Swim Teacher Thank You 2013

My two little ones finished their first round of swim lessons today. I wanted to give the swim teachers a little thank you, but didn't want to do exactly the same thing I did as last year's gift.  Both of my kids' teachers wear zinc on their noses, so I thought of this gift as a practical one...

The package of zinc that I bought had the stick as well as the circular container in one package, so I changed the card to eliminate the "stick" phrase for my son's teacher. Of course, I also changed the blond girl to a boy.

Both tags were done in Microsoft Word.  If you would like either tag to use this year to thank a swim teacher, just comment below!

Happy Summer!

A Pirate Birthday PARRRty!

Seeing how my kids are a 2-year age difference and their birthdays are only 3 weeks apart, this year I decided to combine their birthday parties.  Lucky for me, they are both excited about pirates currently.  My daughter always wants to watch the Disney pirate show on television, and my son loves to walk around telling everyone "Arrgh Matey" with his fist pumping in the air.  Both were excited when we talked about this as their birthday party theme.

Invite:  I found some red and white striped scrapbook paper at Michaels which went perfectly with this theme.  I typed the party details using two free pirate fonts I found on the internet - Pieces of Eight is the majority of text, and Rapscallion is the Arrgh Matey font.  One of my students designed the pirate patch for me on Photoshop. She found the skull and crossbones, and then just added my children's initials to the image.  I used card stock for the invite and elevated the patch with a small piece of double-sided scrapbook foam. *Note: This 3D addition did cause the post office to charge me a little more to mail them.

Entry Decor:  I bought a long piece of plywood and wrote on it with Sharpie for guests to "Walk the Plank" before entering. I put a couple of crates until the wood for added support, and the blue tarp was my pretend water.  The simple sign on the door welcomed guests to The Pirate PARRty.  The kids LOVED walking the plank...this is an easy activity and a must-have for any pirate party as the kids had a blast.

Decor:  I kept things simple with red tablecloths, black/white napkins, and red/black plates and cups. My centerpieces for each table were wooden treasure boxes I found at Michaels with goodies inside. I used wood stain for each box, then set it on top of a pirate bandana (Oriental Trading Company), and filled it with red tissue paper, beaded necklaces (Dollar Tree) chocolate gold coins (Party City), and Ring Pops (Dollar Tree).  Some of the coins melted since the party was outdoors, but no big deal. I made the Happy Birthday banner with card stock and my Cricut machine.  Loved how it turned out.
I borrowed this amazing boat from a friend of mine to add a ship to the party.  Her husband made it, and it was a cute addition to the theme.

Activities: Upon entering, the kids received their pirate attire and Treasure Map.  I made the pirate hats and patches using black foam from Michaels.  You can get two hat fronts out of each piece.  The hat front and strip on the back were attached with hot glue.  I cut the white skulls out of white foam board that already had the sticky back. I bought a Pirate foam sticker pack from Michaels, picked out the skull/crossbones and used theses for the front of the patches.  Then just hole punched the foam and tied black elastic to complete the patch.

My mom also made these super cute head scarves for each guest.  To add more "pirate" to the plain red fabric, a friend of mine drew a skull and crossbones on the front with white paint and fabric markers.

I created the Treasure Map using Microsoft Word.  Besides the Patch the Pirate game, kids could just play throughout the party and didn't really have to go in this order or need organized supervision.  This was nice because it allowed the party to have freedom and kids could do what they wanted, whenever they wanted.  When the kids finished their Treasure Maps, they received their pirate sword and gold coins. Since my kids are so young, I didn't want plastic swords, so I decided to make swords out of balloons (video found on youtube).  The coins were just chocolate coins.

One activity was the Tattoo Parlor and Face Painting station. I bought pirate-themed tattoos from Party City, and one of my friends offered to put mustaches on kids with black makeup.  Easy and fun.

Patch the Pirate was one activity we did as a group.  I found the pirate image on Google and traced it onto butcher paper.  I made patches with each child's name on it and they used the pirate hats they were already wearing as blindfolds.

Activity #3 was the Captain Hook Toss.  I bought 3 pirate hooks from Party City, and my husband screwed them into a plank of wood we painted white. The kids tossed pool rings to see how many they could make onto the hooks.  Since my kids are only 2 and 4, I did not set a specific line to throw from.  I just let them go.

Activity #4 was Fishing for Buried Treasure.  I bought fishing poles for $5 from Walmart and attached large magnets to the ends.  The kids fished plastic coins with washers glued to them out of a small pool.

The other two stations on the Treasure Map were the Pirate Lookout and Bounce Ye Heart Out.  This was just the fort my husband has been building for the kids and a small bounce house we borrowed from friends.

Menu: I chose an easy menu and just thought of pirate names for things.  For the adults, I served meatball sandwiches out of a crock pot and called them Cannonball Sandwiches.  This was honestly just frozen Costco meatballs and spaghetti sauce with a few extra spices that I put in the crock pot that morning.  For the kids, it was hotdogs in buns which I called Scurvy Dogs.

I served Fish and Chips and Pirate's Booty for chip selections.

The vegetable platter was "planks" of celery and carrots of course to be "dipped" in ranch dip.

I cut a watermelon to look like a pirate ship, hollowed it out, and served the fruit salad in it.  I tried to include a lot of berries so that I could call this the Ship with "Berry"-d Treasure.  I also made some masts using a dowel pole and sails I created on the computer.

For drinks, I served Kool-Aid and iced tea which I called Pirate Punch and Ahoy May"Tea".  We also had soda and alcohol in a cooler for adults.  I added the party logo to the cups by printing the logos on Avery Name Tag Label stickers and then using my circle punch to cut them out.

The Cake:  I love the pirate ship cakes I made for my kids.  Each one is a 9x13 cake cut and layered to make the pirate ship.  Square pretzels, stick pretzels, and Lifesaver mints were used for the added touches. I placed the candles coming out of the portholes. Again, I created the masts on Microsoft Word.

I made pirate ship cupcakes as well.  These were marble cupcakes that I frosted blue and then piped on a boat in brown.  The sales were printed and attached to toothpicks.  I got the free printable for the sails online here.

Favor: I made pirate face sugar cookies for each guest to take home and chocolate suckers.  Both took a while to do, but turned out really cute.  The tag for the cookies read, "Thanks for Coming to Our PARRty!"

Choosing to make all the desserts, hats, patches, etc. added a lot of extra work (and luckily I had some friends offer to help), but I think they were great additions to the party. My kids had a blast, and the party turned out great.

Here's a couple final shots of the birthday boy and girl!  Happy Birthday Ella and John!

*As usual, please comment on your thoughts!  Love hearing from you!  And if you would like any of the tags, treasure map, etc....just ask!

Julia Roberts Jubilee

Pretty Women, Mirror Mirror, Erin Brockovich...what do these all have in common?  Julia Roberts!  I wanted to do something completely different with this month's monthly dinner theme, and I decided to host a Julia Roberts Jubilee.  She has so many great films, and I had so much fun coming up with ideas to incorporate her movies.

Entry Decor: I borrow the long red carpet from my high school ASB to put on the walkway leading up to the door. I made a Hollywood Walk of Fame inspired star using foam board, glue, glitter, and letters cut out with my Cricut machine. (Fun fact: Did you know Julia Roberts doesn't really have a star on the walk of fame?  She did for this party though!) I also made a popcorn wreath inspired by Pinterest.  It was much more difficult than the directions I read online though.  I glued all the popcorn on a piece of circular foam using Elmer's glue.  The following morning the popcorn had shriveled up & it looked horrible! I ended up purchasing spray adhesive instead.  This worked, but didn't look as good up close.

Inside Decor: I set up my table and party room to incorporate as many Julia Roberts movies as possible, but in the middle of the table I had this centerpiece.  I used paint pen to write the party details and filled the box with popcorn.  The film strip it is sitting on I made using 12x12 scrapbook paper. I used my Cricut machine to cut out the squares on each side.

Along the table, I placed 4 of the scrapbook paper film strips and focused on one of Julia's movies on each one.  New running shoes (I needed them anyway) and a bouquet for Runaway Bride, a bound stack of papers with a title page and a pelican beanie baby for The Pelican Brief, the famous Van Gogh painting and paint brushes for Mona Lisa Smile, and poker chips and cards for Ocean's Eleven.  I made the film labels using photos from Google of scenes for each movie.

Other spots in the room highlighted the boombox and perfectly aligned cans for Sleeping with the Enemy and champagne and strawberries for Pretty Woman.

And of course, I served water from Hinkley, CA to fit with my favorite scene in Erin Brockovich.

The photos behind my table were covered with quotes from Julia Roberts' movies.  You could do this as a party game instead, but I decided to use it as decor. IMDb is a great source for quotes.

One of my favorite decor parts of the party was the place cards. We took posters from Julia Roberts' movies, and Photoshopped my friend's faces in place of Julia's.  We also took out Julie's name and replaced it with the guest's!  How amazing are these!!  One of my student's helped me with them, which is why they are totally awesome.  I really need to learn Photoshop myself, so I can do things as great as these. 

Here's a couple more just because I love them!

The photos were jpegs, so I shrunk them down to use as the wine charms as well.

Menu:  I wanted to try to pull in food items from Julia Roberts' films, and this is what I came up with....

We started with the Mirror Mirror Apple Salad which was just romaine lettuce, feta, walnuts, and apple slices.  I served it with a choice of Italian dressing or Raspberry Vinegariette.  It was a great salad that was not too filling.

The next course was A Slice of Heaven Pizza from the movie Mystic Pizza.  This was the Julia I dressed up as for the party.  I used paint pen to make my t-shirt like hers in the movie and pulled out my old Ruby's apron from my days as a waitress.

Alongside the pizza, I served Eat, Pray, Love Pasta.  I grilled the chicken on the bbq and then added it to spaghetti sauce, orange pepper, zucchini, and spices.

For dessert, we had the Armadillo Groom's Cake from the movie Steel Magnolias.  I must thank my friend Deanna for doing the decorating on this one!  All I did was bake the red velvet cakes, and she did the rest!  FYI - the body was baked in a football cake pan (purchased at Michaels) and the rest was cut from a 9x13 cake.  It turned out perfectly and was super yummy!

Favor:  As my parting gift, I made my guest's each a Tinkerbell dress box with pixie sticks inside to go with Julia as Tinkerball in the movie Hook.  I could not find a box pattern online, so I just created one myself.  This took a bit of time, but I love the finished product.  The wings are cut from my Cricut and attached by the green and purple ribbon (no glue on those).  I was pretty impressed with my tag as well.  It read:

Yes, we truly were "hook"ed on Julia Roberts for one evening.  The girls and I had a great time dressing up as one of Julia's characters.  We had everything from Pretty Woman representations, to Flatliners, Erin Brockovich, and Runaway Bride! So much fun once again!

*Reminder: If you would like the movie film strips, menu tags, or favor tags feel free to email me. As usual, I never mind sharing.  Hope you enjoyed this post!!  Leave me a comment if you did...I love reading them!

Great Gatsby Gala

With The Great Gatsby movie coming out this Friday, I decided to theme my May monthly dinner after the novel.  Turns out the 1920s are a fun decade to dress up in, so it made the evening a lot of fun.

Invite:  I used a formal border design I found online and just added the text for this party.  If I was to send this invite again in the future, I might add a gold background with front pocket that the invitation would slide into.  Then maybe a jewel and feather embellished on the front of the pocket to further pull in the theme.

Outside Decor:  As an English teacher who has taught The Great Gatsby numerous times, I wanted to pull in some of the symbols of the novel.  I created the billboard for Dr. T.J. Eckleburg in the front yard like drivers in the novel would see as they traveled through the Valley of Ashes.  I changed the light bulb at my front door to be green to symbolize the green light at the end of Daisy's dock in the novel.  The sign on the door welcomed guests to Gatsby's mansion.

Inside Decor: I wanted the inside to be elegant and lavish like Gatsby's parties (but on a Carole budget...meaning work with what you have!).  I stuck with a white and gold color scheme to bring out this idea.  I spray painted wine bottles gold and added black feathers.  I used a vase of white roses to add elegance. I also spread pearls and various 1920s style clutch purses on the white tablecloth.  I used my wedding china and added a piece of gold scrapbook paper under each place setting.

I purchased mini plastic martini glasses to use as place cards.  I sliced the sides of each glass using a hot knife and placed a card with the guest's name in the slits.  I downloaded (free) a font called "Party at Gatsby's" and used a chandelier image I found on Google to make the cards.

To add even more pizazz to the table, I borrowed 1920s-style broaches from my mom and mother-in-law to pin onto each black napkin. I had to use some earrings for this as well since they did not have enough broaches, but they worked out perfectly.  Because I was using paper napkins to save money, it was easy to attach these.

I covered up my photos behind my dinner table and added photos from the 1920s for some added decor.

Menu:  When I think of Gatsby's parties, I think of appetizers, so I wanted to include some in my party as well.

Stuffed Mushrooms

        2 dozen mushrooms                                                 1/3 C. finely chopped walnuts

        1 Tbsp. butter or margarine                                     1/3 C. shredded Cheddar cheese

        ¼ C. finely chopped onion                                      1/3 C. shredded Swiss cheese

        ¾ C. steamed chopped spinach, well drained         Salt, pepper, Seasoned fine bread crumbs

Clean mushrooms, removing stems.  Melt butter in skillet.  Add onion and sauté until tender.  Remove from heat and add spinach, walnuts, Cheddar and Swiss cheeses.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir just until blended and spoon into mushroom caps.  Sprinkle with seasoned fine bread crumbs.  Place in buttered baking dish and bake at 350 F. for 20 minutes. Makes 2 dozen stuffed mushrooms with about 2 cups filling. 

Shrimply Delicious Appetizer Cups

          8-10 wonton skins                                                         2 Tbsp. finely minced dill

          1 C. diced cooked shrimp                                              3 Tbsp. safflower oil (or other oil)

          1 clove garlic, pressed                                                   ½ tsp. lemon juice

          2 Tbsp. chopped water chestnuts                                  ½ tsp. Dijon mustard

          ¼ C. finely chopped peeled and seeded cucumber        1 tsp. drained capers

          1 green onion, finely minced                                         Dill sprigs 

Lightly oil muffin cups.  Shape wonton skins to fit cups.  Bake at 375 F. 5 to 7 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool.  Mix shrimpt, garlic, water chestnuts, cucumber, green onion, minced dill, oil, lemon juice, mustard, and capers.  Season to taste with salt, if necessary.  Chill, covered, until ready to serve.  Just before serving, fill each wonton cup with mixture.  Arrange on serving platter, garnished with a few dill springs.  Makes 8 to 10 appetizers.

Because I knew my time was going to be short, my third appetizer I purchased from Trader Joes.  These were ham and cheese puff pastries.  They were super yummy and only needed to be placed in the oven for 20 minutes.

For the main dish, I served Caesar Salad and a pasta.  To make the salad more interesting, we made fresh Parmesan cheese bowls to hold the salad.

To make these, you place 1/3 cup of fresh Parmesan cheese spread out in a thin circle on a piece of wax paper sprayed with Pam.  Place in a 400 degree oven for about 5 minutes.  Peel off the wax paper and place over an upside down bowl to cool.  This way it gets the bowl shape.

The pasta was a mixture of asparagus, mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes with a  sauce.  It was served over linguini.  For the sauce, we used one container of plain Greek yogurt, zest and juice of 2 lemons, garlic, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning.  Start with 2 ladles of pasta water to thin out yogurt.  Add more as needed to get the sauce consistency you want.

For dessert, I decided on two mini desserts.  The first was a chocolate mousse with whipped cream and dark chocolate pieces on top. I made this with boxed pudding mix and whipped cream.  There are recipes out there that do it all yourself, but I've never been able to taste that much of a difference, so I did it this way. I served the mousse in small decorative glasses I found at Party City.
The second dessert was cheesecake served in a martini glass with sliced strawberries.  Both desserts were delicious and very easy to make.

Favor:  I was having trouble thinking of a favor to give guests that would go with the novel.  Tickets to the upcoming movie were too expensive for me! I decided instead to go with a favor that represented the 1920s.  Charleston Chew candies were created in 1922 and got their name from the popular dance of the decade. I found these boxes of mini Charleston Chews at the Dollar Tree which really helped my budget!  I created a card to attach to each box.

To be completely honest, I did all the work for this party in one day with the help of one of my friends, so it is definitely doable for anyone. Up until the day before the party I only knew the theme and that I had invited guests with this theme in mind...I didn't have any of the details figured out!  Luckily, it all came together and we had a great time dressing up and enjoying the evening!