Games or Pioneer Minute To Win It Games

2019-11-13T16:17:00.009-08:00

Here's a fun and easy way to have a western cowboy minute- to-win-it challenge. My class had so much fun playing these games. We used it for a pioneer day, but you can use it however you like.

Pioneer Version:

To use it as a pioneer version scroll to the bottom for additional printouts. I used mine for a pioneer trail and adapted the games for their travels "On The Trail."

To find a list of all the games to print out scroll to the bottom.

To print anything out just click on the picture and save it into your file, or copy and paste.

Scoreboard

We divided into two teams.

Here's a scoreboard for you to keep score.

Every cowboy town needs a sheriff. The items for the sheriff all came from the dollar store. I bought 2 hats, two gun holsters, two bandanas and it even came with a badge and a mustache. Each team picked a person to be the sheriff and a deputy to help the sheriff get dressed.

The team who's sheriff got dressed the fastest won.

Since we didn't have a lot of room I just attached cattle heads to the top of wooden skewers. I gave each team a package of glow necklaces. They had to connect the necklaces and then throw them over the cattle heads. The team that got the most in a minute won.

Here's the cattle heads:

Or you can get really fancy and build a cactus ring toss.

This one was built by my son, but unfortunately he lives too far away for me to borrow. He is very talented! Check out his web page MAW Happens.

What's a Cowboy party without a good old fashion shoot out?

We used nerf guns and shot plastic cups. The team that got the most cups down in a minute won.

For this challenge I got a set a small plastic farm animals from the dollar store. Each team had to use spoons to herd their animals from one side of the room to the other. The team with the most animals in the corral in a minute won.

What true cowboys doesn't like a competitive game of marbles in their leisure time? Each team got a set of marbles to roll into the middle of the campfire ring. The team with the most marbles in a minute won.

Campfire ring printout:

Each cowboy sits across from each other with the bottoms of their feet touching. A pole is placed in the middle. Each cowboy grabs both hands on the pole. The pole should be centered over the tops of the feet to start. On go both cowboys start pulling. The one who can pull the other cowboy up wins.

Make several "cow pies" with a cheep frisbee and a glue stick. To do this just squirt the hot glue in a circular patter until desired look is achieved. Then paint your cow pie with brown paint to look like a real cow pie.

Give each team member the same number of cow pies. When you say go have them throw the cow pies from a distance into a bucket. The team that gets their cow pies in first wins.

This one is a lot of fun. Glue tuna cans to opposite ends and sides of a paint stick. (See above). Make a small bean bag (about 3" square) that fits into one of the tuna can.

You can make one for each team, or take turns.

Hold the stick in the middle.

Flip the stick over, while throwing the bean bag up in the air, and then catch the bean bag in the opposite can. It can be tricky, but the team who can catch the most in a minute wins.

Every cowboy needs clean clothes, so a laundry day is a must.

For this challenge I had small clothes pins (found in the craft aisle), a bow (from a bow and arrow set) and a printout of small paper clothes, cut out. Each team had to run the clothes from across the room and hang them on the string. They could only carry one item of clothing at a time.

Laundry Printout:

Print and cut out 2 sets, one for each team.

I bought a plastic horse shoe set at the dollar store. Each team had a different color of horse shoe. Both teams had one minute to throw their horse shoes onto the pole from the same distance. The one with the most horse shoes on the pole won. If no one got it on then the one with the closest horse shoe won.

Make a stick and ring toss by securing a string (about 18") to one end of a wooden spoon. Tie the other end of the string to the ring of a mason jar lid. See below.

Give each team member a stick with a ring attached.

Give both teams one minute.

The team that can get the ring on the spoon the most times in a minute wins.

For this you will need a large button (the bigger the better), or you can drill holes in round wood slices, or even use a heavy piece of round cardboard with two holes.

You will also need three feet of strong string.

We choose to use wood slices from the craft store and then we drilled two holes in the center.

We also had a few plastic buttons but they didn't work as well.

Thread the string through one hole and then back through the other hole. Then tie the two string ends together.

Position your button in the center of the string while holding the string on both ends, and then twist the button around at least ten times.

When you pull on both ends at the same time the button will spin. You can pull the string back and forth to keep it spinning.

You can play this one of two ways:

The first team to make one and spin it wins.

Or you can pre-make them and the first team to twirl it wins.

I prefer the first way.

I found the cutest plastic toy wagons at the Dollar Tree.

Each team got a wagon. One person from each team had to push their wagon across the room with their nose.

The team that got their wagon to the other side first won.

Every cowboy needs a barn. Luckily we had some lincoln logs to help supply materials for a barn. Each team had a minute to construct their barn. The most complete barn won.

What a fun day we had! The students loved it.

The winning team was awarded a trophy.

I used m&m minis and hot glued brown cardstock around the base. Then I hot glued the wagon to the top.

Printout for the trophy toppers:

PIONEER

Pioneer Version:

Here are the printouts for the pioneer version:

Instead of dressing up as a sheriff, you could dress up as a pioneer.

On The Trail

With my class instead of having a Sheriff I had a Company Captain. Then all the games reflected the journey of traveling on the pioneer trail. I divided the teams into companies. The students loved it and learned a little during the game.

Since the version I did was a pioneer trail my trophies said "On the Trail" and I used the version below:

Here's a list of all the games:

I also have a couple of BINGO games. One is Cowboy and the other is Pioneer.

I hope that your game turns out fun! Please leave me a message to let me know how it went.

I have several other Minute to Win it Games.

Check them out:

Hello Spring - Free Printable Banner From HollysHome

2019-03-01T22:08:00.001-08:00

If your like me, I love decorating for Spring. The nice thing about decorating for Spring is that you can keep up the decorations after easter. That means less work for you.

Spring is such a fun time of year. Because I love it so much I have an entire page devoted to Spring ideas.

Take a moment and check out some of the fun ideas that I have on my Easter and Springtime page.

Not only do I love Spring, I think Summer is even better. The beach is my happy place.

Here are some of my awesome summer ideas.

Now back to that free "Hello Spring" banner.

I have gotten so many compliments on this banner. Everyone loves it, and I love it too.

How to Print:

Print the banner on white cardstock. Punch holes in the top corners and thread a string through the holes.

Super Easy!

Here's a link to the printout

Free Hello Spring Printout

Here's a higher definition printout:

To print it out you can right click your mouse and save it into your pictures, or you can copy and paste it into your printing program. Let me know how yours turns out. I hope that you love it as much as I love mine.

Tip: Depending on your printer, sometimes the ink will rub off. If you ever find this to be a problem spray a fine layer of clear spray paint over the print to set the ink.

If you love banners check out my entire selection.

Harry Potter Party Decorations and Dinner Ideas

2019-02-11T20:12:00.020-08:00

Every Harry Potter Party needs the proper decorations.

Half the fun is figuring out how to bring the Harry Potter world into your party.

I had so much fun decorating my home for our party that it's hard to share all of my ideas in one place.

Click here to find a link to the rest of of my Harry Potter Ideas.

Here is a list of what you will find in this post:

A Honeydukes Treat Station

Honeydukes Treat Boxes

Hogwarts House Point Tracker Containers

Butterbeer Puffcorn and Candy Cauldrons

Honeydukes Treat Bag

Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Party Favor Link

Bertie Botts Every Flavor Bean Boxes

Potions Drink Station Printable

Hot Butterbeer Recipe Link

Diagon Alley and Hogwarts Sign Printable

Hogwarts House Flags Printables

Wand Tutorial Link

Dining Table Decorating Ideas

Harry Potter Cracker Party Favor Link

Harry Potter Etched Butterbeer Mugs Link

English Dinner Menu

Dementor's Chocolate Trifle Recipe

Hogwart's Express Diorama Link

Printable Harry Potter Banner Link

Harry Potter Christmas Tree Link

"Have You Seen This Wizard?" Posters

Hogwart's Bathroom Ideas

Dobbie's Feet Link

Harry Potter Wizarding Games Link

Harry Potter Trivia Game Link

Harry Potter Bingo Link
Fifty More Harry Potter Ideas Link

Honeydukes Treat Station

I have this cute little buffet that I inherited from a grandma and it made the perfect Honeyduke's Party Favor Station.

I added the Honeydukes fringe along the bottom of the top shelf.

Here is a printout that you can use if you would like to do something similar.

Honeydukes Treat Boxes

The boxes above were for my guests to fill with candy from the Honeydukes Treat Station.

I bought premade boxes at the store.

I tried to find a design that resembled something from a candy store.

Then I added the Honeydukes label (below) with a glue stick.

Here is a printout of the labels if you would

like to do something similar

Hogwarts House Point Trackers Containers

What you will need:

4 matching glass containers

yellow candy

red candy

green candy

blue candy

a glue stick

a printout of the house symbols (below)

The House Scoreboard containers I bought at the dollar store, along with the candy that is in them.

I found four glass cylinder shaped containers at the dollar store.

Then I printed out the house symbols below.

Cut out each house symbol the best you can.

Apply liberal amounts of glue stick on the back of the symbol. Center each of the symbols on it's container.

Fill with the color of candy that is appropriate for the respective house.

TriWizard Cup

The TriWizard Cup came from Target.

Since it was cool, and I already had it, I had to use it for my decorating.

I used it to pull names out of for our

Harry Potter Minute to Win It Games.

Butterbeer Puffcorn and Candy Cauldrons

I bought a bunch of different sized cauldrons from the dollar store and Party City.

I put Halloween candy in them and

wrote on the outside with chalk pen.

A lot of the candy was Gryffindor colors, and some came in

Slytherin colors, so I labeled them accordingly.

The Butterbeer Puffcorn is absolutely delicious

and really easy to make,

You can find the recipe here.

Honeydukes Treat Bag

This cute little treat bag is perfect to use for decoration on a plate, or for a take home gift.

The bag is folded and then you fill with small treats, toys, etc.

Fold over the top, punch two holes and tie with a ribbon.

It adds a special touch to your party.

Treat bag printable:

See how to fold your treat bag by clicking here,

or you can follow the diagram below.

Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans boxes

The traditional Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans Container is adorable, but it is hard to make, large and expensive.

I got the traditional Bertie Bott's box off of Google.

I made one, but it took a lot of time

plus it held a lot of jelly beans.

It was a little too big to make for everyone at the party,

so I created the little boxes to use at the party.

Bertie Botts small box template:

Print it out on white cardstock.

Weasley's Magic & Mayhem Minis

Easy Treats to make for your Honeydukes table.

I had some m&m minis that I bought on clearance after Halloween. Since they were orange, and Weasley's Wizard Wheezes is orange, I saw a great opportunity to create something that good old Fred and George might of come up with.

That's how Magic and Mayhem minis were born.
For the printout click here.

Drinks (Potions)

My guests got a selection of sodas properly disguised as a potion.

To get the bottle potion labels just click here.

And to make it more fun we added extra ingredients (flavored syrups) so that everyone could make their potion truly unique.

Potions Sign and Great Hall Sign:

If you need more locations, including all the houses, etc.,

the rest of my location signs can are located here:

Hot Butterbeer Recipe Link

Butterbeer is a must at any Harry Potter event.

I made Hot Butterbeer for my family on Christmas morning.

It was delicious!!!

Click here to get the recipe.

Diagon Alley and Hogwarts Signs

I put up fun signs all over the house.

Below is a printout for Diagon Alley and Hogwart's Castle.

I have made quite a few more signs on another post.

You can find the printouts here.

Hogwarts House Flags

These house flags are the easiest ever!

All you do is print out the flags below on colored cardstock.

Match the color to each house.

For Hogwarts I used gray instead of black for obvious reasons.

Cut out the V shape at the bottom then punch holes in the upper corners and put a string through and hang.

Flag Printouts:

Wand Tutorial Link

My awesome Sister-in-law made everyone in the family a wand.

To see how easy it is to make a wand click here.

The Dining Table Decorating Ideas

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures at the party because I was too busy hosting,

but here are a few things that I did that will give you some ideas.

I hung owls on the light over the dining table.

I used large deer for the center of the table and I placed an English Cracker Party Favor on every plate.

Harry Potter Cracker Party Favor Link

On every plate I placed a homemade English Cracker .

This is a long standing English tradition that

can be seen in the Harry Potter films.

There are three different versions:

Humour from Harry

Advice from Albus

Trelawney Teller Treats

They come with printable sayings and instructions

on how to make them crack.

To see how click here.

My grandchildren LOVED these!

They crack when you pull them apart

and have a cute little fortune in them.

My granddaughter read everyone's fortune aloud

so that everyone could hear.

Some of them even wore the cute little crowns that came inside the cracker all day!

Harry Potter etched Personalized Butterbeer Mugs Link

I etched a mug for everyone at the party.

On one side I put their name and

on the other side I put their patronus.

They were a hit!

English Dinner Menu

Main Dish - Bangers and Mash

(Sausage with Mashed Potatoes)

For dinner I made Bangers and Mash which is mashed potatoes and sausage.

I wanted it to be easy so that we could enjoy our party.

It is a traditional English dinner that my family loves.

I browned bratwurst ahead of time and then put them in a crockpot with some chicken broth.

I made traditional homemade mashed potatoes and gravy to go with it.

I served it with green bean casserole and a salad.

Super easy and my family loved it!

Dementor's Chocolate Trifle Recipe

This was super easy to make, but was amazing!

I was quite surprised at how yummy it was.

To make Dementor's Trifle you will need:

brownies

large box of chocolate pudding

container of Cool Whip

I used store bought Costco brownies and mashed them at the bottom of a crystal bowl.

It's nice to use a clear bowl for any trifle so that you can see the layers.

Next add layer of chocolate pudding,

and then a layer of cool whip.

I used cool whip because it keeps its shape

better than whipping cream.

Repeat all the layers,

so that there are two layers of each ingredient (six layers total.)

Be sure to finish with the cool whip layer on top.

Then top off cool the whip with a grated a chocolate bar.

Store it in the fridge with plastic over the top so that the flavors can blend.

Serve it chilled.

Additional Decorations:

Hogwarts Express Diorama

Tutorial Link

In my entryway I had this diorama of the Hogwarts Express.

To see how I made it click here.

Printable "Harry Potter" (or Birthday or Christmas) Banner Link

On my fireplace I put "Harry Christmas" banner.

To get this print out, or a "Harry Birthday" print out click here.

Harry Potter Christmas Tree Link

My Harry Potter Christmas Tree was amazing!

I made a lot of the items, or purchased them at the dollar store.

It was so much fun to put together.

To see how I did it click here.

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WIZARD?

Posters

I made two different versions of the

"HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WIZARD?"

One I printed on a full sheet of brown cardstock .

The other I made a trading card size.

My original intent was to make a just a small card to hang on the Christmas Tree.

They were so cute that I decided to print them out large on a brown cardstock (to save on ink) and hang them up all over the house.

To make them I just googled the Azkaban sign and copied it.

Then I found funny pictures of my family and photoshopped the Azkaban prison sign in front of them. I moved the Azkaban sign a little bit in each picture. Just that small thing made them seem more authentic. I cropped the picture and I placed it over the Sirius Black picture. I laminated the cards so that they look like trading cards.

I made an extra set cards for each person to take home.

Hogwart's Bathroom Ideas

In the bathroom I put Moaning Myrtle on the mirror.

Print out the picture of Moaning Myrtle and then cut around her head. Use a washable glue stick to glue it onto the mirror.

Print out the saying below, cut it out and then glue it to the mirror next to Moaning Myrtle's head

Here's the saying if you want to use it.

The Ministry of Magic Toilet

And of course, the toilet HAD to be the Ministry of Magic.

Here's a printout for your toilet.

Dobby's Feet Link

Dobby was also at our Harry Potter Party.

He was hiding in our Christmas Tree.

To see how to make Dobby's feet click here.

Harry Potter Activities:

Harry Potter Wizarding Games

After dinner we played
Minute to Win It Harry Potter Wizarding Games.

WE HAD SO MUCH FUN!!!

My son, who told me not to do it, came up to me afterwards to let me know how awesome the games were.

If you want to see how we played them just click here.

Harry Potter Trivia Game Link

Test your Harry Potter knowledge in a new and fun way. The game is adaptable to any set of questions.

Find out how to play it by clicking here.

Harry Potter Bingo Board Link

Just in case you have extra time here's a link to Harry Potter Bingo Boards.

Fifty More Harry Potter Ideas Link

Incase you might even want more Harry Potter ideas I have a link that shares all of my Harry Potter ideas plus an additional fifty or more ideas that I have found on the web.

Just click here to see them all!

I hope that I was able to give you a few ideas for your Harry Potter Party. Please leave a message if you liked the ideas and let me know about your party.

Love,
Holly

Harry Potter English Crackers Party Favors

2019-02-11T15:46:00.010-08:00

Party Crackers have long been a tradition in the English culture and they can be a fun addition to your Harry Potter Party. These easy to make Crackers are filled with treats, toys and a fortune.

Here is an explanation from the site Old English Crackers

https://www.oldenglishcrackers.com/faqs/history-of-christmas-crackers/

What are Christmas Crackers?

Christmas Crackers

A Christmas Cracker is a type of party favor originating in England, but now widely used throughout the modern world to celebrate Christmas and other special occasions and festive events. They consist of a wrapped and decorated cardboard cylinder and very much resemble a large candy twist. Crackers typically contain a paper crown (tissue party hat), a motto (joke or riddle), a snap (friction activated popping device), and a small gift or novelty item. Crackers provide a colorful and exciting start to any celebration, and also present each guest with a gift by which to remember the days events.

If you don't want to make yours you can order

from Old English Crackers. I have also used premade crackers and added the printout on the outside.

These were a big hit at our Harry Potter Feast. My grandkids had so much fun opening them. They loved the "crack" when they pulled them open. My granddaughter would read the fortunes out loud and made sure that we all listened. I am definitely making these again.

All of the printouts will be available towards the bottom of this blog.

I have three versions of Crackers:
Humour from Harry
Advice from Albus
Trelawney's Teller Treats

I also have several pages of fortunes for you to add inside your Harry Potter Crackers.

Here's how to make them:

Here's what you will need:
empty paper towel rolls (Cut to about 5"), or toilet paper rolls
candy
small toys
tissue paper
curly ribbon
fortunes (printout below)

Optional:
English cracker snaps (ebay)
English paper crown (ebay) or you can make your own from tissue paper.

Cut the tissue paper about six inches wider than the toilet paper roll.

This is when you add the cracker snaps.

Tape one Cracker snap to the inside of the toilet paper roll so that it sticks out on both ends.

Fill the toilet paper roll with the candy, toys and the fortune

(printout below).

It is helpful to tie one end, and the treats, then tie the other end.

And don't forget to add your paper crowns if you decided to put them in your Cracker. The paper crown in the cracker is also a long standing English tradition.

Some of my kids wore their crown the entire day, even during our Minute to Win it Harry Potter Wizarding Games.

Tape the tissue paper onto the roll.

Then place the printout of Harry, Trelawney or Albus around the middle of the roll over the tissue paper and tape it together.

Tie both ends with curly ribbon.

If you have added a Cracker snap tie the ribbon around the snap and the tissue paper.

Trim the snap so that it does not stick out further than the tissue paper.

The traditional way to open a cracker is two have two different people pull on an end and twist. If you have added the snap, this is when the Cracker will "crack".

See how cute they looked on the table before our

Harry Potter Feast.

Here are the printouts for your Harry Potter Crackers:

Dumbledore Cracker Cover:

Dumbledore Quotes:

Harry Potter Cracker Cover:

Harry Potter Quotes:

Trelawney's Teller Treats Cracker Cover:

Fortunes:

If you want to make a traditional English Cracker here are instructions from Old English Crackers. They are much more fun if you make them "crack". The version I made "cracked" and the grandkids loved them.

I have so many fun and free Harry Potter ideas. Just click on the photo to go to the link.

Harry Potter Minute to Win it Games

2019-01-23T14:40:00.010-08:00

Every Christmas my family picks a new theme to center our Christmas around.

This year it was Harry Potter and

IT WAS SOOOOOOO MUCH FUN.

This post is for our Minute to Win it Harry Potter Games.

I don't know what was more fun, putting together the party, or actually having the party.

I ended up with so many ideas that I had to store them in one place.

Here is a link that can connect you to all of my ideas!

Now let's get started!

Harry Potter Minute to Win it Games:

Every Harry Potter party must include some sort of sorting to create teams.

You can do this two ways :

A tri-wizard tournament.

A competition for house cup.

I went back and forth on this, but in the end I decided to have it be a house cup with the teams of Slytherin vs Gryffindor.

It's up to you to decide.

Here's how we did it.

I printed everyone's name in Harry Potter font on a piece of paper.

Then I aged the paper with a wet cotton ball, a brown Crayola marker and a black Crayola marker. I carefully tore around all the names and then added some more black coloring around the edges to give them a burnt look.

Then I placed all the names in my Triwizard cup that I bought at Target. Technically this is not how it was in the movie, but no one seemed to mind. They got the idea.

We picked a captain for each team and the captains pulled the names out of the cup.

Another idea would be to pull the names out of a sorting hat, OR better yet you could put the hat on each child's head and sort each child into a house.

Here are two different scoreboards that you can use, depending on whether you have two teams or three.

I think that for practical purposes two teams are the most efficient.

House cup (two teams) version:

Triwizard (three teams) version:

Now that the teams have been sorted,
let the fun begin!

I awarded the team that won each competition 25 points.

Print a copy of all the books (above) for each team and then cut them out.

Mix up the books so that they are out of order. Lay them upside down in front of each team. When you say go each team has to put the books in the proper order. Sounds easy, right? Our biggest Harry Potter fan got two of the books mixed up so the other team won.

25 points to the team that gets the books in order first!

Make as many copies of the pixies as you would like. I made 4 copies. Cut out the pixies and spread them out on the ground. You can cut out several layers at a time if you're are careful.

The team that gathers the most pixies wins.

25 points to the team that finds the most pixies!

For this one I had them make slime.

This is where my trip to the dollar store in October really came in handy. I gave each team a cauldron, a glass of liquid starch (in the creepy hand glass), a bottle of white glue, a bottled water, one 1/4 cup measuring cup, some neon food coloring, and a recipe.

Each team had to create the recipe with what they had. They had to figure out that for a 1/2 cup they needed to use 1/4 measuring cup twice.

They also had to find something to stir it with. We were in the backyard, so they found the nearest stick.

One team did the recipe out of order and found that it was difficult to mix. Unfortunately they lost, although their slime eventually came together.

Here is the printout for the recipe:

25 points to the team who makes their confusing concoction first!

Check out my latest Minute to Win it Game, Star Wars

I had some fun with this one. This is where that trip to the dollar store paid off again. I had bought some plastic feathers, witch hat headbands, and had some leftover eyeball eye glasses from my Mad Eye Moody project.

I glued the plastic feathers onto some pens and covered them with white tape (above). Then I had a member from each team put on the witch's hat and the glasses. They used the feather pens to write with.

When I said go they had to turn the paper over and guess the patronus of everybody at the party.

All the team members could help them. The team that got the most right in a minute won.

For you I have a printout of all of the Patronesses from Harry Potter. You could use that if it's too much trouble to find out the Patronus for everyone at your party.

Harry Potter Patronuses Answers

25 points to the team that gets the most patronesses in a minute!

For this challenge I went to the thrift store and bought each team yellow shirts and ear muffs. I could only find one ear muff (we live in Las Vegas) so I used some headphones.

Before we started a member of each team had to put on the yellow shirt with the ear muffs.

Then I gave each team:
-a glob of terracotta Crayola air dry clay
-three paper leaves
-a small pot with a label
-a piece of chalk
-instructions (see below)

The first team done wins.

Look how cute our Mandrakes turned out. The teams thought that they were supposed to name their Mandrake, so on the labels they wrote Phillip and Logan. My grandson thought that his team's Mandrake should be named after him.

Here is a printout for the instructions:

25 points to the team that finishes their mandrake first!

This awesome idea came from Pop Goes the Page

Mandrake made ease

Give each team a roll of aluminum foil, or set out an aluminum foil for the teams to fight over.

You can either tell each team what animal that they need to create, or you can have them come up with their own creation.

Here's some examples;

Here are several ways to pick a winner:

-The team with the most recognizable animal wins.

-The team that finishes fasted wins

-The team where everyone finishes their own transfiguration animal first wins.

25 points to the team that gets their transfigurations done first!

Each team got one wand (we made the wands) and a package of 15 glow stick necklaces (Walmart).

The team members had to make the necklaces glow and attach them together in a circle.

Then they had to toss the necklace from 10 feet away to the person with the wand while saying the words "Wingardium Leviosa". The person with the wand had to catch the necklace.

The team that caught them all first won.

(Unfortunately I did not get pictures.)

It was a lot of fun!

25 points to the team that catches all of their charms first!

Minute to Win it Style Quidditch

Each team got a poster board with three holes in it (see picture above) for a goal post. I just hand drew mine but here's an example below. You could print it at Office Max if you wanted.

The person holding the poster (the Keeper) cannot move his feet, but he can move the poster. We had a team member from the opposite team stand by each goal post to make sure that the Keeper did not move his feet.
If he did move his feet his team lost 10 points.

Each team got 2 ping pong balls (guaffles) to throw through the goals. They had to throw them from 10 feet away. Every ping pong ball (guaffle) that they got through the goal was 10 points. The person who was keeping an eye on the Keeper kept score for their team.

Each team had a Seeker. The Seeker's job was to find the Snitch that was hidden in somewhere in the yard.

(I have a couple of Snitches that I made for my Christmas Tree.)

Click here to see how I made them.

The first team to find the Snitch got 150 points added to their score.

The game ended when the Snitch was found.

This was a lot of fun. Just a tip for your goal posts. One of our goals tore, so you could reinforce the back with duct tape. You could also make it out of foam core so that it's a little sturdier.

Add all of the quidditch points to each of the team's score. The team with the most points wins!

I made these cute awards for the winning team. I used m&m minis and glue gunned some silver paper around the base and glue gunned the medallion to the top.

I have also done trophies on the top of Toblerones.

Printouts for the House Cup Champions:

Printouts for the Triwizard Tournament Champions:

Here's a printout of all the games listed:

All of my Holly's Home ideas are super fun and FREE!

Just click on the picture to go to the link.

Thank you for visiting Hollys Home!

Free Printable Valentine's banner

2019-01-14T09:26:00.001-08:00

Who doesn't love Valentine's Day? It's such a fun time of year. To celebrate I am sharing this super cute, and super easy Valentines Banner for FREE!

After Christmas my house feels so empty so I get excited when it's time to decorate for Valentine's Day. I made this banner a few years ago, but never posted it. This year I thought that I better share it.

It's always so much fun for me to come up with combinations of prints. I love the vintage prints in this banner. The common theme is the white background with a bright red. The mixture of all the prints together makes this a fun and easy addition to your Valentine's Day decor.

All you have to do is print it out, cut out the hearts, punch a hole at the top of each side of the heart, then add a string. It's quicker then going to the store to buy a banner.

You can display it on your mantle, over your table, on the wall, or anywhere that you would like!

If you like banners check my entire selection.

How to Print:

I have two ways that you can print it. One version is to save it into your pictures. I like it this way because the resolution is better. I also have one that you can print out of google docs. You will see that link at the bottom.

If you would like to just print it out here is the link: Valentines Banner

I have a bunch of other Holly's Home Valentine ideas.

Just click here to see them all.

Harry Potter's Hogwarts Express Diorama

2019-01-08T17:12:00.001-08:00

This year our family celebrated Christmas in Harry potter style.

I had a train, and I had this big glass box so I put them both together and came up with this diorama.

Here's how I did it.

I had this cute train that the kid's great grandma gave us when the kids were little. It's not exactly like the Hogwarts Express, but it's close enough. It stopped working years ago so I only keep it for sentimental value. I'm sure GG won't mind if I turn it into a Hogwarts Express, right?

The first thing that I did was peel off all the old stickers. I looked up images of the Hogwarts Express on Google images. Luckily I was able to find some Hogwarts Express signs off of it for my train. I put a sign over the wheels,

a sign on the front,

and a sign on the back.

Here's a printout for the signs if you want to make one also.

I also added the number of the train on each side.

I didn't have a train track, so I printed one off the image below and put it on the bottom. I printed the image onto a brown cardstock. I covered the edges with dirt from my yard. I love how real it looks.

I printed off a picture of Hogwarts from Google images. I just used a school glue stick to attach the Hogwarts picture and the Platform 9 3/4 sign. School glue is washable. I also put some little bottle brush Christmas trees alongside the train.

I printed off some trees to fill in the space between the train and Hogwarts. The grandkids (and the kids) absolutely loved it.

Here are some of my other Harry Potter Projects. Just click on the picture to see what I have done.

See How I made Dobby's feet for our Harry Potter Party. Free tutorial.

2019-01-08T12:17:00.001-08:00

This Christmas our family celebrated Christmas Harry Potter style. It was so much fun. I want to share my ideas with everyone. I decided that we needed Dobby coming out of our Harry Potter Christmas Tree.

It doesn't need to be Christmas to make Dobby's feet. Dobby could be anywhere. Dobby could be under the bed.

Dobby could be in the dresser drawer.

Dobby could be cleaning the oven.

Dobby could be anywhere.

So lets make some Dobby feet

Items this project:

Crayola's Air-Dry Clay, Terra Cotta

(I purchased at JoAnn's with 50% off coupon)

1/2" dowel 36" long, cut in half

Dobby foot pattern (below)

To print it out copy and paste it into your printing program

or right click and save it into your photos.

Size it to a full sheet of paper.

Start by taking handfuls of clay and shaping them to the foot pattern.

Make balls for the toes. Dobby only has 4 toes, so don't worry about putting 5 toes.

When you have finished all your toes, pinch the tops of the toes to make them pointed and then use a pencil to draw on toenails.

Take a little time to smooth out the clay and clean up the bumps. The top side doesn't have to be perfect because you see more of the bottom of the feet. This is where you turn the feet over. They will be very flat. You will have to add clay to the balls of the feet and to the heel. Smooth and shape as needed. You don't need too make it perfect until the end, so don't worry about making it perfect. You will probably wreck all your work in the next few steps anyway.

Turn the feet back over. Poke the dowels into the clay, then start covering the dowels with clay.

Once you have the legs covered with clay (about 2/3 of the way up the dowel) then start shaping the leg. You want to have a little extra clay in the back of the calf and extra clay in the knee. Indent the clay behind the knee and build up the clay in the front of the knee. You will also want to make the ankle thinner.

Now is the time to do your final shaping. With your thumb just keep rubbing out any imperfections and reshaping areas that need some work. When you feel like you are done you can use a little water to rub over the project to smooth it out. This is a very messy procedure and the terra cotta color can get on everything so be careful. Use the water sparingly.

I checked on mine several times while they were drying to see if there were areas that needed some touch up. I also rotated them several times until they were dry.

After the feet had dried for 24 hours I attached Dobby's clothes. I ripped on old sheet to fit around the leg. The clay was not dry yet, but it was hard enough that I could work on the pants. I glue gunned the sheet closed instead of sewing. Then I glued the "pants" to the top of the dowel so that the bottom was just above the knee.

Allow the clay to dry for a couple of days. When they are dry have some fun with them. If they are darker then you like, paint some lighter color on them. You could do some shading, or make the feet dirty. Have some fun with them. I would love to see yours when you are done!

Here are my other Harry Potter Projects.

Click on the picture to take you to the project.

FREE Harry Potter Banner, or Harry (Potter) Christmas or Harry (Potter) Birthday Banner Printable Great for Your Harry Potter Party!

2019-01-07T19:00:00.005-08:00

This year we celebrated our Christmas Harry Potter style. I had sooooooo much fun decorating. I just couldn't seem to stop making things. I wanted to do everything that I saw. You should check out my Christmas tree. It was amazing!

Every Harry Potter party needs a banner! Here's the one I did for our Christmas party that says Harry Christmas. I also made one that says Harry Potter but I also made a similar Harry Birthday banner. If you scroll down a little further you will see the printouts.

You can see examples of the Christmas banner above and below.

Keep scrolling until you get to the version of Harry Potter banner that your looking for.

You can see the banner in the background. Here's my cute grandson with his Harry Potter Aragog Legos that he got for Christmas.

To make a banner for yourself just click on the picture to make it large. Then right click and save it into your photos or copy and paste it into your printing program.

Harry Potter Banner

Print on card stock and then cut it out, punched holes in the corner and strung it with jute, string or ribbon.

If you love banners check out my entire selection.

Print on card stock and then cut it out, punched holes in the corner and strung it with jute, string or ribbon.

Harry Christmas

Harry Birthday

Here's a blank one for your

to add your own words

Here are some of my other Harry Potter projects.

Everything is free and easy to do.

Just click on the picture to go to the link.

Hot Butterbeer Recipe and free Hot Butterbeer Label

2018-12-26T15:45:00.003-08:00

Hot Butterbeer was a must at our Harry Potter Christmas party. I couldn't find any that I wanted to make. They all seemed to include cream soda, and I hate cream soda. I decided to create my own with a homemade caramel base. Here's the recipe that I came up with. To print it just copy it and print it from your printing program or save it into your pictures.

Here is a cute label to use when you serve it

I made the cutest personalized mugs to serve my hot Butterbeer in. You need to check it out.

Check out my other Harry Potter ideas.

Just click on the picture to see the link.

Thank you for visiting Holly's Home!

Harry Potter Potion Labels Free Printable

2018-12-07T16:16:00.004-08:00

Here is yet another version of Harry Potter potion labels. Mine are a little different because I added color to some of them. I just have to be different. You can also print them large for soda pop.

I found these awesome glitter bottles at the 99 cent only store. These have saved me so much time and money. That's when I thought that it would be fun to create my own labels.

If you want to use them also just click on the picture to make it large. Right click and save them into your pictures. You could also copy and paste it into your favorite printing program.

Size the labels to fit the bottles you are using. I had to decrease the size quite a bit to get them to fit the tiny bottles. I printed mine on a cream colored paper to make them look aged.

You can use the larger version on the 2 liter soda pop bottles. The fun thing about the labels being in color is that you can match the pop up with the label color.

To use it on pop bottles you will need to print out one or two per page. The pumpkin juice label I just pulled off of Google images.

Here is a link to the file on Google Docs to print out

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rewykUkG1en_HpUNCmO0T9i23p3hRG1-pAkVyeeHjjc/edit?usp=sharing

Here are the printouts:

If you love these potion printouts then you will LOVE my Harry Potter direction signs. Be sure to check them out by clicking here!

Thank you for visiting Holly's Home!

I have so many other Harry Potter ideas

that I finally had to have a page to store them all.

I have also included more than fifty other great Harry Potter ideas that can be found on the web.

Check them all out here.

Make some fun English Party Crackers (poppers) for your Harry Potter Party.

Here's a delicious Hot Butterbeer Recipe that you can use. Just click on the picture to magically get the yummy recipe.

Here are my other Harry Potter ideas:

My Harry Potter Christmas Tree and Ornament Tutorial, Cheap and Easy Ideas From the Dollar Store.

2018-12-04T21:30:00.004-08:00

This year we are celebrating Christmas with a Harry Potter theme. I have had so much fun thinking of ways to decorate my tree. I think that I have unleashed my inner witch and I can't seem to stop making things. Here is what I have done so far.

My Harry Potter Christmas Tree

If you are looking for a really fun Harry Potter game check out my Harry Potter Minute to Win it Game.

I want to thank the amazing Harry Potter community for all of their wonderful ideas, tutorials and printouts. You guys are absolutely AMAZING! I will give credit to every blogger who has helped me with these fun ideas.

Hedwig Tree Topper

I will start with my tree topper. I actually have a cage for Hedwig, but I could not seem to think of any other way to top my tree. The branches I bought at the 99 cent only store. They had gold spiders on them, which I cut off and used as ornaments. The bow is from a large copper colored burlap ribbon bolt that I got on clearance last year at Sam's club. I knew that it would come in handy! I noticed that Sam's is carrying the same ribbon this year.

Butterbeer Cups and Cauldrons

The butterbeer cup I got on clearance at Kmart a few years ago. I painted the ice cubes with a yellow metallic paint. I brushed on a little gold paint so it wasn't so yellow. The labels I got off the internet. I just made them small, cut them out and glued them on the mug. The cauldrons are from Party City. At first I put tea lights and yellow tissue paper in them. After I hung them on the tree I decided to tuck a Christmas light into it so that it would shine all the time.

Owls and the Ford Anglia

The first owl I picked up at Kmart on clearance, but the second owl came from the dollar store. I actually think that it's cuter. The owl cage is from the 99 cent only store. The Harry Potter Ford Anglia Car is a free print out that I got off of Shepherd's Pie Blog.

HAVE YOU SEEN THIS WIZARD?

Ornaments

My favorite decorations so far are the Azkaban Prison signs. I made one for all 17 members of my family and extended family.

To make them I just googled the sign and saved it in my photos. Then I took pictures of my family and photoshopped the Azkaban prison sign in front of them. I moved the Azkaban sign a little bit in each picture. Just that small thing made them seem more authentic. I cropped the picture and I placed it over the Sirius Black picture. I laminated the cards so that they look like trading cards. I made an extra set cards for each person to have one to take home.

Harry Potter Books and Scabbers

Do you see Scabbers hiding in the background? I got him at the
99 cent store! That's also where I got all the skeleton mice, plus a few other Halloween decorations that I thought would add a nice touch.

My other favorite ornaments are the miniature Harry Potter books. I got the covers from AmericanGirlIdeas.com. She has all 7 books. I printed and cut out all the book covers. Then to make the book insides I used cardstock that I cut to fit the book.

Each book took about 2 sheets of white cardstock. I used a light blue stock on the edges to imitate the hardcover of the book because it just seems wrong to not make it like there is a real book inside. Fold just the book binding of the book cover so that you know where to glue the pages. After you've glued the pages then fold over the book flaps. I think this the touch that make the book seem real.

I guess if you were really obsessive compulsive that you could photocopy pages of the book and shrink them down to fit.

Harry Potter Brooms

My next project was to make some brooms. Using what I had, which was rafia, bamboo, 20 gauge wire, and a glue gun, I created the broom.

I folded the rafia and glued it to the bottom of the bamboo. I did a double layer of rafia so that it looked nice and full. When I was finished I thought that I should have gone with a third layer, but, oh well. Once the rafia was all on I soaked it in water, then twisted it. This is when I cut it on an angle. To finish it off I took the wire and wrapped it around the top of the rafia three times, leaving about 1/2" on both sides sticking out. Then I curved the wires down to look like the Harry Potter Broom.

The Snitch

By now I'm getting tired, so I just want to finish up my ornaments. What Harry Potter tree would be right without a snitch? I used a piece of gold wire ribbon and painted it with glitter fabric puff paint. When it dried I folded it over and cut out both wings at the same time so that they would be identical. By this time I just "winged" it and cut a few scallop edges and estimated how big to make them. Luckily they turned out nice. I glued them on to the ornament with a glue gun. I ended up using this Snitch for my Harry Potter Minute to Win It Wizarding Games.

I found these plastic wings at the 99 cent store and knew I just had to make another snitch.

I cut the wings shorter using a wire cutter.

I glued the wings on to a small ornament using the E6000 glue. Before I glued the wings on I balance the ornament in the hole of some tape and then used coffee cup lids to prop up the feather. I waited for one side to dry and then repeated the process for the other side. The ornament is a little top heavy, but the tree corrects that. This might be my new favorite!

The Marauder's Map and Trunk

The cute suitcase/trunk was a printout that I got from Little Luxuries Loft. She has several cute printouts that you can use. My trunk is darker than hers because I printed it out on brown cardstock. I love the effect.

The Marauder's Map I got from Harry Potter Paraphernalia . He did an amazing job. If you go there check out his large version of the Marauder's Map. I didn't want a huge map hanging from my tree, and I didn't care if the inside was blank. I printed mine out on cream colored paper. I put four maps on a page so that they would be small.

Print on cream color paper, cut out and fold all four maps. Take a wet cotton ball and rub some brown crayola marker on it and then rub it on the map. You can practice on a sheet of paper. I also used a touch of black crayola. Let dry. I used double sided sticky tape to tape the map closed at the bottom and middle so that no one could see that it was empty but still looked like it could open. Then at the top I glue gunned the string. I finished it with a few drops of melted red crayon to cover the glue stick. Easy peasy!

Potions

I found these really cool bottles of glitter at the 99 cent store.

I made potion labels for them. If you would like to use the labels click here for a copy.

You can also print out large labels and use them for the 2 liter soda pop bottles.

Luna Lovegood Glasses and the Quibbler

What Harry Potter Christmas Tree would be complete without Luna Lovegood glasses and the Quibbler?

I googled Luna Lovegood glasses and came up with printouts for both. The link to the glasses is from LiveAbout. The Quibbler is from https://print.myscres.com/free/diy-printable-quibbler-26.html

For the lenses I used tissue paper that I glued on with a glue stick. I drew on the designs with a crayola marker.

Mad Eye Moody Ornament

So by now I just can't seem to stop myself. I needed a Mad-Eye Moody ornament. I knew I had seen one, but of course I couldn't find it when I needed it. I will link to it when I find it. So here's how I did it.

I found the fun glasses at Walmart. I cut off one of the eye frames with wire cutters and popped out the plastic eyeball. I glued a blue glass stone in the center of the eye. I used air-dry clay for the leather strap and the screws. To make the screws I took a tiny amount of the air-dry clay and made it into a ball. I flattened the ball and then took a screwdriver and put a line through the midde of the clay circle so that it looked like the top of a screw. When the clay dried I glued them onto to the frame.

I think that a cheap leather strap might have been better than the air-dry clay strap because the clay cracked a little after it was dry. I was able to glue it back together though. I spray painted the screws and the frame with gold spray paint. Then I popped in the eyeball and glued it all together with a glue gun. I love how it turned out!

Harry Potter Flying Keys

I really thought that I was done with my tree, but then I remembered the keys with wings. I bought the skeleton keys at Lowes in the door and key area.

I printed off the sheet below on pearly white paper (Walmart).

I carefully cut out the wings on used a glue gun to glue them on the keys. How easy is that?

Dobby's Feet

As I was putting up my other Christmas tree I put on the Grinch feet that I made a few years ago.

That's when I got the idea to make some Dobby feet.

See how to make these by clicking here.

House Cup Scoreboards

Would you believe that the glass jars and the candy came from the Dollar Tree! I google the house crests and printed them on paper. I cut them out and glued them onto the glass. Then I filled them with the appropriate colored candy. I had a more popular candy in Gryffindor's and everyone kept eating it so that meant Gryffindor was losing. We can't have that (even though I am a Hufflepuff) so I put in some cinnamon candy. No one eats that.

Butterbeer Mugs

I made a Butterbeer mug for everyone in my family. On one side I put their patronus. On the other side I put their names. They turned out super cute and everyone had a special gift to remember our Harry Potter party. To see how to make one just click here.

Harry Potter Party Decorations

Now that I have finished decorating my Christmas tree, it's time to decorate my house. Check out all the fun things that I did for my Harry Potter Party by clicking here.

Here are some of my other

Harry Potter Tutorials

All of my ideas are FREE of charge.

Just click on the picture to see the LINK.

Thank you for visiting Holly's Home!