Ash's birthday was this last week and boy did she have fun!! With Andy I got away with hardly doing anything. He didn't know any different at the time. A small family party and we were good! :) I guess that once you have an older brother you are MUCH more savvy. You are wise to the ways of the birthday party! We had a family party last weekend complete with THE CUTEST pink princess castle cake made by my talented aunt Lani .
I mean seriously...how cute is that??? My hand is hurting just looking at all that work!!! :) That star tip got a work out!! :) (If you're in the Phoenix area and getting married she's also a great wedding photog!! :)
Ash had a blast...but she kept asking when her party with her friends was going to be. When her friends were going to come over in their princess dresses and play princess and put on make-up. So, I caved. Who wouldn't want that photo op??? I had a feeling that she would be asking so I picked up a few things here and there over the last month or so and I got creative. Granted two and three year olds aren't going to really care, but I wanted it to still LOOK good! :) So, here's the skinny...I'll try and give you patterns and instructions for things along the way. If they don't make it in this post I'll be sure to put them up soon!! :)
The invites:
These were SUPER easy. I printed the invitation out using scriptina font (not the easiest to read, but very princess like) onto the pink cardstock, then I used a foam crown from Michaels as the template, traced around it onto Pink cardstock and cut them out. I then glued the pink crown onto white cardstock ( I firmly believe that everything looks much richer and nicer when it's matted...everything in life is about layers...clothing, interior design, srapbooking...you name it!). Once it was glued onto the white cardstock I cut it out again. Then using paper glaze (basically like clear glue with a needle nose tip...found at any craft store) I traced around the inside of the pink cardstock and then glittered my glue line with bright pink making memories glitter. Then I glued on some rhinestones and they were done. Now that I wrote it out it sounds WAY more complicated than it was. It definitely took me less than an hour to make them all. :) I'll put up a template later this week. :)
The biggest key to doing things on a budget (I think) is to always be thinking ahead. That way when you''re out shopping, if you see a great bargain, you can snatch it up. I know Ash LOVES all things pink and girly, so when I see a few things on clearance I'll pick them up knowing I can use them at some point. When valentine's stuff went on clearance I was in pink bargain heaven! :) I picked up a few pink tablecloths for 75 cents each, pink napkins for .50, pink, red and white M&M's, and pink hershey's kisses. In January, Target had stocking stuffers on 75% off clearance. I picked up cupcake lip glosses for .15 cents each!!! DEAL!!! Old navy had white flip flops on sale earlier this month for .97 cents each...and I had a 30% off coupon so they were like .65 cents a pair!!! Picked up a few of those too! :) Once it came time to party I just built the party around those things! :)
The idea was to "make yourself a princess." There were three stations...one to paint nails, (using nailpolish we already had around the house) put on lip gloss (that I had bought on clearance months before) and sparkles that I had bought for their cheeks.
another station was to decorate a foam crown and wand using glitter glue, rhinestones and foam stickers. (many of these things I had around in my craft stash. the foam crowns and wands were 1.00 each at michaels)
The last station was to make a princess necklace with fruit loops...
I seriously thought that at 2 and 3 they would be bored after a few minutes, but they could have played with stickers and glue and fruit loops all day! :)
Cupcakes were strawberry with marshmallow creme buttercream frosting and pink sprinkles. The toppers were easy to make. I tried to find pre-madeprincess toppers, but they only sold tinkerbell and ash wanted cinderella and sleeping beauty, so I bought a package of stickers at walmart, took some toothpicks and doubled the stickers up on the toothpicks...
Food and decor was simple. The clearance pink tablecloth and pink napkins, famous cupcake stand, pink lemonade, heart shaped turkey sandwiches on a pedestal, strawberries, princess plates, and pink candy in jars. Remember the clearance valentine M&M's??? I just picked out the red ones and put the rest in the jar!
The pink poofs really made the decor and they were SO easy and cheap!!! I think I'm going to make them in all sorts of colors for every occassion. Martha sells a kit a Michaels for $20 to make three small ones...but you can make three large ones youself for only $3 if you know how!! I bought three packages of pink tissue paper (8 sheets each) for .97 cents a piece at Wal Mart. I'll do a tutorial later this week! :)
Finally for the favors. Remember the .65 cent pairs of flip flops. Well with a little ribbon I was able to turn them into princess slippers...
Now, I had the ribbon on hand so that didn't cost me anything, but ribbon can get expensive, so if you are going to make these look for ribbon on sale! :) You need about 2 yards of ribbon per pair of flip flops. I used a slippery ribbon as one of my pink ribbons and I noticed that it doesn't want to stay tied very well...so maybe use non-slippery ribbon to make these. I used 3-4 different coordinating patterns for each pair so about 1/2 yard or 2/3 of a yard per pattern for each pair. Cut 14 5" pieces and tie them in double knots around the flip flops alternating patterns and you're done! :)
It was SUCH a fun party. And I thought I was getting away with someting with how inexpensive it was. I hope that I've inspired you to create something beautiful and fun on a budget. It really is more fun when you're forced to be more creative! :)
Have a great day!
-t
