Favorite Disney Activity Outside of a Theme Park

Welcome to those of you joining me from Your Highway in the Sky, and those of you who have just hopped aboard.  I am the 4th stop on our Magical Blogorail.

This month we are talking about Disney activities outside of a theme park.

I would say I am a little spoiled in that I live just miles away from Disneyland. Whenever I get the urge to go, it's just a short drive down the freeway for me, so whenever I want some Disney fun in my day that's where I head. 

I was trying to think of a Disney activity I do that isn't related to the park, and then it hit me... baking. 

I love baking cupcakes. I have the biggest cupcake liner collection you may ever see. No seriously I have thousands  of them.  

Last June when Toy Story 3 came out I made Green Alien cupcakes. I thought today I would share that post again. 

You can read how to make your own here: Toy Story Green Alien Cupcakes

Another thing I thought I would share is this site 1+1+1=1. There I found learning tools to teach my Little One colors, shapes, and numbers using Disney characters. 

My son is a little Cars obsessed, so when I saw they had Cars tot tools, I made little flashcards with them using a laminator. 

The site shows how to make lap books with the tools using a folder, but I knew something like that my son would rip up. 

What I like about laminating them is how durable they are. I can throw them in my purse, and pull them out when we are at Disneyland. My son stays interested in them because they are his favorite characters. You can also punch a hole in each laminated card, and hold them all together with a metal ring.

If you are interested in making any of these flash cards or lap books for your Little One's, here is a list of the Disney characters to chose from:

Cars

Nemo

Handy Manny

Cinderella

and Tarzan

You can click here to see other non Disney related themes too like Thomas the Train. 

So even when we're not at Disneyland...Disney is still with us and apart of our lives.

Thank you for joining me today. I hope you find the cupcakes or tot cards useful for you in the future.

 Your next stop on the Magical Blogorail Loop is Adventures of a Disney Princess.

Here is the map of our Magical Blogorail Loop should you happen to have to make a stop along the way and want to reboard:

1^st Stop ~ A Disney Mom’s Thoughts

2^nd Stop ~ Walt Disney World: It’s Not Just For Kids

3^rd Stop ~ Your Highway in the Sky

4^th Stop ~ Magical Days with the Mouse

Final Stop ~ Adventures of a Disney Princess

Toy Story Green Alien Cupcakes

Last week I was out running errands, and I made a stop at Michael's craft store. I always like to see what kind of cupcake wrappers they have, even if I don't need them. I'm glad I did because not only did I find some for every day use, but I also found some Toy Story 3 cupcake wrappers with an alien on the bottom. OooOOOo. I'm going to be honest, it was the alien that sold it for me, and it inspired these cupcakes that I will show you how to make today.

The wrappers come in a pack of 75 for $1.99! Each wrapper has the Toy Story green alien on the bottom (saying OoOOoo), with Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Rex, and Ham around the sides.

So now that you have the wrappers (or are about the get them), lets make Green Alien cupcakes!

Just like with the Woody Sheriff badge cookies, we are going to make these from scratch. Here is what you will need:

• 1 c. unsalted butter

• 2 c. sugar

• 4 eggs

• 1 1/2 c. self rising flour

• 1 1/4 all purpose flour

• 1 c. milk

• 1 tsp vanilla

• green or neon green (or both) food coloring

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a mixing bowl, mix butter until smooth. Next add sugar, eggs, milk, and vanilla. Then add your flour 1/2 c. at a time. Once everything is blended, add your food coloring. I used both green and neon green food coloring to give the cupcake the perfect alien shade of green. If you only have one or the other, that will work too.

Now pour your batter into the cupcake papers. If you have an ice cream scooper, this not only helps with making sure each cupcake has the same amount of batter, but also helps with keeping the mess down.

Bake time is 20-25 mins depending on your oven. Put a tooth pick in a cupcake after 20 mins, and if it comes out clean it's done baking. If not keep checking every couple minutes.

Once they are done, wait 10 mins to cool. Then remove from pan, and place on wire rack to cool completely for frosting.

What you will need for frosting and decorating:

• 1 c. unsalted butter

• 8 c. of confectioners sugar (or more depending on thickness)

• 1/2 c. milk

• 2 tsp vanilla

• green or neon green food coloring (whatever you used for the cupake, use that again)

• white M&Ms

• black and green decorating gel

Again blend your butter until smooth, add milk, vanilla, and confectioners sugar 1/2 c. at a time. You will know that your frosting is done if you take a spoon, lift frosting out, and it stays in place on spoon. If it starts dripping you need more confectioners sugar. Add food coloring last. Make sure it's completely blended, so you don't have small chunks where the dye missed.

Now is the fun part. Take your completely cooled cupcake, and drop a heap of frosting in the middle. With a smooth knife or spatula, spread the frosting around to make a smooth surface.

Now take your white M&Ms, and place them across with the middle one being slightly higher.

If you have a hard time finding white M&Ms, Party City has them in the wedding section of the store.

Next take your green decorating gel (I used Wiltons Sparkle Gel also found at Party City), and outline the top of the M&M to create an eye lid for the green alien.

Take your black decorating gel, and make little dots in the middle of the M&M to complete the eye.

And last draw a line across for the mouth, and then draw the "O" into the line.

You should now have a Green Alien.

As you can see these are kid tested and approved, but you don't have to be a kid to enjoy them!

And if you don't feel like making the aliens, but you still want to make Toy Story cupcakes, I found these cupcake toppers at Party City.

And they also carry the cupcake wrapper for $1.99, so you could make it a one-stop shopping trip, and avoid Michael's craft store all together.