Surf’s Up! 1st Birthday

Seriously, did 4 months really fly by! So, so sorry we have been living life, making memories, and blogging just got away from us.
What better time to resurface then to share this Little Dude’s 1st Birthday.

With a June Birthday and a pool it’s a no brainer but to throw him a Surf’s Up Pool Party.

So we hit the internet and came up with some cute idea’s that we twisted a bit.

We knew we wanted to use my son’s surfboard. We liked how this looked from My Sweet and Saucy. Our board wasn’t old like that one but we like how it turned out. I used a piece of cardboard cut uneven, spread a bunch of glue all over it and added sand from our beach. Once in place I added more loose sand making it look natural. I filled 2 candy dishes with sand and sat the  board on those. Since I used the board upside down, the foot grips worked perfect to hold it in place.
                  
            
We also included cakes for the Birthday Boy’s uncles.
The main cake was made by Yuma Couture Cakes and the airbrushed ones were done by Goldsboro Bakery here in Yuma. In case you didn’t know, my boy’s are identical twins, one is a fireman and the other a policeman, thus the surfin’ dudes hangin’ 10.
What Surf’s Up Party wouldn’t be complete with surf boards. Of course it would have been awesome to use all real surfboards everywhere…

But we had some big boxes from our business that worked out great. Ok, so they weren’t the perfect shape but we were able to make different sizes so to use them in a number of ways. Plus the kids got to help paint them too.

I used foam board for a few of the smaller ones that also got an antiquing done making them more retro. We used these on the Snow Cone station and on the adults table.

We used a shade structure by Pacific Suntents  for the beach or park…

…well, I turned it into a Food Shack.
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I added some old weathered rattan fencing I had using some thin gauge wire (another staple in my tool box). A skirt around the table, a chalk board for the menu, adding some tropical  plants and the food area was complete.
It worked great to protect our food and it fit perfectly on the table. The tabs that would be used to stake it down worked great to secure it in place so that any wind we might have wouldn’t make it fly away.
The little kids table was made from an old wooden spool. Each beach bucket had a painted surfboard with their name, suntan lotion, beach ball, sunglasses, and other miscellaneous treats.












The adults table was  put together using 2 table clothes (60 x 84) from Target to fit my 72” round table. Another one of my tricks to having multiple table toppers for such a large table. An 85” square works perfect but can cost up to, if not over $40 and there is a limit to what colors and patterns are available. Two this size can come close to that price but the variety makes up for it to me. When I splurge like I did for these it’s usually because I know I will have a use for them after the event.  The colors were perfect, not just for the party but they coordinate well with my pallet of other linen too. The small surfboards along with frames painted to match looked really nice with the woody, some sand, and shells. To get the surf boards to stand up I made a square from the foam board and cut a slit in the middle the size of the bottom edge of the board. A bead of glue and wahlaw. I then covered the flat stand with the sand and shells.









The older kids table was out on the lawn where they had easy access to the water games and pool. I love using coordinating gift wrap for place settings. Usually I use double stick tape but ran out and used dabs of glue instead…not a good idea. I should have known it would be noticeable but one must do what they can at the last hour. There are certain staple a party planner must never run out of and double stick tape is one of them!

We pulled out the water games from last years Thomas party for the kids.

Hubby made the frame for the photo op stand out of PVC.  (Which will now be used as a backdrop frame for future candy bars and/or treat tables.) The photo vinyl was bought at Party City and after taping it to the PVC on top, I secured it with a noodle. For the bottom I used a wooden dole, added the noodle and that kept it weighed down yet moveable. Cutting a noodle is easy with a razor knife in case you wondered. Plus the size of the dole was the same size as the middle hole of the noodle. Win, Win!

The Sunset Bar was fully equipped…

Nothing better then Ice Tea and Lemonade on a summer day! We also had an ice chest below for the ice and Gatorades. Beer was around the corner for those who would like to enjoy a cold one.

Next to the beverage table was the Snow Cone Station. Boy was this a BIG hit! Good thing I over 2 dozen molds. Each mold will give you 2 small cones, or for the older kids and us adults 1 LARGE cone.

                            

We had a lot of fun putting this party together. Perfect weather, good food and awesome family and friends made it a splash!

Sneak Peak...

We're going to have a...




 PARTY!

Perfect for an August birthday in the desert! Perfect for this family who needs some out right FUN in our yard! Perfect since we have almost everything we need to pull this together.

It just can't be a simple water fight party...oh no! Not in this house!

With only a couple weeks notice I began searching for idea's, I found this through Design Dazzle and her Summer Camp Link Up Party .

  
 
at Yvonne Byatt's Family Fun she shared some wonderful ideas...but the car wash, well it was the icing on the cake, the item that will take a regular water party over the top!  So this weekend, with the tutorial provided, hubby and son will be making our own version of the car wash and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

With that delegated out, knowing we leave in a week for a mini much needed vacation, I need to get some of the decorations done before we leave.

 

Just a sneak peak into the making of a water fight party!

Gentlemen…Start Your Engines!

 

Boogity, Boogity, Boogity…let’s go racin boys!

 

 

We had a blast putting this party together.

The concession stand was one of our make it from what you got cuz I don’t feel up to shopping creations! We had seen many ways of doing this and had intentions of attempting at least one of them but things just didn’t go that way. The valance was an old white sheet I cut to the size I wanted, allowing for it to fold over the rod, painted on the words and hung the rod on top of the curtain rods of the bay window.

 

  

Again we used that table hubby made me oh so long ago…like a couple years actually. We use it for just about everything now. With sheets from the linen closet I created the table cover and skirt. The gas signs are bandana’s pinned to a foam board. I used color matching photo boxes for the chips and kettle corn. It needed some other color so I found wrapping paper to make flags from and added it to the warmer as well. Found rick rack in the sewing cabinet and with double sided tape added some color.

 

The favors….

                     

 

Thank you Wypall for all the bags, Sprint for the lanyards, O’Rielly for all the pens and stickers, Lucas for the chap sticks, and gee, there were just so many race vendors that gave us supplies the list would be so long!. One cool thing was the kids  got Green Lantern posters and tattoo's as they had revealed the car and movie at the races that weekend. Oh and my daughter made those authentic looking pit passes.

 

Beverages were served out side by where the  kids table to eat was set up. Everyone complemented my daughter on the use of the gas can for the beverages. DO NOT use used ones. We bought new one and washed them before using.

 

The table was simple and the center piece was a last minute put together. Fish bowl, flags and some tissue paper is all it was and took all of about 5 minutes to put together.     

 

  

 

I had an old Kevin Harvick stand-up that I cut the head off. Using a chair to help support it as well as a place to kneel or for some stand, it helped get their head to fit in the right place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They really had a lot of fun with it. 

 

 

Once their photo was taken it was time to create their frame while I printed out the pictures.

 

    

 

There was also wood race cars to paint thinking maybe they could use them along with the frame, like a 2 dimension thing, but they kind of just did their own thing with all the supplies provided. All the pictures had magnets attached to the back for displaying on the fridge at home.

While I finished up attaching the pictures to the drying frames they all went out to the lawn where grandpa had painted an outline of a track. With a green flag they were off participating in a number of different foot race games. When the checker flag was thrown each winner won a trip to the prize table…

 

 

The cars and sticks up front on the table were used for one of the races they had on the track. All the supplies came from the NASCAR race we went to last November. If you haven’t figured it out, we are HUGE fans and have been season ticket holders at PIR (Phoenix International Raceway) since 1996. For our grandsons 5th birthday we took him to his first race and created the next generation of fans because he goes every year now. Now we take 5 of the grandchildren and their parents and…ok, I am going off the party here. If you want to see life outside of partying, check out my personal blog, Our Journey Through LIFE!

After games came gifts…

 

 

…and cake…

  

 

Ok, we cheated here! With a first trimester momma and an under the weather grandma, and usually the cake is NOT something we skimp on, but when the birthday boy saw this cake and liked it, we made it work.

It’s great to put the work into a party when it creates happy guest…

    

We now throw the checker flag on this NASCAR race party.