P&C Real Life Party: Start Your Engines!

Start those engines! This real life Race Car birthday party is so spectacular, you need a seatbelt just to look at it! Charlene (Brendan's ultra awesome mom) put this together recently, and here is what she had to say:

When I started planning my son's 4th Birthday party I was inspired by Paper & Cake's car party. My son LOVES playing with his hot wheels!

I loved the color palette of red, light blue and white. I also wanted to accent it with the black and white check. I was able to use the printable package and enhance those colors with all the decorating accents. I customized the printable a little to gear it for his 4th birthday by changing the red car number to read 4!

I enlarged the car images and printed and spray mounted to foam core to have added stand up decorations.

I decorated the cake table and dining table with hanging tissue honeycomb balls above from devra-party.com. I printed many of the 2" circles graphics with adding "Fuel Up" on to sticker paper and used them on cups and plastic juice containers.

I transformed the basement into his own mini race track where I made signs and set up stations for the car mechanic, pit stop for drinks and snacks, gas station, tattoos and also set up some hot wheel race car tracks all around the house!

I also had mini car cakes made from a car cake pan I had from William Sonoma the kids decorated them for an activity and for their own cake to eat!

I also loved using the car trays that was included in the package to use as there goodie-loot bag!! I also had to enhance a plain white paper bag from Michaels for all the extra things to bring home by printing the top part of the invitation and spray mounting them  to the front and backs of the bags and adding there name onto the thank you tags tied with a ribbon to the bag!

The kids all had fun and most of all the birthday boy who said "Mommy, I love my car party- thank you!!! So makes it all worth it!

Oh- The Dessert table had Oreo truffle pops and chocolate dipped Oreos that I made, and I bought the chocolate covered square marshmallows from Costco (just added the blue chocolate drizzle). My friend Elizabeth Geiser made my cake. And assorted candy from gumballs, sixlets, licorice, gummies all from Party City and The Sweet Factory.

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P&C Real Life Party: Italian Cooking Class

A very good friend of mine has the stamina to teach cooking to children, I don't know how she does it! During the different school breaks, you will find her - and a bunch of under 10 year olds - making everything from "Grilled Beef Rolls with Scallion Soy Dipping Sauce" to PIZZA!

It was her Pizza day that inspired this, our Mangia Printable Party collection. Each child received a personalized place mat (that we laminated) to use as a work surface, and a cup with a personalized sleeve (so they could keep the same cup throughout the class). In addition they all got to take home a class cookbook filled with that week's recipes.

And YUM! The insane mess was all worth it! Good pizza, great friends, and a valuable cooking experience that could inspire a lifetime love of cooking.

Want to have a Pizza Party of your own? Whether it's a birthday, or a girls night - cooking pizza or ordering in, download and decorate till your hearts content!

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Lemonade for Japan

I received an email late last week from Missy, of Sweet Funky Vintage Boutique, with the most amazing story. Using our Lemonade Stand printables, she and her girls put together a fundraiser, selling - what else - Lemonade. I was also touched when she mentioned that her husband is currently on the USS Ronald Reagan, off the coast of Japan, assisting with relief efforts. Sher wrote about her experience, here is what she had to say...

After the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, I sat down with my girls and we watched a few minutes of the news coverage and talked about how sad it was. I was very proud of my girls for wanting to do something to help. They are always begging to hold lemonade stands and I try not to let them hustle our neighbors for money too often!;) I usually only let them if they can think of a charity or a good cause to donate the money too. The last lemonade stand they held, they donated the money to a neighbor who was saving to travel to the East Coast on her 8th grade trip (Washington DC and New York - woo hoo!). So, we discussed having a lemonade stand and donating all of the money to the American Red Cross for Japanese disaster relief. I asked a few neighbors is their children would like to participate, and everyone jumped at the chance to join in. I am sure we all feel a little bit helpless when faced with a tragedy so huge. I mean, with the economy the way it is, we all feel a little cash-strapped from time to time. But, in comparison to the HUGE need in Japan, we kind of feel like "what can I really do?". But, just imagine, if we all held a lemonade stand and donated the proceeds? We could really make a difference! (jumping off soapbox now...)

The girls and I baked TONS of chocolate chip cookies (2 big tubs of cookie dough from Costco. I heart Costco. But, that's another post). Our friends brought brownies and lemon cookies, and we, of course, served lemonade.

Wouldn't you know that it was cold and overcast. In San Diego. Where it is warm and sunny practically 365 days a year. Not the day of our lemonade stand. No sirree. But, the kids had enthusiasm to spare! No grey clouds were going to rain out their parade! Just look at the pictures!

I purchased the printable decoration set from a fabulous party supply designer, Paper and Cake, and made the banner, paper chain, signs, and straw circles that we used.

We held our lemonade stand for 2 hours and sold cups of lemonade for $.25, and 2 cookies for $.50. Our grand total was.... $181.37.

Thanks, Neighbors! Now, just think, if we all organized a car wash, bake sale, lemonade stand or something similar, we could really make a difference! What could you and your kids do to help?

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Thanks for inspiring us Missy!

If you are interested in putting together your own printable Lemonade Stand fundraiser, our collection is now on sale for 

50% off today through April 8th. Let's make a difference!

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P&C Real Life Party: Space, the Final Frontier

This is my son - Jack. He is a total space nut! I originally posted this story on my personal blog, but I thought it was about time I shared it over here... This is what I had to say:

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Seeing as how I am the s-l-o-w-e-s-t blogger on the planet, it's looking like time I put up some information about the Space Party we had for my 5 year old a few weeks back.

Let me back up.... for Christmas this last year, "Santa" gave my son an astronaut suit, complete with helmet. He is a bit obsessed with "Star Wers, Dark Vader and Life Savors" (his words, not mine), so I thought we could broaden his horizons a bit and get him imagining space as a whole rather than just "Luke the Sky Walker".

What with the Paper & Cake printable partyware team being, well, ME, I made the executive decision to design a Space Printable Birthday Party collection. I figured if my son was into it, there was a good chance he was not alone.


Invitation

So, here is the invite - and the beauty of it is that it's available in our store, so all you have to do is type your own info into it using Acrobat Reader, a free download from adobe.com. Easy, right?


Decorations

I could not WAIT to share this part of the decorations with you all. Because it is budget central over here at the Barnes house (our family is on a mission to save save save wherever possible) I was really excited to have the opportunity to use a giant plastic bin full of Space related paraphernalia that my dad gave me from his days working at JPL. Pins, buttons, maps, photos, illustrations, you name it - the perfect bunch of stuff to choose from!

So, using two frames I had in the closet, I removed the glass and covered the cardboard filler with silver sparkly scrapbooking paper. The pins and buttons are just stuck in to the backing - no tape or glue needed. Two sets of 3M removable picture hangers did the trick to hang them above the table near the front door.

photo by Missy Marie Photography

Next, I put together photo collages using brightly colored photographs of Saturn, various moons, and mars, to hang above the fireplaces. These were held together with Fotoclips (tiny plastic fasteners), and secured to the wall using some blue painters tape.

photo by Krista Lucas Photography

For some added interest, I placed this "Mars" book (from the plastic bin) and several space themed library books on tables around the house.

photo by Krista Lucas Photography

In addition, you can bet that I used pennant banners, lawn dots and garlands GALORE from our Space Printable Birthday Party collection. They are SO easy - just print on cardstock on your home color printer, and cut. For the lawn dots, I added wooden skewers to the back to stick them into the lawn along the front walkway.

garland - use 1", 2" and 3" punches and hang with silver ribbon

lawn dots can be assembled using kitchen skewers and hot glue

Activity

Usually I offer a craft project or two at the kids parties, but this time - and knowing the guest list, I put up activity tables instead. I ordered some small astronaut action figures from amazon and paired them with home made play dough. Neon food coloring is the secret to this popular activity.

photo by Krista Lucas Photography

Another inexpensive project for the kids to work on is legos - especially when you use the ones you already own. Just set them out in buckets on a big table, and that's it.

We were also fortunate that my husband was able to finish building the play structure in the backyard (the morning of the party!) just in time! I Wrapped it with 7 dollars worth of silver organza, and attached a few "control panels" with buttons and knobs on loan from some friends at his office.

photo by Krista Lucas Photography

And now, for the piéce de résistance... the moment you have all been waiting for....

the hover craft!

I'm not kidding. One of my husband's friends made a hover craft. Well, it's kind of more like a hover board because only one person can ride at a time, but still. The kids went CRAZY for it. Well here, let me show you:

 

Jack and his friends enjoyed themselves so much, that even Jack's preschool teacher had to try it out!

Cake

One word for you.... Cupcakes. When you have this much party planning to do, why not make it easy on yourself, for once! Here is my secret, please don't tell anyone! Use box-of-cake-mix (any kind will do) but make your own frosting. A nice vanilla cream cheese buttercream will do nicely, and make the cupcakes taste as though they are from scratch as well.

Now, because I was feeling a little guilty for not making a whole cake (have you seen my cakes? they can be a tad bit on the labor intensive side), I planned a really cool cupcake stand instead. I took two kraft paper "hat" boxes ($3.25 ea from the Fabric Barn), and one round cake board, and covered them in the same matching gray sparkly scrapbooking paper I've been using for other party items. I also took a little bit of the ribbon from the hanging garlands, and wrapped that around and around. 

 

Leaving the silver foil baking cups on the cupcake, I frosted, added a matching cupcake pick, and set them around the hat boxes. The cupcake picks from this Space Printable Birthday set could not be easier! Print on cardstock and use a 2" punch (or scissors) to cut out, then tape or glue to a toothpick - that's it!

Party Favors

photo by Krista Lucas Photography

Did I mention the budget? So, how do you give party favors to 20 kids without spending a fortune? With a Space themed CD of course! I burned several CDs (one per family) with these great songs:

Star Wars Theme

Swinging on a Star, Bing Crosby

Fly Me to the Moon, Ralph's World

I Don't Want to Live on the Moon, Ernie from Sesame Street

Roger's Intergalactic Tour, Seth Decker & the Missing Piece

Moon Moon Moon, Laurie Berkner

The Ballad of Davy Crockett (In Outer Space), They Might Be Giants

Let's Take a Rocketship to Space, Danny and the Jaytones

The Imperial March (Star Wars)

We're Going to Mars, the Backyardigans

Rocketship Run, Laurie Berkner

When you Wish upon a Star, Cliff Edwards

2001: A Space Odyssey Theme

Avery has a label you can run through your ink jet printer and stick right on the front of your CD. Of course the label is also available on the Space Printable Birthday Party, wink wink. Package it in a silver CD bubble wrapper from here, and there you have it for about $2 per favor.

Food

Food is not my favorite party item to plan/prepare/shop for, so I usually make a VERY simple spread. Stars and moon shaped sandwiches, giant platters of fruit, chips and salsa, Lemonade, Ice Tea and a super creative Cereal Bar.

photo by Krista Lucas Photography

ultra cool chip and dip belonged to my grandmother - so space age! 

photo by Krista Lucas Photography

photo by Krista Lucas Photography

use any kind of cereal, and serve dry in a cup or paper cone

photo by Missy Marie Photography

Wrap Up

Okay, let me just say that the party was WAY easier and shorter for that matter than this blog post. I'll wrap up my 17 volume tome by saying, "I love a good party!". I really really love throwing a good party, especially one that is home made and on a budget. 

Jack had a SPECTACULAR time at the party, in fact, we haven't even taken down the decorations yet (it's only been a month), and we listen to his space music EVERY day. Every. Day. Let me know if you have any questions, or if you have your own Space themed party to share.

photo by Krista Lucas Photography

photo by Krista Lucas Photography

photo by Missy Marie Photography

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Birthday-to-Go

My daughter's best friend turned 9 this weekend, and celebrated by inviting his closest friends to the Aquarium of the Pacific. The weather forecast called for rain, rain and more rain all weekend long, with no facility inside the Aquarium to celebrate with cake. His mom was panicking with visions of birthday cake in the parking structure!

 the party rounds are made with photos I took of Jacob's fish tank

The super fast solution? Birthday-to-go bags! A cellophane treat bag that could be transported anywhere on the grounds at a moments notice. The kids could even eat on the go, or save some for later. We decided on whoopee pies (like cake! only with the frosting on the inside), juice boxes, pencils and erasers and fish stickers, tied with a 2" party round.

Thankfully, the day of the party turned out to be yet another beautiful Southern California afternoon, and the kids had a fabulous time!

Happy birthday Jacob!

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P&C Real Life Party: Pink Polka Dots

My sister Melia is one of my biggest supporters... She has been printing, cutting and party-ing with Paper & Cake since day one. This newly pregnant (CONGRATULATIONS!) mom of 2 recently put together a spectacular party for her daughter's 7th birthday using our Pink Polka Dot printable party. Here is what she had to say...

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Crystal’s 7th Birthday Party

For Crystal’s Birthday Party, she decided to have a Spa theme. I racked my brain for what this would entail. Then I hit the dollar section at Target and the party started coming together. In the dollar section, I picked up sleep masks with fun girly designs and a dual pack of nail polishes (so sad, I forgot to take pictures of the gift bags that we created with these).


The Decorations
So, I had the gift bags created...now it came down to what the party look would like. Thank goodness, I have the most creative sister who has a printable party business. I picked up her pink circle designs and went to town.

Here is a picture of my dining room table turned into party creation central. 

I cut out a ton of circles, which turned into the cutest decorations.

The Activities
Make your own Bath Salts - (which I didn’t take pictures of) This ended up being a huge hit at the party. Each girl got a container (thanks Ziploc plastic containers with screw on lids) and put two scoops of Epsom salt and one scoop of course salt and a couple drops of scented oil (lavender). If you choose to do a craft like this....ONLY DO ONE SCENT....my house smelled like lavender for days. Thankfully I love lavender. After mixing up the salts and scent, each girl customized their bath salts with food coloring.  I wrote each girl’s name on their container and they added them to their gift bags.  It made a great take home present for each girl.

Nail Painting – Each girl got to pick her own color and/or pattern. Some kids stuck to one color, others went for a different color on each nail. It was quite fun to see what they ended up choosing.

Photo Booth Wall – In my brilliance, I decided to decorate the photo booth wall with colorful post its. This sounded like a great idea until we were about half way through the entire wall an hour later. In hindsight I should have just used some of the great full page designs in the paper pack.  The wall, however, came out great. The girls had a great time posing for pictures.

The Cake
And last but not least, I decided to let the girls decorate their own birthday cupcakes. I baked a batch of vanilla cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes, along with chocolate icing and vanilla icing. I then pulled out every bottle of cake sprinkles I had. I have to confess I had quite the number of bottles. In the next pictures you can see the kids going to town on the cupcakes. They had a blast.

The Wrap Up
After the all of the fun, we got the girls together for a group picture. It ended up being one of my favorite parties.

As you can see, the girls had the best time.

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