Sock Hop Party Theme Part Two

If you missed it, I spoke about this themed party in this post. Though I wanted to share more of the photos from Miss Roo's 5th birthday. It all started with the invitations:

A few retro candies to embellish the tablescape:

 The Sock Hop Themed Tablescape:

 I hit up a thrift shop for some old records to make a 3 tiered cupcake stand. It was a huge hit with parents!
Kids however, were much more interested in the milkshake cupcakes.

A collage of random party decor:

 The birthday girl wanted a poodle skirt. After many failed attempts at cutting a poodle out of felt we settled on a music note. Perfect since our playlist of 50's hits was a huge part of the theme.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this theme! 

DIY Burger Party Invitations

With Miss Roo's 5th birthday fast approaching it's really time to get cracking on invitations so we discussed a theme and she said "burgers". That left me scratching my head. Seriously??!! What soon to be 5 year old picks that for a theme? What's wrong with Princesses, ponies, Hello Kitty and the likes. Yeah, right, I forgot my girl is anything but typical. We are talking about a girl who wanted reptiles and other disgusting critters for her THIRD birthday.

So how do I make a burger invitation? Her idea was simple.Make a burger and send it to her friends. Does she not understand how the postal service works? That's clearly insane! Or is it? Sometimes with little kids you just have to simplify their thoughts and that's exactly what I did! Why not send her friends a burger in the mail and while we're at it lets make sure it's loaded with the works! All the fixin's, No holding back for her friends!!!

Here is a photo collage of the steps involved. Super easy, though a tad time consuming since Miss Roo insisted on doing a lot of it on her own.

I am a complete control freak when it comes to even planning and if I want it done exactly right I have to do it myself so these were "fun" for me. I had to let go of the reins and let Roo take the lead a bit on this project. Have a look:

So, what do you think? 

Do you make your kids party invitations or do you prefer to buy them? We'd love to hear your thoughts?

How Santa Gets In Without A Fireplace

Not unlike many others, my family and I live in a home without a fireplace. We don't miss it one little bit. The exception to that statement was last week when my beautiful 4 year old daughter had a bit of a meltdown when she realized that the chimney was the entry point for Santa.

In her mind without a fireplace there could be no Santa. No Santa? No presents.

I promised her we would leave the door unlocked so Santa could use the front door and all was once again right with her world. Until bedtime, when she was clearly rethinking the whole thing. As a natural worries she decided that if the door was unlocked for Santa, what was to stop a bad guy from also entering and stealing all those gifts left earlier by the big man?

You see, not only is Roo a worrier she's also famous for being a drama princess, daughter of a self confessed drama queen. So you see, she comes by it honestly.

"Ok honey, we'll figure it out tomorrow, I promise." Once again she seemed appeased at my answer and off to bed she went.

I started Googling and found that you can buy special Santa Keys like this one. Well ok, but it's now too late for me to order and frankly by the time I pay for it and shipping it's going to be an outrageous price that I'm not willing to fork out. That's when the wheels of my crafty brain begin with a squeaky start. I know I've seen cool keys like this before in frames at the dollar store.

I knew it was going to become a neat mother daughter project. Simple and sweet not to mention inexpensive! I found our perfect key, and some holiday ribbon. A thin band of glue around a decorative section then Roo sprinkled glitter to give it just a touch of sparkle! We tied the ribbon into a hanging bow and we were all set! Here is a close up of the detail.



Can you tell she was totally impressed with herself after knowing we'd be safe with Santa having a key. Frankly it never dawned on her that the "bad guy" could also use the key, but we'll cross that bridge if the need arises. Fingers crossed it doesn't because I truly have no further plans.

This is what it looks like on our door! Cute, festive and best of all it didn't cost me a small fortune!

If you are like us, and lack a fireplace you can make your very own Santa Key! How does Santa get into your house? Roo and I would love to hear!

Pinterest: the new social media craze

My latest obsession is the website Pinterest. You know it, right? If not you need to dig yourself out from under that rock you've been hiding under. Most people have at least heard of it even if they haven't yet been sucked into the latest social media craze! Basically its a digital style board where you can store you favorite things from the "web". Trust me when I say there is something for everyone. Personally I use it for inspiration. I look for my next craft or DIY project, things to do with my kids, recipes I want to try and many other things.

Here is a small collection of the things I have done thanks to Pinterest.
I hope it inspires you!

DIY "car" for going to the "drive-in" Such a fun way to spend part of the day leading up to a family movie night!

Balloon Lollipops

Paper plate candy decoration

Candy cake for a candy themed party

Candy stand made for a candy themed party

colour coordinated candy cupcakes

Frosty the Snow Fridge! Really fun project to do will little ones!

DIY gift bow using wrapping paper.

Sadly Pinterest might also be the reason I feel so tired all the time. I think I might have Pinsomnia.

Miss Roo's 3rd birthday- SETUP/PREP

So as you saw from this post I was in full on party prep mode. It's my secret, errr not so secret obsession. I loose all control and plan (what I think are) fantastic events. This year I said I would not go so crazy as I did last year. People will agree I was OVER THE TOP last year. Making EVERYTHING myself even the party hats were printed on cardstock, cut out, assembled and had ribbons added to stick out the top. Everything short of cutlery was made or altered by me to make it fit the theme which was ladybugs.

Anyway, So I promised myself I wouldn't spend 3 months preping like I did last year, because after all that is CRAZY, right?!?

But when push came to shove I had 2 weeks before the big day and even though there was no time to make EVERYTHING, I had this crazy need to do it to the best of my ability once again a case of the crazies washed over me and I went into party planning mode. I did A LOT of work in a short amount if time. From my guests comments it seems it went over well! I was please with my results and more importantly as Roo was falling alseep we spoke of the day, she told me I "did a good job, mommy!" This was all the mattered to me at the end of the day, that it made her feel special and that SHE loved it. Mission complete. Now to start thinking about next years theme.... but first here are some pics of the set up. Enjoy!

More ladybug stuff...

Here are a few more photos of the things in the works for Roo's big party!

This is a game I made out of a huge box. I painted a ladybug on it leaving spot for holes. Basically it will be like beanbag toss. I picked up a bunch of mens socks from the Dollar store and balled them up and the kids will toss them through the holes. (Though the hole had not yet been cut out in the pic).

This is the ladybug crown I made for Roo to wear.

Cutlery all pretty with diy napkin rings

Decorated bucket of diy wrapped cutlery

 

These are the favors I made to hand out to the adults at the end of the party. Ladybug chocolates on little cards I made to thank guests for coming to her party.

More DYI Party Projects

I have to admit that when I first decided to do everything myself (in terms of decor etc) I had no idea how much work would be involved. That being said I have really loved working on Ruari party. It's filled a lot of spare time, and occupied a brain that needs distraction. Having had a blow of bad news in my life recently it's nice to havethe party to look forward to and the planning to keep me from dwelling on the bad.

So far the invites are made and mailed, you can see them here. Over the past week I made 2 birthday banners, a party hat prototype, wrapped the cuterly and added homemade/coordinating napkin rings and a few other things I haven't taken photos of yet. All while either watching But for now here are a few of the finished items.

Creating a Ladybug party

With Ruari's 2nd birthday quickly approaching, I am well into the chaotic party planning. I've made lists (and sub lists) and know exactly what needs to be done before the big day. Now I am throwing myself into the actual act of getting things done. First on the list has been to come up with the PERFECT invitation. Now granted I have seen a few cute ones on the Internet I was hell bent on making them myself. So I did a search for some ideas and found a few that I took ideas from. I can not claim this as my own design, however I did make them myself with a few customizations.

I have also been working on some of the decorations. Little hand painted ladybugs. These little cuties were made out of styrofoam balls, paint, googly eye, and pipe cleaner. Simple as that. HOWEVER simple in theory doesn't always mean simple in practice. I spent 2 hours and only finished 6. I still have about a dozen to go. The idea is to use them to sit on the tables, though that may not be the final use for them. Not too shabby for items made solely from items found at my local Dollar Store, eh? I still have a ton to do and create and I'll post more as I get it done. For now check out the photos of the invites and decorations: