Sharing recipes, crafts and frugal living, the challenges and triumphs of parenting a neurotypical child and a child on the Autism Spectrum. Yoga Instructor said goodbye to her nightly glass of Chardonnay to give up habits that were not serving her purpose in life! The CocktailMom name remains, however with a new focus on healthy and authentic living.

9/30/2013

Lorax Family Halloween Costumes


First let me begin by saying I have such creative friends! Last year when I saw my dear friends dressed in these awesome Lorax costumes I had to snap a picture to then share with my CocktailMom readers. It is such a creative and low cost family costume. 
For the parents; to make the pom pom tree tops from the Lorax, Sara told me she consulted Martha Stewart's Pom-Pom directions. Yellow construction paper adhered to a black t-shirt completed the look.   Easy!

The little girl dressed as the Lorax is wearing all orange and Sara purchased the fleece hat on Etsy. A quick search on etsy and you can find crochet, fleece and all kinds of creative Lorax hats already made if you don't feel like making your own. I imagine that if you can sew a fleece hat you could use felt to make the Lorax eyes and mustache. The wee little one is wearing a bear one piece costume, which can be easily replicated by wearing all brown (top and pants) and a brown fleece hat with tiny ears.

What a creative way to go out trick or treating as a family. Thanks creative friends! Happy Halloween!

9/26/2013

Frozen Chocolate Covered Bananas


As I was shopping at the grocery store I saw that Dole is now making chocolate covered frozen banana bites. Which to me is the most ridiculous thing to purchase because it's so easy to just make your own. And the cost savings is HUGE!

All you need to do is:

  • slice a banana into bike sized pieces.
  • melt one cup of creamy peanut butter and one cup of chocolate chips (you choose the style of chocolate you prefer), mix together.
  • using a chopstick, put a banana piece on the chopstick and dip into the melted chocolate.
  • place each piece of dipped banana on a cookie sheet with wax paper.
  • place the cookie sheet in your freezer for several hours or overnight.
  • ENJOY!
Once frozen the banas bites can be moved to a plastic storage container in your freezer. It's a delicious treat and the banana actually takes like ice cream. And by adding peanut butter you are getting some protein while enjoying a sweet treat.

9/25/2013

Embroidered Pillowcases




Last year for Christmas I wanted to give everyone the same type of gift, no jealousy between the families or family members. Which can be a difficult task to find a craft item to make for both women and men. So I decided on embroidered pillowcases. Everyone has a pillow to sleep on and needs a pillowcase.

I pulled images of embroidery flowers off of Pinterest and copied them onto paper making my own patterns, mixing different flowers and using a combination of colors that I thought would compliment the recipients bedroom.

The cost of buying pillowcases for each person, turned my money saving, crafty gift in a different direction. When the crafty gift reaches a certain dollar amount I have to ask myself, "is this worth making or should I just buy something?".

So I decided to make each of the pillowcases as well. You do not need a lot of sewing machine skill to make pillowcases, this is an easy project for a beginner sewer. Most of the pillowcases were a solid white cotton and a select few had an additional color fabric added.

I loved how they turned out, each gift was unique and I was able to complete them all while watching TV or waiting for my child's extracurricular activity to finish.

9/24/2013

Routine


This is a yoga instructor's child.
Sitting in a box from Costco that has been decorated as a rocketship,
 licking a lollipop while reading a book about kids yoga.
Oh I just love him!

9/19/2013

Hot Kitty Heating Pad for Kids



I made these cute heating pads for all the kids in our family this past Christmas. I drew the pattern out on paper, I knew I wanted a simple animal that was also a bit gender neutral. Boys and girls can both love cats but give a boy a bunny and for whatever reason he deems it a "girl stuffed animal". 

I used felt for the eyes and nose and holiday fabric that I had in my stash left over from the Christmas Tree Skirt and the Christmas Stockings. Each kitty was filled with rice, purchased in bulk at Costco, and culinary lavender. The lavender when heated smells fantastic and helps calm wee ones when they are feeling anxious before going to bed. I put the message below on a tag on each kitty so that the parents would know what to do with it.

Make a Hot Kitty for a special someone in your life!  
Hot Kitty!
The warmth of a heating pad can soothe a child's achy muscles or ease the pain of a stomachache. It can keep you warm on a cold night, and it can even be used to gently warm up your bed before you go to sleep.
I'm certain this rice filled heating pad is not nearly as good as being held by a loving aunt, but hopefully having your very own "Hot Kitty" will remind you that you are loved! 
Have your mom or dad heat your kitty in the microwave in 20 seconds increments until it’s warm to the touch.
Merry Christmas!
Love Lauren, Gretchen, Logan and Zane


9/18/2013

Christmas Stockings



Christmas will be here before you know it! Have you had a Christmas craft to-do list that gets bigger and bigger each year, like I do? I made this Christmas Tree Skirt last year and I've been saving the leftover fabric in order to make matching stockings. This year I am ready!

I simply traced the current store bought stockings that we had because I knew they were the perfect size and used fleece red fabric, mainly because it will hold heavy items and also because I wouldn't have to line the whole stocking!

Do the stockings match perfectly? No. Was that on purpose? I'd be lying if I said yes.

Embrace the simple! Let go of the expectation to live up to Martha Stewart standards and just cross the item off your to-do list. In the end they are your stockings, aren't they?

Go ahead- pull out your fabric and get to work!


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