A Neon Silly Monster Birthday Party

We chose the theme "Neon Silly Monster Party" for Trey's birthday.  How's that for adjective overload!?  Our middle man turned three this August and I'm just now getting a chance to tell you about it!  (But the party was super cute, so maybe you'll forgive me for being three months late.)  

I get asked all the time how I plan my parties, so here's a little behind-the-scenes, hopefully this former event planner can pass on a few tips that might be helpful for you...

When I get an idea for a party I jump on Pinterest first to see what other people have done.  I get the best ideas for color schemes and special touches that way, then I put my own spin on it.  In this case, there were plenty of monster parties out there, but I wanted it to be so colorful that my camera would scream for mercy!  (My Silly Monster Pinterest Board)

I always sketch out what I want my focal points to look like.  It helps me because I am so visual.  From there I can write "to do" and "to buy" lists.  I usually shop my own house first after I decide on a color scheme and that's when I found some neon pipe cleaners and glow sticks... it went crazy from there!

One pack of neon poster board became place mats and thank you notes.  

My sister-in-law owns a cookie business and they make the most amazing sugar cookies.  Usually sugar cookies look pretty but taste gross and are so hard you might just chip a tooth... not so with Southern Sugar Bakery!  These cookies taste even more amazing than they look!

She has a tiny projector and can project any image on to the cookie... custom logos, monograms, even Lilly Pulitzer fabric!  You've got to check out their Facebook page for more pictures.  (They ship anywhere in the world!!)  The cookies really took all of my meager decorations up to another level!

On to the table... lots of layering going on here.  It's a yellow table cloth, my poster board monster place mats, and the runner is just some wrapping paper that I liked folded in half, easy peasy!

 See what I mean about those cookies stealing the show!?  I know!

The cake was so much fun to make (and eat)!  It's just a ton of piped orange icing piled up in heaps on top and the eyes are blue dum-dums with peach rings wrapped around them.

There's the party animal right there, our silly monster three year old!  (Looks like my camera finally gave up on all of that neon!)

Shower games they'll actually enjoy playing!

One of the questions I get the most is, "How can I make the shower I'm throwing special?  Do you have any good game ideas?"

Shower games are tricky.  As a general rule I don't usually enjoy playing shower games because I've found that a lot of them are either:

A) way too time consuming (when people really just want to enjoy a fun, relaxing afternoon and then hit the road) or 

B) they are gross (like the ones that make you eat baby food or guess what candy bar is melted in the diaper... yuck!) or 

C) they are distracting (like the game where you can't say a certain word or the person who heard you say that word gets to steal your clothes pin).  Come on, that's annoying when you're trying to have a conversation with someone.

My favorite games are SUPER simple and incorporated into the unwrapping of the gifts (to keep the party moving!)  

Baby/Bridal Shower Bingo is a great game!  Each person is given an empty grid that's five squares by five squares with the center square being the free space.  Before the gifts are opened each attendee will fill the empty squares with things that that person thinks the mom/bride will open.  This can be as general ("blanket") or as specific ("engraved silver cup") as you want to be.  The hostess will need to offer up  some ideas to keep things moving because inevitably people will not be able to fill the whole grid out by themselves.  Give them a couple minutes to fill out the grid then start the opening of the gifts.  As things are opened the attendees will mark them off on their grid.  The first person with five squares in a row marked off will yell it out "BINGO" and get a (good!) prize!!  

Free printable for the grid I use is HERE.

Another great game that I've done as a bridal shower game, but that could easily be changed into a baby shower game, is "How well do you know the bride?"  Each attendee will get a sheet of paper with lots of specific questions about the bride and they will fill it out.  (Make the questions as specific and obscure as possible, it's more fun!) then the attendees are given a very short amount of time... say, two minutes to fill it out.  The key with the short amount of time is that people will put their first gut response to the question and these end up being really funny! Then the hostess reads out the answers and the attendee with the most correct responses wins a (good) prize!

Free printable with sample questions HERE.

Have you ever noticed how awkward it is for the mom/bride at some showers to carry the conversation while she's opening each gift?  "Oh, more Desitin!  Thank you, baby's butt will sure be pampered thanks to you all!"  Rather than have the shower conversation be all about the gifts I like to have the conversation focus on the sweet relationships between the people there.  One way I like to do that is to have the mom/bride choose a gift to unwrap then either have her share how she knows the gift giver or have the gift giver share how she knows (or a funny memory about) the mom/bride.  It's a sweet way to take some of the pressure off of the mom/bride to speak the whole time and the gift-givers leave with full hearts because they have learned a little more about their new mom/bride friend!

Now let's talk prizes.  Prizes are the best way to get your guests' competitive juices flowing!  Make them good, no dollar store chotchkies please!  One of my favorite prize gifts to give is a Starbucks gift card.  Have the barista give you an empty, clear plastic, grande-size frappuchino cup with a few coffee beans in the bottom of the cup.  Insert the gift card then put a little bit of tissue paper in the top with the lid and straw... great presentation for a simple gift card!

Oh, and here is a link to all of my parties with lots of shower ideas thrown in. 

Having a sit-down meal at your shower?  Here's a way you can incorporate a simple question for each person.  Give people a minute to read their questions and think about it while they get their food then as everyone is eating, go around the room and answer your question.  What a sweet way to get to know the other important people in your friend's life!

What are your thoughts on shower games?  Am I too harsh?  Maybe you're one of the weirdos that actually likes guessing what candy bar has been melted in the diaper... ugh, come on, that's just nasty! 

Ribbon and Legos and Dynamite... oh my!

My life has been chock full of two things lately: craft supplies and LEGO's.  Strange combo I know, I'll explain.  My first craft show is this weekend.  I've burnt my thumbs more times than I care to admit making ribbon boards, crayons, and laminating things.  I guess there's no workman's comp when you work for yourself, huh!

I've had the best time preparing for the show.  Right now my booth is all set up in the garage to give me an idea of what it will look like.

 "My First Craft Show: Mini Series" will start next week with loads of pictures and ideas, get excited!

So what's with all the LEGOs?  Owen turned five last week right before Thanksgiving.  This year we decided to celebrate his birthday during our Thanksgiving celebration rather than having a blow out birthday party... very, very good move.  I've realized that it's just not necessary to do a big themed dessert night like I usually do in order to make it a special day for the kiddos... many times, more is less.  

 I made a few cupcakes for Owen's preschool class with white chocolate LEGOs on top... a big hit!  (The chocolate mold is from Flavor Tools.)

 Then I called in some helpers to get a cake made.

These guys were great!  They did what they were told and didn't talk back.  They even brought their own tools, albeit very untraditional baking tools, but they got the job done.

At first I thought that dynamite was a bit unnecessary, but I was convinced when I saw the finished product.

A LEGO cake!  

This was so super easy to make out of a loaf pan and two cupcakes... oh, and that dynamite, my new tool of choice!

A Rustic Feminine Wedding Shower

My cousin Anne is a feminine trend setter.  She majored in interior design and she's always loved color, patterns and design.  BUT... this girl is not afraid to throw on a pair of hiking boots and wipe some sweat off of her brow on the Blue Ridge.  I'm telling you, any girl who can wear her Kate Spades as well as she wears her Merrells is a catch and she's been caught!  His name is Jeremy and they are calling it official in November!  A rustic, feminine and very southern wedding shower is in order.

(My sister-in-law, Mary Chandler, my mom, Anne and me... it's like a pregnant sandwich!) 

Yes, stumps showed up at our shower... stumps and vintage doilies!  I can imagine God getting a little tickled making this particular tree... so strong and tall, so rustic in the middle of some beautiful forest somewhere, but He knew that one day this tree would have another life... covered in doilies with a bunch of girls giggling around it!

There's not a whole lot more Southern than vintage blue glass Ball jars filled with lemons, so we did a little of that.

Galvanized ice bucket, hand embroidered vintage linens and of course, more Ball jars to drink... what else... sweet tea and raspberry lemonade punch!

The punch was a huge hit.  My mom's recipe is one can frozen concentrated raspberry lemonade mixed with one liter of Sun Drop (Sprite if you're not from the South).

I did three centerpieces on the food table just to switch things up a bit this time.

The two centerpieces on the left and right are actually an arrangement of different size Ball jars with a combination of white hydrangeas, yellow flowers and some cut lemons.

The center arrangement is on a raised wooden pedestal with an addition of yellow lilies. 

 Silver became a little less well-to-do.

Our invitation was thanks to Vistaprint.

Now that I've thoroughly bored you with the decoration details, let's eat, shall we!?  Country ham biscuits are just a must at a shower and these were soaked in a brown sugar and butter mixture just to send them over the top.  (Do I sound like the Pioneer Woman?)

The shower was at 10:00am, so we went with brunch food.  Fruit skewers, baked gruyere cheese grits, blueberry muffins, and sausage and egg breakfast casserole.  No one left hungry or without their fair share of rustic femininity, y'all!

Roar! Dinosaur Party

Baby Trey isn't a baby any more!  He's a big two year old now.  In honor of his entrance into the "Tremendous Two's" we had a dinosaur party.

I really loved this party even though I was definitely still suffering from the pregnant ickies all through its planning and execution.  Let me tell you what made all the difference in the world I think... we kept it simple!

I used mostly things I had to decorate.  The turned bowls my dad had made me, rocks and ferns from our yard, some dinosaurs I picked up at the local consignment sale.  The menu was simple too... cupcakes, ice cream, sodas, watermelon and cantaloupe.

I made the kids some favors out of old baby food jars, tutorial here.

I covered the table in brown kraft paper, topped it with an old Crate and Barrel table runner and then went to town throwing rocks, ferns and moss here and there.  The cupcakes sat perched on my tree trunk cake pedestal.

 T-Rex guarded our watermelon and cantaloupe with a ferocity that scared off some of the adults...

but definitely not the kids!  

I followed this tutorial to make it.  Don't let me mix words here... this was HARD!  My fruit sculpting skills are not up to par.  It took me an entire morning and I almost chopped my fingers off a couple of times.  Seriously.

So, on a less bloody note.  Funny story, you mamas will appreciate this.  The boys were out playing in the front yard while I finished icing the cupcakes.  Our 10 year old neighbor came running up to my front door and said "Hey, Owen wants to know if I can come to Trey's party!"  Hilarious!  I was like, "Um, sure!"  Well let me just tell you that I literally had to chase the kid down upstairs to get him to leave at the end of the party!  I think he likes us!

We have a huge family and everyone is close by, so parties are always just family and one of my oldest and dearest friends, Blair's family.  We got her to move in to the "Tucker Compound" a few years ago and her boys are the same age as mine.  We do all of our parties together.

We made crayons for the big kids to color.  They are always a hit.  You can get tons of plastic molds here.  I used a new technique this time and it was so much easier... peal the wrappers off of Crayola crayons, break them in to small pieces and put them in a foil muffin wrapper, bake at 220 degrees until the crayons turn to liquid then pour them into the mold of your choice.  Let harden on the countertop for an hour.

 Don't let the look on his face fool you, he may not have fully realized it was his birthday...

but the kid did realize what to do with the cupcake!  That's my boy!  Happy Birthday, Trey!  We are so proud of you!!