Thing One and Thing Two!

My sweet sister-in-law had many rough years of infertility.  Last year, she welcomed into her life, Izzy and Liam!  They are the cutest twins EVER!!!  Since we live oh, about 16 hours away, I wanted to join in the First Birthday Festivities by sending them a few decorations.  Here's a few pictures:

Happy First Birthday Banner

High Chair Banner

 Food Tents and Thing 1 &2 Photo Props

The Stars of the Show!  Aren't they adorable!

I think they had a little bit of fun!

Hello Matey Party Cont'd.

I really wish both of my cameras wouldn't have been out of commission for this sweet girls' party.  This is pretty much the only picture we got from my husbands phone.  I guess that means I'll be camera shopping soon.  

Back to the party.... 

~When the guests arrived, they were given a blank paper pirate's hat to decorate.  We had a few skulls, but we had Hello Kitty cut outs and pirate patches to put on her. Some went all out with foam letters. 

~They were each given a map which led to the treasure.

~The first station was walking the plank. We used large planks to make a small obstacle course. (the weather was perfect!)

~The next station was cannon pop.  We used black balloons and played that balloon relay where you have to run and pop the balloons.  Afterwards, I poured out the balloons and the kids had to scramble to pop them. (This would not work for younger children as a few were still scared of loud noises)

~We then played pin the patch on Hello Kitty. 

~Finally we were led to a scavenger hunt to find the treasure. 

~The treasure was found and they filled their loot bags with the booty.  We had necklaces, rings, gold coins, Hello Kitty Pez, candy rings, and money mints. 

~We sang Happy Birthday and ate simple snacks of Pirate Booty, Gold Fish (Kitty Treats), Pretzles (Peg Legs), Hello Kitty Cookies and Pirate Ship Cupcakes.  

My sweet girl had a blast and felt loved by her friends coming all the way out to her house (we live in the middle of nowhere).  I had a blast watching her have so much fun. I also had fun creating the images and think I've found a new love. 

Harry Potter Fan Gift Idea

I have 6 children, so there is always a party going on.  My 13 year old daughter was invited to a friends party this past weekend. I must inspire my daughter because the normal lotion/ make-up present was just not going to cut it.  Her friend loves Harry Potter so we scoured Pinterest for the perfect gift. My daughter took several of the birthday party ideas we found and evolved them in to the perfect Harry Potter fan gift.  Most of the work was done by her (she wanted me to make sure I gave her the credit). 

Here's our her final work:

She purchased a chest at Hobby Lobby.

We created a Gryffindor stencil using the Silhouette cutting machine

and an svg from their online store. We used black paint to paint the stencil and allowed it to dry before pulling up.  (in the future I would paint with a clear paint first so that the paint does not bleed on the raw wood)

My daughter bought several types of candies. We were in luck that it's Halloween because we found all the "gross" candies as well.  Aren't these Red Hots cute in a Tic-Tac like container?

We used printables from Over the Big Moon to adhere and attach to the candy.

{use the above link for the free printables}

Chocolate Twizzlers for Chocolate Wands

Pixie Sticks and Nerds fit perfectly into the test tubes.

 Super Cute

And it all "magically" fit!

We also printed a 5x7 of this printable found at Simply Fresh Designs.

"Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times if one only remembers to turn on the light." Professor Dubledore



{check out my supply store for tubes and other Harry Potter party ideas}