Camping Party

Since I didnt have any local parties to feature this week, I would like to spotlight a party from one of my favorite party blogs And Everything Sweet.  This would be a fantastic party to have with my boys' cub scout buddies.

 

Check out this unbelievable tablescape

What I am loving about this party most is how inexpensively it can be done.  I love how Kate used natural materials to supplement her glassware that she uses for parties all of the time.  All you need is some wood and a saw and you have perfect stands, cake pop holders, etc.

I am EXTREMELY impressed with these fantastic cupcake toppers!

I cannot imagine how much time and effort was put into each fondant cupcake topper. 

Not to mention the great cupcake wrappers and other printables which came from the etsy shop Shindig Parties to Go

Shindig has some fantastic party collections--absolutely fabulous and affordable. The Kit for all of these printables runs for $29--for customized printables for your entire party--I think that is a fantastic deal.

Now, obviously, Kate's party was created for her daughter and her 4 year old girlfriends.  My boys are 10 and 7, so of course, I would have to macho up this party a little--but there are still some wonderful ideas.

Both of these versions of smores pops are fantastic and gender neutral. I bet they are super yummy too.  Wow, this makes me crave melted marshmellows over a camp fire!

So, so far we have fantastic cupcakes...smores pops...and next a great idea....create your own trail mix.

Check out these fantastic trail mix cans

What a great way to recycled used cans.  If you are not up for saving your old tin cans,

brown paper bags,

like these would be an inexpensive alternative that would still have that rustic look and would be adorable with the same label on them as what is pictured on the can above.

The great thing about the trail mix idea is that you can offer the kids whatever you want--you can include inexpensive treats like mini marshmallows and pretzels and include pricier items like m&m's without breaking the bank.  Here are a few of the items that Kate used

The priciest thing about this setup is going to be the glass containers.  However, this is an item that you will be able to use repeatedly for party after party in the future--definitely worth the expense!  I shopped Hobby Lobby tonight and they had containers just like this on sale for half price--time to stock up if you are able!!

Plus, if you know you have a party coming up some time in the near future, buy one of these at a time when you can afford it--eventually you will have an entire set that will last you a long time and it won't bust your budget trying to get them all at once!

One more thing to point out about the above pictures that I love--notice the pine cone place holders. Kate uses pinecones repeatedly in her design. Here in Alabama...this is a free resource that is easy to find!

Check out the dinner table, which would work for both girls or boys.



Once again, I will get to reuse my mason jars for drinking glasses.  And check out the place cards and "chairs"--I love the use of natural (and free, by the way) materials.

Last, but not least--you have to have activities.

What could be a better activity for a camping party than making smores??  I love the smores kits below.





I also saw these jars at Hobby Lobby tonight--on sale for $1 each.

This would be a really cute party favor...but, so are these...

I love the "Take a Hike" tag on these adorable cake pops!

Anyway...back to the activities...As I mentioned before, Kate's party was for 4 year old girls and I highly suggest you check out her blog to see the age appropriate activities she did with the girls. 

For my boys--these may not work so well.  So, here are some ideas that would be great for my cub scouts:

Nature scavenger hunt

Making smores around a bonfire and telling ghost stories

Play some old fashioned games like three legged races, tag, and red rover.

Play "Pass the Parcel"--instructions found here.

Tonight I found a fantastic site--Ultimate camp resource that has hundreds of fantastic camp activities, arts and crafts, and even scary campfire stories.  I will definately be checking this site out further before hosting this party!

Thanks again to Kate from Everything Sweet for such inspiring ideas!

Happy Camping!!!

Planning a Little Pumpkin 1st Birthday Party!

My sweet nephew, Caden Thomas, is turning one within a day or two of Halloween so it seemed natural to do a "Little Pumpkin" theme for his party.  My siser in law has asked me to help her with the planning of this very special event. 

Here is what I have come up with so far.....

Invitation:

We have two options....paper vs internet....small fee vs free....hmmmmm

Etsy has great DIY printable invitations from msabarbara.  For $8 she will customize this adorable invitation and you have it printed yourself.

Adorable!!

Option #2 is convenient and FREE, but some people may not feel it is quite as proper to do--Personally, I think it is smart and in the age of Facebook--it totally makes sense.  This option is to send an invitation via internet from evite.

We can add "Our Little Pumpkin is turning" to the top of this evite to get in the theme of the party.  There are no pictures of pumpkins, but the colors go with our theme, so I think it would work great.

The Cake:

I have actually never done a pumpkin-shaped cake before, let alone stacked pumpkins..so I am realy excited about this cake--I LOVE a challenge and doing something new!!  Here is the look I am going for

I found this cake design on cake central  which is my favorite place for cake inspiration.  I only hope I can do this justice--and my brother and sis-n-law do not really like fondant, so I am going to try to do this one with buttercream only--we'll see how it goes!

The treats!

I found these fantastic printable snack boxes here.

These little freebies will be perfect for filling up with caramel popcorn! These can be eaten at the party or taken home as a party favor....gotta love that!

Of course we have to have cake balls!  I am going to use an easy and fantastic pumpkin spice cake recipe to make these adorable cake balls found here.

Spice Cake recipe:  1 box of spice cake + 1 can of pumpkin = fantastic pumpkin spice cake!

Of course we have to have some great toppers for our cake balls.

You can find some adorable cupcake toppers on etsy....like these.

Again, for $8 thatsawrap2 will customize these babies and we can print them out ourselves.

Option #2--I decided to make my own using Word--and I think they turned out pretty darn cute.  What do you think??

The plan is to punch them out with my handy dandy circle punch and back them with a coordinating scrapbook papers--maybe including some polka dots, some gingham, and maybe a plaid or two.

Making cupcake toppers on Word is not the easiest thing in the world, but once you figure it out, it is actually pretty easy to do.

 

Of course, we must have some caramel apples like the ones seen here.

 

Finally, we have to have some candy corn!

Real Food....

So, my sis-n-law informed me today that the party needs to include a meal because they are moving the time of the party from 2:00 to 11:00 so that we have plenty of time to prepare for trick-or-treating that evening.

My mind went instantly to mini-pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, and corn on the cob.

After doing a little research, I found this post on the "Catch my Party" blog.  It's like these people read my mind! The decor is not quite what I am looking for, but I am in love with the

baked beans

and the cole slaw!

For drinks,  I would love to have mason jars with orange striped paper straws....similar to this.....



Decorations....

You will have to check back in to see what decorations we end up using...because of the pumpkin theme the options are just too numerous and since this is family, I will be using several objects from my own home.  I can say that I do want to try these...



These little cuties are made with scrap fabric and a roll of toilet paper!!  What a great way to add some pattern to our tablescape!!

So, that is what I have so far. Make sure to check back in a couple of weeks to see pictures of the actual party.  I think it is going to turn out great, yet still be affordable!!

Happy Fall to All!!

Rapunzel Princess Party

Ever since the release of Tangled, my daughter, Issie, has wanted to be Rapunzel.  So, of course, for her fourth birthday, she had to have a Rapunzel party.  After searching and searching the internet, I found that there really wasnt a lot out there for Rapunzel parties, other than the generic "Tangled" themed plates you can find at Walmart.  I was hoping to do something a little more classy!  So, this is what I came up with....

Since the cake is my FAVORITE part, we will start with it!

A close-up of the tower.

This cake was taller than Issie!!  She loved it and I had a blast making it!



Issie about to blow out the candles on her Rapunzel Tower cake.

On to some other details!

For decorations--I did not want to use the typical generic Rapunzel plates--but Issie had to have some things with Rapunzel on them other than the cake, so I made the cake balls pictured below and topped them with scenes from the movie. I found free printable cupcake toppers here.

Along with the scenes from "Tangled", I mixed in coordinating cupcake toppers with Issie's monogram, name, and the number 4.

I wanted the party to be similar to a tea party--but with a princess twist.  So I served foods that would be fitting for a tea party...but still fit the Rapunzel theme.

Food Served:

Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches (cut in flower shapes)

Ham and Cheese sandwiches (cut in star shapes)

Cake balls

Strawberry marshmellows

Strawberries

Chocolate covered Strawberries

Blue Jello with Orange slice"boats"

  Unfortunately, I was so focused on the cake, I didn't get close-ups of the other food!  Now that I have started this blog, I will have to do much better with the picture taking!!

However, you can see where I got some of my ideas from here.  She has great close-ups of the Tangled inspired Jello with orange boats.

I also did not get pics of the tissue paper flowers that were hanging over the food table and the kid's table.  You can see bits and pieces of some of them in the pics I took--but you really dont get the full effect. 

Here is a picture of the table set-up....

There was about 7 tissue paper flowers hanging above the table--but I didnt get pics! Sorry!!

As you can see--instead of using plates with Rapuzel's picture on them, I chose a Lavendar and white plate.  The original plan was to use silver chargers under the plates, but they ended up being too large for the table.

I rented the round table and the chairs from The Wedding Center.  This is where I get most of my rentals from parties and they are fantastic!! They have great prices and no order is too small  or too big for them.

For activities, we started out by getting "dressed up" for the special guest that was coming to our tea.

I spent a little more on this activity than I normally would, but considering this would be the party favors as well as an activity, I felt it was worth the money. I purchased two of these kits from Walmart for around $20 each.  The girls loved getting fancy for the tea!

 



Issie all dolled up!

Since all the "Princesses" came to the party dressed in their formal princess attire, I didn't want them to get messed up with paint, but painting is such a big part of the Tangled movie, I wanted to have some sort of coloring or painting.  So, I ordered one of these.  The kids had a great time coloring and playing in this fantastic cardboard castle, that is so durable, we still have it in our playroom--several months later!

 

The girls had a great time coloring the castle until our special guest arrived......

 

Rapunzel herself!!

 

We have a fantastic business here in Montgomery called The Party Palace.  For a reasonable fee, they can provide just about any character you can think of to entertain the kids at your party.  Our Rapunzel told her story, danced with the girls, played with them, and took pictures with them. 

Issie loved Rapunzel!!

 

I am sure that there are lots of details I am forgetting to put in this post.  The party occurred several months before the creation of this blog.  However, I can tell you that my daughter is still talking about her Tangled party.  She had a blast and I cannot wait until the next time I get to throw her a party!