march's theme for tastebud is family, so i highlighted one of our friday family fun nights. no flowers but lots of fun ideas for a family friendly table!

Friday Family Fun Night
In our house Fridays are reserved for family fun night. This can include anything from going to the Nelson-Atkins art gallery to trying a new family friendly restaurant or the kid’s favorite, game night at home. Since this night is all about fun and family time together start with setting an interactive and brightly colored table. Roll out a large sheet of white butcher block paper and provide lots of markers, crayons and colored pencils for creating bold drawings. To hold our supplies we made ‘junk drawer’ robots out of recycled cans, old hardware, paper clips and any odds and ends we discovered in the garage. Have the kids design the robots out of these old parts and an adult can attach the junk with a hot glue gun. My kids were so excited to add their works of art to create our centerpiece. Next, bring on the games! For our last game night we played bingo. The cage served as the centerpiece, we placed the bingo cards at each place setting and spread the colorful markers all over the table. Another alternative would be to place a board game and pieces in the middle and get ready to play!
The menu is simple: make your own pizza and chocolate milk. Stop by Whole foods to buy their pre-made pizza dough in the deli area and get plenty of toppings (pepperoni, black olives, broccoli, mushrooms, red peppers, etc.), sauce and shredded mozzarella cheese. Everyone is happy because they choose their own pizza toppings and they have fun making it. While the pizza is in the oven enjoy coloring and talking about the week. When the pizza is gone it’s on to dessert. What could be more fun than chocolate fondue? Kids love dipping marshmallows, pretzels, bananas and strawberries into the yummy melted chocolate.
Spend the rest of the evening playing games and laughing, dancing and enjoying this time together. We end our night with everyone piling into our king sized bed for a family slumber party.


Family Fun Night Tunes

House Party Time: Dan Zanes
Pizza and Chocolate Milk: The Terrible Twos
Victor Vito: Laurie Berkner
I Chalk: Justin Roberts
Heist: Ben Folds
William Tell Overture: Rossini
Catch the Moon: Lisa Loeb and Elizabeth Mitchell

Where to find fun games in KC:

Brookside Toy and Science

330 West 63rd

KCMO

The Learning Tree

Corinth Square

83rd and Mission

Park Place Shops

115th and Nall

wheat grass. i love this stuff: the color, the roots, the way it brings a little feeling of spring to a room. look for it in an upcoming article of tastebud.

these are a few centerpiece's i helped a friend with in the fall. the occasion was a fundraiser for caeden's cause. photos are by wheat photography.

these little square vases with curly willow and bear grass swirled in the base with a floating gerbera daisy are great choice for adding color and style to a table without spending a lot of money. the full arrangments have hydrangea, mochara orchids, mini calla lilies, gerbera daisies, roses and ferns.