Moana Birthday

 

My baby sister turned 19 last week... what?!  Since the boys and I just happen to be visiting this summer, my Mommy and I decided to go a little bit overboard when Katie mentioned she wanted a Moana themed birthday.  What started as a small, family get-together with some pizzas and cake... turned into quite the celebration!

While we had plenty of fun decorations around the house, here are a few of my favorite additions:

The Heart of Te Fiti cookies turned out fun, and were super easy to make!  Just plain, old sugar cookies, with some green royal icing in a double swirl.  Done.  

The boat cupcakes were another hit.  My favorite chocolate cupcake recipe, blue buttercream, candy dipping sticks, sails cut out of cream-colored cardstock, and a swirly thing made with a red sharpie: easy-peasy.  

Tiki-head fruit kabobs!  I printed the heads on brown cardstock, glued two to the top of each skewer, and added some nice, fresh fruit.  

The biggest hit, however, was the photo-booth!  What's a party without a photo-booth these days?  Boring, that's what.  A giant backdrop and some fun props from Amazon cost about $20, and was worth every penny.  

I think we all had a little too much fun!  

"Army Man" Birthday

Last week my baby turned five.  How that's possible, I'm still not sure!  We decided against doing a party (to make life easier...) and yet between making our house appear festive, baking 22 cupcakes for school, and a big cake for our family and a few friends it still felt like a lot.

J. told me he wanted an "Army Man" birthday.  Not sure exactly what he was picturing... here's what I came up with:

For school, just some Army men (ordered from Amazon for cheap) on green cupcakes.  Done. 

Can I just say, freezer paper stencils are the best?  No more dropping $25 on a customized, monogrammed shirt that he'll grow out of in 2 months.  A $4 Hanes t-shirt, some freezer paper, a printer, some scissors, and brown paint and we've got an Army man shirt!  (The back has his name and a 5) 

These super cheap foil hanging decorations are also life-savers.  Amazon has everything.  

The Hubby may have critiqued my battle configuration... but I think the cake was cute.  The pieces on top came from the same tub as the cupcakes with plenty leftover for J. to open as a separate gift.  

In case you're looking for a new recipe, I absolutely LOVE this one for white cakes!  I used it for both the cupcakes and the actual birthday cake.  

Look at that happy birthday boy!  

TMNT Party

Since I'm playing a good deal of "catch-up" on the new blog, here's a look at the boys' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle birthday party from last February:

Since the boys are only 22 months apart, and mostly have the same friends and interests, we decided to do a joint party this year.  We had it at our local gymnastics place, which saved me the time and stress I usually spend cleaning and decorating my house ...and was worth every last penny!  

The staff provided basic decorations (banner, table cloths, plates, utensils, etc.), which were luckily mostly primary colored, and thus went well with the TMNT theme the boys requested.  

Here are some of my favorite details: 

 Pizza cookies (of course!)

TMNT jello cups

 and Rafael cupcakes!

And just to prove how much fun everyone had...

Woodland Baby Shower

A few lovely ladies and I threw a woodland-themed baby shower this weekend for an absolutely adorable little man.  Here's a little peek.

Our dessert collection was pretty yummy...

complete with fox-shaped cookies...

and chocolate toadstool cupcakes!

We also put together a hot drink station...

with delicious add-ins ...

for our guests to make special creations...

in their own party-favor mugs!  

And let me just say, those mini-chalkboards from Hobby Lobby are awesome, and worth every penny.

Guests also had a chance to write a special prayer for baby E. and hang it on our tree.  

We finished up with (an obligatory, but luckily on-theme) baby shower game!