it's time to get a move on your spring cleaning and one lucky winner is going to have the crispest and cleanest freshly ironed linens, courtesy of this week's prize the versatile Rowenta Steamium iron.

The winner is Dina, from MA, who shared that the iron:

...would give me motivation to iron, mine has had it!

She's sporting the top-of-the line now, with a Steam Force injection system for professional grade results, in a light, easy-to-use form that includes an electronic thermostat and a digital temperature display alert.

Congratulations to Dina!

Rather than blowing your party budget on favors that no one wants or needs, craft your own; these dinosaur eggs are easy to make and fun to open, and can double as a party activity.

You can make your own dinosaur eggs with a hidden "baby dinosaur" inside with just a few household ingredients. It's best to make these at least a week in advance so they can harden, but in a pinch you can bake them on a cookie sheet for 25 minutes in a 125 degree oven. To make dinosaur eggs you will need the following:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup used coffee grounds
• 1/2 cup salt
• 1/4 cup craft sand or sandbox sand
• 3/4 cup warm, not hot, water
• small plastic toy dinosaurs

Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Slowly add the warn water, making a dough. Once the ingredients are mixed into a dough, break off a piece and press a small plastic dinosaur into the middle. Now as if you are making a snow ball, press the dough around the dinosaur and create an "egg" shape. Place each egg on a cookie sheet with the pointy side of the egg facing up. Let dry for 5-7 days. Makes 8-10 Easter egg-sized eggs.

At the party bring out your dinosaur eggs and let the kids break them open and discover their prehistoric treasures inside! Older children might like using shovels and small hammers to break open the eggs. Or provide paints and let guests decorate their eggs and then take them home after the party.

When it comes to finding the best parade to check out on March 17th, what criteria would you go by? Are you looking for the parade with most number of attendees? Or the oldest parade in the nation? Do you judge a St. Patty's Day parade by the number of kilts, bagpipes, or green beer-guzzling participants? Or by the sheer enthusiasm of the participants?

Obviously, all of these are important factors in what makes up for an ideal St. Patrick's Day parade. So, without further ado, here's a list of superlative St. Patrick's Day parades around the nation.

Largest Attendance: Not surprisingly, the best-attended St. Patrick's Day parade happens in New York City. Often mistaken for being the nation's original one, the NYC St. Patrick's Day parade is easily the largest on the planet in terms of spectators -- an estimated two million revelers line the streets to watch the kilt-clad hordes march by.

Oldest Parade: Unsurprisingly, the nation's oldest St. Patty's parade took place in what is considered by most to be the cradle of Irish Americana: Boston. Beantown's first parade dedicated to the Irish saint was held in 1737.

Longest Running Parade: The title for longest-running St. Patrick's Day parade belongs to New York City, which has been going green steadily since 1762.

Most Participants: Where can you go to see the most leprechauns, kilts and bagpipes. I'm starting to feel like a broken record here, but it appears that with an estimated 150,000 marchers, the Big Apple once again takes the top spot.

Shortest Parade: The title of quirkiest St. Patty's parade belongs to Hot Springs, Arkansas -- hands down. Hot Springs' 98-foot long parade is not only the official "Shortest St. Patrick's Day Parade," it's also been labeled "The Zaniest St. Patrick's Day Parade on Earth" by the Smithsonian Magazine, on account of the parade's Irish Elvises, San Diego Chicken, and Lards of the Dance troupe (middle-aged Irish folk dancers).

Greenest Parade: Chicago not only hosts one of the nation's largest St. Patty's Day parades, it's takes the award for the greenest parade, literally speaking. Each St. Patrick's Day, the city's Journeyman Plumbers dump 45 lbs of dye into the Chicago River, making it the greenest by far ... though not ecologically speaking.

Oldest Leprechaun: While I'm at it, I feel compelled to tip my hat to the "World's Oldest Leprechaun," 96-year-old Dr. Albert Habeeb, who participated in last year's parade in Hot Springs. Whether he will make an appearance this year is yet to be announced.

Get back to basics. You don't need a computer to help celebrate a birthday when you're far away. - The Crafts Dept.

Printing out real menus and two more musts to make your dinner party amazing. - Ready Made

What's fizzing in the kitchen? Coca-Cola cupcakes let you have your cake and soda too. - Daily Buzz

Why your guests will be begging for another glass of wine (trust us, it's good for them). - Lemondrop

Looking for the best brew for your bash? DIY and do it here. - Asylum

Kick the cabbage: Change up the St. Patrick's menu with a corned beef sandwich that's free of the greens. - YumSugar

Princess parties are the ultimate "girlie girl" celebration. Your little girl will swoon when she is the guest of honor at her very own royal affair.

Invitation By Royal Decree
Create royal party decrees by printing invitations in a calligraphy style font on parchment paper. Roll the scrolls and secure with a bow and let your princess hand-deliver them. These creative invitations will set the theme for your royal event. If they must be mailed, fold them in half and use a heart shaped "punch" to make a hole; thread a ribbon through and tie a bow. Secure in an envelope, address them to the royal court and for the final touch, seal with wax and press in your child's initial.

Crown the Court
As little princesses arrive, greet them at the door and crown them with their very own princess tiara. You can also provide dress up clothing, such as feather boas and princess jewels, to dress the royal subjects. If parents ok it, apply glitter lotions to guess for extra princess sparkle. You can also invite guests to come dressed in their own princess clothing.

Create a Throne
Create a royal throne for your little princess by taking a large sheet and placing it over a chair. Gather the excess material hanging off to the back of the chair and secure at the top with a safety pin; cover the safety pin with a pretty bow. Decorate with streamers, balloons and ribbons for a final touch.

Set A Table Fit for a Princess
Cover the tables in pink table cloths sprinkled with sparkling confetti; finish the scene with streamers of curling ribbon. Plates, plastic ware, napkins and cups either in complementary colors or with your favorite Disney Princess on them will be the final touch to your royal table.

Let Them Eat Cake!
Princess Cakes can range in style and size depending on your budget. If you bake your own, visit a local cake supply store and purchase edible glitter to sprinkle over your cake. It will give your cake that extra princess sparkle! Cupcakes are a big hit with young guest and can be easily princess themed by adding edible glitter and tiny tiaras.

Have Games and Activities Galore

• Play the princess version of pin the tale on the donkey by having the guests place the tiara on a photo of the birthday girl's favorite princess.
• Have a crown toss: Guests toss beanbags into cardboard crowns; each each color crown has a point value. The princess with the most points wins a prize.
• Kiss the Frog! This fun version of hot potato takes a princess twist by using a "Frog Prince" as the potato. When the music stops the girl with the frog must kiss her prince and exit the game.
• Make princess wands. Purchase kits or create your own with stars cut out of wooden dowels and sparkling stickers.
• Create boxes for the princess' crown jewels. Using wooden boxes, glue loose rhinestones and gems to the box. The guests can take the boxes home as favors.
• Set up a pampering station. Paint each girl's nails, apply lotion, create princess hairstyles. Ask a few of the mothers for help in creating a mini princess spa experience.

Being treated like a princess is every girl's dream. The grandeur and special attention will be sure to make her feel like royalty on her special day!

They're no longer kids, but they're not teens yet either, and tweens can be the hardest people on the planet to throw a party for.

Just ask Lisa Kothari; the owner of Peppers and Pollywogs used to plan big budget children's parties in some of the nation's biggest cities. But even Kothari admits tweens are tough. They are too old to let Mom and Dad make all the decisions, and peer pressure is running at an all time high, she warns.

"They are not children where the parents plan everything," Kothari says. "And they're not teens who are almost lackadaisical about their parties, who just want to hang out with their friends."

Fortunately there's one place no tween ever said no to: The mall.

"A mall scavenger hunt is a great idea for a tween party," Kothari tells Holidash. And while the parents chill out in the food court, the kids take over the mall -- and leave your house as clean as it was when you left it.

Kothari tells us how make it happen:

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Looking for an alternative to piñatas and Pin the Tail on the Donkey for your next kid party? How about inviting your guests to build a Rube Goldberg Machine?

Look up Rube Goldberg in Webster's Dictionary and you'll find this: Accomplishing by complex means what seemingly could be done simply.

Rube Goldberg may be an adjective, but he was also an actual person. Educated as an engineer, Goldberg was a Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, sculptor and author. But Goldberg is most famous for combining his sense of humor with his knowledge of engineering by creating elaborate machines designed to do very simple tasks. His silly contraptions involved not only wheels, pulleys and gears, but all manner of household items including buckets, balls and even animals.

Goldberg died in 1970, but his legacy lives on. His machines have inspired countless others to create their own contraptions, most notably this one from Chicago rock band OK GO.



Considering that the objective of a Rube Goldberg Machine is to make a simple task ridiculously complicated, we think it also makes for a perfectly silly party activity. Take a page from Goldberg's notebook and let your guests invent their own crazy machine. Read on to find out how.

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Got a burning desire to hop a flight to attend one of the nation's lesser known -- yet totally enthusiastic and worth it -- St. Patrick's Day parades? Everybody knows that New York City's got the size, Boston's got the pride, and Chicago's got that whole green river thing going for it, but if huge crowds and metropolises aren't what you're looking for this year, fear not.

There's just as much, if not more, fun to be had at many of America's lesser known St. Patrick's Day parades. What these second-tier (don't tell them that) St. Patty's festivals lack in size, they more than make up for in spirit, originality, and quirkiness.

Savannah, Georgia
Think things will be polite and subdued in this historic southern town on March 17th? Guess again. Savannah boasts some major Irish pride with a massive St. Patrick's Day that draws about 100,000 visitors to the mid-sized city of about 275,000, according to the Savannah Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Not only Savannah's St. Patrick's Day parade well-populated, it also happens to be old ... and fanatical. The first public procession (there were a few private forerunners) was held in 1824, and since then the city has only canceled six parades, two of those during the Civil War. So, it doesn't matter what the weather forecast looks like, you can pretty much guarantee that Savannah's 185th St. Patrick's Day parade is on.

Parade time: 10:15 am on Wednesday, March 17th

Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City isn't particularly well known for anything other than having great barbecue and being the home of a couple of pro sports teams. However, one thing they do big in KC is St. Patty's Day. The town's fairly young parade has a reputation for being the most spirited annual display of Irish pride west of the mighty Mississippi and certainly the largest.

As it goes with many St. Patrick's Day parades, the idea for the KC march was hatched over a few happy hour drinks at a bar in 1973, according to the KC Irish Parade Committee. Although Kansas City is credited with having a robust and vibrant Irish population, the town had been without a proper parade for decades until the aforementioned happy hour. Since then, the tradition has been picking up major steam. In recent years, the parade has reportedly been drawing crowds of over 300,000 onlookers. Also worth noting, the Kansas City marchers really give it their all, because they're all competing for the grand prize: An all-expenses-paid trip to Ireland.

Parade: 11:00 am on Wednesday, March 17th

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Daisy Martinez is on a mission to bring Latin America to your kitchen.

The host of the Food Network's "Viva Daisy" says when the average American thinks of throwing a party with Latin flair, they plunk a bowl of nachos on the table and pull out the salsa. But in a new book that's one part cookbook, one part travel log, "Daisy: Morning, Noon and Night," Martinez is flavoring American entertaining with the real tastes of Latin America.

While prepping for a dinner party at her home in Brooklyn, Martinez told Holidash how to put a Latin flavor on your next party.

We were excited to hear at Holidash that there's a holiday story behind your new book. Can you tell us about it?

Santa Claus stopped visiting my home when my youngest daughter, Angela, turned 8. I sat the kids down, and I said to them, "Up until now, Dad and I have spent a ridiculous amount of money on stuff that in two weeks is under the bed, in the back of the closet or never to be seen again. We're going to stop doing that." Of course, I was met with eyes that just were full of pure mortification, like what does that even mean?

How did you talk them down?

What I said to them was, "From now on, Daddy and I are going to take you on a trip; from now on we're going to travel somewhere we've never been and spend that entire week as a family." The premise for the book was, we were traveling as a family, and I would take pictures of everything we ate, and takes notes on those pictures so that I could recreate those memories for my family when we came back home.

How did that translate to a book?

I would make the recipe and tweak it and tweak it and tweak it until I got it the way we remembered it. By serving the meal, the meal would inspire the family to talk about the memories, about the things that happened on the trip. It was just such a wonderful coming together, that kept those memories alive. I'm very fond of saying "my children can't tell you what they got for Christmas of 2003, but they can very definitely tell you what they were eating Christmas Day of 2006."

What about Latin food has really spoken to you?

This is my mission in life! My mission is to bring to the mainstream the extreme diversity within the Latin kitchen. Here in the United States, when the mainstream thinks of Latin food, it's not even real Latin food. It's really TexMex. Most people when they think of Latin food they think of spicy. I don't like to think of Latin food as spicy. I like to think of Latin food as sassy, because the food of Latin America isn't all spicy. We love heat in Puerto Rico, but Cuba and the Dominican Republic don't really care for hot food. In Mexico, the different regions, some food is very spicy where some food is very citrusy. The other thing I'd like to dispel is that adding black beans, chorizo or chipotle to a dish does not make it Latin! We eat the same stuff that everyone else eats, we just prepare it a little differently!

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What do you get when you lock "Top Chef" -- and molecular gastronomist -- Richard Blais in a laboratory with a slab of corned beef and a bottle of Michael Collins Irish Whiskey? The Answer: The "Corned Beef Collins," a St. Patrick's Day specialty for those who prefer a cocktail that drinks like a meal.

Obviously, when a top culinary designer mixes beef, cabbage and whiskey in a glass and calls it a cocktail, it raises some eyebrows, as well as soliciting its share of "ewwws." Is this cocktail a legitimate culinary breakthrough, or the unfortunate byproduct of a late night creative session involving too much alcohol, an overactive imagination, and a blender?

I recently got the chance to chew the fat about meat-infused cocktails with Blais himself. Here's what I learned:

What in the world possessed you to develop the world's premiere corned beef and cabbage cocktail?

The world's premiere and the world's first (chuckles politely). Michael Collins came to me to develop a drink that works with Collins Irish whiskey, so I started thinking about what kind of ingredients would enhance the whiskey's flavor and background. Obviously, corned beef and cabbage fits in with the whiskey's Irish heritage.

I mean, think about what's happening with bacon right now. Bacon is being tried in everything because of its flavor profile, salty and smokey. In some ways, corned beef has a similar kind of profile that works well with lots of things.

I notice that the word "cabbage" was left out of the drink's official title. Did you do that in order to not gross out the folks who hate cabbage and who also aren't grossed out by the corned beef part?

If I had to say, it's probably a marketing decision, but I think the name has a nice flow to it. No one wants a dish that reads like a list of ingredients and the cabbage is sort of a back note. So, I think it's partly a marketing decision and partly a creative one.

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