4/3/13

Real Parties: Crafty Birthday

Ever thrown together a last minute birthday party?


I usually like to plan, pin, and prepare months ahead of time. This year for Afton's birthday we decided that we would skip the whole 'birthday party' thing. (Note to self for the future: there is no such thing as skipping a birthday party with my girls.) We went to Disney in February and got a new dog that month too. My husband and I declared those were for 'her birthday' and that no celebrations would be held. We would do a family dinner, but that was it.




Happily, our dinner planning began to involve more than just the four us. There were several cousins, and an uncle/aunt who just happened to be in town that day. And truth be told, I was thrilled with it all.

I really like to host parties, plan decorations and get everyone together. It was fun to do all of this on a smaller scale with only 24 hours to prepare. A short time-line really forces you to be decisive and edit your ideas. Do you work well under pressure too?:)

For our family dinner we decided to serve pizza, salad, cake and ice cream. We bought the cake from Market Street. (Last minute party, means 'store-bought' cake! Plus the bakery there is amazing!) I cut stars out of sparkle card stock and taped them to skewers. Seven sparkly stars for my sparkly girl.

The day before our dinner party, I happened to get a huge box of crafty supplies from Craft Project Ideas. When Afton saw them, she literally squealed. Wonder where she gets that from?! Her favorite thing to do after school and on the weekends is to  'make something'. So it only seemed appropriate that my creative child have a chance to do what she loves best at her little party. I decided to incorporate those craft supplies into the party, and what we ended up with was a "Crafty Birthday Party".

Our family came in and mingled. Everyone spent some time throughout the party working at the craft table with the birthday girl. This actually was a great way for everyone to spend one-on-one time with Afton during her little party.
I used white 'paint pens' to draw flags and doodles on the craft paper.
We used scrapbook paper, this template, poms, beads, and pipe cleaners to make party hats.
Special thanks to "Craft Project Ideas" for all our crafty supplies!
Everybody loves a 'handmade' party hat!

For decor, I covered the dining room table and our kids table with brown craft paper. It looked cute and protected the wood from glue and scissors.

Then I used scraps of fabric for bunting. I got a liiiiiittle crazy and hung it everywhere... the mantle, the dining room table, the kitchen, and above the little girls table.



When it was time to eat, the little girls sat at the kids table. I set out our china with name tags and cloth napkins. They felt so fancy.
Like my mom and I always say, "Life is too short not to use the good china!"
 After dinner, Afton opened gifts and the girls all played.

 Then we did cake-- her favorite part :)

In the end, I was really happy that our small family dinner evolved into a party. It was easy, sweet, and relaxed. Looking back at her other parties over the years, this is definitely was one of my favorites.
My "Keeping it Real" photo. I had wanted to get photo of all the little girls with their party hats on. They politely declined :)
How do you celebrate birthdays in your family?

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2 comments:

  1. You are the to-go-girl for party ideas, crafts, fashion and fun!

    xoxo-Mom

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's great to meet another blogger in Texas. Love your site. Will be visiting more often. :)

    ReplyDelete

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:) Samantha

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