A Little Red, White & Blue in honor of Tax Day-uggh!

A little red, white & blue always puts a smile on my face (which is much needed today-tax day, both me & my husband are self employed-uggh!! Shall we say not our favorite day of the year), love the combo & makes me think of summer, fireworks, bbq, popsicles & great days at the lake,! Happy Tax Day! Carli

Featured on Creative Party Place

Payton's Baseball Party was featured today on Creative Party Place (a great site with loads of amazing parties!)!

Check it out here



Thanks, Carli

Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?

Okay, so I have to admit, I am not the biggest fan of character birthdays but when your toddler LOVES Elmo (or other furry character), not much to do but go along with it! I didn't want to do your standard party store Elmo party, so I opted for a bit more of a graphic version, utilizing red, orange and white & polka dots as my inspiration (along with Elmo of course!).



Elmo Cupcakes: Lots of variations available on the web. I went the easy route (cake decorating not my strong suit!). Note to get the red frosting, use gel concentrated food coloring (usually available in the candy making section of craft stores), not the typical liquid (as your frosting will be a thin gooey pink mess!!). They are really easy:
1. Frost your cupcakes in red frosting (or pipe them, but I just did a messy frosting job to look like his fur)
2. Eyes: I cut a large marshmallow in half and stuck them into the frosting. I used black frosting or gel for the pupils (NOT suggested), but it bled into the marshmallows overnight. I would opt for attaching a small black candy (junior mints, m&m, chocolate chip, etc.-none of those were options for me, due to my kiddos allergies!).
3. Nose: I used orange large gumdrops. You could also use orange gum balls.

That's about it! I only made a mouth on 1 (for the birthday boy), the red frosting was enough for me! I didn't want red and black stains all over my house after a party full of 2 year olds had their way with the cupcakes.

Elmo Pizzas: This is a fun and easy kid project. I used english muffins as the crust, topped with pizza sauce and used white and orange cheese circles for the eyes and nose (yes, those odd pre wrapped cheeses work great for these. Mine were soy, looked cute, not so yummy-sorry to all you vegans soy cheese is just not the same!). I imagine rounds of mozzarella (or other white cheese) and cheddar would work as well. For the pupil I used olives. You could add pepperoni bits/slices for the fur. Bake for a few minutes and they are done! Really super easy, cute and fun for the kids!

Decor: I went with simple decor in bright red & orange. I added the Elmo face to numerous things throughout the party to carry our theme, cups, food containers, etc. I used dollar store sand pails and shovels to serve the food. It was fun for the kids and the buckets went to good use throughout the summer!

Outfit: There are lots of cute homemade Elmo hats, shirts & outfits available on Etsy. Instead of a party hat for the birthday boy or girl, how about this cute Elmo beanie by TizzyDee, at least they could get some good use of it after the party. I am kind of a do-it-yourselfer, so at the last minute I decided to make the whole family Sesame inspired shirts, not my be work by any means but at 2am the night before the party, what can you expect!

WARNING: You may receive EVERY Elmo toy available (we did and then my son one day about 1.5 months later decided he wasn't into Elmo any more!).

Resources:

Invite & Thank you design by DimplePrints

Hat by TizzyDee

Elmo shirt Amazon

Payton's Baseball Party

After a couple of requests for more pictures of Payton's party, here they are!

I went with a traditional red, white and blue baseball theme. His birthday party was the week of 4th of July, so the color scheme was very budget friendly as I was able to pick up numerous "4th of July" items from the dollar store, etc.

BATTER UP!

In June my little boy turned 3 and it was apparent we would be having a baseball themed party. Everything he played turned into a baseball bat & ball; in fact even everything he ate--carrots were bats, peas were balls, hot dogs were bats, buns were rolled into balls, when I say everything, I mean everything! As it was near the 4th of July, I went for an all American, red, white and blue & baseball too theme.

Invite by DimplePrints (of course!)

Menu: We went for the classics; burgers, hot dogs, french fries & concession fare-popcorn, licorice, soft pretzels, candy, sunflower seeds & lots more (sadly no peanuts & cracker jacks here, due to our kids food allergies). Drinks-Old fashioned soda

Dessert: I am no cake decorator, by any means. My normal cake people (my aunt or sister) both live out of the state and I have been left to fend for myself and boy could I use some pointers & tips! Love these baseball cupcakes & cookies, wish I could have pulled these off (looks easy right, but when working with vegan/allergen free cake & dairy free frosting-nothing is easy!)!

Cupcakes & cookies by bhg.com

Decorations: Red, White & Blue

I used 4th of July decor & bunting to create a classic ball park theme.

Centerpieces: I filled galvanized buckets with astroturf & baseballs. I created table runners out of $1/yard fabric found at Walmart. I created banners, cupcake toppers & signs to coordinate.

Games: The kiddos were a bit too young to play any organized baseball, but we set-up baseball tees for them to practice. I also picked up foam water splash baseballs at the dollar store and they played with them. Other ideas for older kids: Ball pass, longest hit/throw, or even a good old game of baseball.

Other Ideas: If you know me, you know that I insist we all dress-up for our parties. My husband hates it (he's not much of a costume person!), but I (and my kids) love it! I happened to find shirts for myself & kids at Children's place this summer (glad the boys size fit me!). I would have loved customized shirts, but just ran out of time I love these darling shirts by MSK Wear, she even has baseball dresses for sister!:

I always have a sign in book of some sorts, this year I decided to have guests autograph a baseball, which has been a fun keepsake after the party.

Favors: We gave out plastic bats & balls, which I was able to find at the dollar store!

It was a wonderful party. Happy 3rd Birthday Payton!