A Wintry Valentine's Celebration

To kick off Valentine's week, 

we celebrated the holiday of love with sweet friends, 

sweet treats, and a sweet book and craft.

Penguin in Love by Salina Yoon is a charming story and one of our 

favorite books this season.  Penguin is loveable, and the girls enjoyed

having him at our Valentine's celebration.  After a chatty lunch, 

we read the book and each made our own Penguin.

How adorable are these back-pack clips?  The kids did a great job!

I love playing with Crayola Model Magic.

It air dries nicely and is easy for the kids to work with.  

To make Penguin, you need:

Black Model Magic for the body.

Orange Model Magic for the scarf.

White Model Magic for the belly and nose.

Two black beads for the eyes

Yellow pipe cleaners for the feet.

Back pack clips

After molding Penguin with model magic, fold a six inch pipe cleaner 

in half and string it through the ring of a back-pack clip, with the folded

part centered in the ring.  Pierce both ends of the pipe cleaner through the top 

of Penguin's head and out the bottom.  There will be two ends sticking out.

Bend each end in half to form the feet; this will secure Penguin to the clip.

 While our Penguins were left to dry, we celebrated with wintry treats.

I'm still practicing my chocolate piping skills.  

The girls were tickled with the Penguin and bill cozy cupcakes. 

You'll have to read the book to learn what a bill cozy is. :)

 The iceberg jigglers were a big hit.  Kids love these silly, jiggly treats.

To make the blue icy water layer, combine two 6 oz boxes of blue jello with

two and a half cups of boiling water.  Stir until dissolved and pour 

into a greased 9 x 13 dish.  I sprayed the dish with a light layer of PAM oil.

Place the jello in the refrigerator until it sets, about 20 minutes.

To make the creamy snow layer, dissolve two envelopes of unflavored gelatin 

with a quarter cup of boiling water.  Set aside.  In a separate bowl, mix

a can of condensed milk with a cup of boiling water.  Add the gelatin mixture 

into the creamy mixture, and stir in another half a cup of boiling water.  

Pour the white jello mixture onto the set blue layer, 

and allow the jello to completely chill in the refrigerator before cutting.

These snow ball goodies are powdered donut holes.

The girls enjoyed drinking milk from the frosted icicle glasses.

Okay, sugar sprinkles. :)

Author/Illustrator Salina Yoon offers these wonderful free 

Valentine's printables on Penguin's Face Book page.

The children were happy to take home Penguin in Love Valentines.

I'm so happy the kids got a chance to get together this weekend.

They had a lot of fun hanging out and celebrating Valentine's.

Before bedtime, I helped my daughter clip her new friend

onto her back-pack.  She is all set for school.  Happy Valentine's week!

More parties: Despicable Me Party, Mermaid Surprise Party, 

Book Launch Celebration