ML Interest Tag: shamrock

This Is How to Sham-Rock a St. Patrick’s Day Party

by Christal Y.

Take a break from gold and leprechauns this St. Patrick’s Day and check out this unique and viridescent Irish celebration from mom editors Megan and Ginger of Little Peanut. Flip through the slideshow to see all the decorations, healthy snacks and games the dynamic duo planned for this party that will make you green with envy.

A Healthy Irish Celebration

Start your little one's weekend with some celebrations and healthy snacks. Little Peanut's non-traditional St. Patrick's Day food spread totally compliments it's savvy and chic decor style.

Darling Yarn Wrapped Centerpieces

This uncomplicated centerpiece is made of bottles wrapped tightly in green yarn. For crafty fams, it's also a great project that little fingers can help out with.

Shamrock Streamers

Hanging shamrocks make a great backdrop during photo ops with the kids. With different shades of green, the decorations pop and the room much more vibrant.

Green Milk

Little Peanut grabbed these cute milk bottles and green clover straw from Shop Sweet Lulu, and made the milk green for some extra fun.

Shamrock Painting

Did you know bell peppers also the key to creating perfect shamrock fridge art? Simply cut off the end of a bell pepper, clean out the membranes and use the pepper to stamp a shamrock shape with paint onto paper.

Shamrock Peppers with Ranch Dressing

What a delicious way to get little ones to eat their greens. Thinly sliced bell peppers make it easier for kids to dip them into green ranch dressing.

Rainbow Art

Kids won't be able to keep their hands off this fruit loopy rainbow art. Simply have them form the rainbow arches with each color of the rainbow. Drawing faint pencil lines can help keep the lines round the way you want them. Use Cotton balls for the clouds and glue down all of the pieces.

Rainbow Fruit Stick

These rainbow fruit kabobs are such a delightful treat. Kids at the SLP party had fun naming the colors and fruits.

Pencil Stamp Shamrock

This project from No Little Peanut is elementary for a tot of any age. Kids can fine tune their motor skills by stamping in the lines or free-forming a shamrock!

Skittle Rainbow Sticks

Fill clear plastic candy tubes with a little colorful magic. These make beautiful party favors that'll have guests rattling happily long after they've left your party.

What’s your favorite part of this cool party? Tell us in the comments section below!

—Taylor Clifton & Christal Yuen

all photos by Jessica Peterson, courtesy of Little Peanut

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Andy Cohen Is Every New Parent Trying to Catch That IG-Worthy Pic

by Erica Loop

Ah, the elusive Instagram pic: angling the camera just-so and posing perfectly for a fab family photo isn’t exactly easy for anyone—including new dad Andy Cohen. The Real Housewives empresario and Watch What Happens Live host recently proved that celebs are just like us, especially when it comes to taking selfies with uncooperative babies.

Cohen’s St. Patrick’s Day ‘Gram features himself—clad in Snoopy shamrock-covered PJs—along with son, five-week-old Benjamin Allen and yes, even his dog Wacha, in matching jammies. Though the sweet scene really couldn’t be any cuter, little Benjamin didn’t look particularly thrilled to sit still for the photo.

While the photo may have brought the five-week-old to tears, it put smiles on plenty of celebs’ and reality stars’ faces. Actor Jerry O’Connell and Real Housewives‘ alums Kyle Richards, Lisa Rinna and Joey Gorga all posted their adoration for this aww-dorable pic in the comments.

—Erica Loop

Featured photo: Andy Cohen via Instagram

 

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Faith & Begorrah! Aldi Has St. Patrick’s Day Cheese & It’s Green, Too

by Erica Loop

Forget about Shamrock Shakes: Aldi has St. Patrick’s Day cheese! The newest in themed cheese launches follows on the heels of several successful dairy delights, including a cheese Advent calendar, heart-shaped cheese for Valentine’s Day and set of punny limited-edition wedges.

Aldi is taking St. Patty’s Day celebration to a new level with five holiday-inspired cheeses. At a time of the year when just about everyone is making gratuitously green products, the Happy Farms collection—available in Aldi stores starting Feb. 27—is no slouch.

The line includes a green Pesto Gouda and English Sage Derby. Along with the colorful dairy deliciousness, the collection also includes an Aged Irish Cheddar and a few alcohol-infused picks: Irish Cheddar with Beer and Irish Cheddar with Whiskey.

If you’re wondering, yes the beer and whiskey picks do contain actual alcohol. That means your teenager can’t buy them and your kiddos shouldn’t go anywhere near “mommy’s special cheese.” It also means that Aldi stores in areas prohibiting grocery store alcohol sales won’t carry the two two alcohol-infused Irish Cheddars. But they will have the other three (non-alcoholic) holiday options! The cheeses retail for $3.99 each.

—Erica Loop

Featured photo: Moose via Foodiesfeed

 

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These Trader Joe’s St. Patrick Day Foods Are Your Lucky Grocery Finds

by Erica Loop

Ah, the luck o’ the Irish. It kind of looks like your rainbow just ended at a tasty pot of gold. In other words, St. Patrick's Day-themed foods at Trader Joe's are and they’re waaaaay better than a four-leaf clover. Even though corned beef and cabbage may be a traditional staple, and that minty green Shamrock Shake is a pop culture food icon, Trader Joe’s has their own brand of St. Paddy’s Day yum! So what does Trader Joe’s have in store for your St. Patrick’s Day feast?

Blarney Scone

Um, yum. Let’s start with the fact that this scone-shaped Irish Soda Bread has an adorable name. And then there’s the taste. This not-so-low-carb treat is made with real buttermilk and butter, along with raisins and caraway seeds.

Irish Bangers

So what are bangers anyway? Well, they’re sausages — Irish style. Trader Joe’s Irish Bangers are made from all-natural pork that’s raised with no hormones or antibiotics. But that’s not all. These savory treats are 5% rusk. What’s rusk? It’s a twice-baked biscuit that’s added in for texture and, of course, flavor.

Irish Breakfast Tea

This bold tea is an early morning alternative to your usual cup of coffee. But then again, you can have it any time of the day. If you’re going for a night-time mug, consider opting for this tea’s decaffeinated cousin.

Steak & Stout Pies

Mmm. The buttery pastry shell is everything you’d imagine it is. Oh, but that’s not all this frozen option has to offer. The inside is filled with beef in a stout-based gravy, plenty of potatoes, carrots, celery, mushrooms and onions.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

It’s a St. Patrick’s Day staple. Right? Trader Joe’s has the traditional corned beef to cook alongside with a heaping serving of cabbage. Why stop there? Add in your favorite type of potatoes too!

What’s your top St. Patrick’s Day dining pick? Share your choice with us in the comments below.

—Erica Loop

 

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Modern & Colorful Hand Painted Kid Room

By Sara Olsher

When I asked my 4 year-old daughter what she wanted her room to look like, she said “lots of colors!” For a kid who often wears every color in the rainbow and enjoys mixing a lot of patterns, this wasn’t very surprising. The problem is, I (somewhat selfishly) wanted to like her room too, since I can see it from the living room. I wanted a room we could both be happy with.

I love modern design, and I wanted a room that was colorful, but not tacky or overwhelming. Stripes are obviously a big trend in rooms right now, but I didn’t want a whole room of stripes, and it felt like lots of colorful stripes could quickly overload the senses. I decided to pick six colors and do diagonal stripes – and not across the entire wall. To tone it down even further, I chose black and white accents (the black and white dot rug is from Ikea, $20).

I can honestly say that the stripes project was a pain in my tuchas and I was really glad that I decided to only do six stripes. It required a lot of painter’s tape and measuring so that the stripes were lined up perfectly.

This was a cheap project, though, thanks to paint samples from Home Depot. Each 8oz sample was $3, and I still have paint left after painting two walls and the borders of all her picture frames.

In case you’re curious, the colors are Glidden from Home Depot. Yellow is Sunflower (GLY01), Blue is Peacock Blue (GLB01), Green is Lucky Shamrock (GLG05), Pink is Watermelon Smoothie (GLR09), Red is Red Geranium (GLR06), and Orange is Orange Marmalade (GLO04).

As you can see, only half the wall is painted; the other half I left white. I gave the picture frames (Ribba from Ikea, which she’s had in her room since babyhood) some pizazz by painting the edges. I mixed in some other colorful stuff too – a vintage blackboard and a Felix the Cat ceramic piece I did in high school.

Another priority for me is storage. These are from Ikea’s Trofast collection.

At four, C can’t read yet – but she also can’t remember which drawer is for which toys. I labeled each one and drew a picture of what’s inside. This method works only part of the time, haha.

The other wall is very different – I painted circles freehand on the opposite wall. The white clock is from Target ($7), and the mid-century dresser and bookshelf are vintage. When I saw the little coat rack at Ikea ($25), I couldn’t believe how perfectly it matched the room and I had to have it. She hangs her coats and doctor jackets there.

Her dresser has a few knickknacks, mostly from my childhood, and a fan I spray-painted pink (she was thrilled!).

C loves books (and so do I!). I love this old bookshelf I found at the antiques fair for $20.

I’ve been carting these cute star garlands in bronze, silver, and gold around for years (they’re from Paper Source), and hung them from the ceiling. Good thing there’s no theme here and I can do what I want. ;)

On the left, below, you can see the blackout shade situation. This is a very wide window, and after battling for over a year with a ridiculous blackout shade from Home Depot that kept falling down, I finally decided to get two smaller shades from Ikea. These are much higher quality – the inside is made of metal, rather than cardboard like the Home Depot shade. Yes, there is a space between the two shades which lets light in, but it doesn’t bother C. I got the idea to use two shades from my friend Reichel, who did the same in her kids’ room – they aren’t bothered by the light either.

The night stand was $15 from the antiques fair. It works perfectly and can take a beating. She loves her “special drawer.”

Overall, I wanted C to feel at home in her room, and be delighted every time she enters it. From her perspective, there’s color everywhere. From my perspective, it’s fun, cute, and not tacky at all. Success, I’d say!

Sara Olsher is a single mama based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is fascinated by emotional intelligence, confidence, and resilience in young kids.

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Irish Soda Bread Scones & A St. Patrick’s Craft Project

by writerredtri

st-patricks-scones

Lifestyle blogger, Alexandra Hedin has been taking her know-how on cooking, decorating, and being the consummate hostess to the masses following the publication of her book Entertaining at Home. She’s a mom to two small kids (with another one on the way) and will be documenting the transformation of her new home into an expressions of her style on her blog. We asked her to come up with a fun St. Patrick’s day project to do with kids, and she offered up this post for us:

I like St. Patrick’s Day.  It’s a kooky holiday that lets you get away with almost everything.  And given how much I like Corned Beef Hash, this holiday makes the best ‘morning after’ leftovers breakfast.  This year I wanted to create a few fun things to add a little festivity to the whole day, not just wearing green.  Don’t forget that it’s the little things that make the day special and fun, so relax, make a few things, and have a great St. Patrick’s Day!

Since I love Irish Soda Bread, I generally just make two loaves so I can eat one as toast for breakfast or as a sandwich with left over corned beef, and the second one is for everyone at dinner.  This year I wanted to do something different for breakfast and it seemed like Irish Soda Bread was perfectly suited to be turned into scones.  I realize if you are actually Irish, the idea of turning a national food symbol into something entirely British is blasphemy.  But they really are delicious.

Irish Soda Bread Scones

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
1/2 cup melted butter
1 egg
4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups raisins
3 tablespoons caraway seeds
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl whisk together yogurt, butter, and egg.  Set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the rest of the ingredients until well mixed.  With mixer running, slowly add wet ingredients until mixture just barely holds together.

Drop dough out onto a floured surface and knead gently 10-15 times to form a 12″ disk about 2 inches thick.  With a floured knife, cut disk into eight triangles.  Place on a cookie sheet with about 3 inches around each triangle.  Whisk together egg yolk and cream and brush the tops of each triangle until completely covered.  Place cookie sheet into a preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes until golden brown.  Remove from oven, cool slightly on a rack and serve warm.


st-patricks-bow-1

St. Patrick’s Day Hair Bow

When I was a little girl we had big hair bows that we wore all the time.  I think a hair bow never goes out of style for a little girl, and whether she loves them or not, everyone wants something fun to wear on St. Patrick’s Day.  And if you are feeling a little old for the hair bow option, simply glue a pin back on the ribbon instead of a barrette and you are ready to go—and quite festive.

You’ll need

6 inches of 2″ thick green stripe ribbon
4 inch squares of green dupioni silk (4 dark green, 2 light green)
4 inch square of white canvas
Fusible Web (available at the fabric store)
Hot glue gun
Barrette base (available at craft stores)

Step 1 :: Using the Fusible Web, iron together two pieces of dark green dupioni silk.

Step 2 :: Cut out a shamrock shape from the fused silk.  The Fusible Webstops major fraying and allows a perfect shape without stitching.  To make a shamrock draw three hearts touching in an arc and a stem from the bottom.

Step 3 :: Fold the ribbon over to create a 90 degree angle in the middle – as if the ends of a tied bow.

Step 4 :: Hot glue ribbon to barrette base.

Step 5 :: Cut each remaining piece of fabric into 3 inch diameter circles by folding the fabric in half three times and cutting an arc across the top of the folds.

Step 6 :: While fabric is still folded, cut a small slit into each fold and once in the center of the ‘triangle.’

Step 7 :: Unfold all fabric circles and layer them on top of each other – white, dark green, light green.  And re-fold in half three times.

Step 8 :: Stitch the base of each fabric ‘triangle’ to secure it’s shape.

Step 9 :: Hot glue triangles to ribbon base on the barrette with the center of each triangle touching and the wide ends fanning out.

Step 10 :: Hot glue the shamrock to the center of the triangle pieces and fluff the fabric triangles.

 

 

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Luck O’ The Irish Brings LA This New Dance Studio

by Lisa Finn

For most people, the first dance class for baby is ballet. But buns and toe shoes aren’t for everyone. Remember Riverdance?  Turns out, Irish Dancing isn’t just a stage show – it’s an ancient Celtic art form.  One that just got a new studio in LA, with several locations, where kids are taught by a couple of masters.  And if you thought tutus and buns were cute, wait till you get a load of gillies and ringlets.

Irish dancing isn’t exactly the dance du jour in LA, but two professional Irish dancers are resolved to bringing Irish dancing from the wings into the limelight. Professional dancers Caterina Coyne and Maeve Croke have teamed up to open Celtic Irish Dance Academy. One step in their studio and it’s clear the Irish don’t only dominate pubs and parades, they also know a thing or two about performing. Here’s the basics on Irish Dancing, and the new studio where you can get jigging.

What is Irish dancing anyway?
Irish dancing originated in Ireland hundreds of years ago. It’s a cultural dance that uses the legs only – no arms.

Who are owners Caterina Coyne and Maeve Croke?
Caterina and Maeve are best friends who have been awarded the TCRG distinction in Irish dancing. They’ve traveled the world together for 10 years performing in the highly acclaimed show, Riverdance. “We’ve danced with the best professionals from America, England and Ireland, and we’re passionate about our craft and teaching,” says Croke. “Through our dance classes, we‘re passing on our love of Irish dancing to children…many of whom move on to the competitive side.”

Does my little Michael Flatley need ballet or tap experience?
Not at all. Your little one will start with the basics called Reel, in a soft shoe, and then move on to Light Jig, Single Jig and Slip Jig. As he or she progresses, a hard shoe featuring fiberglass tips and heels that make sound can be worn. “One of the biggest reasons for putting a child in Irish dancing,” explains Croke, “is for the confidence boost. Having to get up in front of your peers and dance is a terrific skill at a young age.” Other benefits include coordination, learning discipline and team work.

When can my kiddo get jiggy with it?
Age four is the earliest your child can start at this studio. “We keep it fun and light for the little ones,” says Croke. “We make up songs and engaging dances. It’s about instilling a sense of love for Irish dancing, but also about creating a sense of family. The older kids mentor the younger ones and it’s so fun to watch the growth.”

So what’s with the curls?
While competition costumes can be just about anything (fancy dress wise), the biggest tradition is the ringlets in girls’ hair.  The curls are a tradition from years ago.  They are not necessary for class (unlike the bun for ballet), but rather come into play at the performances. Worried already about getting those perfect curls to bounce? Don’t.  Wigs have become quite popular for the little ladies. Who knew?

Cool Things to Know
The first class is always free for girls, and boys get the first month free! “We’re trying to raise awareness that Irish dancing is not just for little girls. About 1 in every 5 students is a boy at our studio, and we’re hoping to get more interest from the little guys,” Croke told us. Perhaps bribing your son with a shamrock shake afterward might get him in the door (we’re just sayin’). A one-hour weekly class is $65/ month. They have two big performance competitions a year – March and December – where all the kids (no matter what level) get together and perform on stage. Cue camera and tears.

Also, they offer an introductory class for grownups which is a fantastic workout (not to mention loads of fun).

Contact Information
Online: celticirishdanceacademy.com.
Locations are currently in La Canada Flintridge and North Hollywood, with a studio in the South Bay coming soon.  Check the website for details about class schedule by location.

-Lisa Finn

Do you have another Irish Dance Studio you like?  Let us know in the comment section!

photo credits: Celtic Dance Academy and Eoin Gardiner via Creative Commons

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