Juno's party: {the activities}

Since we were having such a huge age range at this party (a bunch of little kids, some teens and tweens, and adults), I just put together a few little activities people could do (or not do) as they mingled and ate.

One of the traditions I am trying to start is a service project at each child's birthday party. Juno's service project was a no-brainer: we made cards for patients at Primary Children's Medical Center, where she had surgery earlier in the year. My kitchen counter was dedicated to this activity, with blank cards, a box of crayons, and tons of stickers to inspire our guests. I have a neighbor who is a child life specialist at PCMC, so the day after our party I rounded up all the decorated cards and dropped them off at her house for her to distribute to her patients.

I also used the counter to display some Juno-memorabilia: her hip abduction brace and scrapbook...

... and one of my favorite pictures of her and her body cast.



The other activity I had at the party was a photobooth. Yes, very trendy, but also fun. I provided this basket full of props (funny glasses, masks, headbands, a heart wreath, an empty picture frame, a clown nose...), a backdrop, and a camera, and everyone took pictures. I think everyone participated! I can't wait until Juno is old enough to appreciate the funny pictures her relatives took at her party.

I made the backdrop by painting a chevron pattern in party colors on a cheap plastic tablecloth from Wal-Mart. Cheveron is not fun to paint and I wanted to give up, but my friend Danielle gave me some advice and she has a great tutorial on her blog--so I made it through.

{Nature Walk} Party

This year Tempe had a Mermaid party to celebrate her 5th birthday... but for about three months, we were planning on having a nature walk party. It was pretty much all planned (luckily I hadn't started buying or making things yet) when Tempe changed her mind, but since I have all the plans... here ya go!

Tempe's favorite color is purple, so I decided to go with a plum and grass green color scheme, but this party would be great with cherry red and cream, too.
Activities
This party would be fine at a park or in the backyard, but I wanted to do something different. For weeks we looked for the perfect location and finally found it about 10 minutes away from our house. I was going to have all the kids meet at the trailhead of a local (paved) trail, where we would start off on a nature walk to the party location. Further down the trail was a picnic table in a lovely little clearing. I was going to go early and set everything up on the tables and then leave my sister there to guard them while I went to meet the kids.

While walking to the party location, the kids can look for the items on a nature hunt sheet and use stickers to check off the ones they find. I also planned on making some nature hunt sheets using pictures instead of words for the non-reading party guests.
After a leisurely nature walk, we would arrive at the party location. There were two picnic tables in the clearing I was planning on using, so I was going to have one table set up with all the food and the other set up with the craft. Wooden birdhouses are cheap and easy for kids of all ages to paint, plus they make a great party favor! In addition to painting birdhouses, I planned on suspending an empty frame from a tree branch with fishing line and having a basket with homemade gnome beards and hats for a photo booth. I also wanted to make this adorable acorn pinata and fill it with Tempe's favorite trail mix.
Food
I had so much fun coming up with a nature themed lunch! First of all, instead of using plates I was going to buy these berry baskets from Shop Sweet Lulu to nestle the food in. And what the heck, this is my fantasy party, so I might as well buy some glass milk bottles and stripey straws to serve lemonade!
Here is our menu:
"Snail" sandwiches (PB&J spread on tortillas, rolled up and sliced)
Ants on a log and ladybugs on a log (the ladybugs are cream cheese and craisins)
Pretzel "Sticks"
Tomato toadstools ( a chunk of string cheese with halved cherry tomato stuck to the top with cream cheese)
Acorn cookies (Nilla wafer and chocolate kiss stuck together with PB)
Angel food cake with fresh whipped cream and fresh forest berries
Decorations
It's really easy to find decorations that fit this party theme, because things like gnomes and toadstools are really trendy right now. I had a brown velvet tablecloth that was perfect for this party (in fact, I did end up using it at Tempe's Mermaid party). One of my enchanted treehouse toadstools was going to be the cake stand, and rocks from Tempe's collection and moss balls from Michael's and owl knickknacks that I've been collecting were going to be scattered along the table to set the mood. I have a big stick wreath--do you know what I mean by that?--that I wanted to hang from a tree branch and pin pictures of Tempe all over it. FInally, we have this cute wooden deer (well, really it's a reindeer) that we get out at Christmas time that I was going to use to put the presents in until it was time to open them. Just imagine it full of wrapped packages instead of a naked child.

Tempe is such a "nature kid" that this party would have been perfect for her--but I know there are more nature kids out there! I would love to see your nature walk party!

Tempe's Mermaid Nature Party

My sweet oldest daughter turned 5 today!

To celebrate, we invited 7 of her friends (and her best friend and sister, Helena, of course!) to a Mermaid Nature party.

The birthday girl in mid-blow!

For the cake, I just made a white two layer cake with swirly white frosting and sprinkled the top liberally with edible golden glitter. Don't you love those tall curvy candles??

Gorgeous "treasure" box is from D.I.

I made mermaid dolls for all the little girls to take home--my wonderful mother-in-law embroidered the faces for me. They weren't the most fun thing I've ever made, but they turned out cute, and they were a hit when I handed them out!

I know treat tables are soooo cute and trendy, but as a mother, I just can't bring myself to serve a whole array of treats at a party. So instead we had lunch:

Sandy shells and pearls: seashell pasta with peas and toasted breadcrumbs

Mermaid fruit kabobs

Blue Jell-O with Swedish Fish

Crescent rolls (Tempe';s favorite food in the whole world)

Mermaid juice (Strawberry Kiwi)

My sisters-in-law Katelyn and Corinne came over to help with the activities. Katelyn was on Mermaid Manicure duty, complete with shimmery lotion and "Mermaid Mist" (scented glitter spray).

Corinne helped out at the ocean sensory bin, which was the nature component of the party. I filled a large, shallow plastic bin with water, blue glitter, seashells, driftwood, and pearls. I also provided a table with a conch shell, magnifying glasses, tongs, and a brush to dust off the glitter. The girls examined the seashells and then picked pearls out of the "ocean" to make their own mermaid bracelets. It was a hit! The table was always crowded with little girls looking at shells through magnifying glasses or feeling around in the glittery water for pearls.

I also had a small bubble machine that I got at Wal-Mart for $6 going while the girls ate lunch. It sprays out hundreds of bubbles every minute, so it was like being surrounded by bubbles in the ocean. The girls loved playing in the bubbles!

As always, I tried to get the maximum amount of cuteness for the minimum amount of money when I was planning this party. I estimate that I spent $35-$40 on this party, a big chunk of that going towards the dolls. Luckily, I already had a lot of the decorative items and I was able to find some more at D.I. Things like the bubble machine and nail polish will be used many, many more times at our house, so I don't count them in my party budget.

{paper flower topiary tutorial}

One of the decorations I made for Brooke's bridal shower was a paper flower topiary. I saw one on display at Robert's and bought all the supplies on a whim, thinking it would be a good craft to make while watching "Modern Family".

Well, I did make it while watching "Modern Family". And "Law and Order". And the entire Thursday night comedy block on NBC. It was much more time-consuming than I thought it would be, but simple to make!

To make your own, you will need a styrofoam ball, a glue gun with a million gluesticks, about 8 pieces of patterned cardstock (or solid, if you prefer), a dowel, a pot, and floral foam to put in the pot.

Each flower is made out of a circle cut into a spiral. I cut my 12 x 12 paper into 4 long strips and then cut each strip into 4 squares--so they were roughly 3 x3 squares. You don't have to be exact. Then I cut each square into a circle and the circle into a spiral, like this:

Starting from the outside, roll the spiral up as tight as you can, keeping the inside edge even. When you get to the middle, give the flower a little squeeze and then let go. It pops open into a perfect little rosette. I didn't use any kind of pattern or plan when I started gluing--I just went for it. As you fill up the ball, you'll need some smaller flowers to fill in gaps. Just roll them tighter and don't release them before you glue them down. Your fingers will feel like all of the skin has been rubbed off, but keep going, because you're almost done! Covering the ball took me a long time. Don't forget to leave a small open area for your dowel! When your ball is covered, insert the dowel into the opening on the bottom of the ball, then insert the other end into your floral-foam-filled pot. Now that it's finally finished, sit back and admire it. Then make your husband clean up all the tiny scraps of cardstock and strings of hot glue.

april showers bring may flowers

Today my sisters-in-law and I threw a bridal shower for the newest member of our family--my brother-in-law's fiance, Brooke! They are getting married in May, and since it has been raining here all spring, we thought an {April Showers Bring May Flowers} theme was perfect!

For favors, I gave out packs of flower seeds with handmade hair ties. I originally made the hair ties as napkin rings, but we ended up serving all finger foods, so I just put them on the seed packets. I was able to find seeds 4 for $1 at the Dollar Tree. The chalkboard and wooden box (which says "Fleurs" on it, if you can't see) are both decorations from Juno's bedroom. Please excuse this horrible picture--I took a picture the night before and meant to get a better one in the morning, but I forgot. I got everything on this table from DI (except the scrapbook paper). I asked all the guests to write their best advice for Sean and Brooke on scrapbook paper squares and then at the end of the shower I put them all in a 4x6 photo album for Brooke to keep, along with a copy of the invitation and a few of their engagement pictures that I had on display.

The sign says "Words of advice for the love birds". Don't you love love love that frame?? I found a set of 3 at DI!!

I can't claim credit for this absolutely adorable idea (I saw it on U-Create Parties) but I was so happy with how it turned out!!! I popped out of bed at 8 am this morning to do it. The lanterns are from Tempe and Helena's room and then I cut the "raindrops" out of cardstock and used fishing line to hang them.

The rainclouds are hanging over my kitchen island, where we put all of the food. I didn't get a picture of everything all set up, and I've been kicking myself about it all day!

I did the decorations, games, and invitations, and my mother-in-law and sisters-in-law did all the food. We had chicken salad sandwiches on yummy croissants, a vegetable and fruit tray, delicious cake mix cookies with pink frosting, mini red velvet cupcakes, oreo truffles, lemon water, and strawberry punch with frozen mixed berries. It was so good!

For our game, I had Brooke answer questions that Sean had answered for me beforehand, to see how well they know each other. She did pretty well!

We had such a fun time celebrating and welcoming Brooke to the family!