Cupcake Banner

Addie's party is in a couple of weeks and I just finished her birthday banner. She was very excited for it to be completed. If ever I wasn't working on it, she would ask me "Why aren't you working on my birthday thing?" Crimony, a girls gotta eat, ya know? She even went so far as to bring down all the fabric and supplies and set them on the table next to me - not such a subtle hint. It's done now, so it's time to start Eli's. I'm going to kick myself for throwing the twins separate parties. Eli wants his to be "lightning" themed, not flash or Lightning McQueen, just lightning. Any suggestions for a lightning party?

No calorie cupcake

I love cupcakes, so why not a calorie free version? I made this cupcake out of felt, and just put some beans (for weight) and stuffing inside -the sprinkles are french knots. Great addition to Addie's play kitchen or a sweet cupcake pin cushion,

Flannel nightgown

I haven't sewn clothes in VERY long time, not that I've sewn much in the clothing line, ever. This was a really easy pattern and I love the way it turned out, probably partly for nostalgic reasons. I remember wearing homemade flannel nightgowns when I was little, so had to give Addie a similiar experience. I guess to complete my trip down memory lane, I'll have to make a matching one for her doll. Thanks mom, for warm memories.

Bee cake

I asked my neighbor if I could make a cake for a baby shower she was throwing so I could practice with fondant. It was much easier on a small 6" round cake than a large 12" square cake, but I still had trouble getting it perfectly smooth on the sides, hence the big ribbon. The fondant bee was pretty fun to do, it's like playdough for grown ups. I've researched, and had hands on experience, and now I think I've played with fondant enough to know that I need to turn to the professionals and take a class.

Webkinz World

Birthday party theme: Webkinz (6 yr old, 2007)

I made the cake and Webkinz party hats for a friend. I used fondant for the cake so it would not get on the Webkin. I also wrapped the Webkin in plastic wrap and created a box in the center out of foil covered cardboard to make sure Webkin fur didn't mix with the cake. This cake was huge!

No more monkeyin' around

Birthday party theme: monkey business (2nd birthday, 2007)
Less of a party, more of a neighbors over for cake and icecream. However, Cohen was a bit sick and cranky, so it was just our fam.

Stop yer pillaging

Birthday party theme: Pirates (6th birthday, 2007) The most fun to do so far!










Invitations/favor: Invitations were delivered by corked plastic bottle (OTC). They had the message, sand, tattoo, and a cute not scary skull ring. The favor consisted of treasure boxes full of gold coins and peanut m&m's (gold pkg), tattoos, pirate pencils, notepads, stickers, pirate finger puppets, pirate beads for the girls, and of course candy.

Decorations: We had this in the evening, so by the end it was dark which added to the pirate ambiance. The kids also thought it was very cool to be able to play outside while it was dark. I made an authentic sized jolly roger flag for the front of our house (again cute, not scary). The backyard was perfect being on the lake and all, we just put up a few tiki torches. We also built a pirate ship for a game. Yeah, yeah, crazy huh? It was just going to be a piece of propped up plywood painted like one, but I couldn't stop there. So we built one durable enough to climb on with a hoistable jolly roger flag. The food/craft portion was held in the screened-in porch so it was decorated with red and black balloons and streamers. The food table and kids picnic tables had black table cloths with red felt table runners and gold coins strewn about. Of course the cake also worked as decoration.

Cake and menu: pirate ship cake, pirate ship hot dogs, fresh fruit tray (to prevent scurvy), buried treasure pretzels (there were m&m's at the bottom of the bowl), cheese and crackers (I guess to finish off the food pyramid), and of course root beer.

Craft/games: As the kids arrived we put on tattoos, pirate bandanas, and they each made an eye patch. I had pre-cut the patches, they glued on glitter, sequins and gold ric rac. We had 3 games:
1. "Who sunk my pirate ship?" -This is where the pirate ship came in. Each team had a different color of cannon balls (ball pit balls spray painted) to throw through in the port holes of the ship. The team with the most cannon balls inside when time is up, wins!
2. "Plunder and Pilage" -This game was a version of freeze tag, stealing bandanas and using gold coins to be unfrozen.
3. "Treasure Hunt" - They followed rhyming clues around ours and a neighbors yard to find the treasure chest. Inside were all the goodie bags for each of them. Some of the clues had riddles on them and because some kids couldn't read yet, other clues were pictures. The pictures were zoomed in very close so you couldn't see what the object was, just a small part of it.

This party was so much fun for the boys and the girls too, and I had so much fun preparing for it.