Kids’ Birthday Party Ideas

April 1, 2014April 1, 2014 ~ Amanda ~ 1 Comment

over 200 kids party ideas

We’ve all seen those awesome party ideas all over the internet — the ones that make us hold our breath and exclaim, “Why didn’t I think of that?!?” These are the parties that don’t have anything to do with buying plates with the latest cartoon face plastered on the bottom. These are the parties that have seemingly boring themes, but with some creativity they yield amazing results, and they teach our kids to like what they like instead of liking what’s most popular.

I’m trying to get my kids away from cartoon-based parties and more into themes that we can create ourselves (well, after this year — between my job, two weddings, moving, conferences, and curriculum planning, it’s been a bit crazy!). I’m sure all of these parties have amazing ideas and pictures on Pinterest, but I’ve yet to see a really great list of ideas all in one post. That’s why I’m posting here – to begin the list. If you think of anything that should be added, comment and I will edit the post. Ideas for each party can come later — Right now, it’s always nice just to have a list to look at for ideas. And they don’t have to just be for boys or girls — pick what your kid likes and go with it, and make it work for their gender.

PS – I will slowly be organizing them into better groupings as I have time!

butterflies

ladybugs

caterpillars

worms

picnic ants

elephants

owls

foxes

birds

puppies

kittens

lizards

dragons

fish

sharks

dolphins

jungle animals

farm animals

forest animals

sea animals

swamp animals

desert animals

rainforest animals

arctic animals

*insert your favorite animal*

picnic

campout

bonfire

garden

flowers

race car

fire truck

hot air balloon

airplane

boat

bicycle

carriage

wagon

train

garage

construction vehicles

tools

policeman

firefighter

astronaut

doctor

clown

roses

mushrooms

rainbow

cookies and milk

stars

hexagons

diamonds

polka dots

stripes

chevron

alphabet

numbers

pinwheels

windmills

prince

princess

knight

ninja

pirate

soldier

sailor

ballerina

magician

teddy bear

musical instruments

county fair

fruits

berries

lemons and limes

peaches

apples

oranges

veggies

ice cream

cupcakes/baking/decorating

spa

makeover

slumber

jewelry making

tshirt making

fashion designer

painting

beach

ocean

pool

indians

cowboys

tea party

football

soccer

basebol

tennis

karate

skater

ice skating

roller skating

skateboarding

bees

dolls

dinosaurs

nautical

mermaid

starfish

crab/lobster

lemonade

angel

French

Asian

Indian

Victorian

British

Hawaiian

Hippie

Flapper

Fifties

down under

wizards

paint brushes

vintage

circus

carnival

shabby chic

french country

fave fairy tale (Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks, Three Little Pigs)

fave nursery rhyme (Humpty Dumpty, Hey Diddle Diddle, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jack and Jill)

bow ties

mustaches

color-themed (gold, silver, blue, pink, etc.)

rain

clouds

sun

umbrellas

flip flops

travel

knitting/sewing

gumball

sweet shop

teddy bear

blocks

puzzles

fishing

hunting

aviator

carousel

beach ball

photography

kites

silhouette

holiday themed

ribbons and bows

baby animals

seasons (winter, spring, summer, fall)

farm

city

plaid

monsters

hairstyling

paper dolls

mason jars

rubber duckies

fireworks

rockets

aliens

feathers

lace

goldfish

chocolate

pumpkin patch

flamingo

once upon a time

unicorn

rock star

Hollywood

archery

fireflies

stargazing

neon

animal prints

volleyball

glow in the dark

bowling

spy

chef

cooking challenge

ombre

dance party

donuts

rock (as in actual rocks)

fossils/archeologist

motorcycle

superhero

space

duck

turtle

lamb

horse

secret agent

zoo

safari

surfing

Cheap and Awesome Mother’s Day Gift!

May 14, 2012May 14, 2012 ~ Amanda ~ 2 Comments

How was your Mother’s Day? Ours was great! I told Jason that what I really wanted was to go to a park for a picnic and playing on Saturday (because Sunday was jam packed!), and then we went for ice cream. It was Clark’s first ice cream cone. Oh, don’t get me wrong, the boy has had plenty of ice cream — just not a cone to himself! He loved it!

Even better, every time he took a bite, he wanted to wipe his face off with a napkin. He’s not a tidy kid, but once he saw us use a napkin, he had to be a big boy and use one, too!

So, I know it’s after Mother’s Day, but I had to wait to post this fun gift idea because my mom can see my posts, and I didn’t want to ruin the surprise!

Both my husband and I are full-time students right now (since I had to quit real estate for the past few months due to family obligations, which without getting into too much detail, involved taking care of my grandmother after a high-risk surgery) and we’re living on very, very little but we’re pretty darn happy and learning that less is better, anyway. But when it comes to gifts, it’s pretty stressful. This time around, we had way less than I wanted for a Mother’s Day gift for our moms, so I had to come up with a creative solution.

Both of our moms are crazy for their first grandchild, so I thought back to the portrait cameo Sherry @ Young House Love did of Clara for her room – it would be the perfect gift! I set to work on a cameo of Clark for our two lovely ladies. Total cost for this project was somewhere in the neighborhood of $8 each for both the frame and matte from Hobby Lobby (during the 50% off frames week). I had the professional matte photo paper at home and fully-loaded ink cartridges from my normal Etsy order stock already.

Here’s where problem after problem happened.

First, I couldn’t get my Nikon to work again (yes, for the millionth time! but it’s working now off-and-on for some weird reason) so I had to take a cell phone pic. That meant that I had to erase the background in Photoshop by hand instead of using the magic eraser tool because the lines between the subject and the background weren’t crisp enough. And I’m not a steady eraser because I don’t have the luxury of a pen tablet. Sigh.

Mistake #2 – I tried to take a picture of my crazy mobile toddler with my cell phone camera and NO ONE TO HOLD HIM. What was I thinking??? It’s why it’s more of an angle shot, meaning you can’t see his lip profile! Creepy no-mouthed baby pictures ensued.

So, all-in-all, for the problems I had, it turned out really cute! But since my Nikon is working temporarily, I’ll recruit my awesome-sauce husband to hold the wiggling boy and take a better shot to replace in each frame. And Momma-Bear-in-Law, you’ll be getting your copy when we visit this summer since I couldn’t figure out how to mail the frame with glass.

Circus Party Invitations and Party Ideas

April 24, 2012April 24, 2012 ~ Amanda ~ 2 Comments

In the midst of my Pinterest-inspired mommy freakout earlier this week on Facebook (thanks, by the way, to all of my friends who calmed me down!), I decided to change the theme of Clark’s birthday party. I had originally planned to have a Sesame Street party for him, but the truth is, he doesn’t really care for Sesame Street, and I couldn’t stand the thought of his party being something he didn’t care for. Yes, I realize that he’s only going to be two and chances are that he won’t remember it, but he can still react in the moment and I want him to say “wow” like he does so often at home over things he loves.

So, I picked a circus theme. It’s not necessarily something that he loves, but it is definitely something that I can wow him with and not spend a ton of money. We’ve already rented a park shelter, so I took some pics yesterday with my phone and did some quick Photoshopping. Here’s the basic plan, using cheap 100′ rolls of striped plastic tablecloths. This isn’t the whole plan, just the basics. We have to leave the grill area open as well as the side (so that we can play in the grass and see the playground) but I think it will feel luxurious, personalized, and exotic for very cheap. The pennant bunting symbolizes his birthday banners that I made last year, and the train pic on the back wall is just a placeholder for some kind of posters that I’ll paint of a train of animals. I’m not really sure what I’m going to do with the circus ring yet.

Of course, this meant a total redesign of the invitations as well, and I couldn’t be more thrilled with how they turned out! I’ll be selling them in my Etsy shop as well if anyone is interested.

Seriously, I lurrrrve them so much! They look way more impressive on paper than digitally.

Thinking Ahead to #2!

March 11, 2012March 11, 2012 ~ Amanda ~ 2 Comments

I’m so excited to start thinking ahead to Clark’s second birthday! Yes, it’s early, but I’m also going to craft a huge amount of items to save money on a really personalized party so it will take me several months to get everything done (and still keep up with my ridiculous grad school schedule).

I’ve already created an inspiration board on Pinterest but I find that I need paper goods finished before anything else to really get the theme of a party going. Last year, I made some super awesome Yo Gabba Gabba invitations that were completely from scratch, but this year I borrowed a little inspiration from this blogger. I can’t say that I won’t be copying even more ideas from her AMAZING party! My husband and I discussed it and decided upon a Sesame Street theme, which will allow for many toddler-appropriate activities.

Her awesome invitations had me searching all over the graphic designers’ website, but I couldn’t find anything about invitation design so I decided to copycat them and make my own. Note: this design will NOT be for sale with my custom invitations because it is not mine to sell even though I did recreate it myself. But as far as designs go, it was fairly easy (minus the font, which I decided to replace with one of my personal faves instead of trying to find the exact font the designer used) and I could make a different version to sell in the shop if anyone wanted it. A couple of hours later, and we have a 5×7 invitation, a 3.5×5 sizing insert, and a 3.5×5 thank you card (which I’ll print as a flat card and write on the back). Obviously, the actual print quality is better IRL since I sized them down for the blog. What do you think?