Christine – Christine and Herr Company

All About The Butterbeer

May 26, 2022October 30, 2025 Christine

It’s no secret that I adore Butterbeer at Universal Studios Orlando. I have visited three times this past year alone and I get it multiple times a day, hot, cold and frozen, I love them all. And it also comes in other forms besides drinks.

Did you know at Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure you can only get Butterbeer in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter? Diagon Alley in Universal Studios and Hogsmeade in Islands of Adventures and you can go back and forth with the Hogwarts Express?

Butterbeer comes in many forms in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Cold

In Diagon Alley, you’ll find cold Butterbeer at The Leaky Cauldron, The Fountain of Fair Fortune and The Hopping Pot. In Hogsmeade, you can locate it at The Three Broomsticks, Hog’s Head and two Butterbeer street carts.

Frozen

In Diagon Alley, frozen Butterbeer is available at The Leaky Cauldron, The Fountain of Fair Fortune and The Hopping Pot. In Hogsmeade, you can get it at The Three Broomsticks, Hog’s Head and two Butterbeer street carts.

Hot

Hot Hot Butterbeer is available at The Leaky Cauldron and The Hopping Pot in Diagon Alley and The Three Broomsticks and Hog’s Head in Hogsmeade. Hot Butterbeer is now available year round.

Ice Cream

In Diagon Alley, you can get Butterbeer ice cream at Florean Fortescue’s Ice-Cream Parlour or The Hopping Pot. In Hogsmeade, you’ll find it at The Three Broomsticks. Add some Butterbeer ice cream to the cold and make your own Butterbeer float.

Fudge

Grab Butterbeer fudge at Sugarplum’s Sweet Shop in Diagon Alley or Honeydukes in Hogsmeade.

Potted Cream

Pick up Butterbeer potted cream at The Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley or The Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade.

Although the recipe is top secret, I found a copycat recipe to try yourself. The only ingredients you’ll need to make Butterbeer in your own kitchen are vanilla ice cream (1 scoop) , cream soda (1 cup), butterscotch ice cream topping (2 tablespoons) and whipped cream as a topping. Blend it all to make it a frozen treat. Try making it at home and let know what you think.

Interested in planning a trip to Universal Studios? I can help you and my services don’t cost you any extra, which means you’ll get all my trips and tricks for free.

Click below to get started planning your Universal Vacation

Health

National Travel Advisor Day

May 4, 2022October 30, 2025 Christine

May 4 is National Travel Advisor Day, a day to celebrate and promote travel advisors.

I started my business because I love to plan and research trips. I love exploring new destinations, looking for tips and tricks, and passing along all that information to my clients.

I started preCOVID and saying that travel looks different nowadays is an understatement. Everchanging entry protocols, airline cancelations/delays, and testing requirements, all make planning very stressful these days and changeling to boot.

I immerse myself in travel news and updates daily, so my clients don’t have to worry. My job is to take your stress away so you can travel with ease.

My clients enjoy a stress-free vacation and I help them with their planning every step of the way.

Travel is tricky these days, I can help you stress less and travel more.

It’s never too early to start planning your next vacation, and I can help you navigate the new travel world.

Summer Planning

May 17, 2021May 17, 2021 Christine

Well, we made it through the 2020-2021 school year, almost, and that means it’s time for SUMMER!! Can you believe we made it through the entire school year?

It’s been challenging and ever-changing for sure, just when you have a schedule figured out, you get the dreaded email that your child’s class has been quarantined and BAM, your schedule changes in an instant.

But as the end of the school year comes, I go instantly into planning mode because let’s face it, I’m a planner.

I get a calendar out and start week by week, I usually look up free activities around town, add in VBS, some trips to the museum or zoo, library activities, family trips and go from there.

Next time, I’ll share about our fun summer activities last year. We called last summer, “The Summer of the Outdoors” since we were still restricted, we did activities that were outdoors and let us social distance.

How do you plan your summer with your kids or are you not a planner?

Health

Packing Must-Haves for The Parks

May 15, 2021May 16, 2021 Christine

We just got back from Universal Studios Orlando and this was out first visit since COVID-19. They did such an amazing job with masks, social distancing, hand washing stations and sanitizer given to each guest before you get on each ride.

Some must-haves that we found useful for Universal Studios or even Disney World, are lanyards, rain ponchos, little individual Wet Ones to wipe down rides tables and hands, extra paper masks, a water bottle, little packets of Propel, or a bottle of MIO to put in your water bottles. All of these items we picked up at Walmart or The Dollar Store before we left.

The water bottles came in handy at the hotel and I placed them in the mini fridge we had in our room overnight to chill. Adding the extra flavoring just made the water taste better as you are refilling with tap water.

Those rain ponchos get expensive at the parks and we were asked a few times as the rain was pouring down where we got them. Orlando is know for their quick afternoon showers, especially on those summer months.

Extra masks were helpful, we especially loved the paper ones, easy to change and dispose of, we definitely went through quite a few masks during the day.

Fanny packs are back, baby, and a great option while in the parks. Not too big and bulky and easy to store in the lockers while you ride the roller coasters or under your seat.

An extra phone battery or better yet, those backpacks that have a charger are a great option. Maps were few and far between and mostly checking your phone for wait times, showtimes, where the bathrooms are located plus taking pictures you definitely will run down your battery.

Snacks that are quick and easy to eat while waiting in those lines. I recommend ones that won’t melt, like granola bars with no chocolate coating. Goldfish are a must have if you have kiddos.

I hope you found this list helpful, it made out trip easier to have these things already purchased so you can save some money while you are travelling. And double check you have swim goggles, the one item I forgot and had to pick up at the hotel gift shop.

Seems like there is always one thing you’ll end up forgetting, but a quick trip to a drug store or the hotel gift shop and you will look like a hero or heroine to your family.

The Macaroni Mama Blog

A Perfect Christmas Tree

December 12, 2020December 12, 2020 Christine

So often we are scrolling through social media, seeing images of a perfectly decorated Christmas tree with ornate ornaments and ribbons and we feel envious. Any other ladies out there?

I wonder why my tree has gaps, no beautifully themed ribbon running up and down, full of solid beautifully matching ornaments in a solid color or theme.

But guess what, my tree is perfect for my family, for our stage in life. We are busy with our three kiddos, working from home, remote learning, activities, albeit mostly on Zoom right now, but hey, we are still busy. We just got a puppy so that’s a whole other topic for another day.

As moms we want it all to be perfect, a perfect tree, perfect Christmas photos, we put so much pressure on ourselves.

If 2020 has taught me anything, it’s appreciate what you have.

So, as I sit here sipping my morning coffee, I’m enjoying my perfectly unperfect Christmas tree. It’s full of ornaments that don’t have the same color, or same theme but it has ornaments made by children, ornaments from family trips we’ve taken, ornaments symbolizing family milestones and to me that makes it perfect afterall.

Around Town

Easy Ways To Keep The Kids Occupied During Summer Vacation

June 8, 2020June 3, 2020 Christine

School has ended and I have the “Well, now what?” sort of mentality. Our state has turned to a safer at home but normal summer activities are limited and/or closed. Our library is closed but is open for a drive-thru pick up, so we are hitting our summer reading lists hard.

We are lucky to love near so much designated Open Space, so we are exploring in our own backyard. Most of our hikes have been within 20 minutes of our home. It gets hot pretty quick so you need to make sure you hit the trails early.

Some ways we have found to keep the kids interested is go on a stick hunt. My son loves to find a good walking stick. We also found some online scavenger hunts that you can print and attach a clipboard and pencil.

My five year old enjoyed being the line leader and that seemed to buy us some more time. It ‘s tricky hiking with children. For the most part, my older girls seem to do fine as long as they are not too hot. And don’t forget to bring water bottles. The kids enjoy a good water break every so often,.We sometimes bride them with a treat after the walk, like a stop at the local donut shop.

The kids enjoying the view on our latest hike,

The pools have not opened and we are not sure when they will, hopefully, July 1, but until them, it’s water fun in our backyard. Water balloon, spray guns, water slides, if it gets them wet, they love it.

We are still doing a bit summer school so we don’t suffer from the summer slide too much.

You definitely have to be creative this summer, it will be an outside the box summer. Every day, I’m looking for creative things to do, places we can go that are open and safe.

Around Town, The Macaroni Mama Blog

National Donut Day

June 5, 2020June 3, 2020 Christine

Happy National Donut Day! Did you that June 5th is National Donut Day? Today, many donut chains are offering free donuts, some with no purchase necessary. Check around your town to see where you can cash in with your free donut.

What a great chance to visit a local donut house in your area, maybe buy some other samplings to support small businesses while discovering a great new place close to your home.

Growing up on Long Island, we have Munchkins all the time for celebrations. Birthdays, holidays, or whenever you went over someone’s house, there were always Muchnkins involved. So donuts always remind me of a celebration.

Another great idea is to make some homemade donuts with your kids. We’ve done a super tasty recipe air fryer donut recipe using canned biscuit dough, so easy and you don’t have turn on the oven. Check out the recipe we use here.

Check out my Pinterest page for some more great donut recipes here.

Enjoy those donuts, friends!!

The Macaroni Mama Blog

Best Ways to Spend to Time With Your Spouse During Quarantine

June 1, 2020May 31, 2020 Christine

It’s hard with three children to be home all day for weeks and not have that spouse quality time. It’s so important to a marriage to make your relationship a priority right?

We’ve been struggling to find the time for ourselves. Between work, home school, chores, dinner, reading to the kids, by the time bedtime comes for the kiddos, we are beat. Some days it really is an effort to spemd that time together.

Some ways we have found to spend some alone time without the children are to watch a movie together after the kids are in bed or sometimes we will put a kids movie on for them in the basement and set them all up, then we watch ours together, alone, without the kids.

Another way we find to spend time together as a couple is to take a walk around the neighborhood. Let’s be honest, the kids are kinda tired of all the walks we’ve been taking these last few months so sometimes they are excited they don’t have to tag along. Our oldest is old enough to home with the others for 30 minutes while we walk around the block.

We’ve played restaurant. My kids helped me make an easy dinner, they set the table and played restaurant. I let my nine year old make us pudding for dessert, an easy thing for a kid to make. The kids put on “romantic” background music and loved serving us. They even dressed alike so they looked the part, they spend hours working on a menu and setting the table. I must say, the kids loved it and my husband and I had a blast too.

Good old fashion card games is another fun way to connect. SkipBo and Phase 10 are a few of our favorites. Sometimes it will bring out the competitiveness is either you or your spouse, so be careful with this one.

Now things are slowly opening and we have moved to a safer at home approach, I still see us staying at home quite a bit. But having the option to eat out and do something fun, outside the home with my spouse is something to look forward to.

What are some ways you are connecting with your spouse? Let me know in the comments!

The Macaroni Mama Blog

An Unusual May

May 29, 2020May 28, 2020 Christine

If you have school-aged kids, May is usually a very crazy time of year. Piano recitals, moving up ceremonies, Mother’s Day programs, science fairs, band concert, graduations, picnics, field day, the list goes on and on.

Usually, I’m bombarded by Sign Up Genius. Lists after lists appear and I’m scared to even open my email because of fear of another signup lurking.

But this year, May was quiet. May was different, there was no signup lists, no end of year ceremonies, no Mother’s Day programs, no preschool graduation for us. No scouts end of year party or camp out, no moving up ceremonies.

The school play was postponed until later this summer, no end of year choir concert, no end of year parties. We did a drive-by, pick up your stuff, and wave to your teachers. We all tried our best but it still felt cold and sterile.

Field Day was on your own and post your pictures online. The kids always look forward to this all year long. And I appreciate our school trying to fill that void for my kids.

Usually, I’m run ragged from running to one event to another for each kid. Usually, my calendar is FULL of commitments, food to bring, places to be or items to buy (thank you Sign Up Genius).

Usually, I look forward to the Mother’s Day programs, recitals etc. I mean we mothers eat it all up,right?

Usually, I’m beaming with pride watching my kid present at the science fair or reading a poem they wrote. Usually, I take home the program and place it directly in their memory boxes. Usually, my heart is overflowing from pride with all the year’s accomplishments.

Usually by the end of May, I’m exhausted, longing for summer break.

This year was so full of the unusual that I long for the busyness, I long for the usual. I guess the old saying is right, careful what you wish for!

We are all putting on a brave face but it’s such an unusual time, an unusual end to the school year and an unusual summer ahead.

The Macaroni Mama Blog

Starbucks Vanilla Creme Drink

May 4, 2020May 16, 2020 Christine

We don’t go to Starbucks often, just as a treat and usually after a holdiay or birthday when we have a gift card.

Sometimes, I’ll treat one of my daughters to a coffee date where we can chat, catch up, and spend some one on one time together.

They both love the Vanilla Creme Frappe and always order it when we go.

Since we have lots of free time these days we’ve been playing around and trying to copycat the recipe. We think we found it and wanted to share it with you.

Copycat Vanilla Creme Drink

1 cup of milk

1 cup of ice

1/4 cup of sugar

1 tsp of vanilla extract

2 tablespoons of Cool Whip

Place all ingredients into a blender and mix until all the ice has been well blended and enjoy.

Quite refreshing especially going into the summer months.