A Star Wars Rebel Birthday Party

A Star Wars Rebel Birthday Party

 When my Ethan turned five, he was so into Disney's Star War's Rebels. We were having his birthday at a Children's Museum, so there was minimal space for themed decorations. We made the most of the space we had.

My friend, Sara, baked his cake again this year (So Delicious!), and we displayed the cake on the table in between two Star War's Rebels Action Figures. The Action Figures held a sign that said, "Happy Birthday Ethan" that I attached to their hands with ribbon. 

We displayed the basket of goody bags on the gift table.

We kept it really simple with this party... Pizza, Cake, and the kids played at the museum. Minimal clean up and quite honestly, minimal prep which was in stark contrast to his party last year! He had great party!

An American Girl Birthday Tea

An American Girl Birthday Tea

 My sweet Hannah wanted an American Girl themed birthday party for her 7th birthday. My mom came over to the house and we threw a tea party for Hannah and several of her friends. The girls each brought a doll and the dolls had "tea" as well!

This tea set belonged to my mom's mom. <3

The girls sipped pink "tea" aka pink lemonade out of mason jars.

The dolls had a special place to sit as well!

The "welcoming committee!" Hannah and I put together this doll sized lemonade stand together. I think it turned out super cute!

The girls decorated their own goody bags with American Girl stickers. I purchased these at Archivers, but I have also seen them at Hancock Fabrics.

The dolls enjoying their tea party... I made the doll sized tea cups out of small bubble containers and then cut down straws to fit inside.

In addition to decorating the goody bags, the girls also painted wooden picture frames. I took a picture of the girls with their dolls and sent them the picture inside their thank you note so they could put it in the frame. 

No birthday party is complete without cake! The girls each decorated their own pink cupcake. YUM.,

Happy Birthday to you Hannah! We love you!

A Mickey Mouse First Birthday Party

Well this blog is nearly four months late, but better late than never! We have been in the process of moving over the past few months and we are now settled into our new home. So today I am finally going to blog about my precious baby's first birthday party! We had a Mickey Mouse themed birthday, because this little guy LOVES "The Mouse."

 

We went to Disney World when Joshua was only eight months old. He absolutely adored the characters, including Mickey. So we thought it was only appropriate to have a party centered around   M-i-c-k-e-y - M-o-u-s-e.

I had a ton of fun preparing for this party. There are so many different ideas on Pinterest for a Mickey Mouse party, so I had plenty of inspiration.

The weeks preceding the party I worked on the decor. I made a wreath with yellow, red, and black tulle, and added mouse ears (styrofoam half spheres from Hobby Lobby painted black). The finishing touch was placing white cardstock in the center with "Welcome to Joshua's Clubhouse" in Disney Font. We hung the wreath on the front door to welcome the guests.

 

I also made a Mickey Mouse photo banner. From age one month through 12 months I had taken photos of Joshua wearing a white onesie and a sticker (also from Hobby Lobby - I love that store!) that displayed what age he was. I cut a photo from each month into a circle and mounted it on a circle piece of black cardstock. Then I cut smaller black circles and taped them to the top to look like Mickey ears. I recommend when hanging this banner to hang the string on the ends to the ears of the banner rather than the larger circle to keep the banner from flipping upside down.

 

 

Now for the yummy stuff! My dear friend is an incredible baker. She baked delicious Mickey Mouse head shaped cookies and a yummy cake! We decorated the cake table with pictures from Joshua's One Year Photo Shoot where we let him dig into a smash cake. Ummm, he was covered in cake! I think he liked it! 

 

 

For the party, we let Joshua dig into another smash cake since the first one was such a hit. We got this one from the Publix Bakery.

 

 

For the favor bags, I filled small white paper sacks with M&M's and added these little labels to the bags. Simple but a cute finishing touch!

I ordered the birthday boy this adorable Mickey onesie from PeacebyPiece01 on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/listing/158621864/mickey-mouse-tie-first-birthday-onesie?utm_source=Pinterest&utm_medium=PageTools&utm_campaign=Share. I thought it was precious!

 

I can't believe my baby is one! Trying to savor every moment. Happy Birthday Joshua!

A "Mike the Knight" Fourth Birthday Party

My adorable Ethan turns four this weekend. He is my little "knight in shining armor" so we decided to have  "Mike the Knight" Birthday party. Ethan loves watching "Mike the Knight" on Nickelodeon.

We invited all of his classmates from preschool, plus several friends from church, and of course family. The result? We ended up having over 60 people RSVP that they would be attending! This was thirty children. So what was originally planned to be a home party, quickly got changed to a party at the park! I was so thankful for a day with nice weather! It was chilly, but clear. March is such a hit or miss month when planning anything outdoors.

I did a lot of the craft work for the party myself, and I also had little help from Oriental Trading and Party City!

Here are the goodies I made for the children. I filled little bags with candy and added a label created with an image I found on Google of Mike the Knight. Simple! The hardest part was cutting out all of those circles, but I do have a little circle cutting tool which helped.

 



 

In addition to the goody bags, all of the girls received a Wizard Wand like the character Evie has on "Mike the Knight." I bought the wands from Oriental Trading.I loved how sparkly they were! http://www.orientaltrading.com/api/search?Ntt=glittery+gold+wands 

 

The boys got inflatable swords that I ordered from Oriental Trading. They loved playing with these during the party! I had a hard time getting some of them to stay inflated though.  I would recommend getting a different kind. Luckily we still had enough for all of the boys at the party.

 

We had separate goody bags for his younger friends. Children ages 2 and under received bags with cookies, cheese-its, fruit snacks, and a sucker.

 

I labeled this basket for the younger aged goody bags after "Squirt" the dragon on "Mike the Knight."

On the day of the party, we loaded up our van and headed to the park to set up. I am so very thankful for all of our friends who helped us get things ready!

 

How precious is this cupcake stand?! I ordered it from Oriental Trading.

http://www.orientaltrading.com/knights-kingdom-cupcake-display-a2-13604762-12-1.fltr?Ntt=knight party

My friend Sara baked the cupcakes and made homemade frosting.

Oh my goodness, they were delicious!

 

We had snacks set up and we served pizza for lunch.

 

The children played knight-themed games. They loved "slaying the dragon!" I found this dragon pinata at www.partycity.com. Advice: When playing with the pinata, I would recommend having the smaller children take their swings before the bigger children.We had several children not get a turn because the pinata busted before we got through the line. Oh well, I think everyone still enjoyed it!

 

I drew this picture of Mike the Knight and the children took turns pinning the feather on Mike the Knight's helmet.

 

I also drew a picture of Trollee onto a project board and cut out a hole for the childen to throw "jam" into Trollee's bucket.

 

It was so nice being at the park for the party. I truly think Ethan's favorite part was just running around in the grass playing swords with his friends!

 

Happy Fourth Birthday Ethan!!

Argh Mateys! "A Jake & the Neverland Pirates" Third Birthday Party

We just celebrated my son's fourth birthday party, and thought I would blog about his last party before I post about this more current one. Last year he wanted all things "Jake" from Disney's "Jake and the Neverland Pirates." So of course we decided to throw him a pirate party!

This was the first big party we had ever had at our home for any of our children. In the past, we had always had parties at different play places. However, I was trying to save money and I knew that with a little craftiness, we could have a ton of pirate fun without even leaving the house.

We decorated the family room with different pictures and balloons with characters from Disney's "Jake and the Neverand Pirate."

 

 

 

 

The chidren started with a treasure hunt!

They dug for small treasures in a pirate ship shaped sand box.

 

 

Then they played a bean bag toss game! Feed Tic Toc Croc!

 

They also played "Pin the hook on Captain Hook."

 

 

Last, the children "walked the plank!" I set up a balance beam in our garage and the children took turns walking across it with a pirate patch over one eye and holding a sword.

 

 

The children put their treasures from the treasure hunt as well as the prizes they earned from the other games into their loot bags. I made these from paper lunch sacks and printed out labels with each child's name.

 

 

 

A pirate party would not be complete without "Fish and Chips" (aka goldfish and chips)! We served the snacks out of beach pails. We also served pizza and cupcakes.

 

The children loved drinking out of their special Jake cups my friend snagged for me off the Target dollar aisle! We served them Crocodile Blood to drink...

aka Red Kool Aid!

 

I would definitely say our first "home" party was a success!

Happy third birthday Ethan!

 We love you!