Sweeten Your Day Events

I love the idea of PEEPS = Friends, so I decided what a fun playdate this would be for my youngest and her peeps! I immediately started looking for fun ideas to incorporate peeps into the food, decor, and activities, but not over doing it! Also the key to this party is that I wanted it to be budget friendly and something that anyone can do with out breaking the bank. So I am pleased to show you some details from our day and also all the tutorials will follow throughout the week so you can create your own Easter/Peeps Party!

Here is our snack table, wanted to keep it simple and fun. Everything on here is all do it yourself and very inexpensive! To start our I just got fabric from Hobby Lobby that was on sale for the backdrop and table cloth. The cake stand and plate were items I already had. Always check to see what you have on hand and how you can use them to save money from buying new things, you will be surprised at what you will find and can do!

DIY Peep bunting

DIY Peep bird nests - yummy!

DIY candlestick jars

I filled them with Robin Eggs, M&M's, and Jellybeans

DIY Bunny Peep display

This was such a cute way to display the peeps and I loved that they were on sticks, so the kids could just come up and grab one out (then just pop another one in its place)

DIY 'Hatch a Peep' party favors

These were fun (and a little messy) to make, but the kids sure loved them! Chocolate eggs filled with a baby peep and some candy that they got to break open.

DIY Peep sugar cookies

DIY Floating Peeps drinks

The kids LOVED these!

'Painting with my Peeps'
We had a fun little art craft for the kids to do.

They each painted there own little peep! The peeps were just wood cut outs. You can find an outline or pattern online and trace and cut them our yourself if you have a scroll saw. If not, check around for local wood shops to see if they can do it. Mine were a little over a dollar each, pretty cheap. Each setting also had a basket (from dollar store- fancied up with some colored grass and a bow) with a t-shirt so they don't get their own clothes all dirty.

Foam brush, bottle of paint, jewel stickers (for the eyes and nose), paper plate and paper place mat

DIY Peep T-Shirts

So darn cute!

We had a little Easter egg hunt for our activity. All the mommies brought a dozen pre-filled eggs to share, another great way to break up the cost. We hid them around the back yard for the hunt. This was nice because there was plenty to go around and all the kids were about the same age so there wasn't any one kid that just buzzed around and got them all either.

Thank you for checking out our Peeps playdate and hope that it inspires your own! Check back for all the tutorials for everything you have seen here, tomorrow I will be posting all ones for the treats and drinks. Hope you have a Happy Easter!

Here are some fun and easy treat tutorials that I used for our party yesterday....

Peep drinks

I saw these chocolate dipped peeps at the grocery store and the idea just came to me! So I picked up some blue juice and clear cups. Pretty simple! I am sure that you could dip the bases of your own peeps if you cannot find the packaged ones. They worked out perfect and kept them afloat without sinking or flipping on their sides.

Peep bird nests

This was probably the easiest treat I have ever made! Chow Mien noodles, chocolate, Cadburry eggs and peeps! If you have never made these before, you can find the instructions online everywhere! Here is an easy one for example.

Peep Sugar Cookies

My dear friend from Lil G's Cookies made these for me, but she followed the full tutorial that is available here from the amazing Sweet Sugar Belle

Hatch a baby Peep

For this project you will need a bag of chocolate melts ( you can use Wilton, or semi sweet baking chips), peepe, edible grass, mini eggs, chocolate egg mold, clear cupcake boxes, Easter grass, ribbon, and a disposable decorating bag (or ziplock bag will work too).

You can find molds online, craft stores, or restaurant supply stores. I got a 4" size egg so I could fit a whole peep without cutting or smashing it.

First melt your chocolate according to package directions. Fill both sides of the mold completely. Tap lightly on the counter to remove any air bubbles.

Then pour out the excess chocolate, but be sure to make sure all sides of the mold are completely covered with chocolate and place in freezer to firm up.

While chocolate is setting, brake up pieces of edible grass and break apart peeps.

When chocolate has set up, gently turn out on counter top.

Fill your decorating bag with extra chocolate and snip off the end

Fill the bottom half of the egg with grass, a peep, and some mini eggs

Then using your chocolate filled bag pipe chocolate around the edges and place top half on. Hold together firmly for about 30 seconds.

Wipe off excess chocolate. You may have to use a knife to smooth out larger chunks.

Fill your cupcake box (I got mine online here) with some grass (I also put in some smaller candies to add color), tie with ribbon and top with free printable tag found here.

Kids get a fun little surprise when they break open their eggs!

I hope that this gives you all some fun ideas and help. Please feel free to comment with any thoughts or questions. Tomorrow I will be posting tutorials for the decorations so be sure to check back then. Thanks for stopping by!

Here are just a couple quick and easy DIY peep decoration tips that I used for our party...
Bunny Peep Centerpiece

I found this idea and tutorial at Celebrations At Home and fell in love. The use of putting the bunnies on skewers to double as treat and decoration, genius! Their full tutorial is available here, but I got my products mostly at Hobby Lobby for under $15 total!

Peep Bunting

I am not a super seamstress and RARELY sew, but this was such a fun and easy project! Seriously something that beginners can easily do. The full tutorial with the pattern and step by step instructions is available here from the fabulous Dana from MADE.

Candle Stick Jars

I just loved how these turned out! Unfortunately I am not going to be posting this full tutorial just yet... I am saving it for special guest post on another blog, but then will post it here again too for all of you in a week. I am so sorry to disappoint any one!
I hope you enjoyed those as well. Tomorrow I will be posting a just few more tutorials for the activities. Thanks for stopping by and checking us out!

Here are just a few ideas for Peep themed things you can do and create for your own party...
Painting with my Peeps

I got my peeps pre-cut, but if you have a scroll saw you can totally cut them out yourself. Here is a template you can use (same one for the bunting tutorial). If not take the template in to a local wood crafting shop and see what they can do, it is usually pretty inexpensive.

We used sponge brushes to paint, and jewel stickers for the eyes. They turned out really cute, and the kids had so much fun painting.

Peeps T-shirts

All you need for this project is some plain shirts, your own printer, Fabric Transfer Sheets (got mine at walmart), iron, and your image. I found these free peeps images online here, but be sure to reverse the image when you print them so they will be facing the right direction when you iron them on! Then you just follow the directions in your transfer sheets, some vary. This project was so easy, you will just have to give it a try!

That is all my tips for this little party we had. I hope it has helped and inspired some of you and thanks again for checking us out! Hope you all have a great Easter holiday!

Some of you may know that I am one of the new contributors over at A Blissful Nest! I will mainly be focusing on party/entertaining crafts and tutorials.I have been brainstorming lots of fun things to share with you to help inspire your own exciting parties and events. Today I am finally going to share with you this fun and easy tutorial to create your own candlestick apothecary jars that I made for my Easter Peeps Party found here.

Materials:

Candlesticks (various sizes) – The Wood Connection (Utah), Hobby Lobby or wood/craft store
Wooden knobs – The Wood Connection (Utah), Hobby Lobby or craft store
Glass containers – Hobby Lobby
Wooden plaques – Hobby Lobby
Gorilla glue – any craft store
Paint and brushes – craft stores
I was able to get most of the supplies on sale and the total cost was under $15!
Step One: Gorilla Glue your candlesticks to wood plaques, and wood knobs to lids.

I wanted to add a little more texture to the lids, so as I was browsing Hobby Lobby and found these little wood painted Earth’s and figured they would work since I was just going to paint over them.
Step Two: PAINT! Mine took a couple coats since it was a lighter color.

Step Three: When your paint is dry, pipe a ring of Gorilla glue around the top of your candlesticks and center base of jars onto them. Hold firmly into place for a few minutes while the glue sets.

Step Four: Once glue has fully dried, screw on lids to enjoy the finished product!

I just love them!

Step Five: Fill jars...

I filled mine with jelly beans, M&M's, and Robin Eggs for Easter.

You can fill your jars with pretty much anything your heart desires! Fancy them up with bows too. They are great for entertaining or home decor! You can paint them any color to match your kitchen or home and leave them up all year. Fill them at each holiday with special treats : Valentines Day – conversation hearts, Halloween – candy corn, and so on. I hope you all enjoyed this tutorial and please feel free to comment or share! Also be sure to check back at A Blissful Nest soon for more great tips, parties, and giveaways!

Giveaway closed...

Scroll to the bottom to see who won!

Winners need to contact me via facebook or etsy to claim you prize.

Are you ready for this! The very first giveaway on my blog!!!! I am so excited!

I wanted to share something fun and that I would be happy winning myself! I am sure that most of you have seen these in one place or another...

Push-up Pops have been quit the rage for a while now, and I must say that I am a fan. I used them recently for a party and just fell madly in love! So I put together this fun little package to celebrate my readers...

The winner will receive a copy of the uber popular Push-Up Pops book!

This book is so amazing! The fabulous Courtney form Pizzazzerie shares so many fun ideas for push-up pop containers to take them from ordinary to extraordinary!

She shows that the versatility is really endless! Inside you will find over 40 different recipes from puddings and cupcakes to popsicles! Plus a variety of ways to display and dress them up for any occasion.

Now that you have the instruction, let's put it to use...

the winner will also receive 1 dozen Push-up Pop containers!

And last but not least, you will need a way to display your fabulous treats once you have used Courtney's book to make something delicious right!?!

So I am throwing in a 12ct Push-Pop Cake stand!

Now you have a complete Push-up Pop package to create a delicious and beautiful dessert display that will amaze your guests!

Oh, but wait!

Since this is my first giveaway let's go ahead and giveaway a 2nd set of Push-up Pops! Yup, that's right! A bonus person will receive 1 dozen pops! So you have 2 chances to be a winner. This giveaway ends on May 8th 12pm, and the winner(s) will be announced the following day. Good luck!

Now here is how you enter:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Today I wanted to share with you all my tutorial that shows you how to make these adorable and SUPER easy cupcake towers that you can customize to fit your party style.

Materials:

Hat Boxes (or any other sturdy and smooth cardboard box) - Michaels, Joann, Hobby Lobby, or most craft stores.

Decorative Paper to fit your design/style/theme

Decorative Edge Scissors

Tape

Tips: I found a jumbo roll of wrapping paper that matched our invites that we used and wrapping paper is usually pretty inexpensive. Also various box sizes are great to add height and variety.

Step One: Line the top side of your box (it is now going to be the bottom side of your stand) on the edge of the paper and mark how tall it is.

Continue drawing your line for the length of paper you will need to wrap around the box.

Tip: Some styles of wrapping paper now have grids on the back (mine didn't) which makes it super easy for cutting straight lines.

Step Two: Take your decorative edge scissors and cut about a half inch to an inch above your line to give it a little bit of a lip above the edge of where your box will be.

Step Three: Wrap your box. Remember to keep the open part of your box at the base of the paper. Tape one end of the paper to the box to hold in place. Then roll/wrap.

The other end should overlap just slightly to cover the whole thing and tape together.

Step Four: Stand your box (open side down....) and you are done with one. Repeat and stack!

You can stack as many as you like to achieve the look you want. I went with a taller box for the base to give it some height, and then a slightly shorter box on top to give it some variety.

Step Five: Fill with cupcakes!

Tip: For standard size cupcakes, you will want a 4" difference in box sizes for each tier to fit cupcakes all the way around (ex: for a 3 tier cupcake stand: bottom tier - 14" box, middle tier - 10" box, top tier - 6" box). For mini size cupcakes a 2" difference in box sizes for each tier will work.

Now that your stand is all filled with cupcakes you can take a step back and enjoy your hard work, and eat a cupcake!

Thanks for checking out our hat box cupcake tower tutorial. Another great thing about this is you can take the paper off and re-wrap for another theme, the versatility is really endless! Also be sure to check out other fun details from this baby shower that I styled filled with DIY projects and more tips on uses with wrapping paper for parties on my here! Thanks again and please feel free to comment or share!

Moustache themes have been quite the rage for awhile for everything from weddings and baby showers, to birthday parties. I recently threw a Pizza party with a "mozzarella and moustaches" twist on it. Today I am going to show you how easy and cheap it is to make your very own chocolate moustaches!

Supplies:

Moustache chocolate mold - I got mine here from Wilton for a whopping $1.99!

candy sticks

candy melts/chocolate melts

squeeze bottle/decorating bag/ziplock baggie

*note: candy melts come in such a wide variety of colors that you can pretty much make moustaches to match your party!

But I wanted my staches to be black, and they don't make carry that color. So I got dark chocolate melts and black candy coloring.

FYI- you HAVE to use an oil based candy coloring, not regular food or icing coloring because they are water based. If water mixes with chocolate it will crystallize.... not fun. But don't fear if you have not familiar with chocolate, it is super easy to work with :)

Now let's begin! Step 1: Melt chocolate by follow directions on package. Be careful not to overcook.

Step 2: Fill your squeeze bottle or baggie (snip the end) and fill the mold up halfway. Settle chocolate by tapping the mold lightly on the counter. This releases all the air bubbles and gets chocolate in all the little crevices.

Step 3: Insert candy sticks into chocolate, twist to cover the whole end of the stick. Fill the rest of the mold with chocolate.

Step 3: Put mold in refrigerator or freezer until hardened.

Step 4: Gently wiggle mold to loosen and turn out on counter.

Viola! Now you have super cute (and yummy) party favor!

Thanks so much for checking out my tutorial and I hope that you have fun making your own stache-tastic treats!

Some of you may remember this funcandle stick jar tutorialthat I awhile back...

Well I am so excited to tell you that it is being featured today over at The Wood Connection blog! I purchased the candlesticks and wooden knobs there, and they are still available so make your own apothecary jars today.

Since they are featuring my tutorial, The Wood Connection was so generous and also is donating a $25 gift certificate for one of my fabulous readers to win!

If you have never been into one of their locations you are surely missing out! Here are some of their fun new Summer items that are now on sale:

And those are just a FEW of their everyday items!

Now here is your chance to win a $25 gift certificate to their store and make one of these, or your own creation that everyone will surely adore! Good luck and the giveaway ends May 28th!

*NOTE: The Wood Connection has their products online, but they DO NOT ship! So this giveaway is only open to local (Utah) residents! Thanks again!

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I am so excited to finally share with you all this fun little pizza party I did for the little kids I teach in my church class a little while back. They all wanted a pizza party, so the brainstorming began. It wasn't too long before I found this uber adorable Papa's Pizzeria party line from the oh so amazing Natalie from Southern Belles' Charm! It was love at first sight!

Once I decide to have a party the first thing I do is decide on the invitation. Invites set the mood for your party and get the guests attention and anticipation. Southern Belle's Charm had these pizza box invitations that were EXACTLY what I was looking for!

I sent Natalie all my party info and she sent me the mini pizza boxes all assembled with the Papa's Pizzeria logo on the front of the box and the party info on the inside lid. I had one of my sweet friends made super big pizza cookies (like 5" around) to put inside of each invite! You seriously should have seen these kids faces when they got them! Priceless!

When kids arrived they first got to make their own personal pizzas! At the table each setting had a chef hat, pie tin (to make and cook pizza in), mini rolling pin, and a paddle to roll out their dough on.

The toppings!

The sauce was in a squeeze bottle to make it easier and less messy for the kids.

Each child go a personalized chef hat to wear!

We wrote the names of each kid on the bottom of the pie tin with a marker to know who's belonged to who during baking. Also sprinkle a little bit of cornmeal in the bottom of each pie tin to help keep the pizza from sticking. Then have the kids roll out their dough and place IN the tin before they top....

Here is one of the pizza's all cooked! They turned out so nicely. We took them out of the tins and put them on plates to cut and serve. I set all the tins aside til the end of the party to put each kids left overs back in and covered with foil so they could take home.

But while the pizza's were cooking, we had a fun little place setting at the dinning room table for them. At each spot there was an activity placemat, box of crayons, cup with a moustache straw, and their personalized party favor bags.

The activity placemats was SO adorable! The kids had so much fun drawing little moustaches on the chef, coloring in a pizza, and doing the word search!

I absolutely adored these moustache straws!

We had some sweet treats on a mini dessert table!

Paper fan rosette tutorial coming soon...

I found this super cute Chef calk board that my son named 'Chef Pisghetti'

For treats we had chocolate moustaches (tutorial found here)

Super Sweet Pizza Slice Sugar Cookies

Lil' Lemon Chef Cupcakes

Jumbo Gelato Orange Push-up Pops

I decorated the push-up pops with mini chef hats, a sticky moustaches, and a little gingham kerchief. They turned out so cute!

For party favors I ordered personalized favor bags that were just the perfect finishing touch to the party!

Inside each bag was a sheet of adhesive moustaches, a container of salt dough, mini moustache rolling pin, and a thank you card receipt.

Thank you all so much for checking out our fun little pizza party. I hope you all enjoyed and gave you some ideas and inspiration for your own party someday! Please feel free to comment or share!

Vendor Credits

Party design and details: Sweeten Your Day Events

Papa's Pizzeria party supplies - Pizza box invitations, placemats, pinwheel centerpiece, party favor supplies, receipt thank you cards, cartoon cutout chef - Southern Bell's Charm and Graphic Design by Frog Prince Paperie

Pizza slice cookies - Katie Duran

Favor Bags - Papernook

Paper Fan Flowers - Kelsey's Treasure

Moustache straws - Little Retreats

Little chef cupcake toppers, chocolate moustache sticks, chef push-up pops - Sweeten Your Day

Chef hats, sticky moustaches (in favor bags) - Oriental Trading

I hope you have enjoyed our little version of Papa's Pizzeria! I just wanted to share another fun and EASY tutorial from that party. These paper fan rosettes are so simple and so cheap to make. They can be made in any size and variety of patterns to coordinate with your own party decor!

Supplies:

Patterned paper (3 pieces per fan) and a hot glue gun! Yup that's all!

Fold cardstock paper accordion-style into 1/2 inch folds. It’s good to have different size papers in order to form different sized pinwheels. These sheets were 12" wide and made a 12" fan. Fold each accordion piece in half. Repeat this 3 times. 3 fans equal 1 pinwheel. (Smaller fans may only take 1-2 sheets depending on size)

Note - You can fancy up your fans at this point by cutting the edges into a scallop, punching some holes, or lots other things to add some variety to your display.

Now secure sides together using a glue gun for extra hold. This creates a part of the pinwheel. Glue all three pieces together (edges out) on sides to make one large piece.

Stretch out your fan and glue the two ends together. You are finished, how easy was that!

Love the variety of fan sizes and color of patterns!

You can also attach dowel rods to the back side of fans with hot glue to create centerpieces!

I hung mine to create a colorful backdrop for this dessert display...

Thank you for checking out this tutorial and you can see more details from my Papa's Pizzeria Party on my bloghere! Hope you have fun making your own paper fan rosettes, and please comment or share any tips you have used to make your own a little fancier too.

This year I wanted to something extra special for dad's in my family since this was the first year that we all live in the same state and all the men in the family are now fathers, congrats to my younger brother for his first little baby! I knew that I wanted to do something fun for all ages, but all the focus on the dads. After searching for ideas and I found the PERFECT inspiration! Piggy Bank Parties put together this incredible Super Dad collection for their readers you can find for FREEhere... and that started my whole Superman spin for Dads!

Super Dad mighty munchies!

Happy Father's Day banner

Super Dad symbol from Piggy Bank Parties

I cut the city skyline out of cardboard, spray painted black, and accented with Pow, Zap, Crash, etc...

Cake also inspired from the Super Dad collection....

Super Dad Kryptonite!

Super Sweets...

I loved the cookies SO much, just have to add another pic

I ordered these fabulously yummy cake pops and added mini capes to them

Super Cute!

POP-corn Cones

I also made (from superman cricut cartridge) newspaper candy bar wrappers to fit the theme

We served a light lunch also with a Superhero twist...

I made the banner out of comic books... tutorial coming soon

Hero Sandwiches

Wonder Dogs for the little sidekicks

Super Power fruits and veggies

CRUNCH-y Chips

And Dad's Super Fuel Rootbeer

I love photo booths! They are such a fun activity and also create great memories!

Beating up uncles is always such fun!

My sweet hub, two brothers, and my own dad - they truly are Super!

This is what being a dad is all about :)

Thank you for sharing in our Father's Day celebration, and a special thanks to Piggy Bank Parties and all the fabulous vendors! I hope that you all enjoyed this special party and inspires your own super celebration!

Vendors:

Event Styling and Photographs - Sweeten Your Day Events

Superdad inspiration and logo FREE printables - Piggy Bank Parties

Superhero printables, banners, table signs - Dimple Prints

Photoprops and Hero sandwich labels - Andersruff

Wonderdog printable label - One Charming Party

T-shirts Design and Inspiration- Bee Custom Apparel

Cookies - the cookie jar/Batches
Cake pops - Mom's Killer Cakes & Cookies

Soda Pop Capes - Oh Creative One

Dad's Rootbeer Bottles - Old 52 General Store

Pick Your Super Power printables - Simply Swanky

Kaped Kandy Kones - Posh Party Pretties

Cake, Cupcakes, and Cupcake toppers - Sweeten Your Day

I am so excited to be guest blogging over at The Wood Connection Blogagain today! I am sharing a super fun and easy tutorial here on how to make these scrabble-inspired home decorations!

You can spell your family name,

make holiday themed ones,

Or just about anything you like!

As an extra bonus The Wood Connection is also giving away another $25 gift certificate here to use at any of their locations! That could make a whole lot of scrabble tiles :) So scroll down and see how to enter, the winner will be announced on July 2nd... Good Luck!!!
*NOTE: The Wood Connection has their products online, but they DO NOT ship! So this giveaway is only open to local (Utah) residents! Thanks again!

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Today I am going to show you how to make these SUPER comic book banners!

Here is what you are going to need:

Your favorite comic books (you can find them cheap, I got mine online for about $.80 each)

Double fold bias take

Craft knife and ruler, or paper trimmer

Sewing machine

Carefully remove/cut the desired pages from your comic books. Using your ruler and knife or paper trimmer cut a triangle from the top two corners to the bottom center.

Line the top of your pennants in between the bias folds and sew together using a straight stitch on your sewing machine.

Ka-Pow! Your done!

These were made for a special 'Super Dad' father's day luncheon my family had. You can see more details and pics from this party here on my blog.

Another great thing about this tutorial is that you can use it with any style or pattern of paper so you can totally customize it to fit any celebration and color assortment.

I am SO EXCITED to help spread the word for my dear friend Kara Allen from the uber popular blog Kara's Party Ideas book cover reveal and presale starting today! You can now pre-order the book on Amazon for a special price of only $19.99! The book will hit shelves nationwide on October 9th.

Kara's Party Ideas is full of Never-before-seen parties and tips. There are 13 parties displayed in remarkable detail and descriptions, plus lots of photos and step by step instructions on how to create each party!

Here is a little special sneek peek treat to get your taste buds excited....

Also one other reason that I am SO EXITED for this book is that we got to be contributors!!! You see that super adorable hot air balloon cake on the cover?!? Well that was made by yours truly! YUP! Along with lots of of special treats you will just have to buy a copy of the book to see!

*Even though I made the cake, the original design and concept was created by Jessicakes!
Thank you for sharing your fabulous work and creations!

So hurry on over to Amazon and order today, I just ordered mine!

Kara’s Party Ideas also includes a CD containing printable invites and party decor to go along with many of the party themes!

Today I wanted to share a fun summer tutorial with you all. Photo Booths have been all the rage for some years now for all sorts of parties and events. They are a great activity for guests of all ages, and also create fun memories with pictures to go along. We have done them many times as well and I must say that I am a huge fan! They are extremely simple to do, both indoors and out. Since more parties are done outside in the summer time I thought I would share one way to make a photo booth outdoors for all that fun!

Supplies:

PVC pipe - 3 pieces

Elbow PVC joints - 2 pieces

2 Rebar & a hammer

Fabric/Curtain

You can get all these products (probably not the fabric you want though) at your local hardware store for fairly inexpensive.

PVC comes in all different widths and lengths. If you don't see the lengths you want for the height and length for you photo booth, the friendly workers can trim them down for you :)

Assemble your pieces together into a 'U' shaped frame, mine was 5 feet tall and about 8 feet long

Space your rebards the length of your frame and hammer into the ground.

Thread or hang your fabric onto your frame and insert onto the rebars

Accent your area with banners, props, and more!

This photo booth was done for part my daughters 2nd birthday party that was a Milk & Cookies on the Farm party that you can find all the details here on my blog.

Some fun props we had were milk mustaches,

milk and cookie photo props, milk cans and themed signs.

I hope that you all enjoyed this post and inspires you to create some of your own memories and photos.

Sorry I have been MIA for the past couple of months. It has not been due to lack of projects, and am going to try and catch up on posts, but more of a lack of energy! We are excited to announce that we are expecting a 3rd addition to our little family! With this being said, the past few months I have just felt so drained and worn out! This one is really taking its toll on me! But I am feeling much better and trying to get back to 'normal' or as close to :) So now I am going to try and catch up on some things that I have been up to, starting with the most recent....

Gender reveal parties are all the rage this year, so I figured I would hop on the band wagon and do something fun and simple for the family. I didn't want to do a whole BIG party, but since our kids have been really excited I wanted to do something special. Our son, Mason, has been wanting a little brother for some time now and our little daughter, Avery, just wants a baby! There are tons of fun little ideas for gender reveals out there and once I saw these printables on Etsy I knew that is what I wanted to do!

We decided to go with this election them, since it is an election year, and also so guests could get involved and have a chance to vote on what they think the gender of the baby will be.

So the following Saturday after our ultrasound (David and I knew what we were having but not the kids) we invited our immediate family over after Mason's soccer game for a light lunch and baby reveal. I had set up a small area where the family could grab a treat and vote.

I figure the whole cutting the cake open to find out the gender has been over done. So I made just a simple cake to display, no fancy gender result inside. Instead I wanted to do something in keeping with the election theme though, so on the table I had an envelope with the results to open and announce after everyone had voted.

A few yummy themed treats

Cast your own vote...

Then grab a sticker :)

Mason's proud vote!

I was originally going to create some sort of backdrop based off this card I found online to have everyone stand in front of and take pics

Something like a group picture of those who voted girl and a pic of the group of those who voted boy. Alas it was a good idea, but when the days got closer I just ran out of time :(

Anyway after everyone voted we let Mason do the pleasure of adding up the totals...

The votes were 16 for boy and 5 for girl, Mason was so excited!

Now for the official result...

The look on his face said it all!

Our little Avery was so excited to find out she was having a little sister! But our poor little guy was so disappointed and sad, on the verge of tears! We had to take him into the other room and talk to him and try and calm him down. My heart just sank for him :( After talking to him and explaining some things he cheered up a bit for the rest of the day. He is now doing much better and looking forward to meeting his new sister!

Thanks so much for being patient in my lack of posts, there are some really fun ones that are still to come so to stay tuned and I will try to get them up soon!

Vendors:

Photographs, Design, and Cake: Sweeten Your Day

Gender Election Printables: Invitation To Mars

Cake Pops:Autumn Lynns Sins

Cookies: All Things Exquisite

Paper Fans and Table Bunting: Paisley Petal Events

Ever since my little girl saw the movie BRAVE, she has been in love with Merida! So it was no surprise what kind of birthday she wanted this year... It was such a fun movie and I was super excited to make it into a party. There are alot of ideas on pinterest that helped spark some thoughts as well!

For the party there were little Will-o-the-wisps leading to a castle entrance into our backyard.

To create the Wisps I used blue cellophane, twist ties, and a wood skewer to hold them in place.

For the activities I based them off of Disney's Highland Games at Epcot for the launch of the Brave movie.

When guests arrived they spun a wheel to see what family they would represent for the games.

I recreated a wheel by covering a cardboard game spinner with pennants I made using good old photoshop.

Once the kids spun the wheel they got a sash and a button with that clan's symbol.

I printed this poster of all the characters to hang by the wheel.

Clan Dingwall

Clan DunBroch - Avery just turned the wheel to Merida :)

Here where each of the buttons and sashes I made for each clan.

The first activity was archery...

I created a target with a fabric back drop, the arrows could shoot through the center so the kids knew when they hit the bullseye.

For the next activity I combined Disney's Haggis Flip and Cake Toss games.

The haggis was made by filling nylons with beans.

For this game we got a board from the hardware store and my sweet hubby cut out the holes. I sketched and painted the triplets on the board and added vinyl names and scores.

Last was the Caber Toss

We used some old cardboard pillars left over from my son's pirate birthday party last year that worked great. They were light enough for the kids to toss but tall enough to make it a challenge.

After the games we all headed inside for some treats...

My sister inlaw works at a movie theater and just happened across these adorable triplet props from the movie just a few days before the party! SWEET! Just LOVE them, they were absolutely perfect for the dessert table!

We stacked the treats on various heights of tree rounds and added greenery to keep with the whole Scottish forest feel from the movie.

Arrow cupcakes

Bear Claw Brownies

Celtic Knot Cookies

Cotton Candy Wisps

Scottish Sweet Buns

...the triplets absolute favorite!

For drinks we served Witches Magical Mystery Brew

After the refreshments the kids headed over to The Crafty Carver to make bear claw necklaces.

The triplet bear cubs were just too cute :)

Well that is all of it! Thank you for checking out our Brave themed birthday party and sticking through all the pictures! The movie is so cute and we had so much fun playing and recreating some the elements from it! I hope this helps inspire any of you for your own BRAVE celebration.

Vendors:

Party Design and Photographs: Sweeten Your Day Events

Merida Costume and Stuffed Bear Cub Triplets: Disney Store

Bear Claw Necklace Kits: Corps of Re-Discovery

PVC Pipe Bows and Arrows: Backwoods Toys

Castle Corrugated Paper and Cardboard Pillars: Shindigz

Spinner: Oriental Trading

Brave Poster Download: Disney

Recipes:

Celtic Knot Cookies: Sprinkle Bakes -

I couldn't find all the ingredients for that particular recipe, so I just used a sugar cookie one and it worked out great!
Bear Claw Brownies: Spoonful

Scottish Sweet Buns: C'est Maman Qui L'a Fait -

English download for the recipe is at the bottom of the post

Witches Magical Mystery Brew: My Recipes

We celebrated my son's 6th birthday last July

and I completely forgot to post it, I blame it on pregnancy brain!

Anyway during the summer Mason was really into the Ghost Buster movie, so I wasn't too surprised when the idea came up. He thinks that it is just hilarious! So we watched the movie again to get some ideas for the party.

Here is a peak at the invite...

There is one part in the movie where Slimer pops out of a hot dog cart with a mouth full of hot dogs, the instant I saw that I knew what we were going to be serving...

A local party/event rental store had a hot dog cart! SO PERFECT!

But is just wouldn't be complete without Slimer!

Slime Dogs!

I filled one of the ketchup bottles with green ketchup (aka: slime). Some of the kids loved it, others thought it was gross!

And you can't have a party without a dessert table anymore, so I did a pretty simple one because I wasn't feeling the greatest around the time of the party.

Slimed ghost cake and cupcakes

Chocolate covered oreos to match the color scheme

Marshmallow Pops

Slime jello

and ghost cake pops

I made silly little faces on each one just for fun :)

We also had some Ectoplasm to drink for those brave few...

I came up with a few activities that tied into the movie for the kids...

The kids built little Marshmallow Men out of toothpicks, various marshmallow sizes and colored them with edible ink markers.

Mason's Mallow Man!

Next was slime!

The kids loved this one! It doubled as an activity and a party favor. They got to make and color their own slime using a few ingredients. Then we put their slime in a little container with a logo to take home later.

Favor table

Ghost trap favor boxes filled with sour gummy candies

Proton Silly String Streams

I also made proton packs for all the kids out of gift boxes and other various items. These were the biggest hit of the party!

The proton cans attached to the triggers on the proton packs so the kids could pull the trigger and out shoot the beams.

All the kids suited up and going Bustin'

Around the corner at the park lurked....

the MARSHMALLOW MAN!!!

It was SO SO SO fun to watch the kids just attack! Silly string was shooting everywhere!

I think they got him alright!

Well that wraps up the party for the most part. Alot of decorations and ideas were simplified or completely left out because I was just icky, but it turned out fine and all the kids had a blast! But I have to give a HUGE thanks to Jenny of Bloom Designs for all her fabulous custom work on all the party signs and labels! She was so great to work with and her details were amazing! I hope you enjoyed a peak into Mason's 6th birthday party!

Vendors/Credits:

Party Styling and photographs: Sweeten Your Day Events

Cake, cupcakes and toppers, treats and cake pops: Sweeten Your Day

Hot Dog cart sign, activity signs, silly string can labels, invites, and cake pop tags: Bloom Designs

Hot Dog Cart Rental: Diamond Rental

Ghost Trap favor box FREE printable: CyberDrone

Ghostbuster costume, adult Marshmallow Man costume, and Slimer: Celebrate Express

Chocolate covered Oreos: Sweeties by Kim

Ectoplasm punch recipe: Recipe.com

I recently hosted a fun little 'Reindeer Games and Christmas Cheer' breakfast for my little church class for an end of the year party. All the kids came in their pj's and enjoyed some yummy food and fun games. Here are some of the details: Breakfast Bar

For breakfast we served all the Reindeer's favorite treats...

There was a mini hot chocolate bar also for the kids to enjoy!

Reindeer Crossing table settings

At each place setting there was a pair of plush antlers for the kids as well.

After breakfast is was time for some fun!

Pin the Nose on Rudolph

Don't eat the Reindeer...

Reindeer Roundup

Antler Ring Toss

After the games we had a little candy cane reindeer craft for the kids to make.

Our city has a fun little tradition were Santa rides around on a firetruck and tosses candy to all the little kids, this is always such a hit with the kids and was great that is just happened to be during the party as well :)

After all the games and Santa visit we headed back inside for the kids to make their own special blend of Magic Reindeer Grain.

Reindeer Grain has been a family tradition that I wanted to share with the other kids. Most people leave milk and cookies out for Santa so why not leave a treat for his Reindeer right?!? Usually we just use Oats and Glitter but I saw this idea of a Reindeer Grain Bar on the Dickerson Diaries and loved the idea!