Intagram Birthday Recap

Friday, April 26th, 2013

(Man, I am LATE posting about this special day,

but if you follow me on Instagram,

(or Facebook or Twitter)

you will have already seen most of the following images...)

This year,

we have decided to forego any big friend birthday parties

for the kiddos and just focus on their special day with the family.

Jungle Girl turned 11 on April 26th,

and we began the celebration

with little buckets filled with party supplies

for all our little...

..."party animals." 

After opening up the party kits,

we packed up the van and headed to...

...Krispie Kreme for a doughnut breakfast.

After getting hyped up on sugar,

we headed to over to our local park...

...to feed the ducks...

...and play on the playground.

In fact, 

Pretty Princess Pants had so much fun...

...she was plum tuckered out!

After the Puppy Prince and Pretty Princess Pants

went home,

my kiddos and I headed over to my parents' house for...

...birthday cake!

My mom made the cake

(Texas Chocolate- Jungle Girl's fav)

AND

a clay Toothless dragon

for the cake topper.

Marmee LOVES to spoil her grandkiddos...  :0)

After dance practice,

we went back home and spent the evening...

...eating MORE sugar

(a cookie cake)

with neighborhood friends,

and even had an impromptu sleepover

(a total of 7 kiddos, to be exact).

Overall,

I think this day turned out pretty nicely... 

...for my dragon-lovin',

craft-a-holic

Jungle Girl!

I hope and pray your 11th year of life

ROCKS, sweet girl!!!

"Baby Girl is All Smiles to Be Eight" Birthday Party

 About a MONTH after Baby Girl's actual birthday

(July 14th),

I was finally able to host her "friend" birthday party.

She wanted a...

 ..."Smiley Face" birthday party,

which I found was pretty easy to plan

(Thank goodness!).

**************************************

For the invitations...

 ...I found some round, scalloped-edged cards

at Target slapped some googly eyes

on 'em to create Smiley Faces.

(I had all the party info on the backside of the card.)

***************************************

We held the party in our church's

Fellowship Hall,

so I did not go overboard with decor-

honestly,

I usually skimp the most on decorations-

that can really add up, 

financially speaking.

I put up a simple 

"SMILE" banner,

 threw some yellow table clothes on the floor

for the craft area and eating area,

and used the party favors as part

of the decor.

 The party favors were in 

paper lunch sacks,

decorated with a simple smiley face sticker.

 Each of the kiddos received a 

Smiley Face Stress Ball,

smiley face stickers,

and smiley face fruit snacks.

*****************************************

Now,

the party occurred on the evening of our church's

H2O (His 2 Own) water event,

so when that ended,

I brought the kiddos inside...

 ...to do a craft.

 I had plastic button backs and covers,

and the kiddos used

paper circles,

sequins,

beads,

googly eyes,

and glue

to transform them into

Smiley Face Buttons.

*************************************

 

By the time the kiddos finished their craft,

the pizzas were done cooking...

 ...so we ate.

Since the company who provided water slides

for our H2O event 

wasn't picking up the slides until 7:30,

the kiddos got to go back outside...

 ...and enjoy the inflatables for another 45 minutes.

(AWESOMENESS!!!)

****************************************

When the kiddos came back inside,

dried off,

and changed,

we had Baby Girl's...

 ...Smiley Face cupcakes.

I love "cupcake cakes"-

they are SO easy to make!

Slap on some yellow frosting and some Jr. Mints,

and the cupcakes are smiling...

**********************************

After the cake and ice cream...

...Baby Girl opened her gifts.

Her friends were very generous-

lots of new art supplies

make this little girl happy...

*************************************

Finally,

we ended the evening with some games,

including:

Pin the Smile on the Face

"Who Can Bounce the Smiley Face the Longest"

and

(MY fav)

"Pass the Smiley Orange-With Your Feet"

Since we had a few extra prizes...

...all the kiddos got to leave with a cute

little chalk holder-

which was SMILING, 

of course...

***************************************

All in all,

I'd say this party...

...left Baby Girl smiling

from

ear-to-ear!

Happy 8th Birthday,

my precious Baby Girl...

Birthday Card Ribbon Display

We love to celebrate birthdays in this house.

We love getting and giving birthday cards.

But I have never really liked displaying all of the birthday cards,

because they always seemed to eventually fall off of the mantel,

the bookshelves, the baker's cabinet, etc., etc., etc.

Well,

I think I have solved my

birthday card quandary. 

I scrounged around my craft supplies

and came up with a little

"Birthday Card Ribbon Display."

Here's how I put mine together...

1.  Gather up all the supplies:

*Scraps of scrapbook paper

*Clothes pins

*Ribbon/Cord/Rope

*Mod Podge

*Sponge brush

*Sandpaper

*Scissors

*Cutter

*Birthday cards

2.  To decorate the clothes pins,

I cut strips of scrapbook paper the width of

the clothes pins.

They don't have to be exactly perfect

if you are going for a more "weathered" look...

3.  Tear the strips to the length of the clothes pins-

again, I did not worry about perfection...

4.  Using Mod Podge and a sponge brush,

glue the strips to the clothes pins

(both sides)

and put a top coat of Mod Podge on the paper.

5.  Let the clothes pins dry completely.

6.  I wanted to give my pins a distressed look,

so after they were dry,

I used sandpaper...

...and the edge of a pair of scissors to 

scruff them up a bit.

7.  To create the display ribbon,

take long piece of cord/thick ribbon/rope

and knot it at the top.

Give it some color and tie different ribbon scraps

to the top of the knot.

8.  Hang the cord on a door,

clip on the clothes pins,

and you are ready...

...to display some birthday cards!

I really needed this display this month,

since both Super Dad and Baby Girl celebrate

their birthdays in July...

Now I feel like we can keep the cards on display longer,

letting all the family enjoy them,

until the next birthday comes along!

Jungle Girl's "Arty Birthday Party"

This past Friday evening,

we hosted an

"Arty Birthday Party"

in our church's Fellowship Hall for...

...Jungle Girl and her friends.

************************************************

A couple of weeks before the party,

I whipped up some simple invitations...

 

 ...which included a paintbrush

to get the kiddos into the theme of the party.

*********************************************

 While waiting for all the party guests to arrive,

the kiddos got creative with a little...

 ...butcher paper drawing.

***********************************************

After most of the guests arrived,

we headed over to the painting tables...

 ...which this lovely young lady had helped me

set up earlier.

(Wasn't she creative with the painting utensils?)  :0)

I let the kiddos paint whatever they wanted to...

...and the results were beautiful!

********************************************

For some colorful snacks at the party,

I made sure the birthday buffet was stocked up on...

 ...Rainbow Goldfish Crackers,

Rainbow Chip Chips Ahoy Cookies, and

..."Rainbow Colored Arranged" chips.

The "cherry on top" for the party eats was...

...THIS rainbow cake I discovered

via Pinterest.

I should not have doubled THIS cake batter

for the Rainbow Cake layers

because...

...the cake had some issues standing 

after it was cut.

Oh well-

it was still yummy... :0)

**********************************************

Before we ate,

the kiddos played a couple of games

that were centered around 

the art theme...

1.  "Twisted" Painters Palette

Haven't you ever envisioned a Twister Game Board

to be like a painter's palette?

No?

Well, I was stretching for a game to relate to our

art/rainbow colored theme,

so the basic colors of the Twister Board

inspired this game.

(Click HERE for more details about the game...)

2.  A Modified Version of Pictionary

The kiddos drew their pictures on an

Art Easel to add more 

"artistic flair" to the game...

******************************************

Jungle Girl handed out goody bags

to her friends when the night came to a close.

The bags each contained:

Skittles

("Taste the Rainbow")

Starbursts

(more colorful candy)

Rainbow colored mini gel pens

(courtesy of the Target Dollar Spot)

Rainbow stickers

and

Mini Paint-swatch Notebooks

(Tutorial can be found HERE) 

*************************************

I do believe Jungle Girl 

had a lovely time at her 

"friend" party...

A lovely party

for the loveliest 10 year old I know...