And He was STILL Hungry

As I said in my previous post, I kept the decorations low key because I wanted the focus to be on the food. For each item, I had a little place card that said, "On ______ he ate through _____ ."

The books starts out on Sunday and a little egg was on a leaf... I decided to start the food off with some very hungry caterpillars...

Monday he ate through an apple, Tuesday some pears, Wednesday a few plums, Thursday four strawberries, and on Friday even more oranges.

What I did was make sugar cookies, and then iced them with a powdered sugar icing.

Saturday was when he was REALLY hungry.

He ate through...

One piece of chocolate cake....

...An ice cream cone... We set out the cones and had the ice cream pre-scooped and waiting in the freezer until it was time to eat. 

...A pickle, Swiss cheese, and salami...

...A lollipop...

...A piece of cherry pie {instead of baking a whole cherry pie, we made mini cherry pie bites}...

...Sausage... {which I don't have a picture of, but we cooked Italian sausages on the grill}

...A cupcake...

...And finally, a slice of watermelon.

The spread...

The food was fantastic and everyone seemed to enjoy it...especially the birthday girl. The ironic part of the party? The birthday girl spent about half of the party, sitting in her chair eating! What a fun party!

Decorations and other fun things...

 

One of the things that I love most are the colors. They are fun, bright, and perfect for summer. I found some awesome plates and napkins that had the colors and the dots...a great match!

 

 

I hung a "caterpillar" from the porch with Chinese lanterns. A little construction paper and POOF! a caterpillar! The thing that I loved about this was when the breeze picked up, the lanterns swayed just enough that it looked like it was inching along...very cool.

 

Those were the main decorations. Much of the detailed work came with the food...which you will have to wait to see!

On Monday he ate through...

One of my all time favorite books for children is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It is just fun and the illustrations are great.

So, when my two year old {who is no stranger to eating enormous amounts of food} turned two, I couldn't think of a better theme.

Below is her invitation. Throughout this week will look at food, decor, and games. Enjoy!

Horsin' Around

In addition to the actual pony, there were homemade stick horses for races... it was totally fun.

At one point during the party, the known present thief, Senor Havran, was seen lurking about...

After he snagged the gifts, all the kids jumped on their horses to catch and retrieve the stolen presents.

 

 



The party was so much fun. The kids had a great time and I think they will remember it for some time. And I think Jeremiah's face says it all.

 



The Chuck Wagon

I love to prepare food for people. For this party, I wanted to prepare food that I immediately thought of "Western."

Let's start with drinks... We drank from "The Water Hole." We had water, lemonade, and chocolate milk.

For lunch we had a meal off of the "Chuck Wagon" of chili and cornbread, sheriff badge cookies, s'more pops, and, of course, cake.

 

 

Next time, I will talk through some of the details and games.

 

Little Touches Here and There

The Western themed party was a huge success! This was such a fun party to put together.

Where to start, where to start. Let's look at the party decorations...the little details...

One of the standout details was our WANTED poster. Every child {and adult} posted with the mustache of his or her choice and struck a pose. The reward was, of course, 4000 because our birthday boy was turning 4.

 

 

 

The party favors were also to theme. My fabulous Mother-in-Law put these together...and oh they were sweet. Little brown bags, with scrapbooked boots on the outside...they were adorable and all the kids couldn't wait to get theirs.

 

 

Remember when I said that I try to have one standout detail for every party? This party was no exception. It was kept a secret until the very last moment. I pulled all the kids together and said, "Tell me about cowboys." I got answers like, They have guns, they get the bad guys, they wear hats... Then I said, "But what do cowboys ride?" All at once they said "HORSES!!" To which I answered, "But do we have any horses?" With many a sad face they said, "No." It was at that time that I said, "Oh yes we do!"

 

 

The look on their faces was priceless. I think they will remember this for years to come.

 

Next time, we'll take a look at the food. 

 

 

 

Howdy

Over the weekend we had a fantastic party... It was a western theme for my son's 4th birthday party.

For the next few posts, you're invited to share in the fun!

We'll go over decor, food, games, and more!

 

Fold on the Dotted Line

One little detail that is simple and fun is napkin folding... and it doesn't have to be only for formal parties.

Say you are having a Hula theme... you could fold your napkins into t-shirts as seen right here.

Oh how I wish I had found this fish fold for the Under the Sea party!

And how cute is this adorable bunny for a Spring time or Easter luncheon?

 

 



As I was saying, folding napkins can be fun and add a little extra touch to your party!

An Easy Money Saver

One of the areas that I save on my party budget is on the invitations. Now you might be thinking, "Wait a minute, invitations can really add up!" And that is totally true...invitation costs can sneak up on your budget very quickly.

What I like to do is this: make my own. I have found quite a few free digital scrap booking kits {and I have purchased some as well} that have fit my party theme. Then, in an editing software {I use Photoshop Elements} I create my own. This is fun and I get to make the invitations exactly how I want them.

But where is the money saver? Walgreens. Target. Or any other place that has a 1 hour photo lab. For 19 cents a piece, I get 4x6 invitations that are completely unique, just how I want them, and for a killer price. Sometimes I will have the invitations printed for me on cardstock, which also looks very nice.

So there it is, one of my best kept money saving secrets.

It's Time to Play

Just about any party needs a game or two. Something fun or exciting to pass the time.

Now, with all the picture taking I did for the Under the Sea party, I somehow managed to *not* take a picture of the crafts {which were a hit with the kiddos.}

Here was one:

You can find it here on my pinboard.

I made a few changes to make it easier for the kids. I had prepared the plates before hand - both painted and glued them together. Also, instead of scrapbook style fish I used these from Oriental Trading Company. The other change I made was to not do the clear plastic over the top...it was going to need to much involvement from me and I wanted this to be all about the kids.

It was fun and the kids got to take something home other than candy.

All in all the party was a ton of fun for the kids and it was a blast to put together!

Have a Bite

Food is an easy way to keep a theme going. It can be fun and imaginative or straight forward and practical... there is no limit to what your food can be.

For the Under the Sea party, I wanted the food to really show off the theme. But finding food that was really convincing as "Under the Sea" wasn't coming to me right away. So then I went to my good friend Google to get a few ideas.

First off, I made an "Ocean in a Cup," otherwise known as blue gelatin and graham style crackers. Slightly labor intensive, but the end result was too cute to pass up. First, crush the crackers into crumbs and put in a clear plastic cup. Then prepare and cool the gelatin...once it is mostly set, pour it into the cups. Voila! Ocean in a cup!

We also had clam shaped cookes and strawberries that we called "Sea Berries."

Finally came the octopus hot dog...it was something my daughter had done in preschool one year when studying the letter "O." Here's what you do... take an uncooked hot dog and from the middle down to one end, cut it in half. Then, cut each on of the halves in half. Throw it in boiling water and POOF, the ends curl up to make an octopus!

Here was how the plates looked once they were all put together.

 



And of course, I can't forget the cake. With an EASY {VERY easy} DIY fondant recipe, cookie cutters, and wavy candles...it was a lot of fun to put together. Oh, and a few more crushed graham style crackers for "sand." It was a fun way to put the final touch on the food.

 

 

 

It's All in the Details

So what is my favorite part of planning parties? The details...from the food to the way the plates and silverware are set out. Everything is important. The details are what takes an idea to reality. Details don't have to be big or grand, but rather small touches here and there. They can elevate the simplest occasion to something a little bit more.

As I mentioned, my daughter chose an Under the Sea party. It was to be an indoor affair. Admittedly, the first place I turned for inspiration was Pinterest {I am quite nearly addicted to pinning...you can follow me here} After browsing and coming up with a few ideas of my own, it was time to get started.

For every party, I try to have one standout detail...something that really sets the party off. In this case, I pinned blue netting below the ceiling. Then, between the ceiling and the netting I put balloons...light blue, dark blue, and white...sea foam. It really gave the feeling of being under the sea.
 

 

One of my favorite decorations of this party were the handmade jellyfish. From paper bowls, watercolor, and ribbon came the jellyfish forest. Then, hung from fishing line, they looked like they were floating.

 

And what's an Under the Sea party without a school of fish?

 

 

 

Next time we'll look into the food...mmm, one of my favorite parts!