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Thursday, May 29, 2014

{Real Parties} Adam's Sonic the Hedgehog Birthday Party Recap


My little Adam is CRAZY about playing video games!  His favorite game, at the moment, is Sonic the Hedgehog.  The whole idea of the party came about when he told me that he wanted a Sonic, Wall-E, Call of Duty birthday party.  Being that I am not a fan of him playing the last game (we have Dad to thank for that) and that I was definitely not sure how to combine those three all together, I took his favorite of the three and chose a Sonic theme.



PARTY ELEMENTS THAT INSPIRE:
  • Golden yellow painted floral foam centerpieces made to resemble the 'rings' in the game
  • Plastic gem vase fillers used as Chaos Gems 
  • Paper Palm Trees that sit on either side of the sweets table just like the trees in the game
  • Sonic action figures and toys used throughout the party for decoration

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My favorite little dude!!!!

Theme
There are not too many online party ideas  for this theme that don't include the mass produced licensed party decor.  It also didn't help that I didn't know much about this game.  So, I had to go with the very small bit of info I had on the game and from looking on You Tube to see how the game is played to work with an overall theme.  In the end, I just decided a full fledged Sonic filled party would suffice.

Decor 
I learned a lot and after all my research, I designed the printables for the party and a few key ideas to focus on for the decor!  Adam's favorite color is blue, and there are a lot of party items in the party shops with this cool blue checkerboard theme.  It also plays off of the brown checkerboard theme that's seen throughout the game.  I incorporated some of that in the design of the printables. 

The game also consists of Sonic running through various worlds, collecting golden rings.  I can't remember why, but I believe it's how points are tallied.  So, I created gold rings using floral rings I got from the craft store and painted them yellow.  I initially wanted them to hang from the ceiling, but instead chose to use them in the centerpieces I created for the main table.  To create the centerpieces, I attached each ring to a bamboo skewer and then slid a striped paper straw over it to conceal the stick and to make the rings look more festive.  I then anchored two rings into  Styrofoam that I placed in wooden crates and topped them with green paper shred to play off the greenery that is featured throughout the video game.

My goal was to try and incorporate a few of the key elements from the game and recreate those themes into the decor.  In the game, as Sonic runs through the various worlds, there usually is a bright blue sky.  I found the perfect backdrop for my sweets table when I came a cross a cloud filled sky roll of bulletin board paper.  It was a major score and saved me tons of work & time, as I initially was going to create clouds from paper and hang them against a sheet of blue paper. I also wanted to add palm trees to the decor and found a few ideas online on how to make them with paper bags and pool noodles!  It was such and easy and creative project.  Between my husband and I - we made two trees within 2 hours.....and he McGuyvered the trees to be able to stand using PVC pipe, C-clamps and jumbo rolls of toilet paper (don't ask). 

Anytime I'm forced convinced by my kids to do a character party, I stick mainly with toys to add to the decor and not store-bought party supplies.  Adam had a small selection of Sonic toys but it wasn't nearly enough for the party.  So, I found a good mix of toys online, that also served as his presents and I used them as decor - they didn't stay on the table long, he snatched them up quicker than I could snap the pictures!  If you're not into using mass produced party supplies or having trouble finding them, using your child's toys are a perfect and usually economical way to give them the party they want and add a personalized touch!

Activities
Thing 2 loves to color, it's on of his other favorite past times.  So, I created small coloring books that the kids could use as an activity and they also served as party favors.  I placed two big boxes of Crayola crayons on the table and let them have at it....it was a no-fuss kind of activity.

Another fun activity the kids enjoyed was a Pin the Ring on Sonic game that I found while I was out getting plates and candy for the party.  It was a lucky find, because there aren't too many Sonic themed party supplies available in stores.  

Since the party only consisted of the kids in our family, we also let the boys (and The Mini Diva) have a water gun and balloon fight and they also had turns at playing Adam's new Sonic Video Games!

Table Setting
I heart kraft paper, just like Thing 1's cupcake party, I covered our dining room table with brown kraft paper, and added the gold ring centerpieces that I made to the table.  I found gem shaped vase filler at the craft store that I used as table scatter to represent the Chaos Gems that Sonic collects in the video game. 

Food
Adam's request for food was easy, he wanted hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken wings.  To make the cuisine really fit the theme, I came up with some names for each dish.  We served Tails' Windy Wings (Buffalo wings), Sonic's Lightening Quick Burgers & hot dogs and Robotnik's Devilish Eggs (deviled eggs).  We also put our popcorn machine to use and gave the kids popcorn served in custom popcorn boxes that I created for the party.

The sweets table was very simple as we had a very small group of family only guests!  I ordered cupcakes and used the most awesome custom fondant toppers by Edible Details to dress them up.  In addition to the cupcakes, I also ordered a small bakery cake and asked for it to be decorated with just blue icing.  I added a small Sonic figurine to the top and a #6 sparkler candle.  You might notice the candle has a striped straw around it.....let me warn you now....do not use a paper straw to cover up the stick of a sparkler candle.....bad idea......very, very, bad idea.  

In addition to the cupcakes and cake, I made chocolate covered Oreo Cookies. You can make these with special molds, but luck was not with me the day I went looking for them at the craft store.  So, in a pinch, you can do what I did and use a muffin pan to make them.  Using a different chocolate mold I ordered online, I added a number '6' to each cookie.  These are really delicious treats, but they are SUPER sweet - major sugar rush.....MAJOR.
 
Favors
For the party favors each child received a mini tote bag filled with goodies.  I included a bag of Funyuns (remember the gold rings?) large swirlpops, noisemakers, Sonic stickers and a glow stick in each bag!  I also added a personalized tag on each bag for the kids.  As mentioned earlier, the kids also got to take home the coloring books that I created.

My favorite little dude is very easy going and in a matter of words very ho-hum about things.  So, I didn't expect much excitement from him about this bash.  However, when the party was over, he was playing quietly with some of his new toys and casually said, 'Momma, thank you for my Sonic birthday party.  It was the best party ever.'  Yup!  Best party ever for the best son ever!

Vendors & Where to Buy:

Styling & Design  - Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams
Fondant Toppers - Edible Details
Sonic Action Figures & Toys - Amazon
Mini Tote Bags
Number Molds

(FYI - The FTC would like me to inform you that I may or may not receive payment/commission for some items linked to Amazon on this post.)



Friday, May 23, 2014

{Friday Freebie} Patriotic Holiday Printables & Summer Fun Ideas

In honor of Memorial Day I have a festive round up of ideas, crafts, parties and printables to inspire you to patriotically celebrate this holiday weekend!

Create a red, white and blue setting  with Budget Friendly Memorial Day BBQ with Free Printables from Laura's Little Party


I adore this lovely and simple, Patriotic Easy Centerpiece from Creating Awesomenessity.


Lindi Haws of Love the Day captured the patriotic meaning of Memorial Day with these printable Memorial Day party ciricles

This Memorial Day printable poster from Made by a Princess reminds us what the reason behind this holiday is truly about!




Get your little ones dolled up in festive fashions for summertime gatherings!  This personalized Picnic shirt by GreatStitch.com is adorable!



Memorial Day ushers in the beginning of summer fun - celebrate with a Happy Summer Favor Bag and Printable tags by Katerina's Paperie.


Make your party pop with these free July 4th printable downloads from Lilliam Hope Designs.


You might also fancy these free Memorial Day cupcake toppers printables I created some time ago and a very fun Backyard BBQ I styled for MG Party Impressions


I hope these ideas inspire you to create something fun and festive in memory of the many men and women who served!



Monday, May 19, 2014

{Real Parties} Nikki's Retro Inspired Cupcake Birthday Party


Well folks, the Mini Diva is now 9!  What in the world happened to this little adorable thing?  I mean, where did the time go!  When we started brainstorming on ideas for her party, I was so excited when she agreed to do a cupcake themed party.  We loooove cupcakes in our house and this party was right up our lane. 

Miss Thang had tons of suggestions for me, of course about who she wanted to invite, what flavor cupcakes she wanted, and the activities we should do.  Then, She REALLY threw me for a loop when she said she wanted a giant cupcake cake!  WHAAAAT?!!!  Well, I'm glad to say that momma was able to deliver everything my little ray of sunshine wanted (with the help of a few friends!)  Check out all the fun we had and read about how we pulled everything together!

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PARTY ELEMENTS THAT INSPIRE:

  • Handmade Baker's Hats
  • Chalkboard 'Menu' featuring words that describe the birthday girl
  • Decorative yarn pompom cupcake garland
  • Real cupcake centerpieces and sweet place settings
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Happy Birthday to my little girl who is as SWEET as a cupcake!
Theme
We decided on the cupcake theme after Nikki saw me making a cupcake garland for a client - and plus we LOVE cupcakes at Casa de Sibert.  This made my planning soooo easy and I knew I was already off to a good start.  I already had a cupcake printable set that I formerly designed for a client about a year ago.  I did want to make it a bit different for the birthday girl, however.  So, for Nikki's party, I redesigned the printables to have a more retro color scheme and look but with a  modern feel.  My sweet friend, Andrea from Paper+Pop printed the printables for me - and when I got them in the mail - I was in LOVE with how bright and colorful they looked.....they were perfect!

Decor
When I started planning the party, I envisioned a really retro bakery vibe, with the main colors being red, aqua, pink and yellow and a bit of brown kraft paper thrown in the mix.  I didn't want to overdue the retro element too much so, I mainly stuck with those colors as my inspiration.  For the backdrop for the sweets table, I asked my amazingly talented friend, Sunny Duran of Sunny by Design, to create a cupcake themed chalkboard 'menu' of sorts with all the different sweet things that would describe the birthday girl and cupcakes!  She did such an amazing job on it that it completely changed my idea for what I originally had in mind for the backdrop - a bakeshop window!  I planned to use rosettes, hanging garlands and tissue paper globes (courtesy of Martha Stewart Celebrations) and poms around the party space and kept with that idea, but placed them over the sign as part of my backdrop instead and I love how it turned out I used one of my favorite go-to birthday table coverings, from Ruby's Farmhouse for darling little girl parties to cover the dining room buffet.


I also created festive displays on our fireplace with some artwork that my my put together using the cupcake prints and painted canvas squares and a cupcake pompom garland as a focal point for where we placed all of The Mini Diva's gifts.  At the entryway was a welcome sign on a table that was decorated with a cupcake liner garland and the cutest box signs from The Tomkat Studio.



Activity
After a little play time in our backyard, the girls got to decorate their aprons for the party.  I found felt cupcakes at Michaels and sparkly bling that they used to dress up the aprons individually.  After their aprons were done they decorated two cupcakes - with a little instruction from me and the assistance of some of my AWESOME mom friends.  One cupcake was for eating and the other was for taking home.  I am very bummed that I didn't get to take pictures of all the cupcakes they girls made....they were just fantastic!

Table Setting
I knew from the start I wanted to incorporate kraft paper in my design.  I just didn't really have an exact idea of how I wanted the tablescape designed.  Anyhoo, I love brown kraft paper. I have a huge roll of it that I got at Home Depot and use it for backdrops and table coverings and also to let my kids draw on.  For the party, I used it to cover our dining room table!  I had to use two long pieces to cover the whole table.  To hide the seam from combing the two pieces, I used paper rosettes (that didn't get added to my backdrop) and large confetti that I made with a 2" and 1" circle punch.  I also used footed table signs, cupcakes and the toppings along the middle of the table as the girls would be using those items to design their treats.

There were no seats at the table, as I needed to fit 12 girls around the table and my table only seats 10 people.  So, it was standing room only for this affair.  Each place setting had a piping bag filled with frosting and tied off with a grosgrain ribbon - a little tip I got from my friend, Andrea at Paper+Pop!  The bags were placed on the cutest striped plates that I desperately wanted for the party but could not find until super sweet, Stefanie Frazier Grimm of Couture Parties sent me over a few she had on hand.  They served as my - charger and then I topped that with a solid color plate and an adorable Toot Sweet scalloped polka dot napkin by Meri Meri.  I was really happy with what I ended up with - because I honestly had not put a lot of thought into this part of the overall setup.


Food
The Mini Diva really wanted honey bbq wings and pizza - which was NOT my original plan for the menu, but the birthday girl gets what she wants.  So, we set out the food for the girls to nibble on  ---- after they wolfed down their cupcakes of course!  For the Sweets table, Fresh Bakes provided the most adorable and delicious decorated cookies for the party, along with fondant toppers and colorful sprinkles that the girls used to decorate some of their cupcakes.  I baked all the cupcakes with a little help from Duncan Hines :)  (If you've been reading this blog for some time, you know full well I am a cake box snob.  However, I'm not crazy.  I had to bake four different flavors of cupcakes that yielded 24 per box - mmmhmmmm......).   I also made a big ole cupcake per Nikki's request.....and what a task it was to frost this thing, it took me a few tries to get it just right - but in the end - I WON.....and my baby girl got her cupcake cake!

Favors
Tonya Coleman of Soiree Events sells the most darling little bags of cotton candy with custom labels - and cotton candy is one of Nikki's faves.  So, she sent over about a little more than a dozen of them with labels personalized for Nikki's party and coordinated to match the theme perfectly!  The girls also got to take home the aprons they decorated for the party along with the baker's hats and a favor box filled with a cupcake lip gloss that I ordered from Amazon.  They also went home with one of the cupcakes they decorated packaged in a cute  kraft paper favor box from the The Tomkat Studio and some got little retro oven boxes that I purchased from Simply Everyday Me.

I really loved how the party turned out, my sweet baby girl was so happy and excited to share this moment with her friends.  It was a good time to be had by all and nothing means more to me than to see my babies happy!  I am so grateful for all the helping hands that came to my house and without missing a beat stepped right in to help with setup and activities.  Huge, HUGE hugs to my Mister, my momma and her beau!  A special thank you to Stephanie Frazier Grimm for being a lifesaver!

Vendors & Where to Buy:

Styling & Design  - Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams
Cupcake Yarn PomPom Garland & Printables - Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams
Chalkboard Sign - Sunny by Design
Printed Items - Paper + Pop
Tutu - Atutudes
Decorated Cookies, Colorful Sprinkles and Fondant Toppers - Fresh Bakes
Custom Cotton Candy Bags - Soiree Events
Pretty Pastel Decorating Kit - Layer Cake Shop
Red tissue paper globes - Martha Stewart Celebrations
Kraft Scallop cupcake boxes & Box Signs - Tomkat Studio
Retro Oven  Cupcake Boxes - Simply Everyday Me
Scalloped Paper Napkins by Meri Meri - purchased online at Williams Sonoma
Cupcake Cake - made using The Great Cupcake Pan
Fancy Footed Frames - Michaels
36" Crystal Clear Latex Balloon - Amazon
Children's Aprons - Amazon
Cupcake Lip Gloss Party Favors (Not Shown - but super cute) - Amazon
Happy Birthday Table Cover by Ruby's Farmhouse

(FYI - The FTC would like me to inform you that I may or may not receive payment/commission for some items linked to Amazon on this post.)


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