Partying is pretty much what we have been doing since December 31st. New Years Resolutions to eat better, drink more water and exercise never start until January 19th around here because we are too busy celebrating!
Let's go back to December 31st when we celebrated Henry's 6th Birthday! We had my family in town and of course my brother and sister in law made the cake for Henry's family party. He wanted a Skylanders portal and they pulled it off.
Here is a family picture of us from Henry's family party.
After the party we headed out to Clyde's to ring in the new year. Fun was had by all that night.
On Sunday, we had Henry's Birthday party with his friends. This time it was a Lego party at the house. If you have ever planned a Lego party, you will know that there is NOTHING out there and you really have to make everything. I just used yellow, blue, green and red to decorate. We also just used everything in the house...Lego head storage for a centerpiece and Henry's legos to decorate around the rest of the kitchen.
We came up with the idea to give each kid a small Lego City kit to build at the party and it also filled in as their favor. Thank you Target Clearance sale for allowing me to get them a bigger one because of the deal.
Henry's cupcakes came from Sam's Club. Seriously, they are the best cupcakes, they always taste delicious. I just added Lego's to the top to make them match the party theme.
All the kids had fun and Henry really enjoyed making Lego's with his friends. The party was easy to put together and I think it turned out great.
After that party finished, I went into Ariel mode for Mary's party. I had five days to get her 3rd Birthday party all put together. I swear we didn't plan on having kids with Birthdays this close together, someone - we call her Mary - had her own plan, but it is what it is. Last year we didn't have a party for Mary and I think I felt a little guilty about that, so we decided to throw her a little something.
She is obsessed with princess anything so we picked her favorite. She approved and planning started back in December.
First up was her cake because I knew I wanted her to have a special cake. I knew exactly who I wanted because we had her cake back in October at a friends house. Her company is called Cake Me with You and she bakes out of her home in Ashburn. If you live by me, please find her on FB because I can't begin to tell you how good this cake was. I'm not even a cake person and I am obsessed with eating this cake. The bottom was strawberry and the top was vanilla, OMG.
After, I had the cake squared away, I looked on Etsy for Mary's shirt. I maybe ordered this shirt the last week in December, in hopes it would make it for her party and of course it did. The shop name on Etsy is SweetNSassyEmbroider.. The reason I was able to get it so quick is because she had the size I needed in stock. It is so cute and Mary of course, loved it. The best part, we will use it again when we go to Disney in March.
Now, it was time for favors and who doesn't love a cookie favor. A family friend started a business recently making cookies and I knew she would create the perfect cookie for Mary's party. I contacted Nicole at Coley's Confections and she was so sweet to work with and created the sweetest treat! Mary squealed when she saw them. Nicole is in Jacksonville, FL but ships anywhere. Please check her out on FB too, you will not be disappointed.
Now, that I had all the big things squared away, I had time to think about food and decorations. Mind you, it is now the week of the party. I can only plan and do one party at a time so these final items had to wait. I knew I would make a banner and then I decided to have poms all around the party area. We had some sea foam green and blue poms leftover so I used those in the kitchen. I bought Martha Stewart purple paper lanterns at Michael's and hung those from the fan in the family room and a friend gave me two pink pom strands and they looked perfect in the kitchen.
Apparently, that is the only picture I took of the decorations. I can't believe I didn't take one of the whole food area and all the decor. I'm really sad about this. I also bought beads and chocolate coins. Those candelabras are from Halloween, I just hung beads from them and every Ariel party needs a treasure chest. That was a last minute find.
Now, to my favorite part - the food! With a little help from some friends and Pinterest, I found these food ideas! The signs I made with my Silhouette Cameo and the signs are from Target Dollar Bins, They were made the day before the party and probably were my favorite part.
How much fun is all that food. The starfish were PBJ for the kids and the crabwiches were egg salad and tuna salad. It was a lunch party so these worked great. The Under the Sea Drink was just Hawaiian punch and I added sweedish fish into the container. Kids loved it.
We can't thank our family and friends enough for helping us celebrate these past few weeks. I had a blast planning all the parties and creating most of the decorations. A special thanks to Charlie for putting up with me and helping my visions come to reality. Some people might think I went a little over board but really it's my hobby. Some read books for enjoyment, I create parties for my kids. I enjoy seeing their faces light up as the party gets set up and I love the excitement they have at the party.
We still have one more Birthday to celebrate and that is MINE! No, I'm not planning a party for myself, I don't have the energy for that. My wonderful husband is taking me out Friday and then on Saturday my friends and I are headed to a winery. Much needed fun after a month of partying.
