Dressed up water bottles and birthday parties

This weekend my youngest turned thirteen.

I can still clearly remember turning thirteen myself. I had a sleepover with all my besties and stayed up late in the night watching music videos because it was the only time you could watch them.

My daughter didn't want anything big for her birthday which was a little hard for me and my party planning self. We had some family over and ordered pizza. I couldn't resist adding a touch of color and fun to her party though. 

I know this is nothing new, we've all done this before but I still wanted to share this little glimpse of her birthday with you.

I found some colorful straws at Target and added some fun scrapbook paper to the water bottles. 

I miss planning themed birthday parties for my kids. We've had some great one's in the past {see link below}. I guess I can start planning for my son's graduation party next year {sigh}.

Carnival party ideas

Nerd party

Mustache bash

Mad Hatter tea party

Have a great day!

Its a "nerd" party!

Last weekend we celebrated my daughter's 11th birthday with a "nerd" party!

She is my baby and reminds me so much of myself. She loves planning and organizing parties down to the smallest detail.

We started by making the invitations from library cards and envelopes I found on ebay.

We transformed our formal dining room into a girls only party room. 

We blocked off the entrance to my office with a plastic tablecloth and then decorated with streamers and paper lanterns. This wall also served as our photo backdrop.

I set up a station for guests to leave special messages for the birthday girl on library cards.

I used iron on transfer paper to make her a special shirt for her party.

We also made fun props for photos.

It's not exactly a bow tie but my daughter thought it was close enough (poor guy)!

At the end of the party we had a small candy bar so all the girls could take a bag home.

Colorful drink station!

You are welcome to save any of the following images to your computer and then print them out.

It was a great day for our family, my daughter, and her friends. 

Have a wonderful day!

Amy

linking up to...thediy'ers, thewinthropchronicles, notjustahousewife, hitmewithyourbestshot,

whimsywednesday, whatevergoeswednesday, workitwednesday, serenitynow, wowmewednesday

Pinterest challenge fun graduation gift

Last weekend we attended our first graduation party of the season. I knew we were giving cash, but I wanted to try something different than just the standard card.

I had pinned this idea a couple weeks ago and knew it would be perfect. The original idea uses a 2 liter pop bottle {you can check it out here}. 

I made a smaller version with a plastic water bottle. I made the label and gift tag on my computer and used some scrapbooking paper and ribbon to dress it up {of course I used the school colors}. I attached the label to the bottle with glue dots {they are super strong and don't show}.

This would also be a great gift idea for birthdays as well!

                                                                                           Amy

linking up this week to...

houseofhepworths, livelaughrowe, shineonfridays, myuncommonsliceofsuburbia

elizabethandco, notjustahousewife, abowlfulloflemons, adiamondinthestuff

pincushioncreations, polkadotsonparade, the36thavenue, thenymelrosefamily

Mustache bash

Wow, now that spring is here the days seem to just be flying by. Along with warm weather spring also brings a full calendar of activities at our house. Just this morning I had to say goodbye to my eighth grader who is taking a school trip to Washington D.C. for four days. I also have to prep for the garage sale I'm having this weekend!

Anyway, last weekend my daughter celebrated her tenth birthday with a mustache themed sleepover. I got most of my ideas from Pinterest and am excited to share some pics of the bash with you today!

Every girl received a cool mustache and pin when she arrived.

I found these adorable pins here.

The drink station...we wrapped water bottles in mustache duct tape and had mustache straws {I found the mustache straws by accident at Walmart for just $1.00 per pack}.

To dress up the food station I used paper lanterns from last years mad hatter tea party.

We had a walking taco station so the girls could make their own dinner.

All of the signs I just whipped up on picmonkey, printed and put in a frame.

For dessert my daughter didn't want a cake just ice cream. I set up an ice cream bar with tons of yummy toppings. I wish I had some pics of it, but by the time I set it all up the girls had already plowed through and it was a hot mess!

We played the cheetos snack toss game which you can find here. Somehow the girls ended up covered in shaving cream {not part of the game} and our driveway was covered in cheetos {part of the game I didn't think of before hand}. They had a blast with this one!

I also made this game of NAME THAT STACHE. I used picmonkey and the facial hair overlays to put this together. If I figure out how to make this a printable I will share it with you!

I would say the mustache bash was a success and all the girls had a great time!

Thanks for stopping by!

                                                                                            Amy

linking up this week to...

housewivesofriverton, somedaycrafts, polkadotsonparade, abowlfulloflemons

the36thavenue, 52mantels, houseofhepworths, livelaughrowe

shineonfridays

Birthday party planning

It's hard for me to believe but my youngest is turning ten next week. She is a bit like me in that she LOVES planning parties and we usually start planning for her birthday months in advance.

This year we are saving money for our upcoming vacation so our birthday budget had to be under $100 for everything {food, decorations, invitations etc.}. She decided she wanted to have a sleepover with a mustache theme. FUN!

I put together the invitations on picmonkey {yes they have a mustache overlay} and printed them on cute paper I picked up at Hobby Lobby with a coupon of course!

Today I am decorating and getting all the food together!
Tonight will be loud a blast with a house full of ten year old girls! 

Can't wait to share all the details with you next week!

Have a great weekend!

                                                                                    Amy

Mad Hatter tea party

What a weekend! Saturday we celebrated my daughter's ninth birthday with a Mad Hatter themed tea party!

We came up with the idea months ago, but I still spent most of last week rushing to finish all the props and decorations. My daughter was thrilled with how it turned out. She even helped with painting the colorful flower pots and arranging the flowers.

Sorry I know photo overload, but I just couldn't help myself. I didn't want to leave anything out.

All the girls had a great time at the tea party. We served finger foods and sandwiches and of course tea. My lovely mother in law spent many hours making the birthday cake {no kidding when I say that thing weighed at least fifteen pounds}. It was so much fun to plan this party, my daughter was just sad that the party went by so quickly and soon we will have to take down the decorations {I talked my husband into letting us keep them up for a few days}.

Last week really wiped me out so I don't know if I will even want to work on any projects this week. I am almost finished with our basement makeover and will share that with you soon!

 Have a wonderful week!

                                                                                          Amy

Linking up this week at...

the delectable home, elizabeth&co,thewinthropchronicles

craftomaniac,notjustahousewife, abowlfulloflemons, natural-nesters, chronicchristiancrafter

askannamoseley, pamspartyplanning, sugarbeecrafts, romanceonadime, hopestudios

houseinroses, adventuresofadiymom, thenymelrosefamily, atthepicketfence

apinchofjoy, primp, pincushioncreations, frenchcountrycottage, lovelycraftyhome

vintagemauve, somedaycrafts, sugaranddots, organizeyourstuffnow, serenitynow

creatively living, polkadotsonparade, themommyclub, craftyscrappyhappy

stringtown home, theshabbycreekcottage, 52mantels, mysimplehomelife

cherished bliss, the36thavenue, raegunramblings, raisingoranges, herecomesthesun

myuncommonsliceofsuburbia, somewhatsimple, houseofhepworths, thediydreamer

Carnival party ideas

Okay I admit it, I am a sucker for throwing theme parties! A few years ago I threw a carnival themed birthday party for my daughter. It was so much fun, the kids loved it!

Today our church hosted a kids carnival and I was in charge of organizing all of the kids games. I wanted to share some of my ideas with you today! A carnival is fun for kids of a variety of ages and adults as well.

Here are some of my game and activity ideas...

A ticket booth at the entrance is a must. You can purchase a large roll of tickets online or in stores inexpensively. Give each child a certain amount of tickets to use for games.

Bean bag toss is one of my favorites. I used sheets of poster board to paint clown faces and made a hole where the mouth should go as a target. I then simply attached them to large cardboard boxes and cut a hole in the box as well.

Bulls eye- I attached a plastic cup to poster board and attempted to paint circles around it {painting a perfect circle isn't that easy}. You can have the kids try to toss ping pong balls into the cup.

A photo booth is also a lot of fun. We assigned one person to be our photographer for the day. I hung a large red tablecloth as a backdrop and then had a box of silly props the kids could use in their picture. The dollar store is great for this!

We also had a face painting booth! You just need a talented artist willing to do the painting!

Ring toss is another good game. I used plastic rings I ordered online and 2 liter pop bottles. The more 2 liter bottles you can get the better!

Lastly we had a kissing booth! I promise it isn't what it sounds like! I filled a jar with Hershey kisses and let each person write down there guess for how many were inside. Winner gets all the kisses!

Here are some photos I took of the games I made and a few from today's carnival! 

For the food you can serve hot dogs, bags of popcorn, and of course cotton candy!

Throwing a large scale party is definitely a lot of work, but if you start planning in advance it helps. I'm looking forward to my next party which is in just a couple of weeks. My daughter's ninth birthday is coming up and we have been planning it for a few months now. You will have to wait to see what theme we are doing though!

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

                                                                                           Amy