Don't forget the invitations!

I forgot to add the pictures of the Shopping Party's invitations in the previous post. These were too sweet not to share.

My daughter Mailee is having a "shopping party" next weekend. This will include lunch at the mall, a scavenger hunt, and spending money for each of the girls to shop with. She has 3 friends coming. The invitations for this party were so fun to make. I made each girl a wallet invitation with all the information on little cards in the inside pocket!

The little wallet with everything tucked inside...

The pretty rhinestone "clasp" was a fancy brad from the scrapbook store.

I laminated a little card for each girl with their own picture on it. These were a big hit! The back side was zebra print...too cute!

What every girl needs.....

Back in the fall, I had the pleasure of making this adorable cake and cupcakes for a sweet little girl. I loved the details of the phone and "daddy's credit card". After all that is what every 6 year old needs, right?

This reminded me of a party I had seen on one of my favorite blogs, www.figandruby.blogspot.com . Colleen is a mom of 4 girls and one boy who throws the cutest parties and she makes adorable cakes too. I thought I would share her daughter's Shopping Party because it would be a perfect party for any girl, especially a "Tween".

Shopping Party Details

Mailee's shopping party was a blast! This is a great alternative to having the party at home while still avoiding the chuck-e-cheese route!! My best advice is to keep this type of party to a smaller number of kids. Here are a few of the fun details!Spending Money "Goody Bag"- as opposed to filling a goody bag with "stuff", I gave each girl an empty goody bag and some spending money for the mall. I gave my daughter the choice, 8 kids with $7.50 each, 6 kids with $10 each or 4 kids with $15 each. This particular daughter is a quality over quantity kind of girl so she went with inviting her 3 favorite people and having a little more spending money. For what it's worth, I think the party would be equally as enjoyable for the kids even if they had a smaller amount of money.

Scavenger Hunt- I made two lists, one was labeled "take a photo of these..." the other was labeled "complete these tasks...". Each item listed had a box next to it and they all enjoyed checking off the boxes as they completed the tasks. This kept the party moving around the mall as the girls were shopping with their spending money. The even bigger bonus to the scavenger hunt? GREAT PICTURES!!! The kids were happy to strike a pose as long as there was a little box to check off!

Completing a task- "play hopscotch".

Clearly this takes a bit of planning. I went to the mall a few days prior to the party armed with my camera and a pen and paper. I scoured the mall for fun little free activities. interesting items to look for, and counted up the number of bank machines and exits. Don't go too far in advance, the mall is constantly rotating stock.

Completing a task-find a card at the Hallmark store and "give" it to Mailee.

The girls loved this activity. They took their time and picked out great cards! I don't know about you but with 3 kids in school and at least one friend party a weekend, I do not allow my kids the extravagance of purchasing cards from the store. It's all about the make-at-home cards! They all enjoyed pretending to pick a "real card"!

This is the card my older daughter picked out for her sister! I thought it was a perfect choice coming from a first born!

Stick with the theme- make the gifts match!!!

After 3 hours at the mall, we moved the festivities to the house for cake and gifts. I invite the whole family, aunties and grandparents for this hour of the party. I enjoy doing all celebrating on one day!Lazy Lanterns- Sometimes hanging lanterns is just a lot of work! I tied beautiful bows on the top of each lantern and plopped them on top of varying sized vases and candle holders. They looked fantastic and they were quick and easy!

Purse Cake- A shopping party must have a purse cake, yes?
This is my version.

Here are my favorite photos from the scavenger hunt..."Put on a ring, a hat and some glasses and get them all in the photo"

The family photo!
Thanks for looking, I hope you feel inspired to go out and plan a shopping party of your own! I did this theme with my own friends when I was a teenager and again as a bachlorette party in college. It's a winner every time and with any age!

Now wasn't that just darling!!!-Thanks for sharing Colleen!!

One WILD party

Do you know any animal loving kids. I sure do! Luke had an awesome birthday party that would even make Jack Hanna proud! The face painting was definitely the highlight of this shindig.

Just look at these faces!

Fun animal puppets.......

A lion feeding game.

The leopard cake.

So excited....

My baby is turning 6 in a few weeks and I am in party planning mode full swing. OK , so actually I've been planning for months because I am a nut. Here is a sneak peek of the inspiration for his 6 year old celebration. That's all I'm going to show for now. Pics to come in a few weeks!

Twilight inspired confections

So I have been a serious blog slacker, but I'm going to try to get back on track! I'm embarrassed to say I've never seen any of the Twilight movies or read the books. However, I have made some sweet treats inspired by the saga.

These were for a birthday slumber party. I used the pictures on the front of the Twilight series of books for inspiration.My niece wanted a "New Moon" inspired party for her Sweet Sixteen birthday. Above are some pics from the movie, and here is what I came up with.

Georgia Kate's Dance Party

Georgia Kate turned three and she had a very unique but fun birthday party. Her parents turned their home into a dance club fit for a bunch of preschoolers. I wish I had saved her invitation. It was simple, but set the tone for the party. It had a disco ball on it and said something along the lines of "Your are invited to Georgia Kate's Birthday Party at Club Stanger". "No cover charge and the food is free!" The Bouncer a.k.a. Georgia Kate's Dad-He was rude to the boys and really nice to the ladies.

They had hooked up Lynn's laptop to the TV and positioned it so that the kids could see themselves dancing on the TV.

The party favor was the toy microphones-cute idea!

The cake

I thought it was so cute how everything she opened went right on her. Too cute! This girl really appreciated her presents.

Dear Santa........

Dear Santa,
I would really love to have the new Limited Edition 90th anniversary Kitchen Aid mixer in candy apple red. I have been drooling over this beautiful appliance since it came out in March. I've dreamed about how lovely it would be sitting on my kitchen counter. Yes, I realize it is pricey, however it has more horsepower than my mixer, it has a bigger capacity that my mixer, and by golly it is much more stunning than my mixer! Pictures do not do it justice! So if you ever swing by Williams Sonoma check it out. I'm sure they would even give you a rebate:)
Yours Truly,
Melissa