{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!

{Superhero} Party

At the Mallin house, we have different ways to celebrate for each birthday. *Usually* this is it...

1st Birthday - With family

2nd birthday - Same

3rd birthday - An outing

4th birthday - First party with friends AND family

5th Birthday - Again, friends and family

6th Birthday - Party after school on the day with friends only

SO...

Finding a theme for Jacob's 6th birthday was tricky, it had to be cool, but still acceptable (and not too expensive or time consuming) for Mummy Mallin.

ENTER SUPERHERO TRAINING PARTY!

(I know... I cant spell villain)

A few decos, not too overboard because we had quite a few big boys around.

The favors for the day. Spiderman beanies!!! I found these AMAZING beanies in Kmart in summer on sale for $1 a piece! (Seeing Jacob's a June baby, it was fitting that we provided superhero warm-weather-wear) They were marked down from $16, so I saved BIG TIME!

TIP: If you are planning a themed party, the longer you are planning it, the better for your budget, you will be amazed at the things you can find on sale 6 months before your party!

These Ben 10 (I call him a modern day superhero, plus, Jacob likes him!) Marbz are just 5 Marbles in a pack, and each of them have the face of a Ben 10 character on them and a little card with games to play inside. They were $1 a pack also.

Awesome superhero bottles of drink.  

GAMES

As we had quite a few big boys at this party, I thought they would CERTAINLY need more entertaining than any other party.

This superhero training game was to enhance skills for jumping tall buildings in a single bounce.

This game was to learn how to defuse bombs

This one was to learn how to fight Powerangers!

Then, our resident super villain (Daddy Mallin) arrived and threw Kryptonite all over the floor! We had to use super long tongs and a special bag to collect it all so we could be safe again!

After we had triumphed over the super villain, our super heros were presented with their capes!

I made these capes from felt so there was less sewing to do. They held out for the day, Travis still has his. I printed out a little star template and cut out a star for each cape, then I printed the first letter of each child's name and cut it our from the star and then stitched it onto the cape... 

They all looked SUPER CUTE in their superhero capes!

Then it was time for food and cake.

The Ben 10 cake. An Omnitrix with Jacob 6 rather than Ben 10, and a little Ben 10 figurine.

He had a great time!

Bring out the superhero in your little guy!

{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!