Thursday, September 29, 2011

Boy's 7th Birthday {Army Party}

I had the pleasure of attending a birthday party with my eldest son for his mates birthday, and boy wasn't it a treat to have such a jam packed party (that I didn't have to create!) Thanks Leah for the amazing party that you threw for your twin boys.

On arrival, there were cute little dog tags made from cut up foil trays! Genius!!!


After some face/war paints, BOOT CAMP got started, the first game was to carry an egg on a spoon for a distance and back, but this proved too easy, so that stakes were upped... EYES CLOSED!!!


Straight after, was the obstacle course. Being that it was a mainly boy party, this went over a real hit!


 Some nummy food, some green jelly, a few army man cupcakes, and we were spent!
 

Time for home, a beautiful little army package for guests with treats and lollies inside.

Thanks again for the party Leah, sorry it took so long to blog it, it's almost time for their birthday again!

Be inspired!



30th Blowout {Mell's 30th}

What a poor poor neglected blog :(

This year I (and Sarah too!!!) celebrated our 30th birthdays :D Mine was in March, and Sarah has only just had hers.

When it came time to decide on my party, I was a little torn, and a good friend of mine (michelle) said if I didn't chuck myself a party, I would think back, and probably regret that decision. 

It wasn't that I didn't have a MILLION ideas for celebrating my 30th, it's just that I wasn't quite sure I wanted to put in the work. now looking back (mere months later) I'm SO glad we did it!

My idea was that we would have a cute little afternoon tea, where there would be cake, and yummy nibbles, (and nasty formalities) and then (for those who wanted to stay) dinner under the *stars* (it rained... )

Here are some of the table decorations, I found these sweet little hurricanes for a steal at Go-Lo and grabbed some beautiful bunches of colour from our local florist. The lemons in the bottom are just too cute to look at, but be careful, this is a last minute arrangement, apparently the acid kills the blooms quicker.


Unfortunately, just a few hours into the day, while we were still setting up, it started to POUR down with rain :( 
We had purchased this beautiful little marquee from ebay, it came with sides and windows, and was 6 meters long!!! We purchased it with the hopes that it would keep our guests cool if they wanted some shade from the autumn sun (laugh!) The day was SO sadly dreary that we had to run out to the local hardware store and buy two more little market marquees to keep our guests DRY rather than cool!

 All set up, but still raining :(




Me and my little fam :D (for the few minutes it wasn't raining in the afternoon)



The beautiful pastel lanterns are from ebay and a nearby bargain shop


Cheers! In spite of the rain, we still had a lovely afternoon.



Blowing the candles out with my cute family

 Because it was a family friendly party, we really needed something for the kids to do to keep them entertained. I made little drawstring activity bags from leftover fabrics. Inside were some little pencils, for colouring, and a writing pad. I also made up a little scavenger hunt sheet to keep the kids on their toes.

It's just not a party without gifts for the guests! I had my Mum and Dad pick up these fantastic food grade chopsticks in little pouches when they were in Thailand. They were a great gift, useful, and so cute, there were also lots of designs to choose from, which means everyone could be a little bit individual.

Hope my 30th has inspired you!!!

xo


Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Product Shout Outs!!! {Cakes & Invites}

To all you party people out there, I would like to share a little info about a new biz being created in Cobar NSW.




Samantha from Sweet Bliss Cakes

Hi my name is Samantha Muller and I have been making cakes since my eldest childs 1st birthday. I am new to the cake decorating scene and still have alot to learn. I am hoping to get more practice by helping out people with cakes for all occasions and eventually open my own business. So if you would like to talk about a cake please pm or e-mail me.
Thanks
Samantha






You can contact her via email: sjmuller84@gmail.com

Or check out  her facebook page HERE




For Cobar readers... this is your lucky day!!! Check out her fb page and order up! YUM!!!




For those of you NOT in Cobar (or who are... whatever) please do not hesitate to give our beautiful Sarah from SILVER BIRCH DESIGNS a bell about some fantastic, unique and hand made invites and cards.



You can catch her facebook HERE

and email her here: sarah@silverbirchdesigns.com.au









Wednesday, March 30, 2011

caterpillar invitation

I designed this invitation for my dear friend Naomi's little boy's 1st birthday! It would have been a great addition to my son's first birthday party -which also was a "Bug theme"! It's good to remember that your invitation can set the scene for your party :)




                              
                                                 


Saturday, February 5, 2011

{Critters and Flitters} Double Party

I had a dilemma.  

My son, Tot,  was turning one ... an occasion we like to celebrate in a big way, but my daughter's 3rd birthday was only 5 days after his.  Poppy had been all about birthdays from the day she had a birthday cake and candles to blow out when she turned two. 

So really the decision wasn't too hard. I'd throw a double party. Since neither of them were really 'into' anything in particular, I chose a theme that I thought would be fun and easy to include both boy and girl aspects.


Critters and Flitters

Critters for the boy:: caterpillars, beetles, ants, spiders etc.
Flitters for the girl:: butterflies, dragonflies, ladybugs etc.


Naturally we had to have one cake for each child ... 

I went with a simple #1 cake with a caterpillar crawling on the top for Tot. 
The icing on the #1 was chocolate with chocolate cookie chunks in it to simulate dirt.

A butterfly was the obvious choice for Poppy's cake.  
I used a paper template to cut out the cake and again to make the wing design with the sugar crystals.


TIP: SCRAPBOOK PAPER ON TOP OF A PLAIN WHITE CAKE BOARD, OR A PIECE OF AN OLD CARDBOARD BOX, COVERED IN CLEAR CELLOPHANE MAKES FOR A UNIQUE BACKGROUND FOR YOUR CAKE.  CHOOSE YOUR PAPER TO GO WITH YOUR THEME 


We had a wide age range of guests at the party so we tried to have activities to suit them all.  Here are the three 'theme related' activities.

Stand alone activity: Guess how many worms are in the jar
Group activity:  Bug hunt, each guest had a labeled jar and searched the garden for 3 hidden bugs each

 TIP:  BUG HUNT JARS WERE CREATED FROM OLD BABY FOOD JARS SAVED FROM TOT'S MUSHED UP FOOD DAYS.


Independent Activity:  Supplies were set out for our guests to make their own bug creations.


TIP: OLD EGG CARTONS, CUT UP INTO SECTIONS OF 1, 2 OR 3 MAKE GREAT BASES FOR A WIDE VARIETY OF CRITTERS

I had fun keeping with theme for some of the party food.

All guests, young and old seemed to take great delight in the 'Build-a-Bug: Snack' table.  We made an idea-starter display and provided all the ingredients for them to make their own!  It served two purposes, an activity and a tummy filler!

Build-A-Bug: Snack


The other fun food addition to the critter theme was our gummy worms in green jelly.  This was a fun one to make with Poppy's help. The end result was a little squiggle away from my initial plan.  I carefully curled each worm into place on a baking tray, in neat little rows to enable easy cutting into little squares.  The worms had an idea of their own though once the hot jelly hit them.  They all went NUTS squiggling all over the place and ended up as you can see ... NOT in neat little rows to be cut into neat little squares.  It turned into quite the jigsaw puzzle!  The squeals of glee from Poppy as she watched the worms squirm made this treat even more delightful!


Gummy worm jelly treats



And of course no party is complete with out take home gifts for the guests. 

The little girls in the group took home butterfly wings and the little boys took home a bug mask (not pictured) both purchased at our local "Dollar Tree".


Balloons and butterfly wings

  The balloons were tied onto little cardboard bags that were a perfect vessel for the guests bug jars, filled with their finds from the Bug Hunt activity.

Each guest also chose a critter or flitter cookie to add to their take home bundle.  These were made as an adaptation to the Women's Weekly cupcake idea, but, we already had cake, so I made them into cookies.
A special thanks to Tot's Aussie God-muma for sending all the necessary confectioneries that we can't get here in the US.






Critters and Flitters Cookie assortment






Monday, January 24, 2011

{Pink Party} Baby Shower

I have four children, first we had Jacob, our precious little Jubby, then we had a little bubby who didn't make it much past 7 weeks gestation. Then we had our adorable little Travis and we figure we would quit while we were ahead. We made some extensions to our house and decided that we could probably fit one more Mallin in the place...

The day came to find out if bubby *4* was pink or blue, and there she was... a little pink one! So we planned that way! Now I REALLY VERY MUCH DISLIKE PINK! But I figured I must embrace the girly in me and I decided on a pink party. It was quickly taken out of my hands by my sister-in-laws, Mother-in law and my Mum, but they did me proud!


First we had a little nibble from the vast array of yummy and mostly pink foods - Pink, black and white decorated cupcakes, pink chocolate fountain (white chocolate coloured pink) with white and pink marshmallows and a big yummy bowl of strawberries, cherry ripe slice, coconut ice, dips, crackers, meatballs and party sausage rolls... YUM YUM YUM!!! 


Then we moved into the real entertainment - GAMES AND WHAT-NOT!

First we did a painting for our little bubby's room - pink, white, black and every colour in between hand prints on a blackish grey canvas. 


Dummy spitting, tantrum throwing, and pull-the-tag pinata (we were ladies after all).


Throughout the afternoon was another "activity" in which everyone wrote encouraging or funny words on the front of newborn nappies for a little giggle or "awww" moment in those early hour (or several middle of the night) nappy changes. Some of these included "Daddy's Turn", "Give up and send me to Granny" and "If you think THIS is painful, wait until you meet my 1st boyfriend"



Following all that, it was time for presents! And what beautiful presents they were!!! But that was not all, oh no THAT was not all (Eeeps, too much reading Dr Seuss!) I was presented with a little pink and white striped box that contained little pink monies ($5 bills here in Australia) to put towards the baby carrier that I was REALLY yearning for, but doubt we could otherwise afford. Naw... thanks guys!!!

A giant thank you to the team that put together a seamless shower, even though I heard the "horror" stories (note "horror"... the stories were not actually THAT bad!) there was no way to tell because it ran so lovely and smooth!





 Brilliant ideas here, I'm sure they could be changed to accommodate a little blue one's arrival too!





Sunday, January 23, 2011

Snake Cake!!

This was an off year for us, as far as BIG themed party planning went....ok well I TRIED to be low key- sooo hard to do when you LOVE planning parties!!! I was 8 mths pregnant with our daughter so I did try to do less but still had to have a spesh cake. Caleb requested the "Snake Cake" from the Australian Women's Weekly, Kids Party Cakes book. I was happy with that choice as it is THE most easy cake to make!!! It is simply two ring cakes stuck together, iced and decorated with jube lollies (cut in half) or else your favourite lolly! EASY!

Here is a pic of the our efforts:

     Construction....  
         He LOVED being able to help!


  Daddy was an awesome helper!

    SPRUNG! Look of guilt at eating decorations maybe?!?!

                                                 
   FINAL RESULT= Happy Birthday Boy and Happy Mummy!

African Serengetti

I came up with this theme for my son's 2nd birthday....and he was just WILD about African animals at the time! He had a collection of plastic animals that was all lions and tigers, elephants, giraffes and rhino's etc.  As a result he developed a great passion for these African animals and to this day - nearly 2 years later- they are still played with constantly and taken on all kinds of adventures!!




The Entrance to the party! A reasonable sized piece of cardboard -painted with black paint "Serengeti Trek, 6km"! With 3 lanterns to add some atmosphere- can buy these from Bunnings and probably other hardware stores too.




       Party Boy in his "Safari" outfit (aka kaki green l/s shirt with cargo
      pants  and boots!)

When I started planning this theme, I went straight to my school folder to see what I could use when I used the "Africa" theme there.  These arrows I printed off and laminated were a cinch to make and I used them to direct guests to the party zone! You could find something similar online and photocopy to create your own or look for animal print scrapbook paper and cover some cardstock to make arrows. Laminating them means they can be used again for other parties!






Created this sign using an "African" style font, looks good and a
 simple addition to your decorations. 



I found these great animal pics onThe site I found my prints on was called Kids Domain and it redirected me to this site..

.so not sure if they're still out there?!

The funky mats hanging on the wall I found at some cheapy $2 type store!


 Sketch out some letters on some black card, cut out and used scrap bits of coloured paper- obviously in theme colours- to decorate your letters. I had made these for school so I was thrilled to be able to use them again! These were also laminated to allow for repeated use.

 This sign was hung over the party food table, using the same font as for first sign shown, used a hole punch and threaded string through which was attached on either side to the wall/brick pillar.




I had wanted to create a canopy effect with the streamers....and a)- ran out of time and b) didn't really have anywhere to hang them from. Although thinking now- you could use those 3M hooks that are able to be removed without taking paint too! :) I had a tall container filled with grasses to get the "serengetti" feel. I also used plastic tablecloths to help keep the theme colours- a black one as the base and  a green one folded in half on the top. I borrowed some funky basket/tray thingo's to use for decorations on the table too. Technically they were from Papua New Guinea....but they looked the part!!

 The Party table! Animal mugs in bottom left were for the kiddies (found on ebay for a steal!)..complete with red plastic plates/bowls - kid friendly and cheap! And if you want you can chuck them straight in the bin after the party!

Food was labelled ; chimp chips (banana chips), elephant nibbles (peanuts), jungle muffins (zucchini slice muffins!), tiger treats (nuggets and meatballs), cheetah cheese (cubed cheese chunks), Lion rolls (sausage rolls), monkey bites, safari biscuits (choc chip cookies in giraffe and zebra shapes), chimp chips (potato chips) and you could do plenty more! Your imagination is the limit!!! I had great fun creating these labels and just attached them to skewers and stuck onto each container/dish.

GAMES:  The great Peanut hunt! Kids were given brown paper bags to hunt down the REAL peanuts (peanuts in their shells)....the one who found the most got a prize!

Pass the parcel with African themed toys/stickers....I bought a bag full of themed "toys" and added a few extra gimmicky things like ENORMOUS glasses to break it up. I got those huge glasses from a discount store- and the kids LOVED them!

Have pages of animals at tables to colour- with crayons and/or pencils in tubs handy. You could use old tins (ie food tins) and replace the label with some paper you create or find to match the theme.

Play pin the tail on the Tiger for a different spin on an old favourite.

Create animal masks with as few or as many things as you like. Have pre prepared masks for children to choose from and as an activity, give them things to decorate with!


    THE CAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was so impressed with how this one turned out!! I didn't like the ones in the cake book....I wanted a "cuter" looking tiger and found a pic of the fisher price one online. I printed this one off and created a template to help ice the cake and this is what hubby and I came up with :)

                                                      
                THE INVITE!!!!!!!!!!             
                            

Silver Birch Designs- Children's Birthday Invitations. Loved creating this invite for my son, simple but effective! It was A5 size- I would probably halve it next time around, although the bigger size was great fun and the kids LOVED them!

A great way to decorate for a theme is to borrow items from people you know- like the PNG platters I had, african looking rugs from my parents, makes it look great and doesn't cost you a fortune!

Happy Party Planning!!