Ava's Pretend Play Party

Ava’s Pretend Play Party

My daughter Ava loves pretending. If we get in the car I hear “Can this be an airplane?” then I have to turn on the pretend fasten seat belt sign, give her pretend head phones, announce the in flight movie etc.When it’s dinner time I’m the waitress and she must make a reservation and peruse a fake menu. So when it came time for her birthday I decided to take this love for pretending and turned into a party theme.

• We booked the Chino Youth Museum http://chinoyouthmuseum.com/ to have the party. This is a small Children’s museum that is very affordable and not overwhelming for the little ones. The entire museum is about pretending so it was a perfect place to have the party.

• I was stumped on what to do for decorations at first. I decided to let Ava pick out her favorite birthday plate from our local party store. Then, I used this plate as the color scheme for the rest of the party.

Sign I made with my Cricut

• The plates Ava chose had a crown on it so I dubbed her the “Queen of Creativity” .We used the crown image as accents & carried the royalty vibe into her invite too.

Invite wording

Ava’s 5 IMAGINE THAT!

We hope you and your active imagination can join us

for a day of magical make – believe as we celebrate,

the Queen of Creativity’s 5^th birthday.

• For favors I did a couple of things.First , I went to a dollar store and found different hats and accessories. I set up a table with a sign that said “Who will you pretend to be?” .The kids got to chose the hat they wanted and their favor bag include the matching accessories to their hat. We had pirates, rock stars, firefighters, and princesses.

In front of each hat I placed Bobble head Avas (the heads didn’t really bobble but I think they looked like bobble head dolls so that’s what I’m calling them) . I found coloring sheets that matched the hats, colored them, cut them out, and glued pictures of Ava onto the heads. My finished product was scanned on my copier because I’m anal like that,but it probably wasn't necessary lol.
Favor Table

Bobble Head Ava’s (My favorite thing about the party BTW)

Favor Bags

Pretend grocery bags filled with play money, pretend food, grocery list, accessories (Pirates had hooks and eye patches, rock stars had microphones etc.) , & a “Thanks for pretending with me!” bobble head tag.

· I chose to order cupcakes from the grocery store ( reasonable price & hassle free gotta love that). My husband made these cupcake toppers on the computer to match the theme. I love the way they came out.

Ava had so much fun and it was probably the least stressful party I’ve ever thrown!

Very Hungry Caterpillar Birthday

When Ella turned one I knew I wanted a unique theme for her party that had bright colors. I search the blog world and found some cute ideas for a Very Hungry Caterpillar party. Given Ella's love for food and my love for the book I thought it was a perfect fit. I made some really lucky finds while planning and they really pulled everything together.

• I found the idea for these invites online. I loved the way they came out! Those of you who came to the party might be saying … ‘hmmm I never received one of those fabulous invites’. For reasons out of my control I never got to send them out , but darn it they will be seen lol. I cut out all the construction paper shapes with my Cricut and attached them with scrap booking brads. Then, I printed all of the party details on label paper , cut them out , stuck them on and TADA!

• I found these paper goods in the clearance section at the best store in the universe....that’s right Target .SCORE!!!! I always buy a few themed paper goods then I find cheaper solid color paper goods that match and mix them in .It’s a big money saver.

• These stuffed animal Very Hungry Caterpillars from Kohl’s made great centerpieces .They also doubled as prizes for the games we played. *Bonus: These $5 stuffed animals were part of the Kohl’s cares program so the money went to a good cause http://www.kohlscorporation.com/communityrelations/community01.htm *

• I planned (what I thought to be), some awesome activities but apparently the playground was way cooler. I had to tear the kids away to get them to participate lol. We played a Feed the Caterpillar Toss Game, Pin the Caterpillar on the Apple game, and we hit a Butterfly Piñata .I also had a table with themed crafts on it for the kids to do when they got tired of running around the playground ( however , apparently kids don't ever get tired of running around playgrounds lol).

Ella playing the Feed the caterpillar toss game

One of the many Caterpillar Crafts. We used ribbon and beads to create very hungry book marks.

• One of my favorite things was this guest book. I bought the book ( $5 Kohl’s again), and had all the guest write a message to Ella inside. It’s something we can keep for a memory for years to come.

• For Ella’s cake I saved time and my sanity by purchasing green cupcakes from Albertson's . My mom made and assembled the rest of this adorable cake ( Thanks Mom xoxo ). The cake board was wrapped in some rainbow polka dot paper from Target and I added a "Ella" sign to the corner of the board for an extra touch.

Thanks to all the Bloggers who gave me / sparked these great ideas. I would credit you personally but I looked at so many blogs that they've formed a Pangaea like picture in my mind lol. Hope you got some helpful ideas and have as much fun with this theme as I did J

Back yard Picinic

This impressive idea came about when I was forced to stay home and was looking for something entertaining to do with the girls. We had been cooped up inside for a while (we were taking turns being sick). The girls had a serious case of the wiggles and on this particular day, I was the lucky host to strep throat and a double ear infection. Needless to say going out in public was not an option. What’s a girl to do? Hmmm. … Back yard picnic!

It was such a beautiful day and it happened to be lunch time so I got a sheet and blanket, made a healthy lunch and had a picnic in our back yard. Even my youngest ate her baby food outside .We had a blast.

Who knew such a simple thing would bring us such joy. I think that I’m so use to the go, go, go, go of life that the simplest things seem to pass me by. Lying outside on our picnic we heard birds chirping, I shared stories with my daughter, a lady bug even joined us .

Maybe some of you are reading this & thinking CHEESY. To you I say don’t knock until you've tried it .Soon you will be singing the praises of back yard picnics just like me. I was amazed at how something so simple could be so relaxing and fun. I know this impressive idea will be one my daughters & I remember for years to come.

Diaper Cakes

*WORK IN PROGRESS *

Diaper Cakes

Diaper cakes are the perfect example of incorporating something functional into a creative and meaningful gift.I love giving this gift because I have a chance to make it very personal to the the mom to be.

You will need diapers ( cloth or disposable) , rubberbands, ribbon, cake topper of choice,cake core ( baby snacks, baby bottle, paper towel tube etc.), cake base, and decorations of choice.

Labor & Delivery bag

*WORK IN PROGRESS *

Top Secret Mommy Bag

When I had my daughter Ava, I was shocked at how unprepared I was for the not so fabulous way I felt directly after birth .Everyone warns you about the baby crying and feeling tired but what about all the other stuff? Come on ladies a heads up would have been nice! If your the type who doesn't want to know the harsh reality that is child birth please stop reading now other wise.......... be prepared for stitches, hemorrhoids,chapped nipples to say the least.Sorry if this is TMI , just keepin' it real lol.
To help out the new mom to be I created a Top Secret/Confidential Mommy Tote.
First : Get a bag that you can store all of your top secret items in. I chose black to add to the Top secret / confidential feel . Using my Cricut I created this “Confidential” tag to tie to the strap of the bag.

Second: I purchased much needed sometimes embarrassing items. Large super absorbent pads with wings ( the nurse at the hospital recommended I buy depends yuck , right? But necessary), nipple cream ( for breast feeding mammas) , tissue (for the bouts of crying ), hemorrhoid cream ( no explanation needed), nursing pads ( for those embarrassing leaks),stool softener, and Tuck ( I found these to be a must for comfort ).

Third: I included this list (with brief and whimsical explanations as to why they will need this product. I find this is comforting for new moms to know that many women go through this unpleasantness and we lived to tell lol.

Yo Gabba Gabba Party

For those of you who have not experienced Yo Gabba Gabba , let me say you are missing out my friends!We are a Yo Gabba Gabba loving household and for my daughter Ava's 3rd birthday we had a Yo Gabba Gabba themed party. I threw this party together in about a week so it was pretty bare bones but there were some ideas you might be able to use.

Decorations: I bought solid color streamers , balloons, and table cloths in the classic Y.G.G. colors .The rest of the decorations were found on http://www.nickjr.com .

Favors: I especially liked the way these bags turned out. The face cutouts were found on nickjr.com . I filled the bags with goodies and a CD of some of the music from the show.

Games/ activities: First , we played Pin the Eye on Muno . I made this with construction paper, tape , and scissors.

We also did some other games / activities ; Pass the Banana to the song "Banana" from the show (this was basically hot potato) . I had coloring sheets out for kids who like quiet activities. Later, I gathered all the pictures and randomly picked one for a prize. We also hit a Broby pinata filled with goodies and had a "Jumpy Jump" bouncer. During the party I had a Yo Gabba Gabba DVD playing for the kids to watch , & a dance mat for them to get their “Dancey Dancey” on .

I made this Foofa shirt for Ava to wear with a simple iron on transfer sheet and a photo from nickjr.com.

We had a blast!

Sweet Smell of Gingerbread ...magnets

A fun , quick and easy craft I like to do this time of year is make( fake ), Ginger Bread dough. The recipe is so easy to make and it smells FABULOUS!I make this dough into Gingerbread man shaped ornaments every year for my class and they're always a big hit.This year I made them into magnets this year.

1. Combine equal parts cinnamon and applesauce along with a smidgen of white Elmer's glue

( yes I said smidgen).

2.Get your hand in there and mix away.you might want to wear latex gloves because I usually have orange Oompa Loompa hands when I'm done.

3.Make the dough into tangerine sized balls.They should be able to keep whatever shape you squeeze them into. If it is crumbling add more applesauce , if it is mushy add more cinnamon.

4. Use a gingerbread man shaped cookie cutter to cut the dough into an adorable shape.

Let air dry for a day and very carefully flip the gingerbread man over.Let dry one more day .

5.Once dry place cream colored puff paint on the man in icing shaped designs.

Voila ! A delicious smelling and adorable holiday craft!