Eli's Barnyard Brunch Birthday Party

My baby turned four a few weeks ago. Thinking about it almost makes me cry...because really four is not a baby anymore...it's also not a toddler either. Four is officially a preschooler which means I will soon have a 'schooler' and I will be left all alone with no kiddos at home!

Despite the tears {that I almost shed}, we had a SUPER fun Barnyard Brunch birthday party for Eli.

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Here's a quick look at the party:

I bought a little over a yard of black and white gingham to use as a table cloth. I wanted to have a more elegant, less kiddie look to the table for this party and black and white with pops of color seemed like the way to go. Jason brought home an old pallet for work for me to use as the backdrop of the table. I slapped on a little bit of white paint and added a cute bunting to it. I think it gave the table the perfect barnyard feel! 

 I found some cute cow print napkins and I bought red plastic-ware for a little more color. The cute chalkboard came from Hobby Lobby and I added some colorful washi tape to the frame.

We had a fun and yummy cereal bar set up with five different kinds of cereal and milk in a big drink dispenser. It was fun {plus SUPER easy} and what kiddo doesn't like cereal!

 I also fixed small mason jars filled with chocolate milk for the kiddos. I added a white cupcake wrapper to the top as a lid to hold the cute orange and white paper straws in place.

 We had Chicken Feed aka Chex Mix...

 ...Pigs in a Blanket {that I bought premade because I knew I wouldn't have time to make them the morning of the party}...

 ...and fun licorice Wagon Wheels:)

 I also set up a table with a couple of sodas and some yummy orange juice, along with the birthday boy's cake and some cute cow print plates.

 This is the same cake design that Henry had for his 3rd birthday. Eli saw it a couple of weeks ago and decided that he wanted one just like it:)

 Farmer Eli in his overalls and his straw hat had a SUPER fun time at his Barnyard Brunch Birthday Party!

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How to Plan a Surf Party

Birthday parties are big deal around here! I love to put together a fun themed party with all the bells and whistles...but I usually don't have a lot of time or want to spend a lot of money. This year we decided on a Surf Party for Grant complete with a fun inflatable water slide and fish tacos {aka surfer food}.

 The first thing I nailed down for Grant's Surf Party was this inflatable water slide! We got a great price from some people that go to my parent's church...and even though it cost a little more than what I would normally spend on a birthday party, it was worth it to have this fun slide at our house ALL weekend long. {And yes, Jason and I tested it out with the boys a few times Saturday morning before the party!} If you didn't want to spend as much on a rental, you could always do a couple of slip n slides, sprinklers, and kiddies pools!

 To decorate, I picked up a couple grass table skirts and some cute wave scrapbook paper. The table skirt came from Hobby Lobby and with my 40% off coupon it only cost $6! I spend about $5 and a little over an hour with my Silhouette to make the cute Surf's Up banner that I hung on the boys' skimboards.

 We has some yummy surf themed food:

delicious fish tacos {I just baked up a couple of boxes of frozen fish sticks and served them with flour tortillas, lettuce, tomato, cheese, and couple different sauces},

starfish sandwiches {PB&J cut out with a star shaped cutter}, 

pretzel goldfish {served in cute blue and white party cups},

 fruit kabobs,

wavy chips,
and gummy sharks!

 We also had a snow cone station under the Airstream awning complete with a grass skirt and a couple of surfboards! 

Plus a yummy cake with a surfboard and palm tree:)

 All the kiddos wore their swimsuits and I picked up this cute swimshirt for Grant to wear mostly because it said "Hawaiian Surf Legend"...and because I got it on clearance at Target for less than $5!
{Silly boy was tired of saying cheese I think:)}

 We sang Happy Birthday and he blew out the candles...

 ...then opened a bunch of presents:)

 The party went on for a couple of hours...it was hard to drag the kiddos away from that fun inflatable water slide. But when they did finally head home, they all took a cute box of Swedish fish with them as a party favor!

And that is how you plan a surf party!

How to Plan a Bowling Party in Less Than a Week

I love a good kid's birthday party. Especially if it is a theme party with lots of fun details....and that is usually the kind of party that I plan for my boys. But somehow life got SUPER busy these last few months and Henry's 8th birthday got here way too fast. It probably didn't help that his birthday was a few days after Easter and during the boys' spring break! The week before his birthday, I hadn't done much of anything as far as planning goes....actually I was still trying to decided between a baseball party or a bowling party. I had considered taking Henry and a few of his friends to a minor league baseball game in a nearby city, but in the end bowling won out mostly because it was easier to take kiddos to the bowling alley during the day than to have them out at a baseball game until 10 o'clock at night!

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The first thing I did to get ready for Henry's birthday was to make him a birthday shirt. I printed out a clip art bowling pin and bowling ball, cut them out with some felt scraps, and sewed them onto a t-shirt.  I added the 8 to the bowling pin since it was Henry's 8th birthday:) He LOVED his shirt {and so did the manager at the bowling alley...she took Henry's picture in his bowling shirt to add their website!}

 I made a dozen cupcakes and decorated them like bowling balls. I used a black sheet of that sugar paper stuff that they have in the cake decorating section, and then I added a few dabs of white icing for the holes in the bowling balls using a ziploc bag.

 I also put together some cute party favors for the boys. I bought a pack of plastic trophies at the party store, then I added a sticker that said "Best Bowling Buddy" along with each of the kiddos' names. I also added a sticker to the back that said "Thanks for making Henry's party a BALL".To finish the party favors, I filled the trophies with gumballs and put them in small clear bags.

 And then we went bowling:

 We also had a small family party the next day. Instead of just having a generic party, I decided to continue the bowling theme. I decorated the house with bowling ball balloons that I made by sticking small white circle stickers onto black balloons. I attached 8 of the bowling ball balloons on the stairs just for fun:)

 For some reason I didn't get a picture of the cute bowling ball plates that we put together for the party, but they were simple black plates with the same white circle stickers stuck on to make them look like bowling balls. I also bought a cute plastic bowling set for the kids to play with during the party, but it ended up being WAY too windy for they played bowling on the wii instead:)

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After a little wii bowling it was time for food! We had some yummy bowling ball treats made with Ding Dongs and a little leftover icing.....

 ...and we also had a SUPER yummy cake that matched Henry's birthday shirt.

Considering that both of Henry's bowling parties were planned in about a week, I thought they turned out pretty cute...and I know the boys had a ton of fun celebrating Henry's birthday!

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