It’s time to get outside and break out the barbeque. Here are three simple and yummy recipes the whole family will love.

Grilled Garlic Shrimp

Serves 4 to six

Recipe Ingredients:

• 2 lbs jumbo shrimp
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 6 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• ¼ cup parsley, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Wooden skewers

How to Make It:

1. In a medium bowl, combine oil, garlic, lemon juice, parsley and salt and pepper.
2. Mix well then add shrimp and marinate for 4 hours. Soak wooden skewers in water for 30 minutes before grilling.
3. String shrimp onto skewers and, turning halfway through, barbeque for about six to eight minutes.

Foil-Wrapped Potatoes

Serves 4

Recipe Ingredients:

• 1 lb mini new potatoes, skin on, scrubbed
• 1 head of garlic, broken up into whole cloves
• ¼ cup fresh rosemary, separated into small sprigs
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Generous sprinkling each of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Aluminum foil

How to Make It:

1. In a small bowl combine all ingredients and toss well to coat with oil.
2. Tear off two large pieces of tin foil and pour potato mixture into the middle of one sheet.
3. Wrap potatoes loosely in foil and then wrap package loosely again in second piece of foil.
4. Place packet on top rack of barbeque and grill potatoes for an hour, flipping packet once halfway through cooking time.
5. Remove from heat and cut a slit in the top of the foil to release steam. Let sit for five to ten minutes, then transfer to a serving dish.

Grilled Pears

Serves 4

Recipe Ingredients:

• 2 large, ripe pears
• 1 tablespoon butter
• ½ cup white wine
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

How to Make It:

1. Cut pears in half lengthwise. Spread a grill safe baking dish with butter then add wine, sugar and cinnamon to dish and stir to mix.
2. Place pears cut side down in wine mixture and set dish in a preheated barbeque for 20 minutes.
3. Delicious with whipped cream, ice cream or custard.

A new Facebook game aims to introduce game-changing innovation in family-friendly virtual fun.

Enter Webkinz Friends!

The social game Webkinz Friends, enables teens and adult players (and you know who you are even if you won’t admit it) to relive the Webkinz experience on Facebook, and brings exciting news to the world of “co-play” by creating a cross-platform relationship between two games; where everyone can have fun in their own age-appropriate environments.   What’s more? This city-building goal-driven game also allows players to send exclusive prizes to any account on the Webkinz World platform directly from Facebook, and it’s headed to the iPad shortly.

“It’s the new face of co-play, where everyone can have fun in their own age-appropriate environments.” – Howard Ganz, president of Ganz and creator of Webkinz.

Webkinz Friends on Facebook!

As the Webkinz Creative director explains, “You want to live in a loft, surrounded by sushi plants and cupcake trees? Go ahead. Park a fleet of mobile homes beside a mansion? Done! “

• Webkinz Friends has the first virtual representation of plush pets in a Facebook game, allowing users to register and adopt pets, then watch their pet walk around their town! Virtual pets also come cool items.
• Players raise a big happy family and build the best Kinzville possible while sharing and collaborating with friends to complete goals. Homes, businesses, community centers, restaurants, stores and of course, the Clubhouse can all be added to your own Kinzville.
• Utilizing the cross-platform tool, players of Webkinz Friends can earn virtual prizes which can be sent anonymously to any Webkinz World account online! (guilt-free gaming for parents!)

Are you ready to play Webkinz Friends?  Many of goals require you to ask friends for help, players should begin by inviting friends to the game and meeting new friends on the official Webkinz Friends community page.

Webkinz Friends on Facebook lets everyone enjoy the sharing and caring aspect of Webkinz World in a format that suits them best. We wanted parents to be able to play a Webkinz game on Facebook and send prizes to their children’s Webkinz World accounts. – Howard Ganz, president of Ganz and creator of Webkinz.
 

With camping season just around the corner, now is the time to air out your tents, clean up your camp dishes, and start searching for the ideal camp site.  When I was growing up, my parents took us camping for a week or two every summer.  And why not?  Camping is fun, it’s affordable – it’s basically the perfect family vacation.  If this is your first time camping with kids, there are a few things that you should keep in mind before you head to the woods:

Invest in a Dining Tent

I asked my parents what they thought made our camping trips successful, and this was their number one tip.  Dining tents (large tents with mesh sides), set up with a picnic table inside, make meals a fairly bug-free event.  They’re also a shady place to play a game and an excellent spot to spend a rainy afternoon.

Include Kids in the Planning

If your kids have never camped before, they might be super excited, or they might be a little apprehensive.  If it’s the latter, be sure to include them in the trip planning.  Kids can help with meal planning (some special snacks are a good idea) and they can pick out games and activities to bring.  Your kids will love taking an active role in preparing.  And, if they’re still not sure about camping, do a trial run in the backyard!

Choose Your Site Wisely

If possible, get a site map of the campgrounds before you book and select a specific site.  When you’re camping with young kids, think about things like the proximity to the beach, to the water tap, to the indoor toilets and showers.  My parents love to tell the story of my first camping trip.  We were quite a walk from the indoor toilets so, when we arrived at our campsite and I announced that I had to use the bathroom, my mom took me to a nearby outhouse.  Apparently, I took one look (and smell) inside and walked back out, announcing that I would hold it all week.  Obviously, I caved and used the outhouse eventually, but you may prefer to have indoor toilets close by – especially for late night bathroom trips.

Bring Some New Outdoor Activities

One of the great things about camping is that it’s the perfect way to get kids to take a break from TV and video games and spend some quality time outdoors.  But before you take them away from their electronic entertainment, make sure you pack ‘stuff to do.’  Your camping trip will be a lot less fun if the kids are constantly complaining of boredom.  A few new outdoor toys will definitely increase your kids’ excitement.  Beach toys, fishing rods, a badminton set, and your kids’ bikes are good choices.

Plan for Rainy Days

If you’re camping for a week or more, assume that you’ll be dealing with at least one rainy day.  Pack some board games (you can play them in your dining tent) and favorite books, and research the area around the camp grounds before you go.  Look for any local attractions or even just the nearest movie theatre where you can go when it’s too wet for any outdoor fun.

Brush Up on Campfire Classics

Pack hot dogs and marshmallows for roasting over the fire.  Bring along the other ingredients needed to make delicious S’mores.  Get ready to sing some silly campfire songs.  And plan to tell a lot of funny stories (have one person start the story and then have the next person in the circle continue it and so on).  This is the part of camping that the kids will remember when they’re all grown up!

I’ve always enjoyed Beverly Cleary’s books, and Ramona and Beezus were the two characters I loved most. They’re sisters who happen to be five years apart, so there’s lots of room for big sister/little sister dynamics (and since I don’t have a sister, I always found this fascinating).

They are first introduced in “Beezus and Ramona,” a book perfect for the grade two and up crowd. The language is a little bit more advanced than in some of the books meant for this age group (so you might have to explain a few words here and there), and some of the phrases and concepts are a bit old fashioned (9-year-old Beezus does embroidery, for instance), but the book is about family, and its messages of love and understanding are timeless.

“Beezus and Ramona” is very funny. Ramona is possibly the most exasperating little sister in the world, and Beezus tries her best to cope with all the curveballs Ramona throws her way. From wiping her paint-covered hands on the neighbor’s cat, to locking a dog in the bathroom, to ruining not one but two birthday cakes, Ramona is trouble with a capital T!

This book is terrific to read aloud, so gather your favorite kids together and prepare for some fun with Ramona and Beezus. And when you’re done the book, here are some great at-home activities to try!

Paint an imaginary animal: Just like Beezus did in her art class, see if you can come up with an imaginary animal of your own. Let your imagination run free and have fun with the painting. If you like, get a very large sheet of paper and paint a mural together.

Funny family stories: Every family has a child with a bit of Ramona in them. Talk to your kids about funny things they did when they were younger. If you’ve got family photos that tell a story, take a look at them. If you like, write the stories down and illustrate them to make your own fun book to read.

My Perfect Party: Even though Ramona ruined not one but TWO birthday cakes, Beezus still managed to have a great tenth birthday party. Plan your child’s ultimate party – be as creative as you like (you don’t actually have to hold the party – it’s just fun to plan sometimes).

Visit the Library: Ramona was a bit too young to get a library card, but if your child doesn’t have one of their own yet, head to your local library and get them one – and pick up a few books while you’re there!

With the weather warming up, we’re all shaking off our cabin fever and looking for excuses to get outside and spend time together as a family. With school still in and parents working, it can be hard to find time to get away. This is the perfect season to take the family for a weekend getaway. No matter what part of the country you call home, there are locales within driving distance where you can take your family without breaking the bank, and have them back by the time the school bell rings on Monday morning.

Here are a few ideas for fun family getaways.

Camping

Pack up your sleeping bags and tent and hit the road for a nearby campground. Camping lets you and your family forget the rush of your busy schedule and just relax and get back to nature. A weekend at a camp ground close to home can be the perfect taste of camping for beginner campers. If you live near a national park, you can find information about camping. Many parks hold special events to celebrate local heritage and offer a wealth of information about the history of the park and the National Park Service. This is a wonderful way to spend some time with your family while appreciating the beauty of your local surroundings.

Nearby Metropolis

A drive to the nearest large city centre will offer all sorts of opportunities for you and your family to soak up culture and fun. Do some research first and plan your days to take in some interesting sites. A bus or boat tour is a fun way to sit back and experience the city. You can make notes on what strikes you and go back and visit points of interest afterward. This is also a good time to experiment with new types of food in the many restaurants the city has to offer, and if there is a local theatre culture, try and book tickets to a family-friendly musical while you’re there.

Family Resort

A weekend away at a hotel doesn’t have to be in the centre of town. There are some family resorts that offer a weekend-ful of activities without ever leaving the grounds. Whether you’re looking for scenic hikes in the country, strolls on the beach, or a water park right inside your hotel, investigate family resorts in your area and get away for a worry-free weekend. Check online for special promotions and deals and you might be able to score a good discount.

Theme Park

If you’re lucky enough to live within driving distance of a large amusement park, then this one is a no-brainer. Book your family into a nearby hotel and get ready to have some fun! Some theme parks, zoos and wildlife parks actually offer camping or hotel accommodations within the grounds which makes exploring the park that much more convenient.

Historic Sites

It’s never too early to introduce your kids to the rich heritage this country has to offer, and gives parents a chance to learn something too. Many historic sites offer interactive experiences designed to engage kids while educating them about the history of the site. And many are situated in scenic grounds that offer plenty of opportunity for walking and soaking up local color.

This patriotic summer door decoration will not only kick off the season on Memorial Day, but it will last the whole summer long!

The colors are wonderful for summer and by adding the blue starred pinwheels you can make the arrangement patriotic.  Simply stick them in around holiday time and remove them during the regular weeks of summer.  I’m sure small flags would look great in here too if you want to change things up!

Craft Supplies:

• Hanging door basket
• Floral foam for inside
• Hot glue gun
• Moss
• Greening pins
• Sprigs of greenery
• Large flowers of your choice
• Small flowers of your choice
• Holiday items like pin wheels or flags
• Wire cutters

How to Make It:

1. Cut your floral foam to fit inside the basket.  I used a half round, but I’m almost thinking now that brick shapes would have been better.  They may have touched the sides of the basket better for hot gluing them in.
2. Do your best to hot glue the foam into the basket.  I used some of the pieces I cut off to help wedge the half circle in.  In the end it worked out OK, but next time I’d start with blocks of foam.
3. Once the foam is in place add the moss to cover it, using the greening pins.
4. Then insert the background greenery.  To get the large stem in, I used my old scissors or an old pen would work, to make a hole first.
5. Use some hot glue in the hole you made and insert the stem.  Spend a bit of time dressing the greens before adding the next flowers.
6. The large flowers come next.  I have five because an odd number looks more interesting than an even number.
7. I had to cut the long stems so they would fit in the amount of foam I had in the basket.  Use your wire cutters and they snip off like cutting through butter!
8. Next add the smaller flowers.  Notice the extra rose leaves in the photos.  I’m saving them to see if they will need to be added at the end to fill up the arrangement.  If not, I’ll bag them and save them for another project.
9. The smaller flowers I chose had long stems so I cut the stems in half and doubled the amount of small flowers I could add!
10. Again, arrange the smaller stems evenly and you may even want to bend them slightly near the rim of the basket to make it look more realistic.
11. The last step is simple; decide when you want to add the patriotic holiday décor!  Otherwise, simply hang the door basket on your front door, sit back, and enjoy the compliments!

For more patriotic decorating ideas visit Matt & Shari!

When I split with my ex-husband I was fairly certain that I was never going to get married ever again. It was too hard, the split was too painful; I never wanted to put myself in that spot again. Then I met my current man. In the early days we both said that marriage just wasn’t for us, but over time, opinions softened on the topic and now here we are, three and a half years later, newly engaged.

I’ll be 100% honest and admit that I’m a little nervous about it. I mean, having one’s first marriage crash and burn doesn’t exactly make you eager go out and do it all over again. I’m not the starry-eyed, young twenty-something who first said “I do”, who hadn’t given much (if any) thought to what was going to happen when we woke up the day after the wedding.

Here are five important things that I’ve learned, having gone through the marriage and divorce process once already.

1. The wedding is just one day.
So many of us have made this same mistake — we get so fixated on having the perfect wedding – we plan and make ourselves and those around us crazy (hello, Bridezillas!) but rarely plan and think about what goes into making the perfect marriage. This time around I’m thinking well beyond the wedding day into how to we are going to make this work for the long haul.

2. Look ahead to the coming years.
Make a plan. Anticipate difficulties without stressing out about them. There will be rough patches. I’ve learned that a good marriage isn’t about finding someone without any problems or baggage, it’s about finding someone who is willing to work on their baggage and help you work on yours. Keeping a relationship fresh and vibrant over the long term takes effort for the both of you.

3. A successful marriage needs more than just love.
Mutual respect, friendship, compassion, laughter and joint effort are just as, if not more, important than love. In talking to long-married couples I have discovered something interesting: many of them state that they have gone through periods when they weren’t really “in love” with their husband or wife. Kids, work, or just life in general got in the way, but they continued on, building on their foundation of respect and friendship. Those “in love” feelings can be rekindled if there is a basis of friendship and respect to build upon.

4. Love is a verb.
Love requires effort. It requires that you work on it every single day in some way, shape or form. Once you start becoming comfortable and complacent in your marriage, that’s when it starts to die. Do something — no matter how small — every single day to show your partner how important they are to you. Be affectionate, be helpful, be generous with compliments. Little things quickly add to up to a happy lifetime together.

5. Embrace change.
Change is a necessary part of any relationship. Think of it in terms of your relationship with your children. As your children grow and develop and change, your relationship with them does, too. You go from fulfilling their every need as an infant, to one day setting them loose in the world. You wouldn’t want to still be feeding and dressing your son or daughter when they’re 18, right? Well, your marriage should be no different. It’s not going to be the same in the later years as it was in its infancy. It’s important to embrace whatever stage your relationship is in, without mourning the loss of “what was”. Enjoy and appreciate what you have together in all its incarnations.

Last week we showed you how to update the text within your invitation, and this week you get to learn how to change the colors and image!

First, you’ll need to pick some colors. To do this, you’ll want to head over to colourlovers.com, and choose a colour palette.  Once you’ve chosen a palette, scroll down the page until you reach the section titled “Colours”. You’re going to need the hex code listed underneath each color.

Next, you’re going to need to find yourself an image to replace the Lovebomb. Please make sure you find an image that is relatively small in size. For the purposes of this tutorial we will not be showing you how to resize/upload your own photos. Google Images is a great resource for images! Once you find your image, make note of the URL! You’ll need this later…

By now, you should have your colors and an image chosen. It’s time for the fun part!

Open up your invitation from last week, and click on the “Remix it” link. That will allow you to edit your invitation. If you don’t have the old invitation, or if you removed the “Remix it” text you will have to start all over again. Don’t worry; just think of it as extra practice!

The first area we’re going to concentrate on is the background and font color. Look for this in the code:

body {

font-family: “Helvetica Neue”, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;

background: white;

color: black;

}

To change your background color to something other than white, replace the word “white” with one of the HEX colours you found on Colour Lovers. You can also use “red”, “green”, “pink”, “grey”, etc. Try some other words and see if they work!

When you use a HEX color instead of a word, you need to make sure you include the “#” sign. Like this:

body {

font-family: “Helvetica Neue”, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;

background: #EFFAB4;

color: black;

}

You also need to make sure you have the semicolon at the end of the line!

To change the color of your font from black, you’re going to replace “black” with your favourite color.

Lovebomb also has a built in color picker, feel free to use that too!

Now we’re going to update the color of our links. Look for this section in the code:

a {

    color: #E42F92; /* Pink like the heart on the love bomb. */

text-decoration: none;

}

Again, just like before replace “#E42F92” with a different color that matches the rest of your invitation!

We’ve changed all the colors, and we should have a pretty funky looking invitation! The last step is to change the image!

Find the code that looks like this:

<img src=”http://lovebomb.me/templates/atul-files/lovebomb.svg” class=”lovebomb” alt=”Love Bomb”>

You’re going to replace http://lovebomb.me/templates/atul-files/lovebomb.svg with the URL of the image you found earlier. You need to have the quotation marks around your link, or it won’t work!

If your image is cutting off the text at the top of your invitation like this:

We’re going to add this section of code above “</style>”:

.lovebomb {

    margin-top: 20px;

    height: 100%;

  }

This is going to ensure that your image stays within the height of the darker box that contains your text. Like so:

That’s it! You now have your finished invitation.

Hit Publish, and send the link to all of your friends!

You can view our finished invitation.

CSS and HTML can be pretty complicated, so if you run into issues just hit the undo button and try again!

]]> http://parentclub.ganzworld.com/tech-sense/how-to-drop-a-lovebomb-part-two/feed/ 0 http://parentclub.ganzworld.com/celebrations/memorial-day-tee-shirt/ http://parentclub.ganzworld.com/celebrations/memorial-day-tee-shirt/#comments Tue, 15 May 2012 13:01:01 +0000 Matt and Shari http://parentclub.ganzworld.com/?p=13938

Matt and I enjoy the three summer holidays for more reasons than the weather that goes with them!  We love them because when you make a craft for Memorial Day, it can be used on the 4^th of July and Labor Day as well.  Keep with the red, white and blue theme and you’re good to go!

You can get the summer holidays started by whipping up this adorable contrasting stars T-shirt for the kids – or make similar shirts for everyone in the family!

Craft Supplies:

• Appropriate sizes of T-shirts
• Craft materials like cotton fabric for stars
• Scissors
• Pins
• Sewing machine

How to Make It:

1. Select your shirt color and several cotton fabrics for the contrasting stars.  Then, either draw a star as your template or use a star cookie cutter.
2. Trace the star design onto the contrasting fabrics.  Then cut out the stars about ½” larger all the way around.
3. Turn the T-shirt inside out, place the stars into position, (remember to put them in a mirror image of your final design) and pin them in place.  Be careful when pinning that you don’t catch the back of the shirt in your pins!
4. Stitch the stars onto the inside front of the T shirt using a ¼” seam allowance. Keep in mind that if you don’t want your stitches to show on the T shirt, use matching thread instead of contrasting like I did.
5. Turn the shirt right side out and use two hands to separate the T shirt fabric from the contrasting fabric in the back.  Make a slit in the middle of the star in the T-shirt ONLY, keeping the contrasting fabric star well away from the scissors.  Insert the scissors into the slit and cut around your stitching to remove the T shirt fabric.  I used regular scissors but you could try pinking shears as well.  Leave at least 1/8” of T- shirt fabric beyond the stitching.

So, this Memorial Day, wear your red, white and blue proudly and keep it for both the 4^th of July and Labor Day!! (Then maybe make a couple more up for Halloween, Christmas, Easter…..)

The end of school is fast approaching. What better way to celebrate the beginning of summer break than with fun cupcakes? These bright blue cupcakes from EasyBaked.net are topped with a fluffy pink bubble gum flavored frosting and are sure to make your kids (and maybe even the rest of your family) smile!

The recipe is quick, easy, and your kids will love topping each cupcake with a colorful piece of bubble gum ball.

Recipe Ingredients:

• One boxed white cake mix (with water, oil and eggs to make it according to package
• Blue food coloring
• 18-24 cupcake liners
• 1 stick of salted butter (softened)
• 1 stick of unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 Duncan Hines Frosting Creations Flavor Packet in “bubble gum”

How to Make It:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place cupcake liners into cupcake pan.
2. Make cake mix according to package, color with blue food coloring, and evenly divide among 18-24 cupcake liners.
3. Bake according to package and cool.
4. Mix butters, powdered sugar, and vanilla on high until whipped into a light fluffy frosting.
5. Add flavor packet and mix on medium until well combined.
6. Pipe frosting over tops of cupcakes and decorate with brightly colored gum balls.

Hop on over to EasyBaked For more images of these cupcakes and other summer favorites!

Ganz Parent Club Tip
We think the colors on these cupcakes make them great for a kids’ pool party too!