Sunday, September 13, 2009
Friday, September 11, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
This week I’m featuring a tea party that I helped a dear, dear friend with. This was actually my “first” party. Or maybe you could call it a pre-party. I think I’ve progressed a lot since then and I’m so grateful to this friend for letting me practice on her. Thanks Brook!
She had the darling idea to use mismatched tea cups and saucers from the thrift store and then to send them home with the guests as a gift. She let her daughter pick out the dishes.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Girly girl tea parties are the perfect occasion to use fresh flowers. So think outside of the box on this one and use some cute teapots to hold your bouquets. And for simplicity I like to put just one kind of flower in each pot.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
directions:
1. You will need: 2 pieces of soft white bread, peanut or almond butter, jam, a flower cookie cutter and a 1″ biscuit cutter.
2. Place the flower cookie cutter onto the bread and keep adjusting it until you can fit the whole shape on the slice. Press firmly and cut out the flower shape. Do this to both pieces.
3. Use the biscuit cutter to cut out the middle circle of the “flower” on only one piece, which will become the top of the sandwich.
4. Dot the flower petals on the bottom piece with peanut butter.
5. Add a dollop of jam to the center, making it bigger than the circle cut out of the top piece. Put the top piece of bread onto the bottom piece of bread, lining up the flower petals.
6. Serve it up with some pretend tea and enjoy!
Monday, September 7, 2009
a goal, no plastic toys as party favors. okay, this is a toughie because parties basically equal plastic. they do. it’s hard to fill a goodie bag without using plastic. and it makes sense to save money when having a party, but cutting corners at the expense of the environment doesn’t help anyone in the long run. and let’s face it, how many of our “plastic goodies” just end up in the garbage the day after the party? every once in a while I will use a plastic toy, but my favorite alternative is to give one great gift that is handmade (either bought or made myself). for example, these cute handmade cupcakes were part of the take home party favor for this tea party birthday and they were ordered from etsy. just make sure your brilliant handmade gift won’t end up in the trash too.
Click on the Tea Party tag below to see all the posts from this party.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
For this car party I wanted to make the ordinary party hats a little cuter. I just made up my own way of adding these tissue paper pom-poms.
directions:
1. You will need: scissors, thread, tissue paper, tape and a party hat.
2. Using one sheet, cut the tissue paper into long, thin strips. Since the tissue paper was already folded, I didn’t need to fold it. But if your tissue paper isn’t folded, folding it will make this step easier.
3. I tied a long piece of thread around the middle of the tissue strips, making sure the thread is long enough to feed all of the way through the hat. After the strips were tied together, I cut all of the ends of the tissue paper strips to make the pom pom effect.
4. Then I fed the thread through the top hole.
5. I pulled the thread tight and then taped it to the inside of the party hat. Then I trimmed the thread so that it wouldn’t show out the bottom.
6. Here’s what it should look like when you’re done.
Then I fluffed each of the pom-poms. Ta Da!
For more Car Party posts, click on the tag below.
Monday, June 22, 2009
I like to use non-plastic activities at parties and things that aren’t “Made in China,” whenever possible. For the car party the kids assembled some wooden cars that they also colored. Or you could paint them, or whatever. These cars are made by Maple Landmark in Vermont.
For more Car Party posts, click on the tag below.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
One easy way to start out your party activities is to have a treasure hunt, no matter the ages of your guests. Your clues can rhyme, or not. Either way it’s fun. At the end of the “hunt” your party guests can find cupcakes to decorate hidden in the oven (not turned on of course) or some bracelets to put together wrapped up like a present. You can also use a treasure hunt at the end of the party to divert attention and get some extra energy out as you are trying to wind things down. And then the party goers could find the party favor instead. For the party in this photo the kids found a half of a car picture at each clue spot. Each child got one as we went along and then after the treasure hunt the kids found the other child with the match and they put their simple puzzles together.
For more Car Party posts, click on the tag below.
