Owen's 4th Birthday- Pirate Party

Well, my oldest child Owen is a big fan of pirates and octopuses. He decided that for his 4th birthday this past April that he wanted a pirate party with octopuses tied into it. For his invitations, I checked out the internet and got some great ideas. I decided to get some white cardstock and dip it in tea. When I ran it through the printer it came out looking very old, almost like a map. I wanted to burned the edges but figured that it would too messy. My mother in law drew some octopus and pirate pics for us and also made Owen's banner. I found the napkins and plates at Party City. I always get a pack or two of the theme printed napkins and plates but then I add some solid colors in to save money. Dollar Tree also had a lot of pirate decorations. I bought a fish net at Michael's and we attached some wooden fish and seashells that I had. I took one of the napkins and plates to the lady that was going to make the cake and told her we wanted the cake like the napkins but also to have an orange octopus on it. She definitely delivered, the cake was precious! She's also reasonable. I think I paid $28-$30 for half a sheet cake. We grilled hotdogs and had chips as well as gold fish. I made everyone telescopes out of empty toilet and paper towel rolls. Everyone in my family and even some of my patient's were saving them for me. We painted the toilet paper rolls black and attached a clear piece of plastic wrap with a rubberband on one end. It was a homemade telescope. I wanted everyone to have a bandana but it was too expensive, so I bought some pirate fabric at Walmart and my mother in law cut triangle and sewed the edges. For a game we went on a Treasure Hunt with a couple of clues around the yard. All the children did it as a group. I would read the clue and they would answer the question leading to the next clue. The last clue led them to the party favors- pirate goody bags with gummie fruit and bubbles tied with a tag thanking them for coming to Owen's 4th Birthday Party. The favors were in a little antique chest that I borrow from my parents. It actually looked like a little pirate chest. Owen had a big pirate ship that he got last Christmas so I used it on the gift table as a centerpiece. This was a fun party and everyone had a blast.

Polka Dot Parties

It's A Girl Baby Shower

I've hosted and helped with lots of baby showers. My favorite theme for a girl is Polka Dots. I found some imprintable invites at Party City with dark pink, light pink and lime green polka dots. They were precious! They also had a Die Cut Girl banner that you could attach to the card if you wanted to. One shower I chose just to decorate on the table with the die cut rather than attach it to the invitation. I found lots of websites with ideas for polka themes parties/showers. I had two different size circle scrapbook punches so I found some coordinating card stock that was the same colors as the polka dots on the invitation and cut out small and medium sized circles to use as confetti on the table. I also cut out some circles on the dark pink, light pink and lime green card stock by tracing some various round objects and hung them from the light fixture. For one shower we found someone to make the cake coordinating witht the invitation and the other shower we had petit fores made coordinating the invitation and spelling out "It's A Girl!". One shower had a baby carriage fruit basket and the other had fruit kabobs with polka dots on the end of the skewer. I love to make candy molds so I had some circle candy molds and used food color to make mints in the shapes of circles. I always like to make a clothesline on the fireplace using rope and then adding baby items to it and using ribbon for decoration. For favors ,I used Christmas Cookie Cutters and tied the Recipe for Motherhood to it.

Recipe for Motherhood

Ingredients Needed

1 Heart Full of Love

1 Head Full of Understanding

2 Eyes in the Back of YOur Head

3 Heaping Cups of Patience

1 Gallon of Generosity

1 Barrel of Laughter

Mix well. Sprinkle with kindness, add plenty of faith.

Heat with sunshine and spread generously over a lifetime for a

plateful of joy and a cup of warm memories.

Owen's First Birthday

Well, Owen was getting ready to turn one and I could not decide what to do for his birthday finally decided to have a John Deere Tractor and Farm Party. I really did not want to spend a lot of money on the invitations so I decided to make my own. I found a picture of a tractor and enlarged it and made copies of it on green card stock. I then talked to my mother in law who is very talented and can draw very well. She found some cardboard boxes and made a miniature farm with crops and animals.We place hay bales in the yard. She also got a refrigerator box and made a tractor for a photo op. We had little green tractors hanging in the garage and all over the walls. Wal-Mart had the cutest John Deere fabric which we use for the cake table and my mother in law sewed a little banner to go on his high chair. I found a lady to make a cake that in the shape of a tractor and then it looked like a field of hay for the second cake. He also had a smash cake with a John Deere miniature tractor on it. My mother in law also painted a banner to hang on the front of the garage. All of our paper products were yellow and green. For favors everyone received a shovel and bucket and some bubblies with a little green tractor tied to it saying "Thank you for celebrating Owen's First Birthday with us! April 22, 2006".

Intro

Here I go! I can't believe I am actually starting a blog. I have always loved to socialize. I love people! I love to entertain and I love to see my guests reactions when I host parties, etc. I love parties but I especially love how all the right touches can tie everything together. So I decided to start a blog to share my love for entertaining and planning parties, etc as well as hopefully giving some of you some ideas for your next party or get together.