An Indiana Jones Birthday

My son is turning seven, and he has asked for an Indiana Jones birthday party. Well, I have to admit that I am not much for character parties with premade plates, cups and napkins. My one concession was the invitation. I found these on Baysic Design's Etsy shop. You send a picture of your child to her and she sends a file back to you that you may print or email. How simple is that?

Cole was so excited when he saw the finished invitation. You can get your own here.

I founds some inexpensive fabric at Joanne Fabrics to make a tent like structure. My sister found some rope at our local hardware store to hang from the trees above our deck.

We wrapped some snakes in the ropes, since Indiana Jones is afraid of snakes. (The snakes were part of Cole's present from his Aunt Karen... more on that in the next post!)

We had an easy activity to start with. The children broke up into groups and took turns wrapping each other into mummies! They were giggling and having so much fun. We certainly got our money worth out of a few rolls of toilet paper!

I made this little pillow pouches myself. I found the paper at Michael's in the scrapbooking section. The template for the pouch was at the Got Crafts blog here. I put the paper in my printer and printed the template on the back. Easy cutting and gluing and voila. Now I have to tell you that I made these pouches because I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for, and I didn't have enough time to have something shipped. If you are not into making things, or simply do not have the time, you can find some wonderful boxes at LilithEvy's Etsy shop. We filled ours with magic tricks from the dollar store.

We found "chalices" on line at a floral supply house. I purchased jewels with stickers on the back at Oriental Trading, and glitter, gold and silver markers at Michaels. While the kids were decorating their goblets, my friends hid treasures in the yard. (Thanks Robin and Tara!)

It was important to me to find jewels that looked real. The kids were so into them!

I made these pyramid boxes to hold faceted "jewels" that I also found on Etsy. My son picked out colors for each of his friends, we filled the boxes with shredded wood and one large jewel. I wrote each child's name on the box and we hid them around the yard for a treasure hunt. Here is the link to the pyramid box template I found online.

To keep the kids busy, we had another activity. Originally I thought I'd send these home with the kids, but they had great fun being archeoligists digging out egyptian treasures. The Pyramid Dig Kit is from Oriental Trading.

I found some edible jewel decorations on Fancy Flours to decorate the cupcakes, and some "crystal" skulls too. We ordered plain cupcakes at Wegmans and decorated them a few minutes before the party.

A Pinkalicious Party

My daughter just loves Victoria and Elizabeth Kann's book Pinkalicious. So when it was time for the fourth birthday party, this was an obvious theme.

You can visit the Cupcakes for All website for printables and party ideas. It's very pink! You can purchase the book at Barnes and Noble, one of our favorites haunts!

How easy is that, go out and buy everything Pink? I found pink Hershey's Kisses in honor of the breast cancer awareness. At Target, I found pink M&M's in support of the Susan G. Komen Brest Cancer Foundation. I picked up a bunch of pink roses and pink carnations at our local grocery store. I chose pink plates, cups and napkins at Party City.

I had these adorable little tea cups packed away in the attic, so I pulled them out, filled them with floral foam and carnations. Didn't they turn out well? My sister and I used to have cups at tea parties with our grandmother. They bring back some wonderful memories.

I found this lovely little suitcase styled box at Home Goods. They even have sterling handles! (Oh, my - I hadn't taken the wrapping off the silver for the shot! :) The organdy pouches were found at Party City. We filled them with lip glosses & nail files.

Of course, I had to make some cookies. I made these little flowers with stylized "e's" for my daughter's name and some luster dust for extra sparkle. You can find luster dust at Global Sugar Art.

A simple mint julep cup and three roses makes a beautiful centerpiece on the sweet little ice cream table and chair set. My mom and I found the table and chair set at an antique show and sale. Well, if you must know where, the Pottersville Antique Show and Sale is the place!

I had these wonderful cupcakes made at our local Wegman's to save myself some time. I think they turned out great and they were moist and delicious.

I found some pink tulle at Joanne Fabrics. I draped it around for added decoration.

We searched high and low for an all pink pinata. This one fit the bill. It was a wonderful event, with simple old fashioned games like putting the clothes pins in a bottle, and an egg race. A fun and wonderful theme that can be adapted from almost any favorite story. Happy celebrations!

A Flower Party

When my daughter turned three, I wanted a girly party for her without licensed characters, so I came up with this open theme.  It is easy to work with and can become pretty much what ever you desire.  Imagine it with all daisies, or a different color theme - it can become more casual or very formal.

This is where the whole party started.  I found the directions to make these flowers on Martha Stewart.  I found some beautiful tissue paper at Michael's Crafts.  I varied the petal edges and which colors were in the center.  I also made smaller flowers for variety.  Here they are hanging from our chandelier.  Some were hung in the corners of the rooms and backs of chairs.  

Here are some of the smaller flowers added to balloons on the front porch.  It's always nice to have something out front so guest know this is where the party is!

I chose orange and pink to go along with the tissue paper flowers,  and incorporated it into the remaining decorations.

We had boys and girls at the party, so I found these sweet little bead kits by Bead Bazaar at Piggy Roo.  They had flowers, butterflies, whales, bugs - something for everyone.  I love the idea that the children will have something creative to do when they get home.

I love to make cut out cookies and decorate them for birthdays or holidays.  Since the beads seemed a little small, I made a bag of cookies for each guest.  I kept them pink and orange to go with the tissue paper flowers.  I found some wonderful luster powder at my local cake decorating shop Bev's Cakes.  The powder is totally edible, and generally is mixed with alcohol and painted onto fondant.  I put mine in a fine sieve and dusted it over royal icing.  It has a wonderful glitter effect.  The luster dust is by CK Products.

My daughter loves brownies and requested brownie cupcakes.  So I made Ghiardelli brownie mix into cupcakes and topped them with cream cheese icing.  I found the little sugar flowers at Fancy Flours.  Take a peek at their site, there are many things to choose from, whatever your theme may be.  The cake stand is by Two's Company.  I found this set at Home Goods.