Super 8 Party

For my son’s 8th birthday we made it a “Super 8” party.  I made a super sized rainbow layered cake, that I surrounded with Super Heros.  We held the party at a new “Super” location in town called the Fun Factory.  They have everything a kid would want: miniature golf, go karts, water bumper boats, an arcade and a Wii on a Super-sized screen in the party area.  The kids had unlimited access to the activites and they took full advantage!

Parties from the Past: Rocker Girl

For her 5th birthday our little Princess decided it was time to rock out, so her 5th birthday was a Rocker Girl party. We took a 1950’s rock n’ roll color scheme of pink, black and white and added some Hannah Montana purple and the empty room turned into a rockin party place. Amber made the custom rock themed invitation

We set the table and added the music notes and star sunglasses. Amber made the adorable pink guitar cake from a DIY article in Family Fun.

Once again made a banner and used Dollar Store tablecloths to transform the corner into a stage. The walls didn’t match our decor so we hung the black plastic tablecloths so it really gave the atmosphere of a stage.

Amber bought a guitar piñata and the kids had a blast trying to break it open.

The craft that we made with the kids were microphones. We used half circles of Styrofoam from the Dollar Store and the kids wrapped them in aluminum foil. Grandpa cut sections of PVC pipe and painted them black before the party. Then an adult helped hot glue the 2 pieces together.

Then we played music and the kids all rocked out on stage wearing their star glasses.

Our final game before opening presents was music chairs, by request of the birthday girl. The party was a blast and the kids all had a rocking good time.

Parties from the Past: Princess Party for Two

My daughter Ellie and her cousin Lillian are only 6 weeks apart, so for their 4th birthday we decided to have a combined birthday. We chose a date in between both birthdays to have the party at Grandma's house. The girls wanted it to be a Princess Party. Grandma got busy doing what she does best and transformed the dining room into a Princesses Palace.


There was a Princess dressing room, with a rack of play clothes, a table full of jewelry and tiaras and of course a great big mirror to admire their new attire.

Grandma commissioned Grandpa into making a large kids sized table. It has been very useful in the many years since. No plastic tablecloth in this royal setting, Grandma decorated with real linens, fresh flowers, and silverware.

The invitation had instructed our guests to come dressed in their best princess attire, but we also had extra's just in case. After the guests had all arrived and transformed into princesses they sat down to work on their craft. I had found a set of photo frames shaped like a carriage. We had pre-sorted all the pieces into individual kits for each princess. While the girls were busy making their masterpieces, a special guest arrived. One of my recently married friends arrived dressed in her wedding gown to be our Princess.

When Princess Justine arrived the girls were so excited. We cleaned up their crafts and got ready for our snack. Then Princess Justine read them the "Princess and the Pea" while we served the girls snacks on Grandma's china.
We had a simple menu:

• finger sandwiches (PB & J cut into hearts)
• fruit tarts (mini graham cracker pie shells with strawberry yogurt and berries)
• fresh fruit

We even served the punch in champagne glasses!

When the girls finished eating we moved over to the sitting area to open gifts. Grandma had created two thrones buy covering two of the dining chairs with beautiful ivory chair covers and made a backdrop that attached to the window and draped down behind the chairs. Ellie and Lillian each sat on their throne and everyone was able to watch them open the gifts.

After gifts we let the girls play a little with the dress up stuff while we cleared the table and got ready for cake, I had baked each of the birthday girls their very own cake. While researching princess parties we had found this photo of the perfect cake on cake central:


Each cake was topped with a real tiara, and each of the birthday girl's got to blow out their own candles. The birthday girls had helped me make cupcakes for the guests the night before so that we didn't have to cut into their cakes right away. Each cupcake was topped with either a mini candy tiara or a princess wand.

All our princesses had a fabulous time, I only wish we had taken more photos!

Parties from the Past: Tinkerbell

I thought I would kick of the "Parties from the Past" with one of my first parties. It was my daughters 1st birthday and it was a Tinkerbell theme. Please excuse the picture quality. The party was held in 2005 before I owned a digital camera. Here is my little Princess sitting in her thrown.




I made my daughter's smash cake. It was modeled after a cookie jar I had seen online.



To make the mushroom shaped cake the right size for my little princess, I used a jumbo muffin pan.



I purchased a plastic tinkerbell from a vendor on ebay since I couldn't find anything in town. I was very proud of the final results.



The rest of the decorations were very simple. A few streamers, balloons, and a birthday banner. We had a make your own sandwich bar with a variety of chips and dips and a cake from a local bakery.




The kids played with a few toys in the living room, while the adults ate dinner. I didn't have any organized game since the kids were so young.




Then the birthday girl got to have her cake and eat it too!

Before There Was Baby

In 2004 I put together a Baby Shower for our daughter with the help of her dear friend Martha. As I look back on these earlier events, I am amazed as to how far we have come.



She was (okay, may I was helping her)putting together a Tinkerbell Nursery so we used the colors sage, purple, pink and yellow from the nursery for the decorations. The cradle below was my daughters' when she was born and I used a patchwork pattern for the bedding I made for the nursery. To make the canopy I used an embroidery hoop, netting and trim.

Halloween Boo Bash

The day of the party we had some final food prep. We made the pudding mud cups, the mummy dogs, pumpkin P&J pumpkin sandwiches, bone bread sticks, and the candy corn pizza so that is was all fresh for the guests.



We set up our spooky candy buffet.


Made our witches brew


We had everything set up for our guests to arrive just in time for the first ones to arrive.


As the guest entered the kids were able began their crafts. The table was occupied all night. The kids got really creative and even went out side the box to create their own masterpieces.



Most of our guest came in costumes.







The many games kept them well entertained. The cakewalk was a BIG hit, we just kept playing till everyone had won at least once. We also had popcorn relay races, a pumpkin penny pitch, and a pumpkin ring toss. Our last game was bobbing for apples. (Tip: do not fill the tub so the apple floats, this way they don't sink when the kids try to bite them. For older kids it was easier but the younger ones had a hard time so I would hold the apple for them to bite).




It was a very successful night and I so enjoyed my guests having an awesome time. In case you wonder what Mr. Y and I were, we were Hot Dog Vendors and Tucker was our Hot Dog.