Orange You Glad I'm 8: Isabella's Baptism

Over the holidays my little Isabella celebrated her 8th birthday and had her
baptism. She loves all things orange and so we used orange balloons in the
pictures she had taken by my good friend Syl Galloway. They matched the orange
ends of her hair very nicely. So, when we were deciding what to do for her
baptism, we thought it would be fun to use the theme "Orange You Glad I'm 8".

I made her invitations in Photoshop using the pictures that Syl took of her in
November. It was fun to use the accents of orange to match the balloons. It was
fun to see her spunky personality come out in the photos and on the invitation.

On her baptism day she wore the same white dress that my youngest sister wore

on her baptism day. It's a beautiful Hawaiian dress and I loved that she got

to share in the tradition of using the same dress just like my niece did. And I

love it so much more than the jumpsuits that are usually worn.

Her hair was my favorite! I wanted something that we could do before and it

would survive the dunk of the baptism. I didn't want her to look like a drowned
rat after, but I also didn't want to spend the time drying and styling it. When I
found this Rope Twisted Pinwheel Bun from Cute Girl Hairstyles, I knew it
would be perfect. It took me about 45 minutes to do. The CGH lady said like
15 minutes, but she's more adept with hair twisting than I am!

I love how the orange peaks out every once in a while and adds a little bit of her

orange-loving personality to her hairstyle. It weathered the baptism perfectly
and her hair looked quite lovely the entire rest of the day.

It's tradition for my parents to give a white baptism towel as a gift, but she was
so busy with the amazing quilt she was making, I ordered one on Etsy this time.
I was pleased to find HuckleberryStew! She had quick turn around time and I
could choose an orange CTR shield the towel in addition to her name and
baptism date.

I also made her a guest book for friends and family to write her a note so she
could have a record of all the wonderful people that came to celebrate with her. I
used the photos that Syl took and had the book printed by Shutterfly. It was a
good way to also let Isabella have her pictures from shoot with Sylvia all together
and be able to look at them whenever she wants to remember her special day.

We served light refreshments after the baptism - or course with an orange
theme! I made number eight sugar cookies and my sister and I frosted them
with orange buttercream frosting. I was going to frost them with royal frosting,
but Isabella informed me that it wasn't her favorite and so we changed plans.
We also had orange lollipops, orange Airheads, orange licorice, Cuties and
white powdered donuts. I made cute wraps for the water bottles that
said "Orange You Glad I'm 8!"

And do you see the quilt?! I asked my mom 3 years ago when JT got baptized if
she would make Isabella a baptism quilt. When she came to visit this summer
we worked together to make a rough sketch of what I was thinking and what
Isabella would like. It turned out even more beautiful that I could have imagined.
I will share more pictures of it later along with more pictures of her dress!

Guardians of the Galaxy Birthday Movie Party

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #OwnTheGalaxy #CollectiveBias

Once my kids saw Guardians of the Galaxy, they were sold.

They went without me to see it - a grandpa/kid date to the movie theater

and it was all they talked about for at least a month.

They also started the DVD release date countdown. Do your kids do that?

They ask at least every other day when a movie is going to come to DVD so they

can watch it over and over and over again.

Well, my kids do.

So, when JT found out that the Guardians of the Galaxy DVD would be released

right around his birthday, he started planning how we could have a family

movie night to celebrate and all the fun snacks we could make.

I perused Pinterest and headed to Walmart on December 9th release date to get supplies for
JT's birthday movie bash with the family
and to pick up our DVD copy of Guardians of the Galaxy!
I decided we need Gamora Green Caramel Corn, Drax the Destroyer Punch,
Star-Lord Star Cookies, and Dancing Baby Groot Chocolate Covered Pretzels.
There were a lot of copies of the DVD and Blu-ray available in the Electronics Department.
The Blu-ray copies had these cool exclusive character o-sleeves, music zinepack,
a 64 page magazine with cast and crew interviews, exclusive behind the scene photos,
plus a custom mix tape cassette laptop decal.

The Gamora Green Caramel Corn was so much fun to make!
I used my favorite caramel corn recipe and added some green food coloring
to make this bright green caramel corn.
Gamora was Isabella's favorite character, so she was excited to see me
mixing up some green caramel corn for the birthday party movie night.

GAMORA GREEN CARAMEL CORN RECIPE

1 bag plain microwave popcorn
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
Food coloring

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
Pop popcorn, pour into 9x13 pan and remove kernels.
Mix butter, corn syrup, and brown sugar in saucepan. 
Cook on low-med heat for 2 min or until bubbly around edges, remove from heat. 
Add food coloring and 1 tsp. baking soda to cause foaming (helps coat them better). 
Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and stir until coated. 
Place in 250 degree oven for approximately 45 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and pour onto waxed paper. Cool.
Break apart into desired piece size.

The Dancing Baby Groot Chocolate Covered Pretzels were messy and time consuming

to put together, but they turned out so cute, it was worth all the effort.

JT was so surprised and excited when he saw them, 

so that also made my chocolate covered counters worth the work.

I saw several version of these Baby Groots and improvised with mini chocolate chips

for eyes when I couldn't find black chocolate melts or mini M&M's.

The Star-Lord Star Cookies and Drax the Destroyer Punch were the easiest because

they were store bought (shhhh! I'm all about semi-homemade).

I also found these cool Guardian of the Galaxy cars that were a fun

little birthday gift, as well as the body pillow to snuggle up with for movie night.

We had a blast enjoying our Guardians of the Galaxy movie night,
munching our treats, and celebrating JT's ninth birthday.
Have you seen the movie? What's your favorite part?
If you head to Walmart by December 13th,  you'll get a $5 Walmart gift card instantly
when you purchase a Groot, Drax, or Rocket Raccoon Disney Infinity 2.0 figure.
Awesome, huh? I know that the Guardian of the Galaxy figures are on my
son's Christmas wish list!
 

Princess Baking Party

My little Isabella turned four at the end of 2012,

but because her birthday is at such an awkward time of year

for connecting with friends due to the Christmas holiday,

we've always held her friend birthday party sometime in January.

This year I chose the theme "Princess Baking Party".

Initially it was supposed to be one of my low key birthday playdates.

I was just going to have a few of her friends over, decorate some cookies,

and color some princess pictures.

Then I remembered the princess aprons that Vessel Handmade made for her

daughter's painting party.

And then once I got the idea in my head - I couldn't stop thinking about making them.

And so it began . . . .

I made 11 aprons in all (Tiana isn't pictured) - and it was so fun

to see them come together and to have Isabella give input and suggestions.

My super awesome inlaws made Isabella a fantastic dress up wardrobe

for her birthday, so I had to use it as the centerpiece of the party decor.

My mother-in-law hand painted symbols representing

some of Isabella's favorite princesses on the sides.

The aprons really were a labor of love and it was slightly

painful to watch them walk out the door with each of the party guests

at the end of the party.

But the girls were so excited to get them, that it made it all worth it.

I did some of the decor the weekend before the party,

and then JT stayed home that day because he wasn't feeling well,

so he helped me put the finishing touches up the day of the party.

I still have the puff balls up because they go so well with the

Valentine decor we currently have going on right now.

The food was easy peasy!

Since I wanted a bakeshop theme I definitely had to go with a donut cake.

My rad cousin of Lady Cupcake's Corner made adorable

princess faces toppers out of fondant.

She has MAD skills.

They were so cute and the girls went crazy for them.

I also served little girl friendly foods like Cuties, grapes, and string cheese.

The biggest hit was the the pink lemonade.

I opened the party with the girls coloring pictures of princesses.

I got them all from the Disney.com website.

This way I had an activity while we waited for everyone to arrive.

We also had Sophia the First showing to keep those quick colorers engaged.

Next, I read them the story Fanny's Dream.

Have you read it? You must!

It goes to show that every little girl can find her prince

and be treated like a princess.

After that we decorate the Baker's hats I got from Smart & Final

with a simple cupcake liner flower.

I had the girls pick the liners they wanted and then my trusty assistant

and I stapled them onto their hats.

Then it was on to cookie decorating!!!!
I got the trays from the Dollar Store.
I wanted to give them each an individual work space and try to
keep the mess somewhat contained.
I filled clear plastic cups with candies and got great sprinkles from Walmart.

Each girl got a plastic knife and a dollop of frosting and was told to go at it!
I made enough cookies for everyone to do four - most did one :)

It was such a great day and I hope Isabella remembers the fun we had.
When I was about her age my mom made all of my friends and I aprons
and we decorated cookies and I still remember how special it was.
If not, I can always remind her with this blog post.

Party Details:

Aprons -  Me!

Invitations - Designed by Me! using clipart by Zenware Designs

Princess Cupcake Toppers - Lady Cupcake's Corner

Baker's hats- Smart & Final

Party decor - Made by Me! 

(Ruffled Streamer from MADE and Tissue Pom Poms from Our Daily Obsession)

Candy & Sprinkles- Buy 'N Bulk and Walmart

Superhero Birthday Playdate

My little guy turned seven in December and we celebrated with a
SUPERHERO BIRTHDAY PLAYDATE!!!!
I'm totally sold of birthday playdates.
We invite friends from one social group and keep it low key.
The other thing I love is hosting them at a park,
because then there is built in entertainment for the kids.



The kids played and colored for the first little bit,
while munching on pizza and other snacks.
We had it about an hour after school, so I knew they would be ravenous :)



I found some fun villain coloring pages they could color so they
could practice being superheroes when they got home.



One of my favorite activities to do is to blow up a giant picture
of the child and play pin the _____ on ______.
At the Tutu & 'Stache Bash it was pink the 'stache on JT.
This year is was pin the mask on Superhero JT.



JT got a kick out of the giant picture of him.
I print it at Costco for about $10 and then laminate at Lakeshore Learning.


The kids loved the game and I like seeing where all the kids put the pins.




Next we did a Superhero obstacle course relay.
It consisted of a tunnel to crawl through, a "building" to jump over,
a villain to shoot with a Nerf dart, and a rocket to launch.
The Stomp Rocket wouldn't work, so we skipped that part.



I broke the kids into two teams - the six year olds versus the seven year olds.
They had to put on a Superhero disguise and then run the obstacle course.


And then come back and tag the next person.
It turned out really well.
I had plans to make it more elaborate, but it turned out it was perfect
for this age/group of kids.

Then it was present time.
I like to snap a picture of the birthday boy with the friends and the gift.
It makes a great visual and an even better thank you card!

Next up were the amazing cupcakes from Lady Cupcake's Corner.
I am lucky enough to be related to Lady Cupcake herself and she is amazing.
I always email her with my wild and crazy ideas and then say - can you do it?
And she always can!

The Superhero cupcakes turned out so cool!

We had Captain America, Batman, Spiderman and Superman.

JT's favorite was the Spiderman.

I made Superhero masks for each of the kids to take home.
(Tutorial and pattern coming this week!)

 

I'm still kicking myself that I didn't get a group picture of all the kids

with their masks on.

So you'll just have to settle for these solo shots of my Superhero Kids!

Be sure to come back later this week for the mask pattern and tutorial!

And check out the Angry Bird Birthday, as well as the Barbie Birthday

playdates we had last year!

Party Details:
Giant Personalized Pin the Mask on the Superhero: Printed at Costco and laminated at Lakeshore Learning
Cupcakes: Lady Cupcake's Corner
Invitation: Designed by me in Photoshop using graphics from Zenware Designs and Kate Hadfield Designs