Very Adorable Baby Shower

This Saturday afternoon I attended a baby shower for a friend at church.  The ladies that put the shower together did a GREAT job putting together a “Very Hungry Caterpillar” baby shower for the mom to be.  I don’t have any pictures from the actual party, so I decided to put together an inspiration board based on the ideas the ladies used at the event and some extras I thought would be fun to incorporate.
 
sources:
Food Display Signs
Table Decorations/Centerpieces
Lollipop Favor
caterpillar quilt
Fruit and Cheese Snack
Spinach Dip
Mini Cherry Cheesecake Tarts
Cake
Lantern Caterpillar
Diaper Cake

Parties from the Past: Pirate Party

For my son's 6th birthday he was at the height of his pirate phase. When it was time to pick a theme for his birthday it was no surprise that it was a pirate themed birthday he chose. My first step as usual was to create the invitation. I had a lot of fun finding the wording and changing it to fit our party and activities.

I will admit that my cake didn't turn out exactly how I planned. The cake was just too moist to carve the treasure chest. Luckily candy can hide a multitude of mistake's., and still tastes great.

The morning of the party my two swashbuckling pirates got all dressed up and posed with the decorations for grandma.

 

Everything was set up for the pirate invasion. The table in the middle of the yard is where lunch would be served. It also doubled as a tattoo shop for our pirate guests.

 

Once everyone arrived it was time for the first activity.   The search for gold coins that the pirates lost on the beach.  Even the littlest guest was able to participate in this game.

 

Then it was time to walk the plank.  We set up a balance beam over a blue tablecloth so that the kids had to walk over the water without falling in.  It is much harder than it looks when you have an eye patch on!

 

Then they needed to swab the deck.  We purchased cheap string mops at the dollar store and painted Styrofoam balls black to look like cannon balls.  We divided all the pirates into two teams and had relay races.

Then our Captain was delivered a special message from Grandpa the Pirate.  His treasure had been taken and hidden!  They unrolled the map and began their treasure hunt.

 

 

After their treasure had been found (and a mess of gold foil littered the beach) it was time for the piñata.  I am not sure where this HUGE wooden stick came from that the birthday pirate used, but it was quickly swapped out for a regular bat for the rest of the pirates.

 

The pirates then sat down for some lunch and cake before we opened presents and said goodbye.  All the kids went hope with their treasure bags full of gold coins, pirate bandanas, eye patches, tatoos and LOTS of candy!

4th of July BBQ

Not all of our parties are grandiose and planned weeks and month in advance.  Sometimes the best times are had when we just have a few family friends over for some fun, food and swimming.  Our 4th of July BBQ this year was just that.

A Flag Cake made after reading a few different bloggers attempt to make one as well.

The Jalepeno Popper Dip that has become the guy's favorite since I made it for the first time in March.

A simple tablescape for the outdoor table

And a few decorations to transform the back porch as well.

The centerpiece was more useful once the sun went down and the candles were lit.

As you can see my flag cake didn’t come out as I had hoped.  In the assembly process I somehow mixed up the top two layers.  At least it tasted good!

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: Super Mario

For a year or so while we were under construction, the room that became our kitchen gave us the perfect place to throw parties. Some might have thought I was a bit crazy, but I just couldn't stand the bare subfloor so one day I painted it. I guess I have gotten really good at making something out of just about anything.

So when Amber wanted to have a Super Mario Party for Anthony, I jumped right in. I ordered plain red and green ball caps, cut out white circle of felt and added a cut out letter to each circle; green for Luigi and red for Mario. We used them on the table when we set up. Along with a fake mustache and some gold coins and gold stars around the place settings.

The centerpiece for the kids table was a 3 tiered dessert stand that Amber filled with 1-up mushroom cupcakes and a Mario star cake for the very top tier.

I turned my dining room buffet into a Mario Candy Shop with the help of a Dollar Tree tablecloth. We found some candies similar to the candy in the Super Mario Party game. It was our very first candy buffet.

We served kid friendly foods; english muffin pizzas, chips, apples and carrots. We added more gold stars and coins on this table as well.

The fake mustaches I picked up from the party store were adorable on the kids when paired with their Mario or Luigi hat.

The boys had a blast playing Super Mario Party on the Wii.

Then it was time to sing Happy Birthday and have him blow out his 7 candles.

After cake the birthday boy sat down to open gifts. I made a banner and used my Dollar Store tablecloths to make a special chair for the birthday boy.

The guests all had a great time and filled their goodie bags with candy and took their hats home as favors.