A 7th Birthday Puppy Paw-ty

For Mia's 7th birthday party, she requested a puppy theme. This sweet and simple party was one of my favorites to plan, and it was a big hit with the guests and the birthday girl alike. The colors were primarily brown and white with touches of red and black. I made everything myself, and it was very inexpensive to pull together. Outside of food, I don't think I spent more than $10!

My favorite part was that in lieu of gifts, we asked for donations to the local Human Society.  Despite it being quite snowy on that particular Saturday, several friends turned out with doggie-friendly donations. This seemed to go over well, and now we have a large stash of items to deliver when the weather gets better.

{Friends brought donations for the Humane Society.}

The Invitations:
Being a planner, I made these invitations and sent them out about 3 weeks prior to the party.

{Puppy Paw-ty Invitations}

The Food:
I did not serve a full meal. (Go, me! Way to keep it "simple" -- at least for me!) For snacks, we had a bowl of "pupcorn," which was just air-popped popcorn. I did add some melted butter and salt, but that was not enough to tempt people when "puppy chow" was an alternative snack. (Note: I was running low on powdered sugar after making the cake, so I just made a half batch, and that was the perfect amount.) To round it out with some slightly healthier choices, I made up a tray with crackers, cheese, carrots, and cucumbers. At about 5 minutes to party time, I decided these looked bare and needed to be dressed up, so I grabbed some left over kraft paper and rubber stamps and made little placards that read "pupcorn," "puppy chow," and "bone appetit." (Yes, I know that "bone" is spelled incorrectly, but you know what I'm going for, right?). We also had the stamped napkins, good ole IKEA plates and bowls, and Capri Sun juice pouches. (I typically come up with a themed drink with an appropriately themed name, but I just didn't have anything for this one, so I made it easy on myself.)

{Simple Puppy Paw-ty Food}

The Decorations:

{Easy Centerpiece}

I made a table runner out of kraft paper and hand-stamped it with a homemade paw print stamp. (Directions can be found here, but I later discovered that Dollar Tree carries a roll of wrapping paper that is pretty doggone similar, if you're not into DIY projects!) Also for the dining room, I made these adorable puppy balloons, which I taped to the chandelier. For a quick and simple centerpiece, I just filled a canning jar with dog biscuits -- two items I already had on hand for everyday life.

{Paw-ty Decor}

To welcome guests, I made this front door decoration, again using the homemade paw print stamp on kraft paper. After cutting out each paw print, I "laminated" them all between two pieces of clear contact paper. For the wording, I typed "The Paw-ty is Here!" in Microsoft Word using the free Puppy Bellies font. Then, I cut out each word, affixed it to kraft paper, and "laminated" them all with contact paper. I taped all the pieces to the outside of the front door with clear tape.

{Front Door Decor for a Puppy Paw-ty}

The Cake:
The cake that was served for this party with friends was actually the third batch of puppy-themed baked goods that I made. Mia requested a white dog, to look somewhat like our dog, Ritzy. (My first attempts were these kind of complicated chocolate "pupcakes" that I served at the family shindig. After that, I simplified and went with these paw print cupcakes for school.) This puppy cake was not actually the way I had envisioned it due to what could have been a cake catastrophe when one of my rounds broke apart as I tried to get it out of the pan. I was planning on making a cake similar to the Care Bear cake from last year, but I think this turned out even better than I previously imagined! My brilliant husband suggested that the broken round pieces could still be used for something so they turned into floppy ears.

{The cake turned out cute!}

To make this cake, I did a double batch of my favorite white cake and a batch of my favorite buttercream frosting. I made two round, one that was 7" and one that was 8" (the one that broke apart), plus a half dozen cupcakes. The small round became the face and the broken round was trimmed to make the ears, which were attached with frosting. Then, I frosted it all with my angled spatula. For one cupcake, I removed the wrapper, frosted it all, and stuck it to the face. The nose is a mini peanut butter cup and the "freckles" are brown mini M&Ms. The eyes are brown Reeses Pieces and the eyebrows and mouth are piped with black decorating gel.

At this point, it was looking somewhat like a deranged Easter bunny and very little like a dog. Then, two cupcakes were frosted and bumped up against the bottom of the face to make paws. To show definition of toes, I just piped some lined with black decorating gel. The remaining cupcakes were decorated with paw prints made from mini peanut butters cups and brown mini M&Ms. This started to help make it look like a puppy. Then, I realized that I had a red bow left over from Christmas that might look right, and fortunately, it really helped. The addition of the bow made it look more and more like a dog, or at least not like a weird looking lop-eared rabbit.

One final addition did the trick. The tongue is cut from a strawberry Fruit Roll-Up. This last touch was what truly made it look like a puppy. I am thankful to my little man for asking, "Where's the tongue?" on the morning of the party!

{The bow hides the indentation -- bye-bye rabbit ears!}

In case you're wondering, my cake board is just a scrap of cardboard. I covered it with my roll of kraft paper and taped it to the back. In the past I've used aluminum foil for this, which doesn't show grease as much, but the brown went with the party colors better. Plus, it covered easily without having to use multiple pieces.

The Games and Activities:
I had other ideas, but decided to keep it fairly low-key this go-round. We had the dog house photo prop which worked overtime as decor, party activity, and souvenir photo included in the thank you cards.

{Inside of the Thank You Card}

The only game I did was Puppy Bingo. (The rest of the time, they played, so this was just fine.) I created 6 Bingo cards on white card stock. I made the blank template myself in Microsoft Word, but in retrospect I probably could have found one online and saved myself some time! For the pictures, I found various clipart on the Internet, pasted it into Word, printed 7 copies, and cut them all out. (Tip: A paper trimmer saves you time.) One set I kept in a baggie to the the calling cards. The rest, I glued onto the cards, making each one different. There were a few extra images, so I just omitted different puppies from each card. I "laminated" all of the Bingo cards between two pieces of clear contact paper. The Bingo markers were just squares of kraft paper that I made with a 1" square craft punch. We played for fun, so there were no prizes awarded. (I figured they already got enough sweets and they were getting these homemade puppy ears as a take-home gift -- simple!)

{Homemade Puppy Bingo Game}

Extra Credit Points:
Oh, and just for fun, Brett wore his Snoopy costume (without my even asking him to). This was, of course, cute and sweet. What a good daddy!

DIY Doghouse Photo Prop

This is the type of project that I debate whether or not to share. Not because I don't want to share. I do! I just don't want people to feel like they should be able to make this themselves. (Not that you can't. I'm sure you're very crafty!) You know what I mean, right? This is not the type of easy-peasy kids' craft that I often post here. That said, it really wasn't that hard to make, so it's totally do-able if you are planning a puppy paw-ty of your own.

{Ritzy and I get a turn in the doghouse.}

This photo prop turned out nicely and helped set the theme for Mia's 7th birthday paw-ty. Besides being fairly simple to make, it was virtually free! (My favorite kind of project, in case you didn't know.) All I had to buy was a 59 cent bottle of paint since I ran out after the first coat.

As soon as guests arrived, they received a pair of puppy ears. Once they were ready, I had them pose in the doghouse. The photos will be used in the thank-you cards (more on those later!).


Materials for Making Doghouse:

• large cardboard box
• scissors
• pencil
• ruler
• hot glue gun
• black Sharpie marker
• red acrylic paint
• white acrylic paint
• black acrylic paint

Directions for Making Doghouse:

1. Deconstruct the box and lay it flat. Using a pair of sharp scissors (or a box cutter, if you are more intrepid -- and less accident-prone than myself), cut along a seam so that you now have 2 pieces of cardboard. Each one is two sides of the box. Trim away the smaller flaps from one piece. (In case you are wondering, my cardboard measured 35 1/2" wide by 43" tall at that point.)
2. Using a ruler, find the center point of the piece of cardboard. Mark it with a pencil. Next, use the ruler and pencil to make vertical and horizontal lines, dividing the cardboard into quadrants. (This is not necessary, but I found it helpful). Tip: Make all marks on the "outside" of the cardboard: the part that has printing on it. Then, when you flip it over, you will have a perfectly clean piece of cardboard to work with.
3. This was the point when I decided how the roof line should look. I decided to make a horizontal line about 1/3 from the top, all the way across, because that looked right visually. Then I used my ruler to draw angles from the outside edges of that line, meeting at the top. (Remember, I already had a center line, so this is why it was handy.) I used scissors to cut along the lines and ended up with a triangular point on top of the house.

   

   {The basic shape}

4. Next up, I made the doggie door. I decided the top of the door would be my center point. I didn't want it to be very wide, just enough for kids to pop their heads through, otherwise there might be clutter in the background of the photos. I measured 10" for width, 5" on either side of the vertical center line, and then drew lines. To get the curve at the top, I traced around the rim of a large plastic bowl. Then, I cut it all out with my scissors. Tip: Since I wasn't worried about how the part I was cutting away looked, I was free to cut it into smaller chunks. For some reason, I have found small triangles to be easier to work with rather than one large semi-circle.
5. After getting the basic doghouse shape, I flipped my cardboard over to the "clean" side and laid in on a layer of newspaper. I used a foam paintbrush to apply a coat of red acrylic paint, let it dry, and then added a second coat of paint. 
6. Once the second coat dried, I took a strip of cardboard (one of my discarded pieces), which was the same width as my doghouse and about 2 inches tall and used this as a straight edge to make lines across the entire house with a black Sharpie. This made it look like wooden boards. I added two "nails" per board along the outside edges. These were just small black hand-drawn circles. I also outlined the rest of the doghouse with black Sharpie for a more finished look.

   

   {Adding the "boards"}

7. It didn't look finished, so I took two more strips of cardboard (again about 2 inches wide) and cut each one at a 45 degree angle so that they would meet up to make the roof. These, I painted with black acrylic paint and once they were dry, I adhered them with my hot glue gun. 
8. To personalize the doghouse, I cut an oval out of some scrap cardboard and painted it with white acrylic paint (two coats). After the paint had dried, I outlined it with black Sharpie and then added another oval set about 1/4" in from the outline. Then I typed "Mia" using this free font and printed it out, trimmed it to size, and glued it the the placard. Lastly, I hot glued the oval to the front of the doghouse.

   

   {Finished!}

9. Before displaying the photo prop, I took two extra scraps of rectangular cardboard and hot glued them to the back of the doghouse on either side of the door. I had noticed it was a bit flimsy (likely because I used more then one side of a box to create it), and this served as a necessary reinforcement. To hang it, I used twine which was not elegant, but it fit with the theme just fine. I cut two lengths and used plenty of masking tape to adhere them "stitches" fashion. Then, I taped both lengths of twine to the mantel with clear packaging tape. It had just enough distance between the prop and the fireplace for the kids to kneel behind it for photos. (Note: I had taped a small section of white plastic table cover behind the opening to the doghouse, and I later wished I had covered the whole area the way I did for the Care Bear photo prop from last year. Despite not thinking of that sooner, it looked pretty good.)

Puppy Paw-ty Balloons

I saw the idea for puppy balloons here and decided it shouldn't be too difficult to make them myself. There were a couple challenges, but I think my version turned out pretty well. The first issue I had is that brown balloons are difficult to find. Granted, I only checked Dollar Tree and two different Walmart stores, but I decided that was enough running around looking for brown balloons. At the second Walmart I found a single package of gold balloons, and I decided that they were good enough! The next issue was that I didn't have a way to inflate the balloons to look like the photo. I solved that problem, however, by just blowing them up with my own steam and making the faces "upside down" -- as opposed to the way they would look if the balloons were filled with helium. Then, I taped them to the dining room chandelier.

The grand total spent on this decoration = 97 cents for a package of 10 balloons. So far, I only have used three of the balloons for the family party. I am secretly (or I guess not so secretly since I am announcing it here) hoping that they will last through this weekend's party with friends, but if not, I know it will be easy to make some more puppy balloons (especially if I just re-use the ears and muzzles).

Materials:

• gold balloons (or brown if you can find them)
• pencil or pen
• black Sharpie marker
• kraft paper cardstock (I used 8 1/2" x 11" size.)
• scissors
• double-sided adhesive
• clear tape (for hanging)

Directions:

1. Inflate your balloons. I used three for this puppy paw-ty decor.
2. Fold a piece of kraft paper cardstock in half, lengthwise. Draw a floppy ear, which is sort of a long skinny bean shape, and cut it out. Use this as a template to trace as many ears as you will need. Cut out all ears. Save the scraps for the next step. (Note: If you don't have kraft paper, you can use brown cardstock or brown construction paper.)
3. On a scrap of the kraft paper, draw a dog's muzzle. This looks a bit like an upside down heart. After the first one, I added a sort of notch at the top for the nose, but you can skip that if you prefer. Cut out your muzzle, and again use it as a template, tracing as many as needed on the other scraps of kraft paper. On each muzzle, use a black Sharpie to fill in the nose, draw a mouth, and make "freckles" on either side (or whatever the correct term is for those spots where the whiskers originate from).
4. Using double-sided adhesive, attach ears and muzzles to each balloon. I used approximately one inch squares, one per ear and two per muzzle.
5. Draw two ovals for eyes with a black Sharpie.
6. Use tape to display the puppy face balloons.

DIY Table Cover for a Puppy Paw-ty

Oooooh! I love it when things come together and actually turn out the way that I picture them in my head. This is the first decoration that I have tackled for the upcoming puppy paw-ty: a hand-stamped table cover. I made the stamp out of a piece of Styrofoam tray and stamped the paw print all over some brown kraft roll paper that I picked up at a garage sale. (Note: You can also find this at Dollar Tree.) I am pleased with the results and with the fact that I made this for absolutely no cost!

{Close-Up of Table Cover}

Materials:

• Styrofoam (left over meat packaging, run through dishwasher)
• pencil
• carving tools (I used a small screwdriver and my fingernails. A screw, nail, butter knife, or similar item would likely work as well. I don't suggest anything that you could easily injure yourself with, though!)
• scissors
• roll of brown kraft paper
• brown ink pad (or black)
• rocks to weight paper down (optional)

Directions:

1. Cut away the sides from a Styrofoam tray to make a flat surface.
2. Using a pencil, draw a paw print. Mine was a kidney bean shape (or an upside down heart) with four circles on top. Tip: After my first trial did not turn out as I had hoped, I learned to make the circles for the toes larger than I expected to need them to be, and placed everything fairly close together.
3. Use your tool (I liked using a small screwdriver for this.), repeatedly go over the outline of the paw print design to make it deeper. Then, using your tools, start carving out the extra white space around the parts that you want to be raised up for the stamp. (I resorted to using fingernails, but I don't necessarily recommend doing this. I bent one nail back slightly and eventually tore it a bit from this.) Tip: Don't worry about making it perfect because a) This is impossible! and b) The imperfections look nice on the final product, more realistic, in my opinion.
4. Press your Styrofoam stamp onto an ink pad and test it on some scrap paper. If it doesn't look as clear as you would like, go back to step 3 and carve away more. Test and repeat carving as desired.
5. Once the stamp creates a print you like, you're ready to make a table cover. Measure out the kraft paper to more than cover your table and cut it to size. Lay it out on a flat surface (I used my kitchen floor because a) the table was covered with... stuff and b) this was easier on my back since I could just keep scooting along as I went rather than bending and stretching over my table). Tip: Weight it down if it is trying to curl back up. (I used some painted rocks that were handy.) Stamp paw prints however you would like. I chose to make it look like a dog had walked up one side of the table cover and back down the other. You could do random paw prints if you like. This didn't take too much time, even with re-inking between impressions, which I felt would ensure the crispest prints. Again, I didn't worry if some of the prints didn't turn out "perfect" because this adds to the charm. 
6. When I was done stamping, I made sure the ink was dry before rolling it up to store until party time. I anticipate that I will need to tape it to the table. It should be a cute and low-key table runner, perfect for a puppy-themed paw-ty.

A "Jawsome" Shark-Themed 4th Birthday Party

Well, it's about time that I wrap up my posts about the Little Man's 4th birthday bash, so here's the overview. I don't even know where he came up with the idea for a shark-theme, but it seemed to come out of left field. There are a few things out there that can be purchased for a shark-party but I wasn't interested in buying online and then having to pay shipping. That's why it's a good thing that this mama is creative!

Decorations:
Out in the front yard, I placed three shark fins and a warning sign that read "CAUTION SHARK SIGHTING." Then, on the front door, guests were once again cautioned with a sign reading "DANGER ENTER AT OWN RISK." I used shark stencils for both of the signs and everything was made out of cardboard.

{Land sharks!}

{Don't say you weren't warned...}

To set the indoor underwater scene, we had three kinds of window paint, two of which were homemade. This one was on the dining room sliding door, and I don't recommend it for window paint. This paint recipe was also used in the dining room, and it worked beautifully for making blue waves and multi-colored sharks (which I used these stencils to create). In the living room, I used a blue window paint pen that I had purchased from Oriental Trading to make waves on all the windows. Then, I taped undersea animals to the windows. These were classroom decor left over from my teaching days, so they were two-sided and laminated, which was perfect.

I also made some blue zigzag steamers (directions here) and taped them up in the entry to the dining room and in the hallway so they were visible when guests walked in the front door. These are perhaps the simplest, quickest, and cheapest party decorations ever! And they make a big impact. It felt very much like we were under the waves.

{You can see the streamers in the background.}

Hanging from the dining room chandelier were 3 friendly jellyfish that the kids helped me to create.

I used a roll of blue cello wrap from Dollar Tree to make a table runner, secured with blue painters tape (again, from Dollar Tree). The excess I cut off and taped to my folding card table. Then, I tossed a few sea shells onto both table coverings. (As a bonus, this didn't get messy, so I just removed the tape after the party, and rolled it back up to re-use for something else.)

{See the window paint in the background?}

The thank-you gifts did double duty as decorations. I just displayed some small containers of homemade blue glitter play dough and fish shaped cookie cutters (from Jo-Ann) until it was time to send them home with the party guests. I had made small round labels to fit the containers (which came in a ten-pack at Dollar Tree). Using Microsoft Word, I made them to say "Logan's 4th Birthday" (Logan's curved on top, and 4th Birthday curved around the bottom of the circle, with a shark photo in the middle). I ended up making 3 batches of play dough, and each batch was enough to fill 6 of the plastic containers.

{Cute and inexpensive party favors!}

Games/Activities:
I decided since it was a nice day and we had kids ranging from infant to age seven, that I should keep this pretty simple and outdoor-centered. So, we turned on the sprinkler, set up the water table, and made sure there were plenty of toys in the sandbox.

I had made a game that I called "Shark Bait," which some kids played with a hula hoop and my homemade fishy "beanbags."

{DIY Game for a Shark Party}

We also had a bubble station which included homemade bubble solution in cake pans and pie tins and lots of wands.

My favorite thing, though, was the shark photo prop that I had made from cardboard. I took all of the kids' pictures inside of his mouth and then used them to make the thank you cards. It was totally "jawsome!"

{A "Jawsome" Photo Prop!}

Food:
For the main course, it was a build-your-own-shark-sandwich bar. I had found a 3-piece cookie cutter set on clearance at Walmart for $2.50 a few month ago. It included a shark, a dolphin (which I have not yet used), and a fish. The shark was too big for regular sandwich bread, but I was able to fit it onto a tortilla twice. Then, I bought turkey from the deli and used the shark cutter on that. The deli cheese was too small for me to use the shark cutter, so instead, I made lots of cheese fish. This way, people could build their sandwiches however they liked, and using tortillas was pretty smart because there was less waste than if I had used bread.

{Build-a-Shark-Sandwich Platter}

The shark watermelon turned out very well and made a huge impact. It wasn't too difficult, but it was pretty messy. It took around 45 minutes to carve, which is deceptively longer than the short YouTube video where I found the directions. I then used this website for backup since I could only watch the video so many times before getting frustrated by the lack of information. Anyway, I would probably make another carved watermelon again because it was worth it. It just might not be for everyone!

{This toothy fellow put in an appearance.}

I also served grapes, colorful Goldfish crackers, and the new Goldfish Puffs, which were kind of like fish-shaped cheese balls. All of that was simple and very kid-friendly. For the beverage, I mixed up some lemonade and added a few drops of neon blue food coloring. It was obviously a teensy bit green-ish, but the idea of ocean water was clear and nobody complained.

The Cake:
I had originally though to make a cute shark-shaped cake like this one, but then I decided to go easy on myself and just make cupcakes for the kids. (I always make the kids' birthday cakes because I am way too cheap to pay someone else to do it!) Cupcakes were perfect, anyway, since they are pre-portioned and you don't need plates or forks, which makes it easy for kids' parties.

I made a double-batch of my favorite white cake and included some blue food coloring in the batter. Then, I mixed up some buttercream frosting, which I also tinted blue. I baked the cupcakes in some blue and white chevron cupcake liners that I found at Michaels (Note: This is a good resource for inexpensive decorative cupcake liners. They are often in the $1 section, and when those go on clearance, it's a super deal!) because I thought this was reminiscent of both waves and shark teeth.

To top off the cupcakes, I added a gummi shark to each. These came from Meijer and I had gotten them on sale, two packages for $5. (I used more than one package, but less than two to top all 24 cupcakes.)

{They taste as good as they look.}

I don't usually buy disposable plates or cups for parties, so we just used our IKEA plates and cups. I did, however, pick up a package of blue napkins from Dollar Tree and stamp them with sharks to customize them for this party. Simple, cheap, and totally necessary!

{It's so easy to customize napkins for any theme!}

While this party did not cost tons of money, I did start begin making things about 3 weeks in advance, starting with my shark photo-prop. Overall, I was pleased with how things turned out. I had one very happy little boy, and I think all of his friends enjoyed his "jawsome" party, too!

Homemade Photo Prop for a Shark Birthday Party

This was the first project I started making for Logan's shark-themed birthday party, and once I saw this fellow swimming on my kitchen floor, I knew that I was track for a pretty "jawsome" birthday for my favorite little boy! (This was good news because scrounging up the appropriate amount of cardboard had been somewhat challenging, so once again, it pays to plan ahead, folks.) I found inspiration for this project here, but as always, I tried to figure out how to do it myself for as cheaply as possible. Note: While this project cost me next to nothing, (Proof positive: the best things in life are free!) it did take about 3 hours to complete, and that actually shows that I am getting faster at these cardboard constructions as I make more and more of them.

Materials:

• corrugated cardboard
• scissors
• pencil
• ruler
• tape: clear packaging, masking, Scotch
• Sharpies: black and red
• paint brushes
• white acrylic paint
• gray primer
• two white plastic bottle caps
• hot glue gun
• 2 blue plastic table covers

Directions:

1. First, I cut apart two of the largest boxes I could find to produce flat sections to work with.
2. Then, I laid them out and found the center with my ruler and pencil. I sketched out the shark's head, followed by the fins and tail section.
3. Next, I cut out the different parts of the shark's body, using scissors. I also used my scissors to cut out the inner part of the open shark's mouth.
4. I taped each section to the next, using lots of clear packaging tape. This was on the back (printed side) of each box piece, meaning that the front of my shark was plain brown cardboard.
5. I laid a vinyl tablecloth (used only for crafts) on my dining table and then painted the shark using gray primer that we already had on hand. A large foam paint brush worked very well for this, and since I got such great coverage, I only applied one coat. (This right here saved me lots of time. Normally when I make this sort of party prop, I need to do at minimum, two coats of acrylic paint.) I let this dry completely before moving on.
6. For the teeth, I used white acrylic paint and a smaller paint brush.
7. Afterward, I used a red Sharpie marker to draw in the gum line around the teeth. I followed that with a black Sharpie marker, which I also used for all of the outlining to make the shark look more finished.
8. The finishing touches were the eyes. I took two white bottle caps from apple juice containers and used the black Sharpie to make slit-like pupils. Then, I hot-glued each one to the top of the shark's head.
9. For the background, I used two blue plastic table covers from Dollar Tree. (So if you're keeping track, this project cost me a total of $2.12.) I folded them both in half and then I used lots of rolled masking tape to adhere the shark on top of the two table covers, which were held together with Scotch tape. After it was taped down, I cut away the inside of the shark's mouth so that there was no blue backdrop in that part. 
10. Displaying the photo booth was the hardest part to figure out. Luckily, Brett was able to help with the logistics. After trying several types of tape, we settled on clear packaging tape (and plenty of it!) to secure the layers of plastic table cover to the top of our mantel. (Failed attempts included Scotch tape, blue painter's tape from Dollar Tree, and masking tape.) I added some red table cover (left over from a previous party) to the inside of the mouth area by taping it to the fake fire place with Scotch tape.
11. The kids, and some brave adults, too, were then able to stand or kneel behind the backdrop, put their faces inside the shark's mouth, and let me take pictures (which were for the thank you cards). It stayed up for many days before I decided to take it down, and I think it was picture perfect.

{Say, "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"}

{You can't say I never post photos of myself!}

DIY Shark Party Decor: Warning Signs and Land Sharks

Logan's 4th birthday party turned out to be pretty "jawsome" and these homemade decorations helped set the tone right as guests were arriving. I was inspired by these signs that I saw online. So, I set out to make my own, using my cheap, go-to-party-decor material: cardboard. After the past couple of birthday parties -- Care Bears for Mia's 6th and Cars for Logan's 3rd -- I have decided that I can make just about anything out of cardboard! So, these signs and shark fins were not very difficult or time-consuming for me, and I was able to make them almost entirely with items I already had at home. (The only thing I had to purchase was another small bottle of yellow acrylic paint, which I believe was 53 cents at Wal-mart.)

{CAUTION: Shark Sighting!}

Materials for Fins:

• corrugated cardboard
• pencil
• scissors
• gray primer (or paint)
• large foam paintbrush
• Styrofoam tray (to hold paint)
• cereal box liner (to protect work surface)
• wooden skewers (2 per fin)

Directions for Making Fins:

1. Draw a shark fin onto the cardboard and cut it out. (I made three because odd numbers always make sense from a design perspective.)
2. Lay the cut-out on a flat surface. (Mine was the dining table protected by the cereal box liner.)
3. Cover the first side with gray primer (Paint would work as well, but Brett pointed out that we had primer already. Score! I didn't need to mix paints or buy any extra. This provided very good coverage, quickly and easily.) Let the primer/paint dry completely before moving the fin.
4. Now, flip it over and paint the other side. Again, let it dry completely, or you will end up with smudged paint. (Note: I also painted the outside edges of the fin, as best as I could. This is best left until the end of the painting process.)
5. Insert two skewers into the bottoms of each fin. These will fit directly into the spaces of the corrugated cardboard. Mine were placed about two inches from the outside edges. Tip: I found it tricky to insert the blunt ends into the cardboard, so I first expanded the openings by sticking in the sharp end of each skewer. Then, I removed the skewers, and flipped them around so that the sharp ends were pointed down. 
6. Stick skewers into the ground to make the sharks "swim" in your lawn. The skewers may end up poking up through the tops of the fins, so push them down and re-adjust as needed until they look the way that you want.

Materials for Warning Signs:

• corrugated cardboard
• pencil
• ruler
• scissors
• shark stencil
• black Sharpie marker
• yellow acrylic paint
• large foam paintbrush
• Styrofoam tray (to hold paint)
• cereal box liner (to protect work surface)
• 2 wooden skewers (for yard sign)
• masking tape (for hanging on door) 

Directions for Making Warning Signs:

1. Using a ruler for assistance, draw a rectangle shape from a piece of cardboard, to the dimensions that you would like. (Note: I decided on smaller signs than I have made in the past, for Logan's 2nd birthday which had a construction theme. This made things go faster, which was perfect, in my opinion. My "DANGER" sign is just 9" x 9" and my "CAUTION" sign is about 8 1/2" by 10 1/2".) Cut out your sign. Repeat as desired.
2. Protect work surface (and clothing) and then cover sign/s with yellow acrylic paint. Let dry, and add a second coat.
3. Using a ruler and a black Sharpie marker, create a black border for each sign. (On the "CAUTION" sign, this is set in about 1/2" and on the "DANGER" sign, it's only about 1/4".) 
4. Decide on the placement of the shark for each sign. Set the stencil down and then trace around the inside with your black marker. Fill in the entire shark outline. (Note: I used the Great White shark stencil from the set.)
5. Add your lettering. I chose to hand-letter the signs, but you could also use black letter stickers as a time-saver. I suggest using a ruler and a pencil to lightly block these in. First create a space for each word with a lightly-penciled line to show the tops of the letter and a lightly-penciled line to show the bottoms of the letters. I had three such lines for each sign. Then, find the approximate center of each word or grouping of words, and pencil in that central letter. Work your way out toward each side. Once the lettering looks the way you like (Remember, it doesn't need to be perfect! Mine certainly aren't.), go over it with black Sharpie. You can make corrections as you go. When in doubt, make the letters thicker. Note: The "CAUTION" sign also has some waves that I drew by hand so that the shark appears to be swimming near the top of the water.
6. Post your warning signs. I used masking tape to hang the "DANGER" sign on the front door. For the "CAUTION" sign, I used two wooden skewers, inserted with the same method as mentioned above for the shark fins. Then, I stuck it into the front yard near the "shark sighting" area with the three visible fins. 

Hanging Jellyfish Craft

To prepare for Logan's shark themed 4th birthday party, I decided that we needed a few hanging decorations and these jellyfish were perfect. The inspiration came from here and we made a few changes. The first was that I didn't have any bowls to use so I had to buy some. The original directions used paper bowls and watercolor paints which is lovely, but I found that Styrofoam bowls were cheaper so that is what we got. Since watercolors weren't an option with Styrofoam, we used acrylic paints instead. I loved the idea this person had for using up ribbon scraps, and I expanded it by adding the bubble wrap. I think this gives them some extra jellyfishy-ness, and it's a cute way to re-use some packaging material we had laying around.

This was a fun little project that both kids were able to help with by choosing the color scheme and then painting the bowls and bubble wrap accordingly. They also helped picked the ribbons to include, because believe it or not, I am such a ribbon junkie that we actually had to reject some in order to make it all fit and not look too cluttered. (Please tell me I am not the only person who can't go to Michaels without digging through their ribbon bin to see what there is!) Here is how we made our happy jellyfish, just in time for a celebration under-the-sea.

{A trio of friendly jellyfish.}

Materials:

• Styrofoam bowls
• acrylic paint/s in your color choices
• bubble wrap
• Styrofoam trays (to hold paint)
• foam paint brushes
• scissors
• googly eyes
• tacky glue
• assorted ribbon scraps
• masking tape
• fishing line (for hanging)

Directions:

1. First, I laid some bubble wrap, textured side up, and a bowl (Styrofoam or paper), upside down, at each work surface. I poured some paint onto a Styrofoam tray (You could also use a plate or bowl.) and then we used paintbrushes to apply acrylic paints. Foam paintbrushes worked well for this. Tip: Before starting, protect clothing and work surfaces as acrylic paints will stain. My kids wear old t-shirts of mine and Logan's is especially large on him, so I close it at the back of the neck with a clothespin. To cover the tabletop, we used cereal box liners, one per person. (Note: If you are concerned about bacteria from meat packaging, first run your Styrofoam trays through the dishwasher on the top rack. It will sterilize them without damaging the Styrofoam!) Allow paint to dry completely.
2. Using scissors, I cut the painted bubble wrap into strips, lengthwise. I cut each piece so that there were 6 strips, each one about 3/4 - 1 inch wide.
3. Then, I adhered the strips of bubble wrap to the inside of the bowls using tacky glue. We spaced our out so that they were somewhat even, although it does not need to be perfect by any means. Tip: We found it best to apply glue to the smooth side of the bubble wrap.
4. Next, we grouped together a variety of ribbons including: grosgrain, sheer, curling, yarn, wired, raffia, rickrack, whatever we had on hand, trimming them to the desired lengths (not all the same length). After the kids made their final choices, (red for Logan's, pink/purple for Mia's, and blue for mine), I bundled the ribbons together with masking tape and then affixed the bundles to the undersides of the bowls. I also used scissors to curl the curling ribbon and make adjustments to the lengths of ribbons as needed.
5. They added googly eyes to each jellyfish using tacky glue. 
   
6. Lastly, I poked two small holes in the top of each jellyfish for hanging. (I think I used a pin from my cork board for this.) For each jellyfish, I threaded fishing line through the tops of the two holes and then knotted it underneath, after I had strung the jellyfish up on my dining room chandelier. Then, I trimmed and excess fishing line and stood back to admire our friendly-faced jellyfish.

DIY Napkins for a Shark Party Theme

One of the simplest projects that I did for Logan's "jawsome" 4th birthday party was stamping the napkins to go along with the theme. It's a simple trick I've used for various kids' birthday parties over the years. I just found a package of inexpensive party napkins (Dollar Tree has them in several colors, and this is where my package of 30 for this project was purchased) and a stamp that goes along with the theme. In the past, some of my stamps didn't perfectly "match" the theme, but if I had an ice cream cone or a cupcake stamp on hand, and my kiddo approved of it, then that's all I needed.

However, in this case, I didn't have anything suitable for Logan's desired shark theme. I found a stamp an under-sea stamp set on clearance at Wal-mart a few months before the party. It was just 50 cents, so I bought it, not even sure how I would use it at the time, but knowing that for that price it would be well worth it. (This is when it pays to listen when the kids start tossing out party suggestions. Then, whenever you happen to be out shopping, take a quick cruise through the clearance section and see what is there that could be useful for your upcoming celebration.) I strongly encourage advanced planning, if like me, you don't want to spend much money on birthday parties!

After pulling out the stamp pads that I had in my craft stash, I quickly decided to go with the teal color. Paired on top of the dark blue, it made the most sense to me as a shark swimming in the water. To get the best coverage on the stamp, I lightly tapped it about 3 or 4 times on the stamp pad and then firmly and evenly pressed it down onto the napkin. I re-inked the stamp before each impression to ensure even coverage.

One important thing to note about stamping on napkins, is that you will not get perfect delineation. The ink gets absorbed into the paper a bit, so don't expect crisp results. My shark stamp actually had an eye that showed up on first impression but then quickly faded as the ink was dispersed on the napkin. To me, this was not a big deal. I still got the shark I wanted (albeit eye-less), but it might make a difference if your stamp has lots of details that you feel are important to the overall design.

{Left: freshly stamped, Right: after ink dried}

In the end, I had 30 shark party napkins that cost me a total of $1.50. I fanned them out in two areas of the counter near the food and lemonade (which I had dyed blue to go along with the theme). Big impact, small price tag, happy birthday boy. Totally "jawsome!"

Homemade Window Paint Recipe #2

First I tried this recipe, which I thought was for window paint, and then discovered that it was quite tricky to remove from windows. This in turn, led me to decide that the first recipe was really meant for glass objects, NOT windows. Then, I tried this recipe, which I believe is a true window paint recipe. The colors are less vibrant, more translucent, in fact, than the first go-round, BUT this paint is much, much easier to remove from windows!! I think we can all agree that this is crucial for window paints. This paint recipe for "Window Art Paint," also came from the website where I found the first one.

It worked great! And, now we have a shark-infested dining room window to go along with Mia's undersea scene on our sliding door. To create the sharks, I used some shark stencils that I purchased at the rainforest gift shop on our Puerto Rico trip. I just painted some blue waves above, and some green seaweed below my sharks to complete the scene. This will be perfect for Logan's upcoming shark-themed birthday party. FYI: It's gonna be "jawsome!"

Materials:

• muffin tin (you could also use bowls)
• 1/2 tablespoon powdered tempera paint
• 1 tablespoon dishwashing liquid (clear is recommended)
• spoons for mixing (optional)
• paint brushes (NOT foam)
• paint shirt/smock/old clothing
• something to protect work surface (I used cereal box liners.)
• damp and dry cloths for cleaning up spills

Directions:

1. In a muffin tin (or bowls), add powdered tempera paint and dishwashing liquid. I used green, blue, yellow, and red, which are all the colors of powdered tempera paint that we have. (Note: Clear dishwashing liquid was recommended by the site I got the recipe from. I didn't have clear, so I used green Palmolive. This worked fine for my red, blue, and green. Unsurprisingly, however, I ended up with neon green instead of a true yellow. This didn't bother me, but that is why you might want clear dish soap, depending upon what colors you are trying to produce.)
2. Mix together. Tip: I used spoons for this, but you could also use paint brushes. Note: You can also mix colors together. I decided to keep the proportions of the recipe the same, and then later mix two colors together to get a second color. For example, I mixed some yellow and red together in another muffin compartment in order to make orange.)
3. Protect area under windows. I was the only person painting today, so I just laid a cereal box liner down to catch drips. Tip: If painting with kids, I would recommend taping it to the window sill and more on the floor.
4. Paint your window. Tip: Use regular paint brushes, not foam. For whatever reason, foam paint brushes did NOT work for this. I know I normally suggest them for most all painting projects, but today I found myself pulling out the regular bristle brushes after the foam was absorbing too much of the liquid in the paints.
5. Allow paint to dry. Tip: This doesn't take too long, but it may dribble during the process. If you want the painting to look neat, just remove the drips with a dry cloth or paper towel, being careful not to smudge the rest of the painting.
6. HOW TO REMOVE PAINT? Happily, this paint cleans up very easily! To remove dried paint, simply wipe it off with a damp cloth and then follow with a dry cloth. The dishwashing liquid, I believe, is what makes this a breeze! (Note: It also makes it super easy to clean your paint brushes and muffin tin. The original directions had suggested first lining the muffin tin with aluminum foil, but I suspected that this was unnecessary. This was confirmed by the quick, simple clean-up process.)

{This actually looks cooler than the photograph shows.}

Welcome to Care-a-Lot! (A Care Bears Themed Birthday Party)

As soon as Christmas was over, Mia was asking me when we were going to start making things for her birthday party, which was last Saturday. This gave me about a month to get everything ready. She had chosen the Care Bears theme, and it didn't take me too long to discover that it wasn't something I could find in any stores. There were a few things on Amazon and eBay, but nothing that seemed worth the cost. I wasn't too concerned, though, because Mia agreed that we could do a lot of "rainbow" colors for decorations and such instead of focusing just on Care Bears.

Plus, I love a creative challenge. I think that is why I do parties in kind of a crazy-big way, not that I think it isn't important to celebrate my kids' milestones. I do, of course, or we wouldn't do it. Truly, though, this mama loves herself a good project, and doing themed birthday parties allows me to express myself creatively with quite a few of them. Thankfully, Mia's desire for advanced planning helped me pull it off without getting getting too stressed out. In fact, I feel pretty fulfilled for making her 6th birthday party a success.

The Invitations:
I designed a fairly simple invitation in Microsoft Word that would allow me to print 4 per page. At the top, I centered this "Have a Rainbow Day" image. For the wording, I used this free "Care Bear Family" font that I downloaded. (This is fun because the punctuation includes hearts.) I used different colors of the rainbow to set apart the key words: red for "What," orange for "When," yellow for "Where" (Note that the where is "Care-a-Lot" and I added our address in parentheses.), green for "RSVP," blue for "Cell," and purple for "Home." After the important information, I typed "Please help share in the birthday cheer!" emphasizing the words share and cheer because they related to the Care Bears theme. I also added "Your presence is your present," which didn't make too much difference, but it was worth a try. I included this image of Cheer Bear, which I made smaller and flipped in my word processing program. After printing, I cut them apart with my paper trimmer, used scalloped scissors to add decorative trim to the top and bottom edges, and then adhered them to red card stock.

The Decorations: 
I tied together some Dollar Tree balloons (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple) and had my husband put them on the mailbox, but they must have blown away at some point during the party.

Guests were greeted at the front door by a fun "Welcome to Care-a-Lot" sign that I made from a cardboard box and acrylic paint. The wording is again done in Microsoft Word with that same free font. You can find complete directions for the sign here.

I made these super simple and very inexpensive zig zag streamers following the directions I found on this blog. My only change that I would suggest is to specify that I used construction paper that was first trimmed in half (like a hot dog). Then, I saved myself some time by cutting several pieces at once. They don't need to look perfect. I used Scotch tape to hang them from the entryway to the dining room, three of each color: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. I had one extra streamer per color, so I hung them at the end of the hallway going into the kitchen, so that when people came in the front door, they saw the same rainbow: pink, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.

The buntings on the ceiling were probably the most annoying thing for me to do for this entire party. I am not sure I even would have done this if Mia hadn't caught me looking at the picture online (which did not include any directions, by the way) and announced that she really wanted it for a decoration. I knew it would be inexpensive, so I decided to give it a try. I purchased some 97 cent table cloths from the party aisle at Wal-mart (red, orange, yellow, and green -- plus I already had the blue one that I had found at a garage sale over the summer -- for 10 cents). I cut the table cloths in half, and then folded each one in half again, length-wise, so that they were not as transparent. I used pieces of double stick adhesive that I had cut prior to getting started. They were about 1" squares, and I used at least 3 or 4 per section. (And then, I was climbing up again the following day to apply a bit more since some were falling down...) The white balloon cloud came from that same Dollar Tree bag of balloons (There were really quite a few in there, maybe about 45, so it was a pretty good deal.) and is tied together with light blue curling ribbon (also purchased from Dollar Tree two years ago). I also had a purple table cover from Wal-mart that I trimmed to fit our dining room table and our card table, taping down the ends so it didn't slip.

The Food:
Since we were having a party with the most of the girls from the kindergarten class, and then having some family afterward, I wanted to keep the food simpler than I have in the past. (Basically, I told myself I am not serving a full meal, and I made myself stick to it.) I didn't even make a "fancy" themed drink; I just offered milk, apple juice, or water. I am kind of proud of myself for this. And they ate and drank from our regular kids' plates and cups from IKEA, because I hate buying stuff that would just get thrown away. For food, I offered crackers and heart shaped cheese. I took some sliced deli cheese that I already had and then used my little metal heart cookie cutter (actually, I think it's meant for fondant, but you get what I mean). I thought about doing a rainbow veggie platter, but my kids are not huge fans of peppers so I just did red grape tomatoes, orange carrots, and green cucumber slices so it wasn't truly a rainbow.

One of my only big to-dos for food was making the rainbow fruit kabobs, which were inspired by this photo. I used bamboo skewers, which I broke about in half. On each one, I threaded a whole strawberry, an orange slice, 3 canned pineapple pieces (note for future reference: buy something larger than tidbits), a slice of kiwi, a couple of blueberries, and a couple of purple grapes. Then, I cut off the sharp end of the skewers, and arranged them on my tray.

My other kind-of-a-big-deal food was 6 layered rainbow Jell-O cups, which were inspired by this blog. I used 5 ounce clear plastic cups that were left over from my failed chocolate business (waste not, right?). I did this as inexpensively as possible by getting Kroger brand gelatin for as many layers as possible, and I also bought as many sugar free varieties as I could get since the kids wouldn't likely know the difference, and why give them more sugar if I didn't need to? I bought the small 3 ounce boxes (0.3 ounces for sugar-free varieties). I used the quick-set method involving ice cubes, so each layer set up for about 20 minutes before I was adding the next layer on top. (I actually had this almost down to a science by the end: put Jell-o in refrigerator, set timer for 15 minutes, wash bowl and spoons, put water on to boil around when timer went off, repeat...) I guesstimated that 2 tablespoons of each flavor would be about right, and it was nearly perfect for making 16 cups. (I had determined that 16 cups was the max amount that would fit in my cake pan, and I planned to put the Jell-o cups in the pan to make it easier for all the in-and-out of the refrigerator. It was a great tip I had picked up here.) My layers from bottom to top were: Grape Jell-O, Berry Blue Jell-O, Kroger Sugar-free Lime Gelatin, Sugar-free Lemon Jell-O, Kroger Sugar-free Orange Gelatin, and Kroger Sugar-free Cherry Gelatin. I topped the rainbow cups with Cool Whip "clouds" and served them with the cake in lieu of ice cream. One good thing about this was that I didn't have to dish up any ice cream.

The Cake:

I promised Mia a Care Bear cake, and I used this photo for my inspiration. I used my favorite white cake recipe and tinted the batter pink with Wilton icing color, purchased from Jo-Ann with my coupon. The head is a 9" round and the body is a 10" round. Plenty of cooking spray and waxed paper cut to fit the cake pans helped ensure that the cakes came out without breaking apart. I also used my cake knife to trim them so that they were flat before frosting them. The neck looked a bit skinny, and my cake, overall, was quite short since I should have doubled my recipe. I made 6 (short) cupcakes. One is the muzzle. One is cut in half and used for the ears. The other four are the paws. All are covered with plenty of frosting to keep them glued together.

For frosting, I made the Wilton buttercream recipe, which I again, tinted pink, and applied with an angled spatula. The center of the ears, the belly, and the mouth/nose area of Cheer Bear are all done with plain white buttercream that I had set aside.

It is fortunate that Valentine's Day is around the corner because that meant that seasonal heart-shaped candies were easy to find. Cheer Bear's nose is a red cinnamon jelly candy, which came in a bag for $1 at Kroger. The foot pads are pink marshmallow Peep hearts. I cut one in half, and placed the sticky sides down on the frosting. The eyes are a regular marshmallow, which I cut in half, and again, placed the sticky sides down. Then, I used black decorating gel to make the pupils. The freckles are red non-pareils (which I got for $1 at Target last Christmas). I used red decorating gel for the mouth and eyebrows. The most important part of Cheer Bear is her rainbow belly badge, which I made using red, orange, yellow, green, and blue mini M&Ms. (Note: The leftovers made delicious cookies, and I think I will buy the mini size for baking from now on.)

My cake display was a piece of cardboard that I cut to the size I wanted. Then, I took some colored tissue paper from Dollar tree, and folded it so that the 5 bands of color: pink, red, yellow, green, and blue all fit in approximately equal amounts. I used Scotch tape to affix the tissue paper to the back side. I used more wax paper circles on top of the tissue paper to try to avoid having the buttercream completely soak the tissue paper. It didn't work perfectly, but I am sure it didn't hurt either. I found these tall rainbow colored candles at Wal-mart for about $1.50 and the birthday girl was quite happy with the whole cake presentation overall.

The Activities:
When guests arrived, they each got a party had that I made from colored cardstock using this template and directions. I made 2 hats of each color: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Brett helped me assemble them, since I was struggling with getting the tabs into the slots correctly. Then, I found images of Care Bears online, put them in Microsoft Word, adjusted them so that they were all the same size, and printed them. I cut them out, leaving about a narrow white border. Then, I applied them to the hats with Mod Podge and a foam paint brush. After they dried, I added the ribbon ties. The directions didn't say how much ribbon to use, or even what kind of ribbon to use. I used narrow ribbons, about 1/8" wide, most of which I already had at home. I needed to buy orange and blue, so I got those at Wal-mart for about 50 cents each. (I actually got more of a turquoise shade because I planned to use it as hangers for the sun catchers they were going to paint.) It turned out that this project was kind of a waste because the hats wouldn't stay on the girls' heads, and when they were all leaving, there were some disagreements on who had which hat since I had used a different Care Bear for each, and apparently some are more desirable than others. Anyway, they looked great, but I am not sure I would take the time to make my own hats again, unless I used elastic cord, perhaps.

After they got their hats, I took their photos with my Cheer Bear photo prop, which was placed in front of yet another Wal-mart plastic table cloth. This one was a turquoise, which I thought would make a nice "sky" backdrop. It was doubled over and taped to our fake fire place.

Another party activity that we had was painting rainbow sun catchers that I had found in the craft aisle at Wal-mart for 53 cents each. To prepare before the party, I tied a narrow turquoise ribbon hanger to each one. I attached a piece of masking tape to each ribbon and folded it over to make a flag, which I wrote each child's name on. Then, I poured small amounts of sun catcher paint (which I borrowed, but you can get it from Oriental Trading) into small plastic cups with lids. These were also left over from my failed chocolate business so I didn't have to go out and buy them. I used 2 cups per color so they would have enough to share without having to wait for a color, or at least that is what I figured. Each kid got a paper towel and a small paint brush to use. This worked fine. The girls were very neat and put the lids back on without even being asked. We just left them on the paper towels on the counter to dry during the party and sent them home flat at the end. The most interesting thing, to me, was that none of them looked anything alike even though they started with the same sun catchers.

The home-made rainbow pinata was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I don't have any useable pictures of the game itself seeing as how it takes 3 hours to make something and it ends in about 5 seconds. The good news is that it was a pull-string, so it was not destroyed in that 5 seconds. My plan is to hang it in Mia's room.

Another game that I created was "Pin the Cupcake on Birthday Bear." I taped Birthday Bear to the same table cloth we had used for our photo back drop. This one lasted a bit longer than the pinata, and everyone was anxious to have their turn. We used Mia's winter scarf for a blindfold and that was very effective.

All in all, this was a great party. Things went smoothly. We had a nice turn-out. Everyone had a great time. Most of the things I planned came together almost exactly the way I imagined them. It didn't cost me very much. And most importantly, there was one very happy little girl. That's enough to validate all the time and energy I spent pulling this off.