So, Kenzie's birthday party was just over a week ago and I am finally getting around to recapping the decor. I'm pretty proud of this party overall. As these kids get older I am certainly trying to refine my party throwing skills. We have learned a lot of tricks doing these kids parties and by the time they start school one day and they just want a party at miniature golf with pizza, I am going to be a pro. My services won't be required anymore... but I will be good at it regardless. Haha! I know the day is coming so I relish in every moment of being able to put together a fun party for them with a lot of homemade touches thrown in for good measure.
This was the first time Kenzie actually helped to pick her own birthday theme. Actually, this is about how it went:
Me: Your birthday is coming up! You're going to be 3! What do you want your party to be?
Kenzie: I don't know (and ran off to do something entirely different... probably read or harass Will)
Me: (Following her) Well, do you want... Sophia? Jake? Mickey? Princesses? Doc?
Kenzie: Doc's good. I like Doc. (Then proceeds to start singing the Check-Up song.)
Bonus: She already has some Doc toys, so I had built in decorations already available.
Anyway, the idea was born. As usual, I set out to raid Pinterest for party ideas. I think everything turned out exceptionally well.
This was her invite (I blacked out address and phone number... hence the random blue stuff on the one side.) Way back when, when we ordered the football ticket invites for the gender reveal, I realized how adorable a lot of the invites on Etsy were. I have used Etsy before, but that was my first "invite" experience there. I loved that one and since have decided that this is pretty much the way to go. We took the picture at my parents' house. I made her shirt. It is just an iron on number so that was easy enough. I made the headband (also super easy) and ordered the skirt. Yes... she is wearing tennis shoes on purpose. I wasn't able to find pink sparkly tennis shoes like Doc's in time so we just went with her normal shoes.
I started the decorations with actually starting the gift bags. Kenzie isn't in school yet, so we only have a few children that usually come to her parties but most are around her age or a bit older so I like to make sure we do some sort of small gift bag for those children. I ended up making a Big Book of Boo Boos for each child. We also included temporary tattoos, a crayon, lollipops, and tic tac "medicine".
This year I was also turned on to circle cutters by my sis in law. How I have gone this long without one... I have no idea! I ended up making a banner that said "Happy 3rd Birthday" and another, smaller) banner for the cake table. It was probably overlooked even, but I thought it was cute. Next time, I make a smaller circle banner for that door. The circles were a bit large and it ended up hanging pretty low. Anyone taller than me had to duck if they went out the door.
I ended up finding the most adorable, tiny clothes pins this year. Totally decided to buy them without really knowing what I would do with them. As it turns out, I found some cute heart ribbon on sale too and ended up using the clothes pins to put pics of Kenzie up throughout the house. There were quite a few of these throughout the house.
On the gift table, we put Hallie and a "check-In" where a lot of Doc's stuffed animal and toy friends had already checked in. I also added an eye chart above the picture ribbons that were there.
We named all the food this year. We had things such as "Stuffy's Dragon Tails", "An Apple a Day Keeps the Doc Away", and "Chilly Noses".
As for the cake table, this is where I focused most of my attention this year. I ended up not making any tissue paper flowers (Gasp! I know, right?) In addition to the circle banner on the front of the table, I also made a fabric banner this year. Very similar to making a tutu, but with fabric and on a long rope like thing instead of on an elastic band. I think it came out wonderful! It did require a lot of assistance as cutting the fabric was more difficult than I anticipated. I painted an M purple (just for fun) and also painted a few tongue depressors sparkly pink. I put those tongue depressors and some cotton balls in glass jars. We already had the purple suitcase and Doc characters. I made a chalkboard (as usual) and we added "Vitamins" (chocolate candies) and lollipops.
My favorite part of the party decor though, ended up being something I didn't even make myself. Initially, we planned to do all cupcakes. No big deal, easy enough and we would move on but as we got closer to the date I had this grand idea that it couldn't be that difficult to make a Big Book of Boo Boos into a cake. It was already rectangle, after all. Unfortunately, I could not find ANY other cakes like that online so I didn't have a model to show them. So, a few days before the party, I went into Publix and attempted to explain my vision to this very confused (not technically a cake decorator) employee. She patiently took my (crude) drawing and wrote down everything she could before telling me they could do it. You could sort of tell she wasn't sure though. As it turns out, I had a minor freak out about it the day before. So, Steven and I went in together and talked to a different person making sure they had all the details right. It's just a spiral notebook, but I didn't know how that would translate. As it turns out, it was awesome! Publix pulled through again! (As usual.)
I think Kenzie had a great time. Though, she would have even if there weren't all these decorations. I like to do this though... so I do. =) Now, to start working on Will's first birthday party. I have quite a few ideas and will be getting started soon. I love parties. =)
This was the first time Kenzie actually helped to pick her own birthday theme. Actually, this is about how it went:
Me: Your birthday is coming up! You're going to be 3! What do you want your party to be?
Kenzie: I don't know (and ran off to do something entirely different... probably read or harass Will)
Me: (Following her) Well, do you want... Sophia? Jake? Mickey? Princesses? Doc?
Kenzie: Doc's good. I like Doc. (Then proceeds to start singing the Check-Up song.)
Bonus: She already has some Doc toys, so I had built in decorations already available.
Anyway, the idea was born. As usual, I set out to raid Pinterest for party ideas. I think everything turned out exceptionally well.
This was her invite (I blacked out address and phone number... hence the random blue stuff on the one side.) Way back when, when we ordered the football ticket invites for the gender reveal, I realized how adorable a lot of the invites on Etsy were. I have used Etsy before, but that was my first "invite" experience there. I loved that one and since have decided that this is pretty much the way to go. We took the picture at my parents' house. I made her shirt. It is just an iron on number so that was easy enough. I made the headband (also super easy) and ordered the skirt. Yes... she is wearing tennis shoes on purpose. I wasn't able to find pink sparkly tennis shoes like Doc's in time so we just went with her normal shoes.
I started the decorations with actually starting the gift bags. Kenzie isn't in school yet, so we only have a few children that usually come to her parties but most are around her age or a bit older so I like to make sure we do some sort of small gift bag for those children. I ended up making a Big Book of Boo Boos for each child. We also included temporary tattoos, a crayon, lollipops, and tic tac "medicine".
This year I was also turned on to circle cutters by my sis in law. How I have gone this long without one... I have no idea! I ended up making a banner that said "Happy 3rd Birthday" and another, smaller) banner for the cake table. It was probably overlooked even, but I thought it was cute. Next time, I make a smaller circle banner for that door. The circles were a bit large and it ended up hanging pretty low. Anyone taller than me had to duck if they went out the door.
I ended up finding the most adorable, tiny clothes pins this year. Totally decided to buy them without really knowing what I would do with them. As it turns out, I found some cute heart ribbon on sale too and ended up using the clothes pins to put pics of Kenzie up throughout the house. There were quite a few of these throughout the house.
On the gift table, we put Hallie and a "check-In" where a lot of Doc's stuffed animal and toy friends had already checked in. I also added an eye chart above the picture ribbons that were there.
We named all the food this year. We had things such as "Stuffy's Dragon Tails", "An Apple a Day Keeps the Doc Away", and "Chilly Noses".
As for the cake table, this is where I focused most of my attention this year. I ended up not making any tissue paper flowers (Gasp! I know, right?) In addition to the circle banner on the front of the table, I also made a fabric banner this year. Very similar to making a tutu, but with fabric and on a long rope like thing instead of on an elastic band. I think it came out wonderful! It did require a lot of assistance as cutting the fabric was more difficult than I anticipated. I painted an M purple (just for fun) and also painted a few tongue depressors sparkly pink. I put those tongue depressors and some cotton balls in glass jars. We already had the purple suitcase and Doc characters. I made a chalkboard (as usual) and we added "Vitamins" (chocolate candies) and lollipops.
My favorite part of the party decor though, ended up being something I didn't even make myself. Initially, we planned to do all cupcakes. No big deal, easy enough and we would move on but as we got closer to the date I had this grand idea that it couldn't be that difficult to make a Big Book of Boo Boos into a cake. It was already rectangle, after all. Unfortunately, I could not find ANY other cakes like that online so I didn't have a model to show them. So, a few days before the party, I went into Publix and attempted to explain my vision to this very confused (not technically a cake decorator) employee. She patiently took my (crude) drawing and wrote down everything she could before telling me they could do it. You could sort of tell she wasn't sure though. As it turns out, I had a minor freak out about it the day before. So, Steven and I went in together and talked to a different person making sure they had all the details right. It's just a spiral notebook, but I didn't know how that would translate. As it turns out, it was awesome! Publix pulled through again! (As usual.)
I think Kenzie had a great time. Though, she would have even if there weren't all these decorations. I like to do this though... so I do. =) Now, to start working on Will's first birthday party. I have quite a few ideas and will be getting started soon. I love parties. =)
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