Mini pumpkin pies

 I wanted to try something new for a christmas party we were going to. It was a pot luck with grab and go appetizers and I was in charge of a dessert. I thought it would be a good idea to make mini pumpkin pies instead of a large one that needs to be cut, put on a plate and eaten with a fork. 
These minis were great finger foods and a big hit at the party!


First, I rolled out the pre made pie crust onto a cutting board. 
Then, using a wine glass I cut out circles. Of course, if you have cookie cutters, that works too. 

 Using a non-stick cupcake pan I put the circles into each spot. 

 using the left over dough, I balled it together and rolled it out again to cut out more circles. 

 Simply fill each one with your favorite pumpkin pie recipe, cook to directions and ENJOY :)

Hallway Christmas Decorations: Santa's Sleigh

During the holiday season my elementary school staff has a door decorating contest. There is a prize for the best door and the best hallway. 
Since my 4th grade hallway had 8 doors in it, we decided to turn the hallway into Santa's sleigh. 

Rudolph was of course leading the pack. 

To make each reindeer we put butcher paper on the board to trace an enlarged projected image of one from the internet. Cut it out and then retraced it 7 more times for each door. 

We each took a picture of ourselves to post on the head of our reindeer--we tried to make a face to go along with the personality of the reindeer we had. 

And topped off our face with a puffball nose. 

And, of course, Santa at the end leading his team. 

We got second place :)

Baby gender reveal

My co-teaching partner, Kiran, is having a baby! I convinced her to let me do a gender reveal photo shoot for her. Her and her husband own a party store PARTYlicious, so getting all the supplies was free :) 

At first she wanted to fill a piñata with candy colored the gender of her baby, but I thought about a confetti popper would be better. 

The poppers only came in bold colors; blue, yellow, USA and red. This would be challenging to do if it happened to be a girl. 

We bought 2 poppers with white papers inside, tissue paper and confetti colored in both colors. I was going to replace the inside of the popper when I found out the gender. 

She had her ultra sound doctor put the gender on a piece of paper in a sealed envelope to give to me. 

supplies: (all found at a party store)

tissue paper (only a few pieces to fill the tube, I over estimated :) )

metallic grass

paper cutter or scissors

confetti popper

black contact paper

 The popper has a foil cover, this is not needed, remove it to take out the confetti.

 Cut the tissue paper and grass into small pieces. Try inserting the confetti into the tube in stacks like this, so more can fit in. 

 Cover the tube with tin foil 

 

Cover the tube with black chalkboard contact paper. 

 Decorate the outside to make them suspicious :)

Let the magic happen :)

Clearly...IT'S A GIRL :)