Golden Birthday (party)

Our girl turned FIVE last fall and I'm finally able to share a few details from her sweet and special birthday party - her first party with friends! It was her golden birthday (five on the 5th) so we celebrated with all things gold and sparkly. We kept it pretty simple. Friends were invited to wear something gold or sparkly to paint pumpkins, take pictures, have faces and fingernails painted and, of course, eat cake. Strawberry and buttercream with gold sprinkles, of course! Each girl took home a helium balloon with several gold gumballs as a weight and a handmade golden/pearl tiara.

I originally wanted all things champagne gold (prettiest gold, in my opinion) but it was quite difficult to find and I was limited in my ability to find them both because of new baby at home and budget. So I compromised and there were several shades of gold - and no one cared. It was beautiful! And fun.

* tutorial for super fun, easy and super cheap photo backdrop found here.
* I made a glitter paper (glitter cardstock from local hobby store) Happy Birthday banner inspired by Miss Mustard Seed's Merry and Bright banners
* my attempt at tulle covered balloons failed, so we used the tulle on the chairs instead.
* Parties don't have to be expensive to be fun and special! I did this party really cheaply, except for the cake. Normally I would've made it myself, but I needed to give myself a break - like I mentioned before, new baby home - and didn't want the stress of baking/decorating a cake so we paid a friend with a small cake business to do it. That was the most expensive part! And completely worth it, it was so pretty! And tasty too. (Support small business!)

Superhero Birthday Party

My sister is a great party thrower - it helps she is awesome with a budget AND that my brother-in-law is an artist. :-) In August, they threw a super fun superhero party for their newly turned three year old complete with custom photo background, games, party decor, costumes, superhero food and a Spiderman cake.

Here are some ideas: (credit for photos, hard work and ideas all goes to them.)

 

Happy birthday sweet boy!

cat in the hat inspired PARTY IN A BOX

Party in a box inspired by these shoes...

And my sister. Happy Birthday Jenn!

***everything except the striped napkins (Target) came from Hobby Lobby and my stash.

* a CHEERIOS birthday party *

My sister and brother-in-law threw a fantastic party for their new one-year-old last weekend. (My baby nephew is one!?!) It was way too fun not to share.

They hunted all around for just the right touches - yellow ribbon with white polka dots, napkins, etc. Above: a cheerio box banner, cheerio hearts (strung on pipe cleaners) and also strung cheerios for a table swag.

Above: Asa's SMASH CAKE! (see recipe below). 

Cake (and cupcake) recipe found HERE! (She subbed half the veggie oil for applesauce.)
Topped with a yummy buttercream frosting:
1/2 c crisco
1/2 c butter
5 c powdered sugar
2 Tbsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla 

Punch (found on Pinterest):
1 c. lemonade mix (like country time)
2 c. water
46 oz pineapple juice
24 oz Sprite

She said, "We froze ice cubes of the lemonade and pineapple juice to keep it cool and cut lemons for decoration. It got so many compliments!"

Above: the birthday boy cheesin' it! And with Mimi and Papa, there to celebrate.

My brother-in-law (a.k.a. the amazing spray painter, painter and artist) spent some time making this photo prop - hand-drawn and painted on yellow foam board.

And they used the heart cut-out as the "guest book". Talk about using what you have!

They also put together a banner of pictures from months 1-11 with "cheerio" like labels for the month numbers. So cute!

We love you Asa!! Happy birthday!

Theme colors: red, yellow
Food shown: cupcakes, chocolate covered cheerio bars, cheerio/white chocolate covered pretzel/M&M mix, lemonade/pineapple punch
Decor: red, yellow and white polka dot balloons, cheerio box pennant banner, cheerio hearts from pipe cleaners, and a cheerio table swag.

a vintage-themed baby shower {gender neutral}

A sweet friend and I threw a baby shower for her sister over the weekend. It was so much fun to put together because the mama-to-be is as crazy about vintage as I am! My main inspiration came from THIS photography post.

And I designed the invitation, too. Isn't it sweet?

Did I mention how much fun it was? I pulled things from Pinterest, my shop and my own stash and we added lots of vintage and antique family items like toys, clothing and photos.

The "baby" pennant banner idea came from HERE and don't you just love the coffee filter poms?! Gorgeous, easy and fun to make! Invest a little time and have something great. (Find the tutorial HERE.)

There was a bassinet (which my amazing friend, Sarah, found on the side of the road in amazing condition!), a diaper cake, salt water taffy and plenty of food.

Here are the sweet sisters - due about 3 months apart! I had so much fun celebrating with them. And both aren't finding out the gender until baby is born! How crazy, fun and exciting. (And vintage? ha!)

(A quick obligatory photo of my with the sweet mama - and a peek at my party dress compliments of my grandma again! Isn't the neckline delicious?!)