Pokemon Birthday Party

Last weekend we celebrated my son's Birthday and this year he chose the theme "Pokemon".  He used to just pick the theme and I would plan a party around it.   However, somewhere along the way he decided he should start giving me creative direction *shakes head*.  He researched Pokemon birthday invitations and decided he wanted his to look like a Pokemon card after seeing a couple others online.  Pictured above is what we came up with.  I made the back of it look like a Pokemon card and laminated it.

My son also had a few suggestions for how the cake should look.  He requested it look like a Pokemon arena.  As always, Auntie Susan made an amazing cake for the occasion.

For the decorations I decided to have Pokemon characters peeking out of windows.  I just drew the images on construction paper and cut them out.  Some were outside and some were inside the house.  Before I had the rest of the decorations up, I saw a few people taking double takes at my house.  They probably thought we were extreme Anime fans or something.

For the birthday favor bags, I found this clever Pikachu idea on Pinterest via Amy Montes.  I filled the bags with school supplies.  I'm not sure how excited the kids felt about that but I wanted to get something they could actually use.

I made some special labels for the drinks but that's not why I'm sharing this.  These drinks are made by the Japanese brand Ramune. These drinks are unique because there's a marble in each bottle.  I thought they would go well with the whole Pokeball concept.  The kids really liked them and some even brought their bottles home with them.  I'm attaching a video below to show how these drinks work in case you're curious.

 

Out of all the party planning, the most challenging thing for me was finding fun age appropriate games.  There comes a time when "pin the tail on the donkey" just doesn't cut it anymore.  Pictured above was a game I found on the Minute to Win It site.  The object of the game is to get the cookie sitting on your forehead to your mouth without using your hands.  As you can imagine, it's pretty entertaining to play and watch.  If you decide to try this out, the key is to use a heavy cookie (exp. Oreo).

The most popular game at the party was a game I named "Candy Pokeball".  I wrapped up two bags of candy with an entire roll of plastic wrap and the kids had to unravel the ball to get the candy.  I found this game on Seminary At Six AM and you'll find the full instructions there.  This game took about 20 minutes to play and I think it tired the kids out.  The one thing I would recommend is to make it clear that they can't eat the candy until they get home.  One child asked if they could have a piece of candy. Before I could blink, there were empty candy wrappers everywhere.   My apologies to the parents if you're reading this.  

Special thanks to Akemi & Danny (SIL & BIL) who took all the photos that you are seeing on this post.

One Cute Cookie

Today I want to share a little trick I use with cupcake liners to make my cookies look cute.  I don't know if anyone else does this.  I can't recall seeing this before.  Although, who knows, maybe there are hundreds of posts out there about it. But just in case, I thought I would share.

One of my favorite ways to display cookies is with cupcake liners.  I like that it makes them all uniform, perfect for a dessert table.  Plus, when someone goes to grab a cookie, they don't touch the rest of them. With little hands, that can be a very very good thing.

To wrap up a cookie, fold a cupcake liner in half.  Place cookie in center.  Fold left and right flaps back.  Super 

easy.

I made the cookies pictured above for a school fundraiser.  I know more and more schools are not allowing home baked goods for school events. I understand why but it seems such a shame.  I remember when I was in elementary school and there would be a cupcake fundraiser.  All the cupcakes would be displayed on a cart and rolled into each classroom. One would get to choose which cupcake they wanted.  I always liked the cupcakes with the fancy toppings (a.k.a candy). 

Curious, does your school allow home baked goods?

One Birthday to Rule Them All

 Lord of The Rings Cake by Auntie Susan

Last weekend I hosted a Lord of The Rings(LOTR) birthday party for my son.  I have to say this was one of the more challenging birthday parties I've put together simply because LOTR is not the hot thing right now.  Translation, no toys, no decorations, and no birthday ideas on Pinterest.  That coupled with little time to plan a party required some quick thinking.  

For the invitations I went with a rustic look.  I found a free LOTR font called Ringbearer on Fontspace. I added a wax seal to the invitation like Gandalf does to seal the ring in the envelope.  Since I didn't have a wax seal, I had to get creative.  Instead of a seal I used a cheap metal cross that I placed into the hot wax, then I placed a thimble around it to make a circle shape.  Surprised it worked?  Me too!

Lets talk decorations, 

The birthday banner was made to look like Bilbo Baggins birthday banner.  I used craft paper and acrylics to make the sign. 

If you read the book or saw the movie, then you know Bilbo Baggins had a similar sign posted on his fence.  I printed one up with the font "Party Business" and placed it on the front door.

For the inside of the house, I tried to make it look like Bilbo's house.  I printed out a map of middle earth and framed it with some black card stock.  I found things around my house that looked like something Bilbo would have on his desk.  I also distressed some paper and rolled it up to look like scrolls.   Other decorations included a picture of Rivendell (salvaged from a PEZ box)  which I framed and placed on a side table.  If I had more time, I would have switched out family pictures for prints of Frodo, Bilbo, Gandalf, etc.

For the outside, I covered a beach cabana with a toy camouflage net.  My logic for this was the hobbit homes were dome shape. Plus, the tent made a nice place for the kids to sit and eat lunch.  I also covered a plastic picnic table/bench with some butcher paper colored to look like wood. 

Pictured above is my version of Shelob's (giant spider) cave.  I covered my son's room with yarn from wall to wall.  The kids had to crawl through it and find the gold rings Shelob was protecting.  This was by far the most popular game of the party. 

 Sparkler Candles

By the end of the party I felt like. . .  well I think Bilbo said it best, "Why I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over to much bread."

Kid Craft: Doll Napkins & Placemats

Ever since my daughter received a Madame Alexander doll for her birthday, there have been many tea parties around here. But I realized the place setting was missing something, napkins. We couldn't have that, what would Emily Post say?! So I got out some leftover party napkins and made a mini set with them. I love that the doll now has miniature napkins just like my daughter's. It makes me want to design a doll themed birthday party. I can picture it now one table for the girls and another for the dolls. . . Oh yes, the wheels are turning.

Since this craft is for kids, I made the napkins and placemats with paper. You could easily covert this into a simple sewing craft as well.

Mini Napkin Instructions

1. Take one cocktail napkin and unfold.

2. Cut into four squares along folds.

3. Refold each square into quarters. Trim down if necessary.

Mini Placemat Instructions

1. Cut a piece of scrapbook paper into a 4" x 6" rectangle.

2. Trim with decorative edged scissors. Done!

Have a tea party.

Princess Birthday Party

Once upon a time, in the suburbs lived a princess. She hosted a birthday party for all her friends and family. . . .

Even some knights showed up in their best preppy casual attire.

The tables were adorned with plastic jewels from the party store. . .

. . . and carnations. For the mother was cursed with a black thumb and could only keep carnations alive. Roses all died in her care.

All the princesses made bejeweled headpieces out of plastic headbands, rhinestones, and glue dots.


The princesses mother was known to be a little crazy. She stayed up to the wee hours of the night gluing rhinestones to plastic forks. . .


. . . she also hand glittered all the letters for the birthday banner.


Small tea sandwiches were served on plates adorned with tulle and rhinestones.

Even a special cake was made by the royal family baker, Auntie Susan. She went to great lengths to make the cake, even the crown was edible.

And they all lived happily ever after. Even their son who refused to be in the picture and locked himself in the bathroom.

The End

Lego Birthday Party

Lego Cake by Auntie Susan

Over the weekend we celebrated my son's birthday. As you can see it was Lego themed. I had grand plans for a superhero/comic themed party but he wanted a Lego party so that's what he got. I miss the days when he was younger and I could decide for him. But after all it was his birthday, not mine.

Below are a few pictures from the party.

I kept the invitations simple this year and created a Lego head shaped invitation. I designed the invitations with the Silhouette Studio software and created it with my Silhouette SD. I'd be happy to share the template with you guys, I'm just not sure how to. If anyone has any knowledge of the best way to share a template, let me know.

I made a banner with a Lego font I found via Tip Junkie.

Top left corner: Goody bag - idea via Homemaking Fun , Top right: Lego tattoos that read "Born to Build", Bottom: Lego candy with packaging I designed

Tattoo template for personal use only

Click on image, right click, copy, save and print. I made the tattoos about 1" x 2" in size. I used the Silhouette tattoo printer paper to make them. The tattoo printer paper doesn't have to be the Silhouette brand, that's just what I used.

This giant Lego head doubled as my son's gift and the table centerpiece. The Lego head is for sorting and storing Legos. I found it on Amazon if anyone is interested.

See that utensil holder in the picture; I made it. I really try to use what I have around the house before I start buying stuff for any party. I just built the utensil holder with my sons blocks. And if you're wondering, I did sanitize it after I made it. After all, those blocks have been played with a lot.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out the party :)

Make Your Food Sparkle

I was out shopping at Daiso the other day and discovered these cute jewel food picks. I decided to use them to serve up some snacks for a playdate. Anytime we have someone over for the first time, I like to serve something that's extra special. In this case, the special part was mainly the food picks.

The tiny bread in the picture above is actually a bagel sliced up. It makes the perfect size bread for appetizers and tiny sandwiches. Plus, you can get about 15 -20 slices out of one bagel depending on how thin you slice it. Since bagels come in so many flavors, you can can really get creative with your snacks.

Food picks like these are great for appetizers, bentos, or mini fruit kabobs.

New Superhero Lollipop Templates

Whitney from Whisker Graphics suggested I make some generic templates for these Superhero Valentines. I thought that was a great idea so I whipped up a new template. Use them for birthday party favors or a super sweet treat. Template below.

Click on image to make larger, right click, copy, save, and print on card stock.

For full directions on how to construct the Superhero lollipops, please visit the Superhero Valentine post. It's really easy, promise.

A Hello Kitty Birthday Party

Cake made by the talented Auntie Susan

Well, I survived another birthday party. As much as I love planning and hosting parties, they really do wear me out. Even as I type, I'm still recovering from the event. That said, it was all well worth it. Everyone seemed to have a good time and most importantly, the birthday girl had a good time. Here are some of the details from the party:

Left: Thai boba tea, Right: Hello Kitty Chopsticks, Bottom: Table decorations

I was up till 12:30 the night before the party making this decoration. The next day I woke up with a bunch of tape in my hair. I'm just thankful I didn't use a hot glue gun for the project!

Your eyes do not deceive, this is Hello Kitty Japanese masking tape. I found these little gems in SF Japantown.

Here are the favors we gave out to our guests. Each favor contained a little manju (Japanese dessert). I used the Hello Kitty tape to seal the bags.

Another picture of the favors.

Me & the Birthday Girl

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at how we party.