Theme Days

3 day weekend fun

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We recently had a long weekend, and it had been a while since we’d had a theme day, so why not throw two in on the same weekend?

Since that Friday was Friday the 13th, we had to have a miniature theme night, with dinner and a movie. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I love to take a theme and run with it. And, as Patrick has pointed out, the girls still think it’s fun so I don’t plan to stop any time soon!

Bloody eyeballs, witch’s hair, and spider breadsticks
Blood splatter cake, mummy and ghost cake bites
skull cookies

We had witch’s hair pasta (I dropped some black food coloring into the pasta water while it was boiling), bloody eyeballs (meatballs and marinara), and spider breadsticks (my parmesan breadsticks that we make at least once a week). We had some Halloween baking kits left over from Halloween, so I made ghost and mummy cake bites and a blood splatter cake. The girls had fun decorating their skull cookies.

After dinner we settled in for family movie night. We wanted something a bit scary, but not too scary since Molly is only 8. We settled on Super 8. The movie came out in 2011, but Patrick and I never saw it. We chose it because the description sounded like it had some Stranger Things vibes (and Regina is OBSESSED), but was mild enough for the whole family.

It was a great choice – everyone was a fan of the movie. Patrick and I were immediately on board because Kyle Chandler starred – who doesn’t love Coach (we LOVED Friday Night Lights!). The girls loved the kid characters and the supernatural/scary element to the story. It was the perfect Friday the 13th movie!

The next day, we finally held Regina’s birthday party. This poor girl was born two weeks before Christmas, and trying to get parties planned and friends who can attend can be difficult. This year, her sisters being in a show that ran the first two weekends of December threw an added wrench in. Regina, as the middle child, is the most flexible and willing to compromise, so she agreed to have her party with friends in January.

Because she’s Stranger Things-obsessed and was turning 11, she insisted she go full 80s style and have her party at our local skating rink. It was a great time, surrounded by some of her favorite friends. Everyone enjoyed two hours of skating, and then came back to our house for pizza and fun. A car full of 10 and 11 year old girls is quite something!

Regina worked hard on her cake, and I have to say, she did a fantastic job!

The next day was Maddy’s Hamilton day (see my previous blog on that). But Monday, we had no plans, so Molly asked if I could throw together a quick theme day. Why not have two in one weekend?!

Molly went through my binder of ideas and settled on The Greatest Showman. We love a good musical, and while the movie itself isn’t the best, who doesn’t love those songs?! I’m down for anything Hugh Jackman is in, and the rest of the cast is pretty amazing. Not many can sing like Keala Settle – those pipes are something else! And Maddy loves that Timothy Hughes is the strongman – we saw him on Broadway in Frozen and have followed his career since. We adore him!

So, we settled in for a circus day. We had circus food for lunch and snacks – circus animal cookies, circus peanuts, soft pretzels, corn dogs, kettle corn, cotton candy, etc. I had a couple of crafts up my sleeve for them, too.

I found gold glitter canvases at the Dollar Tree, which were perfect for some art projects. The girls chose their favorite song lyrics and wrote them on the canvases. All three chose This is Me.

Next, they made their own ringleader tophats out of paper, and A Million Dreams wishing jars. The jars are mason jars that they decorated and wrote some lyrics to the song on, and then we will fill them with fairy lights to be wishing jars at bedtime.

The Greatest Showman is a great family movie with great themes (granted, it probably, okay, definitely glosses over the fact that PT Barnum was profiting off of people who were cast off from society and maybe wasn’t as kindhearted to them as the movie made it seem). I love the lyrics to This is Me, and hope that I’m raising girls who carry this anthem with them:

When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I’m gonna send a flood, gonna drown ’em out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I’m meant to be, this is me

There’s No One I’d Rather Be But Me

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Daddy went to the lake with his buddies for the weekend in January, so the girls wanted

to have another theme day. We opted for Wreck it Ralph and Ralph Breaks the Internet. And I have to say, it was my favorite theme day so far!

Our day was filled with fun and lots of sugar!

So much sugar!

Our supplies for the day included lots of candy, along with Diet Coke and mentos for a fun science experiment.

The first activity of the day was making or own Sugar Rush candy racers while watching Wreck It Ralph. I moved a folding table inside so the girls had plenty of space to decorate and were still able to watch the movie.

I raided the Dollar Tree for candy and cookies for our sugar rush racers. We had a variety of options to choose from so each racer could be unique.

We even themed our lunch around Wreck It Ralph, enjoying Burger Time Burgers, Ralph’s smashed potatoes, and Tapper’s root beer.

While the girls were making their racers, I whipped up a batch of heart-shaped sugar cookies and homemade buttercream frosting so the girls could make their own You’re My Hero medals like the one Vanellope gives Ralph.

Vanellope lives in Diet Cola Springs, so we had to have a Diet Cola Springs explosion! The Amazon delivery driver happened to show up at just the right time for the show!

While we watched Ralph Breaks the Internet, the girls also designed their own net users and colored color-by-number Ralph and Vanellope pictures. But their favorite part of the day was definitely the pancake milkshakes! In Ralph Breaks the Internet, Ralph and Vanellope enter a game where you feed a cat and a bunny either a milkshake or pancakes. So, we made pancake milkshakes!

Regina chose a strawberry shake while the other two opted for vanilla. We topped them with whipped cream, Lucky Charms marshmallows, pancakes, and a marshmallow-topped straw. It was the perfect sweet treat to end our day!

Your Identity is Your Most Valuable Possession – Protect It

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On the last day of Christmas break, we decided to squeeze in one last day of fun with an Incredibles day. We hadn’t seen the movies in a while, so it was fun to see them again and talk about it.

We started our day with Mr. Incredibles waffles because who doesn’t love to start their day with that fluffy goodness? We happen to have a Mickey waffle maker, so it was perfect!

While we watched the first movie, the girls thought about what superpowers they would like to have and designed their own superheroes. Molly chose Freeze Girl with the power of ice and water. Maddy chose Creati with the power of creation – she can create an object from the mass around her (as long as that mass isn’t human or animal). And Regina chose Lava Lady, who Reg described as “cool, the best, and amazing.”

While they watched the second movie, we also made Elastigirl slime and Jack’s Num Num cookies. I used my standard chocolate chip cookie recipe for the cookies (found on the back of a bag of Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chips!) We ended the day with Frozone milkshakes. We opted for mint chocolate chip ice cream, with a pirouline cookie, candy canes, and snowflake sprinkles.

It’s Friday the 13th – Let’s Get Spooky!

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If you haven’t noticed yet, I love a theme. The girls used to let me plan elaborate parties for them (ok, really they were just too little to protest), but now that they’re older, they want to have full control over their birthdays. So, I take any chance I can get to turn a regular day into some themed fun!


So, when we had a Friday the 13th, I had to make it a family fun night! We watched Ghostbusters as a family, ate toxic sludge, spider and snake breadsticks, and bloody eyeballs.

For dinner, I made zombie eyes (meatballs with a spicy BBQ sauce), monster toes (chicken nuggets for Maddy), toxic sludge (mac and cheese dyed green), alongside spider and snake breadsticks (the same recipe we used for Rapunzel day, just shaped into these spooky creatures). For dessert, I made cherry Jell-o and dropped some eyeball sprinkles in.

Ogres Are Like Onions – Ogres Have Layers

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The girls decided we needed to have theme days, even after the world went back to normal. We were busy a good part of the summer with Moana, but we managed to get a couple in before we headed back to school.

Because we’ve been enjoying our Universal Studios passes, the girls decided they wanted theme days around things we see and do at the parks. We started with Shrek and it was an entire day affair! I definitely got more elaborate this go around. On our agenda was:

  • Drink swamp juice
  • Make Shrek ear wax slime
  • Build the best tower for Fiona
  • Make your own Gingy
  • Bake a swamp log cake
  • Design your own freak flag (based on the musical)

First up was designing the best tower for Fiona. The girls were given toothpicks, wooden skewers, and marshmallows. They definitely each put their own spin on it.

Then we made swamp juice, which was essentially a limeade float with green food coloring added to make it look extra swampy. We bought pre-made limeade, added green food coloring, and then topped it off with a scoop of lime sherbet.

The girls wanted to skip the first movie and watch the musical instead. We LOVE musical theater in our house, and the girls have seen Shrek the Musical a dozen times (thanks, Netflix!). So, in theme with the musical, they designed their own freak flags. We love that song, and the girls had fun making their own flags celebrating their differences.

Make your own Gingies were also a huge hit. The girls love baking and decorating, so they had a great time. And the cookies were delicious!

The girls love slime. I think it is weird and gross, and daddy is totally opposed to it. But, Shrek ear wax slime fit our theme, so out to the driveway we went. We used Elmer’s Butter Slime Kit and it turned out pretty much just as we had hoped it would.

Our final project of the day was baking a swamp log cake. I found an Oreo cake mix that worked great. We poured the batter onto our baking pan and spread it out so that it would be a thin layer of cake. Once it cooled, we used Oreo vanilla frosting to cover the surface of the cake. Then we carefully rolled it up, and added some finishing touches.

7 am the Usual Morning Wake-Up

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I loved the movie Tangled when it came out. We listened to the soundtrack non-stop. Regina was a bit obsessed with Flynn Rider and used to carry a stuffed Flynn doll everywhere. So they were excited for a Tangled day.

This one was the most involved of the ones we had done so far. First, we did some melted crayon art:

Next up was bread baking. We made braided breadsticks to look like Rapunzel’s hair and they were delicious! The recipe is quick and easy, and we make these breadsticks a couple times a month now.

Recipe:

  • 1 T active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 C warm water
  • 2 T sugar
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 3 1/4 c flour

Preheat oven to 375. Then, combine the yeast and sugar with the water. Let this mixture sit for several minutes until foamy. Add the flour and salt to the water mixture and mix until well blended. If the dough mixture is too wet, add more flour a bit at a time until it reaches the right consistency. Sometimes, I have to add as much as another additional cup of flour. Knead until smooth and elastic.

You can then shape the dough however you want. The girls like to braid the breadsticks. Brush with butter. Sometimes we also add garlic salt and parmesan cheese to the breadsticks before baking. Let the breadsticks rise for a bit. Then, bake for about 20 minutes. And voila – delicious breadsticks!

For our Rapunzel day, we wanted the breadsticks to look like Rapunzel’s hair after the little girls braid it. So the girls cut out flowers from the dough and added them to the braided breadsticks.

We also made dresses as we thought about all the activities Rapunzel sings about.

Regina used hot glue to embellish a dress she made fo a Barbie.

How Far Will We Go?

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The girls all love Moana, so when it was time for another theme day, that was top of the list. I love Moana because she’s not the typical Disney princess. We love that she’s strong and confident and brave. (And the girls all got to be in our community theatre’s production of Moana)

The girls loved making their own flower crowns. I bought headbands and fake flowers from the Dollar Tree, and let them go to town. With a little hot glue magic they turned out super cute!

Next up they made their own boats to sail across the ocean to restore the heart of Te Fiti.

Again, I found these boat kits at the Dollar Tree. They decorated the sails and then assembled. I wasn’t sure how sturdy they would be, but it’s more than a year later and the girls still have their boats!

I Just Can’t Wait To Be King!

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The girls were all in our community theatre’s production of The Lion King, so when it came time to choose our next theme day, that was their choice. Regina has loved The Lion King since she was little and was even Simba for Halloween one year.

Movie watching was of course on the docket, but so were a couple of fun activities.

First up, we made Simba’s sunrise punch. We used orange juice, grenadine and sparkling water. They garnished it with gummy worms and orange slices, and of course used adorable flamingo straws (Maddy was a flamingo in our theatre’s production, so it was a fun touch!). Honestly, we didn’t use a recipe – I just got out the ingredients and let them mix until it tasted right to them.

My girls love art, so our activity was painting their own Simba. I drew a lion head and then they painted how they wanted. I loved Molly’s so much that it is hanging in our dining room!

It Does Not Do Well to Dwell on Dreams and Forget to Live

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To keep us sane as the days in quarantine dragged by, I decided to implement theme days. I chose movies the girls liked and planned activities around them. The girls loved the days so much that we did a few more this summer before school started, so this will be the start of a series on the theme days we’ve done from last summer through this summer.

Our first one was Harry Potter. We love Harry Potter in our house (well, at least the girls and I do…daddy has seen a couple of the movies, but isn’t as into it as we are). The girls chose which movies they wanted to watch, and we of course had to have butterbeer to go along with it.

At this point we had not yet visited the Wizarding World at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure, so they had no idea how butterbeer was supposed to taste. Now they are ruined forever!

We used a super simple recipe to make butterbeer milkshakes – vanilla ice cream, butterscotch syrup, and cream soda. Then we topped with whipped cream and drizzled some butterscotch. The girls loved it, but now that they are Wizarding World pros, they say it doesn’t taste like the real thing.

For our activity, we made Harry Potter character bookmarks. I think their corner bookmarks turned out pretty cute! We used this tutorial.