My Model-Seder Model!

We held an itty-bitty mock-seder at Freida's play table this week - just to prep her a bit and get her more interested, excited, and familiar with all the quirky Passover details. I'm a big believer in keeping the kids up and awake to witness and experience all the wholesome goodness invested in all that holiday tradition... but it's not always very practical - even with an extra nap. She's very excited that she gets to sing the Mah Nishtanah first (she's the youngest talking cousin), so I figure she'll be disappointed if she doesn't make it at least that far. Thought I'd up my chances of keeping her in the late-night game by peaking her interest in all preliminary steps. I also figured I'd print some pictures and make a little "Haggadah" to help her follow along. She totally surprised me by acting everything out! She even put on a full-fledged crying stint when I gave her the marror! She was definitely enthusiastic, to say the least. :)

Babysitter in a Box - Restaurant

Walk into any kosher restaurant the week before Pesach and find them brimming with tables of families trying to keep it simple by eating out in an attempt to avoid the last-minute kitchen transformation. While it may save our pre-holiday sanity, taking kids out to dine is not always the easiest of family pursuits - especially when the chosen joint is bustling with heaps of rowdy other children. Keeping the kids happy, settled, fed, and in their seats is likely quite the challenge. Here's a few things to up the fun factor on a public family outing when the menu reads BYOE.

1. Jaq Jaq Bird Chalkboard Placemat

Table tic-tac-toe gets an upgrade from pen and napkin.

2. Hint Mints

After dinner mints that slip into everything - from the slimmest of evening clutches to the most overstuffed of diaper bags.

3. Chopstick Kids

The little rubber rugrats fit over all sorts of chopsticks to tame stubby digits and keep them going for more Lo Mein.

4. Pocket Origami Prints

Reach into your jean pocket and unfold a wreath of Asian artistry - just waiting for shades of  teenybopper color!

5. mOmma Rocking Sippy Cup

When BYOB crosses BYOE.

6. Hello Hanna Get-Set Placemat Sets

With stickers to customize and icons to recognize, these placemats just might teach them a thing or two about dining etiquette... for robots!

7. Strawz

Let them get a little beverage-crazy with these DIY crazy straws.

8. Think-ets

A tiny little trinket tin filled with directions for unlimited game-playing on the go.

9. Food Face Plates

Give peas and spaghetti some serious personality - food never got this much face-time!

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time!

Although Freida generally loves to break out in a round of Family Guy's "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" song when the lunch bells chime, there are always those random instances where I've simply let her buzz for too long and missed her ideal nap-time window, at which point she's likely too tired to even think about settling into her seat for a meal. On such occasions I find the best solution is being creative with the grub. These peanut butter jelly rolls totally did the trick (I think she fantasized she was lunching on sushi like her Mama...).

It's just a crustless slice of whole wheat bread, spread with PB&J, rolled up, and sliced! Sometimes just changing the form of food really shakes things up for them, making easy lunch ingestion that much more fun!

Guest Post: Pleasant Cakes

A friend of mine has a cake decorating company I've been meaning to blog about for some time now. When I caught glimpse of her super-adorable Shalach Manos photos via Facebook, I knew this was the right venue to debut her services to the Freidafroo masses! Chani Levine started a Kosher cake decorating business a few years ago, and her incredibly adorable cake designs totally caught my eye! You gotta head over to the Pleasant Cakes Facebook Page to check out the rest of her awesome designs (especially the Patron Cake, Boy's 1st Birthday Cake, Fancy Orchid Cake, Jersey Cake, and Cupcake Bouquet)!

Pleasant Cakes services the greater Los Angeles area, so if you are here in California and looking to up the fun-factor at your party, add a super-special element to any get-together, or simply spruce up special occasion, contact Chani: PleasantCakes@gmail.com/ 310.254.8992

Luckily for us, she graciously agreed to share some of her creativity today with all of us in a fun and easy Sushi Cupcakes DIY Tutorial! Thanks Chani!!

One of the best parts on Purim is coming up with fun ideas for Shalach Manos. This year I decided to put my love for cake decorating and make mini cupcakes that look like rolls of sushi.

What amazes me the most is how easily you can take something as simple as a cupcake and transform it into something completely different with just a few ingredients.  120 mini cupcakes, 1 pound of butter cream icing, 3 containers of white sprinkles, 3 bags of gummy fish, and 15 sushi containers later and I was on my way. It took me a while to make, but it was lots of fun and pretty impossible to mess up which for me is the best part being a perfectionist and all. I must confess though that I did spend an a little more time then needed making sure every sprinkle was placed perfectly on the cupcake. Even those with little or no decorating experience can master these. It does not require any special decorating tool or technique to make them. You can make the mini cupcakes any flavor you would like. I made them yellow cake because I did not want the dark cupcake peaking through the icing. I used white mini cupcake holders, but dark green ones will work just as well as the seaweed but might be harder to find. Put a thin layer of butter cream icing to cover the top of the cupcakes. Dip or sprinkle cupcakes with white sprinkles for the sushi "rice". You can get kosher white sprinkles at most of your cake decorating supply stores such as Michaels or Joannes.  For those that like the taste of coconut, you can also use shredded coconut in place of the white sprinkles for a cheaper option. Cut up gummy fish into tiny pieces and use the icing to "glue" the pieces onto the top of the cupcakes. I also put some whole gummy fish on the tops as well for a little extra pop. I bought 15 sushi containers from a sushi restaurant for 25 cents each, but you can also buy them in bulk at Sams club. I finished it off with a pair of chopsticks taped to the top of the container and it was done.

Its great for parties, gifts, or to make as a fun food craft with children.

Pops for Purim

While I wanted to teach Freida the concept of Shalach Manos, I also felt it was a bit extraneous for a 2 year old to be giving out a basket of food to her teeny-tiny friends. I decided to go with giving over the general idea of distributing treats to your friends; simply the concept of "giving". I can imagine it would be a bit stressful if Freida were to receive heaps of sweets on Purim day, so I went with something that at least I'd be okay getting for my little bug: one little lollipop.

I wish I could say that I'm a creative genius - fact is though, I'm not that awesome. Found these online last year around Valentines day over at DesignMom who found this incredibly hot idea on a blog called 24-7-365. So cheers to those super-moms who made my little girl's first Purim favors this adorable! Naturally, I wanted to go with a Yummy Earth Organic sucker, or at least the Trade Joe's variety, but the wrapper was too big and blocked her face so I had to resort to the sugar-laden, dye-induced Dumdum...(I guess not everything can work out perfect).

The project cost about $4 (for 20) at a photo printing machine in a local pharmacy + $2 for the pops. Bingo! The best part is the fact that I printed plenty of extras so she has something to give to anyone and everyone all Purim long (though initially I just made them for her to give out to her school friends at Esther's Gan). The whole think took about 20 minutes. I took a picture of Freida with her arm outstretched in a fist, printed it with some text, used an exacto knife to cut a slit at the top of the fist and at the bottom, and slid the lolly through. Plus, the shock factor when kids look at the thing is the most fun part. :)

Wishing you all a Purim brimming with joy and heaps of genuine fun! Have a super-awesome Purim weekend!

P.S. You can easily turn this whole concept into a "real" Shalach Manos by just glueing the photo to a juice box, or a bag of chips/popcorn etc.