Tag: party

How to plan an (easy) Kid Birthday Party in the Park

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Our oldest son is turning eight tomorrow. He wanted to celebrate with his entire class. I don’t know about you, but birthday parties can get really expensive. And, with at least four parties a year for our children’s birthdays (one each!) that can get pricey really fast. Birthdays are important. My family always made our birthdays special growing up and my husband and I both feel it’s really important for our children to have this special day each year. Does it have to break the bank? No.

Let’s look at options. 

  • We have tons of kid friendly birthday themed places to choose from in our city- Houston. But, again, price is an issue. Most places charge per child and inviting an entire class full of kids is a lot. We also like to include siblings, mainly because our kids have so many siblings and it’s always nice (but not necessary) when they are included too.
  • How about a party at home? They are fun and the kids always really have a great time. I opted “no” on this option this time, because it is a lot of work for me personally and I kind of have a lot already on my plate at the moment. 
  • So, we thought about the park down the street from our house and our son’s school. We could have a party right after school on a Friday afternoon. We went for this option. 

Here are the details:
Invite all of the class via evite.com or other web service
Our class list is posted for our class only on our own website run by our classroom mom
I just retrieved the emails from there and pasted them into the evite
Party time: immediately after school on a Friday for 1.5 hours
Serve Pizza (kid choices and parent options) – I ordered locally and asked that it be delivered to the park 15 minutes after the party start time
Pick up cupcakes (we purchased ours from Sam’s Club 30 total -15 vanilla and 15 chocolate)

What to bring:

  1. paper towels (in case it is windy, napkins will fly)
  2. one cooler filled with ice, water bottles & juice bags/boxes
  3. lighter
  4. birthday candle
  5. pizza cutter to make the pieces smaller if necessary
  6. wipes
  7. sanitizer
  8. trash bags (I had these, but they weren’t necessary)
FUN! This was a really fun party for the kids and it was super simple for the parents. 
Happy birthday to our very great eight year old boy! We love you!

How to throw a Successful and Happy Brunch that the Hostess can enjoy!

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So, I can’t say I’m an expert in party planning. However, I have hosted four brunches at my house which started right when I arrived (right after church.) And, I’ve definitely learned from mistakes along the way.
When I think about what makes throwing a party easy and fun, it’s always about the preparations. How much can I prepare ahead of time? The more I can do before the party begins, (the day before, preferably) the more I enjoy the party.
Here are the tips from my home to yours:
1. think about your guests, the kind of mood you want to have and set your menu
2. choose a menu that can be prepared almost completely ahead of time
3. choose a menu that will use a variety of colors and look beautiful and appetizing on the table
4. choose beverages and make preparations (ie. preparing the coffee pot so it only needs to be turned on when you arrive or setting the timer
5. set the table with your decorations; tablecloths, flowers, serving items the night or day before
6. have time (ask your husband or a friend to occupy the kids for a while so you can have the necessary time) set aside to cook
7. make as many dishes ahead of time as you can. The menu I chose for this event was:
                                                       Ina Garten’s tri-berry muffins
                                                       Ina Garten’s easy cheese danishes
                                                       Maryana Vollstedt’s brunch bake (a quiche-like egg dish) needed to
                                                                                     heat this dish at the beginning of the party
                                                       sides of fresh salsa for egg dish
                                                       fresh watermelon (cut ahead of time)
                                                       cake (ordered from H-E-B)
                                                       orange juice, champagne for mimosas, decaf and regular coffee,
                                                                                      assorted juices, sodas
8. Once the food is on the table, enjoy every second! At this party, I actually ate! Which is a miracle. I’ve definitely come a long way in party prepping!
whipping the cheese filling for the danishes

first pan of danishes complete!

berries for the muffins

tri-berry muffin mix- mixed

tri-berry muffins





barefoot, in the kitchen!

The cake

The brunch table!

Another busy day!

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Hello, friends!
I spent the entire day preparing for Leeland’s Baptism and brunch tomorrow. Whew! I am exhausted! I did take pictures, but I am afraid to remove the card from the camera, just in case I forget to load it before tomorrow. So, I’ll wait and update this post with pictures soon. Let’s just say, I spent almost the entire day in the kitchen! All of the special clothes are laid out for each child, the table is set, the flower arrangements look beautiful, the food is prepared and now it is time for me to email tomorrow’s music to the media team and go to bed! Good night!
love,
Rebekah

“Where the Wild Things Are” 3 year old Birthday Party

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Would you believe that a “Where the Wild Things Are” birthday party would be so much fun for adults and children? Well, it’s true AND it was so fun to plan. My almost 5 year old (the birthday boy’s older brother) is already asking for his “wolf suit.” Although, we may think of another theme by March. If you are interested in “how to,” here are the details:
I drew the invitation with map pencils and based it on the book illustrations. I just changed the words to read:
“The day Maddux wore his wolf suit
and played one game and another
his mother called him “WILD THING”
and said “Let’s have a party!”
“And now,” cried Maddux, “let the wild rumpus start!”
The king of all wild things- Maddux is turning three!
Where the wild things are- (our address here)
Wild rumpus- 11am-12:30pm, Saturday, December 5, 2009
Hope you can celebrate with us…
we’ll eat you up, we love you so!
I’m going to get the invitation scanned in at some point and I’ll add it here.
I made a “Where the Wild Things Are” costume for the birthday boy. I watched the following video and with the exception of a few things that didn’t work- followed the directions to make the suit. I even used my Nannie’s very handy sewing machine!
https://www.howcast.com/videos/262888-how-to-make-a-where-the-wild-things-are-childrens-halloween-costume
Next up, the cakes. This was really really fun to do.
http://cococakecupcakes.blogspot.com/2009/04/where-wild-things-are-cake.html
I found this website and loved the “wild thing” cake. Our invitation had the boat on it, so I decided to make both! I used homemade almond flavored fondant to make all of the flat decorations and to cover both of the cakes. The fondant is easiest to work with when it is cold. For the “wild thing” hair, I used a buttercream icing. That was my favorite tasting cake, because it had two kinds of icing. Gotta love a girl with a sweet tooth!
Maddux’s costume- included a homemade fleece wolf suit with claws, an attached hoodie with ears and whiskers, a fur tail, a ruling stick and a furry gold crown. Our son happily wore his costume for the entire party and beyond.
This was a wonderful party for all of our children and guests. Outside, we had a bouncy castle and a cotton candy machine. All of the guests decorated and made their own crowns. And, I found “where the wild things are” rings on ebay that we gave everyone in their gift bag. Also, one of my best friends from LA sent us hats from the movie for the gifts bags as well.  Those were a big hit- especially with the parents.
Hope you enjoyed reading about it as much as we enjoyed doing it. This is a really fun party!

Gabriel & Mason’s First Birthday Party in California

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To end our amazing California vacation, we celebrated the first birthday of our twin nephews- Mason & Gabriel. The party was on the patio of a Mexican restaurant. We all had a great time. And it was a perfect party for the kids. There was even an appearance by Spiderman (who sounded a bit like Gilbert Gottfried at times.) Which is really funny because our kids know his voice from the movie Aladdin- he is the voice of the bird.

It was wonderful to be able to celebrate their birthday. We were able to be in California for their birth, and to be able to come back for their first birthday, was such a special time for us. We are especially thankful to Moustapha’s mom and dad for including our family in this trip. We had a great time!