An Art Party - Ella's 3rd Birthday!

For our daughter's 3rd birthday, I decided to throw her an Art Party.  She loves to color and paint, and even though I have no idea what she is drawing most of the time, she is always so proud to hand me her finished product.  I knew this was a theme she would really love.  However, my husband and I decided only one week before to have a party for her, so I had to act quickly to get  out invitations and pull everything together.  Here is what I came up with in a week...

Invitations: Since I had to act quickly to make all the invitations, I went with supplies I already had at the house. I typed up the text on the computer and cut around it to make the artist's palette.  I then used a circle punch to cut out circles and trimmed one side to look like a blotch of paint.  I backed the palette on red card stock and rounded the edges.  Simple.

Decorations:  At the entry door, I set up an artist's easel and made a giant crayon box Welcome Sign to sit on the easel. I used my Cricut machine to cut out all the letters and just enlarged the crayon photo from a Crayola box image I found online. I did have to do some photo editing with this to make it as large as I wanted, but I think the time spent on this was worth it. Love the way it came out. If you would like the image, just email me, and I can save you the hour editing!

I decorated all the tables with plastic tablecloths in primary colors.  As a centerpiece, I bought $10 worth of colorful flowers and arranged them into small vases I already owned. I borrowed large paint brushes from the art teacher at my school, and stuck 3 in each vase.

Above the food table, I created an art inspired banner.  I don't have a cartridge that has a paint can or paint brush, so I again used Google images to find a paint can and brush.  I traced these images on the card stock and cut them out.  The paint brushes served as the spaces between words. I have made several banners, but this one has to be my favorite.  Colorful and fun.  I also bought silver paint buckets from Home Depot and used a plastic tablecloth to  look like paint was spilled out and covering the table.  My intention was to hang these and have the paint spilling out onto the food table, but I ran out of time.  To label the food, I created tags using a paint brush font and a Clipart image.  I placed these on mini easels I found at Joanns for $2, but I also made some easels out of toothpicks (to save a bit of money).

I used a collage of picture frames on my wall to adapt into an art wall of my daughter's paintings, etc. 

Along the fence at the side of my back yard, I placed pieces of plywood together that I covered in cheap plastic tablecloths. I then used masking tape to create an art easel.  The kids used these for the painting activity (see below).

Menu:  I wanted to serve food in all colors of the rainbow to match the colors of the party.  I ended up serving:

• Red: Strawberries and Cherry tomatoes
• Orange: Orange Slices and Carrots (with ranch dip served in a hollowed out orange pepper)
• Yellow: Pineapple slices
• Green:  Grapes and Celery (again with dip in a hollow green pepper)
• Blue: Blueberries and blue licorice
• Purple: Purple Grapes and Blackberries

For the rest of the lunch, we had chips, potato salad, macaroni and cheese, and hot dogs. We had a wide range of drinks including lemonade with fresh strawberries.  As you can tell, my daughter LOVES fruit and vegetables!

Dessert: I got a little carried away with dessert!  Of course, first I made the cake.  This was such a fun cake...a rainbow cake! I promise to post the recipe in the next few days, and this was the coolest and easiest recipe!  I cut the round cake to look like a paint palette and added the paint splotches and brush.  I love the Crayon candles too.  I found them at Calico Cake Shop.

I also made cupcakes, Rice Krispie paint brushes and paint palette cookies.  We couldn't find a palette-shaped cookie cutter, so we used an empty can and bended it in to make the shape.  The rest is just frosting.  I used pretzel sticks as the paint brush on the cupcakes and just added a tip to it with frosting.  I bought some sticks at Michaels for the Rice Krispie treats, stuck them in after cutting the rectangles and then dipped them in various melted chocolates.

Party Activities:  The first art activity I had for the kids to do whenever they felt like it was Fruit Loop necklaces.  I set out yarn and Fruit Loops and let the kids make their own (and eat some along the way). It works really well to put a piece of tape around the end of the yarn so it doesn't fray and kids can easily string the cereal.

I also had chalk pieces set out for the kids to draw on the ground.

We used the easels for our first group activity. I gave each child an apron I bought at the Dollar Tree, a large paint brush (the ones from the centerpieces), and a paper plate with paint on it. I posted all the animals I had drawn on butcher paper up on the easels and the kids chose which one they wanted to paint.  SO FUN!  To make the coloring pages, I simply found an image on Google (choose line drawing) and then put it on an overhead projector to trace onto the paper.  I can't draw, so this was an easy way around it.  The kids loved these and it made great decor for the party.

The final activity was painting with their feet. I bought canvas from Michaels and used contact paper to put each child's first initial on the canvas.  The idea was that after the kids painted the canvas with their feet, I would remove the contact paper and the initial would still be the white of the canvas.  This idea did not work as well as I had hoped.  I think it would have worked great had I just had the kids use their hands to paint, but with their feet, they twisted which pulled up the initial on some of their artwork.

Favor: As a take home gift, I made crayon bags with card stock. I bought the bags in a multi-pack at Michaels, and used construction paper for the "wrapper".  I used black card stock and colored cardstock for the rest.  On the back was a tag that read "Thanks for helping to make my art party a masterpiece!".  Inside, I had a paint set I bought at the dollar store, 2 colored pencils, and a crayon I made.  If you've never made these round crayons...they are so easy and fun.  Spray a muffin pan with nonstick spray, and break up crayons into each hole (I used four crayons per muffin).  Then put in a 325 oven for 8 minutes.  Take out and cool. I put mine in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.  Then they are done!!  Such a fun way to reuse old crayons.

Hope you're inspired to host an art party soon....it's so much fun!

Game Night with the Gals

My family used to play a board game every time we got together for dinner.  I love them. I honestly think they help contribute to building family bonds with the laughter and friendly competition they invoke. They make a great excuse to have people over for a party too.  Our monthly dinner party had a few other quirks to make it extra fun...

Invite: This party was back in 2008, so my decor and invite were a lot simpler than they often are now.  Invite your guests with some sort of game.  I created a crossword puzzle with the party details and mailed it to guests.  Other ideas would be to cut up your invite like a puzzle, and guests would have to assemble the puzzle to figure out the party details.

Decor:  My decor started on the walkway leading to my door.  I drew large Monopoly squares on poster board and laminated them to avoid footprints. I placed these on the sidewalk leading up to my door and saved a few for the walls inside my house.

My tablecloth was a Twister board with a red tablecloth under it. I also used the Twister spinner as my centerpiece, but you could use any game or a collection of game pieces. If I were hosting this party again, I would add several other parts of games to the table to create more of a centerpiece.

For a place card, I decided to create Sculptadors from the game Cranium. I bought molding clay from Michaels and sculpted items that represented each guest. I did not include their names on the sculptures, and it was a game for guests to guess which one represented them. 

Party Activity/Game:  You could play any board game for this party, but I chose to play Taboo (which is always hilarious), and a short round of Cranium.

Menu:  At each place setting, I had a menu card.  I scrambled the letters of each menu items as a game, so guests had to unscramble them to figure out what we were eating. I wanted items that were simple in case we needed to eat while playing games.  I also did not want to be in the kitchen cooking.  I wanted to be a part of the games, so this impacted my choices of what to serve.  I started with a simple green salad.  We had slices of watermelon that I attempted to cut to look like puzzle pieces.  As the main dish, we had baked "hot potato" to play off the title of a game. I made Chili to place on the potato or as a side soup.  Guests could also add whatever they wanted to their potato - broccoli, cheese, etc.  You could make a game of this instead and do what I did at my Toy Story party which was to create Mr. Potato Heads.

For dessert, I made a Hangman Cake.  We played Hangman to figure out the message on the cake. I just piped on the letters and the body parts as guests made their guesses.  Simple.

For a favor, I found travel size Connect Four games in the dollar bin at Target.  I wrapped these in a cellophane bag with a tag that read, "Thanks for being game to party tonight.  Let's Connect Four another game night soon!"

This party as a lot of fun. I didn't have to purchase much either because I had all the games already.  As a teacher, I also had access to a laminating machine, so it made the Monopoly pieces easy to create.  Hope you are inspired to host a game night of your own!

It's Time for May Flowers

Everyone knows the saying: April Showers bring May Flowers.  In 2008, I decided these would be my April and May monthly dinner themes.  In April, I focused on the rain and rainbows, and of course in May, I had fun with flowers...

Invite:  There are so many options for a flower-themed party.  If your guests live close, drop off a flower on their doorstep with the party details on a tag.  The wording on my invite played with the word "may".

We've had April showers...now

"It's Time for May Flowers"

 May your Monday night be free...
So that you May spend some of it with me.
May you come ready to laugh and eat
For there May be something sweet.
May you laugh until the party is done
On this May-day night of fun!

Hope you are a "yes" and
not a "May-be" for this blooming bash.

Decor:  My decor was very simple for this dinner. I set the table with a light green tablecloth and green napkins.  My centerpiece was a flower arrangement I made out of vegetables. The center was a metal watering can that helped hold some of the flowers up.  I used celery as stems and cut jicama into a flower shape.  A sliced carrot was placed in the center to finish off the flower.  All were attached with toothpicks I cut so they wouldn't show.  As you can tell from the photo, I also cut red peppers into tulip shapes and used zucchini and carrots in the center.  Radishes cut like roses and slivers of carrot wrapped in circles finished off the centerpiece.

At each place setting, I bought flower seed packets and added the guest's name as a place card.

Menu:  I know there are people that really do eat certain flowers in meals, but I am not one of them!  I decided instead to display my menu items as flowers.  For the main dish, I served Chicken with Peach Salsa. I arranged the chicken on the plate to look like a flower and placed the salsa as the flower's center (additional salsa was served on the table).

I used cookie cutters to cut cantaloup and honeydew into flower shapes and each guest received an individual small plate. Tips of strawberries were used as the flower's center.

For dessert, I made pudding flower pots.  Because I wanted the pots to be see-through, I used votive candle holders I purchased from Michaels.  I placed crushed Oreo cookies at the bottom and top, and I filled the middle with chocolate pudding to create the "dirt". I used a flower lollipop mold to create the flowers.  Then, I added a gummy worm just for laughs.

This was definitely one of my simpler parties, but still a lot of fun to put together.  If you decide to recreate the centerpiece, just give yourself plenty of time.  It took me a lot longer than I anticipated!!

Mayday! Mayday!..an S.O.S Party!

It has been a super busy month, so this month's monthly dinner snuck up on me.  I didn't have a theme and was in panic mode with only 4 days to go before party time...hence, the going down in flames/barely surviving theme of Mayday! Mayday!...an S.O.S Party!  It is May, so it seemed to go with the month too!  Must say I am pretty proud of the fun decor of this party.

Invite:  Since I was so last minute in choosing a theme for this party, I did a simple Evite invitation, but an paper airplane would have been my invite had I had more time.  This is a super cute sample of what I would do.

Decor: I set my table with a blue tablecloth and used sand from my daughter's new sandbox to make an island as a centerpiece.  I carved S.O.S in the sand and placed a toy rescue helicopter near it.  To cover my

frames on the wall, I used white wrapping paper cut to fit, and printed Mayday-related pictures and words to place on top.

From the ceiling, I made airplane oxygen masks -- so fun!  I bought yellow cups from the Dollar Tree and wrapped favor bags bought at Michaels around the bottom (secured with clear tape).  I punched holes in the side of the cup and tied a write ribbon as if it was the elastic part that goes around your head.  You could use elastic, but I wasn't planning to have anyone wear them, so it would have been a waste of money for me.  I did buy clear tubing from Home Depot to dangle from the ceiling and attach to the bag.  This was $2.50 for 20 feet, so it was super cheap.

At each place setting, I folded an orange paper napkin to look like a life jacket. I just "winged" it (fun pun for an airline party!). I didn't have a pattern or anything.  I used white ribbon to hold it closed, and cut a small rectangle out of shiny silver scrapbook paper to add a little detail.  This jacket held the forks.  I also made life rings to use as wine charms. I used my Cricut to cut an "O" out of red and white, then cut the white to make the stripes.  I used a thin letter "O" in white for the rings on the side.  If you have a cartridge that has an actual life ring in it, you can do it that way, but I don't so I did it with letters.

On the plates, I had the menu which followed the S.O.S. initials (more details below). I also folded a 747 airplane and elevated the back of each to make it look like it was "going down".  I found the pattern for these and the instructions to fold them online at Amazing Paper Airplanes. You can use these as a game during the party to see who's plane could fly the farthest before crashing since it goes with the theme.

I also made a wine label using Morse Code.  I found the basic label on Google images, and just used a text box to add the party title and date.

Activity/Game:  As a fun game to tie in the theme, I created an activity where guests were challenge to guess the movie, book, or TV show presented in the clues.  These were all survivor/mayday stories such as Lord of the Flies, Lost, Swiss Family Robinson, Castaway, etc. 

Menu: I also like to my menu to go along with the theme, so I played up the S.O.S and each item followed these initials.  We started with Soup Or Salad (although most of us had both).  The soup was from Trader Joes - Roasted Red Pepper soup.  Garlic salt, and a small package of mixed vegetables were added to give it a little extra.

The main course was Slices Of Steak, Serving Of Spuds, and Slivers Of Squash.  These are yummy recipes I totally recommend...

Slices Of Steak

1 flank steak (2 1/2 to 3 pounds)

2/3 cup Italian Dressing

1/4 cup blue cheese crumbles

3 tablespoons butter

2 green onions chopped

Trim steak of fat.  Score each side in a diamond pattern 1/8" deep.  In a dish with edges, pour dressing over and under steak.  Refrigerate covered overnight, turning once.  After steak is marinated overnight, preheat the broiler.  Broil steaks 5-6 minutes each side. Add blue cheese mixture over steak and cut steak at an angle into slices.

Serving Of Spuds

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 1/4 cups milk

3 medium round red or white, long white, or yellow potatoes (1 pound), peeled, if desired

3/4 cup shredded cheese

Grease a 1 1/2 quart casserole; set aside.  For sauce, in a small saucepan cook onion and garlic in butter until tender.  Stir in flour, salt, and pepper.  Add milk all at once.  Cook and stir over medium heat until thickened and bubbly.  Thinly slice potatoes.  Place half the sliced potatoes in the casserole dish. Cover with half the sauce.  Repeat potato and sauce layers. Bake, uncovered, in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes.  Uncover and bake for 15-20 minutes more or until potatoes are tender.

For cheesy potatoes:  Prepare as above, except stir 3/4 cup shredded cheese into thickened sauce until melted.

Slivers Of Squash

Cut up green and yellow squash that I steamed.

For dessert, Surprise Of Scrumptiousness, I made cake pops to look like Wilson, the volleyball from Castaway!  I didn't bother with the black lines on the volleyball. I simply made the vanilla cake pops using my sister-in-laws Cake Pop maker, melted white chocolate as the coating, and then used tan and red frosting to draw the hand print and pipe on the dead grass of Wilson's hair. I used a toothpick to carve out the eyes and mouth after the red had set a bit. These were tasty! I made a few pops for each guest to make sure I had enough.

Favor:  Originally, I was planning to do a generic Survival Kit favor with a bottled water, granola bar, and a box of matches.  I changed my mind last minute and decided to make individual survival kits for each guest (I only had 7 at this dinner). The idea was, what was one item if they were stranded on a deserted island that they couldn't live without. Most were funny things I bought at the Dollar Tree -- a Hershey bar for a friend that has a dog named Hershey, a toy cell phone for my friend that can't live without checking Facebook, etc.

This was a super fun party.  You could adapt it for a kid's airplane birthday party as well if you took out some of the survivor aspects. For those of you that are new to my blog, remember I try to keep my parties inexpensive, so some of my decor is cheesy looking -- I am okay with that!! I am not trying to win any awards here or anything, I just want to have fun with my friends over dinner. Most of the supplies for this party were purchased at Dollar Tree or with coupons at Michaels.  The only "expensive" item was the flank steak, but it's so yummy, it's okay!!

As usual, if you would like any of the items discussed or have questions, just email me.  All tags/menus/etc are made on Microsoft Word--nothing fancy. Happy May everyone!

Cowboys & Indians Party

Hosting a Cowboys and Indians party was such a blast.  This is a super easy theme if you are looking for a fun dinner party or kids birthday party.  Everyone loves a little rivalry which makes the games fun, and dressing up to this theme is not difficult for guests.

Invite:  Cut a brown paper bag the size you want your invite and write the party details in black marker.  Add hieroglyphics to the corners or just a simple bow and arrow.  Then crumple the bag to look like old leather.  A simple and inexpensive invitation.  You could also fashion your invite after a "Wanted: Dead or Alive" poster, but I used this idea as my place card, so I didn't want to repeat.

Decor:  I set the table with a black cloth tablecloth and then placed a smaller square of brown suede fabric on top.  I found a scrap of bandana fabric I used as a belt years ago at a cowboy-themed sorority party, and also spread it out on the table.  As a centerpiece, I placed a cowboy hat, a cornucopia, and an Indian headdress/tomahawk I bought in the kids section of Target.  I found some shot glasses in the shape of cowboy boots and added these to the table as well.

At each place setting, I use metal pie tins as plates and camping mugs as glasses.  The bandana printed napkins I bought at Party City.  I created a mini Wanted Poster as each place card.  I found individual photos of the guests where they were not smiling and added an Indian headdress or cowboy hat depending on the RSVP of the guest as to which side they would come dressed to represent.  I added funny names that also went with the theme such as "Dances with Navaho Nazly" and "Last of the Mohicans Michelle" as Indian examples, and "Wild West Wendy" and "Double-Dealing Deanna" for a couple cowboy examples.

Games/Activities:  You can't have a competition party without having some theme-related games! Our first game was Hieroglyphics (in other words Pictionary) with words that went along with the theme.  I had my husband make up the words before the party, and this was not a great idea.  Many of them were too easy.  If I were to do it again, I would probably go through the real Pictionary game stack to find words that fit with the theme or just do random words.

Our second Indian-themed game involved a bow and arrow and a buffalo.  I drew a buffalo on a piece of butcher paper (as you can see I am not a great artist), and taped it to my TV cabinet.  I bought a cheap bow and arrow from Target.  The arrow had a suction piece at the end which obviously wouldn't stick to the paper, but we just eye-balled it for points.

The last two games were cowboy-themed.  The first was to use a lasso to "catch" a horse. I used a regular rope and a kid's rocking horse!!  Guests got three tries to see if they could lasso the horse around the neck.  This was super funny!  The final game (no picture of this one) was horseshoes.

Menu:  I don't have photos of most of my menu, but it was delicious and I totally recommend the recipes. As an appetizer, I served beef jerky. I started guests with a fruit plate made to look like a bow and arrow.  Then moved on to the main dish which was Cowboy Stew and cornbread.

Bow and Arrow Fruit Salad

Cantaloupe

1 orange

Strawberries

Dental floss

Wooden skewers

To make the bow, slice the cantaloupe in crescent slices leaving the rind on.  Then use a large sewing needle to thread dental floss through the ends of the cantaloupe and tie to make it look like a bow.  To make the arrow, cut an orange in half.  Then cut the orange again to have a ¼ inch circle.  Cut this according to the small triangles, but leave the rind on.  Thread these pieces one at time on the skewer to look like feathers at the end of an arrow.  Cut a strawberry in half lengthwise and thread onto the skewer at the top above the oranges.  Place on a plate and serve.

 

Cowboy Stew

6 slices bacon, crisp

1 cup sliced onion or chopped

½ cup chopped green pepper

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 ½ pounds ground beef

2 cans (1 lb. 13 oz. each) tomatoes, cup-up type

1 teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon chili powder

1 can (12 oz.) whole kernel corn, drained

1 can (1 lb.) red kidney beans, drained

2 cups cubed potatoes

Cook bacon until crisp; drain on paper towels; crumble and reserve.  Saute onion, green pepper, and garlic in bacon drippings until tender.  Add ground beef; cook until well browned, breaking up with fork as it cooks.  Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, and chili powder; cover; simmer 30 minutes. Add vegetables; simmer 15 minutes (potatoes may take longer)  Sprinkle with bacon.  Makes 8 servings.

Buttermilk Corn Bread

1 – 8x8 inch baking dish, buttered and floured

¼ cup butter, melted

2 eggs

¼ cup sugar

1 cup flour

2/3 cup cornmeal

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¾ teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Put butter on to melt.  Beat eggs in  large bowl; add sugar and mix well.  Sift and measure flour; sift again with cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk to egg-sugar mixture.  Stir in melted butter and pour into baking dish.  Bake about 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.  Makes 8-12 servings.

For dessert, I made each guest a cupcake teepee.  This is not a very good picture, but it was great looking in person.

TeePee Dessert

 1 large cupcake

1 smaller cupcake

Brown frosting

3 thin pretzel sticks

Red whip licorice

Orange fruit leather (fruit roll-up)

Bake cupcakes as directed on box.  Remove wrapper from smaller cupcake and stack upside down on top of frosted lower cupcake.  Frost the top cupcake.  Insert the 3 pretzel sticks at angles so they cross at the top, tying them together with licorice.  Wrap the fruit leather “hide” around the cupcakes (it took me two fruit roll-ups).  Using a writing tip, decorate the “hide” with designs.

We had a great time at this party.  The rivalry was fun, and there is so much you could do with this theme.  I would love to do it again for a birthday party or just a random get together!  Hee-Haw!

Trash Truck Birthday Party

My nephew LOVES trash trucks, so my brother and sister-in-law put together a Trash Truck themed 3rd birthday party that was amazing!  Check out these super cute ideas...

Decor:  This is the incredible trash truck that my brother made out of boxes and paint!!  The kids loved playing in it during the party.  The front had a steering wheel and stick shift for the kids to pretend to drive (see my super cute nephew below).  The back end was filled with empty cereal boxes and other empty food items.  The kids took items out of the back and then dropped them in the top (see below).  They would flow down a ramp into the back again.  The part of the truck that normally wraps around the trash can to pick it up also would wrap around the kids if someone pulled the strings on the opposite side of truck.

Table decor is easy and inexpensive for this party -- simply newspaper! The party also had empty soda cans and water bottles littered throughout the yard to add to the trash truck theme.  My sister-in-law found these nifty grabbers as a favor for each of the kids.  They had fun using them to pick up the trash items and place them in the appropriate recycle bin.

Activities:  Picking up cans and bottles was one activity/game the kids had fun with, but there were several others. One was recycle bags that the kids colored with markers. These can be found at Oriental Trading among other stores.

Pizza box art was another activity for the kids.  You take an empty pizza box and put a piece of cardboard (your canvas) and a marble inside along with a bit of paint.  Then you shake the pizza box to create a fun splatter design.  You continue to repeat this with various colors.

Bottle cap necklaces was another activity.  The holes in the bottle caps are drilled ahead of time, so all the kids have to do is string them on.  Colored beads helped to separate the caps.

Dessert:  For dessert, my mom baked a cake with a trash truck design.  She added a cut out photo of Anthony in the driver's seat of the truck.  My sister-in-law baked trash can cupcakes.  I used this idea when I hosted my Trash to Treasure Recycling dinner.  Hers are much cuter than mine!!

It was a great party, and the kids really loved all the crafts and playing in the trash truck. Most importantly, my nephew grinned ear to ear throughout the party and had a blast!