Amazing Legends Race

I'm the "manager" for Brooke's soccer team (the Legends) so it was my job to plan their end of year party. I procrastinated and kinda panicked at the last minute I'm not going to lie, but once I got this idea of an "Amazing Race" game it all came together quickly. The girls said they had a great time - and they were certainly kept busy so that's a good thing! There were a couple hiccups but nothing that couldn't be corrected on the fly - they were all good sports and I didn't hear any complaining other than when Brooke tried to eat a sardine hahaha, I'll get to that in a minute. We had 13 girls so for teams we did 3 teams of 3, 1 team of 4. To form teams I blew up balloons in 4 colors, the girls lined up and when I said go they ran for a balloon. Whatever color they grabbed was the team they were on.

the 4 different teams

I typed up instructions for 8 stations; after they went to a station and completed the task they were given the next set of instructions for the next station - the first set of instructions I rolled up tightly and put inside one balloon for each team before blowing them up. So they had to pop their balloons to get the instructions. Here are the rest of the stations and the instructions I gave them:

#1: as a team, make a paper airplane and fly it to the laundry basket. One or more players can make one and see who gets in first, or you can work together to make one and fly it. Once it goes in the basket as a team, run to a judge and get your next instructions. *note: it was windy so landing the plane in the basket was hard - I moved the basket closer to them a couple of times.

#2: your choice, either one person on the team has to eat a sardine, or the entire team has to run around the tennis court at the other end of the park. The sardine is quick and fast, running will slow your team down! *note this was when Brooke struggled a bit! The first team had a girl that just gulped the fish down so Brooke thought it'd be no big deal. Um yeah, it was way harder than it looked haha!

Brooke chose the sardine so the team wouldn't have to run. 

#3: there is a poem taped somewhere in the park, find and memorize it but don't take it with you. Go to a judge and recite the poem perfectly, word for word. 2 players on every team must be able to recite the entire poem. Once 2 people have done it, the judge will give you your next instructions. If you can't recite the poem return to where the poem is and memorize it again. Keep doing that until you get it right!
*note: I made up a silly easy poem about soccer girls and typed it up, then taped it to a picnic table.

4th: grab the water balloons in your team colors. Put them all in the middle of your circle then take 5 big steps away from each other. Play toss with every player on your team - everyone must catch and throw a balloon 5 times each, and you must have 1 unbroken balloon left for your team. Bring it to a judge and receive your next instructions.

5th: as a team go on a scavenger hunt in the park and find: a stone, pinecone, 3 different kinds of leaves, a 3 leaf clover, something smooth, something flat. Bring all to a judge and receive next instructions.

6th: tasting station - all of you taste the 4 different drinks and decide what you think they are. Tell the judge, if correct receive next instructions; if incorrect go taste them again. You have 3 chances to get it right, if you don't then as a team hold hands and sing "Mary had a little lamb" for the judge before getting next instructions. *note: I got 4 dark drinks (coke, root beer, grape pop, tea) thinking the dark color would make it harder - without thinking about they'd be able to smell them! So next time I'd be trickier.

tasting station

7th: each player has to throw a tennis ball into the laundry basket without bouncing it and have it not bounce out of the basket. Receive next instructions. *note: this was harder than it sounded. we ended up letting them bounce it into the basket.

8th: crack the code as team. *note: I made up a simple code using numbers and symbols for each letter, typed it at the top of the paper and then made a sentence they had to figure out using the code.

cracking the code

First team to complete all of the challenges and be standing on the mat at the start/finish line wins.

  

the winners

This really did come together pretty easily and there weren't a whole lot of props that I had to come up with (part of my plan for sure). Each place received "prizes" ranging from chocolate bars to stickers, chapstick, etc. For first place I also gave them little plastic trophy cups (found at the grocery store in a package of 6) that I put a label on saying "1st place, amazing legends race 2016"

Skeleton Pretzels

Woooooooo (spooky noise) - look how cute these skeleton pretzels turned out! I made these in 20 minutes start to finish with very quick clean up. What a fun Halloween treat! Check out how easy these are to make:

• place white yogurt pretzels on a parchment lined baking sheet
• microwave some candy melts (any color, I had orange and black left over from another project), spoon into a small ziplock baggie and snip a small hole off one corner. 
• fill in the eyes as shown with melted candy, before it sets up add sprinkles or small candies for the pupils. 
• put them in the fridge until they harden (although mine were setting up really quickly and didn't need time in the fridge). 

I saw this idea in a magazine but of course can't remember which one, so can't link their page for you...

Mummy Meatballs

I had a busy week and got a little behind making stuff this week - so you get a repeat of one of my favorite Halloween recipes originally posted 10/27/15 (an oldie but goodie!):

Saw this idea a few places online, they are too cute and I had to try them. Not only are they a super cute idea, they taste and smell really good! My husband came into the kitchen as I was finishing putting the eyeballs on and started eating them - in between bites he said "I feel guilty eating them, they're so cute", but he managed to eat the whole plate so I guess he didn't feel THAT bad haha!

I bought turkey meatballs in the freezer section and 1 can of refrigerated low-fat crescent roll dough (turkey and lite dough - I'm trying to make them a little healthier!). Remove the dough from the tube, press the triangles all together, don't separate them; cut into 4 rectangles. With a pizza cutter or knife, cut each rectangle lengthwise into narrow strips. Wrap dough around each meatball to look like mummy bandages, leaving a place open for the mummy eyes, and bake. 

To make the eyes I sliced a mozzarella cheese stick into thin rounds (less than 1/4"), cut out small rounds with a large straw (this is the white eye part), then cut a smaller hole in that with a little straw and inserted a black peppercorn. Use anything you can find that will fit in the small hole that you have around - pieces of black olives would work,  mini chocolate chips (might not taste great haha but you just need a dark center for the eye), just look around and you'll find something. The recipe I followed dotted on mustard or ketchup for eyes but I like the white eye with something dark in it.

You could serve these many different ways - use your imagination! Could be with spaghetti for dinner, dipped in marinara as dinner or appetizers, standing at the counter inhaling them like someone I know, whatever you want. They taste good, are easy to make, come together quickly - all good! I'm going to take the 2 that I hid from my husband for my lunch tomorrow - I think they'll even taste good cold :)

Original recipe (I only changed the eyes):

• 1 can (8 oz) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls 
• 20 frozen cooked meatballs, thawed
• Ketchup or mustard, if desired
• Marinara sauce, as desired

Heat oven to 375°F. Line work surface with cooking parchment paper. On parchment-lined surface, unroll dough and press perforations to seal; cut into 4 rectangles.

With knife or pizza cutter, cut each rectangle lengthwise into 10 pieces, making a total of 40 pieces of dough.

Wrap 2 pieces of dough around each meatball to look like "bandages," stretching dough slightly to cover meatballs.

Separate "bandages" near 1 end to show meatball "face." On ungreased large cookie sheet, place wrapped meatballs.

Bake 13 to 17 minutes or until dough is light golden brown and meatballs are hot. With ketchup and mustard, draw "eyes" on mummy bites. Serve with warm marinara sauce.

Sponsor recipe courtesy of © 2015 ®/™ General Mills All Rights Reserved
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