Birthday Party Plans for 2013

Time to take a break from covering old parties, and get some of my ideas out for future parties. Alyssa will be turning 5 this year, and we've thrown around the idea of a rainbow party since her birthday last year. So Rainbows it is!

I want it to be a little different from the rainbow parties I've seen around the internet though. We don't just want all the colors but actual rainbows, clouds, raindrops, umbrellas, and rain boots. I'm thinking of making several white tissue pom poms for clouds then stringing cardstock raindrops down from them as the table backdrop. I've already gotten a huge rainbow colored umbrella and a few smaller umbrellas that will hopefully hang from the ceiling. I also plan to use lots of rainbow colored balloons, especially around the fireplace in the shape of a rainbow, of course! Alyssa has always loved her rain boots, and now the boys are following in her footsteps so we have several pairs around the house, including mine. :) We will use them as flower vases for sure. Everyone will be asked to wear their favorite color of the rainbow in the invitations that will more than likely be handmade by me or ordered from etsy.com. I'm thinking we may send home rainbow hair clips for the girls' favors and maybe bow ties or something similar for the boys. I have a whole list of food ideas, and Alyssa and I will just have to narrow the list down when the time comes. I always end up with way too many choices in the food department, and then kill myself trying to make them all. :) I can't wait to put this party together! It will definitely be something different for me because we normally have 2 or 3 main colors to work with not 6.

I do have a huge board on Pinterest for a rainbow party. There are just so many ideas out there. You can find it here.


Now for the boys I've been throwing around the idea of a Little Rascals party. Anyone remember watching this as a kid?

The kids have been watching it over and over for weeks. I can recite it word for word these days. The Little Rascals sounds perfect for 3 year old twin boys anyway, and it would make a very unique party theme. I've even Googled it and searched for another one on Pinterest and can only find one other Little Rascals party ever. I have heard that there will be another remake of the movie this year though, so that could change quickly. Either way, I kinda hope they continue to love it all the way to October because I'm really excited about this theme as well. I'm thinking of dressing Landon like Alfalfa and Alton like Spanky. Alyssa already says she is Darla. We will definitely have grape soda and crunchy peanut butter sandwiches and a jar of pickles. Cracker Jacks will make cute favors, and we will decorate with little red handprints, a "He-man Womun Haters Club" sign, and anything related to The Blur. My brain just runs wild thinking about this. Can't wait to jump into true party planning action!!

I may be around this blog a lot over the next few months, as we have no plans for any more parties or get togethers until the 4th of July. This will be the longest party break we've had in over a year!  So I'll be writing more to catch up on old party posts and throw out some ideas for new ones too. If you are interested in my "Future Parties" board on Pinterest, go here.

Alyssa's Sweet Shoppe

Alyssa's 2nd birthday party was done in a Sweet Shoppe theme. She had/has a huge sweet tooth, so it seemed like the perfect idea, plus I really loved the pink, green, and blue combo.

The banner was made out of card stock I already had lying around and some poster board stick on letters I had left over from a yard sale. I cut out the triangles, stuck the letters on, and then punched 2 holes in the top of each one to thread a ribbon through.

Guests carried home either a pink or green cellophane bag filled with rock candy, salt water taffy, gumballs, chocolate covered marshmallows, candy sticks, popcorn, skittles, mints, and animal crackers. The gum, taffy, candy sticks, and rock candy were all ordered online at Oh! Nuts. There I was able to choose the exact colors and how much I wanted of each kind of candy.

Remember the chalkboards from the wedding shower? They are now used over and over again at our parties.

The balloon bouquets were made with mason jars covered in tissue paper with ribbon tied around the top. Then I blew up balloons and tied them around thin dowel rods and just stuck them inside. They made the tables pretty and were super easy/cheap.

I hated that the stage had to be the back drop, so my amazing step dad spent like an hour and a half weaving and taping up streamers for me. It made it look much more put together.

We had chocolate, strawberry, and caramel toppings, along with nuts, sprinkles, crushed Oreos, Cool Whip, and cherries.

I always shop at Dollar Tree and Walmart for all tableware. I've never purchased a "themed" set, and it makes the parties so much cheaper. I usually pick 2-3 main colors for the plates, napkins, cups, etc.

Cake was made by Sharon Brock (the kids' and Alan's grandmother again ;) )

For this party I didn't actually buy Alyssa a special outfit. She just wore blue jean shorts and a nice white top. Then I  made her the huge bow to match her party. <3

A Daisy Wedding Shower

Although I can't take full credit for this event because my mother-in-law whipped it up in a very short two weeks, most of the ideas were my own. We used yellow gingham fabric in the center of each table with fresh daisies in mason jars on it.

The money tree was a branch that we spray painted white and hot glued into a piece of floral foam. We then put it in a small daisy tin that had rocks glued in the bottom to keep it weighted. We covered the foam with fake moss and hot glued daisies and yellow bows all over the branch. Clothes pins were used to pin the money to the tree.

We asked everyone to address an envelope, so not only would I be able to send out thank you cards very easily but also I'd have everyone's updated address from both families.

We used daisy candy molds to make the cream cheese mints.

Alan's grandmother (the same one that does the kids' birthday cakes) made the yellow icing and put it on the box cupcakes we had prepared. The candy daisies were ordered from a store on etsy.

This shower was simple but it all looked very nice once we had it all set up. 

Ladybug Birthday Bash

Alyssa's First Birthday Party-Ladybug/garden theme with red and black tableware, streamers, and balloons

Alyssa's smash cake was actually the top tier from my baby shower cake. We froze and saved it just for her. Then I added the butterfly the day of the party.

The kids' great grandmother makes their birthday cakes. They are always cute and delicious!

All of the tables had a green tablecloth, red and black confetti, and a terracotta pot full of red and black candies.

The wooden ladybugs came from the craft section at Walmart. I just used a silver Sharpie to write her name out on them and then strung them from ribbon.

Her balloon bouquet had a huge mylar ladybug balloon that I ordered online and lots of red and black latex balloons.

Can't believe this baby girl is 4 and a half already! She is wearing an apron from Dollar Tree that had a ladybug printed on it.

Once she had finished her cake, we dressed her in her party clothes. She had a ladybug bow and pillowcase dress from Honey Pie Accessories, and red toenails and ladybug earrings.

It being my first party I didn't even think to take photos before everyone dug in to the food. These pb&j sandwiches were offered on both white and wheat, and I spent the entire morning cutting them each out with a cookie cutter.

Ladybug cookies were Nilla wafers, red icing, and chocolate chips.

The "Bug Juice" was just red punch with plastic bugs from the Dollar store frozen into the ice. We did not actually put plastic bugs in any drinks because of the choking hazard.

My mother-in-law did face painting.

Back when we were a little family <3