The theme was fun because it didn’t constrict us to any one movie or book in terms of characters and imagination.

Above: 1.) I got a pack of 12 cheap-o alien headbands on amazon.com. These were fun for people to wear if they didn’t feel like wearing a full blown costume.  2.) My daughter and I colored alien signs with crayons one day – okay, I did them, but she supervised and added a little here and there.  3.) I picked the color scheme of blue and green (streamers from Target and a few sheets of blue and green craft paper from the craft store helped to jazz up the entry way).

Below: A basket full of silly accessories for guests to play with. Light sabers, headbands & Spock ears are from Amazon.com. The “hypnotic glasses” are from Party City. The Stormtrooper mask is from Target, in the kids’ toy aisle ($8! I thought that was a fun find.).

Below: I made this cake to look as similar as possible (with my limited cake-decorating skills) to one my Mother-in-Law made for Aaron’s 7th Birthday…

Below: And, she sent me some adorable photos of him when he was also about that age, as Robot Man, Space Man and with his siblings as the “Spacemen Family”. My favorite is the one below/far-right where it looks like he’s playing behind the couch with some really cool toy, totally lost in his own world…Above: This is the snack table (before all of the silver star confetti was added). The star confetti helped to make it look a bit more like outer-space. The black is just a set of two black disposable table cloths from Target. Since the material is so lightweight it was easily adhered to the wall with “removable mounting putty” (you know, that white tacky stuff you can buy just about anywhere).

 Above & Below: More labels, for the beer coolers (with references to Star Trek & Star Wars), drink tub, and pizza (“Papa Won’s” instead of “Papa John’s”, referencing Obi Won).

Below: Close-ups of some of the food we served. I’ll put a complete list towards the bottom, should you be planning a similar party, and wanting food ideas…And, what about costumes? Well, we had this fun idea to dress as the Conehead Family (my husband loved the SNL skits). We ordered these silly coneheads from Amazon.com and I tried to make capes like they wore, using $5 fabric from JoAnn’s. BUT, I sort of lost track of time (errr, I was putting it off because I didn’t trust my sewing skills) and I never made the pointy collars. Turns out, they kind of look like aprons you wear at the hairdressers’! But, that’s okay…they worked just fine… So, here we are, the Conehead Couple…

Hey, can you see “Mr. Bump” above? Eeek…can’t wait to meet this guy! Above: My Sister-in-Law and Aaron’s college friend who came in town for the party. My Grandparents…the cutest alien couple EVER!!

Below: My Grandfather…He just turned 90 a few weeks ago! Isn’t he a handsome alien?… Below: Just some fun party photos!…

So, there it is! If you are interested in the food ideas, let me list them here (and note – these are in no way unique…I found most of these online and then just added my own little ideas as needed! I LOOOVE the internet!)…

Beverages:

Beer = Romulan Ale & Spock Bock

Soda = Yoda Soda

(Wine and Water also served, but without clever names)

Snack Bar:

Black Hole Dip = Bean dip (dash of paprika on top), served with carrots & celery

Thermal Detonators = Malt Balls (I saw this, and several other great ideas here.)

Alien Heads = Green Grapes

Rocket Parts = Bowl of fruit…Note, I wanted these to be kabobs and to be labeled “Asteroid Kabobs”, but that didn’t work out, so I went with Rocket Parts. Asteroid Soup could work too…or something silly like that.

Milky Way Dip = Vanilla Yogurt (dash of cinnamon on top), for fruit

Leia’s Buns = Individually-Packaged Cinnamon Rolls

Galaxy Gorp = Kettle Corn (Yum!…These look like asteroids too…probably more than the fruit actually.)

Endor Trail Mix = Chex Mix

Light Sabers = My pride & joy of the party ! Original source is here. I did these in red & green. I first tried it with melted white chocolate and food coloring, but the liquid food coloring ruins the melted chocolate (apparently you need powdered food coloring for this job). Instead, I purchased red and green Wilton brand “Candy Melts” (I found them at Party City). I melted them on the stove top and then poured each color into a tall glass and dipped a pretzel rod in to coat. I laid them on wax paper and kept them in the fridge until the party (they were made a day or two in advance). Big hit!

Galactic Goodies = Mini Cupcakes from the grocery store’s bakery. Half of them had alien toppers from Party City and the other half had Star Wars rings pressed into them (purchased on Amazon). This was so fun because the kids enjoyed wearing the rings around after eating the cupcakes.

Wookie Cookies = Cookies (Yum!). I love this funny space-ship in the center of the cookie tray. I found it at Target the day before the party – It is a sippy cup…seriously. How funny is that? I just took the straw out for the party…voila!

Like I said, these were mostly found on the internet…I’m in no way trying to claim ownership of these fun ideas, but I think it’s nice to detail them all here, should you be searching for Sci-Fi party ideas yourself. I know I always enjoy crafty party ideas!

A very HAPPY HAPPY Birthday to my Best Friend/Miss O’s Amazing Dad. { You’re Out-of-this-World! }

Below: Circular sugar cookies with colored icing; Cute & Sweet Vanilla Cake. I like how my Sister put a few dots on the sides of the cake as well.; Colored Cupcakes…perfect.

Below: My Sister put the plastic toy balls in various containers around the house, such as this one. There were also bags of them in the living room for the kids to play with.; The napkins and plates couldn’t match more. She got them at HEB of all places.; In lieu of a goody-bag, each guest could take a ball from the bucket. I think they liked them so much they started playing with them well before the party ended.

I like how she kept things clean and simple. She had in-laws in town, the boys got sick the week before, etc. Rather than thinking of all of the crazy elaborate things she could do and stressing herself out about it, she really made it simple, classy, and fun. I don’t think I’d ever seen so many energetic, wild and happy kids at a party before. She did a really great job.

Check out the Birthday Boy, with a little encouragement from his adoring Cousin, Baby O…

Oh, I love his sweet expressions…I want to scoop him up and take him home with me! That’s normal, right?

And, time to eat cake!…I love how Baby T just went for it. He grabbed fist-fulls of cake and crumbled it up. He dumped the plate over to see if he was missing anything underneath. I don’t know if he ate much of it, but I think he really enjoyed the experience. My husband and I were chuckling at what a sophisticated little lady Baby O was feigning to be. Look at her with her using a fork…where did this grown toddler come from? (She isn’t so well-mannered at home.)

 A Few Other Fun Ball-Theme Party Ideas:

Martha Stewart’s Bouncy Party Cake & Decor

A Bouncing Baby Boy’s 1st Birthday Party

Circle Garland – Tutorial

Circular Photos – My Sister also had the idea to print photos of him at various stages throughout the past year and use a circle template to cut them out in the shape of circles. They could be displayed in different areas of the party and/or in the form of a Garland (using the idea of the “Circle Garland Tutorial” above, only using larger circles, and probably hanging them on the wall, rather than draping them like a garland.

For Food, she served circular items, when possible. She had on the menu; Bagel Bites, Corn Dog Poppers, Cantaloupe & Honeydew Melons scooped out into tiny balls, round crackers with cheese, etc. Also, a bowl full of brightly colored fruit juice boxes for the kids.

It was a big hit, all around! I hope you enjoy the ideas. In case you haven’t noticed, I do looove me a good kids’ theme party. I would love to see links to any theme parties you’ve thrown. I’m always looking for ideas for Baby O’s next Birthday.

Have a great day & thank you for reading!

My older sister thought it would be fun to plan a ball theme party for his First Birthday. She was inspired by this lady’s party and I offered to help make the invitations, based off of the invitation from that party.

However, we had to take the photos promptly in order to get the invites out in time. The setting isn’t totally ideal for it, but I brought Baby O over (to my sister’s house) and set to work, getting the scene ready for the Birthday Boy…

Baby O’s Big Cousin doesn’t particularly like having his photo taken (I think he even said something funny, along the lines of, “It makes me feel uncomfortable”, or something equally profound and relatable). So, no on posing for photos, but he does like helping to set the scene…Here he is, moving the colored toy balls around just so…

Ah, my two little helpers were so sweet. Oh hello, lovely!…

Kind of loving this next one…

Baby T is ready for his close-up!…Baby O has to show him how she loads the toy balls into the bumbo seat first…

Seriously, have you seen such a cute little tyke in a baby boy tie before? I just love it!! And look how perfectly the tie matches the colored balls…Not to mention those bright blue eyes…

I hope to go through the rest of Baby T’s photos soon as well. In the meantime, here is the invite we put together, using these two photos…

I think it will be a really fun party! Next task…Coming up with themed decorations.  I will try to post photos of all of the details after the fact. I do looove theme parties!

Have a good one!

{p.s. Apologies for my delayed posting today. I typically post first thing in the morning Mondays, Wednesdays, & Fridays. However, I ended up coming down with something that my family had been passing around. I thought I had managed to miss this one, but no such luck! Anyway, we’re all much better now. Big smiles…}

Here’s a step-by-step of what I did, in case you’re interested in trying it out…

For starters, take a photo of your Little One (or ask me to do it, if you’ve hired me for a Child/Family Portrait Session before Valentine’s Day) either holding a stick, or making a loose fist.

Have your photo printed on matte paper.

Then, make or buy the “lollipop” candy for the card. I made the chocolate “lollipops” with a mold. It was really quick and easy. If you’d like to try, here’s the info (Supply List at bottom of post)…

Get some candy molds like this (available in many craft stores):

Above Left: Follow package directions to melt the colored chocolate. I chose to microwave (rather than boil).

Above Right: This decorating bottle was indeed quite useful for dispensing the white chocolate, but not necessary. A toothpick will do as well.

Above Left: Fill in the “accents”. In my case, the mold had dots and outlines. Then wait a few minutes, to let this dry a bit.

Above Right: Pour the main color into the molds.

Above Left: Once you’ve filled the mold up most of the way, rest the stick in there (it comes with the lollipop kit) and gently turn with your fingers, to incorporate it into the chocolate. I then plopped a little more melted chocolate on top.

Above Right: All finished! Resist the urge to lift up the mold and peek at the underside. If you’re clumsy like me, you may drop it! Just pop it in the freezer for about an hour or more.

Below: Ta-Da! Fresh out of the freezer & ready to package up.

And on to the “assembly”…

Below Left: The striped washi tape is more or less just for decoration…

Kind of cute! I thought I’d just do a list of supplies here, in case you don’t want to go sifting through the long post in order to determine if it’s simple enough to tackle;

1. Make N Mold Products: heart-shaped molds, 2 colors of melting wafers, lollipop wrapping kit, decorating bottle or toothpicks (available at craft stores, like Michaels, or online).

2. Packaging Supplies: gardener’s twine from Michaels, pink & white baker’s twine or ribbon of choice, scissors, hole punch, double-sided tape, washi tape (optional), thick cardstock available at Michael”s, cute photo

And that’s it…simple, sweet, & homemade. Who wouldn’t love to get a Valentine Card like that?

Hope you’re having a wonderful week!

XOXO

I wanted to do this post as a how-to in case readers are interested in the food/decorations/theme – aspect of the party, as well as how to keep things budget-friendly. So, here it goes…I’ll try to give price & source information where I can.

Invitations:

Sources:

Completely inspired by this lady’s invites here.

Materials: A2 white paper from PaperSource ($3.25/25, left-over from our wedding invitations!), Scraps of Lecien “Flower Sugar Yellow Tiny Flower Dots” fabric ($2.50 /quarter yard), found here.

Note: If you don’t have a sewing machine, you can use fabricTac glue to adhere the fabric scraps to the invite. You can also experiment with scrapbooking paper in lieu of the fabric. I love the look of mixing patterns (rather than using only one) too.

Kids’ Activities:

Sources:

Sidewalk Chalk ($2.50/pack at Target), Bubbles (left over from our wedding), Handmade “Vintage Coloring Books”* printed on cardstock paper & tied with ribbon from craft store ($2.50/3 yards)

*(Note: Since this was just for personal use, I did a google image search for “Vintage Coloring Books” and “Vintage Coloring Book Pages” and copied ones that looked appropriate and were large enough to print to about 3″x4″. If you are reading this and have any questions, feel free to ask.)

Food & Decorations:

Sources: My amazingly cool, vintage picnic basket was purchased here, for $15.

These adorable stripey straws were purchased here, at $4/25 straws. There are so many colors to choose from!

The pink & white gingham fabric was purchased from JoAnn’s Fabric, on sale for $3.50/yard. I purchased 6 yards, in order to cover two tables. It is a very common print, and you can also purchase something similar online here.

Mmm…Vanilla Cupcakes with Buttercream Icing…Oh, how I loved you!!

I was visually inspired by this cupcake, but didn’t want a jam-filling. So, the cupcake recipe I used was c/o Martha Stewart. It was my first time to make cupcakes from scratch and, I’ve gotta say, I may never use a box mix again…This was easy (the instructions were fool-proof) and I felt oddly proud of myself for making it from scratch, even though it took little know-how.

My Mom helped me with the icing…{1/2 cup shortening + 1/2 cup margarine + 1 teaspoon vanilla extract + 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar}. I made it the night before and kept it in the fridge, in the mixing bowl. The day of, we added some whole milk until it was at the desired consistency. Then, I followed this lady’s cute instructions on icing. I think mine could stand to be cuter, but perhaps it will just take a little practice! Either way, they were deeelicious!!

By the way, the tiny pink and yellow sugar cookies were from my Little Sister. They were amazing! And adorable!

Sources:

Pink Floral Vintage Hankies (above): $2.50/each from this shop

Sources:

Tissue-Paper Pom-Poms are an excellent (easy + affordable!) party decoration! I followed the tutorial here.

I purchased 4 packs of (12 sheets each) colored tissue paper from the craft store, for $2.50/pack.

And, I WISH I had better photos of the food, but it was the last thing on my mind, come party time! I tried to get some photos of the leftovers….

“Caprese Kabobs” were a big hit! To make, simply toss mozzarella & tomatoes in a plastic ziplock bag, with olive oil and chopped fresh basil. You can leave it in the fridge overnight, to season. Or you can go ahead and thread them on the skewers the night before, and leave them in the fridge, assembled. Also, note: I wanted really cute little skewers, but we ended up cutting normal wooden skewers in half and this worked just fine.

Sources:

The wooden basket, above, was from the Target $1 bin, but you can find similar ones online.

Mmm, “Pigs-in-a-Blanket” are one of my Husband’s favorites! We made them with turkey “Lil Smokies” and Crescent Roll dough. Very simple, and a crowd-pleaser.

(Vintage sheets from my Mom and etsy. The best thing about them? They can be cut up and used for tons of craft projects after the party!)

Pink Lemonade…I used the 8oz mason Ball jars, that you can find at most grocery stores or Target/Walmart. This was a cute idea, and a big hit with the guests. I simply used this concentrate, from Minute Maid (below) and put a slice of fresh lemon in. I had all of the filled jars in this aluminum tub, filled with ice. Too bad I didn’t get a “before” photo, but you can see that they certainly didn’t go to waste!

Sources:

Aluminum Ice Tub from Target. I’m a tad embarrassed to say that it was about $20 (I was frugal everywhere else, but for some reason, felt this was a good place to splurge!). Hopefully I’ll find good ways to reuse this.

And, finally, some cute Party Photos!…

This was funny…You know how you have a certain idea in mind how important events will go, like when your daughter eats her first piece of Birthday cake, and you’re there with your camera in hand and everyone is ooing and ahing over how cute and funny she is? Well, I was so caught up visiting that I was no where near my camera at the time. She crawled over to this blanket, where some of her friends had been sitting, and started eating a cupcake off of their plate. She looked like a curious little scavenger….

So, we moved her to her own blanket and gave her her own cupcake, to “re-inact” her first bite, where all of the relatives could watch…

And then, she mostly just wanted the giant red strawberry on top…

Wow, what a cutie. And, lastly….

Party Favors:

My sweet friends came over to help me assemble these, bags filled with oatmeal cookies (with my Grandma’s cookie recipe attached)….

Sources:

Brown Bags from Michael’s Craft Store (a few dollars for a pack of 25), Hole Punch, Yellow Ribbon ($2.50/3 yards) & Fabric cut into strips when I ran out of ribbon (this is actually much more economical, and still looks cute), Free Download of Recipe Cards printed on white cardstock, & yummy homemade goodies, such as these oatmeal cookies, to put inside.

Want the Oatmeal Cookie recipe? Just leave a comment if you do, and I’ll try to post it here soon.

Have a great week!!

One thing I really like about a Green color scheme is how it lends itself to all things “nature”. I tried to find some great shots of mason-jar drinking glasses or centerpieces, some kind of topiary placecard settings, and so forth, but didn’t find just the right thing. I did, however, find several cute things on Etsy & thought it would be another good chance to highlight some of the wonderfully creative and unique items for sale there {I am a HUGE fan of self-employed artists!}. Here it is…My first Color Inspiration Board featuring the color ”Green”…

And here are the credits: TL: Mens’ Vintage Green Hat from Flourish & Debonair, TM: Gorgeous Landscape by AspectArts, TR: I heart Teacups, ML: Just Married Banner, MM: Adorable Cake Topper, MR: Cute Clutch Purse, BL: Fun Green Pom-Poms, BM: Very Clever Tree-Branch-Slice Table Numbers, BR: Beautiful Gourmet Large Pinwheels.

Whether you’re a Bride-to-Be or a busy Mom planning your child’s next Birthday Party, Color Inspiration Boards can be a helpful & fun resource. AND, handmade details make all the difference!

1. Here, my sister is modeling the satin-ribbon rosette headband I made for her. I really love making these, and might do a photo tutorial on them, just for fun, but, for now, if you are interesting in doing something similar, there is a great tutorial here.

2. Too bad I didn’t take a ”before” photo…Basically, this is an empty cigar-box/pencil-box (you can find them at Michael’s). I used polyvinyl acetate (“PVA”) to adhere the blue/white polka-dot paper (from Paper Source), and decorated it w/ flowers. This box was for guests to put the notes they brought for the guest of honor (a blank notecard was included in their invitation). We strung them together to make a little note-booklet for her, as a nice memory, from the shower.

3. I had a Martha Stewart die-cutter in the shape of an elephant. I googled ideas for invites online and ended up fashioning these, inspired by something I saw online. I apologize to whomever had the idea first! (Note: If I find the right link, I will post it here!) I would have ordered invites, but I already had the die-cutter, and the paper, and the inclination to try it on my own. (Note: I blurred the invite details for the sake of privacy…). 

4. I love these darling little cupcake toppers by seller “Emanon” on Etsy. They’re topping my Mom’s AMAZING carrot-cake cupcakes with cream cheese frosting! My Mom really inspires me to be a better chef, and to be more nurturing in general…It is really impressive to me how she bakes – She takes 2 or 3 recipes for a dish and mixes and matches and comes up with her own version of the recipe, to best suit her family’s tastes. If you’re interested in this recipe, leave me a comment about it and I’ll be sure to share it (pending the chef’s consent of course)!

5. My sister wearing her headband & corsage (Note: the wool-felt corsage was based on the flower shoe-clippies I posted last Monday.)

6. These Thank You boxes were so fun to make! I bought all of the supplies at Paper Source…Empty fold-yourself white favor boxes, tied with 1″ thick blue satin ribbon. I used their “Thank You” stamp with Prussian Blue ink, on white cardstock, and then cut around the scallop shape (I do love scalloped shapes…can you tell?). I used a protractor to cut out a circle in blue cardstock and a larger circle in blue/white polka dot paper. Inside are peanut m&m’s….YUM!

7. Baby O modeling the blue & grey hat I crocheted for my new nephew on the way. (We can’t wait to meet him!)

Calling all Crafty Monsters!…My sister set up a Creative Station for the kids to decorate their own little monster puppets.

Time to blow out the candle!……and devour the cupcakes…

Time to open presents!…(Above Right: The monster hat I made for my nephew, courtesy of the awesome pattern “Silly Monster Hat” I found by The Fuzzy Noggin’…I love this lady’s patterns!)