Birthday Party: Chef & Baking Party

This party has recently been featured on Kara's Party Ideas!

This little man loves to be in the kitchen!  Every time he hears the timer buzz, he runs for the kitchen to check whatever is cookin' in the oven.  So, a chef party was perfect for his 2nd birthday!  We were so lucky to not only help plan this fun party, but celebrate at it, too!

There were two main decorated areas for this party - the food tables and the activity table.  Notice the fun touch of photographs of M in the kitchen.  Mom is a photographer and photos play a huge part in the life of this family, so it was a perfect touch.  The activity table was pre-set up for baking when guests arrived.  This helped not only with stress for the hostess, but also added to the party theme and decor.

The food was part of the decor - but it was a simple, delicious menu.  Juice for the kiddos (wrapped in crepe paper to match the colors), lemonade for the adults (LOVE these paper straws) with muffins and fruit cups.  The party was in the morning, so light food was perfect.  Some simple touches were red cupcake wrappers, colored straws, chalkboard signage throughout, ribbon around the bottom of the cups and red forks.  A great tablescape and party is in the small things!

And check out this cake!  Brianna designed the cake to fit the theme and with a couple extra touches, it was the perfect centerpiece.  The Melissa and Doug fruit cutting set was a perfect touch to the cake (and it came from M's own play kitchen).

 There were two main activities throughout the party.  The first was making the cupcakes.  We divided the ingredients into four cups - flour, sugar, oil and soy milk.  (This party was 100% vegan!)  Mom and Dad combined some of the smaller ingredients into the bigger cups - for example, vinegar and vanilla were pre-mixed with the soy milk.  Yes, we used red solo cups!  Very inexpensive and with the small addition of the chalkboard tag, it fit in perfect!

 The kids mixed the ingredients and while the cupcakes were baking, they played with homemade kool-aid colored play-doh (which smelled delicious but tasted salty).

 Each guest was sent home with their homemade playdoh container, a spatula and an apron (handmade with love by Grandma)!  The Birthday Boy had a special chef's hat.

 Overall, this party was a huge success and so much fun - and that's the point, right?  The Birthday Boy was surrounded by people who love him and everyone had a great time.  The activities were a huge success - even for the littlest party guests (15 months or so).  Remember, a great party is in the small things - and in the good company!  This picture of Mom and M shows just that!

 Be Creative!

Photos provided by Neyssa Lee Photography.

Playdate Party: Monsters

Want to throw a party but don't have a good excuse?  Why not plan a playdate party?  It doesn't have to be extravagant.  Once you have a theme in mind, invite a handful of your child's friends to join you.  Playdate parties don't have to be filled with activity after activity - choose one craft or activity and serve a treat.  When you're finished with the craft, let the kids free play while the mommy's visit.

What inspired this monster party?  Leftover monster stuff from Halloween a couple years ago!  I also found an $8 bag of monster stuff at our local consignment store.  Add a few cupcakes (decorated with my daughter) and we had a party!

This banner came in the consignment store bag and I created the little monster boxes for my Halloween mantel decor a couple years ago.  I love getting two uses out of something I spent time creating! 

We served waters and juice boxes and I raided my daughters toy box for little monster stuffed animals.  A great party is in the small things!

My daughter helped decorate these cupcakes and we had leftover monster bags (from Oriental Trading) from Halloween.  Each bag had a sticker sheet, tattoo and pieces of candy.  I always try to have a small take home gift to say thank you for coming.  It's a nice touch and really doesn't need to be expensive.  Although the adults may remember the party details, often times the kids won't - but you can extend the party a little longer when they open their gift in the car or when they arrive home.

These fun hats were in the consignment store bag - but they were fun and perfect for the kiddos to wear!  The glasses/noses came from Oriental Trading - again, a Halloween leftover.  I asked the kids to take them home, too - cleaning up and cleaning out my leftovers!

The table was pre-set with the craft and activity.  We started by playing in our living room until all the guests arrived then moved to the dining room.  All of the decor and Monster-type activities were reserved to one room.  This helped with clean-up but also helped center the party on the craft and snack.  The monster magnet crafts were in the center (again, a Halloween leftover from Oriental Trading) and each child chose one.  I created an example of each so the moms could help without looking at instruction sheets.  Unfortunately, this craft did not include adhesive-backed pieces - so we used mini cupcake tins with a squeeze of glue and q-tips to apply it.  I prepared the glue minutes before guests arrive (the last thing on my to-do list) so it wouldn't dry out.

We all had a great time!  I think the kids really enjoyed it and the moms enjoyed the company, too!  Again, it wasn't expensive - I used leftovers and spent no more than $15 on "extras" (the consignment store bag, cupcake mix/frosting and misc supplies).  It was the perfect way to spend a raining morning!

Inspired?  What will your next Playdate Party look like?

Be Creative!

1st Birthday: Super Hero Party

For this little man's first birthday, we wanted to keep it small, but fabulous!

I had the super hero party idea, but Creative Imaginations - Super Hero Collection paper was the real inspiration. It made the whole party click and come together.  I add a few small things here and there and BAM!  Party!

We had the party in the evening and served cupcakes and desserts.  I used the sticker sheets to create fun cupcake picks and the word blurb paper everywhere!  The colors were vintage super hero - reds, blues and yellows.  I used the large superhero emblem as my template to create a simple "Happy Birthday" banner (sorry, no picture!) and hung the colored streamers in the main rooms of the house.

We sent the cousins and friends home with little goodie bags with superhero coloring books, crayons and tattoos.  The adult guests also when home with a little snack.

The party was small, but special - our little guy was the center of the celebration and it was just big enough to make it special but small enough for it to be remembered.  First birthday parties can be tricky since the little ones won't remember them, but regardless of whether you go "all out" or keep it small, they are a great excuse to get friends and family together.

Be Creative!

Creating: Upholstery

Every year for the past few years, I've participated in a craft weekend getaway with a group of awesome women from all walks of life.  The first year, I created cards all weekend.  Last year, I worked on some online photo books.  This year, I upholstered a chair.  Yes, it was quite the jump.  I watched a video on YouTube so I figured I had it handled.  In reality, it took me about 4 times longer than the videographer promised and it was about 100 times more difficult.  I am a novice sewer and this was my very first time upholstering a chair.  In fact, I actually forgot the hammer and screwdriver needed to take off the fabric.  I had to borrow it from a neighbor.  After much encouragement from the ladies (and I can honestly say I would have given up after the first night if it wasn't for them), I completed the chair!  And it turned out fabulously!

Originally, I had plans to put it in my daughters' bedroom - but it's in our living room right now.  It's SUPER comfortable - and it's small enough to not get in the way.  It sits on a rocking pedestal, which adds to the comfort.

For all you out there who are thinking about tackling a re-upholstry project... do it!  It was hard, but totally worth the effort!  I'm looking forward to my next project.  

Because this was my first time, I didn't want to spend a ton of cash.  The chair was in our storage unit and would have eventually made it into a dumpster (and it was originally a hand-me-down).  The fabric was 50% off at the fabric store (WOW!).  I reused the piping (although I did recover it) and the buttons.  The cushioning was the most expensive.  I reused as much as I could, purchased a 4x2 piece of batting (I was shocked at the price!) and purchased three throw pillows from a local thrift store that I took apart and used.  I also had to buy staples.  The whole project cost approximately $75.  Not too shabby!

Be Creative!

Shower Sunday: Tinker Bell Bridal Shower

The best parties are based off personalized inspiration. For this bridal shower, the bride loved Tinker Bell!  So we went with it!

To help tie in with the overall theme, consider using a themed bag or wrapping your gift to match the decor!  It's an easy, small thing that makes the gift table pop!

Yum!  If you've never tried a candy bar for a party or shower, it's so fun and a simple, delicious favor for guests!  In addition to Tinker Bell, we used the colors of the wedding as our shower decor colors - so we purchased as many different kinds of candy in these colors as possible.  It makes my mouth water just looking at these pictures!

Ribbon is a super easy, inexpensive way to add color and character to party staples like drink containers.  This is an example of a small touch with a big impact.

We planned three simple shower games.  (1) Each guest was given a necklace to wear - if they were caught saying "wedding" or "ring", they had to forfeit their necklace.  The person with the most, received a small gift card.  (2) A spin off a traditional "words of wisdom" game, each guest took a jewel or pearl of wisdom.  We went around the circle and each guest offered their words and dropped the jewel into a container that was given to the bride as a keepsake jar for her wedding day.  She can later add petals from her bouquet, pieces from her invite and any other keepsake such as bird seed or a bubble jar.  (3) Finally, we played Disney scategories (sorry, no picture!) where the guests had to come up with alphabetical answers based on Disney themed questions.  As a small thing, we used Disney themed books as the boards guests wrote on.

Another small thing, that can make a big impact on the bride is to ask guests to fill out an envelop with their address to save the bride the time addressing thank you's herself.  It's simple, small and easy!

To tie the color in and add a vertical touch to the decorations, we hung ribbon and beads from the light fixtures and ceiling.  Small, inexpensive and classy!  And of course, we added Tinker Bell wherever we could.  We found a set of 6 Tinker Bell cupcake toppers and hand painted them ourselves to match the colors of the wedding as well as the bride (a brunette).  So fun!

We had a great time planning this shower and watching it come together!  The company was fabulous and the bride enjoyed herself and felt the love - which is what it's all about! 

When you're planning your next party, think about the small things that you can add to make a big impact with a tight budget.  And be creative!

Birthday Party: Call the Hogs!

For Tom's birthday party, we once again planned the party around a Razorback game.  For adult birthday parties, planning around a game or activity is a simple way to get people together for some food and fun while not making it a strange "celebrate me" party for the birthday guy.

The cupcakes were red velvet to match the Razorback colors and also happened to be a favorite of Tom's!  Perfect!  We created these football toothpicks using a sheet of football stickers.

 The food was simple and easy - tailgate, football style.  Although it was a little strange to eat pork while watching the Hogs, the ribs were delicious and the bean dip is a new favorite.

Our good friend, Neyssa, of Neyssa Lee Photography captured the party in pictures and snapped a shot of our family (although Eli was sleeping) in our Razorback gear.  Go Hogs!

Birthday Party: Zoo Party

Looking at these pictures, I still can't believe my little girl is three.  

She really is growing up fast.

Guests were greeted by a party animal sign and fun balloons (which doubled as part of the favor for kids to take home).  We had the balloons displayed throughout including the gift table.

 

We also purchased inexpensive animal print paper strips (Oriental Trading) to be used with the banner as well as  on the drinks for a fun, small touch. We used a kiddie pool for the watering hole and placed peanuts on the tables as a simple, edible centerpiece.

We had a few main party activities including a safari hunt and face painting.

We made a teardrop shaped pinata using the same green crepe paper used throughout the party decor.

I loved what we decided to do for the cake and cupcakes.  Elle had her own personal mini cake and the rest of the guests enjoyed cupcakes topped with zoo animals of all kinds.  Another small thing was the candles - tiger print and perfect!

 This was the perfect gift!

 We sent the guests home with gift bags filled with zoo animal goodies and a balloon!

 There were lots of small things that made this party click - animal prints everywhere!  We served basic burgers with fruit salad and chips.  Super simple and inexpensive for feeding large groups and easy to prep everything before hand so the grill master can party, too!

When you plan your next party, remember it doesn't have to be an expensive blow out!  A great party is in the good company and small touches throughout.  Be creative!