I am a member of the Collective Bias® Social Fabric® Community. This #ProtectPixieHollow shop has been compensated as part of a Disney The Pirate Fairy social shopper amplification for #CollectiveBias and its advertiser.
I'd love to say that our household is very zen and stress-free, but I can't . . . not even a little bit. The truth is that ours is a very high stress household. Everyone works hard and even the children rarely get downtime on weekdays during the few hours between the time they get off the school bus and the time they go to bed. My oldest son just completed two big projects for school and all 3 children just recovered from a terrible stomach bug. That's why I thought a surprise family movie night in the middle of the week would be just what the doctor ordered! Since Disney's The Pirate Fairy released earlier this week on April 1st, I went to Walmart to pick up the Blu-ray/DVD combo pack and a few other things I would need for planning a family movie night on the fly! (Get it? Pixies . . . fly?).
Here is my recipe for a quick mid-week family movie night . . .
Step 1. Get your children to do extra homework the night before to free up their time for a weekday family movie night.
Step 2. Go to Walmart and buy Disney The Pirate Fairy (in the New Releases section). I saw that the Walmart Exclusive gift set with the bonus Bake Off DVD, which also includes 10 animated shorts, was the same price as the regular Blu-ray/DVD combo, so I grabbed it.
Step 3. If you don't already have the the following, you can grab these at Walmart too: large cupcake liners that look like flowers (I bought Wilton cupcake liners, but you could probably cut the shapes out of regular ones), iridescent ribbon (like Tinker Bell's wings), green cellophane Easter grass, covered straw cups, refrigerated sugar cookie dough, blue sugar crystals, a small round cookie cutter, confectioners sugar, and some Pirate's Booty snacks (Arrrrrrrgh!!!).
Step 4. Bake and decorate the mini Blue Pixie Dust cookies in advance (see the super-easy recipe at the bottom).
Step 5. Set up a little "Pixie Hollow Patch" with everything you need for the movie with one serving of Blue Pixie Dust cookies, one serving of Pirate's Booty, and one cup of milk per child.
Step 6. Eat an early dinner. If you didn't have time to cook, then order takeout to make things as stress-free as possible and to ensure that the children don't get to bed too late since it's a school night.
Step 7. Sit down with your children and enjoy the movie! (I totally enjoyed it as much as the children did.)
Other ways to make your family movie night fun . . .
- Read a Disney Fairies book for your bedtime story after the movie
- Bookmark The Pirate Fairy games online, so the fun can continue the rest of the week.
- Print out these free printable Pirate Fairy coloring pages for use in the days to come.
Captain Zarina - The Pirate Fairy Scene on Disney Video
Although I've watched several Disney Fairies movies in the past, I have to say that this is honestly my favorite one. Although I had been introduced to most of the fairies in past movies, this was the first one I've watched that really focused on each fairy's special talent and showed off how amazing and magical each talent was. I think my favorite fairy is Rosetta because she is such a lady and she beautifies everything she touches. Still, it would be exciting to have the talent of alchemy, which belongs to the newly introduced fairy, Zarina.
Something else about The Pirate Fairy that both I and my children very much enjoyed is that this movie had a place in time. To me, other Disney Fairies movies were just adventures pulled out of no specific time from Pixie Hollow. This one included the winter fairies, whom we were introduced to in the movie Secret of the Wings. The viewer also eventually realizes that one of the characters is actually a young Captain James Hook (pre-hook) and a newly hatched crocodile named Crocky grows up to be Tick-Tock, the ticking crocodile from Peter Pan. If your children have not already seen Peter Pan, it might be a good choice for your next family movie night as a follow-up to The Pirate Fairy.
Overall, this movie sends a great message about the flaws of not making an effort to see the potential in the new and nontraditional. It also shows how important the ability to forgive is, something I want my children to be reminded about as often as possible.
Due to it being a school night, we had to save the bonus features and the Bake Off DVD for the following night. The Bake Off also contained the theme of tradition vs. innovation and tied in very nicely with the story of Zarina, the pirate fairy.
If you're able to get The Pirate Fairy Blu-ray/DVD and Bake Off DVD gift set at Walmart before they sell out, let me know how you and your children like it!
Now as promised . . .
Recipe: Easy Pixie Dust Cookies
WHAT YOU NEED:
refrigerated sugar cookie dough
small round cookie cutter
blue sugar crystals
confectioners sugar
milk (or water)
Step 1. Preheat the oven as directed on cookie packaging.
Step 2. Slice the cookie dough per package instructions. Then use your small round cookie cutter to cut your mini cookies out of the cookie dough slices. Combine and flatten out the remaining dough to cut additional circles.
TIP: Because of the small size of the cookies, I do not recommend using shaped cookie cutters. I used a scalloped one, but it still baked into circles with smooth edges.
Step 3. After the cut dough has been placed on a cookie sheet at least one inch apart, bake them for HALF the time recommended on the cookie dough package. Watch the cookies carefully and remove them from the oven as soon as the edges begin to brown slightly. Let them sit for a few minutes, then remove them with a spatula and put them on a plate to cool.
Step 4. While your cookies are cooling, put 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar in a small bowl. Then add a teaspoon of milk (can be substituted with water). Stir until the icing is smooth and spreadable, but not runny. If it's too thick, add another 1/4 teaspoon of milk. If it's too runny, then add a little more powdered sugar. Keep doing this until the icing is the desired consistency.
Step 5. Neatly apply the icing to the top of one cookie. Then sprinkle the blue sugar crystals on top of the freshly iced cookie immediately. (If the icing begins to set, then the sugar crystals won't sink into it and will fall right off.) Do this for all your mini cookies. Serve after the icing has set completely.
Eat and enjoy!!!
