Time for Tea

Frances' love affair with Alice in Wonderland began earlier this year. So of course my birthday wheels started turning! Alice...tea...tea...three. A tea party to celebrate turning three! It was the perfect fit! Then I came across these adorable teacup sippies and my tea party theme was put into place!

It's hard to find Alice in Wonderland themed items, so we were challenged to use our imaginations.

A tea party invitation..."Tea party because Frances is turning three!"

From the Pastry Shop a teapot, cup and saucers for the cake...

The fun tea cups, doilies and flowers in tea pots decorated the tables!

The singing flowers from Alice in Wonderland...a Hobby Lobby score...planted in a flat of impatiens!

Flowers on the cheap, but plenty to fill lots of tea cups....hydrangeas from the back yard mixed with three bunches of inexpensive pink and white flowers totaling about $15!

Remember that artistic husband I told you about??? Yes, he did. Meet the Cheshire Cat!  Notice his missing his smile?  Why, yes, it's pin the smile on the Cheshire Cat!

Favors included Kool Aid drinks with "Drink Me" tags!

And yummy iced cookies from Pollman's with "Thank you for having TEA with ME" tags (glittered thanks to this tutorial from one of my favorite stationers)!

More seating! And more tissue pom poms! Incidentally, the plates and napkins came from the Dollar General.  One of the benefits to establishing party themes early on is that ability to shop around over a period of time instead buying all at once!

Croquet, anyone? The front lawn...

My favorite part of any party...THE FOOD!  Chick Fil A chicken nuggets (doorknobs), Annie's rabbit crackers (March Hare crackers), fruit with "caterpillar" grapes, and of course some Wonderland tea (or more correctly lemonade;) Had to keep the littles happy!

For the adults: chicken salad, pimento cheese, hummus and spinach and artichoke dip. 

My baby enjoying her hunk of cake!!

Frances received a stuffed Cheshire Cat for her birthday. He made an awesome party prop!

 

 

Loved these photo props I scored off of Etsy!

 

 

Once all the cake was eaten, the girls insisted on dressing up! Can you imagine all of these princesses in one room!

 

 

The Birthday Girl preferred her pajamas.  Oh my:)  And I would be telling a story if I didn't admit the present unwrapping was her favorite part of the day!

Thankfully, she had some help!

That wraps up our birthday palooza!!! Once again, I didn't list many sources here, but most everything can be found on my Birthday Parties Pinterest board! 

May the Force Be with You

Angry Birds Star Wars was the theme of choice for Jedi Walker. Her his sisters were giving the pool noodle light sabers a test run!
 

The cupcakes "cake" was purchased at Target.  We simply added one of Walker's birthday toys to the top!  Easy peasy!

Light sabers provided the color inspiration of blue, red and green! Iced coffee bottles and wrapping paper table runner make their second appearance:)

 

The birthday boy!

Thankfully, my husband is a very talented artist:) He drew all of the Storm Trooper piggies on the balloons!

I didn't do a very good job of capturing the food display.  We did make sure to have some yoda soda on hand (lime green kool aid plus Sprite), and the birthday boys food of choice: hamburgers (aka "Han Burgers").

Goody bags were held closed with glow sticks (I hoped they resembled light sabers to someone besides me;) and included Pop Rocks, Angry Bird Star Wars gummies, popsicles, and coloring packs.

Invitations were PDF's ordered from Etsy and printed at CVS.  This was the first time I have done this type of invitation.  I prefer traditional invites, but something about this party lent itself to a more informal and fun option!

 

We even had some real life Angry Birds action!

 



And the piñata!  Is it even a party without one:)

The birthday boy enjoying his Han Burger!

 

Again, this is what makes hosting three parties in one month worth it. The individual attention these twinkies just soak up!

All inspiration was once again via Pinterest!  Check out my Birthday Parties board here!

Pedicures and Pizza

Welcome to Kathryn's Pedicure and Pizza Party!  Kathryn is quite taken with the idea of having her nails and feet done at the local nail salon.  I couldn't fathom how I would take a hand full of girls to the salon, so we brought the salon to them!

Thank you, Dixie Delights, for the idea to use Starbucks iced coffee bottles! I simply removed labels, washed in the dishwasher, removed any remaining adhesive with a Mr. Clean  sponge and voila!  Oh, and I drank a whole bunch of iced coffee:)

And a shout out to Pinterest for the wrapping paper down the center of the table as a table runner idea! Just the needed pop of color.  Plates and napkins came from Target!

I guess I should be over the tissue pom poms but they always provide that needed color plus they take up space. And let's face it, they scream PARTY!

Some sponges from the Dollar Tree also helped jazz up the tables!

Shoes in the basket, please! We've got piggies to paint!

We curtained off the spa room, and left the lights down low. Add some trickling water from brother's sound machine.  Instant relaxation!

 

A quick and easy banner...

 

If you weren't having toes painted, you could help yourself to a pair of flip flops. Ribbons and flowers allowed everyone to decorate their flops to their hearts' content.  Thanks, Tula, for manning the hot glue gun!

 

Reusable lunch bags (3 for $1) at Target became instant goodie bags stuffed with nail file, manicure kit, mini polish and a ring pop!

Again, Pinterest, I have you to thank for this one! Marshmallows dipped in colored white chocolate with a Tootsie Roll on top! Oh, all a top heavenly cupcakes from Flour Girls!

The beautiful birthday girl!!! Did I mention at 7 years old, this was her first girls only party!  All the others have been in celebration with her brother.  There was something very special about being able to sing Happy Birthday to just this sweet little thing!

Momma in action!  A HUGE shout out to Aunt Mak for jumping right in and painting piggies too!

 

Cousin Addi patiently waiting her turn!

 



Then out to the sand box!  Nothing like sand between freshly painted toes!

You can find more birthday inspiration on my Pinterest Birthday Parties board!

Three

Little Miss has been very excited about the anticipation of her birthday. Once her party and birthday rolled around, all excitement went out the door!

We tried to capture some pictures of her after church on her actual birthday. She wouldn't stop playing with the croquet set (props from her Alice in Wonderland inspired tea party the day before) and most certainly would not smile!
 

 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FRANCES!

 

Party posts coming up next!!!

Birthday Palooza 2013

Most of you know that all three of our children celebrate a birthday at the end of June. It's obvious that the twins have the same birthday, but throw in little sister whose big day is just two days later, and that makes for some crazy times!!

We've tried several different options, mostly involving combined parties for the twins and a small family party for Frances.  But after two years of trying to swing all of that in one weekend, I decided to spread the parties out this year as well as let the twins have their own parties.

Now that we've survived what I've affectionately titled "Birthday Palooza 2013", I think we will go back to the drawing board next year.  2014 just may be the year of killing three birds with one birthday stone!  Surely, I can find a theme two girls and a boy can agree on:)

All of that to say, I'm working on birthday posts for all of the fun and festivities we enjoyed during the month of June, but in the mean time, I wanted to post a few birthday pictures from their actual birth "days". 

Here are my twinkies the night before their birthday!  Hard to believe they are seven now!!!

We started their special day at Krispy Kreme!

Followed by a quick trip to Tula and Pops...

 

Next up, TOYS R US! They've never been, so I figured today was the perfect day to go! (Poor Walker.  The sunshine got him again!).

 

Squeeze in picking up Frances' cake and dropping Little Sis off at swim lessons, and then we were off for ice cream!

We ended their big day with pizza and popsicles with the neighbors!  See what I mean, more birthday fun, than one family can handle:)