Under Construction

invitations from http://www.lilduckduck.com/

This cake was made to coordinate with the construction party ware above. I really liked how it turned out. I found these invitations from Lil' Duck Duck that also went well with this theme. There are so many cute ideas that can be used to go along with a construction themed party. These pictures are from Family Fun magazine, which always has the greatest ideas. If you have kids or work with kids, it is a great resource to have! Kids would have a ball painting and designing a cardboard house and the nail apron is a great party favor. My son also had a construction themed party when he turned three. I used similar ideas. I decorated with caution tape. The party favor was a construction hat and a Lowe's apron filled with different treats(play tools, stickers,etc). I used a toy dump truck to serve chips. Also for the cake, I think it's cute to fix an oreo dirt cake recipe and serve it out of a dump truck. This is budget friendly and kids love it!

A Soiree (that is a fancy word for party)

Well, I have to admit that when Addy's mom first asked me to do her cake, I was not familiar with Fancy Nancy. I'm a mom of two boys and there is pretty much nothing fancy about our lives:) While I was at Target, I grabbed a Fancy Nancy book and took a look. There were so many possibilities with this cake! Pretty much anything bold, fancy and girly represents Miss Fancy Nancy. This is a really cute party idea. Fancy Nancy likes everything fancy, so at the party they dined on fancy food and had fancy cake with parfaits (a fancy word for ice cream)! I love how even the dads and boys went fancy too.

Oooh La La!!

Jenna had an adorable Pink Poodle in Paris birthday party. It's tradition to read a story at their parties. I thought it was too cute and appropriate that they read a Sassafras book. This set the mood for the activities ahead. They made doggy collar necklaces, hunted for doggy bones around the house, drank from fancy goblets and more. It looks like these gals had a great time!

Take me out to the ballgame.

Table runner from Pottery Barn Kids

http://www.etsy.com/

plates from Hobby Lobby


http://www.cgiebay.com/

Baseball is exciting stuff in our family. My oldest son, Will plays travel baseball and during spring and summer most of our time is spent at the ballpark. Will's birthday falls right in the middle of all this, so this year he wanted a cake to match his cap to share with his team during a tournament. They all also recieved treat bags with Big League Chew and sunflower seeds in them. I was also honored to be able to make the cake for the Pigeon Forge High School baseball banquet. The team had accomplished a lot this season by making it to state tournament and just falling shy 1 game of the championship. They deserved a cool cake to celebrate. The last cake was for Miller's 2nd birthday. I thought it would be cute for him to have his own cake as well, so I did a mini- baseball cap. Poor Miller caught a stomach bug and had to postpone his party. The cake had to go in the freezer. I felt so bad!

Planning a baseball party can be a lot of fun. For the younger crowd you could have the party at a city park or backyard and have a whiffle ball game. Set up a concession stand for the food table and serve all ballpark essentials. You could even go as far as having t-shirt(uniforms) printed up. Older kids might enjoy having a few friends and go to a minor league or college game. Some ballparks have birthday packages as well. You can alter these ideals to accommodate other sports too. Just take the elements from your favorite game and go for it!

Back to School!!!

Since the kiddos went back to school this week, I thought this might be appropriate. Will's teacher, Ms. Stiles won Sevier Co. Teacher of the year last year and I got to make the cake for her surprise party. The cake was for the faculty party. I thought the decor was cute too. The class also threw her a surprise party. All of the kids were given certain letters of the alphabet, and they brought her a gift that began with that letter to put in the basket. The best part is that Will gets to keep Ms. Stiles again this year. She rolled up to 4th grade with her class. We are so excited!

Sound the Alarms!!!

This was my Ben's 5th birthday party. He was born in February, so it can be a challenge to figure out what to do for his party because anything outdoors is usually not a good option. First of all, I found the invitations at a dollar store in Asheville( and yes they were only a $1!!!!). Chief Tony at the Pigeon Forge Fire Dept. was nice enough to give us an awesome tour of the fire station. It was very interesting and even the parents enjoyed this! Fireman Fred even made an appearance. I saw the cupcake idea on Cake Central, and the designer, Jen Whitlock e-mailed me the templates to make the flames and water. I loved how they turned out. Then I attempted a fire engine cake as well. We played several games-Pin the Badge on the Fire Chief, Firetruck Relay(race the toy truck to the burning building, put out the fire, stop drop and roll, and save the kitty from my (fake silk lemon) tree), and the Pinata. The favors where free from the fire department(yay!). I purchased and made the thank you cards on www.Shutterfly.com. One thing that I wish I had done was have FDPF t-shirts made for the kids, but I thought of it too late. Overall it ended up being a very budget friendly party and I got a good deal on the cakes too:)

Pinkalicious!

http://www.thecelebrationshoppe.com/

http://www.marthastewart.com/

Plates from http://www.theultimatepartystore.com/

http://www.babyfacedesign.com/

I have not ever made anything for a Pinkalicious themed party before, but I thought I would throw this out there for a little inspiration. (Here is how my crazy brain works...) -so I was at Hobby Lobby and eyed the above plates on the clearance rack, and since I'm a sucker for anything with cupcakes and cakes on it- I bought them. I started thinking that this cute little design reminded me of the invitations that I had seen on Baby Face Design for a Pinkalicious themed party. Isn't that an adorable idea! What little girl wouldn't love a party with everything pink. You could go crazy with the menu & have all pink food, serve pink lemondade and ask the guest to wear their favorite pink attire. So all of you girly moms consider a Pinkalicious party, and if you don't care for pink there is always-Purplicious!

Lovely Lady (bugs that is!)

Ladybugs are actually quite annoying as the insect, but they make for really cute party decor. The increasing popularity of this party theme has produced lots of options for invitations, party ware and more.

The top two pictures are from www.thebump.com and www.thepartydress.net. The first ladybug cake that I made was for Landyn's 3rd birthday. The 2nd was for Mary's baby shower. The most recent was for Lauren's Garden Girl birthday. I really like her party ware. That picture was acutally taken before I added the stripe down the middle of the ladybug's back. I think it looks a little funny without it! Ladybugs are cute in all forms-red, pink, and multi-colored spots! (well except the ugly orange and black kind that visit my house!)