Quick Tips for the QuickCheck Festival of Ballooning in NJ

TIP: cheapest area to buy food and beverages is the Quickchek tent. Fountain drinks were just $2 here.  Note, most vendors shut down sample stations from 5-7pm even though the event officially doesn’t end until 10pm.

5.  Comfort.  Add these items to your packing list to ensure you stay comfortable throughout your time there. Comfortable walking shoes (not open – toe if it happened to have rained there recently).  Sunscreen and bug spray.  Hats and sunglasses.  Waterproof picnic blankets to sit on (or a dollar store shower curtain will do too!).  Bottled waters and cooler bag.  Snacks you can easily hide in pockets.  Extra toilet paper, hand sanitizers (porta potties are on-site and often run out of both).  (optional) beach chairs and umbrellas.  CAMERAS and extra battery juice for your phone if you plan to be out long.

Having arrived at around 2, we were severely disappointed to find that there were no hot air balloons anywhere in sight.  We learned too late that we’d have to wait until 6:30pm when they were scheduled to ascend.  Who knew that the balloons could only be up for a little bit (45min. at a time or so)?  We thought that the hot air balloon festival was going to have a sky filled with balloons all day..NOPE!  So we wandered aimlessly around what looked like every average NY street fair that we’ve already grown jaded with.  Crafts and trinkets that we didn’t want..unhealthy fair foods, and a bunch of vendors selling the same stuff mixed in with a random bathtub renovation vendor haha. Needless to say, hubby was not too happy about this.   It’s no wonder that this event’s Yelp review is only 2.5 stars.  The website should have really offered more information to help others plan ahead and know what to expect – which is why I’m writing all of this for you.

After spending $5 per carnival ride, we decided we couldn’t stand the heat anymore, and drove off to a nearby random restaurant for bathroom relief, air conditioning and a decent sit-down lunch.  Course we had to fight traffic again to get back in but with our stamp and wisdom, having gone through the process of checking ourselves back in, we headed straight for the picnic-ing area where we plopped down our blankets and watched the rainbow of balloons take over the skies.  And we played a little mommy and me game of ring around the rosie.

This part was truly magical!  To me, if the weather had been cooler and the grounds less muddy, I would have happily enjoyed the entire day (assuming we started closer to the ascension time).  This view with the custom shaped balloons (think Elvis, blue dog, American flag etc.) was breathtaking and wow-ed EVERYONE there.  Audible gasps, cheers and celebrations filled the air with each balloon launch.

Knowing what I do now, I would return wiser and have much more fun.  I would even consider springing for the VIP ticket which gives you access to the Blue sky tent, air conditioned bathrooms, seating, and a private parking lot.

Have you been to this festival and if so, what tips would you add?

Would you ride the hot air balloons??

If you love balloons as much as I do, check out these posts.

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Flower Power Posh Playdate – Flower Party Ideas For Kids

So apparently I’ve passed down the party planning gene because at age 5, Juliet is whimsically planning themed play dates for her buddies and herself  She came up with her 4th birthday’s princess tea party theme and her 5th birthday’s fancy dress party otherwise known as the CC no.5 party.  And this summer she wanted to host a flower themed playdate which I took the liberty to re-name as the flower power playdate.  And I was thrilled because it was the perfect excuse to break out all my new floral chargers, table napkins and napkin holders!  Read on for all our flower party ideas for kids!

With our beautiful rooftop as the garden setting, I quickly poked silk flowers from past events into the leafy backdrop, brought down some potted mini vases of flowers that Juliet helped me pick, and placed the painted rocks that Juliet created as favors for her guests.  Everyone came dressed in floral prints, floral crowns and silk flowers in their hair, cuz this fashionista group is all for themed fashion! Yay!

Kids’ activities included: designing Play doh flowers, putting together a 3D flower puzzle, crafting flower balloons and dancing to our favorite songs.

The food was prepared by Chef Juliet, age 5.  She made the (edible) flower – topped fudge, the night before.  She displayed the flower-shaped cookies.  She helped top the fruit with flowers and she even helped make the rose shaped pepperoni pizza!

The pizza was pretty easy since we cheated by buying pre-made pizza dough.  Thanks, Eataly!  If you are really ambitious, you could make your own dough from scratch.  Or if you want to be even more economical, you could use Pillsbury Dough croissant dough!  Below are the steps by step instructions for the rose-shaped pizza.  It was a hit event though ours looked more like flower bombs.  (They grew larger than expected and looked like they practically exploded in the oven)  lol What can I say, this was our first time making pizza at home…next time, I’ll flatten out the dough and use thinner pieces.

1. Preheat oven to 375° and spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out and thin the pizza dough
3. Cut each rectangle of dough lengthwise into 1-1.5″wide strips. We originally did them 2-3″ which gave them the exploded flower bomb look.
4. Spread a very thin layer of sauce onto each strip. Sprinkle with cheeses, then layer pepperoni on top half of each strip so that they’re slightly overlapping and the top halves of the pepperoni slices are off the pastry.  This eventually gives it the petal look.
5. Fold up bottom half of dough and tightly roll.  Transfer to prepared muffin tin and bake until golden, 15-20 minutes.

The flower craft was just as easy.  Buy flower shaped paper dishes or just cut paper plates to look like they have rounded edges.  Cut out a circle in the middle and blow a balloon through it.  Secure balloon in place with clear tape and add a balloon stick.  You can use green construction paper cut like leaves, or shape green pipe cleaners (which is what we opted to do).

What do you think?  Would you host a flower-themed get together one day?  Feeling inspired?

If you live in the NY area and love flowers, you’ll want to check out this post about the top flowery facades you’ll want on your photo bucket list.

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