Category Archives: Details

Dollar Gumball Machines: Easy, Cute & Cheap Party Favor

1st May 2016

Whether you are fancy pants or not, whether you know it or not…the dollar store has been and will forever be your best friend when you are party planning. Even swanky parties can slip in dollar store items all the time.

For my girls double birthday party this weekend, I went with gumball machines and bagged baker’s twine tied baggies of multi-colored gumballs.

The machines came from the Dollar Tree for 1 dollar a piece. The gumballs I got in the candy aisle at Walmart and I got just over 6 pounds for 15 dollars after tax.

28 machines= 28 dollars

6 pounds of gumballs= 15 dollars

Total: 44 dollars

Price per favor: $1.57

It’s substantial, unique and the kids LOVE them! It’s hard to do favors for that good of a price that isn’t a random bag of nick-knack throw away toys. I think it’s a win!!!

Plus, if your child brings one home, don’t throw them away! Fill them up with jelly beans, M & Ms, or any small candy and use them as reward jars for good behavior, good school work, or whatever the going rate is for a jelly bean in your house!

Love the idea and want to do it? You can pre-order and do site-to-store and assure the number of items you want for your party. Nice little tip there…. That way you can avoid being there the day of the party praying they unloaded the truck with gumball machines on them. That sounds very familiar.

Pin, share, enjoy and follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!

Awesome DIY Party Garlands

21st April 2016

Sticker Garland on Baker’s Twine

How easy and how cute!!!

Oker

Mini Fruit Balloon Garland

Oh Happy Day

Folded Cupcake Liner Garland

Handmade Charlotte

Party Hat Garland

The House That Lars Built has an awesomely cute party hat garland tutorial! You could make this one yourself following their post or even use pre-made party hats to save yourself some crafting! So cute and great for a billion themes!

The House That Lars Built

Pool Noodle Popsicle Garland

If this isn’t cute enough for you to choke, then you will never need the Heimlich! Follow the easy tutorial on the source link below the pic from Oh Happy Day!

Oh Happy Day

Tissue Paper Fringe Garland

Easy, cute and CHEAP!

Babble

Cupcake Liner Garland

Just needle, thread and string together some cute and colorful liners. Don’t want to make your own? You can buy one from Ella Jane Crafts on Etsy!

Ella Jane Crafts

Balloon Garland

This might be the easiest and cheapest of all! Blow up balloons (no helium cost, yay!), use a needle and thread to pull a string through the balloon tip you blow into and hang!

Young House Love

12 Awesome Party Activities For Kids

4th April 2016

Color Spray Shirts

This is an easy craft for all ages and pretty much mess free!

Kids Activities Blog

Spray Tie Dye Shirts

Skip To My Lou

DIY Candy Necklaces

The Love Nerds

DIY Mason Jar Aquariums

A Little CLAIREification

Glow in the Dark Galaxy Jars

I did these at the GLOW party I did for a little girl and they are SO neat and SO easy!

Mom Dot

Decorate and Take Pillowcases

This is really cute for a slumber or art party! I love anytime activities can double as favors!

Be A Fun Mum

Squirt Gun Painting

Art even the boys will get excited about!

Fire Flies and Mud Pies

Sand Art

Pig Skin And Pigtails

Rock Painting (Monster Rock Magnets Shown)

Coco 29

Make a Pizza….Fruit Or Regular!

Smart Schoolhouse

Wedding Fanatic

Painting Pots

Any age can do this craft, but late elementary/pre-teen girls may really enjoy this craft!

Shoes-Off Please

Follow me here and on Pinterest for more creative ideas and original posts!

Simple Rainbow Cake

20th March 2016

Now THIS is a simple cake from my rainbow party pre this site! Even if you aren’t all that crafty, I created this cake largely using fondant cutters. What’s easier than basically using cookie cutters, guys? Nothing. It’s sort of like being a Playdoh expert. Just make sure that you use a fondant roller to make your cut outs even pre-cut, Playdoh queen.

I free handed the rainbow and cloud, but I used a circle cutter and petal cutters in 2 sizes to make this beast mode sun. Like the rainbow, I love doing cakes where designs spill over the side!

I used a different flower cutter, daisy I believe, to make the grass border. I cut solid green daisies out, sliced them horizontally and laid them end-to-end making a grass trim. I added tiny little flowers to the grass to add a little simple touch and guess what? I used fondant cutters for that 🙂 And the number 1? I won’t insult your intelligence

I designed this simple, clean, playful and colorful cake and I truly believe you can make it. Go be a baller and if you’re lucky, a shot caller.

Rainbow Party Favors For Older Kids

18th March 2016

This detail is from my Simple Rainbow Birthday Party I did years before I ever thought I would start planning parties. I still LOVE these favors. For these I used Izze drinks which are a colorful, healthier and already sweet in their original packaging. ‘

In small celophane bags, I added colored gumballs and Skittles to the bottom, centered a drink in the middle of the candy and added colorful paper straws. I tied them with orange ribbon and “Thank You” tags I stamped myself. They looked awesome on the tables and the kids loved them. AND I think they are unique which, you know, gets me all kinna’ excited!

I love the display, the color and the clean modern look. This favor WINS!

P.S.- These pictures were taken under fluorescent lights, our home’s previous owners favorite thing. The show must go on!

Pin, Share, Enjoy!

Elephant Toothpaste: How to Achieve My Volcano Gender Reveal Effect

1st March 2016

*Affiliate links appear in this post.

Baking soda and vinegar volcanoes never get as crazy, big and fluffy as I would like and I needed a big effect for my party of 35 to see my gender reveal “lava” color.

I decided to go with elephant toothpaste and here is how you do it:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of 40 Volume hydrogen peroxide (This can be found at beauty supply stores. You can not use any old hydrogen peroxide for this. This is a 6% solution and for $3.50, I got enough to do this experiment a good 4 to 5 times.)

1 Tablespoon blue Dawn liquid dish soap

1 packet of active dry yeast

3 Tablespoons warm water

Food coloring of your choice (10 to 20 drops depending on how bold you want the color)

Casserole dish or tray with a high lip to catch the flowing action!

Directions:

Mix hydrogen peroxide and Dawn soap together in a water bottle/vase/ etc.

Put mixture on to the casserole dish or lipped tray you want to catch the goods.

In a separate bowl, mix 3 tablespoons of warm water with one packet active dry yeast until it is mostly dissolved.

Using a funnel or measuring cup, pour yeast mixture into the peroxide mixture and immediately see a result!

It is so fun, warm and fluffy and perfectly say to touch and play with! It’s mainly just oxygen and something else but I can’t remember. What am I, Bill Nye The Science Guy?

Do it for fun, a science lesson or for a reveal like mine! The kids go crazy for this stuff and it was just what my party needed!

*Color much more vivid in real life!

How to make these volcanoes:

What you will need:

Acrylic craft paint in the color of your choice for the volcano

Paper trees in various sizes (When I say paper, they are more like chipboard and in the crafting and chipboard section of Hobby Lobby. Also, sold at Christmas for Christmas crafts.)

A cheap plastic baby bottle

Hot glue gun

Serrated Knife

Tissue paper in orange and yellow, cut into flame shapes and stuffed into the opening while the reveal awaits!

Directions:

Paint volcanoes in the color of your choice, adding a question mark for the reveal cone.

Cut off the top of your “tree” about 3 inches from the top with a serrated knife.

Take your baby bottle and wedge it firmly through the bottom of the cone, up to the opening you cut. If it does not get close to being flush with your opening, cut the cone off a little more.

Once wedged, take your hot glue gun and fill in the rim of the bottle generously to the inside of the volcano to give it extra security.

Follow directions above and lava away!

Easy Cakes Anyone Can Make {Seriously}

9th December 2015

Log Cake

Cute for a lumberjack theme, camping, woodland creature, adventure, or any outdoor-esk party! All you need to do is make or buy some chocolate buttercream, ice the cake (imperfections make no difference with this cake), let the icing harden in the fridge, and then use a toothpick, wiping frequently, to doodle in a wood grain. Easy!

The Project Girl

Plain White Icing With Non-Edible Toppers/Banners You Make, Order or Buy Retail

Mint in the Middle

A Subtle Reverly

ANY Naked Cake

I LOVE naked cakes. Fill the layers with icing in between and faintly ice the outter edges. Cover it in fruit or flowers or use a pre-made/homemade topper like above. As an ex-cake decorator, this idea is like a dream of easy!They can sophisticated or even playful!

Just Destiny Mag

Martha Stewart

Sprinkle Cake

Little Life Of Mine

Decorate with Food

Is there anything easier than this cake? I don’t think so. Minus baking. You are on your own there.

Cooking Classy

Twizzler Flowers aka Genius

Handmade Charlotte

Monster Eye Cake

The Cake Blog

Edible Images On A Store Bought Cake (Yes, they are the easiest thing to do.)

You can find a million edible image Etsy shops where you can shop by theme or submit an image to have them make you your very own! Below there is a link to a free template you can use to print and order this very image for your own cake! This is basically like a big sticker and you CAN do it!

The Cake Blog

(You can find the edible Image Free Template for “This Is Your Day” and link to a shop who customizes edible images for you!)

Powder Sugar and Stencils

Shifter, powdered sugar, stencil, go!

PinLaVie

Buzzfeed

Lebenslustiger

Creative Capri Suns For Class Parties

6th December 2015

We signed up to bring drinks to my daughter’s preschool class and it would pain me to just bring in…well…just regular drinks. To flair it up a bit, I turned our drinks into a craft and made little Capri Sun people. You could do a million different themes and variations on these for parties.

Ours were simple. I took some awesome coordinating card stock strength scrapbook paper and two packs of huge googly eyes I found at Kroger. I made little bows for the “girl” Capri Suns and the not so shocking, mustaches for boys. I cut out my own template, stacked the paper and cut four or five bows/mustaches at a time. I dabbed on the hot glue and my girls stuck them on and in about 15 minutes, we were all done!

Cheap, easy and fun for the kiddos. Without further adieu, I present Capri Sun ladies and gents.

PIN ME!

Homemade Iced Pumpkin Cookies

16th November 2015

My sister makes these ALL the time whether it’s for parties or just because. Make everyone think you are Paula Dean and make these bad boys. {AND SHE MAKES HERS GLUTEN FREE AND THEY ARE STILL SOOOOO GOOD! JUST USE GLUTEN FREE FLOUR AND THAT’S IT AND THAT’S ALL!}

Iced Pumpkin Cookies via Allrecipes.com

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups confectioners’ sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.
To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners’ sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

Brazilian Lemonade

9th November 2015

I made this recipe from Our Best Bites, for my original “Growing Like A Weed” party for my 1 year old. They children had lemonade and the adults had this Brazilian Lemonade which actually, has no lemons at all. YUMMY! You have got to make this! You won’t be disappointed!

Brazilian Lemonade

Ingredients:
6 cups cold water
1 cup sugar
4 limes
6 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk

Directions:
Mix water and sugar together until sugar is dissolved. Put in the fridge to chill until ready to use. Use soap and water to thoroughly wash the limes. You want to scrub really well because you are going to be using the whole lime! After you’ve washed and scrubbed your limes, cut the ends off the limes (DO NOT MISS THIS STEP!) and then cut them into eighths. Place half of the limes and half of the sugar water in your blender and pulse 5 times. Strain through a fine mesh strainer into the pitcher that you are going to serve it in. Discard the pulp. Repeat with the second half of your limes and sugar water. Mix in the sweetened condensed milk. Serve over lots of ice.

Source: Our Best Bites