Miss Kai Kai's Balloon Birthday

My daughter turned the big 3 last week and we had a little celebration for her. 

The night before I spent about an hour filling up balloons.

tip- there are cheap hand pumps at Wal-mart for about $2-3 in the party supply section.

It will save your diaphragm from bursting.

I pumped about 100 and then decorated the house with them.

These signs and garland led her to our downstairs after she woke up,
to where all the balloons were. 

When she got downstairs and saw everything she whispered, "wow!". 

It was a priceless moment and, to me, worth going to bed at midnight the night before.

Then, she just sat in the middle of them all for a little while.

We celebrate every meal with some candles and the song "Happy Birthday".

This was dinner. She had strawberry cookies instead of a cake
since we were having cake the day after for her party. 

Invitations I made for her party

-it was really simple:

I had some scrap paper with clouds on them 

(you can even draw clouds on paper too)

I then cut out small circles of washi tape and

placed them on the paper like balloons. 

Next, draw strings with a pen and 

then write the party info along the cloud lining.

Back it up with card stock and ...

Viola!

::The Party::

The birthday girl

My daughter loves lollipops, and since they are pretty much in the shape of balloons, I had to make some. I made li hing mui lollipops

(recipe here, I altered it a bit and added jello powder for color and flavor instead of t

he recipe flavor and coloring. I also omitted the powdered sugar. 

After pouring it into molds, I dropped a li hing mui seed in the center). 

The kids liked hitting the water balloon pinata's! 

We eventually had to tape a plastic fork to the bat so they would break.

They were tough balloons!

Since our house was filled with balloons I used a few and strung them on a string for a garland outside.

The favors were personalized water guns and sponge poms

They are easy to make too:

Cut a sponge length wise into three strips.

Cut as many as you like for each pom, just as long as you can tie them.

I used 2 sponges, 6 strips, per pom.

Then, stack them together and tightly tie a string in the middle around them all.

Happy Birthday Miss Kai Kai!!

Washi tape bunting invitation

Spotted these adorable invites on Mer Mag. 

I love the black and yellow color combo and the fact that they are very easy to make. 

I think I may borrow the idea for my daughters balloon party coming up in a few weeks.

 

A peek into the doggy party

Just about the coolest DIY birthday card EVER!

...and it is complete with down loadable templates too! Click to create.

From Martha Stewart staff

get extreme with this edition

POP baby shower invitations

A comment left by a reader made me realize that I never had posted about my friends POP baby shower invitations. They were really simple. I designed a tag to be attached to a small bag of gumballs. It was great because it gave the guests an idea of what they were in for [a lot of fun].

Thanksgiving Invitations

I lOVE felt, so when I saw these Thanksgiving dinner invitations with felt on them, I had to store them as a post. 

From EliseBlaha

 

Free Labor Day Party Invites

Labor Day is September 6th. 

Get these printable invitations for your Labor Day Party from MS

Goldfish Party: Part I

I started working on my daughters goldfish cracker themed birthday party this past week. 

I'm getting really excited about it- probably more than she is since she's only 2. 

Here are some hats, cupcake toppers and invitations I came up with. 

We paired the invitations with a small bag of goldfish crackers.

DIY dinner invitations

A simple way of creating a unique 

dinner invitation on Once Wed

The concept is beautiful and is such a great way to 

show what your guests can expect at the party. 

Imagine the other possibilities for party invites:

-baby shower

-birthday party

-ANY party

The wheels are turning in my head right now

D.I.Y. scratch off invitations

This DIY can be made for so many things: games, invitations, save the dates, thinking of you cards, etc etc etc. Basically anything you want. I thought I'd share how to make them yourself.

The concept was taken from a typical lottery ticket- scratch and win. Who doesn't like to scratch those little circles off?  These examples below are in the etsy shop. I made them to reveal the birthday boys' name.

To get started, here is what you will need:

• a print out of your invitation, lottery ticket, save the date, etc.- similar to the example above.
• coordinating acrylic paint (preferably silver- darker colors work best, or same color paint as the print will be so you can't see the "surprise word: through the paint)
• contact paper -sticky back plastic

What to do:

- Take your print out and cover the "surprise" that you want to be scratched off with contact paper. For example, if it's a date that you want to be scratched off, completely cover the date with contact paper- sticky side down. Leave a little extra room on the sides if you want to design something with the paint.
- Next, paint over the "surprise" word with acrylic paint. You can free hand it our use a stencil for a cleaner look.
- Let it dry and repeat another coat if  you can still see the "surprise" words.

Viola! Easy-peasy.

 note: you may want to make several practice runs just to scratch off for fun. They get addicting- I made a few extra just to scratch off myself.

Where the Wild Things Are Party

There is this darling blog that you can frequently catch me reading called armelle. She has an eye for simplicity and great style, she also makes nice jewelry, and has some great recipes. She's currently planning a Where the Wild Things Are party for her son. I love everything about it. Check out the invites, the favor boxes and more. 

Easy Handmade Lollipop Valentine's

I just saw this idea today and thought that it was the most clever, most easy, and cheapest Valentine to make and give EVER!

Think of all the other possibilities you could make with them... invitations, thank you's, get well soon cards, or even replace the lollipop with something else like a sparker, a crayon or pen, or maybe tie a string on that is attached to a helium balloon!

Here are several blogs with same basic idea. Check 'em out.

  24-7-365 blog:

House on the hill blog:

and Blonde Design blog:

 

How to: Using Glassine Envelopes

You can now order bunches of glassine envelopes at the shop under favors/bags.

 I came up with a few ideas on how to use them as party favors and invitations just by adding some custom stickers and stitching: