I warn you, you might experience choo choo overload, here. Or, just a whole lot of Little Man cuteness. Cal’s 2nd birthday was such a success, and seeing him enjoy every bit of it was just so special. Being the second born, he tends to take backseat to his sister’s activities, so having a day […]

I know its been years (so sad) since I last wrote in my blog but I decided that this would be the year I stick to it. (We'll see how long it lasts, lol). I couldn't decide where to start. Four years is a long time to catch up on. What should I post first. After many a thought I came to the conclusion I should start with parties. Everyone loves a party. I've had 4 years of birthday parties to talk about. I've grown to love the stress and creativeness of planning a party on a shoe string budget. Don't get me wrong I'd love to spend the money my imagination would prefer, but lets face it we just can't. I mean I think anyone can have a beautiful party with a limitless budget. But its the real challenge of having a memorable blast on next to nothing... So my quest begins The Goob's first birthday party was your normal minimal decorated backyard party with piñata. We had just moved back to NY from NC a few weeks prior. Steve almost out of the Marines. We were living at my in-laws. So it was difficult to pull anything together. His second birthday was better. It was my first real children's party to plan. I had just taken wilton course 1 in cake decorating. And Goobie loved trains. I had my theme. I remind you this was before I found my beloved pinterest. So I had no help. I made train ticket invitations on publisher. I printed them out on a heavy cardstock. Next came the crazy idea, cardboard train. My husband looked at me like I had lost my mind. But I convinced him of the sheer awesomeness of it. I dove for 2 weeks straight in the cardboard dumpster behind the local appliance store to find the right size boxes. Then I proceeded to cut, tape, and glue myself a train. Looking back I wish I had painted it instead of using just electrical tape. I did make it so the kids could crawl right threw the front of the train. The smoke was just some white party balloons. I set up a few tables in the backyard under a tent. I had streamers and balloons. I did red table cloths and put blue painters tape tracks down the middle of the table. I had bandanas and red and blue lanterns for my centerpieces. I made the confetti with a hole punch. I bought bandanas and train hats for all the kids. As for the cake... it was my first attempt at any cake besides a 13x9 never leave pan cake really. I wanted a mountain with a train. So I made a mountain with a tunnel with a wooden Thomas coming threw. I made a few paper trees for the top. It seems kind of simple now but it amazed me at the time. I did the whole thing in buttercream (I had yet to venture into the world of fondant). I also made cupcakes. I use the same train from the invitations and a few different punches to make the cupcake toppers. All and all everyone had a good time, especially the kids. Plus it started my love of all things party :) 

This adorable CONSTRUCTION THEMED THIRD BIRTHDAY PARTY was submitted by Jennifer Yun of May Details. How cute is this party?! I absolutely love all of the darling Construction Printables; they're so cute! I also love the plastic Construction toys used as decor! This party is so darling and is "packed" full of really cute ideas that any little boy would thoroughly enjoy! The Construction party ideas and elements that I like best from this awesome birthday event are: The awesome chocolate pie wheel "cake" The adorable printables The cute construction signs that spell out Alex The fun orange "dirt" cups with tool label spoon toppers The cute favor bags dolled up with cautionary washi tape and MORE!

If you have kids, you have or will be in this situation one day. One day you will have the “bright” idea of throwing your dear child a birthday party. First of all, DO NOT GO ON PINTEREST! Let me r…

Are you planning a construction theme party? Discover construction party decorations ideas, party supplies and simple food ideas!

Yes, we have been celebrating all month. :) We decided to move his party to later in March due to the renovation.... and boy did we cut it close. I'm talking... real close. This is what our house looked like on Friday morning. The party was Saturday at 11. Yeah. Believe it or not, I wasn't in a panic. It all came together! With the help from a lot of people, of course! I took the outside pictures when I was cleaning up... so imagine it with balloons. :) The entry. My first chalkboard attempt! Birthday banners! The photo banner of him from one to two was supposed to be on the mantle, but you'll see what that had to change later... I absolutely LOVE having a reason to craft. I may get a little anxious when it actually comes down to the day of the party, but let me say it again... I love crafting. In no way is it a burden... I love putting time into something that I think shows Burke's loves and personality. I have probably been working on the crafts for this party since Christmas, but when it finally got here I still felt pushed for time (this may or may not have something to do with trying to renovate)! Thank goodness for grandparents who don't mind helping out when your in a time crunch! The menu: PB&J planes, cars, and boats Turkey and cheese trains The veggie train (Shireen provided and cut up all these!) plus ranch dip and hummus! Mom made these cute "traffic lights"... chocolate dipped pretzel sticks with M&M's for the lights! Muddy tires (doughnuts) Fruity cars (apple slices with grapes as wheels) plus some caramel dip! The only thing that I had made was the cake. So glad I did... it was so cute! and tasty! The party favor. It was a simple Hershey bar wrapped in black butcher paper. I used chalk for the road lines, hot glued a hot wheels car that we already had onto the bar, and had a Thank You message on the back. The vintage suitcases were in Gege's closet! I love a cute straw. Dad writing in Burke's birthday book. I forgot to take a picture of that table. :/ I had planned on setting up tables in this living room, but guess what. Plans change. Especially when your hardwoods look like this. I spent most of Friday trying everything to get it up, but this was as good as it was going to get, so.... Let's just say...the rubber from the carpet that was over them left a mark. We will be getting these refinished soon. So let's put a stop sign on it, and move the party outside! Thank goodness it was a BEAUTIFUL day. It was probably the best game changer of the party. Who doesn't want to soak up 74 degree weather? What made it even more perfect was that kids had a blast! They would run from the bounce house to the motorized vehicles on the cement. Man, it's great having a backyard! It was hilarious to watch Burke try to keep up with these two. But they were so good and patient with him! Burke had a great time, and loves icing with his ice cream! Sugar high? YEP. Next year, this little man will be in the madness... I'm just sure of it! The kiddos even did a little art of their own. Burke decided he would paint himself. He looked like he had completed a color run! He loved people singing the birthday song to him and he even blew out his own candles! Growing up I tell you. Presents were opened in the new playroom. and he wanted to take everything out of it's package and take a close look at it. Burke's shirt came from Etsy! I love it! He was spoiled rotten. Friends and family make life so much better. We are so blessed to have wonderful examples for Burke to look up to! All that time and effort that was put into making his birthday happen at Gege's was worth it! (and served the dual purpose of getting it ready for us!) Mission accomplished! Happy Birthday to my favorite little man! What a wonderful two years it's been!

Maggie asked for an "animals" party for her birthday. Here's what I came up with. All of the games were a big hit with the kids, 17 months to 4 1/2, and they wanted to repeat them. Pin the Leg on the Flamingo Game. I wanted to do a variation on Pin the Tail on the Donkey, and my poster board options were pink, yellow, and white. So, Flamingo it was! I looked at some clipart online and sketched a flamingo on the pink. Then I cut out a bunch of leg shapes out of the yellow posterboard. I blindfolded the older kids and let the little ones just stick the legs on. I used sticky tack to hold everything. Elefun - Maggie got this from Santa. We had four kids and four butterfly nets - perfect! Feed the Monkey Game This game was a lot of fun to put together. I sketched a monkey on poster board, looking at clipart again. Then I painted using brown paint, and white paint mixed with a bit of brown. I traced over all the lines with a black marker to give the monkey face a more finished look. Next up: bananas to feed the monkey! The yellow polka dots were the best fabric option I could find. I cut out pairs of banana shapes, and embroidered the kids' initials on them. Then sewed them right sides together except on one end. We turned them and Maggie helped me fill them with beans. I used brown embroidery floss to blanket stitch the end closed, to be the stem of the banana. These also worked as our party favors. Each birthday guest was able to take two bananas home, which left four for my kids. Hippos in the Mud Game All this game required was some masking tape, a brown paper bag, and some music. I made a circle on the floor with the masking tape, and taped down the paper bag in a shape of a mud puddle. The kids pretended to be animals while crawling around the circle. As you can see in the picture, Dalton didn't quite get it at first. I played some music (the 1:30 iTunes samples of songs from The Jungle Book) and stopped it when a kid was "stuck in the mud". The child in the mud won that round (and an animals sticker sheet). Everyone enjoyed playing with balloons for about 10 minutes. We had an elephant-shaped birthday cake. I decorated with some green crepe paper to add a jungle feel, and these paper animals, sent to Maggie from Colette.

These circus theme party ideas will have you saying that was the greatest party ever! Circus party games, food ideas, decorations, and more!

Adorable Happy Birthday coloring pages for your little one. They are free and easy to print.

I'm not one for a Birthday party theme, however I saw this shark with a party hat in the party section at target months before Parkers birthday and I thought he was the cutest thing ever! I mean that teeny little party hat just kills me! So I knew I wanted to focus the theme around that cutie little shark. We bought a handful of the themed items and then incorporated other ideas to make it more our style. I LOVE how it turned out, it was so much fun! I linked everything right under this that we

Any self respecting railroad would certainly have signs along their route… Our train themed party was no different! These Railroad signs were made in Word much like the invitations in my last…

This post contains affiliate links. If purchased, I will receive a commission. We saw this AMAZING idea for a photo booth here and knew we had to try and re-create it for the Race Car Birthday Party! The kids loved it and it made for great pictures! Using the pictures from this blog post as […]

A blog about my family life. Our life decorating our house. Young Living Oil,

Dinosaur Party from Wants & Wishes

Considering my living room is filled with hotwheel cars, it was easy to pick our son's race car themed third birthday. This was the first party he had several friends come to, so it was extra special. I leaned more into the vintage car theme and styling, and we had so much fun! I've tried...

DIY Jumbo Jumping Monkeys! This project was part of a series of ideas for my niece's Toy Story birthday party. To see my original ideas and how they turned out, stay tuned. Continue reading for an easy guide to making DIY Jumbo Jumping Monkeys. This one was extremely easy to do. The idea was simple

It's been two years since the Creepers came to the Xbox, and to celebrate we are being treated to some discounted and free content for the game. May 9th, 2012 was the day that the Xbox 360 edition of

Planning a shark-themed party? Get your fin on with these creative ideas, decorations, foods & more that will make any occasion a splash hit!

This impressive JOHN DEERE TRACTOR THEMED BIRTHDAY PARTY was submitted by Traci Miller. There are so many great ideas and elements in this John Deere tractor + farm themed party! Some of my favorites are: The tractor shaped pinata The donut hole tractor tires The forks and spoons labeled as "pitch forks" and "shovels" The amazing 3-tiered cake with the tractor tire bottom, hay bale top and John Deere logo center and MORE!

* looking for something you saw in this post? All party supplies are linked at the bottom of this post! Where the Wild Things Are has been one of Jacob's favorite books for over a year now. For a few months it was his very favorite and he never wanted to read anything else at bedtime. Roaring like a Wild Thing was one of the first animal sounds he learned to make, along with barking like a dog and baa-ing like a sheep. So when it was time to plan his 2nd birthday party, it was easy to pick Where the Wild Things Are as the theme. I decided to use the book primarily as my inspiration, choosing a color palate of gold (for Max's crown), and shades of green (for the forest) with some chalkboard accents for rustic charm. I used palm trees and sailboats as our featured elements, since both are predominant in the book. We had rented a picnic pavilion at our local park, which ended up causing me a LOT of stress due to a stormy weather forecast. In the end, the weather was perfect with not a drop of rain or rumble of thunder until the party was over and the guests had gone home, and I'm so glad we had it at the park. All of the greenery provided the perfect natural backdrop for our party, and I didn't have to plan any entertainment since the park had play structures and a splash pad for the kids. The picnic pavilion had four picnic tables and two round tables, and we borrowed two more long tables to bring with us. We used the four existing tables for eating, the two round tables for favors and his guest book, and the two tables we brought with us for food. We covered each picnic table with a water print table cloth to represent the ocean Max sails on. In the middle of each was Max's sailboat. I got the sailboats from save on crafts, and painted the outside of each one red. They come in Navy, but I wanted them to closely resemble Max's sailboat, which is red. Then I added Jake's name to the outside instead of Max's. I was worried the boats weren't a big enough centerpiece for the big tables so I bought four mini crates from Michael's for $1 and painted them blue. Then I simply hot glued the sailboats on top, which added more height. While the eating tables represented the sailing part of Max's journey, I wanted the food and sweets tables to represent the land of the Wild Things so we covered them with palm leaf printed table cloths. The food table featured a wooden crate with our two letters propped against it. I created the letters by starting with wooden letters from Michael's. I covered the T with white felt that I had cut into strips and then cutout points. The W was covered with moss, and the O was spray painted gold. I added a small crown made out of gold scrap book paper and feather boa to the O. We already had a woven utensil holder in wood tones at home so I brought it to hold our plates, utensils and straws. We kept food simple with pizza, fruit and veggie trays, chips, and popcorn. All foods that I knew my picky little eater would like. We also had yogurt dip for the fruit, ranch dip for the veggies, and sour cream dip for the chips. We also set out our cups on this table, with a cooler at the end for our drinks - soda, water, and juice boxes for the kids. The sweets table featured two palm trees we built. We started with two wood rounds from home depot and two wooden dowels from Michaels. We screwed them together to create the bases for the trees. Then we took about 14 pineapples from our local farmers market and cut off the tops and bottoms and cored them so they could slide down the dowels. We topped them with fresh palm fronds. (readily available here in Florida) We set one tree at each end of the table and strung a tassel banner from Twigs and Twirls in between. Melissa from Twigs and Twirls helped me pick out the perfect tassels in shades of green, mint, gold, burlap and white to compliment our party theme. Propped against one tree was a frame with Jacob's monthly photos from the last year. I bought a poster frame at Michaels, spray painted it gold, and then tied green twine across the two sides in two spots. Mini gold clothespins attached his 13 -24 month pictures. It was hard to get a good picture of all the monthly photos, but you can see them all on my page here. The other tree had the chalkboard tree chunk I made propped against it, with a food related quote from Where the Wild Things Are. You can read more about the process I used to make the sign here. In between the two trees was our tree trunk cake stand from Target, and our cupcake stand. I bought a gold cupcake stand from Party city and added Jacob's Max crown from Little Blue Olive to the top. We didn't set out the cake or the cupcakes until right before we sang happy birthday and blew out candles since it was 90 degrees out with about 95% humidity. Melted cake = no good. Our cake was made by Publix - it was vanilla with fresh strawberry filling. I asked them to make the outside blue like the ocean so that I could put our topper on it. Our fondant topper with Max in his sailboat was my very favorite party detail. It was made by Deborah from The Cupcake Stylist and it looked just like the picture from the book with three changes I requested - blond hair, blue eyes, and Jacob on the boat instead of Max. The attention to detail was just incredible! I also added to the top of the cake a name banner and two gold candles. Our cupcakes were also from Publix, they were simple vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting. My mom made the gold crowns on her silhouette machine and we added those on top. Jacob has mixed feelings about cake. He loves the taste, but he absolutely hates getting frosting all over his hands - there was definitely some tears over that. In between the two food tables was our guest book table. I love to bring a book that coordinates with our theme to birthday parties and have our guests sign it for memories. Last year we brought a Mickey Mouse story book to Jacob's Mickey Mouse clubhouse party, and this year we naturally brought a nice hardcover copy of Where the Wild Things Are. I also set out on this table crowns for the kids to wear, Jacob's 2 year picture taken by Golden Owl Photography, his Max scepter, and two chalkboard tree trunks I'd painted asking everyone to sign the book and wear a crown. Hanging above the table was Jacob's Birthday Board. I created the board using Powerpoint and clip art from Melonheadz. I then took the file to Office Depot and they were able to blow it up to poster size and mount it on poster board for me. I also had the option to have them laminate it, but since the party was outside I didn't want it too shiny, so I had them leave the laminate off. On the far end of the pavilion we set up the other round table to hold our favors. We stuck the table in between two palm trees that came home from my classroom and a friends classroom. These palm trees sit on a similar base as the pineapple ones. A 2x4 was screwed into a wooden slab. Then we slid a carpet roll down over the 2x4 and covered it with scrunched up brown paper bags. On top sits an umbrella, with the canvas removed and green fabric leaves glued on. In between the two palm trees, hanging over the favors was our Two Wild banner I made using banner flags from Target and black paint, and a feather and woolie ball garland from Hooray Everyday. Balloons from Twigs and Twirls topped one of the palm trees. On the table sat both the favors for the kids and the adults. The kids favors were in wood and gold baskets from Target. I wrote each kids name on a chalkboard tag from Michaels and attached the tag with a mini gold clothes pin, also from Michaels. Inside I layered two shades of green tissue paper and then added our favors. Each basket included a build your own sailboat kit, (from oriental trading) a mini coloring book I created featuring the characters from Where the Wild Things Are and mini twig colored pencils from World Market, bubbles, playdough, cookies, fruit snacks, and lollipops. The youngest party goers got sidewalk chalk instead of a coloring book and colored pencils. For the adults we made chocolate covered pretzels with chocolate in two shades of green and green sugar sprinkles. I placed them in little wood containers from my sons play kitchen. The favors were a hit, and a lot of the kids started digging in before they even left! Jacob opened his presents under a giant balloon with tassels from Twigs and twirls. We hadn't planned to open presents at the party - wanting to let everyone play, but Jacob wasn't feeling so well and didn't have much interest in the splash pad, so we let him go ahead and open them, which cheered him up! All in all, the party was everything I had hoped it would be. My vision for the decor turned out exactly how I wanted, and all the kids had a fun time playing on the playground and splash pad without anyone getting hurt. I couldn't have asked for a better party or better friends to celebrate with us! Thank you to all our friends and family for loving on our little boy and helping him celebrate TWO. Jacob's birthday shirt was made by my mom. His shorts are from June and January, and his moccasins are from Freshly Picked. Here's a handy pin! Party Supplies - Some links are affiliate links. Cake Topper: The Cupcake Stylist Tassel Banner, large green balloon, mint, white, and gold balloons: Twigs & Twirls 2 Balloon, gold, green, and lime balloons: Party City Two Wild Banner pennants, wood cake stand, favor baskets: Target Feather and Woolie Ball Buntng: Hooray Everyday Water table cloths - Amazon Palm Tree table cloths - Amazon Party Crowns - Amazon Sailboat Center Pieces: Save on Crafts Sailboat Kits: Oriental Trading Wood tree rounds, Picture Frames, Chalkboard Labels, gold clothespins, green twine: Michaels Plates, Cups, Napkins, Forks, Cupcake Stand, serviny platters, green straws, gold candles, scepter: Party City Woven utensil holder: Pottery Barn (no longer sold, similar HERE) Cake and Cupcakes: Publix Cake Name Banner: MimoHandmade USA Gold striped Straws: Cohasset Party Supply Birthday Board printing: Office Depot 2 year photo: Golden Owl Photography Max Crown - Little Blue Olive Striped Shorts - June and January Gold Moccasins - Freshly Picked

Construction themed birthday party ideas and inspiration for food, party favors, activities, and decor... plus construction party printables!

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The Montessori birthday celebration known as the Montessori birthday walk is a great way to make the abstract concept of birthdays more concrete for children. At one year Yitzchak is a bit young to understand that but it was still a meaningful way to celebrate his birthday.