Chinese Birthday Party

Last summer my daughter Lizzy had a Chinese themed Birthday party. For almost the entire year she had been in love with all things China. She pretty much knew that China would be the theme for her birthday 6 months ahead of time. 2011 was the year when everyone had small family birthdays and fairly simple decorations. We try to have low key parties every other year so the kids don't expect a huge circus of a bash every year, plus it  gives me a needed party planning break. :)

It was super simple and really fun! I purchased the takeout boxes,the fortune cookies, and the chop sticks at the dollar store. What really made the party special was when we ate the ramen noodles in the take out boxes with chop sticks! Oh and if you don't have a birthday to plan this would be a great Chinese New Year party idea.

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a last second birthday party

 My youngest son's 2nd birthday was in the middle of December and I'm ashamed to say it totally caught me off guard this year. I knew it was coming up all month but somehow when the day before came I realized I was under prepared. With the help of my daughter we somehow managed to get a good looking party thrown together!

  Lizzy was very helpful in choosing the colors of the steamers and putting them up by herslf. I made the fastest cake ever, cornflake marshmallow treats tossed into a bunt pan, & attempted to make orange frosting, but somehow it ended up being pink. It went great with the streamers so I went with it. The party hats were leftover from a party we had a few years ago.

The party decorations a cake were thrown together super fast but the thing I am most proud of is the super quick crochet doll I made of Perry the Platypus! He was instantly loved!

Pirate Party {annual family reunion}

As many of you know, my family goes all out when it comes to parties. Every July 4th we have a family reunion. This years was a pirate theme. It was fantastical! Everyone dressed up in pirate garb and we did various pirate things such as: having a pirate sing-a-long, painting tattoos, cannon wars, swimming, photo booth and much more. Before the day of the party many of us went to see the Real Pirates Exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, where we got to touch the only real pirate treasure discovered in U.S. waters, and learn about really real pirates. It got people in the mood for the party. I though it was interesting when we learned that many became pirates to have freedom from slavery or dictatorship. We all feel so blessed to be living in the land of the free where we can have the freedom to worship God as we please, and where we are able to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, free from oppression or fear! (In other words, we have no need to become real pirates at this time, but it's fun to pretend)! :)

For the party my parents transformed their patio deck into a ships' deck. The jolly roger was hoisted up on the mast and the below deck area was designated for the grand kids to play as the ships' cook, making all kinds of fun creations with Grandma's collection of food toys.

In the Muppet Treasure Island movie (a family favorite) a silly half-whit character (played by Fozzie the Bear) refers to the ocean as the big blue wet thing. Therefore we thought it both hilarious and appropriate to put a sign by the pool that said "big blue wet thing". Swimming and playing on the slip 'n' slide are always things we look forward to when visiting grandma and grandpas house!

My Brother and Sister-in-law set up an awesome pirate trading post. They brought a collection of inexpensive or thrifted pirate-y treasures for the kids to take by trading rocks and other found objects. This was a huge hit with the kids. They were so enamored with the fact that they could really keep the fantastical treasures they traded for. So fun!

There was a  pirate ship water table for the youngest buccaneers to play at (which they loved), and each grandchild received a bucket of booty to take home. Our inflatable pirate dummy joined in all the fun and his pirate-y presence was just what the party needed. Probably the best thing of all was that my dad built working cannons from black PVC and fire extinguishers! The extinguishers created realistic looking smoke as they propelled Styrofoam balls all the way across the the yard! We had such fun battling it out in cannon wars!

Dead Man's Tree was so much fun. Branches were cut and cleared out under a huge pine tree creating a magical hollow where the kids played with pirate action figures. I remember crawling under that tree as a little girl pretending it was my secret hiding place. It was really great seeing my kids play under there, too-- pure magic! Now that it is trimmed and cleared out, adults can go in and even stand up! From the outside you would never guess there was so much room.

Dinner was served at a long table under three white tents. Pirate lanterns and seashells decorated the table, and candelabras were hung under each tent. We had a yummy variety of toppings to put on our hot dogs.  I never thought peaches would be good on a hot dog but I was surprised to find that, combined with the right toppings, it was my favorite. It was delicious!

For dessert we ate red white and blue dipped strawberries. I loved these! Just looking a the pictures makes my mouth water. (My friend, Liberty, created an amazingly fun pirate cake--complete with chocolate cake ship with sails, and swedish fish swimming in the "ocean", but I neglected to get a good picture of it).

I took it upon myself to make sure everyone was tattooed. It was really a fun little quest of sorts. I went around with a paint brush and a bottle of black craft paint and asked if anyone needed a tattoo. My brother-in-law Jon got really into it and came back more than once for more tattoos.

I manned the photo booth where people dressed as pirates to pose for the camera. Many of us just wore the costumes we came in and that made it even better! Everyone got really creative. Some came in hand-sewn, cute matching outfits and others came in thrift store finds that looked super authentic. The photo booth was pretty popular and by the end of the day my feet hurt from standing behind the camera almost the whole time. 

Then Jon (my brother in law who happens to be a superb actor) took all the kids on a treasure hunt! He spoke like a pirate and was in character the entire time...it was pretty hilarious! I didn't get any photos of it because it was at the point where my feet hurt and I didn't want to stand any more.

I think this is the best reunion party we have had so far! We all got really into it and had a great time! I can't wait 'til next year!

Pirate party preview

I just wanted to give you a little peek at our family reunion pirate party.
There were cannon wars, a photo booth, yummy food, burried treasure, and lots of fun fun fun! Be sure and come back, there are many more pictures to come!

Easter In Colorado

Since it was mothers day yesterday I thought it was fitting to showcase my mothers lovely Easter dinner party. 

 As you may already know a few weeks ago we hopped in the car for a road trip to see our families in C0olorado. On Easter Sunday my mom created four incredible table spreads as well as cooking a delicious meal of ziti pasta.She decorated each place setting with personalized chocolate dipped home made marshmallow eggs! These were the mos wonderful marshmallow I have ever tasted! Much of my family was there and It was a night filled with games and laughter.

 The room above is the sun room and it is so bright a cherry! In the center of the table is a beautiful little house. You can't tell from the pictures but it was made to be a bird house! The rest of the table covered with grass and colorful eggs. I think I am in love with those scalloped blue plates!

Above is the living room It was so romantic and pretty. My mom decorated this table with pink grass, budding spring branches, and giant paper mache chocolate bunnies that looked read enough to eat! We left the pom poms up from the boxed lunch picnic shower, since they were so pretty. This is the room where Trent and I ate, we loved it! :)

Easter baskets for all the grandchildren were filled with delicious home made confections such as: chocolate dipped marshmallow eggs, jello popcorn, pretty paper carrots filled with m&m's, and chocolate dipped peanut butter eggs! My sister D-llyn made the paper carrots and the peanut butter eggs. :) Thanks D-llyn those peanut butter eggs were THE BEST! I ate more than I am willing to tell  :)
The kid table was awesome (pictured above at the bottom right) It had a lovely spread of beautifully colored hard boiled eggs that the kids happily devoured while waiting for the main course.

In the dinning room the table was decorated with a beautiful garden of ivy. A ceramic cookie jar sat amidst a lush spread of live ivy. Beautiful! Later the teensy terracotta pots were filled with live flowers. (I took the photo too soon). Along with the personalized chocolate eggs each guest got a goody bag full of yummy treats!

Thanks you mom it turned out so awesome!

I love you mommy!

• Thank you for being my best friend!
• Thank you for giving me 8 more best friends! (my siblings!)
• Thank you for teaching me how to throw a real party!
• Thank you for teaching me whats right.
• Thank you for spending weeks meticulously sewing my prom dresses and wedding dress!
• Thank you for making my wedding reception be PERFECT! (and it was).
• Thank you for being a good example.
• Thank you for teaching me what is means to be a good mom!
• Thank you for teaching me to pray always!
• Thank you for teaching me to LOVE the scriptures!
• Thank you for shouting "I love my family" at the top of your lungs all the time growing up.
• Thank you for holding my had at church a few weeks ago!
• Thank you for being you! 

(Honestly, this list could go on forever!)
I love love love love you mom! XOXOXO


I hope you all had a great Mothers Day yesterday! 
Thanks for stopping by.

Cinco de Mayo FIESTA!

 I was so excited the other day when I saw Dana's EASY way of ruffling streamers! Sooo much easier then doing it my way thats for sure! I knew I wanted to have a Cinco de Mayo fiesta especially with Dana's streamers, and all the awesomeness I have seen from Confetti System. I went to work this afternoon and created a little fiesta in my dinning room!!!

 

 

Hope you have a great Cinco de mayo as well! :) Thanks for stopping by!!

Boxed lunch picnic party!!

 Ever since we decided to visit CO for Easter I knew I wanted to throw my big sister a surprise baby shower. I spent months dreaming up ideas, I really wanted it to be perfect. She is my oldest sister and has always been a role model of mine. :) As a girl whenever I felt crumby she was always there to pick me up and say something nice and encouraging to me. Seriously, I owe much of my self confidence to her! Love you D-llyn!   Since she is expecting her fifth child I felt she needed a huge party! But instead of the traditional baby shower I wanted to celebrate her, so I decided to call it a mommy shower! I was really wanting to do a picnic party on the grass but it was FREEZING that day so we did it inside. :) I think it turned out so pretty, maybe even better than if it had been outside. 

The decorations were a collection of the prettiest pink pom poms ever and the cutest confetti garland. My sister Annie Carie made the pom poms using Martha's method, and made the confetti garland by punching circles out of card stock and sewing them together. They really made it feel like a party. We loved them so much we left them up till Easter, and might be there still. :) Since I love origami boxes I knew I had to incorporate them into the party some how. When I was brainstorming with  Annie Carie, & she mentioned doing boxed lunches, I just about screamed! Origami boxed lunches, it was meant to be! And I had just the right wallpaper for the job too, yellow gingham! I decorated each box with a tissue paper sash that was held closed with a clothes pin, and the name tags were made using my easy DIY doily instructions.

First we all yelled "Surprise!", then we sat down to eat our boxed lunches.  Each of the boxes was stuffed full of these goodies: a ham sandwich, an orange, a strawberry cupcake, & 2  powdered sugar doughnuts. So Yummy!! Next we played a candy guessing game. It was full of fun and laughter. I was terrible at guessing but somehow got candy anyway. ;)

Because the yellow and pink color scheme reminded me of pink lemonade, that's what I planned to drink. All they had at the store was kiwi strawberry, still yummy though. I used my moms cute white pot to put the drinks on ice. Isn't it the best? I want one just like it!  We had such a fun time! 

Hope you had a great Easter I'll post photos of ours soon, my mom always makes the best table-scapes. Thanks for stopping by.

A mint themed birthday party

My baby boy turned one Tuesday, so we threw him a little party.  My inspiration was a little red and white striped outfit I have been wanting to make for some time. I wanted him to wear it for his birthday pictures and the party stemmed from that into a mint theme. Green mint frosting and red and white striped peppermint decorations. We made the party hats way last minuet and they ended up adding so much to the party.

Harry Potter birthday party

With Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part one coming out, and the fact that my daughter's birthday was three months ago already, I thought it was about time I posted her Harry Potter Hogwarts birthday party. :) 

I set up a table to look like the Honeydukes Sweets Shop with lollipops, marshmallow wands, Snitch petite fours, and Hedwig owl cupcakes. (I know my fellow Harry Potter fans are disappointed because there aren't any licorice wands, like in the books, but we were on vacation; what can I say?)

Of course we decorated with the red and gold colors of my daughter's favorite house. Go! Go! Gryffindor!


My mom made the owl cupcakes based on the those in the adorable book Hello Cupcake. Since we wanted our owls to look like Hedwig we used butter cream frosting and generic vanilla Oreo's instead of the classic Oreo and chocolate frosting used in the book.

We set up my mom's party tents and had different Hogwarts classes underneath each tent.
In Potions class my husband taught the kids how to make slime using borax and glue. Super easy to make, you can find the recipe here.  This ended up being a huge hit with the adults as well and the kids.

In Charms class my sister gave each kid a sparkler and we practiced different incantations and proper wand waving.

For Quidditch class we used pool noodles as brooms. The birthday girl got to be the Seeker and ran around trying to find the Golden Snitch, a little ball that was hidden in the yard. We even had Chasers, Beaters, and Keepers of sorts. We played with a few 3-year-olds who mostly just ran around; the rest of us tried to play as correctly as Muggles can. Confused? Here is how to play.

 (Here is a different version where someone acts as the snitch and runs around trying not to get caught. It looks like a lot of fun).

 My brother-in-law Jon even made us some really yummy home made Butter Beer (a warm butterscotch/ rootbeer type drink). Really, really yummy! Thanks, Jon!

What a fun time we all had. 

Here is a fun little note: While at the grocery store last week my hubby and daughter got free movie tickets!  Seriously! All they did was stare at the Harry Potter display in the store front and the manager came up and offered free movie tickets to the special pre-opening show. He said he could tell that our daughter was a really BIG fan and thought we would appreciate it. And we do! In fact I'd better go and pick up those tickets right now. :)

My Alice in Wonderland tea party

Ever since Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland came out this spring I have been so inspired by all things Alice. At first I thought I would throw my daughter an Alice party but she was set on having a Harry Potter birthday (I'll blog about that soon, it turned out great!) So, I decided to give myself a party. My birthday was about a week ago & I am now 28.

I made the doily garland by simply folding oval doilies in half and hanging them on crochet thread I had strung up. The doilies are from the dollar store.

I went to many thrift stores and antique stores searching for the right "Drink Me" bottle and I finally found the perfect one at an antique store while on vacation in Loveland, Colorado. I bought tags on Etsy from Caramelos artful supplies and hand wrote "drink me" and "eat me" on them with a brown colored pencil.

Check out this amazing glass box that I found at the same antique store in CO. Inside is a fake chocolate petite fours(Is that how you spell it?) made from salt dough. Later my girlfriend made me a super yummy Chocolate cake with Oreos crumbled all over it! Thanks Emily!

The place settings are super simple but they turned out looking so cute. The plates are pink paper plates by Martha Stewart. I found them in packs of 8 at the dollar store a year and a half ago so I stocked up. Then I put tea cups on each plate with tags that said "eat me".

In the middle of the table are book pages, old door hardware with key holes, an old tea set, and antique keys to keep the Alice in Wonderland theme going.

Hope you enjoyed my little tea party and I wish you a very merry un-birthday! :)

Independence Day Luau

Every year my family gets together for the 4th of July. Our mother chooses a theme and creates a party to remember! Last year we had a tea party theme and the year before that was a cowboy theme, and the list goes on. The photo above shows a plate full of what we call Hawaiian Haystacks. It is made by topping pineapple, green onions, tomatoes, coconut, chow mien noodles, cheese, chicken, and creme of chicken gravy on white rice. YUM! We are always impressed at how well our mother can throw a good party. There are always fun activity's and great food. Now you know where my sisters and I get our passion for party planing! Here, here, here, here, and here are just a few party's my sisters have planed.

My mother handmade the surf boards and attached grass skirts onto handmade tables to create this beautiful scene. We took photos in front of the surf boards and when we were done she put them on top of straw bales for extra seating. Genius!

Another fun thing my mom did was make solar ovens to cook s'mores! The tinfoil reflects the suns heat into the box lined with black paper. Apparently she has cooked cookies this way as well! Below is a tutorial for how to make a solar oven from a pizza box. I found it on Youtube for you.:)

What a fun party! Can't wait till next year! (I hear it is a pirate theme! ARR!)