If you give a Mouse a Cookie Party

When Luke was a tiny baby, he used to make the funniest little squeeks like a Mouse, so I thought it would be fun to have an "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" party.

Invitation:
Im going super simple now days!

Cake:

I knew we were having cookies...so I pretty much forgot about the cake!  That afternoon I threw something together!

I was SO lucky when my mom offered to pain the backdrop!  I think it really made the party, and now its hanging in his room!

Favors:

I gave the kids little felt cookies, and cute sugar cookies that looked like glasses of milk!

For dinner we had a big panini bar!  That was perfect for the kids and the adults!  We also served really yummy salad, and chips.

Elf Workshop Party

We just had a great party for Elle's fifth birthday.
This year, I decided to use a Christmas theme, because her birthday is so close to the Holiday.

Invitation:
(they are supposed to be Elf hats...I know they kind of look like Christmas trees)

Banner: 

I made a felt banner, welcoming the kids to the "Elf Workshop"

Activities:

When the kids got here, we divided them into groups by color of elf hat.  We also gave them a name tag, so as not to confuse the 22 little elfs!

There were 4 little workshops:

Elf ornament workshop

Wrapping Present Workshop

(I gave them the bottom of a box at the beginning to collect all their crafts, and then when they got to this station, they wrapped the lid of the box, and put a tag on it.

Jingle Toy Station

(I played and played with ideas of how to make a simple jingle stick, and the best idea for their age, was just having them wrap twine (pre strung with bells) around a stick.  It worked great and they turned out darling!

Cookies for Santa Workshop:

they decorated cookies, and then I had prelabeled the bags to say "Santa's Cookies"

Snacks and Cake:

(the Elf EATERY)

Cake:

We went with a simple Elf Hat, to go with the theme...It started out looking funny, but by the end, Rob and I were proud of our little cake!

crowd favorite...oh, and SO easy to make and look cute...3 good reasons to make chocolate and sprinkle dipped marshmallows on a stick.

Pirate booty...instead of cupcakes, as if they need more sugar!

Elle, in her elf outfit...proud to be the birthday girl!

I had a lot of great helpers...My Mom, sisters and friend Muranda all helped MAN the party!

Oh wait...then SANTA came!  He was darling and they had a lot of fun sitting on his lap.

Elle was hesitant at first, because he reminded her of her poppa...hmmm

Santa gave them each a penguin shaped ring pop.

Then, after the festivities were over, they took their wrapped present with all their goodies home with them.

the tags say:
Thank you for helping at the elf workshop today.
My birthday party was wonderful because of friends like you.
Love, Elle, the Birthday Elf

a Cake for Busy Izzy

My cute little niece turned one and had a "Bee" Birthday.
They asked me to help with the cake, and I was so excited to try making a "beehive cake."  I didnt have the Williams Sonoma cake pan, so I kind of had to make it up!


I used the top of the "giant cupcake" pan and then a couple of rounds.

Rob helped shape and carve it a little.

I thought I'd show an image of my kitchen during these cake making nights!

And Voila...here it is.  Katie and her mom added the cute bees.
(The ribbon on the bottom is crooked in this picture and it is kind of driving me crazy.  But let me tell you, it really did look cute!) And of cute Izzy was adorable.  I'll post more pictures of her party because it was amazing!

Robbie's Comic Superhero Party!

Robbie's birthday marks the end of "Birthday Season" for me...phew!!! Now I have until the end of the year for it all to start again!

We had SO much fun planning and having Robbie's party. The idea took hold last fall in a flea market in San Francisco, where I grabbed a dozen vintage comic books.
 It was a bit crazy doing this party, with my 3 week old baby...but it had to be done before our lives get even more hectic.  SO...here it is!!!

The Invitation:

I really wanted to find a comic book artist to draw Robbie into the cartoon, but after trying a couple...I realized it wasn't as easy as I had hoped.  So My mom and I started searching comics in our nights hanging out with new baby, and found this old comic...perfect for my plan! (Read Carefully!)

Decorations and Activities:

my front door welcome sign...of course

This little number made decorating really easy!  It was a life saver, the kids loved the bounce-house/slide combo...and it really wasnt too bad to rent! (The colors were great for the party!)

 

 We really wanted the kids to just run around and play, but we knew we needed a couple of organized activities...like a pinata!  I contemplated making one because i couldnt find any shapes that i liked...but in the end we just bought a star and glued the villains on it!

As if my Mom didnt have enough to do while she was taking care of my 3 older kids, helping me with the baby and cleaning...I gave her a little project!  She painted this queen size sheet to be a backdrop for the kids!

Villain balloons.  We staked villain balloons all over the yard for the kids to aim their nerf guns at.  Just one more little thing to keep kids busy.

FOOD TABLE:

We tried to keep the food simple.  Cheetohs, Jello, Hot Dogs, PB & J's and gatorade!



I punched out comic book pictures for jello toppers.

More comic book strips for drink labels.

OK...In a bored moment, i printed off pages of comic books and cut out hot dog bun holders.  Then I hand folded the corners!  I know, I could have bought the normal red and white ones...but, sometimes when I have an idea...there is no stopping me!

I had seen these cones around, and thought it would be a fun way to serve their cheetohs.

Comic book sandwich wrappers...those vintage comic books sure came in handy!

The Cake:

As you probably know by now, Rob and I kind of have a tradition to make the cake together the night before the party.  I was thinking simple...but he had other plans.  As soon as he saw a similar superhero layer cake online, he was sold.  So...4 hours later, our cake emerged looking like this:







Favors:

During the party, we made sure each of the kids got their picture taken in front of the backdrop.

I made foam-core signs to hold in the pictures...BAM!  KA-ZAM! POW!
We let the kids pick the sign they wanted.

During the party, I printed out the pictures of the kids and put them in these frames.



I found unfinished frames at Michaels.  Painted them black, decoupaged pages from the comic books on each one and finished them by inking the edges and putting a varnish over the whole thing.  I am kind of in love with the frames myself.  It was fun to pick out pages that would look cool from the comic book.

 Overall, SO MUCH FUN!!! Robbie LOVED it!  We had fun...and like I said, my birthday season is at an end. 

So of course tonight I stayed up all night doing Valentines for the kids...on to the next thing i guess!!!