Love Journal

When my husband and his sisters took on the heartbreaking and arduous task of going through his mother's  belongs after she died, they found journals she had written about her children. There weren't that many entries, but I thought how beautiful that is. So I decided that I would do the same when I had kids. A year later when I was pregnant my husband bought me a journal. However, it wasn't until my first baby was born that I began to write in the journal. I just pour out my heart to my kids. I write how I see them and how much they mean to me. I feel overwhelmed by the love I have for them and I want them to always know how much they are loved.  Writing is a powerful thing, I show them everyday that I love them and I tell them often, but once something is written down the truth embedded in the message becomes solidified. I hope that when I pass they will find these journals a comfort to them as well. I don't write everyday, it is more a spontaneous action and I haven't decided when I will give them the journals. Maybe I will wait and give them one when they graduate or get married or have their own kids.  I guess I have some time to decide.

Journal topics
My love for them
My perspective on their personalities
Major milestones in their lives
Things they do that make me proud of them
Their birthdays

You are my sunshine birthday party

At first this was going to be a fun in the sun party. I began to search pinterest for a fun in the sun party and stumbled upon you are my sunshine. I fell in love. This theme epitomized what I felt about my baby girl. So I changed themes and My little one's first birthday theme became you are my sunshine. I really liked this theme. We used pink, orange and yellow for the color scheme and it came out better than I thought it would. We also used the the create a critter cartridge from cricut to create most of the decorations.

The Outfit

She wore a tulle skirt with a white onesie (for the photo shoot), a yellow shirt (for her birthday party) with a large flower attached to a head band.  So cute!

Dessert table

We combined the cake table and candy table.  Behind the cake table we hung a sign that had the lyrics to you are my sunshine.  One of the favorite treats of the table was the sunshine chocolate covered oreos.

The high hair and the cake

We used tulle around the tray and created a sign with her name on it.  She had a two-tiered cake with a fondant sun on the top.  We also served cupcakes to the kids.  The cupcakes were topped with sun pics.

The Mantle

We placed pictures of our little one from her first birthday photo shoot on the mantle a long with lyrics to you are my sunshine.  The sign on the mantle said Our sunshine the sign above the mantle said happy first birthday. We created a tulle wreath for above the mantle and for the door.

Fruit Tray

We created a sun out of pineapples and raspberries.  Next time I would and Mandarin oranges around the edge of the sun to make it more defined.

Plasticware

We wrapped the eating utensils in a paper napkin and created a napkin ring out of ribbon and a paper sun.

Outside Decorations

We created a tulle wreath and yard signs to greet guests as they arrived.  To create the tulle wreath bend a wired hanger in a circle and use a wire cutter to cut of the hook. Then cut the tule to the desired length and tie around the hanger. The yard signs were created from the pendant and create a critter cri-cut cardridge.

Balloon towers

I love how this birthday turned out.  You are my sunshine is a great theme for any little one.  They are only one once and so precious, it is such an honor to demonstrate how much we love our little ones.  Please share your ideas for a You are my Sunshine party.

Brave Birthday Party

It has been so long since I have posted any ideas.  My life has just taken off. I don't have much time now that I have a 6 month old and a 5 year old. To all of you mothers out there, I just want to say kudos! You are awesome. So it is that time of year again. My oldest's 5th birthday just passed and I like to share some of the fun things we did. I got most of the ideas from Pinterest! Oh how I love Pinterest.

             

Will o' the Wisps

  

In the movie, wisps led Merida to the crafty carver and to the site of the former king turned bear. They led Merida to her fate. I created "wisps" to direct guests to the front door. They were made from a blue balloon covered with blue cellophane. I tied curling ribbon around the bottom of the balloon and cellophane. Then I cut a small whole in the tail of the balloon and inserted a golf tee to hold them down on the ground. 

 The Cake
 

 A Merida doll was inserted in the cake and covered with fondant. The accessories came with the doll. The doll was washed and then wrapped with plastic wrap before being placed in the cake. The cupcakes were bear claws made with chocolate frosting and almond slivers. The little cakes were a take on Scottish sweet bread. They were made from 6 inch mini rounds and covered with warmed vanilla frosting topped with a cherry. The three black bears are just toys.

Candy  Buffet

   

I just chose a few different candies in the color scheme that I was using and placed them in clear containers. There were also cookies and cake pops. 

 Games 

Triple Haggis Toos

  One of my favorite parts of the movie is when the triplets are supposed to eat their haggis and they just don't want it. I used our Monster toss game to create the Triple Haggis Toss. Kids toss haggis (bean bags made from nylon stockings and raw pinto beans)through the holes in the board. I added pictures of the triplets and their names to the back of the board. Natalie loved this one! 

 We also played miniature golf, since golf was invented in Scotland, caber toss and archery. 

 Decorations

Centerpieces

   

The Mantle

The Mantle consisted  pictures of my daughter in her brave costume and in a frame a saying that I would always want her to remember.  Always remember you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem and smarter than you think.  Around the mantle is the Be Brave mini banner from printabelle.com.

Happy 5th Birthday

 I created targets for the centerpieces and I used Georges and Basic Shapes on the Cricut to cut out the squares for the Be Brave and Happy  5th birthday sign.  The background of the Happy 5th Birthday sign was plaid, another tie into the Scottish theme of the movie/ party.

Candy Carnival

For my daughter's third birthday we decided to do a Candy Carnival. I had the idea of having a carnival and decided to add the candy theme after my niece's Candy Land birthday party. I saved most of the decorations from September to February in my Garage. I am surprised they lasted that long. Helen made most of the decorations for the Candy Land decorations and helped me repurpose them for my daughter's birthday. So my advice to you is to repurpose as much as you can.

Food and Drinks Signs

We made "lollipop" signs for the food and drink station. I gave the guests a popcorn tin filled with a brocure with all of the games and stations they could visit and fake money that they could use to buy food. At the food station (my kitchen) they could by hot dogs, hot links, chips, nachos, soda, popcorn and cotton candy.

Swedish Fish Toss

There is a gummy candy called Swedish fish. We used that theme for a couple of games. In honor of one of my favorite carnival games we had a Fish Toss. If you notice there is a giant lollipop behind the table. It is simply two paper plates glued together with a dowel in between the two plates. Then the plates are wrapped in tissue paper for color and then wrapped again in cellophane. Tie a ribbon around the cellophane to hold the cellophane in place.

Swedish Fishing Pond

This one was my daughter's favorite! Cover a bucket with a blue table cloth for the "pond". Cut out fish from card stock (Of course we did this with the Cricut) and place a paper clip on them. Then take a wooden dowel and wrap yarn around the tip and hot glue in place. At the end of the yarn tie a washer (which you can get at the local hardware store) to the end. Then hot glue a magnet (I got a fairly strong one at the hardware store) to the washer. I hot glued the magnet so that it would not get lost.
Safety Tip: Do not allow children to take the magnet off the string and play with it. If swallowed magnets can cause serious damage to the intestinal tract.
Gum ball Toss

The object of this game is to toss the "gum ball" (ping pong ball) into the plastic cups. We cut out small circles and placed them on the bottom of the cups. Then we covered a piece of foam board with wrapping paper. Note spray glue adhesive to the foam board and quickly place and smooth the wrapping paper on the foam board. This takes two people. Then glue the plastic cups to the covered foam board. Place the foam board with the cups on a small table.

Chocolate Pond Toss

Use a brown table cloth to cover a few boxes of various heights. Then place lilly pads a bowl and a flower inside the bowl. Kids are to toss a frog inside the bowl.

Candy Monster Toss
We used the monster toss game my husband found online. We just told the kids to feed the candy monsters as much candy as possible. The bean bags were the candy.

Sweet Prizes

I picked up inexpensive prizes months before the party.

Other Games
Gum drop bowling. Decorate a hallway with gum ball cutouts and create a bowling alley with a plastic bowling set.

The Cake
Helen made a cake and cupcakes. The cake has different candies as the edging and I bought small swirl lollipops and that was used as the topping for the cupcakes.

Tangled

My daughter loves the movie Tangled. She watches it all the time, in fact she is watching now as I work on this blog entry. So of course when I asked her what theme she wanted for her birthday she replied RAPUNZEL! I got great ideas from the blog paging super mom. If you are doing a Tangled theme party you have to check that site out.

Centerpieces

On a trip to Disneyland Natalie took a picture with Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. She was a little nervous, but loved the picture. I placed them in glass vases with silk flowers. I also took pictures of her Rapunzel's dress with Pascual and placed those in the vases. This is quick and easy way to make a centerpiece.

Games

"Toss the apples to Max"

If you've seen the movie you know that Max loves apples. One of the games was toss the apples to Max. The kids toss plastic apples in the basket for Max. I used her stuffed Max doll. You could easily use a picture of Max and place a basket in front. You can find apples at your local discount or craft store.

"Bring them to the Tower"

On a wooden dowel I attached a picture of Rapunzel, and yellow yarn for hair. At the end of the hair I tied a knot and glued a magnet to it. The I printed out pictures of Rapunzel's friends, Flynn Rider, Pascual and Max. I put paper clips on each of the friends. The object is to pick up each of Rapunzel's friends.

Snuggly Duckling Toss

I placed floating ducklings in a tub of water with a fishbowl. You may need some type of weight in the fishbowl. The object of the game is to toss a ping pong ball in the fishbowl.


Pin the frying Pan on Flynn Rider

This is a take on Pin the Tail on the Donkey. You can get the frying pan cut outs at Paging Super Mom and have someone draw the poster. Disney also has activity pages with Flynn Rider. You just have to draw in a nose and go to a copy store to make a poster sized version of the activity page.

Decorations

For the Mantle I placed pendants on a garland of silk flowers and pendants on the mirror. The pictures were pictures of the birthday girl in various sized frames

In the living room I repeated the pendants and silk flowers.

I placed lanterns on the ceiling of the family room.

The fabulous cake, by Helen
Helen pulled out all the stops on this one. She created the tower and the landscape around it. I bought figurines from the Disney Store that she put on the cake. Helen also recreated Attila's cupcakes!

It was a great party and my daughter loved it! That is what it is all about.

Strawberry Shortcake!

My niece loves strawberry shortcake. She has even unofficially changed her last name to shortcake. So of course she wanted a Strawberry Shortcake birthday party. She loves Toy Story just as much, but Strawberry Shortcake won out.

My niece dressed as Strawberry shortcake
My sister bought the wig and Helen made the tule skirt and an iron-on strawberry shortcake t-shirt.

The Cake

Centerpieces

This one was repurposed from the fairy party.

This one was repurposed from my sister's baby shower.

Reusing things you already have is a great way to have nice decorations, but staying within a budget.

Napkin holders

Use the circut to cut out any shape and glue to a piece of ribbon and then glue the ends of the ribbon together and voila!

Cake Pops!

The cake pops were molded into strawberries.

Buzz Light Year- To Infinity and your backyard!

Early this year, a family friend asked Helen and I to make some games for a Buzz Light year party. It was too cute. Here are some of the ideas that we came up with and Helen made the cake!

Buzz Light year Cake and cupcakes

Alien Knock Down

This object of this game was to knock down the cans. For this game you have to save the cans you get from canned food. When you open the cans use a hand can opener that removes the entire top and does not leave sharp edges. Next clean the cans. Then glue the top back on the can and wrap black scrapbooking or construction paper around the can. We cut the little green men characters out of Toy story wrapping paper and glued them to the center of the can. You can use stickers too.

The Claw!

The little green men in Toy Story were in aww of the claw. So we hot glued two plastic bowls from a dollar store and cut a opening in the center. Helen bought a bucket of little green men, a buzz light year and an Andy figurine. Then we put all of the toys in the plastic bowls. The kids had to use tongs (the claw) to get the figurines out.

Galactic Rings

This game is a simple ring toss game. We took the toy story wrapping paper and wrapped a piece of foam board. We also sprayed glue on the foam board to hold the paper. Next we did glued water bottles onto the board.

Space Ranger Toss

The object of this game is to toss a ping pong into the clear plastic cups. Again we glued and wrapped foam board with the wrapping paper. Then we glued little plastic cups onto the board.

To Infinity and Beyond!

This game is just a cardboard box wrapped in black wrapping paper. We cut holes out of the top of the box. Then we filled green balloons with flour. The object of the game was to toss the balloons into the "black hole".

All of the signs for the came were made out of card stock and of course we used the cricut to cut out the letters.

Our friend also had a jumper. The kids had a great time. Some of these ideas came from other birthday blogs. So give yourself sometime and do a little research and couple that with your own imagination. You can come up with great ideas for your kid's party.