V's Carnival, Mustache, & Strong Man Birthday Party

So it was 6 months ago (May), but better late than never!  If you know my V, you'll know that she is quite the tomboy.  I struggle with finding any theme that she finds acceptable.  At some point, she pretty much always says, "Whatever, I don't care" AS LONG as it's not too girlie!

This year, we did a carnival theme-- aqua, black, red, and white, stripes and mustaches!  Last year, she was all about the 'staches.  So this worked.

We did a table runner of red and white striped wrapping paper (Party City) and Spritz brand (Target) mustache plates and red plates and striped aqua/white napkins.  I served corn dogs in cute aqua plastic baskets with red/white checked wax paper sheets.  For snacks, we had grapes, popcorn, soft pretzels with chive cream cheese for dipping, Swedish fish, cotton candy...

And I made these rootbeer float cupcakes!!!  They turned out soooo good if I do say so myself.  Got the idea from Pinterest of course.  

It's really simple, and I'm ALL about simple.  Mix a yellow cake mix as directed except substitute 1 cup of water with root beer & add one dram of root beer flavoring.  I used to be able to only find this at Joann's or specialty candy or cake making shops, but Michael's has recently started carrying the candy flavoring.

Make your favorite buttercream icing recipe (this is my absolute favorite recipe from The Repressed Pastry Chef) & add 1 dram root beer flavoring. Top with root beer hard candy or whipped cream & cherry & paper stripey straw cut in half.  If you are serving them right away, I prefer the whipped cream and cherry, but I knew these would be sitting out for a bit.

The stand came from Amazon.com (gotta love Prime).  I made these labels on Photoshop.  I got the strong man clip art online.  The cotton candy really held up!  I was a little worried, but I ordered it on Etsy from Candilicious Randolph.  Perfect!  I clipped them with colored clothespins onto a big strand of ribbon.  Eh, not the classiest presentation, but still turned out cute.

I designed the water bottle labels to match the cotton candy and popcorn labels:


 

 Activities were pretty lame, but I knew that they were probably going to be most interested in just playing.  We did coloring pages and make your own frame kits from Oriental Trading.  Ugh, never again.  Those things are the worst.  They probably just ended up in the trash anyways. 

I did the runner again down the center of the table.  In the center, I put this jar with tiny plastic top hats and clown noses.  The chalkboard label on the jar said "Wear Me".

They also did a ring toss for fun and ran around like crazy people outside.  For favors, I bought mustache favor bags on sale from World Market.  I bought mini whoopie cushions, fake mustaches, and candy from Party City.  I bought the circus themed rubber stampers from Oriental Trading, and these super cute pinback buttons from Distinct Designs Unlimited's Etsy Shop.

 


I love this pennant!!!!  It was adorable.  From Little Free Radical's Etsy shop.

I think it was safe to say that a fun time was had by all!

Night Owl 8th Birthday Party!

All I'm going to say is I'm the worst.  Let's move on.  I'm planning Q's French soiree birthday party next weekend!  But here is her 8th birthday Night Owl themed slumber party from last year.  I can't believe it's been like 2 years since I posted.  I'm SMH at myself.

She only had like 3 girls so I could go a little nuts with the favors and ideas.  Her colors were aqua, lime green, yellow, and navy inspired by a bunch of cute owl stuff I found last year at Michaels (dollar section!) in that color palette.  Here are the invites:

 

I bought the owl clipart from Miss Kate Cuttables.  I found a similar invitation on Pinterest (yes, I'm an idea poacher).

With the clipart, I made the favor tags and water bottle labels.  Feel free to use this label template for yourself!  Just click HERE to download a sheet of 5, and I like to print the labels on cardstock.  I cut them out and use clear packing tape to cover the ENTIRE label and wrap around the back.  It makes a waterproof-ish label.  Not like you could submerge in an ice bucket, but if water drips down the side, it doesn't smear the ink.  Please remember that these are for personal use only!

The cake was from a local bakery called Love & Buttercream.  Their cakes are good, but not as good as their FRENCH MACARONS.  Ack.  To die for.  Anyway, they matched the cake colors to the invites.

And I made owl cupcakes for Q to bring to school. Sadly, Q's school says no more treats from now on due to nut allergies.  :(  So no school bday treats this year.  These owl cupcakes are made with split open Oreos and Reese's Pieces!  Obvi, you could also use orange and brown M&Ms, but I didn't have to pick around colors as much with the Reese's Pieces.

  

 
Now to the favors.  Ok, I kinda went a little nutso.  Here's what I bought:

 

Row 1, Left to Right:
1.  Travel toothbrush & toothpaste (Dollar Tree)
2.  Fuzzy socks (Dollar Tree) & Hair Ties (Michaels-- 3/$1.00)
3.  Party blowers!  I bought the blowers at Dollar Tree & made the tags
Row 2:
4.  Back massager (Michaels dollar section) and stickers (local paper store)
5.  Cute small frame (Michaels dollar section)
6.  Owl erasers
Row 3
7.  Owl soap
8.  Notepad (Michaels) & pen
9.  Sleep mask (Michaels dollar section-- my fave item!)

Also, they each got a nightshirt that I designed and had printed at Overnight Prints:

AND (OMG, I know I went crazy) I found the most adorable Etsy shop, Gail Rene's Creations.  I picked out coordinating fabrics, sent them to her, and got these PERFECT owls back.  Gail is wonderful!  I had such a great experience.

We played owl bingo, they decorated pillow cases, and the girls watched "Because of Winn Dixie".  A fun time was had by all!  I think I like party planning more than my kids like their actual parties.  :P  No, it was her first slumber party, and I think she really enjoyed it.

Q's Bedroom & Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum

We took the girls to Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum. It reminds me of some cool place that Heidi might find and explore with her kids. It is literally 20 minutes from my house, and I had no idea that it existed.

It's a zillion old timey coin-operated machines-- some from the early 1900s and some from Coney Island. There are some newer games like Dance Dance Revolution and such, but of course, I was loving the oldies. And there were some CREEEEPY machines! I could not talk Q into having her bday party there in November. Booooo. Their favorite was the very realistic-looking dude who pukes. I know it's only fake puke (it's some sort of brown liquid), but I can only imagine how nasty the inside of that machine smells. Ew...now THAT creeped me out big time.

Here are some of my favorite pics:





And a video of Wally & Wanda, the Polka Babies:

Besides that, I completed my first Craigslist transaction!!! I got this super pretty French Provincial nightstand for $20 (!), and it's wanting a beautiful coat of turquoise paint for Q's room (like this).


Speaking of, here is the design board for Q's room:


Inspiration was taken from Lay Baby Lay's Little Girl Wonder inspiration board! I couldn't work the peach in there properly and Q wasn't feeling the peach anyway (she was allllll about the purple-- I could barely get the teal in there at all). But I think it will be good. I am bummed that her forest-themed room is already defunct, but once we get the attic playroom finished, those items will be transferred up there.

Hope everyone's weekend was swell!

There's a Thin Line...

...between narcissism and sentimentality. I always wanted a clone!!!! :)

(that's me on the left circa 1975 & V last weekend)

Full On Twerd: New Moon Party

As a follow up to my Twilight party, I had my New Moon party last night as it WAS a new moon per the lunar calendar (WARNING: much nerdiness ahead). Wait, it gets better...

I decided to gear this one towards my Team Jacob friends and show some TLaut love. The basement was decked out in Native American tchotchkes: dream catcher, crazy kitschy lamp and other stuff courtesy of my friends. Faux fur "pelts" courtesy of Joann's although that stuff is wicked messy to cut!
The framed New Moon quotes were from Jen at Hostess with the Mostess! You may remember I used her Twilight quotes too. I took advantage of her tip and used the Fed Ex/Kinko's store for laser printing-- you can upload and pay online then just go to your local store and pickup. Super cheap, easy, and they turned out beautifully.
Here are my lil' favors. Inside was a coaster/jar opener/mini mousepad. These things are the best. Also, Twilight phrase conversation hearts, a wolf pack tattoo sticker, and New Moon band-aids (we don't want to incur a papercut now, do we?).Food & Drink:

• Werewolf Kibble (puppy chow)
• Fire & Ice Shrimp (the spicy recipe is here plus shrimp cocktail)
• Bella is so Blue Cheese Dip (from Paula Deen)
• Quileute Crudite (just veggies)
• I had intended on Dog Bone shaped Crostini, but it didn't pan out, so they got oval. :)
  
• Olive You Both Tapenade (from a jar...good stuff)
• Hogs in a Blanket (as in motorcycle hogs, get it?)
• Pacific Northwest Fizz (my own concoction!) garnished with rosemary stems to look like pine boughs; consisted of rosemary infused agave syrup, lime juice, grapefruit vodka and club soda-- just kinda played around with the ratio.
  
• AWESOME werewolf cupcakes courtesy of Annie's Easts. My friend Al's niece (she's 17!!), Brooke made them for me and piped like a fiend in between studying for her ACT the next day! She is so talented. They were perfect.
• And my most favorite brainstormed idea yet-- Face Punch! It's just pineapple juice, ginger ale and lime sherbet. I am still cracking myself up over thinking of the name.
  
• Chocolate Twizzlers & brown/gold M&Ms

Also decided we needed a game, of course. I love Catchphrase and thought it would be great to get a Twilight-themed version. Lo and behold, iPhone has an app called Phrase Party where you can add your own custom word/phrase list! So I came up with a list of about 70 catchphrases like love triangle, stomach flu, eternal damnation, etc. TEAM EDWARD PREVAILED!!!

Prizes for both teams were packaged in a barf bag with Face Punch movie ticket stubs attached. I made them on this site! I used the actual date and location from the book. I just printed them out on cardstock and tore them on the side. They looked pretty cool. You can use my image below if you'd like!
Losers had REJECTED UNDER AGE stamped across the front (tee hee) and were filled with fake rubber Mike Newton puke and a package of mini marshmallows (since Jacob calls Mike a marshmallow, I thought it only fitting). The winning team had prizes inside like wolf charm earrings & zipper pulls, dog bone cookie cutters, Ciao Volturi Alice magnets, New Moon Pies, slap bracelets, chocolate bars with printable New Moon wrappers, etc.

You can see all my New Moon party pics on my Flickr page.

All in all, we had a great time!!! I am sure you all think I'm some crazy who takes this very seriously. I can assure you it's only the party planning I take very seriously. I don't care if it's a stinkin NASCAR party, I will be on that theme like Miley Cyrus on a middle-aged gay dude.

I already know next year's party is going to be a (SPOILER ALERT) Isle Esme tropical island theme and take place on August 13, 2011 which is Edward and Bella's wedding date (feel free to smile and back away slowly-- I won't hold it against you). HA!!!

Party Central

Just having a partial family party for Miss V's second(!) birthday, but I can't resist the opportunity to design some cute stuff. My parents are coming on her actual birthday, and Ryan's family are coming 3 weeks later to celebrate because it's also the date of Q's first ballet recital!

Front:




Back:

The backgrounds for both sides are from Maybemej Sporrong. I found her via Danielle Thompson. I am so in love with her site and photos and FREEBIES are dreamy. You may recall my previously posted Scandinavian Love. I think I may have been Swedish in a previous life.

Here's another invite that went out via email last week (tee hee):


Speaking of time flying, A) I can't believe I haven't posted in so long and B) next week, I am taking Q to Kindergarten visitation!!!!! She'll be 5 in November (and in Michigan, they have to be 5 by December 1), so we opted for her to start this year. That girl is READY.

Happy weekending all!! xo