Tuesday on Jasmine- Tuesday on Jasmine
SHAMROCKS AND CHARMS
Updated: Mar 14
We love simple memorable moments around here, you should know that by now, but if you don't let us tell you a little bit about our approach.
Who would have thought 5 years ago we would all find 5 fast friends, all living next door to each other, who all have kiddos about the same age, all share the same tastes and style in life, whose partners all get along and enjoy each other's company and whos kiddos all go to the same school together?!? Not us that is for sure! We quickly realized how much we enjoy gathering our group and being in each others company. The most exciting part was we started hanging out during the week because weekend schedules were just crazy. What a change to our normal routine!!! It gave life to our work week, interrupted the normalcy of going to work, coming home, eating dinner, doing homework, going to bed. These families gave us excitement and a change of routine to look forward to mid week.
These new get togethers gave our kiddos instant playdates at their fingertips. With our kids getting together quite frequently we were always looking for ways to keep them inspired and entertained, and quite frankly off their electronics. Over the years we learned it doesn't take much to turn something ordinary into extraordinary. Have plastics solo cups at home, build a tower! Extra wood laying around, let it be your canvas to paint till your heart's content. Sheets and blankets galore...build the biggest fort you can in the basement. You get the point, we encourage and focus on taking everyday items and making memorable moments with them. You don't have to go to the store and spend lots of dollar bills to entertain your children. It's all in the art of making do with what you have and making them feel special.
St. Patrick's Day commemorates Saint Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland, and celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish in general. Celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, and the wearing of green attire or shamrocks.
Why do we wear green on St. Patrick's Day? ...Well Google says.. Patrick's revelers thought wearing green made one invisible to leprechauns, fairy creatures who would pinch anyone they could see (anyone not wearing green). People began pinching those who didn't wear green as a reminder that leprechauns would sneak up and pinch green-abstainers.
What this translates to us on Jasmine is whether you are Irish or not this is just another reason to celebrate, do something out of the ordinary and have fun with your kiddos. So this now takes us to the point of this post. Last St. Patrick's Day we had the kids come home from school to a magical treat...cereal! Not just any cereal, this was rainbow filled, Lucky Charms cereal that had candy treats along with it! All we did was pour milk into a fancy glass, top it with Lucky Charms and add rainbow gummy candy to the glass with rainbow colored Twizzler straws. That took 5 minutes out of our day to create that special cereal for our kids.
Rainbow Cereal Items Needed:
Rainbow Candy of any kind
In addition to the cereal we made Lucky Charms Popcorn Balls from Betty Crocker as a fun snack. We thought this would make the kids feel pretty lucky as they geared up to try and find the leprechaun. This also was truly simple and I'd bet that you have most the ingredients to whip it up or at least something similar! Everything you need is below along with the instructions.
Lucky Charms Popcorn Balls Items Needed:
1 cup Lucky Charms (marshmallows separated)
1 bag microwave popcorn (plain)
5 ounces mini marshmallows (roughly half a bag)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
Green food coloring
Sprinkles, if desired
DIRECTIONS
1. Prepare popcorn according to directions. Pour into a large mixing bowl and remove any un-popped kernels. Add Lucky Charms cereal to the bowl (reserve the marshmallow pieces for later!) and set aside.
2. In a large sauce pan or Dutch oven, melt 1 ½ tablespoons butter, then stir in 2 tablespoons sugar and 5 ounces mini marshmallows (a little less than half the bag). Next, add food coloring to achieve your desired green, starting with a few drops then adding more if necessary.
3. Pour the cereal and popcorn mixture into the melted marshmallows and stir to combine. If you’re using sprinkles, now’s the time to add them, and remove from heat.
4. Allow the mixture to cool enough to handle, then stir in the Lucky Charms marshmallows (they’ll melt if you add them too early!). Next, roll the popcorn balls and place on parchment paper.
*EXPERT TIPS*
Adding a little butter to your hands will make rolling the popcorn balls much easier.
If you’d like to make multiple colors of popcorn balls, halve the batch and repeat our instructions twice.
We used traditional green food coloring (the one in the tiny plastic droppers) and neon food coloring to get our varying shades of green; both are widely available at grocery stores.
For even more green flare, add green pieces from your favorite cereals like Trix and Fruity Pebbles or candies like M&Ms.
We can't explain how much we like rock crafts! So of course we had to make some Sham "rocks"! Get out those Posca paint markers and let the luck of the Irish guide you in your creativity! You can see the numerous posca paint crafts we have done here at our 4th of July Party, DIY Valentines Crafts post and our Thanksgiving Runner and Place cards .
Take a look at the kids creations below. We love them so much. Adults can get in on this craft as well, it is very cathartic.
We hope you get inspired by these easy additions to your Saint Patrick's holiday! "May the Leprechauns dance over your bed and bring you sweet dreams!"
