Tie Dye Party Table

In May, the United Methodist Women's group at my church is holding a fundraiser brunch for ladies and girls. They've asked for volunteers to each take one table and decorate it in a fun theme, with some related party favors for the attendees.

I was asked to do a table, and naturally, someone suggested that my table should be tie dye themed. I decided to run with a slightly broader theme, the groovy 60's, (well, as much of the 60's as would be appropriate for a church brunch. LOL.) 

Semi precious chip necklaces.

First off, I decided everyone needed some cool beads, so I dug out my much neglected jewelry making supplies, and made some long, beaded necklaces out of semi precious chips. They're theme appropriate, but also, they're actually pretty and wearable. (I have some I wear, anyway.)

I went to the party store, and picked up some cute lollipops and buttons.

Tie dyed bandannas.

I tie dyed some bandannas, (to be used as 'do rags or head bands.)

Record bowl full of party favors.

I made some record bowls to hold everyone's goodies, which also included some fun stickers and the covered notebooks I blogged about recently.

Hobby Lobby had some adorable plates on sale, so I made a tiered cupcake stand with a dollar store candle stick.

They'll hold "tie dyed" cupcakes in tie dyed patterned liners, packaged to go, since they're apparently already serving dessert. (They're shown here unfrosted, before I pop them into the freezer for later.)

Tie dye themed party table.

I did a little trial run of the table to see how everything looked. (The table was cute, the background of my demolished kitchen in the midst of the remodel was terrible.) The place mats are made of laminated wrapping paper. The empty Starbucks bottles have a strip of the tie dyed paper glued on, and will hold a flower at each place. Apparently the church will be using their own dishes and tablecloths, in case you're wondering why I didn't use any.

I was a little nervous about doing this, since I have no idea what kind of themes everyone else has come up with, but it was fun to plan.

Dr Seuss Birthday Party

V celebrated her fourth birthday this past Saturday, Dr Seuss style.

Lorax wall decor, made of poster board and a plastic tablecloth.

We had a blast at her party, and everyone loved the theme. My sister took most of the pictures, since I was busy playing hostess, and she hasn't sent them to me yet, but I thought I'd share a few I had on my phone.

Book page bunting.

I'd picked up several old copies of Dr Seuss books at Goodwill, which I massacred to make decorative items. ( It totally felt wrong to chop up good books, but the decorations turned out great, and we're keeping some of them for the play room.) The above picture shows one of several buntings made out of book pages and bias tape, inspired by this post at Real Life, One Day at a Time.

Balloons!

I blew up something like 70 balloons, and hung them up all over the dining room. I thought I might pass out afterwards, but you can't beat balloons for high impact, low cost decorating.

Balloon column at our Dr Seuss party.

I made Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes, like the ones found on this post at Kara's Party Ideas. They turned out super cute, but the humidity literally melted the cotton candy into little blue puddles within about 30 minutes.

Thing 1 and Thing 2 cupcakes, before the humidity took its toll.

Oh well. Can't win e'm all, right?

I'll probably follow up with a part two once my sis gets around to sharing her pics. 

V's already trying to plan next year's party...

Projector Crafting, Seuss Style

Cat in the Hat decoration for our Seuss party.

I ran across an old projector at Goodwill a couple of months ago, and couldn't pass it up.

I've successfully made a couple of cool t shirts for the kids, by using it as a light table. (I printed off Pokemon and Sesame street coloring sheets, placed them on the projector, placed a t shirt over the picture, and traced it with a Sharpie or fabric marker.)

V's birthday is coming up next month, and I thought I'd try my hand at making some large decorations for the party. She's having a Dr Seuss themed party.

Green Eggs and Ham

I traced some images from our favorite Dr Seuss books, (excepting the hat above, which came from here,) and onto clear plastic, and projected them onto foam core and poster board, and traced and colored them. A little time consuming maybe, but easy and the results are fun.

Thing 1 sign. Lettering to be added later.

I think I'll get my 25 bucks worth out of the projector. It has lots of crafting potential.

Ideas for a Frog Party, & Parties in General

The kids and I are getting ready to have a frog themed party, a LeapFrog party, in fact. (We're getting the opportunity to introduce our friends to some of our new favorite toys, namely the Tag reading system and the new, super duper cool, LeapPad learning tablet.) 

Crocheted lily pads.

We'll be having essentially a frog themed play date, and I'm having fun finding frog themed decor and activity ideas. I found this pattern for crocheted lily pads a while back, and took the opportunity to whip some up for the party.

I'm not sure how we'll be using them yet, because I can actually think of several fun ideas.
The kids could take turns hopping like frogs, flying like dragon flies, swimming like ducks, etc, from one to another.
You could play "musical lily pads," (like musical chairs.)
You could make a game out of tossing Beanie Baby frogs onto the lily pads for points.

Really you could make something similar for lots of party themes, and if you don't crochet, you could make no sew, felt versions. Using a few of our favorite themes, you could make Mario mushrooms, Pokeballs, bubbles from "Gabbaland," etc. You could then tweak the games to pretend you were Mario running, Yoshi jumping, etc, from one mushroom to another, or try throwing stuffed pokemon toys onto the Pokeballs for points...

I love themed parties...

Disclosure: We were provided with LeapFrog toys for the purpose of hosting an in home party. No other compensation was provided. We were under no obligation to review them positively. (We are however, smitten with them, and have been shouting it from the rooftops.)

Look for our party post soon.

Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes

Ice cream cone cupcakes.

This weekend our church is having their annual Lord's Acre festival. All of the families in the church are asked to contribute several desserts,  among other things. I didn't really feel like cooking anything really elaborate from scratch, so I poked around on Pinterest until I found something neat, but easy.

(Click here to see one of the images that inspired mine, as well as a cute packaging option.)

I did a little googling to see if the unfrosted cupcakes could be frozen for a couple of days, and then thawed, but there wasn't much of a consensus. Some people worried the cone might get soggy upon thawing.

I decided to test it out myself with a trial run. I baked a small batch, froze a couple of them, and then thawed them. (I took mine out of the bag, and thawed them on a plate. Sometimes there's a little condensation inside the bag as the cupcakes thaw, and I wasn't taking any chances.) They were fine. I suppose your mileage may vary, possibly depending on the cake in question, but for this boxed chocolate cake mix, thawing wasn't an issue.

I decorated our trial batch by piping on a huge pile of chocolate frosting and sprinkles. They were really cute, and I have a feeling they'll be a hit with the kiddos at church.

I Think I Overdid It

This past weekend I hosted my niece's 12th birthday party.

Beach themed cupcakes.

I spent several days baking  6 dozen cupcakes, cereal treats, cookies, and an endless array of chocolate covered pretzels, Oreos, and popcorn. (Birthdays only come once a year, right?) 


Everyone seemed to have a good time, and the party lasted well into the evening.

Afterward, I spent the rest of the weekend in a near coma. (From exhaustion, not sugar overload, in case you were wondering.) 

I'm still feeling pretty worn out, and am going to take a couple of days off here. I'll be back later in the week with a couple of reviews, a giveaway, and some crafty stuff. :)

Belated Princess Party Pics

I never got around to posting about V's party several months back. I worked for weeks getting everything just right, and then we had a loss in the family the day before her party, and I got sidetracked, and hardly took any pictures of the party. I dug up a few, though, and thought I'd belatedly share them.

Cake!

One of my favorite aspect's of the party was the over the top dress V picked out for herself. She said she needed a princess dress for a princess party.

Myself, my niece, and "Princess V."

L eats the cake, and leaves the icing. V eats the icing, and leaves the cake.

You can't tell much about the decorations, but I had pink tulle draped  everywhere. At some point it will probably be repurposed into a new tutu for V.

Mario Party!

Saturday was L's Super Mario Bros. birthday party. It was a blast. Here were some highlights in pictures:

Super Mario Party: Luma cake, and toadstool cupcakes.

Super Mario Party: Luma and Yoshi egg cookies.

Super Mario Party: Cookies, cupcakes, & candy.

Super Mario Party: Living room decorations.

Here's a pic of the big kids, having fun with the mustaches on a stick, from Living Locurto.

Opening Presents!

My niece, bravely holding the brick pinata while the kids punch it. 

Super Mario Party: Loot for the guests.

Be sure to check out my previous posts about the party to find links to cool templates and other related ideas.

Because I'm Insane (Mario Party)

Two days left until L's birthday party, and there's lots of cooking and cleaning to be done. The flower beds also need weeding, we have overdue library books...the usual.
Instead of doing all of that stuff, I keep thinking of fun little touches for the party decorations.

I unearthed some of my old scrapbooking punches today, and made some "Luma" and "Yoshi egg" shaped confetti to scatter around the tables. I'm pretty sure these are the kind of details no one notices, except L, but that's ok. :)

Mario Party Decor: Piranha Plants

A quick update with the latest bit of Mario party decor, piranha plants.

The little terra cotta pots, styrofoam balls, and shredded paper came from Dollar Tree. I used small craft sticks for the stems, and acrylic paint for everything.

They'll be used to decorate the tables at the party.

Super Mario Party Roundup

This week I'm putting the finishing touches on everything for L's Super Mario birthday party next weekend. I thought I'd share a roundup of fun ideas I've found, and been inspired by around the web.

Super Mario Printable Bubble Labels at Cap Creations

Super Mario Printable Play Dough at Cap Creations

Printable Mario Bingo Game at Super Mario Bingo

Sticker and T Shirt Transfers at the New Super Mario Bros. Nintendo Site

A fantastic Mario Party, with lots of cool ideas at So Wonderful, So Marvelous

Another great party with several neat ideas, and a template for a Mario and Luigi hat at Giver's Log

Awesome DIY party via orbitalpixiedust at Craftster

Several nice coloring pages at Jimbo's Coloring Pages

Yoshi Egg Hunt

L's party is quickly approaching. I've put together several simple little activities for the kids to do. One of them will be a Yoshi egg hunt in the yard. (So what if it looks suspiciously like an Easter egg hunt?) 

I picked up a couple of packages of plain white plastic eggs from Hobby Lobby, and drew green spots on them with a permanent marker. I filled them with chocolate coins, and toy plastic coins.

Yoshi egg, for our Super Mario party.

(Technically I took a few creative liberties with the game. Although both Yoshi eggs and coins are present in the Mario games, you don't get coins for finding the eggs. L, who's a stickler for technicalities was quick to point this out to me, but I don't think most other kids will notice.)

More Mario Party Stuff

I'm still working on Mario stuff for L's party. Here's the latest installation:

I was about to throw out a big popcorn can from Christmas, when I realized it looked a little like a warp pipe from the Mario games. Aha, a game!

After cleaning it up, I gave it a couple of coats of acrylic paint, and a coat of sealer. I spray painted some dollar store whiffle balls black, as  "Ba Bombs." We'll have a ball tossing game as one of the party activities. After the party, L can use it to hold toys or as a trash can in his Mario themed room.

I also made a couple of "Yoshi eggs" to put out in the yard. I got the paper mache eggs on sale at Hobby Lobby, and painted 'em, and sealed 'em. Easy, and cute.

Resources for a Pink Princess Party

Every since V decided she wanted the pinkest, princessy-est party ever, I've been looking for fun, (preferably pink,) snacks to go with the pink cupcakes, pink cookies, and pink lemonade that had immediately come to mind.
Along the way, I've run across some neat books for anyone with a little girl that likes tea parties, princesses or pink. I thought I'd share some of my favorites here:



 

Pink Princess Cookbook: Fun but doable recipes for things like "Pretty Princess Puffs," "Candy Coated Dragonflies," and "Blueberry Biscuits." I like this one so much I purchased it.

Princess Tea: This book has several party plans built around specific themes, including recipes, as well as a few decor and activity ideas. Although many of them didn't exactly fit the "pink princess" theme, there were some pretty neat ideas. I especially liked the "Indian Princess Tea," and the "Lotus Princess Tea" themes.

DK Cookbook for Girls: DK books are great, and this one was no exception. It includes a wide variety of yummy looking recipes, but I found a few that seemed especially well suited to a "fancy" princess party, "Strawberry Meringues," "Chocolate and Raspberry Brownies," and "Chocolate Truffles."

Usborne Fairy Cooking: Virtually all of the recipes in this book would work in a princess party. There seemed to be a special emphasis on tiny, pink foods.

Disclaimer: I'm recommending these books based only on the fact that I think they'd be useful to anyone looking to throw a tea party, princess party, fairy party, etc. I was not in contact with any of the publishers, nor did I receive any compensation. The links in this post are Amazon Affiliate links however.

Mario Party Decorations

After some intense Googling, I found some really neat DIY Mario parties. I loved the decorations at this party at Zakka Life, and was inspired to make some of my own. They're made of posterboard and scrapbook paper. Easy, easy, even for a nondraw-er like me.

I also found a really neat pattern at Chica and Jo's to make Koopas and Goombas. (Lots of other cool Mario stuff there too. Check it out.)

Mario Party Favors: Hats

After looking at the available readymade Mario party favors, I decided to come up with my own. Here's the first part: Mario hats for all the guests, like the one I made L for Halloween last year. I picked the hats up (on sale for about a buck each,) at Hobby Lobby. (I originally had planned to make Luigi and Mario hats, but they didn't have any green ones.)

The felt emblems were hand sewn on one afternoon last week when I was too sick to do anything other than sit in the bed all day.