Parties draw crowds mainly because of the food. Yeah, it’s fun to go to a birthday party to see the balloons and streamers, but it’s the cake and ice cream that really brings the guests.

Football parties are the same way. Anyone can watch football at their own house, but if there are Super Bowl foods and treats being offered, that’s where the football fans will flock. If you’re planning your own party, you need to have some good ideas for the kind of snacks and treats that will keep your guests happy.

Bacon wrapped franks are very popular and will disappear as fast as you bring them out. All you need are little franks, bacon, ketchup, brown sugar, and a casserole dish. Wrap the little franks in the bacon and pour brown sugar over them all, in the dish, with a drizzle of ketchup.

Cook them in the oven, covered, for about 20-30 minutes, just long enough to crisp the bacon.  Just make sure you make enough, because they will go fast.

Another great snack, for dessert, is dirt and worms. You take chocolate pudding, crumbled up Oreos and gummy worms and serve them in a paper cup, with a spoon.

Finally, monkey cupcakes are a blast! Cut Nutter Butters in half, to make the monkey ears. Use half of a Nilla wafer for the background for the mouth, M&M’s for the eyes, and then frosting drizzle to make the lips, eyes, hair, and nose. Then, sit back and enjoy the compliments on your awesome party treats.

Holiday pictures of the baby in the Santa suit are becoming passé. Small children do not feel comfortable in those stuffy suits anyway, and you want your baby to smile for the photo. Babies who feel uncomfortable won’t be very cheerful for a photographer.

Small babies tend to spit up, as everyone knows. So, it is a good idea to place a large bib on your baby until just when the photo shoot begins. Better still, dress you baby in something different and then change him or her into the holiday outfit when you’re ready for pictures.

For little girls in the crawling stage, watch out for overly long dresses or skirts. Once you set your toddler down for a second, she may get caught on the hem and fall, making for an unhappy photo subject. Consider leggings, a shorter dress with tights, or a cute diaper cover under a small skirt.

For all toddlers, avoid white or light collars, as they stain easily. New shoes can be cute for a photo shoot, but only if you preserve them until that day, because toddlers are very effective at scuffing new shoes.

Finally, think comfort. You want to see that dimply grin in spite of the strange atmosphere and flashing lights. So, you’ll have to compromise somewhere. That ruffled dress or button up vest may need to be exchanged for softer clothing.

However, more and more clothing manufacturers are catching on to the fact that dress-up clothes don’t need to be uncomfortable. So, look around and see if you can find something comfortable that can still bring the “Oohs! And Aahs!” that you want, when you pass your baby’s holiday picture around.

High school graduation happens only once in a lifetime, at least for most of us. And for the young person, it may be the most exciting and at the same time nerve-wracking experience he or she has ever had. Make it special and a lot more fun by helping your teen throw a graduation costume party.

Start by learning the time the graduation ceremony is anticipated to end, so you can plan when the guests will arrive. Second, you will need to talk with your teenager about the theme. What about a 1920’s gangster party or an Arabian nights party?

Once you have your theme, you will need to send out invitations. Homemade invitations are a lot more fun than premade cards. If you have selected a theme for the costume party, you can make the invitations even more fun by using special paper and scrapbooking supplies to theme the invitations to match.

Make sure to indicate, on the invitations, that it is a themed costume party. The guests will need to know what they are expected to wear.

Now comes the fun part- planning the party. You will need food and drinks. If you have the Arabian nights party, why not plan on ordering some middle-eastern food to go? If you have the 1920’s gangster party, how about some cocktail glasses (with sprite) and some cocktail weenies to match? Finger foods are always a hit with the teens.

Lastly, you will need decorations to fit the theme of your party. For Arabian nights, how about some colorful pillows for seating? For the 1920’s gangster party, black and white will work for an old-fashioned piano lounge feel.

Halloween doesn’t need to cost a fortune. And homemade costumes don’t have to be that difficult to make either. Here is a really original and surprisingly simple solution for homemade Halloween costumes for your whole family. 

How about a Lego family? Dress up your whole family as a set of matching Lego blocks, without breaking the bank. Start by finding some unwanted boxes at a store or restaurant. Make sure you have one to fit from the neck to the legs of each family member.

Now, you’ll need to tape up the boxes, leaving a hole in the bottom for legs to come out and move freely, and cutting another hole in the top for the head to fit through. Finally, cut some circles into the front section of the box for the connector pieces.

You’ll make the Lego connector pieces with plastic Solo cups. Make sure they fit through the holes neatly. For smaller children, you’ll only need four holes, to make a smaller Lego. For adults or older children, use six holes and cups.

Finally, paint each Lego a different color like yellow, blue, green, red, and white, with the cups taped in place securely. Use spray paint for the easiest and quickest paint job. Once you finish that, all you need are some long sleeve shirts and some stretchy pants, tights, or sweat pants in matching colors. You will find that you get many compliments on your Lego family.

If you want to do something different for your child’s party this year, consider a cookie decoration party. Instead of doing the treats yourself, before everyone gets there, you can have the kids do most of the work!

Start with a cookie dough base. Oatmeal cookie dough makes a great cookie pizza. Roll the dough and make it into a pizza shape on a 12” pizza pan. If you don’t have a pizza pan, you can substitute with a cookie sheet or brownie pan.

Chocolate chips and coconut can be baked into the cookie pizza. Follow the instructions for the cookie recipe you selected. Once it is finished baking, let it cool before the guests arrive.

Before the party, you’ll need to buy some M&M’s, frosting (or make your own), food coloring (to mix the frosting in small bowls of different colors), candy corn, sprinkles, and/or other little treats to decorate the cookie pizza slices.

Slice the cookie pizza into individual slices and give them to each of the children to decorate. You may end up needing more than one cookie pizza, depending upon how many children you invite. Then, just sit back and supervise while they have a blast decorating their own slice of cookie pizza.

4^th of July parties are famous for the food. Usually, a barbeque is the order of the day, while the usual side dishes like potato salad, Jell-O, and chips and dip decorate the table.

This year, you can try something different. If you want to get some “Oohs!” and Aahs!” without a lot of time and expense, try some of the following ideas. You can start with some sugar cookies, premade, from a mix, or from scratch.

Decorate a number of the sugar cookies with one half red and the other white, until you have constructed the stripes section of the American flag. Then decorate the remainder with blue icing and white stars. Arrange them on a tray, to appear like the flag and people will think you put a lot of thought and effort into it.

Find a diagram online for carving melons into fun shapes. Watermelon baskets are fun, but you can also cut other shapes as well. Use a melon baller to shape the edible part of the melon, or better yet, cut 1-inch thick slices of the melon and use small star-shaped cookie cutters for bite-size pieces.

Stuffed potatoes are so much more fun if they are red, white, and blue. How do you do it? Simply use the potato as the white part, dye some sour cream with blue food coloring, and use diced red peppers to sprinkle on top. With a little ingenuity and a few inexpensive ingredients, you can make almost any dish patriotic.

Who doesn’t love a 4^th of July party? Handheld sparklers for the kids, a barbeque for the adults, and dropped hot dogs and unattended plates of food for the family dog.

IF you’re hoping for some creative ideas for this year’s patriotic bash, you can consider some of the following options. One thing that not many people do, but is really popular with the kids, is to rent an inflatable slide pool.

The kids can get all wet sliding down the inflatable slide to the pool below. Most of the inflatable rental companies set it all up for you. You just pay for it and sit back while they do the work.

Another option is to have a cookout competition. You can assign all your guests to bring a competitive dish, for a potluck, and then everyone can vote later on the best one. If you’re worried about a biased vote, just have all the kids vote on their favorite dish.

Old fashioned games can be some of the most memorable like potato sack or three-legged races, or egg and spoon team races. Or have you considered hiring a clown that can make animal balloons for the kids? Some of these ideas are so simple to implement, but can truly make a memorable 4^th of July party.