Ladies, Grab Your Girls, Grab Your Food, Grab Your Faces!

This is my friend Ashley and her little sister Alizea.

(Or, as I like to call her “The girl with the most mesmerizing name in the world.”)

These hot chicas stopped by on Sunday for a few hours of food, faces, and lotsa laughs.

And it really made me start thinking: a few of you have mentioned doing this with your children – and it’s SUCH a fantastic idea! There’s nothing like a little avocado on your face to help open conversations and make fantastically silly memories.

The holidays are coming up, and quality family time will be at a maximum. Grab your daughters, your nieces, your grandmothers, and a few pieces of fruit, maybe a little honey … and you’ve got yourself a rockin’ food-on-your-face time.

It really couldn’t be easier. All you need is a few pairs of hands, a camera, and some fruit. It makes it even more fun if you put the food in the air first, before you put it on your face.

See?

That was the moment before we decided which foods to use. The girls thought it would be a great opportunity to show off their tossing skills. I was impressed. I didn’t even need to mop afterward.

Now, the beautiful Miss Alizea is a whopping 10 years old – she hasn’t yet reached the pimply, oily phase (lucky girl) and she told me she had a tendency for dry skin. So we dug through the fruit that filled Ashley’s bag and pulled out a banana, avocado, and honey. Perfect combination!

The recipe? Easy as pie.

Banana, Avocado and Honey Mask for Dry Skin

• 1 peeled banana
• 1/2 of a peeled, pitted avocado
• 2 Tablespoons honey

Toss everything into a food processor or blender, and let it go until it resembles a very slimy paste. Apply to clean faces (this recipe should make enough for 4 to 5 applications and will keep in the fridge for no more than 3 days).

Here are the girls applying it to each other’s faces:

Alizea got a huge kick out of looking at the pictures when it was all over. “This looks like snot,” she laughed, “dripping down my nose!”

I agree.

While they had the mask on, doing its moisturizing job, we put Alizea to work making a bath-time scrub that she could take home with her. She was seriously a genius at measuring and mixing.

She made herself a gingerbread body scrub that’ll keep, unrefrigerated, for weeks (if not months). Perfect for this time of year – and it makes a super easy gift, too!

Both the girls rinsed the avocado-banana-honey mask off their faces while Alizea took a break from making the scrub and ooohed and ahhhed about how soft and smooth their skin felt.

Me? I just snapped pictures happily from the sidelines, because I couldn’t risk getting avocado on my camera. Avocado in the camera would equal some really horrible picture-taking. (Might make it nice and soft, though …)

Here’s the gingerbread body scrub recipe Alizea cooked up while we were giggling about who-knows-what:

Gingerbread Body Scrub

• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 1/4 c. sea salt
• 1/2 to 3/4 c. (depending on what consistency you like) olive oil
• 2 tsp cocoa powder
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 5 drops ginger essential oil (optional)

Mix everything together well in a small bowl and transfer to a jar, mug, or whatever container you’d like. Scrub your entire body with it while you’re in the shower or bath (avoiding any areas with scratches, scrapes, or otherwise woundish places), concentrating on dry skin. Rinse well. Your skin should be VERY soft and glow-ish after toweling dry.

While the girls were looking at the pictures on the computer, I whipped up an herbal bath sachet for Alizea to take home with her (she really liked the smell of lavender) and I gave both girls some no-nonsense daily scrub to use over the next few weeks.

It was a super silly day – just for the girls. Highly recommended.

Bye, girls! Let’s do this again soon!

Big Brothers, Big Sisters

I couldn’t finish this post without saying this: There are little sisters all over the United States just waiting for a big sister like you. Look at the fun stuff you can do together! Alizea and Ashley make the most amazing team, and there has never, ever been a moment where I haven’t been anything but completely amazed at how they enrich each other’s lives.

If you’re interested in becoming a Big Brother or a Big Sister, here’s the link that can give you more information.

Think You Might Have Your Own Food-On-Your-Face Party?

Seriously, people, this was so. much. fun.

If you have any girls in your life at all, please do this soon!

If you liked this here pictorial story and the recipes herein (especially recipes good for younger girls) and think you might want more ideas for special parties, let me know. I’ll do more of these.

Any excuse to take pictures of people with food on their faces is good for me.

And I have lots of friends who happen to have girls in their lives …

(That’s right, friends. You’re next.)

In sisters-make-the-best-memories crunch!