5 Things You Need to Know Before Your Color-A-Thon:

Color-A-Thon is a great event for students and adults of every age. This 3K race/walk is a color craze that allows your group to have a successful fundraiser that benefits your school. Before you start, check out these 5 things you must know before you start your School-A-Thon event planning!

1. What is a Color-A-Thon? Color-A-Thon is a colorful fundraising event that the entire family can enjoy. Students are not required to go door-to-door when fundraising. A School-A-Thon representative will walk you through the entire event set up process.

2. Who Can Participate? Everyone is able to participate in a Color-A-Thon Event- this is a fundraiser that the entire family can enjoy together. Even if you’re not into running, you can walk, skip or strolldown through the course!  

3. What Should You Wear? Not sure what to wear for the Color-A-Thon race? Color-A-Thon recommends that you wear a bright white so can show off your tie-dye shirt at the end of the course. We recommend coordinating the rest of your outfit with neon socks, headbands or wristbands. If you are with a group of people, try organizing a theme for everyone to follow.  

4. What is the Color Blast Dust Made of?
Color-A-Thon has an eco-friendly, non-toxic, plant-based powdered dye that is washable. Although, if you have a participant in your group that has asthma or dust allergies, Color-A-Thon recommends that you limit their exposure to the dust.  

5. Are there different types of Color-A-Thons? Yes, there are two different types of Color-A-Thons; choose from donation-based or entrance fee-based events. When you speak to your School-A-Thon planner, they will be able to find the best event for your organization.

To get started, pick your event date, plan, promote and have fun in full color! For more information about Color-A-Thon, visit them on Facebook.

Valentine’s Day Treats for Students

Teaching about Valentine’s day is important, and thinking of appropriate gifts for students can be tricky. Instead of buying generic cards treat your students to homemade ones. Need some ideas? Here our some of our favorite clever cards, perfect for the classroom!

Photo from Parents.com

 1. Catch of the Day: Make these treats of-FISH-ial by using Swedish Fish and printing out small fishbowl cut outs. This may not only be a great gift to give your students, but it may even be a craft all your students can create together! Use small clear plastic bags so they are easy to take home!

Photo from Beg Borrow Steal

2. Flutter Pops:These adorable butterfly candies are a quick and easy treat! Simply just cut out wings using construction paper, then in the middle of the wings create a slip through pocket where you can stick a tootsie pop!

Photo from Mother Nature Network

3. Cupid’s Arrows: Using a straw, red heart gummies, Big Red gum and some red pom poms assemble these arrows easily with some scotch tape! This is great for kids who want something other than the usual hearts and flowers for Valentine's Day.

Photo from Teaching My Friends!

4. Valentine’s Bookmarks: These are the perfect gift for teachers who do not feel comfortable giving out candy. Using a paint swatch that has multiple colors, hole punch each color with a heart shaped punch out tool. Don’t be afraid to use multiple color swatches as well!

Instead of paper valentines day cards this year, give one of these unique DIY ideas a chance in your classroom! It’s easy for children to get carried away during your Valentine’s Day party, but these can create an easy going atmosphere in any classroom!

Kid-Friendly Game Day Snacks

Excited for the big game this weekend? We are. Score a touchdown with your family and friends this weekend with one of these simple snack ideas!

• Macaroni and Cheese Cupcakes: Mac & Cheese may be a traditional dish, but these finger foods from Framed Cooks will appeal to any sports fan or cheese lover. With a few simple ingredients and even simpler instructions, you and your child will feel victorious with this game ready recipe!

Photo from Framed Cooks.

• S’mores Puppy Chow: Most of us have heard of the original puppy chow, but this Sunday put a twist on it! Pop Sugar’s S’mores Puppy Chow will still satisfy any child (or grownup) who has a sweet tooth, while bringing the flavor of a campfire favorite during the winter months. The best part is that you and your child can bond while making this.  

Photo from Sally's Baking Addiction

• Football Veggie Tray: For those looking for a HEALTHY and CREATIVE snack, this football veggie tray from Creative Kids Snacks is a must! The field is lined with celery, spectators are a variety of carrots and peppers, and you can even throw string cheese and pretzels onto the dish. Have your child try creating the Patriots logo on the center of the field!

Photo from creative Kids snacks

• Quarter Pup: Be the real MVP of your party with this idea! These Quarter Pup finger food snacks from Hillshire Farms will be a popular snack item at the table because of their appearance and taste. When you and your child are preparing these snacks, make sure you have them put their players favorite number on the jersey! 

Photo from Yumply

• Patriots Rice Krispies: If you are a true Patriots fan, you will score big points with these gooey snacks from Two Sisters Crafting. Let your little one help out by mixing the treats. After, your child can help put their favorite players number on these snacks to feel more personable.

Photo from Two Sisters Crafting

Try one of these ideas or maybe all! These different recipe ideas are kid-friendly and crowd favorites during game day! For more game day recipes, crafts and ideas visit our Pinterest board!

Five Ways Your Child Can Give Back During the Holidays

The Holiday season is upon us once again. This year, teach your child the principle of giving to others. Remind them that you do not only give presents and gifts to family members, but you can also give back to the community as well. No matter what age, it is always a good time to teach your children about the importance of giving.

1. Donate gently used clothes
Lets face it, kids grow so fast that sometimes their closet can’t even keep up with them. This winter, think about families who are in need and donate your childs old winter jackets, hats, mittens or snow boots to families with smaller children or local second hand stores. You and your child can go through their closet and find older articles of clothing that may be snug and donate them.

2. Toy Recycle
Not only are winter clothing items a popular item to donate during the Holidays, but toys are as well. Consider having your child weed through their toys they don’t play with any more. If your child has trouble giving up toys, remind them that there are children less fortunate than themselves who would love to play with some of your child’s older toys. Second-hand stores are a great place to begin, or think about donating them to a local daycare.

Flick Creative Commons: Photo by davidd

3. Give Back to a Local Animal Shelter
We enjoy supporting local, so we want to suggest reaching out to an animal shelter in your community. If your child is an animal lover, have them get crafty and create fleece tie blankets for the animal shelter. If you have an animal at home and have leftover bags of unwanted food, make sure you bring those into the shelter as well. If you are looking for more donation ideas, animal shelters usually have a list of needs on their websites.

4. Operation Give
Have kids create their ideal stocking and donate it to the Operation Give Stocking Campaign. This program helps soldiers overseas receive stockings while they are away on duty. According to their web page, typical things that are put into these stockings are toothbrushes, reading books, candy or cookies, sunscreen, etc. Don’t be afraid to think outside their ideas and create some more personal gift items, or have your child write a letter to thank them for their service!

5. Bake for Community Service People
Let your child know that not everyone is able to be home during the Holidays. Firefighters, law enforcement officers and EMTs still serve and protect the community, even on Christmas Day. Have your children bake and decorate cookies for these departments. Wrap them up and have them deliver these tasty treats themselves to see the good work they put forward in action.

Flickr Creative Commons: Photo by Erik (Hash) Hersman

 
Here at Meadow Farms we know that donating and volunteering are two important factors that keep a community strong. Start your family on track to be an active giver in your community this holiday season with one (or more!) of these ideas.

Ways to Get Your Child Involved WithThanksgiving

Flickr Creative Commons:Photo by woodleywonderworks

Thanksgiving is a time to spend with friends and family and be thankful for all the blessings in our lives.

This Thanksgiving, get the entire family together, and not just at the dinner table. Take away some of your stress Thanksgiving Day and have your child get involved in the kitchen! Almost all ages can help with kitchen prep, decorations, table setting and entertainment on Thanksgiving Day.

These eleven different ideas can add more meaning and eliminate chaos from your Thanksgiving dinner.

Age five and Under	Six through nine	Ten through twelve	Thirteen and older
Tear, Shred and Shuck: Instead of having your child work with knives, let them use their hands! Give your child tasks like washing potatoes, tearing bread for stuffing or shucking corn on the cob! Table Etiquette: Teaching dining etiquette at a young age is never a bad idea. Here is a great video that shows how to set a table and other dinning etiquette skills! Create Décor for the Home: Prior to Thanksgiving give your child Thanksgiving crafts that add a little extra flare to your home! Find thankful turkey crafts on our Pinterest page.	Go Shopping Together: Once you’ve made your shopping list, show your child different ingredients and differences between some foods in the store (yams and potatoes can be confusing). If you’re able, purchase local vegetables at the farmers market and encourage your child to ask the vendor questions!  Put them in Charge: Give your child more responsibility by putting them in charge of a dish that needs constant attention like basting the turkey! Just dough it: If your family is making homemade pies, let your child roll the pie dough out early Thanksgiving morning. Later on in the day, let your child organize the dinner roll dough on a cookie sheet.	Stage a Dinner Theater: Thanksgiving is not just about food and football. Have your pre-teens act out the first Thanksgiving dinner in a play for entertainment while eating. Measure their Math Skills: Challenge your child to show their math skills with a measuring cup set. During this, let them know the importance of proper measuring and the consequences that you could have! Teach Kitchen Safety: With age comes responsibility. Show your child the correct way to hold a kitchen knife, and how to handle raw foods. Remember to teach the importance of handwashing in the kitchen, as well!	Create a Catering Company: Have your child come up with a plan before Thanksgiving dinner. Let them plan the dishes and plan out the prep time as if they were their own catering company. Try Something New: Include your teenager on meal planning by having them find a new recipe that appeals to them. These 13 recipes are kid friendly and put a twist on original Thanksgiving dishes. Encourage your teens to create their own alterations to dishes like adding cheese to potatoes!

Healthy Halloween Treats

Halloween is a notorious celebration of sweets, but that doesn’t mean healthy snacks need to be spooked out of your child’s holiday assortment. Check out these fun, delicious, DIY snacks; options like these are guaranteed to be helpful, and these pictures pretty accurately demonstrate how no-fuss your snack-assembly projects can be!

Picture from here.

Apple Monster Mouths: All you need to create this festive snack are sliced apples, yogurt-covered raisins and peanut butter! The process is as simple as the ingredients – just hollow out your apple slices, fill them with peanut butter and top them off with the raisins Not a fan of the latter? Almonds make for an excellent substitute.

Picture from here.

Snack-o’-Lantern Fruit Cups : Struggle when it comes to pumpkin carving? Good news; hollowing out these cut-out oranges is easy! Give your oranges some fun jack-o-lantern faces, and then fill them with an assortment of fruit or tasty trail mix!

Picture from here.

Spooky Spider Crackers : To concoct these Spooky Spider Crackers, you'll need circular whole wheat crackers, peanut butter or cream cheese, pretzels and raisins. Smooth your topping of choice over one side of the cracker, add your pretzel legs, and sandwich it all together with more spread and another cracker. Finally, give your spiders their eyes with a dollop of spread and a pair of raisins!

Picture from here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheese Broom Sticks : If your child loves string cheese, this snack is likely to be a smash hit. Using string cheese and fresh chives, you can assemble these broomsticks in under 20 minutes!

Picture from here.

BOO-nana Ghost Pops : Who knew bananas could easily shape-shift into terrifying ghosts? You'll start with frozen bananas, and dip them into orange juice, followed by shredded coconut. Go heavy on the shredded coconut. Then, using mini chocolate chips and raisins, design their ghostly faces! For less of a mess, cut your bananas in half and stick them onto Popsicle sticks!

So, hopefully our ideas will kick start your DIY creativity. Candy and other sweets will inevitably sneak into their diets whether you like it or not, so consider these easy, healthy treats as a way to offset the classic Halloween sugar binge!

For more DIY food ideas and crafts for the entire family, follow us on Pinterest and check out our ‘Healthy Halloween’ board.

Happy snacking!

10 Tips for Promoting Your Fundraising Event

We have run over 20,000 fundraising events. In our professional experience, we know how crucial publicity is to the success of your event. It doesn’t matter how noble the cause or how organized you are…if people don’t know about your fundraiser, your participation will be affected.

With that said, we’ve put together a list of 10 thoughts to get you thinking critically about your event, which will hopefully lead to a ton of success.

1. Focus on the benefit of the fundraiser.
2. Remember - parents, teachers and community members are more likely to participate if they truly understand how money raised will be used for the school. 
3. Along the lines of #2, highlight the benefits your students will receive as a result of the fundraiser.
4. Remind people of what great gifts fundraisers items are; for example, encourage them to shop now for the holidays and beat the store crowds! 
5. Parents should be notified if you choose to extend your sale. Send a flyer or letter home and keep them up-to-date.
6. To get the most awareness and participation for your fundraiser, consistent communication with your supports is key. It’s going to take more than just one flyer to get your message to hit home. People may plan to join in, but as per usual, we all get busy and forget. A gentle reminder may really be appreciated and give your group a better chance for success!
7. Consider parents who may have formerly had their children attending your school. They may really want to support your fundraiser – but will only have the chance to do so if you let them know about it. 
8. If your school, PTO or other group has a newsletter, make sure to include your fundraiser in the news/events bulletin.
9. Create a special posting on your Facebook page dedicated to your fundraiser. 
10. The principal or teacher who gives the morning PA announcements can keep your school updated on the progress of the fundraiser. Even better? Let the students who have raised the most give the morning announcements!

Of course, these are just a few ideas on how you can spread the word about your fundraiser. If you have any questions, our team is here to help. Good luck and go raise those funds!