Children love to decorate for all holidays and they love to
help out in the kitchen and make crafts.
The following cover all three of these areas for some
special family fun!

Valentines Day Popcorn Cake

1 cup butter
32 marshmallows
16 cups popped popcorn
1 cup conversation heart candy
1 cup chocolate covered peanuts
1 cup red hot candies

Melt butter and marshmallows in a large heavy pan over low
heat. Stir often.
Put popcorn into large pan. Pour marshmallow mixture over
top. Stir and mix well. Add peanuts and candy. Mix together.

Put mixture into a well greased angel food cake pan or cake
pan.
The deeper the pan the better the cake will look when you
place it on your cake plate.

Valentines Day Candy House

Get your family together and make these adorable Valentines
Day houses.

Each person will need the following:
a sturdy paper plate to sit their house on,
a small square box such as a pint size milk or juice carton
enough graham crackers to cover their boxes

Everyone will need easy access to the following:
Melted white chocolate to use for glue
Arrangement of bowls of candies and other edible decorations
such as:
Conversation hearts, chocolate kisses, pretzels, red, pink &
white sprinkles, colored sugars, red hots, coconut,

How to Put the House Together:
Simply paint the crackers and the box with the melted white
chocolate and put the crackers where you want them on the
house in order to cover it. For the roof it is easier to
just lay the graham cracker down flat instead of trying to
angle 2 together for the roof.

Then use the melted chocolate to adhere the candies to the
house.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar for a frosting of light snow.

Display your Valentines Day town for all to see.
Don’t forget to get some pictures of the cute houses and the
fun time making them.

Article by:
Angela Billings is the founder of Home and Family Ezine and invites you to visit for more Valentines Day articles www.homeandfamilyezine.com/valentines-articles.html

Why spend the money on those boring party invitations that everyone uses when you can make your own!

Scrapbook stores are the perfect place to go when you want to make your own party invitations. All you have to do is visit a scrapbook supply store and your creativity will spark with ideas.

Handmade party invitations are not only fun and easy to make, but they are personal. Your kids will love making their own party invitations to hand out to all their friends.

First, start with the basics: blank 3”x5” or 4”x6” cards. You can find these in any scrapbook supply store. They come packaged with blank envelopes. Next, browse the aisles and buy stickers, punches, markers, and whatever other fun things you see to make your party invitations in the following themes:

SPORTS
Use soccer, football, basketball or baseball stickers or page sets. Create a fun sports theme on the front and include the party information inside the card.

CHARACTERS
If your kids love animated characters, such as Elmo, Rugrats or Lazy Town, use these to create character-themed party invitations. Include bright borders and sticker confetti to add flare to the card covers.

PRINCESS
What girl doesn’t love anything princess? Use crown stickers, pink and purple confetti stickers, and heart punches to create pretty, princess invitations.

TEA PARTY
You can find cute teacup page sets and use these to create pretty invitations. If you want to get really fancy, trace a teacup template around the outside of your blank cards first. Then cut the cards to make them look like teacups. You might even include a fancy napkin inside the card.

Creating crafts with your kids can be a fun, yet educational process. There are so many ways that crafting can help your kids to learn things they didn’t know. Here are just a few ways your kids can learn through creating crafts:

Introduce new things – Making crafts is a really good way to introduce something new to your child. For example, if you’re crafting with a toddler, you can incorporate a new letter of the alphabet with each craft you make together.

The art of discovery – Let your kids experiment in their crafts. Let them try new things, or different ways of doing something they already know how to do. When your kid has that moment of discovery while crafting, it will cause them to want to craft more. What better way for your kid to discover something, than while crafting with you?

Coordination skills – For younger children who are still learning to use hand-eye coordination, crafts can be a very useful way to enhance these skills. From holding crayons and paint brushes, to gluing together a popsicle stick house, your child can practice their coordination skills.

Build on what they know – If you have an older child, crafts are a good way to help them build on the knowledge they already have. Use more advanced crafts to enhance your kid’s learning ability. For example, if your fifth-grader likes making cute bracelets, incorporate a math lesson into her next beaded bracelet craft session.

Crafting has long been a great way to bond with kids. These days kids are so consumed with technology that they often don’t even know what making crafts means.

Make a connection – If you are having trouble connecting with your child, try crafting with her. Find a fun craft that you know she will enjoy and block out some special time with her. Crafting together is an easy way to get one-on-one time with your kids and find out what’s going on in their minds.

Give emotional support – As you craft together, your child will probably be more willing to open up and talk to you about things that are on his mind. If there is something bothering your child and he opens up and shares his problem with you during your craft time, give him emotional support. Offer your advice and let him know that you are there for him, unconditionally.

Keep it light and fun – If you craft with your child specifically for the purpose of bonding with her, keep your craft time fun. Try not to obsess about how perfect she’s painting or getting the bead glued on just right. Keep your craft time relaxed.

Encourage and stay interested – Many adults suffer from low self-esteem as a direct result of their parents’ negative attitude towards them during childhood. As you craft with your kids, be interested in what they’re doing. Kids love to share their artwork. Be encouraging and pay positive comments to your kid about their craft. Show them that you are interested in them.

Kids of all ages love to craft. If you have younger kids, here are some really fun craft ideas to try with them:

FINGER PAINTING
All kids love the messy feeling of finger painting. Put an old shirt or paper apron on your kid before giving them the paints. For an even less-messy clean-up, take your kids outside and sit them under a tree in the cool shade to paint.

PLAYDOUGH ART
Another favorite of kids is play dough and clay. Lay newspaper on the floor and give your kids small tubs of their favorite-colored play dough. Encourage them to create sculptures with their fun dough.

SOCK PUPPET SHOW
Sock puppets are easy to make. Just glue on a pair of wiggle eyes and make a nose and mouth from felt. Then add a sprout of hair, made with colorful yarn. Make several of these sock puppets out of different sizes of socks and let your kids put on a sock puppet show for you.

PIPE CLEANER FUN
Buy a couple of packs of colorful pipe cleaners and let your kids create art with them. You will be amazed at what they can make from something this simple!

NOODLE ART
Give your kids a sheet of construction paper and a mound of dry macaroni noodles (any fun-shaped dry noodle will work for this craft). Let them draw a picture on their paper with a pencil or crayon first. Then glue around the outline of their picture with white school glue. Let them place their noodles on top of the glue to create a fun noodle art picture.

Christmas is a wonderful time to bring your family together. Many families establish certain rituals that are attached to specific holidays. This year, spice up your holidays with some fun family Christmas activities.

Christmas Caroling - Christmas carolers are almost a thing of the past. This year, gather your family, bundle up to keep warm, and go Christmas caroling through your local community. Be sure to visit your local nursing home, as they love these types of holiday celebrations.

Make a Gingerbread House - A gingerbread house is a very fun way to involve your family in a long-loved Christmas tradition. Bake the pieces to your gingerbread house, then let the entire family construct and decorate the house.

Make Handmade Christmas Cards – Instead of buying your Christmas cards, make your own this year. You can purchase all the materials you’ll need at your local scrapbook shop or craft store. Buy blank note cards then decorate them. Insert your family’s Christmas photo inside each card before you mail them out to family and friends.

Lighting of the Tree - A fun family Christmas activity is to make it a special occasion to erect and light your family’s Christmas tree. Plan a special day of family fun. At the end of the day, gather your family to decorate and light the Christmas tree. Then, sit around your beautifully decorated tree and read the Christmas story while you sip on eggnog or hot cocoa.