Kinsey's 6th Birthday- My Little Pony Party!

This party was waaaaay back in October 2014. 

But I'm still going to share it here, and lucky you- 

I have some FREE printables to go with it!

Seeing as Kinsey will be 7 in just under a week (!!!) I need to get all caught up on birthday recaps, and after this I plan to share a quick post about her 5th birthday- which was a Lalaloopsy theme.

Better late than never, right?

Invites available here

Rainbow streamers taped to the curtain rod + homemade cupcakes on cake stands = dessert table

For parties lately I've been trying to simplify. Maybe I've wised up to the fact that more time + more money doesn't always = more fun for the birthday kiddo? Maybe I've given up trying to throw perfect parties when all the girls want is fun with their friends? Maybe it just has everything to do with the fact that the last few parties have been planned with a little baby in the house?

Doesn't really matter, as long as I keep my sanity!

Star tip piping + MLP rings (found at walmart party aisle)

Toppers available in my Etsy shop

I made up signs and activites to go with each of the most popular ponies.

 I've attached 3 signs for FREE here!

"Pinkie Pie's Party Favors" 

Download here

Download here

Download here

 I failed to take any pictures of the book mark activity!

 But basically I cut some colored cardstock into bookmark sizes, set out stencils, markers, stickers and washi tape and let the kids make fun bookmarks.

"Pinkie Pie's Party favors" set up in a basket 
Treat Bag Topper available in my Etsy Shop!

"Rarity's Hoof Painting & Cutie Marks" Nail polish (peel off kind) nail tattoos
and MLP Temporary Tattoos for 'cutie marks'

This was the first activity the girls did- and the two boys got TMNT tattoos ;)

Simple rainbow decorations +MLP party supplies
The girls wore their MLP shirts, too.

 We played - pin the tail on the pony. 

I purchased the game, but used ribbons and tape to make it easier and so all the kids could play 
(the game only came with 8 tails)

Bonus- the girls were able to pin up this poster to decorate their room afterwards since it wasn't full of tail stickers!

Time to sing "Happy Birthday"

 It was a fun time celebrating Kinsey turning 6! I'm in the middle of planning her 7th birthday party right now- alhtough we are keeping it suuuuper simple this year ( at her request!) Any guesses on her theme of choice? Or how long it will take me to blog about it?

Paw Patrol 3rd Birthday

This party happened just over 6 months ago, in late July,  but I still wanted to document it here since this is a bit of a virtual scrapbook for myself and our family (albeit a very, very, out of date one!)

Makayla has been obsessed with Paw Patrol (a Nickelodeon cartoon for those of you who may not know it) since it first started airing in the late summer of 2013. All she wanted for Christmas in 2013 was 'Paw Patrol toys', which, of course, were no where to be found because the show was too new. 

Mama to the rescue with a collection of stuffed animals 

similar to the pups in the show.

 It was a huge hit!

Grandma and Grandpa jumped in on the action and improvised their own Paw Patrol gift that Christmas- a hand drawn Zuma shirt! She was smitten.

So when we started talking birthday party themes in the late spring she had no trouble deciding

 it was going to be Paw Patrol all the way! 

I had big plans to get everything done before Savannah arrived...but that didn't happen at all. 

Let's face it, I barely got her nursery cleaned up and put together and her newborn clothes washed before she was born. 

So with a one week old baby I created her invitations-

 I 'girlied' them up a bit with the rainbow chevron.

Available customized invitations here in my Etsy Shop, Mod Ink Design.

We kept the party simple, 

because simple is the name of the game with a newborn and 2 other kiddos!

I made a quick 'Skye' t-shirt for Makayla

 with a little photoshop work and an iron on transfer + white t-shirt.

The treat table included 'scooby snacks'

 aka. dog bone shaped graham crackers and cheese ball treats

 in dollar store dog bowls.

The cupcake toppers were a mix of free printables from Nick Jr's website and my own rainbow chevron 'M' and '3' designs.

A super easy and budget friendly way to decorate cupcakes!

The rest of the house got very simple decorations, 

including a banner and some fun paper pinwheels on the mantel

 and a quick happy Birthday sign on our kitchen chalkboard!

Aunt Felisa helping hold newborn Savannah- she was 4 weeks old here!

Some of the party guests enjoying a coloring table with Paw Patrol coloring pages printed from various free online sources (just google!)

'Doggy Bag' treats for all the kiddos to take home- 

which included a simple mix of candy, rainbow bracelets and silly putty eggs.

You can purchase the treat bag toppers here, in my Etsy shop as an instant download!

My sweet girl being shy while we sang 'Happy Birthday'- love her!

Cupcakes and ice cream....yum!

Cousin Ellie, who celebrated her 3rd birthday the very next weekend!

Of course, there were plenty of awesome presents! 

Thanks (6 months late) to everyone who came to help us celebrate our curly haired sweetheart turning 3!

Makayla's Pink Lemonade Party

Today I'm sharing the details of my youngest daughter's 2nd Birthday Party!

I LOVE throwing parties, 

and always try to make memorable occasions

WITHOUT breaking the bank.

This party was no different, 

I re-used many items from past parties or decor around the house,

 used up scrap fabric I already owned, 

and DIY'd many items for free!

For example, this sign was done for $1- 

using metallic sharpies and chalboard markers I already owned 

and a dollarstore black foam posterboard 

to give the effect of a real chalkboard sign.

(sorry for the poor photo, the sign blew into a puddle and warped before I got a photo of it!)

Next, let's talk about the Dessert Table.

The backdrop is crepe paper streamers tied to string 

(I purchased several different colors for 99 cents each, plus a few for $1.29)

It made quite the visual impact for about $8 total (plus I have plenty leftover for other parties)

The tablecloth is a basic white I already owned (gift from last Christmas)

covered with tulle I had leftover from Kinsey's Princess Party

The pennant was a free DIY I will talk about again later in this post

I used vases I already had, 

along with 2 new glass jars from Marshalls (both under $8 each),

 to display theme related candies. 

Lemonheads, rock candy in pink and yellow, lemon shaped suckers, 

starbursts, lemon and strawberry twizzlers and wafers, and lemon bars

 were all available for guests to enjoy and take home.

My little girl has quite the sweet tooth,

 I have no idea where she got that from, cough, me, cough

I decided to just to cupcakes this year, 

which may or may not have had something to do with a crumbling failed attempt at a cake,

so there were 2 dozen pink lemonade cupcakes 

with lemon buttercream icing and a pink grapefruit candied wedge.

They were delicious, and I'll share my recipe in an upcoming post!

In the backyard we had a 'lemonade stand' set up for guests to serve drinks. 

I love the current trend of using mason jars as cups 

(we use them in our kitchen as glasses daily already)

So I picked up a few more at Costco for $5.99 a case.

Not sure how much longer they will have them so RUN, don't walk if you want them at that price!

The Chevron fabric was a Hobby Lobby purchase (on sale, of course) 

and I have plans to re-use it to re-cover some pillows on my sofa that need a facelift.

I also used washed and de-labeled frappuccino bottles.

Just use a little WD-40 to remove the sticky left from the labels

and some rubbing alcohol to remove the printed 'best by' dates.

Drinking all that coffee certainly helped my productivity in getting this party together ;)

For the littlest of kids I also provided some plastic 'take and toss' cups with lids.

The tented card labels are available for purchase (customized) here, in my Etsy Shop. 

All the jars and cups had DIY Chalkboard labels

 for writing guests names with a chalkboard marker.

A more detailed post on that DIY to come!

I made up a quick 'keep calm' style sign (available to download for free here) 

to put into a Hobby Lobby frame I already had,

 and also printed off a free and super cute 'fresh squeezed lemonade' 

sign from Tater Tots and Jello.

The Lemonade sign was a quick project using scrap wood leftover from various projects, 

paint I already had and a couple of nails.

 A nice and easy project that took an hour from start to finish.

Top Left: Mason Jars with DIY Chalkboard Labels and straws from Pick Your Plum.

Top Right: Fabric Scrap pennants made with fabric I already had and leftover ribbon

  (once I ran out of ribbon I just sewed straight through with the thread and left extra on each end to hang it)

Bottom Left: Plastic cutlery wrapped in printed cardstock in a dollar store basket (already had)

Bottom Right: Fresh flowers ($3.99 for all of them) in old glass spaghetti sauce jars

Here's a look at the invitations I made up for the party- they are available in my Etsy shop ModInk Design, along with the party favor thank you tags and Thank You notes

The treat bags contained homemade kool-aid playdoh, in lemonade and pink lemonade,

a few play doh accessories (from $1 bins at Target- 20 per pack),

and a bottle of bubbles, all with custom labels.

Overall it was a great afternoon of playing with friends, 

the kids all enjoyed the mini lemonade stand I quickly made 

with the same black foam poster board attached to an Ikea Lack table.

Thanks to everyone that came!

Did you enjoy this party post? Want to know where something was from or how it was made? Please leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts!