I recently received the SweeTARTS Soft & Chewy Ropes from Smiley360 for free. They are advertised as " a new mouthwatering licorice rope with the electrifying flavor fusion of sweet and tart."  So, on to test the merits of this statement.  I'm not really a candy person, so who to get to test it for me?  Hm....of course, I have children, how silly of me.  The outside of the "rope" is a gummy type texture with an interior of fizz.  There are 4 ropes to each package, which is plenty for my kids (no sugar high here please).  The kids enjoyed the mix of sweet and tart cherry flavor just what you would expect from a name like SweeTARTS.  All in all I think they were a hit with the kids and we'll probably get them again.

Olaf Birthday Party

My daughter, like every other girl child in the country is crazy for Frozen....or more specifically Olaf. I can't really blame her he is kinda cute and has a great attitude. There was plentiful Frozen decoration but I was looking for Olaf centered things.  Since he really has a simple outline it was actually easy to make some myself.

First the pinata because it usually takes me the longest to make. I free drew the head which was a big step for me because I can't draw. The two circles for his body are just two nesting bowls I had that I traced. Made it easier to make sure the sizes would be graduated. Paper cone for the nose and real sticks for his arms.

As you can see I really probably made it too big (expensive to fill, lol) it

s about the size of my daughter

DH got a bunch of these size plastic cups for free so I try to use them when ever possible. I printed a picture of this and then placed it in the cup to trace.

White balloons which Olaf face, which I again free handed but he has a  really easy shape

Cupcake cake, on tin foil cover Rubbermaid bin lid (because I don't own a cake platter). Oreos for eyes, licorice for the mouth and a cone filled with Reese Pieces for a nose. I drew the arm directly on the foil with Nutella because that's what I had in the pantry

She looks pretty happy with it!

Hello Kitty Birthday

I took the easy way out this time, I ordered these cup cake toppers off of ebay.  The came out super cute but half the ones I ordered arrived broken.  I think they were more fragile than the shipper thought they would be.

I bought a couple packages of temporary tattoos from the dollar spot at Target and the kids loved them. 

Yes, a store bought pinata.....what can I say I got lazy :)

Minecraft party

For my son's 8th birthday he told me he wanted Minecraft.....after I said "what?", I looked it up.....

 This is what I came up with

Creeper balloons, put in odds places to give everyone...well, the creeps. I just added the black electrical tape.

Spiders out of balloons, streamers and red construction paper

Large wall decoration. I used dinner sized plates from the dollar store with a foam backing (DH would have had a fit of I'd have tried to mount it to the wall like I saw people do on Pinterest). With the foam backing I could prop it against the wall. It ended up being pretty large. For smaller areas maybe use dessert plates?

TNT licorice bundles 

 

Creeper cake. I am by no means a baker so I needed simple. I used green jimmies, green sugar sprinkles and coconut (died green with food coloring) to give it the appearance of being pixelated.  Hershey bars gave me the "face" 

I used this video to make a Steve head pinata.  My Son's birthday is in November so I just buy Halloween candy on clearance and stuff it full. 

Ladybug birthday

My husband had access to some ladybug decorations (for free!!!!!!!!) so my daughter decided to have a ladybug birthday......with no coercion what-so-ever.

yes, I do own a cupcake tree...and yes I have to store it the other 364 days of the year

hubby was able to pick-up the cupcake wrappers and picks. I decided to use green frosting as "grass".  I cut a hole in a zip-lock baggie and squeezed for  the  tip effect

These are the favor bags hubby got for free.  I cut them out (they were a cellophane variety) and use plain old static to make them stick to the walls.  Hubby abhors tape on the walls!

 Again, the center piece was a hubby freebie, I added red and black licorice as a treat

The treat baggies again adhered to the window with static 

and again

I wasn't originally going to do a piñata but my daughter was aghast at the thought.  I figured that I was saving so much with the hubby freebies that I would just buy one.  Walked into the party store with confidence and money....no ladybugs.....nothing even spring-ish.  Cut to me Friday afternoon (party Saturday) making yet another piñata. Circley-oblongy card board, red crepe paper and black napkins (because I had them).  Didn't turn out too bad.

My Special-Special (that is what I call her) in her ladybug out fit.  I got luck that I found this on sale as a Dollie & Me outfit for about $8.00.

I painter her nail to match the ladybug theme.  Thank God I have a night job.

I used Baby Bell cheese and cut ladybugs.  The circles where easily made by the sharp end of my hand slicer

Piñata in action.

Almost there

All in all, pretty much a success!!!



Lego Party

I recently had my son's 7th birthday and he choose his favorite current thing as the theme....Legos!  I'm going to post a few of the decorations that I came up with.

I just had these laying out as decorations...they were harder than they looked and only turned out so-so....don't think I recommend making then

Favor bags.  I used different colored bag and used a small foam mount to add two circles to give it a two-block Lego effect

I cut little Lego men from yellow (because that's what I had) wrapping paper to tape up around

I found Lego style wrapping paper at the party store and used it to "wrap" my front door and the cake platter.

pattern found from Pinterest for the Lego men

These were a cute printable that I found that I attached to streamers

The Lego cake....I used my loaf pan for this and made various "bricks out of it.  The peg portion of the Lego was made from mini muffins.

My son's name spelled out in Lego....I actually had fun with this one

another piñata....red Solo cups, a box and red wrapping paper...coundn't be simpler.