New Year's Eve Party Ideas

New Year's Eve is here and I thought why not give you some simple ideas. I usually pass the New Year with my kids so of course you have to plan some fun activities for them. Let's get started! I'd like to first focus on the main entrance. I would have a small side table setup (as shown below) with champagne filled glasses and lite decor with black, white and gold. To include the kids you can add smaller glasses and fill it with sparkling apple cider. You can also have a tray filled with the new year #s like glasses, party hats, noise makers, etc.

(photo credit: http://lovebugsandpostcards.com/new-years-eve-party-ideas/)

Christmas Celebration

I hope you all had a wonderful time on this momentous holiday. I had an amazing time with friends and family. I wanted to share a few photos of the yummy treats I made with my little one. I went a little crazy but can you blame it was Christmas ;) We made hot cocoa cupcakes topped with marshmallow icing and mini marshmallow for decor. I then made devils food chocolate cupcake and topped it with candied cherries.  As for the cookies I did 3 different versions: coconut cookie (made out of frosted flakes and coconut flakes), chewy double chocolate chip (added cream cheese, white chocolate and milk chocolate) and the last cookie was only for adults its my baileys chocolate dipped ball (baileys, vanilla wafer and chocolate).

DIY Christmas Photo card

To start select the theme you'd like to have whether it's rustic, playful or elegant style you can make it work. Most of the materials used were from around my house. 

DIY No Shave Hair Style

I love how some girls have this new trendy half shaved hairstyle. I personally am not as brave as these girls so instead I figured a way to make my hair look just as trendy but without having to shave my hair ;). Please follow the step by step tutorial below.

Tis the Season to Give Back

I'm huge supporter of giving back especially during the holidays. I think the  littlest things that can be meaning less to you can be appreciated more by someone less unfortunate. Growing up I didn't come from a privileged family but my parents made sure we had everything we needed.

Christmas was one of my favorite holidays not because of the presents but because it brought our family together. I also used to send toys, clothes, etc that I no longer used to either the local church or have my parents ship it to my cousins in Dominican Republic. 

Seeing how my cousins lived in poverty at a young age impacted me immensely. I  made a promise that I would do my part to not only help them but help others as well. 

I hope I can inspire you to do the same not just for the holidays but throughout the year. 

Half bath makeover

Virgin Piña Colada Cupcakes by mommybakesnj

First off Happy Thanksgiving!!! I wanted to share the Piña Colada Cupcake recipe with everyone. I love incorporating fruits into our Thanksgiving celebration.

For cake:

1 box of yellow cake

3 eggs

DIY Custom Mugs

My sister is moving overseas and I wanted to get her a few things before she leaves. More importantly I wanted to get her something handmade that she can always use and remind her of our sisterly bond. I thought why not do a custom coffee mug. We're huge coffee drinkers, we've been like that for years. We come from a Hispanic background and if coffee was served everyone drank it. Coffee time was time to socialize.

CVS Huge Halloween Sale

I visited my local CVS today and they had 90% off all Halloween items. I went on a shopping spree ;) 

They had costumes,candies, pillows, lights, decor, etc.

I bought all these items for...

Wait for it....$25.69!!!!! Insane right. Head on over to your local CVS while supplies are limited.

Frozen Birthday by mommybakesnj

I have been meaning to post my daughter's last birthday I did for her in April. Every year she selects a different theme this year she went with Disney Frozen inspired theme. I wanted to make it look as if it were winter wonderland, since it was spring season I added extra decor here and there.

NJ Happenings 11/13-11/15

This week there's great NJ Happenings you can do with the kids and you'll even find some freebies.

Bounce U:

Thrilling Thursdays is Open Bounce from 3 pm - 4:45pm for kids the cost is only $12.95 per child (Parents are FREE). The price includes an hour of play in their two bounce rooms and 45 minutes in the party room where the kids can choose from a FREE Glitter art Tattoo or balloon animal. You must call and reserve your spot in advance.

NY Giants player at Children's Place Today!

Head on over to Children's Place at the Bergen Mall today to meet one of the NY Giants player. 

Fresh Pumpkin and Banana Muffin

With Halloween over I'm sure a few of us have leftover un-carved pumpkins. I had 3 extra pumpkins we did not carve so I decided to make use of them instead of throwing it away. I wanted something sweet so I decided to do what I always do when I have old bananas, muffins! As kick this time I added pumpkins to my recipe. I had to work on the pumpkin ahead of time.

DIY Dance Bag for under $10

Every year I find myself going through new dance bags for my daughter so this year I decided to be a bit more frugal. My goal was to buy or make a custom dance bag for my daughter. I visited my favorite craft store (AC Moore) and shopped away. I found these hot pink glitter alphabet stencils and the ballerina bejeweled iron sticker. This was just the beginning ;). Now the store had a few options for bags but nothing that caught my eye. 

I decided to visit the $1 store because I know they also tend to carry crafty supplies. Lucky for me they had the bag I was looking for and better yet it was only $1 ;)

Kmart Store in Paramus, NJ Closing. HUGE SALE!!!

Kmart store on route 17 South in Paramus, NJ will be closing it's doors. Everything is on sale! If you haven't bought a costume stop by because costumes are 75% off!!

Toys are an additional 30% off the lowest ticketed price.

Apparel is 40 % off. If you search you can find apparel for as low as $0.70. Baby, food, home items, shoes, jewelry, makeup, Christmas decor, etc. are an additional 25-30% off.

Hurry in before store closes in December. For full story visit: http://www.northjersey.com/mobile/news/business/paramus-kmart-to-close-in-december-1.1101780

DIY Tooth Fairy Costume and other Costumes for the Whole Family

*update- Finished Tooth Fairy costume (Shown above) my son dressed like a police officer and mommybakesnj as a Leopared ;)

How to carve a Cinderella Pumpkin Coach and other carving ideas

Perfect week for pumpkin carving!

Kids FREE Ticket to Broadway Show

photo via: http://www.kidsnightonbroadway.com/kids.php

Kids night on Broadway FREE!!! Januaray 9-15 you can enjoy from popular shows like Wicked, The Lion King, Mamma Mia, etc. If you visit  http://www.kidsnightonbroadway.com/kids.php it will also give you info on kids getting the chance to dine for FREE. This is great oppurtunity to introduce your little one to Broadway shows not to mention its FREE! Tickets will go on sale November 5, 2014 at 11 am E.S.T. visit www.kidsnightonbroadway.com to get tickets on that time and date.

Join Mommybakesnj at DDA Dance Grand Opening

Mark your calendars and come join the fun! I will be giving away free cupcakes to all those who visit me so make sure to come by and enjoy the exciting activities ;)

Batman inspired Birthday cake by mommybakesnj

I had the opportunity to do a Batman inspired cake. I love how it came out :) It truly reminds me of Gotham city.

Mall O Ween at Bergen Town Center Mall

Photo via: info@bergentowncenter.com

NJ Awareness Week (Full Week of Outfits to follow)

Day One: Wear Purple

NJ Awareness Week. Today we wear purple to represent the color of non violence stay tuned for pics throughout the week.

Outfit from Childrensplace.com

No Carbs Slider and Truffle Mac N Cheese

Lately I've been trying to stay away from carbs, mainly bread! I have to say bread for several years has been my Kryptonite. Today for dinner I decided to do with out it.

Ingredients:

2 whole onion sliced

1 lb ground beef

Lettuce

1 tomato

Pumpkin Carving Ideas for the Family

I've already posted great places (http://www.weedorchards.com/index.html) to go pumpkin picking. If you have yet to go I recommend you check out my recent post of local farms that have pumpkin picking. I wanted to dedicate this post to on different pumpkin carving designs. I'm not the best carver but if I'm given a stencil I can usually do an ok job ;) . I've listed a few pictures and links below for you to review.

Disney has a ton of stencil's available to print.

All you Disney Frozen Fan's are going to love this pumpkin.
Photo via Pinterest.com
Details on: http://apumpkinandaprincess.com/2014/10/frozen-elsa-pumpkin.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+APumpkinAndAPrincess+(A+Pumpkin+And+A+Princess)

"Paint The Mall Pink" Event at The Shops at Nanuet

The Shops at Nanuet will be hosting an event called ‘Paint the Mall Pink’ to celebrate Breast Cancer Awareness Month. 

"On Saturday, October 18 from 12-3 p.m. The Shops at Nanuet, has planned a variety of Paint the Mall Pink activities, including the following:

Children's Place in Englewood closing it's doors

Children's Place in Englewood will be closing on October 25 they're usually open from 9 AM to 7pm The entire store is 60% off but you cannot use any coupon. Hurry in before the store closes.

School Picture Day ideas

Blog update:

Picture day is here and as promised I wanted to share my daughter's final look.

Originally I wanted vibrant colors but after seeing her in this dress I just knew this was going to be the one. For the hair I did cute side braided headband. I decided to do the braid to avoid fly away (so the hair doesn't stick up).

Too Cool for Bullying by mommybakesnj

This week my toddler's school focused on bullying. The kids came in wearing sunglasses to represent "Too Cool for Bullying". The children became aware of what bullying is and how to stand up against bullying. There is ZERO Tolerance for any bullying period in school and I for one teach my kids at a young age to stick up to bullies instead of joining them.

Semi Homemade Chicken Potpie Cupcakes by mommybakesnj

Chicken Potpie Cupcake

Ingredients:

1 whole precooked chicken (shredded)

1 can cream of mushroom

1 cup milk

1 can of chicken broth

1 bag frozen mixed veggies

1 can of Pillsbury corn biscuit

1 garlic clove 

1/2 onion chopped

Oil

Recap of Girls Night Out w/ Kylie's Passion for Fashion

Girls Night Out at The Shops at Riverside last night was great! I had an amazing time with my little fashionista. For next year I will plan to be there earlier since we ended up in a long line. The wait was worth it though. We were greeted with a bag of goodies and after we were each given a pink flower. We then had our photo taken by the photographer for BC magazine (http://bcthemag.com/). 

GIRLS NIGHT OUT AT RIVERSIDE SQUARE MALL TODAY!!!

Indulge - A Girl's Night Out

Thursday, October 9 at 6:00pm in EDT

Shops at Riverside in Hackensack, New Jersey

Family that works out together stays together ;)

I wanted to focus on the working out as a family. I listed a few fun examples of ways to keep in shape as a family. I will admit I do not work out as much as I should but I will goof around with my kids. The workout's I found embrace that fun yet healthy way to keep your entire family in shape. Please scroll below and see what workout's work best for you and your family.

Pumpkin picking places in NJ

My top 3 places to go pumpkin picking in NJ are as follows;

Demarest Farm (Hillsdale,NJ)- Picture above was taken at the Demarest farm, its the spot where we take our babies yearly pictures ;). I like that it has bunch of cute little things for the kids
and fresh market. We visit the farm mainly because of their warm delicious apple cider donuts. For more info please visit: http://demarestfarms.com/

Fall is here, outdoor activities listed below

The days of going to the park are coming to an end as the weather begins to plummet down. The great thing is that it's a "pumpkin everything" season and I can't tell you how much I love that.

In the next couple of weeks I plan to share some of my favorite things to craft and cook with pumpkins. Of course I will first list some popular locations to go pumpkin picking.

DIY Chalkboard by mommybakesnj

I have been looking to do a chalkboard for a long time. My main concern was where would I create this space and how big was I looking to go. I finally made up my mind and decide that door in our family room was the perfect place. 

Kylie's passion for fashion

Although it's raining today figured I'd add a little sunshine with my baby girl Kylie :).

Van Suan Zoo

Creative Lunch ideas for school

School is in session and for most kids they usually either bring lunch to school or purchase food at the cafeteria. I personally do a combo of both. I wanted to focus on making 
creative lunch ideas for your little one.

Lord of the rings book cake by mommybakesnj

My brother wanted to surprise his girlfriend with a great 21st bday cake. It so happens to be that she's a huge "Lord of the rings" fan. So of course the cake had to follow that theme.

Harvest Festival at The New Overpeck Park

I just got back from the Harvest Festival at the New Overpeck Park in Ridgefield Park, NJ. The event was great with live music playing in the background.

Rainbow iced cupcakes by mommybakesnj

Super easy to make your own rainbow iced cupcakes. First mix the icing with the colors you'd like to see. I choose more subtle colors but you have several colors to choose from or create your with food coloring.

Once you've selected your buttercream colors place each color in piping bag (as shown below).

Kylie's passion for fashion RUUM/Osh Kosh B'gosh

We purchased this cute outfit at Osh Kosh B'gosh (skinny jeans) and RUMM kids wear (lace top).  When I saw the skinny jeans I immediately knew I wanted a military meets chic look. 

FREE Trial class ages 4 months to 2.5 years old

Just found out DDA Dance Academy in Paramus, NJ is having a FREE trial class this Tuesday, September 30, 2014. The class is New Music and Movement Mommy & Me. Perfect for mommy groups! The schedule is as follows:

9:30 am ages 10 months-19 months 
10:30 am ages 19 months-2.5 years old
12 pm ages 4 months-10 months

*Each class is 40 minute sessions.

Although this free trial is based on the babies they do offer classes for toddlers, teens and adults. It's conveniently located at 40 Eisenhower Drive Paramus, NJ 07652 right by Bounce U. For class schedule and pricing please visit: http://ddadance.com/