Category Archives: Holidays

Holiday’s // St Patricks Day Dinner Ideas

March 16, 2015

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

St. Patrick’s Day is a fun holiday for my little family. It’s the anniversary of the first day my husband and I met, so it’s kind of like the anniversary of our family in a way. I thought I would share some fun St. Patrick’s Day Ideas, and some fun green food ideas for the holiday!

I always like to pull of a festive feast for my family on holidays if I can. I try to make sure that it is something that I want to do for them, instead of looking at it as a chore. But, really I truly do like to see their faces of excitement when they see the festive table! I think maybe because my parents grew up in France and Vietnam, so many holidays are a little foreign to them. While we celebrated many, things weren’t over the top, so maybe that’s why I tend to go a little that way. It’s fun for me to live and experience the holidays right along with my children!

My daughter Norah especially loves to help me set up for holidays. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, huh?. She loves to help me set the table, and often plans parties as part of her pretend play. So cute!

I set up as many green items to go with the St. Patrick’s Day theme as much as possible.

Green rolls, green grapes, gold coins, green mint and chocolate chip cookies.

For the rest of the food, we had my favorite Kale caesar salad (all ingredients can be found at Harmons Grocery) with crostini’s, green tortellini with pesto sauce, and steamed broccoli. The beauty is you can homemake, or store buy many items depending on how much time you have, and you can pull of this festive spread without too much work involved! I always turn to my party supply box, and as always being a hoarder pays off for me, wink!

Kale Caesar Salad with Crostini Croutons

For the Salad

Combine:

Kale

Crumbled Crostini’s from Harmons Grocery

Grated Parmesean Cheese

For the Lemon Caesar Dressing:

Juice of 1 Lemon

1/2 tsp lemon zest

2 tablespoons Garlic olive oil from Harmons Grocery (sciabica’s brand)

1 teaspoon minced garlic

3 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese

2 shakes cayenne pepper (more or less depending if you like a kick)

1 cup olive oil

Whisk all together well, and toss over Kale, crostini’s and parmesan cheese.

Enjoy! And, Hope you have an amazing St. Patrick’s Day!

{all photos by me}

DIY // Banana Class Valentine Free Printables

February 12, 2015

Armelle Blog Banana Valentines Free Valentines Free Printable Non-candy Valentines

I have one last Valentine printable to share with you today. My friend Kersey gave me one of these rad banana pens, at Alt Summit a few weeks back. I tracked them down because I knew they would be a perfect little something for my kids to give to their friends at school for Valentine’s day.

I love to give out non-candy class Valentine’s, since there are so many food allergy nowadays, so an allergy free Valentine is a great option too!

You will need:

Yellow Cardstock paper

Scissors

Banana pens or favors (I found some cute banana candies from Oriental Trading that we also gave out, you could also give out real bananas for a healthy option!)

Washi tape (optional)

Lip and tape cellophane bags

1) Print the free PDF download for the Banana “I like you a BUNCH” Valentine onto yellow card stock paper. Click here to download. (please let me know if you are having trouble downloading the printable) -Just a reminder that these Valentine Printables are for Personal Use only. You may not sell these for money or alter. Copyright Armelle Blog 2015.

2) Cut out the Valentines.

3) “Pair” it with your favorite banana item. (You could even give out real bananas!)

Like I said, these banana pens and candy are just adorable, but you could easily give a real banana to your Valentine, easy as that!

I love these little cellophane bags with the lip with tape that seals in the back, I sealed it, then added a little washi tape back there. (all sources in items list)

Hope you enjoy!

I just love putting together class Valentine’s for my children! And, having non-candy options is always fun!

{all photos by me}

DIY // Slam Dunk Basketball Class Valentine’s Day Printables

February 10, 2015

Boy Valentine Basketball Valentine Free Printable Valentine Free Valentine Cards // Non Candy Valentine

This post contains affiliate links.

We are in Valentine mode over here at our house, and I wanted to share with you some Valentine’s I’m putting together for my children to pass out to their friends at school.

My oldest Ezra is quite the sports fanatic, so I knew that anything to do with sports, he would be in!

I saw some cute basketball Valentine’s over on Minted, but of course didn’t get my act together to get them ordered in time, so I put together my own version of the Slam Dunk Valentine!

I also came across these fun basketball pens over on Oriental Trading. I knew my Ezra would be obsessed with them since they resemble one of his favorite toys, the Kendama (He also sells Kendama’s, he’s quite the little business man)

There are so many little basketball items you could use instead out there. Small foam balls, dollar store balls, basketball stickers, basketball chocolates, basketball bouncy balls. Just browse your local dollar store or party store, and I’m sure there will be a lot of choices.

I tried to make these simple with just black ink so anyone could print them off, and not need a color printer. The key is to use orange card stock paper to print them on so they resemble little basketballs! I think the textured orange card stock is cool since it looks kind of like the texture of a real basketball!

You will need to download the free printable, and print it onto orange card stock paper.

Download the free printable, by clicking here.

I also just need to remind my readers that when I offer free printable downloads, it takes me a long time to create, and it is my property. I am allowing you to use them for your personal use only. It is not ok to alter, or sell this file or use for commercial use in any way. I feel bad that I have to point this out, but recently it came to my attention that someone was selling my free printables on Etsy using my photos and downloads. I can’t imagine why people would think that it is ok to steal someones work to sell? But, just don’t do it. Because the internet is a small world, and people always find out. Plus, my lawyer husband will have to write you a letter, and let’s just not have to do that, ok? Anyhow, moving on..