Cupcake Party

I LOVE my kids birthdays! I have so much fun with their parties!!

When my oldest daughter turned one, I was definitely tempted to do a princess theme, considering she's our princess. :) But I wanted to try something different...
So we had a cupcake theme!

Invitations looked like a cupcake cut-out. The info, "our little cupcake is turning one. Come join us for all the fun", was written in pink on the "icing" part. The bottom was purple paper that I accordion folded to look like the wrapper of a cupcake. Adorable!!

I then made giant posterboard cupcakes to hang up everywhere. I covered the tops with cotton balls.

Of course, everything was purple & pink. On purple tables, we made these cute centerpieces... in little plastic flower pots we put a half of a foam ball. Then we used pink Hershey kisses & tissue paper squares to stick in it with toothpicks. So, it would go: toothpick, square, kiss... stacked on top of each other. The finished product looked like a cupcake.

As you can assume we did make your own cupcakes & it was a big hit with all her little cousins! Such fun!! :)

Train Party

In an attempt to archive some of my memories... & because it's fun... I'm going to begin to post weekly with party ideas!

When my oldest was turning 2, we had a Thomas the Tank Engine obsession. Secretly it made me happy. I remember my youngest brother being into Thomas, as was my dad when the books were first publish in England. My grandmother is from England, where it originated... needless to say it was kind of nostalgic to have my son love the very same thing! :)

It was my first themed party... ever! Before this the closest I came to themes was my wedding (new years eve) & I think I can definitely say I wish I could re-do that whole shindig!

I started out thinking I should just order a bunch of Thomas plates, get balloons & be done with it... instead, because we had so little money, I discovered the art of making a party my own (for very little $$).

We did solid color dinner plates, napkins & cups. I broke down & got Thomas dessert plates. :)

My next adventure was the highlight of the party. We had it at our apartment complex clubhouse. They had a party room with a chalkboard wall on one side. It reminded me of the inside of the train sheds on Efton's Thomas shirt. So, I used the church's overhead projector one afternoon. I blew up pictures of the trains from the show as big as possible onto poster board. I colored them. Then, at the party the main wall had these almost life-size (to a 2 yr old) trains! It was super cute!

We covered the tables in red table covers. Then I used his big train case (shaped like Thomas) as a balloon weight for the main centerpiece. The other 2 tables had boxes that I'd wrapped in Thomas wrapping paper & ribbons. They looked like giant Thomas presents, except they were empty! Haha!

Birthday boy wanted pizza- so I didn't do anything too wild with the food! BUT my favorite part was the cake. First themed party... first themed cake I'd ever made!

I made a sheet cake, then placed a round cake on top. So once I'd iced & decorated it, the cake looked like the front of Thomas! My big boy was SO HAPPY!

Goodie bags were crayons, an MnM cookie & a picture to color. Easy! Simple! Kids loved it!! :)

So, perhaps for posterity only, but that was my very first themed party! And honestly, one of my favorites! :)