I have four kids. I am a single mama, divorced since 2007. 

Trying to come up with birthday ideas for my kids that are budget friendly that I can do on my own is tough. 



When my youngest turned thirteen this summer, I knew I had to make it special. At the time (and still to this day) I was obsessed with candy cakes....over the top cakes topped with anything you can find. I am no baker but I loved making her cake.




I opted for a simple taco bar. Easy enough, right? You cook your meats and everything else is pretty much prep. Yes, this was so easy.



This is a fabulous idea because, well, who doesn't love tacos? What kid hates candy? A win-win, right?

Right.



My kids and our guests loved it. Even though the cake fell on the back side, nothing was left. All food was eaten and we didn't know whether to pass out from food overload or be super hype from our sugar high.



This was one of my favorite parties to put together. Outside of the taco bar, we had an ice cream mini bar and the best part???? The best part was that it all cost me less than $100. I'm taking all the food, the Dollar Tree decorations and errthang....less than $100.



Tips for buying on a budget for a birthday party:

• Check out your local dollar store. 

• Dollar Stores have tons of candy for goody bags, candy bars, chips, drinks, and decorations. 

• Clearance!

• Tons of grocery stores and stores in general have clearance sections or baskets. Look at those clearance bins for candy or decorations for some awesome deals. I got all the toppings for the ice cream bar for 90 cents a bag.

• Plan a simple menu but display it in a high end fashion.

• Burgers, hotdogs, tacos, etc....display your food items on coordinating serving platters. It really makes a difference.

• Be Creative!

• Make decorations for inexpensive items.

I had hard taco shells, flour tortillas, and bags of doritoes that they could use to make their own Taco-in-a-Bag. Seriously, dudes, this was so good.

 So last year I started seeing milkshakes everywhere. All on instagram people were posting these epic and delicious looking milkshakes. They were massive. They had everything you could imagine on and in them. They were gigantic.  Topped with any type of candy you could coordinate to match in color or theme, I was like, "You know I gotta make one...or two". And so I did.  Or at least I attempted to.

Truth is, my four candy loving kids would not touch the things. They looked at them like I had committed murder of precious, beautiful candies and they had just wandered onto the crime scene. They would not even take a sip.



My oldest looked at my horrified and said, "No way am I eating that coma."

I looked at the milkshakes, all the blood sweat and spilled milk that I had put into creating it and realized it was a bit much.

My kids stood around the milkshakes, took a piece of candy and left the room.



My poor melting abstract masterpiece stood alone, against my homemade backdrop, anticipating its demise.

Are people actually finishing these things? It seems so wasteful, as I tried to salvage my poor milkshakes and put them in the freezer...only to have to throw them out the next month. Seriously, my 13, 14, 15, and 18 year olds wanted nothing to do with it.



I failed at this one. Not only did they not eat it, it was hell to put together. Try taking photos....it turned into a mushy mess of milk, soggy candy, cake and ice cream.

I don't think I will make these again. They are pretty and nice to look at but then you think of all the sugar, and I remember how even four kids would not even attempt to finish or even try one, and I have to give it a pass.



But gosh darn if they are not a feast for the eyes.

I am far from a baker. I keep cake mix and brownie mix in the pantry but I dread when my kids ask me to bake something for them. I don't know why, really. I just like to keep baking as simple as possible.

Every year I make my kids a birthday cake. Sometimes that means taking the cheater way and buying a cake already baked and just embellishing on it. Saves me time and I get to cut the chase and hop right to the best part, the decorating!



So for my daughter's birthday last Friday, I did just that. Picked up two 2 layer cakes from Walmart, added some sour candy and lollipops and guess what, it saved me a ton of time and it was a HUGE hit.

There is no recipe to this, it is simply a design idea. Loads of candy, wrapped around a confetti sprinkle side, tied with a sour Airhead Extreme strips.

It was so good and I think it looked pretty cool too!

This has been blowing up on pinterest, so I thought I would reshare! It is the perfect homemade summer treat.

My youngest son, Anderson just had a birthday. He turned 11 and being the Sonic slush-aholic-that he is, he wanted slushes at his birthday dinner. Mind you, he never deviates from the 'green apple' slush, I finally got him to try another flavor and I made it at home. These are super easy and perfect to make while we battle this heat here in the South.

You will need:
Nerds Candy
Airheads Extreme Sours
Hawaiian Punch To Go
Ice
Water

I used the Hawaiian Punch To Go because each of my children wanted a different flavor. Being that you can get like six packets for a dollar and each packet is enough for one drink, I thought it was perfect.

Mix your drink mix and water and pour over ice in your blender. Add in a few Nerds candy if you like (they will lose their color in the slush, so they will be white pellets of sugar). Blend until ice is that nice slushy consistency. Pour in your glass, top with Nerds and garnish with a sour Airheads candy ribbon. I placed mine of a toothpick to make the ribbon garnish.

My kids loved them. Simple, quick and made right at home.

* I have seen adult versions of these with much more candy on top and of course, alcohol. Would make a nice frozen cocktail.

Halloween is right around the corner and then we are kicking the holiday season into full gear. We have a white tree this year for Christmas, so I have been on Pinterest looking for red and white holiday inspiration. All that red and planning made me remember these!

I made these last year and they were featured full page in 2013's Yum Food And Fun for Kids Holiday issue. These are cute, simple and fun!

A great alternative to the traditional milk and cookies we leave out for Santa and perfect for children's winter parties.

So school started here in Mississippi today and while I homeschool one of my sons, it was a bit bittersweet to watch them go. I got into my home school routine, cooked dinner and then sat down with my youngest son to make First Day of School candy skewers. I made these in Atlanta a week ago and they were such a hit, I decided to do it today for my kids.



They are super easy to make but sugar from the candy gets every where, so be prepared.



You will need wooden skewers, Airhead Xtremes or other ribbon gummie candies or various sour gummies.

Start by rolling the candy around in a circle, after you have the desired width you would like, pierce with the skewer just enough to make it stay in place. Begin folding the other ribbons on top of each other and pierce and bring them up from the bottom of the skewer. Decorate and alternate as you would like.





I will definitely be making these from time to time as gifts or favors. I love how cute they are. Of course, my kids were only allowed to eat a bit of them. So much sugar! I asked them to save some for tomorrow.

Yeah, any excuse to eat ice cream is a good one, right?

So the weather is nice, the sun is shining bright and bold and my kids need a treat. I do what any other mom would do....I head to pinterest.com and eye photo after photo for some ice creamy inspiration. I found it...boy did I find it. I saw a photo of an ice cream cake that took me all the way back to the late 80s when my fifth grade (highly fashionable with my lopsided ponytails) self knew what it meant to be cool and have the coolest birthday party. You could not be cool and awesome without an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. So there it was. My inspiration and what I would make. Nevermind I had never made one before. Who cares about that? You gotta try.

I tried it and I loved it. Man, oh man, did I love it. The kids loved it and my friends loved it. Let's just say, last year was the Year of the Popsicles but this summer will be the Year of the Ice Cream Cake.

While it is not perfect, my first attempt....Death By Chocolate and Peanut Butter...

If you are like me, the children always get tons of candy at Easter. The day and week after, we still have so much left. Sometimes I end up throwing it away because they become a ball of melted chocolatey mess.  This year I decided to try something different...why not milkshakes. You can always freeze the candy for milkshakes later or why not serve these easy milkshakes to family and friends on Easter!

Check out my recipe and so much more, including Easter and holiday printables and crafts over at Living Locurto!

Growing up I loved anything that had peanut butter in it.  My father, a doctor, had his practice right across the street from a convenience store that sold lots of peanut butter candies for a nickle each.  Atkinson's Peanut Butter bars, why of course. I usually bought plenty. Chico sticks, peanut butter cups and of course whatchamacallits.