Family Night- The Iron Rod

Following the rod of iron (well, string) which leads to the tree of life with the most delicious fruit (or fruit snacks) :)

More Family Home Evening Ideas for Kids

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Birthday Party Ideas

I was really excited to throw my son a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles birthday party.  In fact, I think I was just as excited as the kids were.  It was so much fun.  Since my son loves to dress up, I knew we had to have turtle costumes.  So I found cheap shirts at kohls, $1 bandanas, and all of the weapons were from the dollar store or homemade.  (For more details on homemade Ninja Turtle costumes and weapons, click here).  I also found a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles minifigure set on ebay that came with the 4 turtles, Splinter and Shredder (cost about $8).  Legos have always been my son's favoite so I knew these would be the perfect addition .

Decorations: Lots of green! Green streamers, balloons and table cloth.

Entertainment: The kids had to suit up like teenage mutant ninja turtles and then go on a scavenger hunt to rescue the birthday boy's presents that were stolen by Shredder.  This was a huge success!  The kids loved it.  Here's how we did it- there was a note on the front door saying how Shredder had stolen the birthday boy's presents.  The kids would have to get on their turtle gear and go find them  On our kitchen table (see pict above) we had the turtle shirts, bandanas and weapons laid out for each kid to put on.  There was also another note on the table from Splinter.  The note told the kids that after they put on their turtle gear, they needed to round up all of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to help.  The note gave them their first clue of where to find Leonardo.  

Each clue led them to find one of the lego turtle minifigures, which the kids had to put together and then move on to the next clue.  

After finding all 4 turtles, there was a final clue leading them to the presents and lego Shredder.  The clue warned them that Batman* had joined forces with Shredder and they would have to defeat him in order to get the presents back.

(*We chose Batman simply because he was on the inflatable socker bopper that we found at Ross for $4.  We thought the kids would have fun using their weapons to beat it up.  It was the perfect climax to our scavenger hunt).

After beating up Batman for awhile, we then got to open up presents.

Food: We of course had to have pizza- a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle necessity!  I found these dishes in target's $1 section.  I went with these over disposable dishes cause I knew my kids would use these over and again.  

We also had this ice cream cake, which is one of our family favorite's desserts!  It's easy, delicious and a perfect alternative for kids who do not like cake. 

It was the perfect Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle birthday party!  As soon as it was over, my son asked if we could do it all again the next day.  :)

Homemade Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Costumes

My son's latest obsession- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  I remember dressing up as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when I was little!  Perhaps that's part of the reason (and the fact that I'm cheap!) that I just couldn't bring myself to paying so much for the expensive turtle costumes and accessories in stores.  So here are some cheap and easy ideas of how to help your child transform into a ninja turtle!

Leonardo- blue bandana and 1 noodle cut in half.  Leonardo's actual weapons are knifey sword things... I think's that's the actual name.  :)  Ok, maybe they're actually known as twin katanas. I found foam swords at target in their dollar section that looked good, however, as my 5 year old even observed- the foam swords break easily and aren't as good for actual playing.  So we like the noodles since they hold up well as we've learned from past experience.

Rafael- red bandana and twin sai (forkey things).  For Rafael's weapon, I just cut the fork shape out of a card board box and then wrapped it with silver duct tape on top and black duct tape on the bottom.  I used 2 pieces of cardboard in each one to make it more sturdy.

(Here's a picture of the sai before I added the black duct tape)

Michelangelo- orange bandana and nunchucks.  I got lucky and found these nunchucks at the dollar store.  Before finding these dollar nunchucks, we used baby linking rings for our nunchucks.  (You can spot them in my daughter's belt in the pictures below).

Donatello- purple bandana and bo staff (noodle with black duct tape).

Turtle shirts- I found the turtle shirts at kohls for about $6 each.  (Target also had similar shirts).  You could also get plain green t-shirts if you're looking for something a little cheaper.

In my browsing, I did see several turtle masks (ranging from cheap paper ones for a few dollars to plastic masks for $10) but I passed on them and went with bandanas instead.  Not only were the bandanas cheaper and reusable, but they are far more comfortable for kids to wear and play in.

3 Happy Turtles :)

I was tempted with my son's birthday around the corner to purchase the $15 TMNT shell I saw at several stores.  But that didn't even come with a weapon and would cost another $10-20 for that. So instead I grabbed a free cardboard box from my garage and started with that.  :)

I turned the box inside out and used an x-acto knife to cut slits into the back so I could pull a ribbon through for arms straps and then knotted the ribbon on the inside.  (Wears like a backpack).  My son's favorite turtle is Leonardo, so we cut 2 circles in the top so he could store his weapons in his shell.  (This was one of his favorite parts.  I also thought of putting a belt through the shell to hold the weapon, but my son loved the idea of having slots in the shell for his weapon).  Then I taped the box shut.  And my son drew lines on the box to make it look like a shell.

  

Not quite as flashy as a TMNT shell you can purchase at the store, but for my 5 year old, he thinks it's the coolest thing ever.  And the next day, he wanted to make another one for his sister so she could be a turtle too.  :)

I recently heard the quote- "If you want your children to turn out well, spend twice as much time with them and half as much money."  I could definitely see how spending time together on this project was far more valuable than if I had just purchased the toy from the store.  My son and I had a blast making his turtle shell.  I loved hearing his creative input as we constructed it, intermixed with stories about him and his friends playing turtles at recess.  It was a fun project to do together, not to mention it saved me at least 20 bucks that I can put towards the next thing he's obsessed with.  :)  

Click here for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Birthday Party Ideas!

Ward Activity- Septemberfest

Once there was a girl who was obsessed with bratwursts.  And when this girl (who happened to be very hungry at the time) was assigned to come up with an idea for her ward's fall social, she decided to come up with an idea that would center around her love for brats.  :)  And so Septemberfest was born!  

...That really sums up how I came up with the idea for Septemberfest- a desire to eat brats and drink rootbeer- what could be better? :) 

We used similar themes and decorations of Oktoberfest- lots of good German food, blue and white decorations, but our biggest difference- homemade rootbeer instead of alcoholic beverages.  In general, we highlighted the German themes of Oktoberfest rather than the drinking, and since it took place in September (not October), we called it Septemberfest.

Here are the details (and again my apologies for lack of pictures!  I was in the nursery so I forgot to sneak in and take pictures)...

Who: All adults (*Provided a nursery, details below)

Dinner: Brats (my fave, but unfortunately expensive!  So we cut the brats in half which helped them go farther and was also nice for people who had never tried them before and just wanted a small taste), supplemented the brats with a tender Oktoberfest pork roast that turned out great and was much cheaper!  Also German potato salad, sauerkraut, soft pretzels, stroodle, and a chocolate sauerkraut cake (sounds disgusting, but it was actually a big hit and no one believed there was sauerkraut in it!) And last, but not least- homemade root beer.  Click here for some of the recipes.

Entertainment:  There was a short comical, German melodrama performed with ward members.  Also had fun German music playing in the background.

Decorations: Hung up blue and white streamers (popular colors of Oktoberfest).  Also had fall pumpkins and leaves as centerpieces.  Kept it fairly simple since we were focusing more on the food.

Nursery: We really wanted to get as many adults to come as possible!  So we heavily advertised that we would be having a nursery with snacks and fun activities so that way- adults with kids wouldn't feel inconvenienced and the kids wouldn't feel left out.  So we brought some of the themes from the activity to the nursery!  We hung a few streamers up in the nursery and the kids already felt like it was a party.  (Love how easily amused kids are!) :)  We started the evening with the kids by showing them a globe and briefly talking about how Jesus created the earth and how there are countries all around the world.  I loved the kids' responses when I asked them if anyone could tell me the name of a country.  I think there was one legitimate response intermixed with others such as Texas, Utah, and Disneyland. :)  We talked about Germany (since that was the theme of the adults' party.  Again, this was all very brief, no more than 5 minutes).  Then we gave each kid a piece of paper and crayons with the instructions to come up with their own country name and design a flag for their country.  When they were done, we let each kid show off their flag.  Then we had everyone represent their country in our own mini olympics.  We had the shotput (throwing cottonballs), the javelin (throwing straws), diving (standing on a chair and dropping a lego minifigure into a cup).  And last, but not least, the pedometer race.  We tied pedometers onto each child's head and gave them 30 seconds to see who could get the highest number.  This was classic to watch.  :)

The kids loved the little activities.  They kept asking to do each event multiple times.  After our Olympic events, we took it easy and watched the beginning of a movie and ate snacks.  

Our Septemberfest fall social was great!  The food was delicious and I was a happy girl eating my brats! :)

Family Night- Samuel the Lamanite

Our family loves acting out stories from the scriptures for family night.  Not only does it bring the scriptures to life, but it helps the kids remember the stories better.  

For this family night, we acted out the story of Samuel the Lamanite.  I hung some saran wrap from the ceiling to protect our Samuel from getting hit since, as the song goes, arrows (or balls) could not hit him for a man of God was he.  

Lightsaber Popsicles

Anyone who has talked to my 5 year old son for more than 2 minutes knows that he is obsessed with Star Wars!  So when a friend showed me these lightsaber popsicles, I of course had to make them for my family.  They are super easy and fast to make.  All you need is felt, scissors and a glue gun.  

I was amazed that you couldn't feel the cold otter pop underneath the felt at all.  My kids have always complained about cold hands with otter pops, so this idea was not only fun but brilliant as well.  What a perfect summer treat!  (And a great idea for a Star Wars themed birthday party!)

Warning: These lightsaber popsicles might lead to lightsaber battles breaking out so do not leave children unsupervised. :)

Summer Do a Dot Printables

 Here are some fun summer do a dot printables!

 

      

(To save or print, click on the image you want. It will take you to the pdf that you can save or print. For personal use only).

For more free do a dot printables click here