So first of all…I can’t take credit for all of my ideas! Sure, I manage to bring them all to life, but I find SO much inspiration on the web and from other moms! Seriously…what would we do without the internet? One of my favorite party planning websites is Birthday Party Ideas. Once you know your theme, you can sift through all of the entries that other moms have so kindly submitted and take what you want from them! I have done that very thing for every single party we have had! Amazing Moms is another great one to hit up. And I of course just Google the theme too and see what else turns up from that! With blogging it is amazing what you can find out there!!

First up is the invite. I had high, high hopes of creating my own fun invites for my special little guy, but the time escaped me so I had to rely on fabulous Swoozie’s to come to the rescue! And while these particular invitations weren’t hand made or unique, they were still cute and fit the theme!

I searched online for wording ideas and then took what I liked and tried to incorporate it! We also added in bits and pieces of our own thoughts to get exactly what we wanted! And sorry about the spacing…Wordpress has “issues” and won’t let me gather it into groups like I want to! It read as follows:

Hay…It’s Huntler’s Birthday Baa-sh!

R Lil’ Buckaroo Is Turning Three {The “R” was actually backwards on our invite!!}

So Saddle Up And Mosey On Over ‘Cuz

We Be Havin’ Us A Barnyard Party!

Round ‘Em Up And Moo-ve ‘Em In

4:30 PM, Saturday, September 22

At The last name Family Farm

Neighs Only 222-222-2222

Ya Lil’ Farm-Hands Best

Wear Yer Farmer Duds

For Yer Chores…

And Ya’ll Come Hungry

For Dinner And Dessert Now,

Ya Hear?!

Thank you notes…IF I did them for this party, they were just simple store bought ones that didn’t even go with the theme! I say “IF” because there are several of us in a playgroup and we all attend each other’s parties. Way back when we chatted about all the time and work it takes to send thank you notes and how we are all busy with kids so we have somewhat of an understood “rule” that we don’t have to send them to each other!

All of the tableware for this party was simple red and black…nothing patterned or themed whatsoever. I did however wrap the silverware in red napkins and tie raffia bows around each set! SUPER cute! I love to do this for our parties. It just adds a little extra touch!! I also LOVE galvanized tubs and buckets and they worked perfectly for this theme!! The cow print bandana is from Hobby Lobby.

On the menu for this party was barbeque beef sandwiches! We bought briscuit and cooked it in the crock pot and served it up! We also had chicken nuggets and mini pigs in a blanket for the kiddos! Baked beans, pasta salad and fruit salad rounded out the spread!

I mentioned before that an idea I just love is use cookie cutters that tie in with the theme to cut fruit and sandwiches out of. I have ordered from Off the Beaten Path several times in the last couple of years and have had only wonderful experiences! They have more cookie cutters than you could ever imagine and are sure to have what you want!

While chatting about food, how about the cake?! While I LOVE to plan out the intricate little details of these parties and actually do most of the work myself, I won’t even attempt the cake!! Cupcakes maybe, the cake never!

For Huntler’s party we once again used the fabulous Elizabeth to create this masterpiece for us! She also did the cupcakes. And she did a WONDERFUL job!! The detail and thought put into this cake was phenomenal! At the time Huntler always said, “Cow Barn,” so I wanted that incorporated into the cake.

Sweet little cuppies…

So the invites, food and cake are covered…how about the decorations?!

Here is that same galvanized milk jug from the ladybug party being used again! This time with fall flowers!

And these are actual chicken feeders I bought at a livestock store! Yes, I ventured into a livestock store!! Since the party was at the end of September, we went with candy corn for the fall feel and then “Chicken Feed” that I made! {It isn’t a direct link so you’ll have to scroll down just a bit!} While these looked super cute, they were more for display than anything! The holes are just too tiny to fit fingers in and munch from!! {And just in case you are wondering, I had to buy the jars separately…they came from a craft store.}

Here is our entryway! We went with red, green and blue as the accent colors for this party! The cow print balloons came from  here.

Huntler’s banner came from here. The mylar cow balloon did as well. And there was also a pig but he didn’t make the cut for the pictures I am posting!!

As each little guest entered, he or she received a cowboy hat! {If you looked at the link, you’ll notice I took the stars off because I didn’t like them!!} Each child received a red bandana to wear while at the party as well! I am pretty sure you can buy the bandanas at Wal Mart or somewhere cheaper! However, for me, sometimes it is just easier to pay a little extra and order online!!

So how about the rest of the favors now? I mentioned in the ladybug party post that I ordered chocolate lollies. I had quite a fiasco with that bash, but this one went off much better! I ordered this set off of Ebay and they were absolutely darling! The one thing to keep in mind with these though is the season and the climate where you are because they WILL melt!!

Since this party I have taught myself how to make these sweet treats! They are seriously super easy and actually pretty fun!

And here is a little peek at the favor buckets!! I LOVE putting together the party favors!! The challenge of finding coordinating little goodies that are both useful and fun is just well, fun!!

I found these buckets online, of course!! I wish I could remember what size I ordered, but I just can’t!! I would guess that they were one of the ones that is about 4 inches high? ! I do know that I ordered them from The Bucket Outlet though. Here is a direct link to the galvanized buckets!

The photo above shows the buckets for the littlest guests! They received a four piece farm animal puzzle from Wal Mart, a coloring book from Michael’s, a bitty stuffed animal from the dollar bins at Target and a rubber ducky! Each favor bucket had a farm animal ornament tied around the handle as well. Those were from the dollar bins at Michael’s.

The bigger kids received a coloring book, a push up farm animal, a rubber duck and a sticker set where you dress a different farm animal. I can not find where I bought the sticker sets from, but I am sure it was online and from a party site! Don’t forget that all of the kids took home a hat, bandana and lollipop as well!

This was the first party Chris ever designed BINGO cards for!! He did a great job! We didn’t laminate this set, but they held up pretty well considering all the little hands that were touching them!

This party was two years ago and while I am not seeing the exact set of graphics we used on iStockphoto, that doesn’t mean they aren’t there! There are a TON to choose from! And here is the direct link to the font used on “Barnyard Bingo.”

We used candy corn for the markers! And yes, that is Huntler front and center in a diaper! Gosh he was so tiny!!! Can we go back in time for just a day?!

Since by the end of September it is somewhat tolerable out, we headed outside for a couple of games. I found these egg/spoon race games at Target and bought a couple of them on sale at the end of the season.

I also blew up a ton of pink balloons that were supposed to serve as pigs! There were two fly swatters and the kids were supposed to have races where they shooed pigs from one place to another. As always, the game really didn’t happen and it turned into a free for all but they did have fun scooting the balloons along and playing outside!

Yes, Huntler again in no clothing!!

But see, he WAS dressed to fit the theme at one point! I ordered him some cute little overalls off of Ebay and he sported those for part of the party anyway! {And just ignore the effects I put on this picture. That was done way back when and I must have thought it looked good! WHAT was I thinking?!}

Our little roller skating farm boy at the end of the day!!

Grab yourself some lemonade and a snack and then settle on in and get cozy because I have a feeling this is going to be one long post! There were so many details in this party that I just adored and I want to share it all!

So first of all a little disclaimer…I can’t take credit for all of my ideas! Sure, I manage to bring them all to life, but I find SO much inspiration on the web and from other moms! Seriously…what would we do without the internet? One of my favorite party planning websites is Birthday Party Ideas. Once you know your theme, you can sift through all of the entries that other moms have so kindly submitted and take what you want from them! I have done that very thing for every single party we have had! Amazing Moms is another great one to hit up. And I of course just Google the theme too and see what else turns up from that! With blogging it is amazing what you can find out there!

For this party in particular I found a ton of fun ideas and inspiration from other moms who blogged about their Sweet Shoppe parties! And I have even made some new friends along the way…love that! Kara at Kara’s Party Ideas had a super sophisticated hot pink and turquoise Sugar, Sweet and Spice Party. The attention to detail and amazing decor makes me green with envy! Go check out that striped tent and the adorable cardboard awning she whipped up! Love. Her party was geared for adults {her Bunco group} but even so, I found some fabulous ideas in her post that I incorporated into Gentry’s party!

Another over the top bash that caught my eye instantly was that of Navy Sou. Her daughter’s party was absolute perfection! As in I wish I knew her and was invited! Super, super cute and all kinds of wonderful! The detail. The colors. The cake. The pictures. To say the least, it was amazing!! I would LOVE to have a party like this outside and take advantage of the natural light for picture taking purposes, but considering Gentry’s birthday is in July and we live in Arizona, we are definitely going to be inside for the duration!

My fellow Arizona girl Kim at The TomKat Studio had an adorable Lollipop Party for her sweetie pie that got my wheels turning! I actually came across Kim while searching for lollipop/candy goodies on Etsy! She creates all sorts of party cuteness {invites, cupcake toppers, tags, etc…} and I linked from her shop to her blog and have been following along ever since! She is super sweet so be sure to check her out if you are needing anything for an upcoming party of your own! She created some of the cupcake toppers for Gentry’s party {you’ll see them later!} and they are simply adorable! Gosh I love these moms that are just as into party planning as I am!

Words can not describe how inspired I was during the months that I worked on this party. I had SO much fun brainstorming and creating along the way! If you know me, then you know that in the whole scheme of life very few things really bother me. However, I hate it when people try to take credit for ideas that weren’t theirs! If I know the source, I always try to give credit where credit is due! I wish I could give credit to each and every person who inspired me along the way, but that just isn’t possible! So I’ll at least say THANKS!

Alrighty then…here is my jumping off point! Yes, I said during the months that I have been working on this party! I had originally planned on going with this theme for Gentry’s second birthday but was lured in by Target’s uber cute cupcake goodness for Valentine’s Day 2008 and went that route last year instead! However, I had already begun collecting Candyland happiness and couldn’t wait to tackle this sweet theme this year!

Okay…so how about we start off with the invite? That seems like a good place, right? I designed these in Photoshop with the help of my extremely patient and super smart husband!! I used several different digital scrapbooking kits and combined papers and elements to get the look I was after. Early on I chose bright orange, hot pink, bright purple, bright green and turquoise as my color scheme. I used those colors in everything from the invites to the balloons!

As for the wording, I looked at various invites on the internet and pulled bits and pieces from different ones to create something that I loved and that fit Gentry’s personality! There are some of my own thoughts thrown in the mix as well!

There is really no “order” to this post so I’ll just start with the favors since those are the pictures I have up first!! I absolutely adore gathering party favors!! Two years ago {like a month after Gentry turned one} I started thinking ahead and planning her next party, which at the time I thought was going to be the Candyland theme. Also at that time Target happened to have red, blue, yellow and green pails in their dollar bins. I won’t tell you how many Target’s I had to hit up to get the right amount in the right colors! Anyway, I ended up not using red and yellow in the overall color scheme because I changed from Candyland to Sweet Shoppe, but because I already had the pails, I obviously went ahead and used them! I am sure not a soul would have noticed had I not mentioned it first!

{I wanted to add that I flipped from manual to automatic for these and just snapped away! I also had to use my flash…a lot! The lighting in our house is not conducive to good photography!! I decided to just be Mom instead of photographer…figuring it would make my life much more simple if I could just shoot and not worry about settings! And it did!! Although the focus is NOT where I want it on many of them, that’s okay! We had a fun day and the memories are still priceless!}

Because I have such a girly girl, I had to jazz up the pails for all our little girly guests! All I did was use bright marabou and my trusty glue gun and went to work! This is super simple but adds so much!! Then I stuck a sheet of colorful tissue paper inside and tied on a coordinating name tag with curly ribbon and was ready to fill ‘em up!

I should probably warn you that I am slightly high maintenance when it comes to party favors!! Not in a snobby way {at least I hope!}, but I just like “nice” goodies and things that are useful! I refuse to buy junk just for the sake of filling up a bucket! The past several years I have started making little treats and have really had fun doing that!

But first up, the things I didn’t make! One of the first things I bought for this party were Candyland pencils and stickers. Both came from Ebay. There are still several options for the stickers, but the pencils no longer come up. Of course I couldn’t leave you hanging, so I searched online! Here is a link to the pencils!

The little gingerbread guys you see are straws. They came from the Wal Mart Christmas decor a couple of years ago.

There was also a little lollipop magnet in each bucket. They were actually cute little Christmas ornaments I found at Hobby Lobby last year and just snipped the ribbon off of and added a magnet to!

All of the older kids also got a candy shaped soap. For these I just made a bunch of round soaps {in different colors and with glitter in them!} and wrapped them up in shimmery cellophane and tied the ends with ribbon to look like pieces of candy. Another SUPER easy project!! I have made soaps for a couple of other parties and they are one of the easiest little crafts ever!! I promise!!

In the buckets for the girls were Starburst chapsticks and hair pretties. I found the chapstick in with the Easter goodies, but have since seen Skittles flavored chapstick in the teeny bopper make up section at Target {on an end cap}.

And now the little candy hair pretties I made! I told you I am all about making things if I can!! For both types I used small styrofoam balls from the craft store. It took a little experimenting on both to figure out what worked and looked best, but once I figured it out, I managed to whip up a whole bunch!

This is what I found worked best for me! On the lollipops I hot glued the stick in first. Once the glue was set up, I covered them in Mod Podge {one at a time} and then glittered away. It would probably be best to stand them in a piece of styrofoam to dry, but I didn’t happen to have an extra piece just sitting around so I was doing all sorts of crazy things to stand them up! Anyway, once they were dry, I tied on a tiny little ribbon and that was it as far as the lolly itself goes!! Once I covered the alligator clips in coordinating ribbon, I hot glued the stick onto the clip. And that’s all! From what I can tell, because of the sticks, these don’t work very well for pigtails but better as just clips!

For the candy pieces, I just played around and cut little fabric squares until I got them the right size to wrap around the ball and leave some excess. I then just glued down the edge with my glue gun. After that I tied ribbon on each end and then used pinking shears to trim the edges with. Then I just hot glued them onto a matching alligator clip! Easy peasy!

The boy pails were a bit more empty since they didn’t get chapstick or hair pretties! But because we had a candy bar as well for all the kids to load up at, I didn’t worry too much about it!!

I did change things up for the four kiddos under two that we had! Way back when I ordered the pencils, I only ordered twelve. And I only made twelve soaps and only had twelve straws left after my kids got into them!! So, for obvious reasons, the tiny guests didn’t get soaps, straws or pencils! Instead, they got a fun, yet practical, little lollipop treat! I actually saw these baby spoon/washcloth lollipops on a blog a long time ago. I pulled the picture off and stuck it in a folder on the computer for future reference!!

I have since seen them on Etsy and admittedly went back to Etsy the night I made these to get some inspiration!! So, if you aren’t too crafty, you can certainly buy ‘em! They make cute baby gifts as well!

Alright…what I did for these was roll up two infant washcloths (contrasting colors) and then taped them at the end. I had to roll several times to get the feel for what I was doing and they never did turn out “perfect,” but with the ribbon and cellophane, nobody noticed!! Then I simply positioned a baby spoon behind the washcloths and wrapped it up in cellophane! I couldn’t figure out how to stick the washcloths to the spoon and get them to actually stay, so I didn’t bother! The cellophane was wrapped tight enough that it held everything together without a problem!

So I think that covers the favors!! Goodness! This post is going to be a mile long!

We had three games for this party. The hit of the bash was by far the bean bag toss! The kids LOVED it! My super, super, super sweet friend Julie made these candy bean bags for me since I finally accepted I am not cut out to sew!! They are too cute for words! I was guarding them with my life at the party and cringed each time grubby, sticky little hands touched them! However, they survived and still look amazing!

I debated and debated on how to do the bean bag toss! I REALLY wanted something made of plywood with plexi-glass and an awning to resemble an actual store front, but that is quite obviously not a simple project that I could do on my own! So…as the time crunch increased, I resorted to my trusty galvanized buckets and colorful ribbon!! And they worked just fine! We put the buckets in a line {getting further with each toss} and had the kids toss them that way and it was great! SUPER fun and cute game!! Julie, thanks so much for the bean bags! They are darling!!

Another game was “Pin the Stick on the Lolly.” Once again, recognizing my lack of sewing skills, I sought help from another sweet blog friend on this one! Shelly and I emailed back and forth a few times discussing what would be the best way to make this creation I had in mind come to life! She suggested making it so that it could serve as more than just a game once the party was over…as in a pillow or a doll blanket. Genius!! I decided on a doll blanket…a pillow would require sewing on my end and work that I knew I would never get around to, so I wanted it ready to go once the party was over! I even had her go ahead and sew a stick on the lolly so I wouldn’t have to attempt that either!!

Shelly sewed the loops on and I painted a dowel purple and added the ribbon for hanging. As for the “sticks” that the kids used, I simply cut out strips of the stiff felt and wrote their initials on them. They stuck fairly well without having to use tape or anything, so I just left it at that!!

And now this sweet little piece covers one of Gentry’s dolls in a baby bed in the playroom! Shelly, thanks for the great thinking and the adorable quilt! It is perfect!

Last but not least is the fabulous little BINGO game my amazingly talented husband designed!! I like to consider myself creative, but not in the sense of tackling Adobe Illustrator and creating an entire set of BINGO cards from nothing! He has far more patience for that kind of thing than I do!

We bought the graphics from iStock Photo. They have tons of different options, but something about the cute little faces on these guys sucked me in! The papers that he used are pieces I pulled from different digital kits I already had that coordinated with the colors and feel I was after! Here is a sample of just one of the cards!!

Ohh, and I LOVE that he took my awning idea and incorporated it…without me even asking!! And the shimmer on the text? All him! He knows me so well! He is something special I tell ya!! Thanks sweetie…the cards were perfect!

In the essence of full disclosure, I highly recommend laminating these bad boys!! We have now had BINGO cards at three of our parties and by the time you factor in little kid hands and pieces of candy for the markers, they are sure to get dirty if they aren’t protected!!

Okay, so how about the cupcakes now? I found some ADORABLE cakes online that would have been too cute for words, but considering the sheer amount of candy I knew we were having as well as the fact that I had already spent way too much the way it was, I opted to go the cupcake route instead!

But just in case you are curious, here are a couple of links to my favorite cakes! The first one…and the second one! The second one is definitely more of a Candyland cake, but could probably be done without the the little path? Not sure…the first one is my absolute fave!!

Before I post the picture, I want to share with you that I am NOT good in the kitchen. To be perfectly honest, I flat don’t like to cook or bake. I never have…and I don’t pretend to! Considering my lack of experience, I was highly tempted to just order cupcakes so I didn’t have the worries, but good ole’ Betty Crocker came through for me and I managed to whip up some tasty treats if I do say so myself! I was planning to attempt Cotton Candy Cupcakes {inspired by Kara}, but somewhere in the midst of all the chaos, we managed to get every flavor of cake mix except white! So, in the eleventh hour I nixed that idea! We had plenty so I am sure they weren’t missed!

I also want to share that I had never seen this type of cupcake tower until I was catching up on posts at The Tomkat Studio. Kim wrote an entire post about hers and how she went about decorating it! I gave one half hearted attempt at covering the bottom of one of the tiers in paper but quickly decided I didn’t have the patience for that! Nor did I have the patience for cutting paper strips to jazz up the edges! But what I did have the patience for was using some of my colorful and fun ribbon! Like Kim mentioned in her post, the edges of these tiers are curved which makes getting the paper or ribbon perfectly straight darn near impossible! I am an extreme perfectionist and this drove me batty, but I finally just accepted it and moved on!! {You can totally see the gaps and wrinkles in the picture if you want to know what I am talking about!!} To get the ribbon to stick, I used glue dots from my scrapbooking days!! Those things work wonders! In fact, I am going to have to take alcohol to the edges and remove them all as I can’t get them off with soap and water!

A couple of  things I learned decorating these cupcakes! First of all, bake them in plain jane wrappers that you don’t really care about and use your fun ones to just set them in! I started off actually baking the cupcakes in the polka dot wrappers only to find that once baked, they lost some of their luster and pop! So, after that I baked them in random wrappers and just placed them in the polka dots when I was ready. If you plan to use the Peach O treats, you may want to have two or three bags in different flavors! I was getting annoyed that all of them were the same! Sitting here now I wish I would have thought to use some of the jumbo gumdrops I have just sitting in the pantry. Why didn’t I think of that at the time? Go figure! I also wish I would have had other colors of the sugary sprinkles. The pink and purple were great, but orange, blue and green would have added a lot! Hindsight is always 20/20, hunh? Despite all the flaws that I see, all in all, they turned out pretty darn cute! Chris was beyond impressed with the fact that I not only managed to bake but also decorate these little treats!

Earlier I mentioned the toppers. I had originally planned to do my own, but then started having printer issues and craft punch issues and was basically freaking out, so I contacted Kim who made me a set. I also bought a set from another Etsy seller as well…the ones that look like lollipops! Both sets were darling and both sellers have all sorts of goodies to choose from so be sure to check them out!

For the treats at the candy bar I picked up little cardboard boxes at Michael’s. Inspired once again by Kara, I created little stickers {printed on clear labels} for the front that read:

Grab A Box

Take Some Treats…

Enjoy The Sugar,

Because Life Is Sweet!

I know the picture is terrible, but you get the idea! The colors were actually a lot more vibrant and cheery!! Keeping in line with the whole candy theme, I used a Candy Cane font for the text!

Here is a shot of the entire box. This is actually the back…the front was solid. I opted for this style over the little take out boxes when I was buying them so that you could see the candy through the clear window. However, I then decided to add the colorful tissue paper so it didn’t matter anyway!

And now for the candy bar!! I had SO much fun setting this up! However, it was reiterated to me that I could never, ever work in a candy store because I would spend half the day sampling candy and gain a ton of weight!! Not to mention I would have even more cavities than I already do!!

I started buying candy a few months ago. Each time we went to Sam’s I would pick a bag of something up. This way I didn’t have to make one trip and spend a fortune all at once!! I also bought a couple of things from Target and an actual candy store in the mall because Sam’s didn’t have everything I was wanting!

As for the jars, I started buying those a long time ago! I picked them up at Michael’s, Hobby Lobby, Target and Wal Mart. Keep in mind that you want jars with wide openings so that you can fit scoops in them! And be sure to have different sizes and shapes for interest!

And the scoops…I bought those online. I had this great debate because I really thought I wanted silver {metal} ones, but the more I thought about it and looked at them, they were WAY more expensive than the clear plastic ones! Plus, if the kids are doing the scooping {the parents scooped at our party}, you have to worry about them clanging the metal around on the glass and possibly breaking something or getting hurt! As with everything I do, I had way too much candy and way too many scoops!! It is just so hard to judge and I would MUCH rather error on the side of caution than to have empty candy jars and not enough scoops!

A little side note on the scoops…I had NO idea how to know if I was going to need the 3 ounce size or the 5 ounce size, so I ordered several of both. As it turns out, the 5 ounce scoops were actually a little too big for what I wanted so I used the 3 ounce size for all but one of the jars! Just thought I would share in case someone else out there is curious about what size to order!

Another fun thing I did was to tie a strand of bright ribbon on each of the handles! If you look closely you can see some of the scoops in the pictures! Simple but cute!

The shimmery pink garland was a whim purchase I made at Hobby Lobby!! I really had no idea how I was going to use it, but it was 75% off after Easter so I knew I had to figure out a way to incorporate it!

And here is a look at the entire island…I had a few of my favorite pieces set up as the “centerpiece” and then the food down at the far end!

Here is a peek at the silverware!! I had read on one of the entries on Birthday Party Ideas where a  mom used ring pops to hold the silverware together. I loved that idea but for the life of me could NOT get it to work out! So, a trip to the local party store and 32 candy bracelets later, I was able to pull something together that I loved! In the past I have tied ribbon around the napkin in some way, shape or form but this was so much easier and faster!!

Gentry picked the colors we used! Despite the fact that she only just turned three, the girl has quite the opinions and was adamant that the napkins be pink and the silverware green! It worked for me! We alternated turquoise and purple for the plates and used orange, green and purple for the cups and those same colors for the bowls…with the addition of pink because we needed one more package!

Before I totally move on from the food aspect, I want to share a couple more things! I really, really, really wanted to make a Peppermint Punch, but as it turns out, peppermint ice cream and egg nog aren’t readily available in July! Who’d a thunk it?!  It would be PERFECT for a winter Sweet Shoppe party though! Or if you didn’t want to make punch, you could just serve peppermint ice cream with your cake! MMM!! Or cotton candy ice cream! We tried to find that too and once again struck out! {We went with one of our personal faves though which is called Birthday Cake Ice Cream and is absolutely delish! No, I am not too upset that we have an entire carton left over!}

Because I got a fun new punch bowl a few months ago, I was determined that we would in fact have a punch of some sort! I wanted something light in color so that we didn’t have to worry about clothes getting stained or the carpets getting ruined!! This is the one I decided on. Well, kind of! I didn’t actually add the pineapple juice but it was really, really good without it!! We used lime sherbet and floated frozen slices of lemon and lime. The bowl was pretty much empty by the end of the party!

We also had a tasty rasberry lemonade as well! Everyone seemed to love it! But, it was red and did stain the carpet! Both are drinks we will be sure to make again!

One last thing here. Awhile back I ordered a cute little candy shaped cookie cutter and also a big flower. I was planning to cut out the shapes in slices of watermelon and pineapple as well as sandwiches for the kids. I have seen this before but was totally re-inspired when I saw what Navy Sou did for her daughter! Her sandwiches and fruit were darling! Unfortunately, this is one of the projects I simply did not get to! In fact, we didn’t even serve the fruit at the party and instead of sandwiches for the kids, I made mini pigs in a blanket! Sometimes I have more ideas than I can possibly make happen!

And here are a few of the super fun bits of decor! First of all, take a close look at that “G.” Isn’t is AMAZING? All sorts of colorful sweetness placed together perfectly to form a letter? With fabulous colors and shimmer to boot? I about wet my pants when that little gem surprised me in the mail a few weeks ago! My dear friend Julie had it made for Gentry girl for her birthday. Isn’t that unbelievably sweet? Why yes it is, but that is Julie for ya! Anyway, she got in touch with Jill at A Pocket Full of Posies and had this piece custom created for my doll baby!

I contacted Jill to tell her that I loved it, but also to see if she does custom pieces like this regularly. She would be more than happy to help you out and create something for you, so just click the link above and follow the button on her sidebar to send her an email!

That little orange frame is one I made awhile back when I was crafting like crazy for this bash!

And now for a little bit on that Dum Dum topiary!! All I have to say is EEEEKKKK!! I LOVE that thing! It wasn’t my idea…it was all Kara for you, but I absolutely love the way it turned out!

I picked up a styrofoam ball at Michael’s as well as a terra cotta pot and a dowel. The first thing I did was to make a hole for the dowel and then hot glue it in. You want to make sure you use plenty of glue because once you have all those suckers in, the ball gets heavy!! I didn’t glue the suckers in…they are just stuck. Because I am obsessive compulsive, I started off by putting my lollies in lines and evenly. I am sure that you could probably just stick them in randomly and be fine, but my brain orders things so I basically just did it unconsciously!!

As for the pot, I just spray painted it one of my colors and called it good. The dowel is also spray painted.

So then comes the tricky part. First of all, my pot was probably a little on the small side. I didn’t realize that by adding all of the Dum Dum’s that the ball would take on a life of its own and seem huge!! Considering I had already painted the pot and wasn’t about to head out in the 115 degree heat to get another one, I just went with it! Looks more whimsical if the topiary is bigger than the pot anyway, right?! Okay, back to the tricky part. Because the topiary is SO heavy, you pretty much have to use cement to hold it in place. I let Chris handle all of this for me but I think if I absolutely had to, I could have done it!!

Anyway, once it was all set up, I just added some shimmery shreds, some curly ribbon and a blingy button and it was ready to go! All of the fluff distracts from the imperfections because believe me, this guy was far from perfect!

And now for just a few more details! Here are most of the rest of the decorations! Enjoy!

This paper banner  hung on the front door and greeted our guests!! There were also giant lollies and candy canes in the yard on either side of our top step out front!

We also made this shimmery Sweet Shoppe sign! It was one of those things that literally was getting finished as guests were arriving, but it was SO worth it!! I hope to someday redo Gentry’s room in the Sweet Shoppe theme and incorporate bits and pieces of the party decor!

Isn’t this Gentry banner super cute? A dear friend made it for Gentry and we hung it in the kitchen for everyone to see!! It is also one of the pieces that serves as a great inspiration in how I want to do her room one of these days! LOVE that fabric!

Here are a couple of pictures of the entryway. The polka dot balloons came from here. And the Candyland banner from here. Birthday Express actually has an entire Candyland party set, but the only things I ordered were the banner, the cups and the mylar balloon!

Aren’t all those balloons fun?! The kids LOVE them!! And my kids love heading out back after everyone has left and letting them go! It has become somewhat of a tradition for us!

A couple of Christmas’ ago, my BFF Lisa gave me this too cute for words mug and some adorable spreaders! She knew then that I was hooked on this candy theme and thought of me when she saw these! I LOVE this mug!! The picture does NOT do it justice! It says Goody Goody Gumdrops and has some sort of sugary coating on it that makes it shimmery and glam!  It is Department 56 and although they have never been online {we looked when she gave it to me!!}, they do have some other cute and fun candy goodies!!

We hung streamers from the light fixture out to the walls in the nook, but I don’t have a picture of that. I did snap a shot of the ribbon and candy we hung from the light fixture though! So fun!! I loved looking at this!

That gumdrop star you see in the background {barely} is a Christmas ornament I picked up at Target almost three years ago!! They had several candy ornaments that year and I stocked up!

Okay…last but certainly not least, the family room!! The majority of the decorations went in this room as it was where the majority of the party took place!! All of the lollies and candies I made, the fence, the paper lanterns…everything!

We decided to stick some of the smaller pieces around the fireplace! It wasn’t really planned, but it ended up working out great and carrying the theme all the way across the front of the room!

Aren’t the presents fun? Target had the lollipop gift bags in their dollar bins awhile back so I snagged a few! And I added some tulle and ribbon to the others just to dress them up a bit!

Here are a few of the bigger lollies I made! We stuck them on the wall to finish out the corner and keep the feel going!

And drumroll please…the entire view!! Here it all is!! If you haven’t been following along, here is the link to the post about the little picket fence I decorated! The paper lanterns were bought at Hobby Lobby in their seasonal stuff. Chris hung everything for me!! And it all looked AMAZING!!

And of course the birthday girl and her big brother! Gentry looked SO darn cute! She wore a darling polka dot dress from Pumpkin Patch, her little name bracelet and even had her fingernails and toenails painted to match! Plus, I curled her hair and had it all smooth and perfect! Total cuteness I tell ya!

And now for some outside shots!! I definitely prefer outside shots opposed to inside! These were still shot in auto as the sun was setting and I was just trying to capture the moment, but these shots right here more than make up for the inside ones {above} that I am not loving the quality of!

I am totally feeling a balloon shoot coming on!! These next few were taken when we were letting these all go and the light was quickly fading! I would love to get out and experiment when we had some good daylight and in manual!

Happy THIRD Birthday Sweet Girl, Happy Birthday…

Now how is that for the longest post ever? Goodness! If you made it this far, leave me a little love! I need it after the hours I spent compiling all of this into one place! If you are having a party, happy planning and please let me know if you have any questions and also send me pics! I love all things party and would love to see your take!

]]> http://hissyfitsphotography.com/blog/2009/07/sweet-shoppe-the-party/feed/ 59 http://hissyfitsphotography.com/blog/2009/06/the-ladybug-party/ http://hissyfitsphotography.com/blog/2009/06/the-ladybug-party/#comments Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:25:02 +0000 Bethany http://hissyfitsphotography.com/blog/?p=1210 Alright…so in an attempt to get all of my party posts {or lack thereof on the parties that we had before I started blogging} organized, I am kicking it off with Gentry’s first birthday! I am going to preface this with the fact that I won’t be doing posts on Huntler’s first or second birthday parties. While they were cute, they weren’t nearly as over the top as these later parties have turned out to be! And we didn’t have an SLR so what few pics we have aren’t even that great. So yes, I love my little man every ounce as much as I love my little diva, but in the spirit of keeping it real, his first two parties were nothing to write home about!

I also want to warn you that while there are a lot of images for this bash, they aren’t spectacular by any means! I wasn’t nearly as into photography two years ago as I am now. However, I think you can get the general idea and if anyone has any questions, just let me know! I could talk party planning until I am blue in the face! And if you could care less about a party I did two years ago, that’s fine too! We’ll see you again in my next post!!

So first of all…I can’t take credit for all of my ideas! Sure, I manage to bring them all to life, but I find SO much inspiration on the web and from other moms! Seriously…what would we do without the internet? One of my favorite party planning websites is Birthday Party Ideas. Once you know your theme, you can sift through all of the entries that other moms have so kindly submitted and take what you want from them! I have done that very thing for every single party we have had! Amazing Moms is another great one to hit up. And I of course just Google the theme too and see what else turns up from that! With blogging it is amazing what you can find out there!

First up…the invite. I found the pattern in a book called “Unforgettable Invitations.” I totally tweaked it to fit my style as far as using simple, solid card stock and jazzing it up with glittery dots, but the pattern and idea were totally from the book! And yes, they took FOREVER!! But, somehow when it is something for your own child, you just overlook all of that and do it!

I combined wording I found on several different invites to get what I wanted. And we used a font called Spotty Dotty to add to the feel! Wordpress has some spacing “issues” so I can’t make this as concise as I would like, but the inside reads as follows:

Polka Dots And Little Black Spots,

That’s What Ladybugs Are Made Of.

Our “Little Lady” Is Turning One,

So Fly On Over And Have Some Fun!

Address

The Infestation Begins At Time On Date

Give Us A Buzz At Phone Number

A Feast Will Be Waiting On All Buggy Friends,

So Come Ready To Dive In!

We Hope To Spot You There!

Chris And Bethany: Head Gardeners

Keeping in line with the invitation is the thank you note…which I did not design! I had this created by Heather at Pea Pod Announcements and absolutely loved it! Notice how it says, “Bugs and Kisses.” It is all about the details friends…all about the details!

Whew! This is a long post already and I am only just getting started!! For anyone that knows me or has been following along for any amount of time, you can probably tell that I am pretty picky about some things! Finding the plates and napkins for this party was one of the hardest parts of it because I knew exactly what I wanted but had trouble finding it!

I finally found what I wanted at EZ Party Zone. We used their plates and napkins and just used black and red for the rest of the tableware. I noticed that recently Birthday Express came out with a super cute ladybug line too…in softer colors. I had forgotten but am now reminded that I really struggled with which color scheme to go with for this party! I think it was probably easier to find favors and other decorations to go with the red and black, but that is just my opinion!

Up next…the cake. While I would love to learn the art of cake making in this capacity, I definitely did NOT make this! The fabulous Elizabeth did and it was nothing short of spectacular! The main cake, Gentry’s smash cake, the cupcakes…the detail was amazing and needless to say, she set the bar really high for herself!

Gentry’s smash cake…which she DEVOURED!

See…the girl loved it! Wasn’t she so cute and little? She has really grown up in the last two years! Sniff, sniff…

The main cake…love how you can see the shimmer she added! So glam!

And the sweet cupcakes…

What else? How about the decorations! I tend to like the not so “cookie cutter” type of things, so you’ll find a whole array of decor at our parties!

This is our entryway. No, the yellow most definitely does NOT match the ladybug colors we were rockin’, but it does match the earthy, neutral tones of our home! It is funny to me to look at this shot because the more parties we have, the more balloons we have!! We have always rented a helium tank since we’ve lived here so we can have a whole lotta balloons! This seems like nothing, but it is fun for the kids to walk through them as they come in! The red and black polka dotted balloons are from here.

This is just a galvanized milk jug I bought at Michael’s. I tied black satin ribbon to the handles and stuck red flowers in it! It is simple but adds a pop of color! I LOVE galvanized buckets and decor! I love that they can be used for boys and girls and how adding ribbon to the handles can totally jazz them up and make them fit your theme!

This cute banner came from Birthday in a Box. LOVE how the purple in it ties in with the purple in the cake! However, this one is super cute too because you can add a picture…it just has a lot of pink and less red and black!

For all of you who like to know what people’s houses look like {I am SOOO included in that category!}, here is a peek into what you see as you enter our home! It looks completely different now as we have painted that large wall on the right a deep brown and added brightly colored fabric covered canvas, painted the playroom {which is at the top of the stairs and to the right} and we have also painted our family room so the entry into that is now red and not boring tan! And just to curb your curiosity, the hallway just past the stars leads to the garage and the room off the kitchen is our family room. That door you can just barely see leads out to the patio!

Some random bits of red and black before they were set out…

Red and black jelly beans, licorice, ladybug chocolates, mini Oreos, carefully wrapped silverware…

Are you having fun yet?! By the time you finish this post, you should be able to plan a super fun and over the top crazy cute ladybug bash of your very own!

Here are the gifts! I KNOW I got the idea of the little picket fence off of one of the party planning sites, but my dad is the one who gave it the fun twist with the little wooden ladybugs and the curly ribbon! I probably would have set it out plain! That was a “morning of the party project” and we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off! It seems like no matter how much you do ahead of time, there are always things that don’t get done until the last minute!

The little wooden ladybugs can be bought at a craft store…Hobby Lobby, Michael’s or JoAnn’s. The picket fence came from the gardening section at Home Depot. Both the large and small mylar balloons can be found here. And the fancy ladybug wrapping paper? Well, right here of course! But I must say that Gentry got a present that was wrapped in solid red paper with black felt circles adhered to it that was WAY too cute for words!

This next picture serves as a decoration and also part of the favors! I bought a plain jane terra cotta flower pot and fancied it up for the occasion! This is just a little bit of red spray paint, shellac for shine, hot glue and fuzzy black pom poms! Viola! Easy as can be! There is a piece of floral styrofoam on the inside that the lollies are stuck into and then the shredded green paper from a craft store for filler. A little disclaimer here…the link for the lollies is not where I ordered mine from, but I did get them off of Ebay. I highly recommend keeping the temperature in mind when you order something like this! We live in Arizona and the party was mid July. The seller forgot to pack the first batch with ice packs and they arrived in melty little blobs. Needless to say I was frazzled! Since it was her fault, she whipped up a new batch and overnighted them so they were still cool. That being said, I did order from her again for Huntler’s party a couple of months later because she went above and beyond, but after that I taught myself how to make ‘em on my own so I wouldn’t have to worry about chocolate in extreme heat again! And to tell you the truth, it really isn’t all that hard at all! PROMISE!!

So, each little guest at the bash received a ladybug lollipop as part of their party favors. The next two pictures show the rest of the favors. And yes, it could be argued that I tend to go overboard! I won’t deny it!

Because the theme was ladybugs, I went with little garden totes for what I wanted the favors to be placed in. They too were plain jane unfinished wood that I painted white and then hot glued the same little wooden ladybugs to.

Because our kids are still young and we invite more of our friends to the party than their friends, there are kids of all ages! I always try to pick goodies that are age appropriate. For this party, it was actually really easy! All of the stores seemed to have fun ladybug stuff out for littles in all stages!

Here is an example of one of the bigger kids garden totes! The yo yo and stuffed keychain came from Target. The kaleidoscope was something I bought from a party store on Ebay as a set of twelve or so {I couldn’t find them when I just searched} and the rest of the goodies {net, tweezers, magnified bug catchers} came in a kit from the seasonal stuff at JoAnn’s. I once again used the red and black shredded paper from the craft store for filler!

The babies {anybody under two or so} got the following in their totes. The little four piece puzzles were from Wal Mart. They actually have critters on all sides, but I taped them so that the ladybug was visible! And the bath toys came from somewhere online. Here is a link to some.

Now for some of the fun food we had!

My dad totally rocked it out with these fabulously adorable crackers he whipped up! Are they not the cutest? Here are some other random ladybug treats from Taste of Home. And a few from Kraft Foods as well!

The rest of ours was just your typical party food! Sandwiches, chips, fruit, pop…you get the idea! You will notice I had to add some more galvanized metal into the mix though! And fresh flowers! Apparently I didn’t get a picture of the whole spread for some reason?! Probably because parties are always so chaotic! Oh well!

Since this party I have gotten hooked on the idea of using cookie cutters that tie in with the theme to cut out sandwiches and fresh fruit with! Here is a link to a large ladybug and a jumbo flower!

This next image is really not great at all, but it was the one that showed the little ladybug hats off the best! Another do it yourself project! And another “morning of the party project” that I had to put Chris’ mom and my mom to work on completing! I know some of ya’ll think I am crazy for starting on party stuff so far in advance, but seriously, if I don’t, it just won’t get done! And it is the fun little details like this that bring it all together!

Anyway, I have NO idea where I found this project and once again, I can’t find it now, but what my fabulous helpers did was take black plastic plates {I can’t even remember what size but not the huge dinner plates} and cut out the center leaving the edge. Somehow they then attached chenille pipe cleaners as antennae and added red satin ribbon to tie them on. They were really cute and so many of the kids wore them! Because I hadn’t had time to make them, I was going to nix them, but am so glad I had family here to come to the rescue! {Blah…boring tan walls are now deep red and chocolate brown!}

Party games/activities. Thinking back, we didn’t do a whole lot for this party. Everyone was still so young that they preferred to play with toys rather than take part in planned activities! I remember doing some sort of ladybug craft with fuzzy pom poms that was for you to stick in a plant as a little decoration. I also remember having extras of the ladybug keychains and using those to toss in a flower pot. “Pin the Spot on the Ladybug” would have been a really fun one too!

Just for giggles, here are a couple pics of my sweet, sweet birthday girl when she turned one! Was she not simply scrumptious?! I can’t believe how much she has changed in the last two years…she is so grown up. The baby hair and chub have been replaced by big girl hair and a long, skinny body. But those blue eyes are still as beautiful as they’ve always been!

And since I have shared everything else, her dress was from the Gymboree outlet in 2007…so it must have been a line that they came out with in the summer of 2006 or so!

And to wrap it up, here are just a few fun Etsy finds! I wasn’t even aware of Etsy when I planned this party but have since become obsessed! Everything handmade under the sun can be found here!

My blog BFF Julie recently created this fun headband! Gentry has quite a collection of these fabulous messy flowers and we {big puffy heart} them!! She can also make them on stretchy knit headbands for the bitty girls or alligator clips for pigtails! So sweet!

For the little girls who will be attending the bash, how about making each of them their own sweet hair clip as a favor? The past two years I have really gotten to where I LOVE to make themed  hair pretties for all the girlie guests! I am all about unique, useful goodies as party favors!

How about this adorable tutu for the birthday girl? Plus, it can totally be worn for Halloween down the road too! Add this fun wand and you are set!

For the non “do it yourself-er”, here is a great little package complete with invites, thank you notes, cupcake toppers and even a coordinating banner! I not only adore party planning but I also HAVE to have control so it would be extremely hard for me to not make my own stuff, but this is an AMAZING deal!

WHEW!! I am pretty sure that the only ones of you still reading along are the ones who are actually planning a ladybug party in the future, but that is okay! The whole reason I did this post was to not just get my thoughts and information together for me for future reference, but also for everyone else out there who may need a bit of inspiration! I hope you throw an amazing party and if you use anything from this post, I would love to see pictures sometime!

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