Mermaid Birthday: The Invitations

August is nearing and that means my Baby Girl will be celebrating her 9th birthday very soon. 
This year she chose a mermaid theme so we put together the following invitations:

Supplies

After pulling paper and pre-cut fish shapes out of my scrapbooking supplies, the only thing we had to purchase were the seashell stickers.

Seashell Stickers

I wanted to give a close-up of these stickers because they were so pretty. 
I found them at Goodwill for a total of 59 cents!  Not bad, not bad 😊

Mermaid Tail

Though the stickers were a great start, I knew I wanted a nice mermaid tail featured on the invitations as well.  I was going to sketch one out from scratch when I came across these fish cut-outs in my stash.  They were such a pretty color and I liked the nice, full fins so I figured, why not just cut the tails from here?  After sketching a 'body' I cut the tails and added a few ink details to the fins.  I left a bit of length on the body as it would end up being trimmed from the finished invitation anyway.

Cut Paper & Add Detail

I trimmed down the sheets of scrapbooking paper (some blue, some purple) into envelope size and then used a bit of the pink paper to add color to the corners.

Add Tail & Sticker

Next I added a tail to the top left corner (you can see how the excess paper was trimmed) and then a sticker to the top right corner.  Normally I add my stickers last, but since these were so larger I put one on before the text.

Add Text & Sticker

I then completed the invitations by adding the text and then layering a second sticker on top of that.

In case it's hard to read, here is the text:
-Splish Splash, it's a mermaid bash-
Join us for (child's name here) birthday party
(Date, time and location here)
*Lunch and dessert to be served*

And there you have it, easy to create invitations for a mermaid birthday party.

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I hope you enjoyed this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2018

Summer Party Planning - Affiliate Post

 While the unseasonably cool weather is making spring take forever to fully arrive in my corner of the world, time is still marching right along.  In just a couple of short weeks May will be here and that means it's time for party planning!  With Graduations everywhere and Mother's Day and Memorial Day in the U.S., there is no shortage of reasons to celebrate!

And of course party planning means design and decor, right?  I've decided to beat the semi-chill today by pulling together my top party design supplies from Dollar Tree.  With everything priced at $1, Dollar Tree is my favorite place to stock up on fun!

Disclosure- This post contains affiliate links.  If a purchase is made through an affiliate link then (at no additional cost to you) I will receive a commission.  Affiliate links are noted below.

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First up, Graduation:

When it comes to graduation parties, you can go with the colors of the school being graduated from, the favorite colors of the person being celebrated, keep it simple with classic shades like white, black, gold or silver or any combination of the three.

(You can click here to read about the rainbow themed graduation party we had when my Baby Girl completed Kindergarten)

Since gold is my favorite color, I decided to use this hue for the following example photos:

I like using plates, napkins and balloons to set the tone for my gatherings and then building from there. party themes can be further developed with floral arrangements, table top decor such as candles or confetti, or even framed personal photographs.

Tip:  Dollar Tree also has a large selection of cups, plates and miscellaneous items featuring the current graduation year.

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Mother's Day:

If possible, a Mother's Day celebration should reflect the personality of the mother being celebrated.  Since this post is all about planning imaginary parties, I'm going to say that the imaginary momma in question likes ......hot pink, polka-dots and zebra stripes -or- the black and white paisley.  It was hard to choose...maybe this party as more than one mom.  That would give me more creative leeway 😘

Similar to the graduation party ideas, the patterns and color schemes here could be accented with balloons, table scatter, candles, etc

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Memorial Day:

Who can resist a summery themed party?  My first picks were the sandcastle and picnic themed plates, both themes are so cute that I would have a difficult time settling on just one!  If I went with the beach set, I would add seashells, pails and shovels to my table tops.  I would also hang inflated beach balls and small ring floats mixed in with my balloon bouquets.  If the picnic theme won, I would probably use red and checked table cloths and have bowls of lemons on the tables....Aggg, I really want to plan a summer themed party now! 😁

And then, as if the summery themed plates weren't enough, there are also these luau party accessories; plates, napkins, leis, cups...you name it.  Now this theme I have already gotten out of my system.  When planning the baby shower when I was expecting my Baby Girl -uh, yeah I did all the decor fun myself...you can't be surprised by that at this point...😂😂😂- I couldn't decide between a luau theme or a theme around rubber duckies....so I combined the two.  And now there you have a couple more facts about me; I simply can't stand aside while there is decor to plan and I am in no way above combining two completely unrelated party themes if it makes me happy 😂😂😂

(You can click here if you want to read more about that baby shower)

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Tip:  It should be noted that many party supply stores will offer comparable products and styles suitable for flawless party planning, I just happen to be very fond of Dollar Tree 😉

Want to check out Dollar Tree's online merchandise for yourself?
Click the affiliate link below and happy shopping!
$4.95 Flat Rate Shipping At Dollar Tree

Side Note:  While ordering online through Dollar Tree is easy and convenient, items are required to be purchased in bulk packages.  Sometimes the minimum requirement is low (a requirement of 4 for napkins, for example) but other times the required amount can be high (36 is the requirement for LED paper lanterns).  For this reason it might be beneficial for you to shop in store as opposed to online.

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I hope you enjoyed reading this party planning post as much as I enjoyed putting it together-
I should probably feel bemused at just how much fun I had vicariously planning my imagined summer parties, but I don't.  Not at all 😆
  Thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2018

Thomas the Train Birthday Party: Decor

I'm excited to finally be sharing my Bubby's Thomas the Train party decor!  We had a wonderful family party celebrating his 4th birthday, with lots and lots of trains everywhere.

The photo above is from the dining room.  I'll discuss that, and the rest of the party decor in a little bit.

But first, a side note:  Since the beginning of this blog I have referred to my boy as 'Little Man', but today he informed me that he would rather go by 'Bubby' since that is his nickname.  Actually, he instructed me to refer to him as 'Big-Man-Bubby', but I think Bubby will do just fine 😂😂😂

Balloons

For this party I used red, green and light blue balloons to create colorful bouquets.  Once the bouquets were assembled, I added in the foil streamers and character cut-outs.

The cut-outs came from a package of Thomas birthday party decorations that I found treasure hunting.
(You can click here to see more about that)

(You can click here to read more about inflating balloons without helium)

Dining Room Table

Originally, I had planned on using black crepe paper to create what would look like railroad tracks on the table tops.  But then I realized how much fun it would be for my Bubby if he got to put his trains everywhere 😄

The dining room table was home to a figure eight track featuring
Thomas, Harold (the Helicopter) and a few accessories

Dining Room

Bubby and I decorated the dining room window ledge as well, using
Emily, Percy and Toby to spread the fun.

Living Room

Left:  Though the package of party decor from the garage sale included several folded up posters, I never realized (until it came time to decorate) that two of them combined to create a large wall mural.  Not only did the wall  mural complete set the mood of the living room, but it made for a great photo backdrop as well.

Right:  To avoid taking up too much space on the card table, we placed a small looped track just big enough for another Thomas.

Kitchen

Since the kitchen table is also smaller, Bubby and I kept it simple with a short run that featured a hill and a bridge.  We chose to put Stanley and Rosie here since my grandparents (who attended the party) share the same names 💗

Service Train

I can't take credit for this adorable idea- I totally swiped it from Pinterest! 

It was very easy to create our own 'train' using a toy engine, painters tape for the tracks and baking pans for the cars.  The photo that I saw on Pinterest used electrical tape for the tracks (black) but I thought that might gum up my counter tops.  I also went ahead and added the wheel details to my cars by cutting circles out of scrapbooking paper.

Service Train Close-Up

Another view of this adorable train 😌

Dessert Station

Thomas

Our Thomas cake was made from a white cake mix, 
I'll have a step-by-step post coming soon!

Mini Cake

A tiny cake for Bubby to have all to his self 😎

Dessert Station Decor

Bubby helped to choose the wooden accessories that embellished our dessert station.  He felt it important that Sir Topham Hatt was represented here 😄

Cupcakes

Funfetti cupcakes were happy to have another Thomas engine cheerfully on stand-by.

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I hope you enjoyed this Thomas the Train birthday party post. 
I'll update soon with dessert details, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2018

Thomas the Train Birthday Party: The Invitations

All Aboard!

My Little Man is turning 4 very soon and we are celebrating with a 

Thomas the Train themed birthday party!  

Read on to see how easy it was to put together these Thomas themed invitations:

Thomas the Train Party Pack

Usually when we plan a party, I rely mostly on color to convey the overall theme -I don't often purchase character plates or balloons, for example.   But this past summer while treasure hunting, the kids and I stumbled upon an entire bag of Thomas themed party decor.  At $2 for the entire bag (and with great enthusiasm from the Little Man) we snapped it up!


In case you can't tell from the photo, the pack contains large (folded up) banners of Thomas, cardboard character cut-outs, swirly foil streamers and character 'confetti'.  The confetti didn't show up well in this pic, but that's what I pulled to use for the invitations.  If you don't have something similar, don't worry.  Thomas stickers would work just as well.

Step 1

After gathering my supplies (blue scrapbooking paper, red envelopes and the 'confetti') I printed out the wording that I wanted to use for the invites.

In case you can't see it, here is the wording:

**ALL ABOARD**

(Child's Name Here) is turning 4!

Join us for lunch & dessert (Date Here)

The birthday express will be departing (Time & Place Here)

Side Note:  Those red envelopes are left over from when I made the Little Man his pirate party invitations last year.  (You can click here to read more about those)

Step 2

Using a standard sized (8X10) sheet of colored paper, I cut each 

sheet into equal fourths to serve as the backdrop for the invitations.

Step 3

Next I glued the trimmed down wording sheet at an angle for a couple of reasons.  

One, there was more room that way to feature all of the text and two, I just thought it looked better 😊

Step 4

Lastly, I added a couple of embellishments from the 

Thomas birthday party pack and the invitations were ready to go.

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I'll have more party fun coming soon, but in the meantime, I hope you've enjoyed this how-to post  Thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2018

Candy Themed Birthday Party - Centerpieces

Remember these centerpieces from the candy themed birthday party?  

Well here's how easy they are to pull together:

Step 1

I gathered an assortment of clear cylinder vases in different heights.  Using the cylinder shape makes for a nice, clean look and varying the heights adds dimension and interest to the table tops.

Tip:  Go ahead and give your glassware a cleaning before use.  You'd be surprised how much dust can build up, even in a cabinet!

Step 2

Take cardboard tubes (from either paper towels or toilet paper rolls) and cut them down to fit the height of your cylinder vases.  You'll want to leave about an inch of clearance between the top of the tube and the opening of the vase.  Next fill the center of each cardboard tube (I used wadded up plastic grocery bags).

These tubes are going to sit in the center of your vases allowing you to 'fill' the containers with way less candy 😉

Step 3

Add the cardboard tubes to the vases.

Candy Filling

We chose Skittles, Starburst, gummy bears, lemon drops and mini marshmallows (all based on their coloring) to fill our vases.

Tip:  If your kids are helping or your Husby is home, buy extra candy 😉

Step 4

While holding the tube in place from the top, begin filling the space between the tube and glass with the candy of your choice.

Side Note:  You can see by this photo that I didn't have enough paper towel tubes to fill all of my vases.  No problem, taping a couple of toilet paper rolls together works just as well 😊

Step 5

Continue filling until you get to the top (notice how that inch of clearance space allowed the cardboard tubes to be hidden) and then check the vases from every side for any 'holes'.  

You can see that the vases on the left and in the center look great, but the one on the right has a few weak spots.  Just keep fiddling with the candies until you get them to settle more evenly.  You might need to add a bit more candy as well.

Step 6

Once the vases were all filled, I used decorative napkins to create a covering.  Just place a napkin on top of the vase and fold the edges down.  Lastly, add a bit of clear tape so that the napkin keeps it's shape.

Note:  These are the same napkins that were purchased as part of the party supplies, so they went with the party decor beautifully

Step 7

We can't have visible tape, can we?!?!? 😁

I used a bit of sparkly light blue tulle to cover the tape and finish off the arrangement.  

This tulle can be found in the party section of Wal-Mart for $1 per roll.  It didn't quite show in the photos, but the tulle features a subtle sparkle and several different colors were available.

All Done

Now you can store these away (someplace where the kids can't reach them) and get on to the rest of your mile long to-do list!

Fun Facts:  You know I'm always prepping early, so how did the candy hold up?
The Skittles and Starburst did just fine.
The lemon drops ended up sticking all together in one clump.
The gummy bears and marshmallows all went stale 😆

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Did you miss anything from the candy party posts?
You can click here to read about the invitations
You can click here to read about the decor
You can click here to read about the desserts.

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I hope you enjoyed this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!
-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2017

Candy Themed Birthday Party- The Decor

Welcome to our candy themed birthday party, I hope you enjoy the decor!

🍭🍬🍭🍬

Balloons

I love using color to help convey a party theme.  It's easy to get caught up in the trap of purchasing theme specific or character printed party goods.  Not only does the difference in cost add up quickly, but it can sometimes be hard to find specific characters.  I like to keep things low cost and simple, so I prefer to use plain colors whenever possible when planning a themed event.  Therefore one of the first things I do when planning is to set a color scheme.

What better (or easier) way to communicate a color scheme than with colorful balloons?

The hues that my Baby Girl and I chose for this party were; mint green, baby pink, purple, yellow, baby blue and gold.  

In the photo you can see that I also included a confetti balloon with this years balloon bouquet.  I found these at Wal-Mart, running about $2 for a pack of six.  The package contains clear latex balloons and paper confetti that you must measure out and insert into the balloons yourself using a paper funnel (included).  Once the balloons are loaded, just inflate as usual.

(I air fill my balloons, as opposed to helium, you can read more about that  here)

Tables & Centerpieces

In addition to balloons, table coverings and paper goods are another easy opportunity to continue a color scheme.

We decided to cover our tables with a purple cloth, layered with a baby blue napkin on top.  This served as the perfect backdrop for the candy filled jars that Baby Girl helped to construct.  The finishing touch was to sprinkle pastel colored miniature marshmallows in the place of confetti.

(A how-to post explaining the candy jars will be coming soon 😋)

Side Note:  The cups and plates for the guests were pale pink with napkins alternating between baby blue and white with metallic gold detailing.

Details

Remember those stickers from the invitations?
I used some of the extras to add a little cuteness to the flatware cups and a mint-chip candle.

(You can click here to see the party invitations)

Dessert Buffet

I'll have a post detailing these desserts coming soon, but for now look how easy it was to continue that color palette I keep talking about.  Pink muffin liners and the placement of napkins added pops of color to the cupcake display and my mint green Jadeite cake stands were the perfect base for these party cakes

(You can click here to read more about these cake stands)

Here are some pretty close up shots:

Funfetti Cupcakes

Kit-Kat Cakes

Cake Pops

The day before the party I was prepping the dinner (a big pan of roasted chicken and vegetables)  when I realized that I didn't have enough sauce.  A quick trip to the store for a couple more Campbell's oven sauce packs and I passed by these adorable little cake pops.  Since we were expecting three children at the party I grabbed that many to add to our dessert buffet.  In other words, they were just too cute to pass up 😉

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And that was Baby Girls very sweet 8th birthday party.
I hope you enjoyed this party decor post, thanks for stopping by!
-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2017