Fairy Tea Party

We celebrated S.R's birthday over the weekend in fun fairy fashion.

All of the girls seemed to have a fabulous time with the fairy jewel hunt, the impromptu dance party and the goodies to snack on.

Everything came together like it always does...at the last minute when I feel as if I will collapse at any second:o)

 

The invitations.

pardon the white-outs...we all like just a tad bit of privacy:o) 

I usually email invitations, but this time I decided to print the invitations and mail them. 

I thought the fairy digital clip art was adorable.

All of the girls were to come dressed in their "fairy best". S.R. wanted me to make her a Queen Clarion costume. I used the Charlotte Apron dress as my base and built on top of that. It was a pretty quick sew, even with all of the extra details. 

And yes, that is snow falling in the background...it very rarely snows here, so we had to grab a quick shot outside. S.R. was a trooper, though, because she was freezing:o)

We kept the food simple for this party. Homemade vanilla cupcakes, homemade chocolate doughnuts, meringue cookies from Publix and Strawberry Lemonade.

The little fairy cupcake toppers came from Marshall's...a clearance score.

  The girls used these bags to gather their fairy treasure.

I'll share a tutorial on that soon.

Nothing says spring time and fairies like fresh flowers...especially tulips!

I'm so glad I caught this shot. Apparently "Happy Birthday" is one of the funniest songs ever:o)

This was the party favor table.

When it was time for the girls to leave, they took home one of these yogurt cups filled with bubble gum and a star lollipop. That idea came from the House of Smith's. That party was beautiful, and it definitely inspired several of the choices for this party!!

I also made this little outfit for her to wear under her fairy costume. You can find the tutorial on how to make the hopscotch skirt here.

We had a wonderful time celebrating turning 5! Thanks for stopping by today!

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Family Night-Despicable Me

 Almost every Thursday night we try to sit down as a family and watch a movie and eat lots of junk food. 

If possible, I try to have a theme where the food is concerned.

Since we were watching Despicable Me, I decided to try to make all of the food resemble minions.

When the movie first came out, S.R. referred to the minions as Tater Tots, so that was an absolute must for the menu.

 I found these cute little corn dogs at Publix, and thought they looked like little minions too.

 The minion Twinkies were the hit of the night. Can you tell which one was my first attempt;o)

I have seen these little guys all over the internet, but never took the time to find out how they were made. I did check for the list of ingredients, though. Through trial and mostly error, here is what I found out...

 *mini marshmallows, cut into thirds, are the easiest for the goggles, not the suggested SweeTarts.

*I used black gel icing, which I highly suggest against. It's way too runny.

 *It would have probably been easier if the Twinkies had been in the freezer a bit before icing them. That way the cake part wouldn't crumble as much. 

*On a positive note, the Betty Crocker pre-made blue icing was great to work with, and it tasted great! 

 I took very little time in putting these together, so they don't look all that fantastic. Thankfully the crowd was easy to please:o)

We had a fantastic night, and I am looking forward to many more family nights:o)

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50th Birthday Celebration

This past weekend, we celebrated my mother's 50th birthday. It was supposed to be a surprise, but you really can't pull the wool over my mother's eyes...she knows all:o)

Anyway, we put on a party to honor her. I was in charge of the decorations, and as most of you know, that is one of my favorite parts of a party:o)

We had a "memory table" with pictures of her when she was younger.

Here is the birthday banner I made that was supposed to be hanging. Unfortunately, the twine I was going to use to hang the banner was left at home..2 and a half hours away....doh!

 This was a dress my mother wore when she was a little girl. You can see her in it in the picture frame. **Back Story of the Dress**My grandmother made this dress for her. My great-grandmother used to work in a dress factory and she would bring the scrap fabric home. My grandmother pieced this dress together, and everywhere you see the black lace, that is where a seam was, joining the scrap pieces together.

 The gift table

Here my parents are walking into the festivities as we are singing Happy Birthday to my mother.

 My mother and me...

As part of the fun, we had a photo booth... 

My parents...being good sports:o)

The party food...gluten free and sugar free(except for the sugar cookies) My mother is a gluten intolerant diabetic, so a regular birthday cake wasn't part of the plan. The cake I made her, made with almond flour and agave, was a huge hit. I intended for her to be the only one eating it, hence the itty bitty size...but everyone had a taste, and were raving over it. Had I known it was going to be such a hit, I would have made a much bigger one:o)

 For the tables, I sewed 12 foot long table runners, and we laid them over the top of plastic table covers. I really try to stay away from those things, but because we had so many tables to cover, we needed something very inexpensive...thank goodness for the Dollar Tree:o) For the centerpieces, we had mason jars with pink and green glass beads, with a tea light inside, and twine wrapped around the mouth of the jars. The flower arrangements were in large pink goblets. 

There was a playground outside of the community center where we had the party, so all of the kids were out there running around...can you tell that it was unseasonably warm?:o)

As the guests left, they were to take home a packet of flower seeds.

Since it's very rare that we are all in the same place, and dressed nicely with camera in tow, we made time to get a quick shot of the five of us. My poor brother was doing his very best to stand upright. He threw his back out last week, and had been hunched over like an old man. He was a really good sport:o)

Everyone seem to have a great time, and we really enjoyed putting together a great party for our wonderful mother..

Happy Birthday Moma!

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Little of This, and a Little of That

I am finally back to normal again...well normal for me, that is:o) What a doozy that virus was! Phew!

Anyway, with this new found energy, I have been Mrs. Domesticate for the past few days. I have been cleaning, organizing, meal planning and party planning. The hubs has walked out of the house with a warm meal in his belly and a packed lunch for the past two mornings..oh yeah, he's getting spoiled...I better quit while I am ahead;o) Juust kidding:o)

I have been in the mood to redecorate something, anything really. However, we are still working on the backyard, so I am having to channel all of my DIY energy into the Wizard of Oz party I am planning for S.R.

By the way, she calls it the "Lizard of Oz"...LOVE IT!

For this party, I have been instructed that I will stick to a budget...a much smaller sum than what I have spent on previous parties...OUCH! 

I fully intend to stick to this budget, and I will possibly even share what that budget is and a break down of what I spent with you all..

 I am having to get extra creative when it comes to decorations and party favors since we had the "party-budget talk." 

I wanted to share a few things that I have picked up within the last few days.

You can't even imagine how excited I was to find these little ballet slippers at Walmart in the After-Christmas discount toy section. I had to go to 4 different Walmarts to get the 6 pairs I needed.

These favors have been the most expensive purchase so far at $4 a pair...not bad, huh...actually I got one pair for $3...I am not exactly sure why, but hey, I'll take it:o)

One of the real surprises about these shoes is that they have a little opening in the back, so hopefully everyone will be able to fit their little piggies inside:o)

 These little pups are the stand-ins for Toto. I can't seem to find a cute little black dog anywhere that is affordable, so these will do just fine. I found these little cuties at the Dollar Tree. I had to dig to find 6, but I only had to hit up one Dollar Tree store for these:o) 

The blue and white gingham fabric was a Walmart purchase. It is $2.72/yard at the one I frequent the most. I purchased 3 1/2 yards, and I am going to be making all of the girls aprons. I found a child's apron on sale at Kohl's the other day for $3, and I am going to use it as my template. 

I hope to have a full tutorial on that when they are completed.

I have a few other things, but they aren't anything to get worked up about...yet;o)

I hope you all are having a great start to the week.

I need to get off of here, so I can continue my duties as Mrs. Domesticate, and clean up the mess I made making peanut butter chocolate cupcakes before the hubs gets home:o) 

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Getting Ready for E's Super hero party

I am in the beginning stages of decorating for E's Super Hero Party. Blue, red, black and yellow are slowly creeping into my home decor. E knows that the day is nearing, and he can hardly stand it. Every morning he asks the same question...am I five years old yet? Can you tell he is beyond excited:o)

Things are going to be nuts around here next week. I learned from doing S.R.'s party that decorating a week in advance really takes the pressure off right before the big day. Plus, the kids get to enjoy the awesome birthday decor for longer than a couple of hours.

The poster isn't finished yet. I am trying to decide whether to put an E in the middle with the Super Shield, or do the number 5.

  I am thinking about selling it after the party, so that makes me want to lean towards the 5.

Any thoughts?

 I am still trying to figure out what to do with these lanterns. I got them from a yard sale a few years back. They are Pottery Barn and they came with a string of lights to go inside each lantern. They may be hanging from the chandy in the kitchen...who knows:o)

 Here is the Batman table runner I told you guys about the other day. It was really simple to assemble and I have the pattern for you to download HERE if you are interested. 

All you need is 1 yard of 44" fabric. 

Cut 2 strips 10.5" x 36" Use the pattern on the ends of the strips.

Download Here

 Stitch all the way around using a 1/4" seam allowance and leave an opening. Trim corners and curves, flip right side out, press, and sew a running stitch around the perimeter. Very easy!

You can get 2 runners out of 1 yard.

Alright then....

and this will be the food table.

I have several more decorations to put up including some over sized spider webs. They are actually Halloween decorations, but they fit perfectly since Spiderman is one of the super heroes.  

In other news...look what the hubs got me yesterday. Isn't he a sweety?

Oh yeah, I ran 3 miles this morning...wahoo...first time in like 12 years! I have been running with some friends. We(the hubs and I)are too cheap to pay a gym membership:o)

Happy Thursday!!

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Super Hero Birthday Party Inspiration

As you all may have noticed, I have been M.I.A. here lately. This summer has been jam packed full of things. Playgroups, swim lessons, family gatherings, and cutting hair have been filling my days. The laundry room still isn't complete. I haven't had time to finish it. Next week should be a little slower, so maybe I will get around to it then:o)

I thought I would share with you all some Super Hero Party inspiration that I have come across here recently. E has begged for a Spiderman/Batman/Superman birthday party....a.k.a. Super Hero Party.

I have been scouring blogland for inspiration, and here are some of my faves.

For those of you who are new to this blog, I always start planning the kids' parties 3 months in advance....I LOVE PARTIES!!

Aren't these some great ideas? To check out more from these fabulous parties, click on the links below:

Wonder Woman Birthday Party

Vintage Pop Art Super Hero Birthday Party

A Batman Birthday Party

Super Hero Birthday Party

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