Showing posts with label party ideas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label party ideas. Show all posts

Monday, September 12, 2011

A World of Color

Dalton turned 1 on Friday and we decided to celebrate with color!
We went down to the park and set up a BBQ-Garden Party.
The park is right next to our garden, so it made a perfect backdrop :)
We started with little water bottles and added "Hawaiian Punch Singles" to them.
A box of Hawaiian Punch singles is only $1 and each little packet worked for 3-4 water bottles.  It was a super-cute and cheap way to add a little more color.
Plus, it was a huge hit with the kids!
They loved their colored juices.
(Plus a bonus for moms...the flavors are sugar free!)
We barbequed hot dogs 
(which I don't even like, but it had to be affordable, and my kids love them).
I made home made salsa from the garden, a veggie tray (with veggies from the garden), and rainbow jello cups with home made whipped cream and sprinkles.
They turned out so cute, but oh wow, were they a long process to make!
If you ever decide to try them out, start in the morning...

I made monster cupcakes from "What's New Cupcake?"
It's one of my favorite cupcake books because the designs are surprisingly easy and don't involve any fancy equipment.  Just grocery store candy, frosting, cupcakes, and ziplock bags.  A little time-consuming, but easy :)
Me and my cute baby who's 1 now...
He wasn't quite sure what to make of the candle in the cake.
I've seen him tear into a cupcake before, so I thought he would go nuts over the monster cupcake, but he didn't really care.  There was too much going on and too many people watching.  He wasn't interested at all.
This is the messiest it got:

And...his birthday hat!
A while back, I won a "Charlie Bug Hat Pattern" from Blue Cricket Designs.
Of course, it's meant to be made with fabric and ribbon and such, but I had about 5 mintues to spare before I had to leave for the park, so I used the pattern to make one out of cardstock.  I just placed her pattern over the cardstock and cut both of them out at the same time.  Then I hot glued it all together.  Done in under 5 minutes.  It's not as cute as the fabric one, but not bad for a last minute project :)
(Below is attempt #2 with the birthday cupcake...still no success)
Birthday Bloopers:

-Saxon was riding his bike all over the park.  At one point, my Grandpa asked Saxon to stop next to Dalton so he could get a picture.  Saxon did, but lost his balance and fell over on top of Dalton and the birthday cake.  He smashed the cupcake and got covered in blue monster frosting.  We had to laugh.  What else can you do.  Dalton got another cupcake (which is still didn't want) and we tried to make Saxon feel better (he was embarrassed).

-Dalton started getting fussy half-way through the party and kind of clingy.  So, I was holding him and chatting with my cousin, when he started throwing up all over me.  It was all over me, and him, and in my hair, etc.  Luckily we live close so I could run home and clean us both up.  He must have just eaten something that disagreed with him because after that, he was fine.  Poor guy...

(Linked this idea up to Tatertots and Jello)

Monday, August 29, 2011

The Reptile Party

 I'll be honest, I love planning parties.
I know a lot of people who tell their kids that they can only have family parties, or only on even years, or only special birthdays...etc.
But, my kids and I spend the whole year planning their next party.
I get just as excited as they do!
My cousin Brittany and I were planning Saxon's 1st birthday party almost from the time he was born :)

So...a little over a week ago we celebrated Saxon's 5th birthday.
We decided to have a "Reptile Party" and have my cousin Jeff come and bring all of his animals.
Jeff breeds and sells reptiles and knows more about them than anyone else I know.

So, here's what we did:

We made mini-donuts with a mini donut maker.
It looks like a waffle iron and make "baked donuts".
I can't bring myself to deep fry anything...
Of course the donuts had to be GREEN for the reptile party.
I went around and around with what to do for the cupcakes.
My sister was with me and she talked me into keeping it simple.
We made yellow cake cupcakes from Cheeky Kitchen,
with chocolate cream cheese frosting.
The decoration was just a gummy frog.
This picture is one of my favorites:
(Guess what the kids are so captivated by...
Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches)
Yep...Gross...but apparently not dangerous.
The highlight of the party:
CINDERELLA - the snake.
The interactive part:
All of the kids got to feed GORDON - the tortoise.
This was our first party inviting friends.
Usually we just have family and my friends and their kids.
Since it was all of our neighbors this time, I was a little nervous.
But, I think it was a success!

How do you do birthdays?
Dread that they come up so fast...
Or count down right along with your kids? :)