Archive for the ‘Cake’ Category

Movie Party ~ Decorations & Party Time!

Posted on March 8th, 2010 by Brenda  |  Comments Off

For my son's 10th birthday, we had a movie party. To keep costs down, the party was held at our house, the decorations were kept simple and I used lots of coupons to buy the food and goodies.

The front door was decorated with C7 Christmas lights to resemble a movie theater and a sign I made using 1/2 a foam board from Dollar Tree, scrap cardstock, paint & ribbon from my craft stash & the Cricut die-cut machine. The only cost was $1.07 for the foam board.
I painted a scalloped border with red craft paint and used Cricut cartridge Cuttin' Up for lettering and Mickey & Friends for the filmstrips.
Borrowed camp chairs made for the perfect theater seating - they were comfy, portable & each had their own cup holder.
My son cut a plastic tablecloth in half and hung it on either side of the TV to look like a theater.
The kitchen table became the theater's concession stand.
The other half of the foam board was used for the concession sign (Cricut Cuttin' Up cartridge lettering). The kids had a ball ordering all of the different foods.
The local GFS Supermarket has tons of empty boxes they let you take. Nathan & I found the right shaped boxes for the Popcorn Concession and Candy Counter.

I used a utility knife to cut "windows" from the four sides. Here is the Popcorn Concession box before:
I spray painted the box grey, taped clear cellophane to the cut-outs, leaving the back window open. I glued extra popcorn bags (from Michael's) to the front, added lettering and striped paper to the bottom. The plastic popcorn containers were 2/$1 from Dollar Tree.
The candy concession stand was made the same way as the popcorn, but I hot glued a cardboard shelf to the middle of the box.
The candy box was spray painted a glossy black and placed on an empty box wrapped in extra black tablecloth. The clear cellophane gave the appearance of glass and kept the boys from grabbing the candy. The only cost for the boxes was $1.07 for a roll of clear cellophane at Dollar Tree and $2.14 for 2 cans of spray paint from WalMart.
More party treats were placed on the desk in the kitchen. To get that fresh popped tasty popcorn, I purchased a few bags from the Publix deli.
Instead of cake, I served popcorn cupcakes. These were the hit of the party and so easy to make. The popcorn is actually mini marshmallows with the tops cut into an "X" with kitchen scissors. The frosting holds the marshmallows in place. A little Wilton yellow color spray gives the look of butter.
The holders are Wilton large nut cups colored with a red Sharpie and a popcorn label cut from extra popcorn bags.The food was served in shirt-sized gift boxes. The boxes became lap trays for the kids to hold their food.
The happy movie watchers.

There wasn't much fancy about this party, but the kids had a great time! You can see the Movie Party invitations here and the favors here.

Fairy Party ~ Welcome to Emma’s Pixie Hollow!

Posted on February 16th, 2010 by Brenda  |  Comments Off

After days of rain, the day of the party brought cloudy skies, slightly chilly weather and a super muddy backyard. The party that was supposed to be outdoors was brought inside. Seventeen excited fairies and some of their parents made for quite a cramped, yet cozy party.

As each guest arrived, they were asked to pick a Tinkerbell foam puzzle piece out of a bag. I found the foam puzzles at Dollar Tree and was able to color-coordinate the pieces to match the fairy tutus & wings. This made it easy to split the girls into 3 different groups for crafts.

A blue puzzle piece meant your talent was a Water Fairy with a blue ensemble, a pink puzzle piece meant your talent was a Garden Fairy with a pink ensemble and purple meant your talent was Fast-Flying.

After the girls were dressed, they were taken to the "Pretty Pixie Salon." Here the grandmothers did nails, light glittery make-up, press-on earrings & glittery hair spray. Each girl also received a fairy crown. The crowns were easy to make with decorative wire garland from Dollar Tree formed into a crown and lots of curling ribbon tied to the back.
Once the girls were made-up, they had their pictures taken in the "Fairy Forest." We included a picture of each girl with the thank you notes.
While waiting to visit the Pretty Pixie Salon or after the photo, they decorated colorful handle bags with pictures of Tinkerbell, crayons, markers & stickers. The girls used the bags throughout the party to collect their crafts and treasures.
To be official fairies, everyone had to recite the Fairy Pledge and spin 3 times while saying "I believe in fairies!"
Each fairy received a magical flower fairy wand. The wands were made with wooden dowels from the Walmart craft section painted gold. I hot glued ribbon, tulle, a flower and jingle bell to the top of the dowel.
Following the Fairy Ceremony, the fairies were divided into 3 groups according to their talent (and color wings!). Since my daughter absolutely loves do do crafts, I created 3 different craft stations for groups rotate through.
Station #1 - Make Pixie Dust
Each fairy was given a plastic container to mix her very own pixie dust. The lidded containers were purchased 6/$1 at Dollar Tree and I hot glued a flower and leaf to the lid for decoration. The Pixie Dust ingredients included colored sand, iridescent glitter and special Tinkerbell confetti found only at the Disney theme parks.

Since this station didn't take very long, the girls listened to a Tinkerbell story until it was time to rotate.

Station #2 - Fairy Gardens
Before the party I glued small bamboo skewers into the bottom of unpainted wooden drawer knobs (from craft store). The knobs were painted red with white polka dots to resemble mushrooms and the lids of the baby food jars were also painted red. Directions for the mini terrariums can be found here.

Station #3 - Fairy Dolls
At this craft stop the girls assembled fairy dolls from clothespins. Instead of using wax paper wings, we used tie-dyed small coffee filters (color coffee filters with markers, lightly spray with water & let dry). All of the components were cut & painted prior to the party, so the girls just had to put them together.

After crafts, it was time for a Fairy Picnic. The menu consisted of Fairy Juice (Sprite mixed with a little maraschino cherry syrup) and Fairy Salad (a last-minute mix of mini goldfish crackers, mini colored marshmallows and Tinkerbell fruit snacks). Believe it or not, the Fairy Salad was a huge hit!
Following snacks we sang "Happy Birthday" and gave out cake & ice cream. Instead of 1 large cake, I made small individual flower cakes for each guest. Each little cake had a Tinkerbell topper (made by Wilton & purchased at Michaels) and sat on a plastic plate (Dollar Tree) that I had hot glued silk flower petals to the bottom.

The last activity for the party was "Tinkerbell's Treasure Hunt." The girls were each given a list of items to find in the backyard. The items included 7 colored Easter eggs, a bottle of fairy kisses (miniature bottle of bubbles from Dollar Tree wedding section with a fairy sticker & bow) and a magical bird (feather bird from craft store).
The treasures inside the eggs included tiny glittered sea shells, plastic bird eggs, colorful feathers, Tinkerbell candy, Tinkerbell stickers, a blue moonstone (glass decorative pebble) and butterfly hair clips.

Each fairy left with her wings, tutu, crown, wand, crafts and treasures. Emma also handed out star lollipops that I made from pink candy melts and colorful sprinkles.
Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time! Most importantly, my daughter said it was her favorite party ever!

See more Fairy Party posts - invitations and decorations.
 

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