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.

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!