Fruit Roll-Up Fortune Cookie Valentines

I've posted a few Valentine's Day gifts for him and her... but what about the kiddos?? I'm sure you would want to let your little ones know how special they are to you and what better way than to secretly include a fortune "cookie" in their lunch with a little note, just from you! I found this post on SheKnows and wanted to give you a few tips before tackling this project:

First, get your supplies together:

1. Parchment paper
2. A DARK marker (you'll see why later)
3. Fruit Roll-Ups
4. Scissors
5. A round cookie cutter or something to trace around with a knife (I used the top of my Women's One-a-Day Vitamins jar)

First, write your messages. Cut strips of parchment paper to put inside the fruit roll-ups (mine measured to be roughly 1 3/4" x 1/2"). Draw a heart and write a message - my marker was pink and barely showed up on the paper, so keep that in mind when writing your notes.

Next, the original post suggests laying four Fruit Roll-Ups on top of each other before cutting them out with your cookie cutter/tracing the circles out, but I recommend three layers (it's not as thick and bulky but I encourage experimenting!). Note that my Fruit Roll-Ups were multiple colors so I divided them into green/red and yellow/red circles.

Once your circles are ready, lay your message down and bring the top and bottom together. I found it helped to pinch all around the edges before bending the center in to make it look like a fortune cookie.

Note: if you choose to only do 1 layer of Fruit Roll-Up per fortune...

Chances are you'll be able to see right through. Also, I found it doesn't stick together very well.

Bend it in the middle and you're done! Your kid will have a fun treat at lunch and know just how much you love them without being embarrassed in front of all their friends!

TOTAL COSTS: $6 to make as many as you can!
$3.99 for Fruit Roll-Ups
$3.99 for parchment paper from Target
Scissors and marker already on hand

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: About 45 minutes
15 minutes to make the fortunes
30 minutes to cut out and form the "cookies"

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
It helps there aren't a lot of steps to take to make these adorable treats for your little ones. Be creative and Happy Valentine's Day!

Thanksgiving Snacks (nope, not the healthy kind!)

When I saw these two posts on acorns and turkeys, I knew I had to give them a try! 1) They're just adorable and 2) they'll be yummy to snack on while the turkey's in the oven. They're so easy to do and the kids could even help if you're busy with the cranberry sauce, the rolls, the mashed potatoes......

1.) Peanut Butter Chocolate Acorns

Nutter Butter Bites
Hershey's Kisses
Chocolate chips

Take a small plate and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds. See how many Hershey's Kisses you can unwrap in those 30 seconds (I got up to four). After the 30 seconds, take the plate out and place the Hershey's Kisses bottom down on the plate. Give them a few seconds to warm up and once the bottom is slightly melted, put it on a Nutter Butter Bite and on a different plate to cool. Do this for as many acorns as you'd like to make.

Once the Hershey's Kisses are securely "glued" to the Nutter Butter Bites, do the same things with the chocolate chips, only keep in mind they only need to be on the plate for a couple seconds. Trust me, they melt fast! Stick them on the other side of the Nutter Butter and voila! Peanut butter chocolate acorns!

2.) Rice Krispies Turkeys

Rice Krispies

Marshmallows (1 bag of big or 1 bag of mini-marshmallows)

Reese's Miniature Cups

Fruity Roll-ups

Googly eyes

First, make a batch of Rice Krispies treats. If you don't know how to do that, neither did I, I just followed the recipe on the box. It's quite simple: melt butter, pour in marshmallows, then pour in Rice Krispies. I poured the mix into a pan covered with aluminum foil, cut it into pieces, and once it was completely cooled, I flipped the batch over so the flat side was facing up.

 Now it's time to make the turkeys! Use the Reese's miniature cups as the body, googly eyes, and fruit roll-ups for the feathers! The original post called for using Starburts, melting and rolling them out but that just seemed like WAY too much trouble!

 

TOTAL COSTS: About $25 (prices from Vons)

$3.50 for Hershey's Kisses

$3.50 for Reese's Miniature Cups

$2.49 for Nutter Butter Bites

$3.99 for Fruity Roll-Ups

$2.99 for Rice Krispies (I used the generic brand)

$2.49 for marshmallows

$2.99 for chocolate chips

$3.99 for googly eyes

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 2 hours to complete both

1.5 hours for the Rice Krispies turkeys

30 minutes to make 30 acorns

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5 for the acorns, 2 out of 5 for the Rice Krispies turkeys

The turkeys aren't difficult to make, they just take a little more time! Enjoy!