Taco Birthday Party

My 10 year old son is OBSESSED with tacos!  So, of course, we had a taco themed birthday party!

Here are the invitations I made.  If you would like to purchase the clip art I used to make these, you can find it HERE.  The fun font in green is "JI Chimichanga".

For food, we had a taco bar obviously!  I was surprised how much the kids liked this but I guess they are used to pizza only at parties!  They LOVED the taco bar and the queso!

Here is all the food we had:

Crunchy taco shells & tortillas

Ground beef & grilled fajita chicken

Shredded cheese

Lettuce, tomato, black beans, corn, & jalapenos

Mexican rice

Sour cream, salsa, & guacamole

Queso & chips

For dessert, we had taco cupcakes!  To make the taco, I cut sugar cookies in half and "glued" them together with chocolate frosting.  I sprinkled crumbled brownies over the chocolate frosting.  I piped green "lettuce" frosting over the brownies with a star tip and added lines of white "sour cream" frosting with a small round tip.  For the yellow "cheese", I melted white chocolate and colored it yellow with candy color (you can NOT use normal food coloring).  I piped it in long thin lines on wax paper and froze it.  Once it was frozen, I cut it into the shredded cheese shapes and added it to the tacos.  The red "tomatoes" are mini M&M's.  These were SO cute and yummy too!

For the favors, we did paper tacos with lollipops and fidget spinners with taco stickers on them.  I got the fidget spinners & taco stickers on Amazon.  I made the paper tacos by cutting yellow card stock using THIS pattern on my Silhouette.  I folded the tacos up and taped them on the sides.  I added brown shredded paper in the bottom and brown, green, red, and yellow lollipops around the top.  I used double sided tape to secure the lollipops if needed.  The gift tags said "Muchas Gracias" and can be downloaded HERE.

I hope you have as much fun at your taco party as we did at ours!

Amazing Race Birthday Party

We had an awesome Amazing Race-ish 9th birthday party for my son and his friend!  I say Amazing Race-ish because we didn't follow the Amazing Race theme too closely.  Most of the kids weren't familiar with all of the specifics of the show but were familiar with the idea.  We mainly just tried to make it fun and wear them out!  It was a great party!

Invitation:
One of the fun things about this party was that we transported all of the kids from school to a nearby park right after school on a Friday.  The parents loved this!  And, almost all of the kids were able to come to the party because it was so easy and there were few conflicts on a Friday afternoon right after school.  We did have to be very organized to make sure we got all of the kids we were supposed to but it really turned out to be a great idea!  I made this invitation in Excel using some cute clip art that I purchased on Etsy HERE.

The Game:
Again, we did not try to make the game just like the Amazing Race TV show.  My son loathes losing and we didn't really want the kids going off in all directions on their own.  So, we decided to have them race as one team.  They were trying to complete all 10 clues in less than an hour.  (They barely did it!)  We did use the "Pit Stop" idea from the Amazing Race where they would return after completing each clue to receive the next clue.  The Pit Stop was easy to make with poster board and letters cut on my Silhouette.  This turned out to be a great idea too because the moms stayed at the Pit Stop to prepare the next clue if needed and the dads ran around with the kids!  Here were the rules of the game:

1. Everyone is a team.
2. They all must return to the "Pit Stop" mat after completing each clue to receive the next clue.
3. They are racing to complete all 10 clues together in less than an hour.
4. They must stay together and with an adult.
5. All friends must be in every picture.
6. Use your manners.
7. 5 minute penalty can be made if they are not following the rules.

We decided on our clues based on the layout of our park with many sports related clues because our boys love sports!  We also decided to include several clues that were pictures so we could get some awesome group pictures from the party!  Here were our clues:

1. Take a picture at the concession stand at the back of the ballpark.
2. Find a coin dated 2007 (the year they were born) at the bottom of a tree marked with a yellow ribbon.
3. Take a picture with a dog.
4. Pop balloons until you find one with this message inside: "Happy Birthday!"
5. Take a picture of everyone on the playground slide.
6. Everyone has to score a soccer goal against our goalie!
7. Take a picture in a baseball dugout.
8. Eat snacks out of small cups one at a time until you find the drawing of a balloon.
9. Take a picture in a gazebo wearing a mustache.
10. Find this baseball card in the pile: Coco Crisp.

Other clue ideas we had were: taking a picture on a bridge, taking a picture by a chalk drawing of a birthday cake, completing the dizzy bat game, completing a nature scavenger hunt, and finding a gnome.

I made the clue cards and put them in envelopes for the birthday boys to open!  You can download blank ones HERE to make your own clues!  The game was SO FUN and the kids were worn out!  They really loved it though!

Decorations & Party Favors:
I made an "Amazing Race" banner with my Silhouette.

 We gave everyone a black bandana to wear during the race.  They looked cute in the pictures! (It also helped the dads figure out who was with our group & who wasn't!)

At the end of the party, we gave everyone a water bottle.  I added their names on the bottles with blue vinyl cut by my Silhouette.  The gift tag said "Thanks for racing with us!" and can be downloaded HERE.

Food:
We kept it simple with pizza, cheese puffs, water, and cookie cake.

Thank Yous: I confess we didn't actually use these because I thought he was old enough to write his own thank yous!  But, I will share them in case you can use them!  Download page 1 HERE and page 2 HERE.

It really was one of the most fun and creative birthday parties we've ever done!  It was a blast!

Airplane Birthday Cakes

My sweet adorable nephew turned ONE!  I made an airplane cake for the party and an airplane smash cake for him!  Nothing like having a baby nephew to spoil!

To make the party cake, I used the Pantastic Airplane pan to make a cake to go on top of a half sheet cake and decorated as pictured.

To make the smash cake, I used an airplane cookie cutter to make an indentation in the blue icing that I traced with the red icing and decorated the rest as pictured.

Sports Birthday Party

It's been pitifully long since I posted, but I'm going to catch up today!  For my son's 8th birthday, we had a sports themed party at the local trampoline place.  He had a blast with his friends!

Invitation: I ordered the cutest invitation from Etsy!  Order them HERE

Decorations: I made a pennant banner with my Silhouette.  I used sports scrapbook paper for the pennants and Team MT font for the letters.

For table decorations, I filled mason jars with orange and white gumballs and attached balloons.

For a fun keepsake, I had everyone at the party sign a baseball using a sharpie.  Love!

Food: I went very simple on the food!  Pizza, cheese balls, & cookie cake!  Publix made the cookie cake to resemble a football field.  Sorry I don't have a great picture but you get the idea.

Goodie Bags:  For the bag itself, I cut football and basketball outlines with my Silhouette and glued them to a plain white bag.  I added a "Thanks for being an all-star friend!" tag.  You can download the tags HERE.  We filled the bags with Big League chew, sports toys, balls, and more candy!  We also took a poll of everyone's favorite sports team and ordered cups to match.  They loved that!  Most of the goodie bag items came from Party City.

School Treats:  I sent icing filled cookies for the school treat.  These are simply place and bake sugar cookies that I rolled in orange sprinkles before baking.  Once cooled, I spread funfetti icing in the middle to make cookie sandwiches!  I printed these "8 is Great!" labels on sticker paper, used a 2" circle punch to cut them out, and then stuck them on ziploc snack bags.  You can print the labels HERE.

Thank You Notes:  We used these sports thank you notes.  You can download them HERE (page 1) and HERE (page 2).

It was a great birthday!!

Birthday Banner

Y'all know I have a thing for banners!  I needed one for my son's 11th birthday and decided to make a generic one that I could use for any birthday!  Using my Silhouette, I cut polka-dot scrapbook paper (found at Hobby Lobby) into pendants.  I cut orange cardstock into circles and then cut white cardstock into the letters & numbers (Hallandale Deco font).  I went ahead and cut every number so that I would have them to change out & use for any birthday.  For the "Happy birthday!" pennants, I assemble the pennant, circle, & letter and then laminated it.  For the number pennant, I assembled the pennant & circle and then laminated it.  I then laminated all of the numbers separately.  I attached the "11th" to the outside of the pennant with an adhesive foam square.  Because the pennant was laminated, it came off easily after the party was over.  I also went ahead and cut a birthday cake Silhouette shape with the white cardstock.  I laminated it as well and thought I could use it in place of a number if someone didn't want the number on display!

Camping Birthday Party

We had a camping themed sleepover birthday party for my son's 7th birthday!  We ended up inviting a ton of kids but they had a blast and we survived!  It will go down in history as the most epic sleepover ever - at least in my son's eyes!

I got these ADORABLE paper backgrounds and camping clip art files from Jessica Sawyer Design on Etsy (purchase HERE).  I used her files to create my invitation and all of these cute camping themed items!  I also used mostly "Hallandale Deco JL" font plus "Cicle Gordita" font and "DriftType" font.  Here is the invitation.  We did not sleep outside and I gave 2 pick-up options because I didn't know some of the parents very well and didn't want the child not to come even if they couldn't spend the night!

When the kids arrived, I gave them an orange bandana to wear and let them play outside for a little while.  (The picture is really cute of all of them in their orange bandanas!)  Next, we ate dinner, which I had set up outside.  To decorate, I made a "Camp James" banner and used orange and lime green colors.  For the banner, I used burlap triangles that I found at Hobby Lobby and added letters cut by my Silhouette ("Hallandale Deco JL" font).  I served hot dogs, chips, trail mix, watermelon, and chocolate dipped marshmallows.

To make the chocolate dipped marshmallows: melt chocolate, dip in large marshmallows about half way, then drop in graham cracker crumbs to coat the bottom, and let dry.  I added tags to the marshmallows (download HERE), which I taped to halved orange chevron straws.

After dinner, we played games!  We played flashlight tag, had a sack race, played "dead fish" (where you were out if you laughed or moved), and played the "mosquito bite game" (where the kids were given a sheet of bug stickers and tried to put them on each other without getting caught).  We also did Camp Charades (download HERE).  Here's a picture of page 1:

And, we had a Nature Walk scavenger hunt (download HERE).

Next, we ate cake and the kids came inside to settle down and watch a movie.  In the morning, we gave out brown favor bags that I had stamped and put their names on.  The favor bag had a flashlight, their orange bandana, the scavenger hunt items including a wooden pencil, any leftover bug stickers, candy, and a s'more kit.  I attached a "Thanks Happy Camper" tag (download HERE).  I individually packaged the s'more kit with 2 whole graham crackers, 1 Hershey bar, and 2 very large s'more marshmallows.  I attached a "S'more for Later" tag (download HERE).

Here are some camping thank you notes too (download HERE)!  This is a picture of page 1, but there are a couple of different wording options on the 2 page download.   It was a super fun party!

Birthday Pudding

My son wanted to bring a birthday snack to school for his birthday, but the snack has to meet certain criteria to be served at school.  We were able to get Sugar Free Pudding that qualified as a healthy snack.  I added Happy Birthday labels that I printed on sticker paper and cut out with a 2" circle punch.  You can download these labels HERE (without the name).  Then, I tied a spoon to the side.  Yummy!

"10" Cupcakes

I like to do a fun cake for my kids' birthdays, but this year my son asked for cupcakes in the shape of a "10" so that's what he got!  Happy birthday Jacob!

Minecraft Birthday Party

My youngest turned 6 and was very opinionated about what he wanted for his birthday party!  The Game Truck came to our house for a Minecraft themed party!  He had a blast!  Here's what we did...

The Game Truck:  If you have never heard of The Game Truck, it is super cool and the perfect boy birthday party.  I have no affiliation with this company, but we just had so much fun that I have to tell you about it!  It is basically an eighteen wheeler sized trailer filled with couches on one side and 4 TVs and game consoles on the other side.  They have almost every game you can think of.  The kids LOVED it!  Plus, it just needs a flat surface to park on and will come wherever you want.  So, they came to our house and I loved it because I kept the kids outside for the whole party!

Invitation: I made the invitation in Excel using clipart, text boxes, and Minercraftory font.

Decorations: I did all lime green and black paper products and balloons.  I made a Happy Birthday banner using my Silhouette.  I made Creepers for the table by wrapping square boxes (with a water bottle inside for weight) with lime green wrapping paper and putting Creeper faces on them.  I also put glow in the dark axes and swords in mason jars on the table.  It was so cute!

Cake:  Here's the Creeper Cake!  

Cupcakes:  I made Minecraft cupcakes on his actual birthday.  You can download the Cupcake Toppers HERE.  Print out on cardstock, punch with 2" circle punch, attach to halved coffee stirrers with tape, and stick into cupcakes!

Favors:  For the favors, I did lime green bags with Creeper faces.  I used my Silhouette to cut the faces (the eyes are 1" squares, the middle of mouth is 1"x 1.5", the 2 sides of the mouth are .5"x 1.5").  I filled the bags with candy and with sticker bags (see more below).  Then, I folder the bag over, added the favor tag (download favor tag HERE), and tied with black tulle.

The sticker bags were a big hit with the kids!  I printed out many Minecraft shapes on Avery 5161/8161 labels and then cut them into long stripes (so that the stickers would be square like the game).  I got some of my labels from Frugal Family Times (download labels & view lots of party ideas HERE) and then I created some of my own! (download stickers HERE).  I put all of the stickers in a ziploc bag and attached a label I had printed on sticker paper that said "Make Your Own Minecraft stickers" (download labels HERE).

I made some Minecraft Thank You cards for my son to fill out.  You can download them HERE.  Print them on lime green cardstock and you'll be set!

It was a great party!  I can't believe my baby is 6!