Arrgghh! It's A Pirate Party!

My son Tripp and my niece Emilee were born exactly one year and 4 days apart. This year, they turned 5 and 6. My sister-in-law, Casey, and I decided this was a great year to do a joint party, and the theme was PIRATES! We planned a treasure hunt with different activities and games, and the kids had a blast!

We chose to do cupcakes for this party, and divided them on each side of the table for the two birthday kiddos. My sister Lisa made us some awesome boat cupcakes at the kids request. We also did mini candy bars, hot dogs, cheese cubes, black olive cannons and Root Beer.

After we opened presents and ate our cupcakes, the treasure hunt fun began! We started with a challenge to give their best, "Arrgghh! I am a pirate beware!" The prizes were eye patches and pirate bandanas. Next, we had the kids decorate foam pirate hats with foam stickers. The kids had a blast with this!

Birthday girl Emilee putting together her foam hat

Next, on to a game of Barrel Bowling! Instead of buying the game, we made our own :) We used a regular bouncy ball for the ball. We used large soup cans for the barrels, and I designed and printed labels for them.

After the game, the Captains received the first piece of the map. Next, we sent the kids outside to Walk the Plank! The kids all got so excited, they really ran the plank, rather than walked it. After walking the plank, they received another piece of the map.

Birthday boy Tripp walking the plank

After they walked the plank, we had them run a race. After this, they received the final piece of the map. They all sat down together to piece it together so they could follow it to the buried treasure! We also gave them each their own pirate telescopes. I created the telescopes from paper towel rolls, brown scrapbook paper, hot glue and gold duct tape. I didn't get a good picture of the telescopes, but you can see them in the picture below.

We made our own treasure chest for our little Buccaneers to find. We used a large cardboard box, sliced off the top, leaving one side for a hinge. We covered the whole thing with brown paper sacks, so it would all be the same color, and went over the edges with gold duct tape. It turned out so great! Thank you to Casey for doing all of the work! I forgot to get a picture with the treasure in it, but here is one before.  We put pirate swords, pirate tattoos and coin bags in the chest.

We all had such a great time designing, putting together and celebrating this birthday party!

This party package and invitation will be available in our Etsy shop soon!

Zombie Apocalypse Party available in the Etsy shop!

In February, I put together a zombie apocalypse party for my nephew's birthday. I decided to wait until closer to Halloween to add the party to the shop, so now is time!

The party is available here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/165608147/diy-printable-zombie-apocalypse-party

Here are a few of the photos from the party.

Hello Kitty 3rd Birthday!

My niece Kennedy decided that she wanted a Hello Kitty party this year. She looked absolutely ADORABLE in her little Hello Kitty outfit, which the party design was based off of.

I used the outfit for inspiration, and stuck with the colors from it as well. My partner in crime/sister, Lisa, made a Hello Kitty cake for the birthday girl. She used strawberry cake with strawberry preserves between layers. It was AMAZING! Here are some pictures from the party!

Hello Kitty cake my sister Lisa made. It was DELICIOUS!

 

 

Sneak Peek from a Back to School shoot

My son started Pre-K this year. I decided that I wanted to try something different than the typical school pictures, so of course I decided to put together a fun photo shoot with my son and some of my nieces and nephews. Here is a sneak peek!

A Bachelorette Party

Last week, I got the opportunity to design some party decorations for a Bachelorette party for a friend. Coming up with this design was a lot of fun, and so was the party! Here are a few pictures of the decorations.

When I got my pictures, the liquor bottle bouquet had
already been picked through ;)

For some reason, I did not get any pictures of the cupcakes, but I also made some cupcake toppers for the Bachelorette. They are shown below.

This party is available on my Etsy shop:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/158247773/bachelorette-party-printables-choose

75th Birthday Party for a Very Special Woman

I recently had the great privilege of designing a 75th birthday party for a very special woman, my husband's grandmother. I decided to go with an "A Few of My Favorite Things" theme. Her daughters helped me plan the event and gather information about her likes/favorites, etc. Her favorite color is blue, so we went with blue, gray and white. The tablescape featured signs with lists of her favorite things and activities and a photo of the birthday girl herself, Helena. One of Helena's favorite things is her family, so we made the family the main focus of the decorations. We hung twine all around the room and attached family photos to it with clothespins. The pictures ranged from recent to very old. This actually turned out to be one of the most popular features of the party. Guests loved walking around the room and looking at all of the photos, many of which had them in them. It was also really interesting hearing some of the older guests explaining to younger ones who each person in some of the older photos were.

All of the desserts and foods for the party were made by different family members. My sister Lisa and sister-in-law Casey got asked to make cupcakes, of course :)  We set up a photo booth to try and get photos of all of the families there to put together a scrapbook for Helena. We also set up a board with post it notes to let guests write down memories and some of their favorite things about the birthday girl. The younger kids had a great time drawing pictures for their grandmother, great-grandmother and great-aunt.  Not all of Helena's children and grandchildren were able to make it, but there was still a pretty good crowd and TONS of wonderful food.

Before the party, a memorial service was held for one of Helena's sons, David, who recently passed away. He was a very caring and compassionate man and an amazing son, father, husband, uncle and friend and will be greatly missed. My mother-in-law Cathy sang some beautiful songs for the service and family and friends told stories and read poems about David.


Here are some photos from the party.

I tried something a little different with the banner. What do you think?

I made all of the tabletop picture frames myself using glue, spray paint, mini clay pots and dollar store picture frames. The cupcake towers were made from Walmart plastic plates and wooden candlesticks that I spraypainted.

Helena's daughter Linda taking care of the guestbook table.

The birthday girl enjoying all of her visitors.

The kids had a blast drawing pictures and writing messages for the birthday girl.

Here is one of my favorite photos from the photo booth, one of Helena's three daughters who helped me put this party together. I just love spending time with this family. They are always smiling and laughing and have such a great time together, and have an amazing way of making anyone around them have a good time too.

I hope you had an amazing time Helena! We all love you very much!



Check out Bird's Party blog for great party ideas!
http://www.blog.birdsparty.com