Saturday, September 22, 2012

Superhero Birthday Party!

Are you as excited as the rest of the movie nerds about the DVD release of The Avengers next week? My son and I were invited to a birthday party for a Captain America loving four year old recently and what better time to tell you about this awesome party than right before the DVD release? Of course, if you are really excited, you could duplicate a lot of these ideas for a great DVD launch party - no birthday necessary!

First off, I want to make sure you know that I can take ZERO credit for the awesome ideas that came together at this party. The party was planned for and crafted by my super talented (and blogless) co-worker, Bailey:
Hi, Bailey! Bailey has mad crafting and cupcaking skills and is too busy being super talented to have a blog but she did give me permission to show off her great party to you guys!


First Impressions
The party was held in her in-law's backyard. When we first arrived, we were greeted by a table full of super hero crowns and masks so the kids could dress the part to be their super selves.



Games
We played four different games. The thing that is genius about these isn't just that the kids LOVED them but that they were easilly adapted for kids of all ages to play together. This party had kids ranging from 2-10 and they all loved the games and played well together.

Game #1: Super Ring Toss
For this game, two hula hoops served as targets and kids threw balls made from left over t-shirt material and dried beans. Easy peasy and inexpensive. How far away the kids stood depended on how old they were.

Game #2: Kryptonite Pick Up
"Kryptonite" was made out of crumpled balls of foil that had been painted green. Kryptonite had been spread throughout the yard and kids had to use shovels to pick up the kryptonite and put it in their team's bucket.

Game #3: Super Villain Moving PiƱata
This game wasn't just a blast for the kids to play but for the grown ups to watch, too. Max' dad dressed up like a "super villain" (left). Kids were handed water balloons (in the pool in the middle pic) and had to chase the villain around the yard. When they hit him (right), he would toss candy and prizes out the bag we was carrying. Kind of like a piƱata. But way more fun and with some more skill involved.

Game #4: Superhero Ice Rescue
For this game, a variety of plastic super hero action figures had been frozen into blocks of ice. In order to free the superhero and claim their prize, kids had to spray the ice blocks with spray bottles to melt the ice and rescue them. The birthday boy (center) even had a full size Captain America figure as one of his birthday gifts....but he had to work for it! This game was my son's favorite and he will tell anyone who will listen about his superhero who had to be rescued out of the ice.

Of course when the kids were done rescuing the superheroes the adults took over and had a water bottle fight!



Food

There was a variety of superhero fuel (AKA snacks) set up on the table. Bailey used red and blue plates and buckets from the dollar store to hold snacks. Also check out those fabulous red white and blue strawberries that were dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with blue sugar!



Cake Table
The cake table also served as the gift table and a place for some more favors.



Left: Lollipops were made "super" by taping superhero logos onto the wrappers and then giving them little "capes" by wrapping felt strips around upside-down small paper cups. There were also superhero taffy and superhero pez dispensers

Right: A tower of superhero cakes topped with a Captain America pez dispenser. Bailey used fondant to make star badges and to spell out the birthday boy's name at the top of the tower. The cupcakes were red, white and blue. My favorite ones had blueberries in the bottom.


You think the birthday boy liked it?
You betcha! Look at that excited little face!!

Thanks for letting me show off this great party. Hopefully you found something to inspire your future Avengers or Superhero celebrations.




Friday, September 21, 2012

Styled by Tori Spelling (and Carissa Bonham!) Necklace


This necklace cost less than $10 for me to make!

I'd heard about the Styled by Tori Spelling DIY jewelry line a few months ago and how it was SO easy to make fabulous looking stuff with it. I love the idea of fab handmade jewelry but my brain just isn't wired in a way where I can see plain beads and then figure out how to assemble something awesome looking. SO when I saw some Styled by Tori pieces on sale at Jo-Ann's a few weeks back, I decided I needed to try them.


This necklace is only made from 4 components:

  • The bottom piece (which is the styled by Tori piece, you can get it on Amazon as well. It stretches from the cool broach, all the way to the far right circle where all the bottom strands join
  • Antique gold chain
  • Black grosgrain ribbon
  • A clasp

To put it together, I just attached two short lengths of the antique gold chain to the ends of the Tori Spelling piece. Then I wove some black grosgrain ribbon in and out of the links. And added a clasp.

Easy peasy! It took maybe 15 minutes and that's because I spent so long figuring out the best way to weave in the ends of the ribbon.

If you're a jewelry clutz like me, this line is totally for you! Grab your Jo-Ann's or Michael's coupons from the newspaper and go forth and grab a piece to try!  


I also really like the Styled by Tori Spelling Facebook page because they upload cute inspiration pics from around the web or both jewelry and non-jewelry way to use her stuff.

Wondering if this is a sponsored post? It's not. I bought this product with my own money and liked my end result enough to share it with you. BUT word on the street is I may have an opportunity to do a sponsored post some time this spring showing you more fabulous ways to use Styled by Tori Spelling. Stay tuned.

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Superhero Birthday Party!

Are you as excited as the rest of the movie nerds about the DVD release of The Avengers next week? My son and I were invited to a birthday party for a Captain America loving four year old recently and what better time to tell you about this awesome party than right before the DVD release? Of course, if you are really excited, you could duplicate a lot of these ideas for a great DVD launch party - no birthday necessary!

First off, I want to make sure you know that I can take ZERO credit for the awesome ideas that came together at this party. The party was planned for and crafted by my super talented (and blogless) co-worker, Bailey:
Hi, Bailey! Bailey has mad crafting and cupcaking skills and is too busy being super talented to have a blog but she did give me permission to show off her great party to you guys!


First Impressions
The party was held in her in-law's backyard. When we first arrived, we were greeted by a table full of super hero crowns and masks so the kids could dress the part to be their super selves.



Games
We played four different games. The thing that is genius about these isn't just that the kids LOVED them but that they were easilly adapted for kids of all ages to play together. This party had kids ranging from 2-10 and they all loved the games and played well together.

Game #1: Super Ring Toss
For this game, two hula hoops served as targets and kids threw balls made from left over t-shirt material and dried beans. Easy peasy and inexpensive. How far away the kids stood depended on how old they were.

Game #2: Kryptonite Pick Up
"Kryptonite" was made out of crumpled balls of foil that had been painted green. Kryptonite had been spread throughout the yard and kids had to use shovels to pick up the kryptonite and put it in their team's bucket.

Game #3: Super Villain Moving PiƱata
This game wasn't just a blast for the kids to play but for the grown ups to watch, too. Max' dad dressed up like a "super villain" (left). Kids were handed water balloons (in the pool in the middle pic) and had to chase the villain around the yard. When they hit him (right), he would toss candy and prizes out the bag we was carrying. Kind of like a piƱata. But way more fun and with some more skill involved.

Game #4: Superhero Ice Rescue
For this game, a variety of plastic super hero action figures had been frozen into blocks of ice. In order to free the superhero and claim their prize, kids had to spray the ice blocks with spray bottles to melt the ice and rescue them. The birthday boy (center) even had a full size Captain America figure as one of his birthday gifts....but he had to work for it! This game was my son's favorite and he will tell anyone who will listen about his superhero who had to be rescued out of the ice.

Of course when the kids were done rescuing the superheroes the adults took over and had a water bottle fight!



Food

There was a variety of superhero fuel (AKA snacks) set up on the table. Bailey used red and blue plates and buckets from the dollar store to hold snacks. Also check out those fabulous red white and blue strawberries that were dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with blue sugar!



Cake Table
The cake table also served as the gift table and a place for some more favors.



Left: Lollipops were made "super" by taping superhero logos onto the wrappers and then giving them little "capes" by wrapping felt strips around upside-down small paper cups. There were also superhero taffy and superhero pez dispensers

Right: A tower of superhero cakes topped with a Captain America pez dispenser. Bailey used fondant to make star badges and to spell out the birthday boy's name at the top of the tower. The cupcakes were red, white and blue. My favorite ones had blueberries in the bottom.


You think the birthday boy liked it?
You betcha! Look at that excited little face!!

Thanks for letting me show off this great party. Hopefully you found something to inspire your future Avengers or Superhero celebrations.




Friday, September 21, 2012

Styled by Tori Spelling (and Carissa Bonham!) Necklace


This necklace cost less than $10 for me to make!

I'd heard about the Styled by Tori Spelling DIY jewelry line a few months ago and how it was SO easy to make fabulous looking stuff with it. I love the idea of fab handmade jewelry but my brain just isn't wired in a way where I can see plain beads and then figure out how to assemble something awesome looking. SO when I saw some Styled by Tori pieces on sale at Jo-Ann's a few weeks back, I decided I needed to try them.


This necklace is only made from 4 components:

  • The bottom piece (which is the styled by Tori piece, you can get it on Amazon as well. It stretches from the cool broach, all the way to the far right circle where all the bottom strands join
  • Antique gold chain
  • Black grosgrain ribbon
  • A clasp

To put it together, I just attached two short lengths of the antique gold chain to the ends of the Tori Spelling piece. Then I wove some black grosgrain ribbon in and out of the links. And added a clasp.

Easy peasy! It took maybe 15 minutes and that's because I spent so long figuring out the best way to weave in the ends of the ribbon.

If you're a jewelry clutz like me, this line is totally for you! Grab your Jo-Ann's or Michael's coupons from the newspaper and go forth and grab a piece to try!  


I also really like the Styled by Tori Spelling Facebook page because they upload cute inspiration pics from around the web or both jewelry and non-jewelry way to use her stuff.

Wondering if this is a sponsored post? It's not. I bought this product with my own money and liked my end result enough to share it with you. BUT word on the street is I may have an opportunity to do a sponsored post some time this spring showing you more fabulous ways to use Styled by Tori Spelling. Stay tuned.

 
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