Archive for the ‘Party Awesomeness’ Category

summer fun hula hoops

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Turn a boring old hula hoop into something your daughter will love. Using long strips of fabric, tightly wrap the hula hoop and knot the ends. Endless, colorful summer fun.

And yes, you can still hula hoop with the fabric on it.

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mini frozen fruit kebabs

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

For another cool summer treat that’s a bit healthier, try freezing fresh, yummy fruit on a skewer. Or a long wooden stick. My kids love all kinds of berries so I’m always buying a variety at the store (or if you’re like my parents, you have your own strawberry plants and raspberry bushes in your yard). And for a variation, try adding pineapple or peaches. Delicious. Just remember that the blueberries are kind of like the glue–they hold everything tight. So make sure and put them on the top and bottom, pressed tightly against the other fruit. And they don’t need to freeze for very long, just a few hours. Now go and freeze some fruit kebabs.


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mini ice cream cones dipped in chocolate

Wednesday, July 7th, 2010

Everything is cuter in mini. My friend Kelly first introduced me to the mini ice cream cones a few years ago. They are genius for serving up cones at birthday parties, when your kids just want some ice cream, or when you have other kids at your house… who want ice cream. They only get a small serving so I never care if they come back for seconds. And there is less mess and less waste (for those kids whose eyes are bigger than their stomachs and can’t finish a big cone).

For a little bit of a twist, melt some chocolate in the microwave or a double boiler on the stove and dip the tops of your cones in the melted chocolate. Then dip them in the sprinkles of your choice. Everyone will feel like they’re at the ice cream shoppe and you’ll feel like a star.


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mini ice cream sandwiches

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Mini ice cream treats are all the rage for those of us who want to fit into our swimming suits all summer. And a smaller size is great for little hands too. These Oreo ice cream sandwiches are super easy to make. And the best part is you can make these ahead of time for impromptu summer snacking or your upcoming barbecue.

Scrape out the white inside filling from Oreo type cookies. You can discard the filling or give it to the kids or eat it yourself. Carefully spoon slightly softened ice cream onto the bottom cookie and gently press the other cookie on top. With a clean finger or a spoon, smooth the sides as needed. Wrap each cookie individually in a piece of plastic wrap. For a softer cookie, leave in the freezer for a few days. Enjoy!

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olliegraphic love

Monday, June 28th, 2010

I can’t resist posting this. I’m in love with Olliegraphic. There, I said it.

For Valentine’s Day I didn’t want my kids to give out commercial cartoony valentines. I was so happy when I found these little printable gems from Olliegraphic. Customized to look like my kids, they were only $5 each.


And then I recently saw these cute cupcake toppers. Dying here. Wouldn’t these be great to put on cupcakes to take to your child’s school class on their birthday?

And THEN I saw these cute plates. I love custom plates. My 4 kids all have their very own melamine plates that they eat on every night. We have two different sets (one with a picture that they drew on it, one that is in their favorite color). I’d love to add these to the collection.

And of course there are the invites.

I’ll be honest. I’m feeling a party coming on with this theme. Invites, cupcakes & plates. I think it’s perfect for a two year old’s birthday, especially if it’s your first or only child. Age two is when you really start to see what your child is going to look like and their cute personalities are even more distinct. It’s the perfect time for a party all about them. And you can invite your family and close friends and they’ll think this theme is adorable (not narcissistic). I hope this post is foreshadowing, because I want to plan a whole party around these adorable designs.

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birthday traditions: the golden birthday

Wednesday, March 17th, 2010

I’m talking about birthday traditions this week. The first one was birthday breakfasts. I’d love to hear your birthday traditions, either growing up or new ones, in the comments.

I never need an excuse to throw a party and I love it when there’s an even bigger reason to celebrate. I was at a friend’s house the other day and she was showing me pictures of her son’s adorable birthday party. She explained that it was his “golden birthday,” also called a grand birthday, lucky birthday, or star birthday. Her son was turning the same age as the date of his birthday–he turned one and was born on the 1st. It’s a long tradition in her family and she always buys the same amount of gold balloons as the age they are turning, in this case one gold balloon. Oh, and of course she has a big party for them as well.

This tradition sounded vaguely familiar, but it wasn’t a big deal in my family growing up. However, I think that it’s an awesome idea and although both my husband’s and my golden birthdays passed when we were both young, none of my kids have had their golden birthdays yet. These are the birthdays that I have to look forward to: 10, 12, 19, 23. Not exactly super “important” birthdays, but I can’t wait to make those years extra special and hopefully pass on a new tradition to my kids.

Anyone else celebrate golden birthdays? Any tips?

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birthday traditions: breakfast

Monday, March 15th, 2010

I’m going to talk about birthday traditions this week. I’d love to hear your birthday traditions, either growing up or new ones, in the comments.

Friday was my middle daughter’s birthday and I started thinking about birthday traditions. When I was growing up our birthdays were always special, at least mine were. (I honestly don’t remember any of my 5 sibling’s birthdays–but we’ll analyze that another time, on a different blog). My mom would always make my favorite breakfast. I’m guessing it was either waffles or ebelskivers. We even had a special red plate that you could use on your birthday. Usually my dad would have to leave early for work, but the rest of us would eat together around the kitchen table. I know that some years I even blew out candles on my cake and opened my presents at breakfast. And my mom always bought my favorite cereal.


Soo… fast forward to me as a mommy with four little kids. One day when my kids were whining for the fun, colorful cereal at the grocery store I remembered that yummy, sugary cereal that I would get on my birthday as a child and I promised them that for their birthday they could choose a box of cereal, whatever they wanted, to have for their birthday. Normally I don’t buy my kids sugary cereal. I’m that annoying mom clogging up the food aisles who is reading every–EVERY–ingredient on the labels. I’m very picky and strict with what cereals come into our house and I have my tried and true brands that I always buy. Low sugar, no corn syrup of any kind, no BHT or BHA (artificial preservatives), no artificial colors or flavors, etc. And often organic. Yeah, I know. Right now you feel bad for my kids and are wishing every day was their birthday so they could have fun cereal more often. Sorry. Well, I’ve often forgotten about this promise but when a birthday approaches, someone always remembers and reminds me or asks the birthday kid what cereal they are getting. I let them pick out 2 cereals, one for them to have all to themselves (I know a thing or two about how quickly the “good” cereal can disappear), and one to share with the other kids. Anyhow, my kids love this tradition and look forward to it every year. And I like it too because it reminds me of when I was growing up. Ahh, nostalgia.

p.s. My favorite new tradition is when my husband makes me breakfast in bed for my birthday, but you already figured I was a breakfast in bed kind of girl, didn’t you?

So tell me, what birthday traditions do you have?

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freebies

Friday, March 5th, 2010

Here are some downloadable pdf files for you to have for free. Just click on the picture. I punched out the girl and boy tags with a 1 3/4 inch circle punch and I punched out a pink or red 2 inch scallop for the background. You can look at my cupcake topper tutorial for instructions. For the vintage book covers I just cut them into squares.


For my appearance on Studio 5 today, I wanted to give a special thanks to these sweet ladies for helping me out:

Megan at Persimmon Floral for the amazing bouquets.
Kelly at Cakewalk Baking Company for the yummy vegan cupcakes.
Karen at Lillybelle Designs for the adorable bibs.
My mom and Eileen Romney for the cute cookies.
Sara Westbrook for the downloads and party photos.
And Nicole Hill for the other party photos.

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hosting a friend birthday party & a family celebration for your child? part 2: plan your invites, decorations & food to stretch through two parties

Friday, February 19th, 2010

So you’ve decided to have two birthday parties, one for friends and one for family. To minimize your time, effort, and expense plan for the invitations, decorations, and food to stretch through both parties. And since you’ve already come up with a killer party theme, why not just use it the whole day?

Invitations

A no brainer. Order or make or buy extra invitations so that you’ll have some for both parties. You’re keeping the same theme anyway, right? Easy peasy.

Decorations

Same thing. Once you’ve decked out your house, yard or even just the kitchen table, keep it up so that all of your family can see your cool stuff. You deserve all of the praise that those cute little six year olds didn’t give you. The decorations stay.

Food

The Birthday Cake: I’m a huge fan of having an awesome birthday cake. But sometimes it’s just not worth it when you can serve cupcakes instead and no one will know the difference. But a back-to-back friend and family party is the perfect opportunity to show off your hard work (or the extravagant topsy turvy cake that you had specially made) to a crowd of adoring adults. The kids at the friend party will love cupcakes just as much, so serve them cupcakes–meanwhile keeping the cake in its pristine condition. It can be your table centerpiece or the candleholder for singing “Happy Birthday.” Then your gorgeous cake takes center stage for your family party where everyone will ohh and aww over it. When you’ve had your fill of compliments, feel free to serve the cake.

Party Food: I always use caters for the parties I plan and they require minimum orders of food items. The upside is that you have leftover food to serve at the family party. Places like Costco and Sam’s Club tend to sell food in larger quantities at a lower price, so if you buy some party food there this will give you an ample amount of food for both parties as well. If you make your own party food then it’s just as easy to make a few extra of each item for the second party. You can use the leftover food from the friend party as appetizers or side dishes for your family dinner. It’s hard to see food wasted from picky party kids so this is the perfect opportunity to use the rest of it up. Or you can forgo serving food at the friend party and focus on serving your family a great dinner instead.

I hope these suggestions help. I can’t wait to hear how your parties turn out.

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hosting a friend birthday party & a family celebration for your child? part 1: should you keep the two parties separate?

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Oh, birthday parties, I love them! The planning, the fun, the chaos. But what do you do when this happens? YOUR CHILD wants to invite friends to a birthday party. YOU don’t want family to feel left out. It’s more practical to have friends over during the day but family can’t come until nighttime, after work. You want to have the party on your child’s actual birthday, but their birthday falls on a Tuesday. You can go back and forth, back and forth trying to make a decision.

When to have a combined party:

1. If it’s a “big deal” age for your child. One, eight, and 16 are a pretty big deal around here.
2. If cousins are the same ages as your kids, so they would be coming to both parties anyway.
3. If you always invite your mom or sister or sister-in-law to every party you have, then you might as well combine.

When to have two separate parties:

1. If hosting one huge party is just going to add more craziness to the mix, and you really can’t handle any more craziness.
2. If cousins aren’t the same age as the birthday child and you’d have to really alter the friend party to include them.
3. If family members can’t attend during the day because of work, school, long travel, etc.

Sometimes kids are better behaved during the day and nighttime parties are just too late for them to be awake (especially neighbor kids or school friends whose parents might think it’s weird that you are having a late night fête for 5 year olds–know what I’m saying?). However, family members are usually comfortable coming over at night after the first event is over to enjoy a more relaxed party. If work schedules and evenings are the only factors, you know that a logical alternative is to just have the birthday party on the weekend or a holiday when everyone can attend. But if you want to have the party on the day of their actual birthday or if it’s just too much to have that many people over, then split it up.

Keep in mind that sometimes grandparents just want more. More time with their grandkids. More involvement in everything their kids and grandkids do. More attention when they are around. They might want to be a part of the friend party, even if it’s just to sit back and watch their grandchild have fun. So go ahead and invite them to be apart of the whole day. After all of the friends go home–serve dinner, spend some time together, and let them have their one-on-one time. They can watch the birthday kid open the present from grandma and grandpa without all of the chaos of friends around. And your child will have more time to ohh and awww over the gift.

I will honestly say that I’m biased and I love birthdays. I say have two parties to extend the fun and prolong the excitement. Let your child have their day, the whole day. Let their friends have a fun party and then let your family have their time too. If you’re up for a long, crazy day then go for it! It only happens once a year.

Friday–Part 2: plan your invites, food & decorations to stretch through two parties.

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