Four Favorites Series: My Party Posts

While I am away at BLISSDOM I wanted to

share a fun series of favorite posts from these fun years of blogging!

Maybe some of these posts are your favorites too...

or maybe you'll discover a new post to check out!

Thanks for stopping by. ;)

The first post is on all things PARTIES!

Here are four of my favorite parties we've thrown here!

I love a celebration.. making memories with my family and friends...

Using DIY Details to make it extra special!

1. Cookie Exchange Party 2011

2. Pirate Play Date

3. Monster Bash

4. Storybook Princess Party

Stop by all week/weekend long to see more of my favorites.

(DIY'S, PERSONAL POSTS, AND RECIPES! woohoo.)

While I'm away, follow my Blissdom fun via

twitter, instagram and facebook!

Can't wait to share all the fun I'm having with

blog friends and the wisdom from amazing blog mentors!

Our Monster Bash! - A Toddler Friendly Halloween Party

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I thought I would share our Monster Bash Halloween Party we threw this past weekend.

I wanted to host a fun toddler friendly Halloween Party... and working through the back contractions I had the entire day..it came together! It was a fun night..

Hope you enjoy the photos from our budget friendly-toddler approved-Halloween Party.

I think the adults had just as much fun as the kids.. The highlights of the night were seeing everyone arrive in their costumes and watching the kids play with the felt monsters we made!

Maybe next year you'll want to throw your own monster bash! :)

I created and e-mailed out an Invite for the Party..

(I also blogged my Inspiration Board for the party)

The Monster Bash Dessert Table

was a mix of Target Discount Bin Finds,

Michael's Clearance items and things I already had!

My main splurge on this table was the $10 white spider web from Target.

Totally worth it... it made the table! And the girls loved it..

It was something spooky without being weird.

I used my DIY Cement Tube Birch Stands I made for the girls' party last year.

Green Sparkle Pumpkins - Target Discount Bins ($2.50 each)

Orange Sparkle Spider - Target Discount Bin ($1)

Orange Sparkle Leaves - On Sale/With Coupon at Michael's

I spray painted white, the leftover burlap from their vintage circus party,

and wrapped 2 boxes with it for table height.

Being 36 weeks pregnant with back(and regular) contractions limited my baking time...

so we ordered cupcakes from our grocery store and then decorated them!

We had Monster Cupcakes, Owl Cupcakes and Dirt Cupcakes with worms!

I kept catching sienna stealing the worms off the cupcakes...classic.

I made oreo truffles into little monsters! (eyes from JoAnns on sale)

Didn't turn out as "pretty" as I had seen them.........haha.

BUT..they were AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS.

(Note to self: Next time use regular chocolate instead of white chocolate.)

I also filled up some dollar store vases I had with pumpkin candy corn

and leftover candy from baking, gummy worms & reese's pieces.

On the Pot luck table I also put out a bowl of Cheese Puffs, Candy Corn and Monster Mix! (Pretzels, Popcorn, Reese's Pieces, Candy Corn and Marshmallows)

DIY FAVOR - FELT MONSTERS

I had made up some Felt Monsters a while back for my girls...

and then my mom gave me the idea of using the same idea but making puppets!

My girls loved them so much that I thought I would make them as favors for the party.

Each monster took one sheet of felt..with the felt being something crazy

like a quarter a sheet, it was a budget friendly favor idea for sure.

Sophie had fun with me choosing what the faces should look like!

And we made up adoption certificates to make it even more fun.

It was sooo fun seeing everyone get into their costumes!

Our little family went as Cowgirls and a Cowboy.

Our costumes are from CostumEexpress.com (posted here)

I kept the decorations simple..

I found this banner at Target for $4. Can't beat that!

The rest was our Fall Decorations that we already had out:

--I had made up a "Keep Calm and Eat Candy" Print

--I had sewed a garland with the leftover burlap and yellow fabric from their Vintage Circus Party..

--and I filled up our empty (non working) fireplace with pumpkins!

--I had also grabbed up a clearance leaf garland from Michael's with a coupon.

(put it across our fireplace mantle)

For something easy and big that we could use on the pot luck table...

I had gathered up some branches from our back yard... spray painted them white...

and then taped on some white leaf/branches I had used in the "enchanted cookie forest" from their Storybook Princess Party last year. I also covered the pot luck table with white linens.. and then black cheese cloth material from the dollar store. (not photographed)

For crafts..we were planning on painting pumpkins...

BUT... my mom reality check kicked in... and I realized that would be

entirely too messy for this pregnant mama to handle. AND it was too cold/wet outside.

So instead.... I grabbed up a pack of foam pumpkins from target....

a pack of stickable foam sheets from JoAnns with a coupon.. cut out shapes..

(eyes, lips, hats etc) And let the kids decorate on the floor in the girls' room.

It was a perfect little craft for them!

One of my favorite parts of the party... was the Mac N' Cheese Bake Off!!

It was so fun seeing the variety..and taste testing them all!..I mean all. ;)

I made up some printables to go with the theme.

As you can see...the garland ended up being taped..because...

I felt pregnant that day. haha.

 

Hope you have a wonderful and safe Halloween.

Because of the storm our trick or treating has been postponed...

but I look forward to seeing everyone's trick or treating fun that they blog about...

And I'll be sure to share ours when it actually happens! ;)

Vintage Circus Party Sneak Peek: Dessert Table Details

I am known..for not being able to keep party details a secret!! ;)

I am in the middle of putting together DIY party ideas...

and creating printables for the girls' Vintage Circus Party next month!

I wanted to share how the dessert table is coming together!

I LOVE the mini marshmallows as the circus train smoke..

thought that was perfect since my girls love mini marshmallows

and I put a circus train on the invitation!

For the Circus Ballerina Cupcakes I thought I would make

toppers out of the ballerina photos I took of them the other day..

with a puff of cotton candy!

I love the Lion jumping through the ring of fire..

Already have the red and gold pipe cleaners..

and purchased this set of mini animals from Party City

(best deal I found online and in stores.)

Can't wait to put the dessert table together at the party..

lots of other fun details in the works that I'm

realllllyyy trying not to share at this point. ;)

train smoke

strongman dumbbells

circus lion cupcakes

cotton candy cupcakes

animal crackers 1 & 2

Chocolate Dipping Exchange- Awesome as it sounds.

A friend of mine hosted this get together..

it was a play date....from HEAVEN!

I had never heard of, or even thought of, doing

a Chocolate Dipping Exchange Party (playdate)

But it's genius. Colleen, (I know you read this....) you're a genius!! ;)

It was really fun seeing what everyone showed up with to dip!

We chatted..melted chocolate..made yummy treats and

while everything dried the kids kept playing and the moms kept talking.

then at the end everyone packaged up a portion of each to take home!

Thanks Colleen for hosting such a fun party idea!

You should all try this.. it was cool. and yummy.

WHAT WOULD YOU TAKE TO

A CHOCOLATE DIPPING EXCHANGE??

I brought E.L. Fudge Cookies..

because they are sorta like oreos..but something different.

Amazingness.. that's all I can say. and they were eaten very fast. that too.

My Cookie Exchange Party 2011

Decor

--I used a piece of fabric from ikea

(had my eye on this print for a while..excited to re-use it!)

I hung it up over my family room window with clothespins to the top of the blinds.

--I designed and printed out cute "Cast Your Vote!" Signs, cut and attached to leftover chop sticks(thanks grandmommy!) I then covered Dollar Store Floral Foam with leftover napkins from Ikea and stuck the signs into them!  Cut the sticks to be the height you want.

--The Sparkly Trees are from Home Goods. $6.99 each.

The biggest splurge of the party. but they are now part of our yearly Christmas decor!

--I also designed and printed out fun cast your cookie vote ballot cards..

--Along with numbered tented cards so they could choose their favorites!

--I hung up Dollar Store snowflakes with thread from my sewing machine...

--And did a fun DIY project the night before: Tassel Garland (I used tissue paper(Walmart) and Napkins(Ikea) then strung along leftover ribbon from another project.

We kept that garland up all Christmas as part of our decor above our big window!

I was very excited about my Apron!

Lets pretend like I, in all my domesticated glory, sewed this...

but in reality I got it with a coupon at Bed Bath & Beyond. :)

Here is how it looked when everyone arrived...



I created taste testing stands out of dollar store plates and cups! 
$1 for a 12 pack..$2 bucks for the whole table display??.. not bad!
And the best part..no washing dishes. just tossed them at the end of the night!
(DIY tutorial: I hot glued them together)



I had everyone place some cookies on a platter
(breaking some up so people didn't have to eat 12 cookies at one sitting..
although that would by no means be frowned upon at this party!! ;)


Soon the taste testing began and the
cut throat competition was in full swing!!
It was funny how quiet everyone got when trying to cast their cookie votes...
this is serious business!!  sweet prizes are involved!! ;)

The winners!
I don't have a photo of the prizes unwrapped..
but 3 of them were AWESOME cook books from JoAnns that I got for a steal..
I think they were like 3 bucks in the end?
And one was a candle from Walmart..grabbed up a favorite scent. christmas sale.
I wrapped the presents in leftover brown packaging paper and Walmart ribbon. 
Designed some fun Award Tags for each of them!

Food and Drinks.
I made up some of my favorite punch.. equal parts 7up and rasberry sherbert. YUM.
Had wine and water with lemon available too.
As far as food this was late in the evening so I just did snacky food.. After tast testing cookies you want something healthy or salty..
So I made up a fun arrangement of veggies. 
I cut them tall and skinny. placed in one vase I had and two $1 store ones.
and used SUPER CHEAP Kale as decorations around the veggie dip.
I also served fresh mozarella with heirloom tomatoes drizzled with olive oil..salt and pepper. a favorite of mine. And because we needed something cheesy warm and yummy..made a spinach dip recipe by Paula Dean..can't go wrong with her.

Time to grab up some cookies!
I put out cute platters from the dollar store..
the girls walked around the table picking out 6 of each kind!
Some were packaged some weren't.. all delicious!
I love cookie exchange parties..it's like trick or treating for adults.
After we stacked our platters high with cookies we saran wrapped them for the ride home. 

Favors
I put together a pile of kitchen accessories for the girls to choose from!
All from the Dollar Store...I was so excited about finding the pretty dish rags (love the colors).. the betty crocker measuring cups...and the spatulas!
All of these I feel like I could always use more of in my kitchen.
Each of them chose two of whatever they wanted!

Group shots!

We all sat around at the end and I just thanked all of them for coming..and also thanked these girls for all of their prayers and support in the recent months since losing my best friend from domestic violence. I wanted them to know that the prayers have been felt..but also how experiencing the loss of such a great friend...made me appreciate and value the nights like this where we as women and mothers are able to be together and support and uplift each other! Some of these friendships are longer than others..some just starting to grow..but I am grateful for all of them. I love throwing parties and get togethers...1 because I enjoy the planning..but 2. because I LOVE the fellowship.

Ended the night with a sweet sleepy sophie being brought home from a friend's house..
and sneaking a cookie with her before bed. :)

SO IMPRESSED with the girls' packaging jobs.. aren't they cute?
some even had the recipes on the back!

Keeping it real......In order to have space in our tiny little (perfect for us) rental, we had to move some furniture around. I was told to ALWAYS feel free to move your space around to make it work for your event! Even if it means sofa in front of fireplace. One day when I make the big bucks I won't have to do this..and it just won't be as much fun and cozy. ;)

ps. make sure to have your sofa held up by a piece of wood during your party for an added touch of rustic.

Here's the Printable Package I designed and used for my party!
I also have a classic and then black chevron set in my Etsy shop as well!

Thanks for checking out my Cookie Exchange Party

from 2011! Hope you throw one next year if you never have.. you will love it!