A Weekend Celebration

This weekend we celebrated the September birthdays in the family with the monthly get together. Oh, right, my birthday was back on September 18th and we had a low key celebration at home which involved going out for In-n-Out the night before my actual birthday. I also ate a gross cake pop from Starbucks. How do they get away with calling those cake pops? I swear it was raw cake batter covered in chocolate. It was so gross I couldn't finish it. You should be ashamed Starbucks, ashamed.

Anyways, we replicated August's soiree and had a grand ol' time noshing on Mimi's Cafe and ice cream pies.

Gwen got to drive a truck. Or more accurately, use one as a jungle gym.This picture cracks me up. If you look closely you can see her excited uncle snapping the picture. All of Gwen's uncles (she has three of them) are completely smitten with her. I never imagined the 15-year-old to be the one who's constanly concerned and in love with her. But he is. That little girl is most definitely reaping the benefits of being the first grandchild.

All in all a good time was had by all.

I think I finally just got through my clearance partyware and the crepe paper remnants from other parties I've had stashed in my closet for two years now.  I even used up the last of my thank you card stash which means I get to buy more! Oh how I love the art of stationary. It seems like thank you cards are the only survivors of the lost cause. Invitaitons are too expensive, nobody RSVPs anymore and who mails greeting cards anymore besides my mom and sister? As often as I think about mailing letters or cards, I can never seem to get my act together in regards to mailing them. This has taken years and piles of wasted greeting cards for me to admit to myself. I'm sorry to let you down Mom, I've tried, I really have.

I also read this post last week, and think you should too: The Thank You Card Dilemma by Life Rearranged. It's funny and so true, except replace thank you card with greeting card for me. I pride myself on my thank you card follow through. Ok, a few weeks late, but they always get sent.

And now, I leave you with this cute picture taken by Gwen with her grammy.

 

 

A Ladybug Photobooth

At Gwyneth's first birthday party we setup a little "photobooth" with some red and white polka dot fabric and props. Dollar Tree is officially the best place to get props if you're ever in the market.

My mom cut out the mustaches from this template and we had chalkboard speech bubbles from Michaels. They were all glued onto wooden skewers.

There were a couple kinks in the setup (like trying to get an infant to cooperate with props). But all in all I think everyone enjoyed themselves with it.  Looking back at the photos are priceless.

{Click on thumbnail to be taken to entire image.}

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{Mustache Template from here}

{Ladies & Gents Photbooth sign from here}

{Friends & Family check your inbox, I emailed you all your photos}

{I am linking up to these parties}

A Ladybug First Birthday Party

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What a party! Everything was covered in polka dots and black and red. Crepe paper was strewn about, polka dot balloons lined the yard, and Gwen was dressed to the nines with her ruby red slippers.  She made the obligatory mess of her ginormous cupcake and put on quite the show opening and playing with all of her presents.

A few days before the party I asked the husband to put a slideshow on our tv during the party. Little did we know our AppleTV had the coolest slideshow setting ever. We set a playlist from our itunes which was our background music for the party while the photos slowly went across our tv in picture frames. It would've been painstaking to sit and watch that as a slideshow of photos, but as a background for a party it was perfect and fun to look at pictures from the past year.

We also had a cute little photobooth setup in the kitchen where we found it quite difficult to pose with props and a one year old.

Ladybug Photobooth

And here's a tutorial on the banner I made for behind her highchair.

Crepe Paper Banner Tutorial

{I am linking up to these parties}

Crepe Paper Banner Tutorial

When I was out shopping for ladybug party supplies for the upcoming party I came across polka dot crepe paper. POLKA DOT CREPE PAPER PEOPLE! The polka dot theme got a whole lot more serious after this discovery.  Thus, the crepe paper banner was made.

Cut your crepe paper into strips.

Fold the top two to four inches backwards, over the yarn.

Staple making sure the back of the staple is on the facing the back of your banner (the folded side).

Now hang that diddy up wherever you want to make a bold statement, like behind your daughter's high chair for her first birthday party.

*Post-edit See this banner in action here.*

{Ispiration from: eighteen25's guest post by Jen Johnson}

{Also, I am linking up to these linky parties, go check 'em out for inspiration galore!}

Murder Mystery Party

Daddy & Daughter's Night In

Last night I went to my first "Mother's Night Out" with that MOMS club I mentioned earlier. It was a murder mystery party and Bachelorettes & Bullets was the theme. I've always thought a murder mystery party would be fun but when I got my part of Leslie Liplock, a blackmailing  model, I became quite nervous about the whole situation. I got even more anxious when I read about how the night works and saw I had to act things out.

But I went and met some nice ladies and had a great time, even though it was extremely uncomfortable and WEIRD. I'm not one for role play and I can't think on my toes, so naturally it was my worst nightmare awkward.

Eh, now I can die knowing that a murder mystery party won't be as cool as I thought it'd be. And I didn't have to do any of the work.  Not to mention that I realized I can squeeze into a dress I wore on a cruise almost 5 years ago. Woot!

Spoiled Rotten

27 is a good age to turn. It couldn't have been a better birthday. 

Spoiled Rotten

27 is a good age to turn. It couldn't have been a better birthday. 

Green Cupcake Monday

I originally made rainbow cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day. Based off of the last post, I assume you know what happened (stupid flour). As I learned from my mother who always had a box of cake mix stocked in her pantry, I fell back on the white cake mix, dyed green of course!

Instead of my typical swirl I wanted to try out the rolling edges in sprinkle techniques. It didn't work. How do people get their edges so smooth? Anyone know?

I also made my own cupcake toppers with glitter, of course. I put them on normal printer paper, which I learned will not suffice for next time. And also, the glitter gets everywhere, including your cupcake. It's got to be non-toxic right? Probably goes straight through the system.

They were topped with my favorite butter cream, a la Wilton. Mmmmmm. Deliciously green cupcakes.

Green Cupcake Monday

I originally made rainbow cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day. Based off of the last post, I assume you know what happened (stupid flour). As I learned from my mother who always had a box of cake mix stocked in her pantry, I fell back on the white cake mix, dyed green of course!

Instead of my typical swirl I wanted to try out the rolling edges in sprinkle techniques. It didn't work. How do people get their edges so smooth? Anyone know?

I also made my own cupcake toppers with glitter, of course. I put them on normal printer paper, which I learned will not suffice for next time. And also, the glitter gets everywhere, including your cupcake. It's got to be non-toxic right? Probably goes straight through the system.

They were topped with my favorite butter cream, a la Wilton. Mmmmmm. Deliciously green cupcakes.

Rainbow Cupcakes

 

Rainbow cupcakes get a top score of four cupcakes. They were easy to make and look impressive. I topped them with my favorite butter cream icing, which is not only easy to make, but perfect for piping. Easy, wow factor AND delicious. Does it get any better than that?

I offered to make cupcakes for a friend at work's daughter's birthday party. When I was telling her the choices she chose rainbow cupcakes.  White cake dyed red, blue, green, yellow and purple then spooned into cupcake liners. 

 Putting the different colors into the liners made me feel like an artist. You know, the ones that throw paint at a canvas?

I have a question for you. Why is everything that's tailored to cupcakes for 12 cupcakes? Everyone knows a typical batch makes 24, so why is the cupcake holder I have or the princess wrapper kit I have for 12? Is it a marketing ploy to get us to buy two? I say this, but I always have a problem ever getting a full 24 cupcakes out of any batch, so maybe they're just leaving room for screw ups? Just something I wonder.

They were a raging success and tasted delicious, if I do say so myself.

Rainbow Cupcakes

 

Rainbow cupcakes get a top score of four cupcakes. They were easy to make and look impressive. I topped them with my favorite butter cream icing, which is not only easy to make, but perfect for piping. Easy, wow factor AND delicious. Does it get any better than that?

I offered to make cupcakes for a friend at work's daughter's birthday party. When I was telling her the choices she chose rainbow cupcakes.  White cake dyed red, blue, green, yellow and purple then spooned into cupcake liners. 

 Putting the different colors into the liners made me feel like an artist. You know, the ones that throw paint at a canvas?

I have a question for you. Why is everything that's tailored to cupcakes for 12 cupcakes? Everyone knows a typical batch makes 24, so why is the cupcake holder I have or the princess wrapper kit I have for 12? Is it a marketing ploy to get us to buy two? I say this, but I always have a problem ever getting a full 24 cupcakes out of any batch, so maybe they're just leaving room for screw ups? Just something I wonder.

They were a raging success and tasted delicious, if I do say so myself.

Superbowl Party

 

It's time to get our Superbowl on and what perfect place to do so than our new home with our large couch? My goal here is to make it Superbowl-y but not over the top.  I bought the grassy tablecloth from Party City for the Superbowl party last year and brought it out this year with a few added touches, also from Party City. I've found they have the best non-in-your-face Superbowl party paraphernalia.

 

The popcorn machine will of course be making an appearance as well as the staple of any Superbowl party, buffalo wings. We get ours from Costco, plop them in the crock pot and call it a day. 

     Now, allow me to let you all in on the fact that we are not football fans. This was the photo for the invite Sir Sunderland created.

We enjoy fast forwarding through the actual game of football to watch the commercials and our friends do too (except the occasional actual football fan). And like any true non-sports fan we equally enjoy eating the delicious junk food that goes hand in hand with the Superbowl party and oh, yes, and any excuse to entertain is a great one as well!

Superbowl Party

 

It's time to get our Superbowl on and what perfect place to do so than our new home with our large couch? My goal here is to make it Superbowl-y but not over the top.  I bought the grassy tablecloth from Party City for the Superbowl party last year and brought it out this year with a few added touches, also from Party City. I've found they have the best non-in-your-face Superbowl party paraphernalia.

 

The popcorn machine will of course be making an appearance as well as the staple of any Superbowl party, buffalo wings. We get ours from Costco, plop them in the crock pot and call it a day. 

     Now, allow me to let you all in on the fact that we are not football fans. This was the photo for the invite Sir Sunderland created.

We enjoy fast forwarding through the actual game of football to watch the commercials and our friends do too (except the occasional actual football fan). And like any true non-sports fan we equally enjoy eating the delicious junk food that goes hand in hand with the Superbowl party and oh, yes, and any excuse to entertain is a great one as well!