{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!

{Monster} Party

A good friend of mine (Mich) has her two beautiful children's birthdays about a week apart, so for their first birthday together, they celebrated in style, having a FULL DAY of birthday parties! Mich was so UBER busy that she asked me to take some photos from the day. Here is the party for little Luci, it was her 4th birthday and she requested a monster party.

Here are some decos and the party food

These little cups are ADORABLE! look at those little monsters! 

Mich made these little monster decorations from felt, eyes, and styrofoam balls

These are the party favors, a few sweet treats, some hair ties and beautiful little necklaces for the girls, and cars and bloke stuff for boys.

The party table

One of the games for the day. As per Luci's request (as she loves Charlie and Lola) there was a moon squirter (cherry tomato) squirting competition! 

Cute monsters again!

A little bit of Pass the Parcel

A little bit of monster door hanger colouring in

And an sweet little monster cake!

Thanks Mich for the hard work and letting me show it off!

{Things With Wings} Party - Image Heavy

Ella's 2nd Birthday was themed "Things With Wings" we had noticed during the year that she had been infatuated with things that fly (as most toddlers are) and so we picked the theme based on that.

These are the flowers that I made. The center of each of the flowers (the circle in the middle) is made from hand made (also by me and the kids) paper, and through the paper is tiny little seeds that grow flowers when the paper is planted (My Mother-In-Law planted hers and they have grown... I think!)

 I also created these cute little leafs that also had instructions for planting

The table, half finished, no food yet!

TIP: Big pieces of fabric and long table cloths cover up all the things that you want to hide away for the party!

The cake. This cake was two Coles chocolate mud cakes on top of one another. They are "glued" with icing and covered with fondant. Then I tied a bow around it with some ADORABLE ribbon that I picked up at Go-Lo.

TIP: If you can't make it...  FAKE IT!!! Not only was it super tricky to just use pre-made cakes, but the top layer is just a formed slab of fondant!!! (The top layer was just missing a little something)

Favors, a few little lollipops in a pretty little box!

OHHHHHH! the magic party bottles again!

The kids party favors. In here were bubble blowers in the shape of - purple butterflies for girls and blue ladybugs (I think) for boys. I was trying to keep my eyes peeled for relevant party favors for months, finally I found it all in one day! The bubble blowers were $2 each from Go-Lo...

We had 1 "baby" (he was ALMOST not a baby, but the favors were not suitable for him) and I created a little all-in-one (onesie) with a pic of an airplane on it. Cost, about $2

These cute little marbles I found on clearance for $1 a pack. They really were very beautiful, I picked up dragon, bumble bee, butterfly and owl. CUTE AS!!!

I picked up these butterfly lollipop templates online somewhere (again sorry, no idea where!) and I made about 20 and we stuck them around the room. The aim of the game was to collect all the butterflies (and chocolate ladybugs) and put them in a bowl (to be divided evenly later) 

My Cherubs - Jacob was from NASA (as close to dressing up as he goes now that he's "big")

Travis was a bat (with a collingwood shirt on) Thanks Ella for having your birthday so close to Halloween!

Ella (the birthday girl) was a bumble bee, the plan was for her to be tinkerbell, but she was too tiny for her outfit, so I whipped up this cute little dress and hair clips... ADORABLE! 

  

Here she is again

Travis "holy smokes batman" and Lovely Luci. 

 Ella cutting her cake.

Some adults dressing up

THE INVITE - A Book

Hope you have some new ideas for your next party!

{Ice Cream Cake} Idea

I saw this idea in a Facebook friend's photo album of her daughter's recent birthday celebration. Isn't it GENIUS?!?!?!?

Under there... wait for it.... Those single portion Ice Cream tubs!!! Now why didn't I think of that?

Here is Amy with a mini tutorial on how she did it....

ICE CREAM CUPCAKE STAND CAKE
This is really easy to do for kids who dont like cake or just for something different.
All i did was buy a throw away cupcake stand of ebay, this came with little picture sticks and i just decorated the dixie cups of ice cream with coloured paper and ribbons and popped the ice cream sticks and picture picks in the top and arranged around the cupcake stand.
My daughter LOVED it and it was mess free as i just handed out each child a cup.

Thanks Amy for the fantastic idea!

{Circus} Party

Jacob's 5th birthday circus party was a big hit with the small folk (and, considering the level of dress up by the adults, I assume them too!) We had been to the Moscow Circus 6 months earlier, and he just could. not. stop. talking about it! Usually I watch very closely during the year for things that interest the kids, or things/experiences that they really really loved though the year, and we work on parties from there.

This was the AMAZING cake made by by friend Lou, email me if you are in the Blue Mountains area if you think you'd like to get in contact with her. You can only ask... right?!?

This is my Jacob, he wanted to dress as a tightrope walker... I found his whole outfit on ebay, the pants are Elf pants!

 This is my whole family, My mother and father, husband, kids and Grandmother. Aren't we all cute!?! 

This genius outfit was thought up by my sister-in-law, the bearded lady, and she's holding my baby tiger!

For activities we had juggling ball making. I had pre-made three balls for each child and cut the holes on the remaining balloons, so the kids (then 5 and under) could just slip the colours over with a little adult help. If you are unsure about how to make juggling balls from balloons, just give it a google, there are plenty of tutorials out there.

These were the top hats (and our grand friend Joe flashing his killer smile behind them!) 

The purpose of these top hats were to house all the bits and bobs as we did all the activities. They are real live felt top hats, and (sit down while I tell you...) 10 brand new top hats cost me $20 on ebay! TWO BUCKS A POP??? WHAT THE???

So inside already were a few little sweet treats, a red nose (bulk from ebay)

then in went the juggling balls, three per child...

The magic wands that the kids created... So simple... scroll down for a tutorial!

First, you get a genius like me to think up this (I assume) awesomely original idea

THEN... 

Purchase (or grab from the shed) some thin wooden dowel, some clear tube that the dowel will fit inside, and some foot stoppers that will fit on the end of your tube. 

Cut it all to lengths (not too long, not too short, I think about 15-20cm per go)

Pop it all out with some glitter and other types of sparkles for the kids to create their wands.

Put a stopper at one of your tube, then pop the dowel in. Fill with glitter and pop another stopper on the other end... brilliant!

Cost, probably between $1 and $1.50 each, depending on if you have the stuff in the shed.

So there you are. A cute little party with wonderful treats for the kids... everyone is happy!