Super-Elijah Birthday Party

For Elijah's 5th birthday he wanted a Superman party. 

He had been talking about it since the day after his 4th birthday so I felt quite a bit of pressure to make this party awesome and all his little dreams come true!

So I stayed up super late and spent a ridiculous amount of time on crazy crafts and decorations and it was total and utter chaos... HA! 

But! 

Elijah did say it was the best party ever and the kids left happy and hyped up on sugar. 

:) 

(I was so busy that I forgot to get pictures of everything but I was pretty proud of it before all the kids destroyed it)

My amazing friend sewed capes for all the kids to start their superhero training.

They then tested their superhero skills with an accuracy test of throwing darts at balloons, 

practiced using their x-ray vision for "pin the symbol on the Superman," 

and had a superhero obstacle course. 

There was an incident where one little boy got stabbed in the foot with a dart...

and juice and popcorn and Kryptonite suckers where everrrrrrrywhere... 

and it was total craziness and I never want to throw a party again until he's at least 8...

But from what I heard the kids still had a lot of fun! 

And I had a lot of fun with my annual use of creativity. :)

{But seriously no more parties until he's 8.}

Luxe Party Supplies Giveaway

if you know me {or have been reading my blog long} you know i LOVE to throw parties! 

and a perfect party starts with the perfect invitations. 

Michelle of Luxe Party Supplies has some of the cutest invitations i have seen. 

she is so very talented!!
she can also make the invitations custom with your own pictures & wording.

here are a few favorites:  

 i mean seriously, seriously cute!!
{the mustache one? i'm obsessed over} 

and if you are not shopping for invites right now, be sure to check out Luxe Party Supplies for other cute party supplie needs.

like these cute teal polka-dot cupcake liners

and these blue striped paper straws



and much more!

be sure to check out Luxe Party Supplies online
shop | blog | facebook | twitter 

today, Luxe Party Supplies is giving away a custom invitation of winner's choice from her shop.
you will definitely not be disappointed!

{enter below} 
GOOD LUCK!! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

what are little boys made of?

i decided last Sunday that i wanted to have Elijah’s birthday party that coming Saturday.
pretty ambitious since i hadn’t planned much before that moment.
even though Elijah’s birthday isn’t until the 21st, i knew it was going to be a super crazy week with friends & family in town, Adam’s graduation, Adam’s finals & papers, and then going to San Diego. all this week!
SO! if i wanted to have a party at all it seemed like Saturday was the day to do it!

 Elijah is all boy!
{except when he tells me my necklace is cute i guess, ha}
so i wanted to throw him an all boy party. but i didn’t want it to be just about cars or dinosaurs or sports, i wanted it to be everything boy!
then i thought of the nursery rhyme “What are little boys made of?” and that’s where i got my inspiration.

[via]

here is the invite i sent out so you can all feel invited too.
{the blue box wasn’t part of it, just protecting our info :)}
i made it from free digital scrapbook paper and found the little snail image online. i then put it all together using a basic photo editing program like Paint.net

we then had lots of sweets & treats to munch on all based off of the nursery rhyme like
“snail shells” cake bites
“puppy dog tails” licorice
“puppy chow” Chex Muddy Buddies
little “mud pies” with worms
cupcakes with little frogs and lizards on them [made by my very talented friend Jessica]
and “frog food” which was popcorn, pretzels, and goldfish in little paper cones i made from extra scrapbook paper i had.

for decorations, i used toys and decorations from Elijah’s room to give it a whimsical & boyish theme. [and keep it really cheap!]
plus the toys doubled for keeping the kids entertained so all the adults could talk.
win win win. 

                        

Elijah had a BLAST!!
i’m pretty sure {actually i’m certain} he just ran around the whole time playing with the toys and kids and stealing other people’s candy and cupcake frosting.
but that’s what birthday parties are for, right??

i’m really glad it all came together and i LOVE how it turned out!!
[of course the perfectionist in me wishes i bought tablecloths in the same color for the food tables but whatev]
and i know i couldn’t have done it at all without the help of my friends for all their support, ideas, letting me borrow stuff from them, helping set up, helping clean up, listening to me freak out when i was stressed…. everything!!
especially my friend Jessica who basically did everything! that lady is wonderwoman and i owe her a bajillion favors!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU
to all who helped & came to celebrate Elijah’s birthday with us!
the birthday boy sure felt loved and enjoyed all the attention {and sugar!}
and his mama felt lots of love too :)

 

a Soda Shoppe surprise party

my friend Jessica (you know her from Sebastian Design) has pretty much been my best friend and savior since we started hanging out this past summer. i honestly can’t even adequately express the appreciation i have for her!

i know for a fact that i wouldn’t be where or who i am today if it wasn’t for Jessica’s friendship and support.
she has constantly believed in me and pushed me to reach my goals.
she is always there to listen to me, encourage me, and celebrate with me.
she is honest, sincere, kind, and loving to everyone!
and she is just an amazing example to me of what it means to be Christ-like and to love one another.

so, obviously i love Jessica a lot :)
and so does my friend Kylie. so we decided we wanted to throw her a surprise party for her birthday
{which is today! stop by her Facebook page and tell her HAPPY BIRTHDAY!}

we decided we wanted to go with a Soda Shoppe/Candy Shoppe theme
and make it very bright & {old-fashioned kinda style}

it turned out so good!!
it was so fun to see Jessica’s reaction when she walked in!
she just kept saying, “what is happening….” over and over.
it was awesome!

here are just a few pictures of the decorations and little details we used to create the candy store atmosphere we wanted:

 

the whole party cost us about $10 + the cost of food
crazy right??

• i made the “Happy Birthday” banner out of scrapbook paper i already had and i wrote out the letters.
• for the centerpieces, i had some old soda bottles and i spray painted them white. then Kylie made the pinwheels out of cardstock that we already had as well.

• [not pictured] we also hung ribbon and tissue pom-poms from the ceiling to make it a little more colorful and fun. we had the tissue and ribbon on hand {ribbon was from Jessica but she didn’t know what for! we were sneaky :)} so it basically didn’t cost anything.

the party was a lot of fun and it was so funny to see Jessica’s reaction.
her husband said she had never had a surprise party before so me and Kylie felt pretty proud of ourselves for being able to help pull it off!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSICA!!

 

now, i have tons of candy to eat.
anyone want some?
:)

cougars don’t cut corners

4 years ago {yesterday} my Family Home Evening (FHE) group in my young single adult ward made this hilarious video for our ward talent show.

a little background about our group:
in case you didn’t click that link, Family Home Evening (FHE) is something that families hold once a week (usually on Mondays) where they can draw closer together as a family and strengthen their testimonies. since we were in a singles ward and didn’t have a real, traditional family to have FHE each week, they would combine apartments and ask a girl and a boy to be our “mom” and “dad.”

and since we were an awesome FHE group, we decided to make a spoof of The Office
{complete with a wallet stuck in a vending machine}
called The FHE!

there’s a lot of Provo/BYU/Mormon jokes thrown in there {especially about dating & marriage}
but i think it is still really funny even if you don’t live in Provo

so i wanted to share this amazing video with all of you!
and you can see what i was like 4 years ago
:)

a few notes:
1. i’m supposed to be the Kelly Kapoor character that’s why i’m kind of ridiculous
2. i do in fact know the whole High School Musical dance. and i’m not ashamed. i will dance it for you if you ever want to see it in real life :)
3. yes my hair is super short. and i really miss it.
4. at the end when i say, “i think we’re ready to perform in public,” we all rushed the stage at the talent show and performed the dance in front of our whole ward. cause again,
we are awesome like that!

ENJOY!
{i hope it’s as funny to you as i think it is…}

 

favorite quotes:

Ellen: “Provo is more than just a marriage ground. It’s also about education… and faith… and ethnic restaurants. People forget that. You never see married couples in ethnic restaurants these days.”

Frans: “They have to know who their father is. The purpose of FHE is to prepare us for real families—families in which there is a daddy, a mommy, about 24 kids, in an apartment made for 6. It sets the standard.”

Andrew: “Two Truths and a Lie is the best FHE game EVER! The prototype, if you will. Get this: 1. you learn which girls have done crazy things, and 2. you learn which girls are the best liars—two things I look for in a girl. This may sound strange, but I’ve found that the best liars are also the ones who say they’ve enjoyed my dates the most.”

Megan: “Look! Cougars don’t cut corners. Unless they are chasing deer. Cause deer are fast… but even then, the do it right!”

pumpkin cream pie

i figured since it was Thanksgiving this week,
{this week!!!!!}
i would share my favorite pumpkin pie recipe

now, i have never been a huge fan of pumpkin pie unless it was completely covered in whip cream.
i mean, i would of course eat it still, but just not my favorite

SO, last year when i decided i wanted to cook my very first Thanksgiving from scratch, i decided i should probably find a good and easy pumpkin pie recipe that i actually enjoyed.

lo and behold, this is it!
and of course it’s a Martha Stewart recipe because she is amazing.

Pumpkin Cream Pie

Ingredients

• 1 Pillsbury pie crust (or other premade crust. or you can make your own but i was too afraid to try)
• 1 can (15 ounces) pure pumpkin puree
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, plus more for serving
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin-pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin (from a 1/4-ounce envelope)*
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

*The gelatin part might sound weird, but it helps the homemade whip cream keep its shape. You can’t taste it so no worries!

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Press a sheet of aluminum foil onto crust, draping over rim of pie plate. Bake until edge of crust is firm, about 20 minutes. Remove foil; let crust cool completely, and set aside.
2. Reduce heat to 350 degrees. Make filling: In a medium bowl, whisk together pumpkin, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, pie spice, vanilla, and salt; whisk in cream. Pour mixture into cooled crust; place pie plate on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until filling is set, about 1 hour. Let cool on a wire rack, 1 hour; refrigerate to cool completely, about 2 hours.
3. Make topping: Place 3 tablespoons cold water in a small saucepan; sprinkle with gelatin, and let soften, about 5 minutes. Place pan over very low heat; stir until gelatin dissolves. Let cool slightly. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat cream and sugar until very soft peaks form. While beating, slowly add gelatin mixture; continue to beat until soft peaks form.
4. With a rubber spatula, mound topping in center of chilled pie. Refrigerate at least 1 hour more (or up to 1 day). Sprinkle with more cinnamon before serving.

ENJOY!

OH! and i also made…. Potted Pumpkin Pies for a take home gift

i also found this really cute idea for a party favor here and had to try it! I used the recipe from above but then just put it in little mason jars for people to take with them.
(note: i didn’t add crust just the pie filling)
it was a hit!

you can find the directions here to make your own!

un-Halloween part: how we’re super cheap/the crafts

for our Mad Hatter Halloween, we had lots of big decoration plans but very little money
so we ended up borrowing, thrifting, and crafting most of them.
even though they were just little details we really felt like they brought it all together
and in the end, the whole party cost us
less than $50!

yep.
you read that right!

so i wanted to share with you some of the crafts we made
{with little tutorials if applicable}
that helped make this party amazing
and hopefully show you that you don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a great party.

 

invitations:
i designed our invitation using Paint.Net.
i really like this program and it’s free to download and simple to use.
my husband has Photoshop on his computer but i always get lost using it.
i feel like this program isn’t nearly as daunting.

 

i then printed the invitations off on white cardstock and backed it with some black cardstock (both already had). i also included little tea bags in the envelopes that said “drink me!” on them.
i know. cute! 

 

picture wall: 

we found these cute Alice in Wonderland silhouette downloads that we wanted to hang on the back fence. instead of buying frames, we cut out frames from cardboard we got from the recycling plant (Kelsey’s husband works there) and then painted them.
i thought they turned out nice and it was an easy and free project!

 

the arrows:

 

again, we cut the arrows out of cardboard and then painted them bright colors. i then took a permanent marker and made a border around the edge and wrote the different “directions” on them. i also think we found the sticks at the recycling plant too and nailed the arrows to them.

 

card garland:
this project was kind of frustrating at first but then turned out awesome!

 

Kelsey and i each had some packs of face cards at home and used them to make this card garland.
(you can also get them from the dollar store)
all we did was run the cards through a sewing machine and sewed them all together.
at first my sewing machine kept jamming though so that was frustrating…. but all of a sudden it started cooperating and we were able to attach them all together.
i absolutely love how it turned out!!

 

yarn and tissue balls:

  

we really wanted whimsical and eclectic flairs of color around the party and so we decided to make these yarn and tissue balls to hang on the porch. both were super easy and free to make since we already had all the materials.

to make the yarn balls, all you need to do is dip some yarn in a glue/water mixture and wrap it around some small balloons. let it dry overnight (or longer) and then pop the balloons.
easy and so cute!

the tissue balls are also really easy and so fun to make! i’m pretty sure i’ve made them for every party i’ve hosted lately cause i love them so much!
you can find a great tutorial here or i’d be happy to post my own version as well
(i use pipe cleaners instead of string)

 

Kelsey’s Mad Hatter hat:

Kelsey took all this stuff that she just had around the house….

 

and turned it into this!

pretty amazing and completely free!

 

my costume:

believe it or not, my costume cost a whopping
$3!

the red dress is actually a prom dress that my mom made for me in high school
(go Mom!)
then, Kelsey and i had some extra felt hanging around so we cut out some hearts and pinned it to the dress. easy peasy!
to top off the ensemble, i purchased the gloves and heart wand from the dollar store and the crown is from Michaels. [each $1]
and the necklace was a gift from my sister of Rhi’s Designs.
and voila!
THE QUEEN OF HEARTS!

 

i think that’s about all the crafty things we did.
i was really proud of ourselves and how we were able to take simple items around the house and make them into awesome party elements!

some other things that we did to help ease the cost of our party were:
-ask around for things to borrow! we borrowed lots of tables, chairs, decorations, tablecloths, etc. helped A LOT!
-potluck. we had a dinner party which could essentially be really expensive. but we asked everyone to bring a dish and they were happy to do it. it might seem tacky but everyone were really great about helping out!
-and be creative! more often than not you probably have really great things around your house that you can turn into the perfect design element. all it takes is some creativity {& lots of pinterest!} and you can do amazing things!

i know this is kind of a long post {sorry}
but i hope it shows that you don’t have to spend a ton of money to have the party you imagined!

that pretty much concluded my posts about our Halloween party
i hope you enjoyed it all and aren’t totally bored with it
:)

[other parts: instagram pictures, decorations, & characters]

un-Halloween party: the little details

for our Mad  Hatter “un-Halloween” party,
Kelsey and i spent a lot of time figuring out exactly how we wanted to decorate

we really wanted to go for the
crazy/eclectic/vintage/magical/whimsical look.

and it was all that and more!

the decorations ended up being an accumulation of
funky thrift store treasures,
little beauties from our apartments,
and lots of time spent honing our crafty skills.

plus i have to give a HUGE SHOUT OUT to Kelsey’s aunt for basically providing everything for our whole party. she had an amazing collection of beautiful vintage plates, table cloths & linens, tables, chairs, etc.
we couldn’t have done it without her!!

i wish we got more pictures of the whole table layout with the plates, tea cups, and place settings but i forgot my camera and Kelsey couldn’t find hers. plus we were running really late…
 grrrrr.

but it was absolutely gorgeous!! 
each person had their own, beautiful, unique plate {thanks to Kelsey’s aunt}
paired with a fun, mismatched tea cup
and we gave each guest a squeeze-it that said “drink me” next to it
it was perfect!! 
ah! i can’t stop swooning over it!

{plus we were super cheap so it’s like a double dose of awesomeness!}

   

these pictures seriously don’t do it justice.
but just know that it was awesome!!

next up: guests!