New (to me) magazine: Phyllis Hoffman Celebrate

So excited to find a new magazine, in Lowe's of all places! I was there to buy my grass seed for Easter, when I saw this adorable cover.

image from Hoffman Media, LLC

They had me at the Peeps! I'm definitely making this adorable cake for Easter. So sweet and so springy! Phyllis Hoffman Celebrate is great. In addition to the alluring cover, inside there are several styled parties highlighted. On the website you can download the invitations, fill in your info and print! It's not all my style, but there are lots of great ideas. This issue showed an Easter dinner, an egg dyeing party, a ladybug party for a little girl, an April Fool's Day party, and a Kentucky Derby party (there might have been more, even). It's not inexpensive (7.99/issue), but definitely worth it. Sending my subscription in now! And you can order back issues here! I have to have the Halloween one!

Hank's party is finally here!

Hank turned 3 last week and his party finally arrived! Here are some details:

Theme: Lego guys
# of small guests: 3 + my 2 boys (5 kids, and 1 baby)
To snack on: cups of cheese and crackers, grapes and blueberries and m&ms and raisins and of course cupcakes!
To drink: Lemonade, limeade, lavender lemondade and water
Colors: all sorts of yellows, golds and oranges- sort of lego guy head colors
Activity: Build your own guy
Favors: Their guys, bubbles, play clay

Sources: boxes for take-home treats and striped favor cups for the guys bought at Packaging Specialties in Seattle
Striped and polka dot treat cups at Sweet Lulu
Plain treat cups at local party store
Lego parts, pick-a-brick at lego.com
Cupcakes from Trophy cupcake in Wallingford
Fringe streamers- handmade using crepe paper, idea from Oh Happy Day. Super easy and super cheap! $6.50 for all my streamers!

Hank's Party Details

My baby (baby!!) is turning 3 in March. He loves Lego guys. The teeny ones. He carries them around by the handful or in his (brother's) Star Wars lunchbox or puts them in his pockets. So, I thought a guy party would be perfect. Here are my initial ideas:

Refreshments

• Polka Dot Candy Cups  In yellow, of course. Will fill some with fruit and some with snack mix
• Cupcakes will come from Trophy. Yum! And yay Groupon for having the perfect deal at the right time! I'd rather know that the dessert will be superb rather than worry about making it myself.
• I'm going to try to go easy on the drinks- this is where it gets expensive! Lemonade and water are what I'm thinking. Although alcohol for the adults braving the party isn't a horrible idea...

Guy Station

• Lots of legs, heads, hats and bodies to build your own guy (from Lego)
• BrickStix to decorate the guys
• Cute little boxes to carry them home in (from Packaging Specialties, not pictured)

Invites
Invites from Pear Tree Greetings These turned out great. They were about $1 each and are really good quality. I also bought some stickers for the goody boxes and some return address labels with Hank's name on them (it's so confusing having different last names, can't just write from the Smith Family).

Decorations
I'm contemplating using some yellow paper lanterns I already have so as to evoke the round guy heads. I'm sure the 3 year olds will totally get it. No other grand ideas yet. Probably some balloons.

Other Ideas
I'm also looking for a Craigslist Train Table I can turn in to a Lego table for Hank's present and an activity at the party.
Invites to family and family friends have gone out, but I have no clue which "friends" to invite! Poor second child has never had a play date set up solely for him (he tags along on all of Atticus's). He loves his big brother so much that I've never looked further than the top bunk for a playmate! I don't want to invite the whole class (19), so I think I'll pick 5 or so kids he talks about the most.

Party is March 20. Look for details soon after! Hopefully, my brand new camera will function perfectly after last year's infamous photo failure. Hank's 2nd Birthday.

Tangled Party!

It's no secret that my boys are all-boy. There's no way I can talk Hank in to this party. BUT. It is lovely, adorable and perfect for a little girl. I love it when moms actually plan a party that their kids love. I always ask my kids what party they'd like and then build around that. It's actually very easy to throw a classy Disney-themed party without a licensed item in sight! (Hank got Nemo last year and it was really adorable.)

This Tangled theme party is very inventive, not too matchy, matchy and really lovely to look at. Will someone throw me one? Details here, here and invite here. The invite was recently featured on Martha Stewart!

Wow! This is gorgeous and perfect and lovely...

If I had tons of money and tons of time, I would style tables like this and invite friends over to eat. This Snow White table is genius, via Sweet Tooth (a dessert/design blog!!).

There's so much to love here. The wallpaper. The candied apples with sticks. The heart button on the cake. Buy my favorite is the tiny reindeer. If I ever have a little girl, I'm going to secretly foster a deep love of snow white in her from birth and then suggest a party like this when she's about 5.



Make your own (adorable) birthday candles!

Still into the obsessive, perfectly put together birthday party (I am...). These homemade candles from the Martha crafts blog are perfect! Use the same cookie cutter for the candles and some cookies and you'll have an adorable dessert table.

Preview- Hanks' birthday party

My baby turns 2 today. Invites for his party next week are pictured above. I took an image of the famous clownfish from online, blew it up to the size I needed, cut off the head (sorry, Nemo!) and hand cut out the invites. Many pieces to this one... the card itself, the orange fish part, the two white stripe bits. I love that they are all a tiny bit different and very handmade.

Other plans: Giant vinyl nemo for a "pin the fin" game, balloon boat racing, light snacks, yummy cake. Voila! A party!!

Party rules

Image from etsy

There are a few rules I live by when planning and hosting a party. And a few I should live by. Here there are...

• A true party must have balloons and hats and chocolate cake (this from Atticus- is he my son or what?)
• PLAN ahead. Seriously. Like months and months ahead. When Atti's bday finished up (in December), I started thinking about Hank (March).
• Know your audience- While I would love a beautiful party themed with, say, quirky moustaches or a single color throughout, my two-year-old son will be blown away by a giant Nemo on the wall.
• The age you are turning dictates the number of kids at the party.
• There is nothing wrong with ordering out the food.
• Clean absolutely everything you would like to clean the night BEFORE the party. I promise you will not have time the day of.
• Take a shower before you do anything else that day. You don't want to look awful in the pictures. Trust me.
• Do not try to throw a party without help. Especially if you have small children.
• The invite sets the tone. Really, an evite will not do.
• Something is always better than nothing. If you can't get a big party together, throw something small and special. Sometimes all it takes is a big chocolate cake, a lit candle and a festive spirit to properly celebrate.

Parties on the mind!

photo at Martha Stewart

I've been busy scheming and am in full party/decorating mode! First will be Hank's Nemo party in March, Easter and a baby shower in April, all the while helping design my sister's nursery. I'm in idea overload!  Lots of party-heavy posts coming this week...

First, my favorite blogs for party inspiration... Some are completely unrealistic, but lovely to look at!

Amy Atlas
Birthday Girl- I totally want to copy her inspiration boards!
Ritzy Bee
Party Perfect
Hostess with the Mostess

And, of course.... Martha Stewart

Enjoy the eye candy!!

Children's Party: Neverland Theme!

Image via mer mag

This lovely children's party at mer mag is just magical (as seen at ohdeedoh). How Atticus would've loved this for his birthday!! You must click through to see the images from this gorgeous party!

Party for a four year old

Image from alpha mom

I figure this is the last year I get to heavily influence my son's birthday party choice. I absolutely love celebrating my sons' birthdays. Planning, crafting, baking, staying up until the wee hours of the morning finishing up the little details. I love it all! I'm especially mindful about making Atticus's birthday very special and separate from the holidays. He was born December 14, pretty close to the big day!

This year we will have a construction/tool themed party. I've found inspiration for here (via ) and here (both via Party Perfect).

Party invites are these adorable mini toolboxes. (Which are almost done, but missing the darn handles that I can't find!)
I've purchased plastic hats for the kids from Oriental Trading Co.
I hope to have some great building activity.
I'm also hoping to make some really special cookies (you know, those really fancy decorated kind)

Stay tuned! Party is in early December!