I was given the opportunity from
Mom Central Canada to host an intimate Cheerios Milestones Sponsored Get-together in my home with my Mommy friends and their kids. Mom Central Canada provided me with a Get-together kit that included everything I would need to host a fun and entertaining get-together.
Unfortunately a week before my scheduled party I got sick, so I had to adjust the originally planned event. However, even with the scaled down production and a few cancellations, we still managed to have a fantastic time. We had tons of food to sample and lots of arts and crafts for the little ones.
The Layout
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| The Spread |
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| Cheerio Lollipops |
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| Make your own Cheerio Necklaces |
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| All set up for kids potty time |
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| Crafts | |
The Guests
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| Me prepping blog post --must get wireless one of these days(Check out spanking new laptop won from Urbanmoms.ca) |
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| The gang sampling |
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| Glad I left the house like normal with toys everywhere |
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| Mommies bonding over sweets |
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| Josh and his Cheerios necklace |
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| Jesse saying Hi to Carter |
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| Peekaboo! |
The Recipes
Banana Nut Cheerios® Energy Bars (I substituted with Honey Nut Cheerios)
| 4 | cups Banana Nut Cheerios® cereal |
| 1 | cup sweetened dried cranberries |
| 1/3 | cup slivered almonds, toasted |
| 1/3 | cup roasted unsalted sunflower nuts |
| 1/2 | cup light corn syrup |
| 1/4 | cup packed brown sugar |
| 1/4 | cup creamy peanut butter |
| 1 | teaspoon vanilla |
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| 1. | Spray 9-inch square pan with cooking spray. In large bowl, mix cereal, cranberries, almonds and sunflower nuts. |
| 2. | In 2-quart saucepan, heat corn syrup, brown sugar and peanut butter to boiling over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla. |
| 3. | Pour syrup mixture over cereal mixture; toss to coat. Press firmly in pan. Cool completely, about 30 minutes. For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. |
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110 ( 30); 3 1/2g ( 0g, 0g); 0mg; 55mg; 18g ( 1g, 11g); 1g 2%; 2%; 4%; 6% 1/2 ; 1/2 ; 0 ; 1/2 1
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| 1/2 | cup hazelnut spread with cocoa |
| 1/4 | cup milk chocolate chips |
| 14 | large marshmallows |
| Toothpicks |
| 3 | cups Chocolate Cheerios® cereal |
| Round wooden sticks with one pointed end or craft sticks (flat wooden sticks with round ends) |
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| 1. | In medium microwavable bowl, microwave hazelnut spread and chocolate chips on High 30 seconds; stir until smooth. Place cereal in shallow dish. |
| 2. | Insert toothpick into marshmallow; dip in chocolate mixture. Roll in cereal to coat completely. Place on large plate; remove toothpick. Repeat with remaining marshmallows. If desired, insert round wooden sticks into each for pops. |
| 3. | Refrigerate 30 minutes or until chocolate is set. |
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120 ( 40); 4 1/2g ( 1g, 0g); 0mg; 50mg; 19g ( 1g, 13g); 1g 2%; 2%; 4%; 8% 1 1/2 ; 0 ; 1 1
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Cheerios String and Eat Necklaces
30 min |
30 min |
4 necklaces |
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| Dip licorice ends into flour before poking through marshmallows to prevent stickiness |
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| 1/3 | cup Cheerios® cereal |
| 1 | roll (1.5 oz) ring-shaped gummy candy |
| 1 | package (1 1/4 oz) tube-shaped candies |
| 1/2 | cup colored miniature marshmallows |
| 4 | pieces red shoestring licorice (about 36 inches each) |
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| 1. | For each necklace, string cereal, candies and marshmallows onto shoestring licorice. |
| 2. | When licorice is three-fourths full, tie ends together in double knot to make necklace | | | | |
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Review's of the Recipe's and Crafts
Angie (2 1/2) loved the cheerios lollipops and when Mom (Tammy) asked if she could have a bite -- she said "NO" you can get your own over there! Her mom preferred the ones I made with the Cheerios over just the plain chocolate covered marshmallows -- as they were too sweet. With theCheerios on them it mellowed the sweetness. Mom and Angie both thought the squares were too hard, thought they would have been better if they weren't so thick. The taste was good though
Joanna and her 2 children Abi (4 yrs) and Josh (15 months) also sampled all of the treats. Abi loved the Cheerios lollipops, but wasn't sure she would like them with the chocolate Cheerios that the recipe suggested (So far haven't seen the chocolate Cheerios in Canada, saw them in Buffalo last week though). Abi wouldn't try theCheerios squares because they had cranberries in them (both of my boys weren't going to try those squares either -- since they are also not fans of cranberries). Mom thought they were delicious, but also thought they were a little too hard (must get proper size bake pan so I can make them thinner). Abi loved making the Cheerios necklaces and Mom thought they were a fantastic craft for little girls. Josh had a few pieces of the Cheerios lollipop and loved it and probably would have eaten the whole thing if Mom would have let him (trust me I am with Mom, I would only let Jesse have a little bite since they are so sugary,they would have been bouncing off the walls!). Joanna also wanted to mention that Abi only likes regular cheerios, not the multi-grain ones. As a Mom, Joanna, also mentioned that she is a little turned off of the multi-grain Cheerios as they seem to have an almost candy like coating. When she buys"multi-grain" she expects them to be healthier-- not candy coated!
Pam has three children, Jalene (4), Taryn (2 - and future wife to Jesse) and Carter (3mths). Both Jalene and Taryn loved the Cheerios lollipops and devoured them! Jalene loved the chocolate ones a little better than the Cheerios ones, because they weren't as messy. Jalene loved the squares but Taryn wouldn't try them -- due to once again those nasty looking cranberries (note to self -- cranberries are a turn off to most young kids). Both girls enjoyed making the necklaces. Something they definitely were going to try doing again. Pam has
Coeliac disease, so she could not try any of the Cheerios recipes. However, both of the girls and her husband are huge fans of the Banana Nut Cheerios. We also bought some this week to try out! Carter just slept most of the time and wasn't ready to try anything since -- he's only 3 months old. But I got to cuddle with him and kiss his beautiful little head! Thank goodness hubby has been fixed or I would have been tempted to have another one asap.
Lori has two children, Meghan(4 1/2) and Joshua (17months). Both Meghan and Josh loved the lollipops, especially the ones with the Cheerios on them! Mom also liked theCheerios lollipops and the Cheerios squares. The squares were much too difficult for the kids to eat, since they were so wide and hard -- but they did have a great flavor to them. Mom loved the idea of making necklaces with the kids and was going to do that in the future. Mom found the lollipops a little too sweet and found the ones with the Cheerios quite a bit better as the Cheerios calmed down the sweetness.
Things I learned & Misc. Notes
- Things were a little too hectic for all of us sitting down and doing the crafts. If I was to do this again, I would get one of the neighborhood girls to come in and help out with the little ones.
- I love to host parties with kids. If I had been feeling better I would have loved to have planned more crafts for the kids to do
- Everyone loves cheerios. Great first solid food for all kids. Everybody has their favorite type, but I am old school I love snacking on the plain ones.
- Told them all about the milestones contest and Mom Central and handed out the cards. Also emailed them a list of the recipes, the contest and some information about Mom Central
- Everybody liked the prizes provided by Cheerios and Mom Central. I also added some prizes of books, so that everybody could go home with a little extra
- It was so nice to have so many little girls in the house for a change. I am usually surrounded by boys and fart jokes, so it was kinda fun to talk about barbies and crafts.
- It is times like this that I really miss being a stay at home mom, surrounded by tons of noise and chaos and just hanging with other Mom's
Kleenex Hand Towel Review
Since I already had some mom's handy I wanted to get their opinion on the
Kleenex Hand Towels that were also provided b
y Mom Central Canada
Most of the mom's agreed it wasn't something that they would purchase regularly, but would definitely keep on hand for parties and for when someone in the house was sick, to prevent the spreading of germs.
The product itself was extremely strong and really did the trick. It was the perfect size and it felt nice and soft. Our complaints about the product were that it was a little pricey for what it was, and it wasn't the most environmentally friendly product as it promoted throwing things away. However, we were still all going to make sure we kept some handy. Great for keeping in the car and diaper bags!!!
