Very Hungry Caterpillar Party Details

I was very happy with the way the invitation turned out.  The back side of it looks a little off since I took off all of our identifying information before putting it on the blog, but the caterpillar with pictures was so cute!  I got the idea from an invitation that I designed for one of our friends little girls' birthday party over the summer.

We continued the tradition of having our guests sign a copy of Dr. Suess' Happy Birthday To You for James.  My hope is that when they're grown they'll look back fondly on the well wishes written from their family and think about how loved they were then and now.

I loved the strawberry cake that I had made for James.  The inspiration was from my Pinterest board.

I love the cute lantern caterpillar that greeted guests in the foyer!  I got the supplies at Party City and just made copies of the caterpillar pieces that I had already made for James' banner.

I did a birthday banner with all Charlotte's monthly pictures also but I LOVE the way it looks as a caterpillar!  I just free-handed the caterpillar details and it still turned out really cute.

I continued the birthday plate tradition by getting Paper Doll Designs to create a plate using the caterpillar graphic that I created for the invitations.  It turned out precious!

James' smash cake was a huge hit.  He basically pulled the green caterpillar off and ate it first before digging into the actual cake!

To see pictures from the party check out the previous post.  And to see a list of our menu for the party check out last week's Recipe Wednesday post.

Recipe Wednesday - Birthday Menu

I often have a hard time coming up with complete menu's.  So I thought I'd share our menu for James' birthday dinner.  We had around 20 family members and ended up with just enough food.  Next time I'll make more because I would much rather have too much than not enough!

James' First Birthday Dinner

Two recipes of Crock Pot Barbecue

(with buns -- both slider size and regular size)
(I accidentally got beef instead of pork but Jason claimed that it tasted fine.  I would make sure that you get close to 5 lb roasts if possible, because mine were closer to 4 and we didn't have quite enough.)

Large bowl of cut fruit

One recipe of Broccoli Salad

One recipe of Mrs. Kelly's Baked Beans

One recipe of Corn Casserole

(So, so, so good! Should have had at least two recipes of this!)

One recipe of Slim Potato Casserole

(this was a little bland but at the same time too peppery -- it could have used a lot more cheese!)

One recipe of Arkansas Green Beans

(Jason said that these were the best green beans that he's ever had.  I would have to agree.  They were out of this world!)

Strawberry Birthday Cake

Charlotte's Birthday - Decorations and Favors

When we first started talking about Charlotte's birthday party months ago she said that she wanted to have a bouncy slide.  We asked her if she wanted to have her party at the inflatable place in town and she told us that she wanted to have it at Memma and Papa's house.  After getting approval from them we moved on to a theme.  At first Charlotte said that she wanted a cupcake party.  But a week or two later she said that she wanted a Minnie Mouse party.  So we rolled those together and added her favorite color and created a purple birthday party with Minnie and cupcakes!

We set up tables for the kids to eat cupcakes on the patio area.  I got balloons from our local party store with purple weights to weigh them down.  But it turned out that the day was too windy for the weights to keep them down so we cut some of Mom's hydrangea's and put them in cases to hold the balloons down.

From the beginning Charlotte requested cupcakes with purple icing.  So that's what she got!  We served these purple cupcakes on Minnie plates with Minnie napkins and cups.  Charlotte also requested cherry lemonade so we had some of that along with regular lemonade, water, and Arnold Palmer's (half lemonade, half sweet tea).

When I was trying to decide if we should have a small cake with the cupcakes I looked up Minnie cakes on Pinterest.  I was letting Charlotte look through them to see if she liked any (she didn't, she stuck with purple cupcakes) she saw some cake pops and after asking what they were decided that she needed some cake pops at her birthday party.  After that if you asked her what she wanted for her birthday all she said was "Cake Pops!"

I didn't think it would be hard to find a bakery who makes them but I was wrong!  I had gotten some recommendations from Facebook but the places I tried from those suggestions either didn't make them anymore or there was some confusion.  I finally found a bakery in our hometown to make them and KayKay and GrandDavid were nice enough to pick them up for us!  Funnily enough, Charlotte didn't even eat her cake pop (they were actually balls without sticks but that was the best I could do!) until two days after her party!  But she did enjoy it then!

We decided instead of just getting a bouncy slide to get a bounce house with a slide.  This was the perfect decision because the kids had so much fun!  We used a local rental place and they were fantastic.  They even brought it and set it up early that morning because they had free time so we got lots of extra play time!

For favors, I made play dough in fun colors (pink, purple, red, green, and blue) and put them in bags for the kids to take home.  I used this recipe from How Does She.  I hadn't ever made play dough before but this was really easy (and gave me an arm workout stirring it on the stove!).  The dough is still really soft and feels great.  I will probably make this recipe again when I make more.  I made a recipe of each color and found that I could get about 10 silver dollar sized balls from one recipe.  So if you're making it for favors keep that in mind.

I worked hard on these and stressed about them that I would have enough for the kids that hadn't replied but might show up.  And in the end I walked back inside after the party and realized that I forgot to hand them out at all!  I didn't want them to melt in the heat outside so I left them inside and they didn't even cross my mind when people started leaving!  Oh well! I've run some around to the neighborhood kids but if you leave out of our neighborhood and came to the party I owe you some play dough!

Charlotte's Birthday - Invitations

This year I continued my trend of taking a picture of Charlotte and making my own birthday invitations.  Charlotte kept going back and forth between wanting a cupcake party and a purple Minnie's Bowtique party so I went with purple and pink cupcake invitations.  The back had the pertinent information like date, time, place, etc.

I made these cards with the Make a Wish template set from My Lil Creations.  I bought this back in 2010 when Tina had a big sale and have never used them until now but they were perfect for these cards!  I have been so pleased with everything that I have bought from My Lil Creations, so if you're looking for a good supplier of Photoshop graphics, she is definitely a place to check!

I have the invitations printed from Pro Digital Photos.  I used their press cards/ploppers setup to order 5x7 cards.  I used this company to order our Christmas cards this year and was very pleased with the quality and quick turnaround.  I originally ordered the 5x7 cards on the linen paper which is the same as what I used at Christmas.  They came and the fronts looked beautiful and I flipped them over and saw that I made a typo in Charlotte's name on the back!  Jason and I had both proofed it but must have flown right by it!

So, in order to save a little money on the re-order I re-ordered them in just the card stock.  I was so surprised the next day when I received a call from someone at Pro Digital Photos!  They had printed the original invitations and when they started to print the repeat they called to make sure that everything was ok.  They wanted to make sure that I was happy with what they had sent me the first time.  And even after I told her that I was re-printing because of my error, they gave me a credit for half of the re-print cost so that I wouldn't have to pay full price twice!

The cards came in (correct the second time!) and I loved them.  Thanks to their awesome customer service, quick turn around, ability to upload your own images, and great quality I'm not sure that I'll ever print invitations/cards anywhere else!  Check them out if you need cards because they also have beautiful card designs that you can order just like any of the other online photo sites.

*Disclaimer: Neither of these vendors know that I'm writing about them and I wasn't compensated in order to write this post, just given a credit because they're a great company!

3rd Annual Christmas Party

Four Christmases ago (how was it that long ago?!!?) we decided with our friends Kelly and Tripp to throw a Christmas party.  Kelly was pregnant and we did all the cooking ourselves.  We also went all out on desserts and made a chocolate raspberry cake!

The next year Caroline had arrived and I was pregnant but we wanted to have the party again so we again made everything ourselves.  And that year we went ALL OUT and made a Southern Living cheesecake-stuffed chocolate cake that was fantastic but took so much time to make!

Last year....well, we were tired.  We had recently moved and had a six month old, Kelly and Tripp had an 18 month old, and we just couldn't pull it together.

But this year we wanted to pick it back up and I'm so glad that we did!  We did the smart thing this year and catered the party.  Although there were problems with the caterer we still ended up with tons of food that was really good (Kelly and I decided that we aren't comfortable with the amount of food/drinks/cups/plates/etc that we have unless we're sure that we have triple what we need!) and no one other than ourselves (and now all of you!) knew that there was a problem.  We had a great turnout with some friends that we've had for forever and some new friends.  It was so good to see everyone and enjoy some Christmas merriment without the kids around.  And it was the first party where neither of us were pregnant so we really got to have fun! :)

We took some pictures before the party really got swinging and I'm so glad we did because hosting you never get to stop and take pictures during the party.  I love these!

We even got to grab a picture with Jason's brother Kevin and his girlfriend Stefanie before it got crazy! Does anyone else think I don't belong in this picture?!?! Kelly and Tripp literally burst out laughing when they saw us stand together.  Poor, short me!

Overall we had such a great time at the party and are looking forward to working out the kinks and continuing the tradition next year!  I'd say the party's a success when your last guests leave at 11:30 and it doesn't even feel like it's 11:30!

Boo!

On Friday we hosted a Halloween playgroup and has so much fun having our friends over.  I had a good time putting together some fun Halloween treats and using playgroup as an excuse to get a few more Halloween decorations for our house.  We had a great crowd -- 20 people in all! -- and had a great time together! I can't wait to do it again soon!

I had fun putting together some Parenting treats.  (The recipes will be featured during this weeks Recipe Wednesday!)

Marshmellow Ghosts

Witch on a Stick

I had gotten a foam pumpkin kit and some of the kids had fun putting them together. 

Charlotte, Joshua, Caroline, and Rylie

Caroline showing us her beautiful pumpkin!

Rylie put hers together all by herself! As the oldest at playgroup Rylie was so sweet to all the younger kids!

There was lots of playing going on! Our den was basically a sea of toys, kids, and mommies!

Charlotte loved playing with baby Reese!  She kept reaching out and kind of air petting her.  She doesn't know what to do with such a cute baby!

William had a festive Halloween passy!

Reese was all smiles all morning! She is a great baby!

Kate was so sweet all morning! 

Charlotte kept everyone entertained with her unique dancing! She continues to be baffled as why everyone laughs when she dances though.  She has her own moves and I LOVE watching her dance! I hope she continues to dance for a long, long time!

The boys were a little more rambunctious than I was used to so it was harder to catch them for pictures but I did happen to get Charlotte close to them for a few!

Thomas was a little unsure about Charlotte.  He might have see her dancing earlier! Maybe we'll get to use this picture at their rehearsal dinner! :)

But I did convince C to give Thomas a hug.  She decided to go for it while his back was turned.  (Her hugs just involve her leaning her head in to you which is what she's doing here.)

Then she went and gave William one too! He's pretty unsure of C also! Haha!

Charlotte held her arms up to Miss Kelly when she saw that Caroline was distracted! C loved getting a quick hug from her!

But she wasn't too interested in getting her picture taken with Mommy....

Overall, we had a great morning and were so glad that so many of our friends were able to come.  I love playgroup because it gives the kids some kid time with other kids and also gives the Mom's some time to chat and catch up.  We missed our friends that weren't able to make it but are looking forward to the next playgroup!

Invitation Templates

I don't know if anyone has a need for this but I just found out about site site and wanted to share.  It's called Download and Print and it has beautifully designed invitation templates FOR FREE for you to download and print.  It would be a little bit of work because you would have to buy the nice cardstock and envelopes and then cut the invitations out but Hobby Lobby sells great, fairly inexpensive paper cutters that would make the cutting pretty easy.  Anyway, there are some really gorgeous cards and I wanted to make sure and spread the word.  Enjoy!

Birthday Party Planning - The Final Product!

Welcome to our house! Happy Birthday Charlotte!

I made the banner with fabric's from Hobby Lobby. The font for the letters was the Gentle Redhead font from Kevin and Amanda's free fonts.

Grab a plate and fix some yummy food!

I made the paper flowers using this tutorial.  The tissue paper was from Nashville Wraps (I got three flowers out of each 24 pack of paper), the plates were springtime specials from Publix, and I had the food catered and these flowers brought in because I couldn't do it all!

And check out the cakes!

 

Both were made by a local bakery.  I took them the invitation and they created these based on that. I loved the way they turned out and they were delicious!

Once you have your food, come into the kitchen and fix a drink!

The monogrammed glasses are from American Stationery and were the 10 oz frosted selection.  The Cherry Lemonade Punch was a variation of Kelly Stamps' Cherry Limeade Punch only substituting lemonade concentrate and lemons instead of the limeade concentrate and limes.

You can sit down at the kitchen table to eat and look at Charlotte's month-by-month banner while you're there!

I made the banner using one package of cardstock glitter paper from Hobby Lobby, gold brads, printed pictures from MPix, and lots of Creative Memories gadgets leftover from when I made real scrapbooks in high school.

Charlotte needed lots of fun things to eat with too!

The hat and bib are from Blooming Babies Boutique and the plate is from PaperDoll Designs.  They were all custom made from my requests.

The kids had a table all set up and ready for them to eat and decorate paper and visors with foam stickers!

All crafts were from Hobby Lobby.  The table and chairs was one of Charlotte's birthday presents and it's from The Land of Nod as are the washable plastic placemats that are on the table.

You can go into the den to eat also and see Charlotte's presents!

I decorated with the elephants that we had at our house and I had been searching for an elephant bank for a while also and I found one at Three Sheets in Homewood.  I made these floral arrangements by putting a cup in the middle of the container and filling around it with colored balls from the wedding section at Hobby Lobby.

Before you leave make sure you sign Charlotte's Dr. Seuss Happy Birthday To You Book and pick up a favor!

My goal is to have a birthday book signed by guests at Charlotte's birthday parties for at least the next few years until she gets "too cool" for it.  The favors were packaged in takeout containers from Nashville Wraps.  The little kids got finger puppets made especially for this party from Sweet Melly Jane, elephant whistles from Hey Yo Yo, and sunglasses from Hobby Lobby.  The families got an elephant cookie cutter and homemade elephant cookies.  I used the recipe and instructions from Cookie Craft to make and ice the cookies.  I got the bags for the cookies from Nashville Wraps and I made the paper toppers.

And here's the birthday girl herself!

This outfit was custom made for Charlotte by LiviStitches.