Pampered Princess Parties

Kyler's "man" party

2009-08-17T17:23:00.000-07:00

No matter how many times I would ask my soon to be 3 year old what type of party he wanted, he would say "I want a 'man' party!" Um, okay... what is that? So I realized he started liking all the different superheroes like Spider"man" and Bat"man" and Super"man". Now that makes sense! However, I couldn't bring myself to throwing a specific character party, so I settled for a Superhero party... a Kylerman party!

Our party was at Imaginations at Play in Buford and it was an extremely colorful place. I used primary colors- mainly blue, yellow, and red. I created Kyler's super hero logo in Corel Paint Pro and used it on the invitation and the cupcake toothpicks.

I found the cutest scrapbook papers at Hobby Lobby and used them for the placemats and also to create the guests' personalized cups that they took home for their party favor. The cups were the clear "create your own" cup also from Hobby Lobby. You just stick the paper in between the two cup layers and voila!

I worked too long on the super hero capes. I used a scarf-like material so that the capes would flow behind the kids as they ran. I went the easy route and used sewing glue to affix the felt stars and initials to the capes and peel and stick velcro for the cape closure. I think they turned out cute! I used sparkly felt for the masks and attached elastic to them.

Interruption...

2009-07-28T06:11:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry to interrupt the frugal kids party tips but today is a very important day!

9 years ago today I married my high school sweetheart! Today he surprised me with breakfast in bed- eggs, bacon, biscuits, and hashbrowns! He has blessed me with 2 beautiful kids and everything I could ask for. I love you, Michael!

Frugal Kids Party Tips- Part 2

2009-07-24T12:31:00.000-07:00

Decorations:

Say you are having a Dora or Bob the Builder party, buying all the theme plates, cups, and napkins can really add up. Instead, just buy the napkins and use coordinating solid colors for the plates and cups. Balloons go a long way when decorating! Buy a pack of latex balloons at the dollar store and then take the balloons to the supermarket to have them fill them- considerably cheaper. Also consider renting a helium tank.

Skip the party store for partyware unless there is something “specifc” you are looking for. Party stores can be expensive!! Instead, try the Dollar Tree or Wal-Mart. Their packs of solid plates, cutlery, cups, and even plastic tablecloths are $1.

For her daughter’s circus party, my friend Leigh-Ann and I crafted a fabulous circus tent in her living room by using long rolls of primary colored plastic tablecloths. Each color was tied to a hoop that had been suspended from the ceiling in the middle of the room. The rolls of color were then pulled and tacked to the walls to make a “circus tent” effect. I wish I had a picture, but I don't :(

Use resources you find at home. We had a Barnyard Bash for my son’s 1st birthday. My neighbors had just gotten a new washer and dryer so I asked if I could use the boxes. I painted them with red latex paint red and duct-taped them together to make a barn that the kids could play in. I then brought our rocking horse to the yard and threw out some hay to make a barnyard.

Send them home with a bang: Memorable Favors

Consider a thoughtful favor gift instead of 10 tiny “cheap” toys that the parents will throw away.
Examples: Swim party- $1.99 towels from Target and sew on a cute ribbon or put their names on it – use resources you have!
Music or Gymboree party- $1.50 plastic tambourines from the party store with each child’s name with paint pens. The children can use the tambourines during the party to dance and sing, and then take them home after the party.
Make and take favors are great! Pick an activity such as decorating a foam picture frame or canvas bag for the kids to craft then they can take home and use. At our parties we bring a photo printer and take a quick picture of all the kids together and then print them off so the kids can take them home in their frame. Oriental trading has lots of themed crafts that cost as low as 34 cents a piece to make. The craft doubles as their party favor! There are always sales for free shipping on orientaltrading.com.

Grocery stores like Kroger will put their candy bars on sale 3 for $1. Get candy bar with a top wrapper that comes off (Hershey’s, Mr. Goodbar) and re-do the wrapper with the child’s party information and a “thank you for coming” note. You can find some fabulous wrappers that won't break your budget from Etsy seller, Delightful Invites.

Instead of filling goodie bags, stuff a small prize into balloons and blow them up. Tie off with colorful curly ribbon and hand out the balloons as the children leave. This can double as a decoration!

Next: Food and Activities

Frugal Kids Party Tips- Part 1

2009-07-22T09:22:00.000-07:00

Last fall, my MOPS group asked me to speak about tips to throwing a budget birthday. Here is a compiled list of ideas I have received from friends along with my personal tips. If you have any tried and true money saving tips to plan a party, send them my way! Happy planning!

My first tip is to plan ahead!

The only reason I say this is so that you aren’t overwhelmed and you are able to start buying supplies slowly and when they are on sale. If you wait until the last few days, you risk having to pay full price and don’t have time to look around for alternatives at different stores. I love to hit the sales after a holiday. When I was building my costume supply for my princess and disco diva parties for the company, I hit Target right after Halloween. They marked all the costumes and supplies to 80% off! Suprisingly, I shopped at the right time because they still had good costumes left. I bought $20 costumes for $4 each. Last year, I hit a little late, but the costumes were marked 90% off, so I got one costume for $2.50!
I also just bought little crayon packs from Wal-Mart for $1 for 20 pieces and Hannah Montana candy bracelets for 75 cents a bag. You can get candy and toy fillers for a Pinata in the Halloween or Easter clearance that will save you up to 50-75%!
I love to hit the dollar spot at Target or the Dollar tree and put it away for later. Don’t expect it to be there when you need it because it won’t be there! If you are having a princess or fairy party, buy a tiara or a set of fairy wings for each party guest from the dollar store. They can use it at the party for a costume and then take it home as a wonderful party favor. Robyn Bomar from Mix, Mingle, and Glow shows us ideas on how to use items from Target's dollar spot for a party!

Location, Location, Location!

Use your house, pick a park, or use someone’s backyard so you don’t have to pay extra for the venue. Many parks have pavilions that are free to use- contact your local park system. Also, many people have clubhouses that are free to use as a homeowner. This is great because you don’t have 10 birthday kids and their parents messing up your house.

First Impressions: The Invitations

Make you own or have the birthday child help decorate them. Photo invitations are also an option. 4x6 pictures are only 15-19cents to print! At Snapfish, the 5x7 prints are only $1 each when you ship them to your nearest Walgreens- you can pick them up after only one hour! However, if you give yourself a couple of days, Wal-Mart will do free in store shipping for their 5x7 prints and they only cost 58 cents a piece!!

Consider Evite.com. This is totally free and you also might get a better RSVP response.

Coming soon.... frugal tips on decorations, favors, food, and party activities.

I won something!!

2009-06-23T13:44:00.000-07:00

I've been on vacation this week and haven't had internet connection until just now (It's been killing me!) When I opened up my email, I had a message from Brandie at www.dreamcustomartwork.blogspot.com stating that I won a $40 custom artwork from Tip Junkie's birthday party!!! I'm so excited to pick out my artwork! Thanks Brandie and Thanks Tip Junkie!!

Also, if you get a chance... go vote for #A12 on Luana's blog, because if I win, you could win! Really, though, I need more votes!!!

I'm on Twitter!

2009-06-19T07:14:00.000-07:00

...don't know what I'm doing, but I'm on there now! My profile is @pamperedparties. Come follow me!

Vote for my Slogan and win a $25 gift Certificate!!

2009-06-18T05:06:00.000-07:00

Luana from My Simple Indulgence is hosting a contest for the best slogan and I need your votes!! You could win a $25 certificate to her online boutique if I win! She has some really cute stuff to choose from!

Here's what you do:
1. Click on View Designs to open a new browser that will display all the entries.2. Select 1 design to submit as your vote. There will be only 1 winner over all not from each category. My designs are all the ones in PINK. However, let's focus on #A12 so all the votes will be going to one. So everyone pick #A12!

3. Then return to her voting page and click Add Comment to vote. Leave your first name and last initial and #A12.
Please only vote 1 time.

4. Come back to this post and leave a comment to let me know you voted for me! If I win, I will pick one voter to receive a $25 gift certificate to her boutique! If you don't have a blog, make sure you leave me your email address so I can contact you when it's done!

Tell EVERYONE you know to come and vote for my design!

Tip Junkie is having a Birthday Bash

2009-06-15T05:36:00.000-07:00

Tip Junkie is a blog I visit regularly on my "to-read" list everyday. I have to visit the site to find all the cool ideas and tips for entertaining, homemaking, creating, and just having fun! Tip Junkie is celebrating turning 2 by moving from blogspot.com to a dot com. So go visit her Dot com birthday bash because she is giving away 10 fabulous prizes every day this week! Can you tell I'm excited??!!!

Design a Slogan Contest

2009-06-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

My blogger friend, Luana, from My Simple Indulgence is holding a contest over at her blog for 2 more days. Luana makes the most stunning rhinestone t-shirts! In fact, she created a t-shirt for me to wear to parties I host by turning my logo into fabulous rhinestone bling!

Luana is holding a contest to come up with a cutest and most creative slogan. All you have to do is email her the slogan you've come up with! How easy is that?!

If you win, you'll receive:

50 in cash

$25 My Simple Indulgence Gift Certificate

2 - 25% off My Simple Indulgence coupons for you and a friend

1 Rhinestone t-shirt of your winning slogan in the size of your choice

A write up on My Simple Indulgence webite, Facebook and blog along with your picture

Automatically Entered into our Rhinestone Slogan of the Quarter contest

Free reign to gloat about winning!!

So run over to her blog for all the details because the contest end on June 15th!

All-Star Baseball Party

2009-06-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

My nephew, Cale, recently celebrated his first birthday with a baseball themed party. I was honored to help my sister-in-law with the party details. It was so much fun! We went with the whole "All-Star" theme using red, white, and blue along with stars and baseballs all over the place. Here are the photo invitations I created for the party. I created a "Chicago Cubs" logo using Cale's name as seen on the invites.

I made popcorn and peanut party cones using star scrapbook paper from Hobby Lobby. The cones were placed in fun baskets from the Dollar Tree.

My first birthday banner- Yay! I used coordinating papers from Hobby Lobby.

The tablescape- I used green indoor/outdoor carpet and cut it into small squares. I turned in to make a baseball diamond placemat. I used paper baseball plates from our local party store. You can't see the plasticware wrapped in napkins very well, but I made a napkin holder out of the same scrapbook paper from the birthday banner and used little felt baseball stickers to keep it in place. I also wrapped scrapbook paper strips around the cups and added a fun red circle for guests to identify their cups. The centerpieces were a last minute detail. The large baseball in the centerpiece was actually a wooden doorhanger that I turned upside down in the pot. I used a fourth of july pre-made centerpiece found from Hobby Lobby to also place in the pot for a little pizazz.

We ordered this fun baseball blow up cooler from Oriental Trading.

These are the baseball cookies each guest took home. Again, I used the Cale logo for the tag. I didn't get a picture, but the other side of the scalloped circle said "Thanks for coming...we had a ball!"

Here is the birthday boy with his custom bib from Rachel's Golden Shop on Etsy.

Watermelon Picnic

2009-06-04T06:48:00.000-07:00

I have 2 confessions....

#1 I am a sucker for anything pink and green... possibly because they were my sorority's colors in college.

#2 Even though I think the decorative and party elements of a watermelon are so much fun, I'm really not a fan of the taste of watermelons!

I decided to put together some party inspiration after walking through the mall on Sunday and seeing Gymboree's new clothing line for little girls "Watermelon Picnic". It's so stinkin' cute!

Cupcakes from The Cupcake Review

Cupcake Toppers from TheBirthdayHouse on Etsy

Watermelon Kabobs from Watermelon.org

Cookies by Taste of Home

Invitations from Tiny Prints

Watermelon Keg from Intimate Weddings Blog

Napkin Rings from Plum Party

Jell-o Watermelons from Chocolate On My Cranium

Melamine Plate from Kate's Plates

Truly Amazing Cakes!

2009-05-25T17:02:00.001-07:00

I had to share some of these cakes I found today browsing blogs. I can't remember which blog had a link to her because I started clicking away when I saw the cakes and I lost the blog. Anyway, these outrageous cakes are by a talented stay at home mom named Jen who decorates cakes. I haven't found that she actually has a website, but here's a link to her flickr pictures. Go and check out all the fabulous cakes because they are truly amazing!

My favorite!!!

Beverage Dispensers

2009-05-20T10:26:00.001-07:00

~~I want one of these.~~

~~I need one of these.~~

I must have one of these!

Boscovs

Dillards

Pottery Barn

Fishing Party

2009-05-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

I was recently contacted by a mother who needed a "girly" fishing invitation. Her daughter had attended one of our princess parties and they loved the photo invitations we sent out. She wanted pink and brown and maybe a princess fishing. Here is the finished product:

The princess was from Kay Miller Designs. You'll see more of her work that I have used on my invitations. She offers an Angel Use License that I use for my invitations. I LOVE her digital kits!!

Anyway, I wasn't able to see how her party turned out but I thought it was a cute theme. They actually visited a trout ranch and the kids got to fish. I have a couple of cute ideas for the whole fishing theme. Enjoy!

One of Rachael Ray's viewers sent in this clever tip to turn a batch of Jell-O into an edible aquarium! All you'll need are fish-shaped cookie cutters, melon and blue Jell-O for the project your kids will love to help you make and eat!

This may look just like the bag that you carry home from the pet store, but don’t be fooled…this plastic goldfish is not swimming in water, it’s embedded in clear, glycerin soap shaped like "water in a bag". By The Spoon Sisters.

Bring on the buffet

2009-05-16T19:59:00.000-07:00

I am a self-professed buffet lover. Scary germs don't scare me!! Lately, I’ve been trying to avoid them because too many choices mean extra trips to the buffet and over-eating. Some of my favorite buffets are your friendly neighborhood Happy Super #1 Chinese buffet, the Golden Corral, any southern home cooking buffet, and my alma mater’s cafeteria lovingly known as the “Caf”.

Buffets are also great at parties because they are self-serve and give your guests fun options. My little sis in my sorority, Allison, had a mashed potato bar (a posh word for buffet) at her wedding complete with toppings like cheese, bacon, scallions, sour cream, etc. It was quite yummy!

I LOVE the idea of candy ~~buffets~~ bars and plan on using one soon at one of my parties. Here are some aesthetically pleasing candy buffets along with some other dessert buffets using novel food items!

Credits:

Ice Cream/Float bar @ http://www.bridefly.com

Popcorn bar @ http://theknot.com

Candy bar@ http://amyatlas.com

Smores bar @ http://www.weddingbycolor.com

Cupcake bar @ http://www.jittersevents.com

Cookie bar @ http://marthastewart.com

Our Puppy Party was featured!!

2009-05-13T14:09:00.001-07:00

Our puppy party was featured on Creative Parties and Showers! Go check out the other fabulous parties over there! Thanks Shannon!!!

New and Improved Teacher Appreciation Gifts

2009-04-17T05:21:00.000-07:00

Being a former teacher, I feel that I can be a spokesperson for all teachers and say, "Please! No sweaters, notepads, pencils, or necklaces with apples!" Now that I've got that off my chest I want to say that it really doesn't take much to make your teacher smile. A nice note or letter letting her know what a good job she's doing means so much. Teacher Appreciation Day is May 5th so I wanted to share some novel and tried and true gifts and ways to show your child's teacher you care...

Bring her breakfast from Chick-fil-A...

Visa Gift Cards would be great! Remember to tell her she can't buy anything for the classroom...it has to be spent on herself!

Personalized Gifts are my all time favorite!!! Here are some really cute items!

Rhinestone Koozie from My Simple Indulgence.

What teacher doesn't need a personalized clip board? This one is so whimsical from Etsy seller jnall3.

Feeling Crafty? Homemade gifts are affordable and teachers love them!

Here are some cute ideas...

I loved fun magnets to stick on my whiteboard at school. Skip to my Lou made some using glass craft gems.

Most teachers are addicted to hand sanitizer... I wonder why?? Little Birdie Secrets has embelleshed the boring hand sanitizer bottle.

3 Scrapbooking Ladies made some "thank you" candygrams.

Little Rookie

2009-04-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

My adorable nephew, Cale will be one in May and his mommy has decided on a baseball theme. Daddy has played baseball for years, including on his college team and is now the varsity pitching coach for his high school alma mater. So, how appropriate for him to have a baseball party! I have so many ideas in my head because I love to plan parties and brainstorm. So, here is my inspiration board... any baseball party theme ideas from readers??

credits: baseball cup, lantern, and sticker sheet from Oriental Trading, popcorn basket from dollar tree, cupcakes from Martha Stewart, baseball table runner from Pottery Barn Kids (no longer available, so can make my own or order from ebay), peanut cones from Posh Tot Events, Cookies from TheRecipeGirl, Baseball tablescape from Head Of The Table

It's a Pampered Puppy Party!

2009-04-02T12:46:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, the months of planning and creating came together for Wryeton's 5th birthday puppy party. As the guests entered, they visited the grooming station where they got puppy ears, a puppy nose, and freckles.

Next, it was on to the adoption center to pick out our puppies and stuff them with love.

The guests had to name their puppies and they made a dog collar using stretchy cord and pony beads. We wrote the puppy's name on a metal rimmed key tag and attached it to the dog collar.

We played "trainer says" but I don't have any pictures of that- sorry :(

It was then time for cake! The kids sat down to the puppy-themed table. I used dog bone scrapbook paper for the placemats, my 49 cent Ikea dog bowls, the topiary I worked on FOREVER, 2 black candlesticks I found at Hobby Lobby on 80% clearance, and a feather boa.

My topiary was inspired by the topiary Party Planning Mom used at her Strawberry Shortcake party.

After all the planning and creating, I didn't dare make my own cake! I found a shaggy dog cake from Publix and switched out their red ribbon for a pink and white polka dot bow. I really wish Fig and Ruby lived near me because their sweet puppy cake is So Cute!

For the party favors, I made up little bags of graham cracker bones and velvet color mini-posters with my own label that coordinated with the invitations I created. Thank you Pumpkin Petunia for the idea (although yours are a lot cuter)!!!

Now on to plan the next birthday!!

Fun Easter Vase

2009-03-30T07:07:00.000-07:00

I'll admit it...I visit Wal-Mart at least 2 times a week. Mostly because it's on the way home from dropping my kids off at preschool and I know I can get most of my errands done in one place.

Anyway, I was browsing through the easter aisle and they had everything organized by color- they had the pink peeps, pink m&m's, pink cotton candy, pink jelly beans, pink cookies, etc. all together. Looking down the aisle, it really was a pretty display. I picked up some blue candy items for my son and some pink stuff for my daughter's easter basket. I'm not a huge fan of the marshmallowey peeps, but they are an easter tradition for as long as I can remember and I knew my kids would love them. They have so many bright colors!

Fast forward to checkout...I picked up "All You" Magazine from the checkout aisle because it's only sold at Wal-Mart and it's FULL of grocery coupons. They had a precious jelly bean vase on the front cover but what really caught my eye was the vase they made using peeps. How cute is this? I can see this vase with electric blue peeps, lime green jelly beans, and hot pink gerber daisies!

Directions to make this vase:

Two similarly shaped vases, one 3″ narrower than the other
Peeps
Jelly beans
Flowers

Place the smaller vase inside the large vase.
Layer jelly beans in the space between the two.
Arrange a row of peeps on top of the jelly beans.
Fill the inner vase with flowers.

Puppy Stuffing

2009-03-19T18:42:00.000-07:00

Everything is finally starting to come together for Wryeton's puppy party. I finished the name plaques for the puppy stuffing station. I purchased the wooden plaques at the dollar tree and painted them pink with acrylic craft paint. I took out the old string used to hang the plaque and replaced it with a cute black and white polka dot ribbon. I found some fun glittery chip board letters from Joann's for 40% off to use for the character trait names on the plaques. At first, I was going to name each basket a different attribute like "love", "friendship", and "kindness" for the guests to use to stuff their puppies, but realized I wouldn't have any room on the plaques for words that long. I called my friend and fellow party hostess, Leigh-Ann, for a little brainstorming. She's an English teacher, so that should help...right?! Well, it did because she came up with breaking the word "love" into smaller words since it was such a broad topic. So now we have "hugs", "kisses", and "smiles".

My puppies came in this week and I am so excited- as is the birthday girl. She's been carrying her (unstuffed) puppy around everywhere! I got the pink poodles for the girlies and the lab puppies for the boys.

My to-do list:

Buy more poly-stuffing
Finish the pink topiary - finish twising the flowers, paint the pot black, add white polkadots
Decorate each dog bowl with guests' names.... paint pen or glittery foam letters?
Buy dog collar supplies- stretchy cord, beads, round key tags
Make dog bone cookies for party favors
Buy black and white polka dot scrapbook paper for placemats
Buy pink tablecloth and plates
I'm sure there's lots more but I can't think!!!

A few cakes I will NOT be using at parties anytime soon!

2009-03-13T11:32:00.000-07:00

I can sit on the cake wrecks blog for hours laughing to myself. I just had to share some scary, creepy, and hilarious cakes for all!

I think this poor 5 year old will be having nightmares for a while! I wonder what the theme for this party was?!

Is this cake seriously for a 12 year old?....Really?

I have a feeling no easter egg hunts were participated in at this party!

Totally true story...this was supposed to be Curious George!

More Puppy Party Stuff

2009-03-11T18:09:00.001-07:00

I did, indeed, finish the puppy ears and I really like how they turned out. They took a few hours to finish, but with a glue gun, a few pieces of felt, and 3 fashion boas from the dollar tree, they were really quite easy to put together! I'm not sure how to explain what these boas were made out of, but here are two pictures.

They look like shaggy dog hair and were perfect to use for the puppy ears!

Here is a picture of my daughter "posing" with her puppy ears. Once we paint the tips of their noses black and add freckles, they'll look just like puppies!

A couple months ago, I found these black bowls at IKEA for $0.49 a piece... you can't beat that price! I bought 14 of them and I *think* I'm going to use them to hold each guest's dog collar craft supplies (will explain dog collar craft below).

Dog Collar Craft-

The guests will make a dog collar for their new pup using stretchy cord, colored beads, and a metal rimmed key tags (refer to picture if you have no idea what I'm talking about) for the puppy's nametag.

More to come...

A little Puppy Inspiration

2009-03-04T19:09:00.000-08:00

It's March and I promised a new theme for our Pampered Princess Parties company this month. Well, it's not quite ready because I'm still gathering a little inspiration and lots of supplies for the launch at my daughter's 5th birthday at the end of this month. Wryeton's party will be a little different because she has so many friends who are boys, but I will be using a lot of the same concepts for our new theme....

It's a Pampered Puppy Party!

Here are some of the places I have drawn inspiration from during the planning process of our new theme...

Birthday Express has these super cute ears to dress up the guests like puppies. Of course, I always feel I can do just as well making them myself. I'll let you know how my dog ears turned out (or if I ended up buying these).

As the guests enter the party, they'll visit the grooming station where they'll receive their ears and a puppy makeover, complete with black nose, freckles, lip gloss, and pink nail polish.

Birthday Express also has these dog bone sipping cups...I'll have to think about those if my budget allows.

I went wild in the website Birthday Party Ideas! There are some very creative moms out there!

I found these unstuffed puppies at http://www.bdaybears.com/ and will definitely be using them at our parties!

Each guest will be able to adopt a puppy of their own to stuff with hugs, kisses, and smiles. I purchased 3 laundry type baskets from the dollar tree and will use them to hold the stuffing. On each basket will be a pink plaque with the words "smiles", "hugs", and "kisses". The guests will pick stuffing from each basket to stuff their puppy full of love. They will also have the opportunity to name their puppy and receive an adoption certificate.

I will be updating our puppy party ideas all this month leading up to the launch party!

Loganville Community Ministry Village

2009-03-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

Last summer, Kim Smith of Loganville Community Ministry Village (LCMV) presented an opportunity to help support their foster care support center by donating products and services for an auction fundraiser. I was excited to donate a party to this organization because it is a Christian organization helping people in my community. LCMV is an outreach organization in Loganville and Walton County offering services for foster families, victims of child abuse, and mentoring programs to name a few. They have many volunteer opportunties, so stop by their website!

The gracious auction winners/recipients of the Pampered Princess Party from the auction was the Waters Family from Loganville. Shortly after the auction, I contacted the Waters Family and we set the party for February 2009.

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of hosting the princess party for the Waters Family. Our birthday princess was a precious and vivacious 6 year old. She was joined by 6 of her best friends for her party. The giggling girls had a fashion show, danced at the ball, were read a story, played two games, created a princess wand, and finally sat down to their royal table for lunch. The girls enjoyed peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, turkey & cheese sandwiches, mini muffins, grapes, strawberries, cheese and pink lemonade. It was a magical day!

A year already?!

2009-02-27T07:39:00.001-08:00

It's hard to believe that my best friend, Amber, is getting ready to celebrate her son's first birthday next week. I was reminded that, about a year ago, some of her friends and I threw a shower for her and little did we know... we threw it right in time! Keagan was born 2 months early because Amber had preeclampsia and toxemia, both which can only be cured by delivery. He was born at 31.5 weeks and stayed in the hospital for a month. Thankfully, he had no health problems except for the jaundice they treated him for the first few days. He was in the nursery, just to learn to eat. If he had had health problems, he could have been there longer…..but her awesome doctor (who happened to deliver my kids also) had given her the steroid injection to advance his lung growth before they delivered him. Happy Birthday Keagan!

So, back to the shower we had for her a little over a year ago...

We had a "pea in the pod" shower for Amber and used all colors of green around the party area. Her invitations had a cute baby in a "pod" in the background and a vellum top with all the party information (box 7).

We continued the theme with the customized water bottles (box 1). Here's a close up on the water bottle labels.

Amber couldn't stand not pitching in, so she made precious pea in the pod pins for everyone to wear (box 4). At the end, we told everyone that there was a special suprise in someone's pea pod. The winner received a pea pod with bath bombs as the "peas"(box 4).

For the food table centerpiece, I made a flower arrangement using baby washcloths as the flowers (box 2). It turned out really cute!

Our food consisted of fresh fruit, marshmallows, and pretzels- all to dip in the chocolate fountain (box 3 and 6), green M&M's, lime sherbert punch, cucumber sandwiches, cold spinach dip, danishes, and a cold cuts platter.

Amber even dressed the part by wearing a green striped shirt (box 5). She is pictured with the party hostesses- Elizabeth (me!), Nicole, and Lauren.

Wacky Wednesday

2009-02-25T13:12:00.000-08:00

So, if you don't know already... I love Etsy.com! More specifically, I love to see moms being creative and doing what they love! Paula is a mom of four from Reynoldsburg, Ohio and has created the wackiest and cutest jewelry featuring another thing I love...DESSERT! So, my Wacky Wednesday pick this week is for Paula's Fakery Bakery jewelry! How thrilled would your birthday girl be to receive this as a gift?!

Visit her shop at Etsy.com for more dessert jewelry.

Payton's Curious George Party

2009-02-23T09:05:00.001-08:00

My friend and fellow party hostess for Pampered Princess, Leigh-Ann, threw a Curious George party for her daughter, Payton, who had turned 3. We went bananas at Payton's Curious George Party because it was hands on and so organized!

Leigh-Ann had 3 different stations for the party guests to rotate through. The first is pictured as number 1 in the collage. If you remember in the Curious George movie, George decided to paint all over the walls when he found some open paint cans. Leigh-Ann covered her hallways with white butcher paper and let the kids paint on the walls. She used washable finger paints from crayola, so it really didn't matter if the paint landed on the guests' clothes.

The next station was making chocolate covered bananas (see box 6). Leigh-Ann spread wax paper over the kitchen countertops and dropped melted chocolate on the wax paper for each child (so double dipping was acceptable). The kids were given a banana to dip into their chocolate. The guests finished this station quickly so she got some Curious George Tattoos for the kids (see box 2). Tattoos are always a big hit!

The final station was to color a monkey mask (see box 3). Leigh-Ann is a scrapbooker and has lots of fun tools to make perfect circles, etc. She used paper plates and elastic string to secure the mask on the kids' faces.

Monkey Mask Directions:

1. Cut the middle out of a paper plate for the face.

2. Cut two smaller circles out of another paper plate and glue to each side of the face to form the ears.

3. Cut small circles out of the face for the eyes.
4. Tie an elastic string to the mask so it will be secure on the guests' faces.
5. Draw a half circle and two small dots to form the nose (see Monkey Mask template).

Next we ate yummy cake off of the cute Curious George plates (see box 5). You can get them at most local party stores plus Birthday Express online. Birthday Express also has complete party favor kits that you can order and tons of coordinating supplies.

This was not the actual birthday cake Leigh-Ann made (although her's was really tasty), but I had to share it because it was so cute (see box 4). It was, of course, made by my mentor, Martha Stewart!