{Boy} Monkey Birthday Party

My Baby boy turned 1 this month!  So, of course, we had to have a big party to celebrate!  

He is my little monkey so we went with a Monkey themed party.  I actually thought it would be easy to find cute Monkey party decor.  But nope!  The only monkey party decor out there is all for girls.  But that didn't stop me!  I made some fun Monkey Decor and I will show you! 

The invite:

I always create my invites on PicMonkey (appropriate for this party too! HA!)  and then I have them printed as 4X6 photos.  It is a great and cheap way to get personalized invites and I usually only have to wait an hour to get them! 

The decor:

I got my polk-a-dot balloons from the Party Store.

The pennant banners came from Oriental Trading.

I made the Monkey pinwheels using THIS TUTORIAL

I used monkey stuffed animals as my center pieces (and my Curious George lunch box)

The food:

I had the food catered from one of our favorite Italian restaurants, just to make my life easier.  I ordered my plates, napkins, and table clothes from Oriental Trading. 

We added some fun Monkey Snacks to the table:

Licorice was Vines

Pretzels were Tree branches 

and Bananas

I ordered the cake and it came with a free 1st birthday cake for the baby!

The Activities:

We kept it low key since it is a 1 year old party.  

I came up with an easy craft to be set up at a table so parents could do with their kids.

We made Monkey Magnet clips

I had instructions taped to the wall so that people could easily make their own.

Here were in the instructions:

1. Color the clothes pin

2. Stick the monkey sticker to the front of the clip

3. Stick the magnet to the back of the clip.

We also had a table with coloring sheets... Curious George - of course!

Happy Birthday Buddy! 

Angry Birds Birthday Party

My son turned 6 a couple weeks ago.  It is crazy how fast times goes!  Everyone told me this would happen- but I didn't believe them! 

We threw an Angry Birds Party since that is what my son is into now-a-days. Since I have 2 other younger kids and one of them is 10 months we kept it really simple! 

Grandma and Grandpa Camp

We have been busy the past few weeks... which explains the scarce posting... we had VBS the first week (which I was in charge of Preschool crafts and snacks) and then we had some family in town.

Today I am going to share with you something that my parents did for all the grandkids... it is for you to show your parents to do for you kids! :)  

It is rare that all 7 cousins are together.  My sister lives in South Carolina and we live in MN.  So when they come in town we try to cram as many memories as we can.  My parents came up with Mima and Pepaw (Pronouced Mee-Ma and Pee-pa) Camp.  {Mima and Pepaw is what my kids call their grandma and grandpa}  It is a whole day of fun activities for the cousins to do all together.  

This years theme was Knights and Princesses.  With girls and boys ages 2 - 8 it was a great fit!   My mom and dad put a lot of work into it!  Here is a glance of what when on:

Mima and Pepaw dressed up like royalty to start off the day.  The whole yard also had decorations all around to set the mood.  They decreed that the kids were all in Knight and Princess training.   They also explained that they were all children of The King (God). 

Then they "built" thier castle by plugging in the bounce house!  

The castle themed bouncey house is a hit! 

After the bouncing was done we moved on to the treasure hunt.  There were clues around the yard that lead us to the treasure.  Mima and Pepaw explained that although treasure is very valuable, God's love is the most valuable gift we have. 

Then the girls and boys broke off to some more training by reading some stories about Knights and Princesses

Then came the time to get dressed like Knights and Princesses.  Even the Helpers {my sister and I got in on it! That is my beautiful sister!}  The girls got dolled up a beautiful princesses and the boys got outfitted as brave knights.  Each with their name on their costume. 

{My daughter did NOT want to wear her hat!}

Next we feasted like the Kings kids! 

After lunch came more training....

The girls learn how to ride a house both side saddle and astride. 

While the boys learned to joust.

Can you ever have to many castles?   One to decorate and one to take a brake in! 

There was more that I did not get pictures of.  They talked about putting on the Armor of God from Ephesians 6:10-18.  There were relay races and sprinkler running.  

Fun was had by all....

... and after it was all done they also just had fun swinging! 

It was so great spending time together and we will miss them now that they are home.  But it will be nice to get back to a somewhat normal schedule again!

Bottle Labels and Straw Flags for a Birthday Party with Lifestyle Crafts

I am getting ready for my daughter's 2nd birthday party this weekend.  She loves the color purple.  So we are throwing her a purple party!

I made these cute water bottle labels and these cute straw flags so that people can mark their drinks!

I used the Fancy Envelope Tabs Die , along with the L Letterpress  from Lifestyle Crafts to make these darling party favors!  {check out the discount code at the bottom of the page!} 

The Fancy Envelope tabs can be used on so many projects; labels, cupcake toppers, small cards, etc.  And the letterpress embosses and stamps at the same time, creating an amazing professional custom look! 

Here is how you use the letterpress:

First cut out the shape you want to use.

Next aline your printing plate in the back of the clear side of the letterpress platform.  In my case I am using the #2.  The printing plate come with adhesive stickers to use to keep it in place. 

Now, line up your paper and use the foam tabs to keep it in place.  I love that you can create a frame around your shape so that you can use it again to print more then one!

I like to double check that everything lines up before I put any ink on.  

Squrit some ink on the ink base and use your brayer to spread it around,  you want your brayer to have an even cover of ink on it.  Not too thick.   Use your brayer to roll the ink onto the printing plate.

Now close the letter press platform and run it through  your die cutter (Epic 6 in my case)

Take it out and let it dry.  Repeat, repeat repeat... for all your water bottles!

Use adhesive to attach the labels around the bottles. 

Here is a side view:

I used a smaller fancy envelope tab and folded it in half around a straw (with a glue dot between) to make this cute straw flag!  I think it is an adorable way to make a name tag for your drink!

Lifestyle Crafts is also have FREE shipping on orders over $25 and A Paper sale! 

Don't forget to use code: fireflies to get 20% off your total order (including sale prices!)

***disclosure: I am an affiliate of Lifestyle Crafts.  I also did receive free products to make these crafts.  All opinions are 100% mine! ***

Buzz Lightyear Party: Invites, Decorations and Thank-you Cards

We threw a Buzz Lightyear Party for my Son's 4th Birthday.
Check out the Party food and Activities and make you own Space Ranger Wings.

Here are the little details that helped set the stage for our party! 

The Invites:

I took a picture of my son in his Buzz Light Costume and used PhotoShop to create the invite. 

I made the invite 4x6 so that I could just have it printed off as a photo.  It ended up costing me $0.26 per invite! 

The Decorations:

I collected all the Buzz Lightyear toys I could.   Some came from our house, (I am embarrassed to say how many actually came from our house!) some came from Grandma's house and others came from the thrift store.  We used the toys to decorate the tables  and as balloon weights.  I got the star balloons from the dollar store.

We used green, black and purple streamers on all the doorways and around the house for the party feel.  And we used purple plastic table clothes (from the $1 store... I wanted black or green, but all they had was purple).

We also got Buzz Lightyear paper plates and napkins from Target.

Thank you Cards

I took pictures of each kid while they were eating their snack.  It is a good time to get a pic since they are sitting down already!  I printed the pictures off and put them on the front of the card.  I had my son color on the back and I wrote the message.