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.

Happy Belated Birthday to Me!

You all may remember how much I Luhuvvvvvv my birthday. This year I seemed to skip over it entirely in the Blogoverse! What the what??!!

I spent the day with my parents and Ryan and the girls at the Michigan State Children's Garden. I love it there. We walked around then we plunked a big blanket down in the grass by the gardens. The girls played bubbles while I opened up my gifts then we went to Dusty's Cellar for lunch. Absolutely perfect day.





I have to share with you some of the loot I received because it was all too perfect and Girl Land-esque.

From my hubby from my new favorite store in Royal Oak (that I've still never visited), Scout:
A lovely new Pare umbrella from mes parents:

A super duper cute book illustrated by my fave, Marc Boutavant (yes, I love receiving children's books as gifts and have a stash that is OFF LIMITS to the girls-- but this one I share):

More Scout loveliness. This time Shinzi Katoh!!! Sigh. I love how the translations area always a bit off:

I'd never read this book before. If you knew my Q, you would know why my mama chose it for me. I love this book so much!!!

Look how creepy cute!!!! GACK!!!!

Wrapping paper from hubby courtesy of Scout. How perfect is this? Wait, the perfection gets even better...


THE CARD.
...and it was.

Lemon Meringue

I'm going a little nutty over the yellow + white color combination this summer. Case in point-- check out about 1/10 of my Michael's stash from today ($6.00 for this bunch):


Clockwise from top right: $1.99 seersucker headband for Q, $1.00 set of pencils, $1.00 tissues, $1.00 notecard set, and middle $.99 vanilla cupcake travel candle. The candles, pencils, and tissues will be "favors" for Viv's 2nd b-day with the in-laws next weekend.




Here's some cutie tootie ribbon ($4.00 for all). Isn't the middle one very Orla but in pastels? Yumz!


And here's my new FAVORITE summer fragrance from Bath & Body Works!!!! Doesn't look like they carry the lotion online, but you can get it in stores. The lemon vanilla is better than the others, but the berry vanilla scent comes in a close second. The scent kinda reminds me of something nostalgic. Mmmmmmmmmm....ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!


And here's my own little Lemon Meringue Pie in her pinstripe bathing suit from Target! <3


Happy weekending, all! xo