Ballerina 4th Birthday Party

Audrey's birthday is December 28th, but we usually celebrate before Christmas. This year, she requested a ballerina party! I was completely unprepared and did almost everything the day before, but she loved it, so that's all that matters!

There were lots of pink decorations,

 paper ballerinas,

and marshmallow ballerinas as favors.

One of Audrey's nicknames is Bear, so I made her this teddy bear ballerina cake,

with some cupcakes.

 I didn't really do themed food this year, but we did make some Pirouette Punch!

And we played Pin the Tutu on the Ballerina, of course!

Under the Sea Mermaid 3rd Birthday Party

Audrey turned 3 on the 28th, but we had her party the week before, on the 21st. With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, it was just easier to have her party before Christmas.

When I asked her, Audrey said she wanted a mermaid party! I loved the idea, so I ran with a mermaid/ under the sea theme! If you saw my posts about her first and second birthdays, you know I go a little theme crazy! But I do it because I want her to have a special day that is just about her and not about Christmas.

So the first thing I did was design the invitations and get them out in the mail!

For the decorations, I tried to make it feel like we were under water.

I hung curling ribbon from the light fixtures, fans and archway, and made paper lantern jellyfish!

Next, I did the table decor.

I twisted green streamers and taped them to the wall to look like seaweed. I also had pretty blue vases leftover from my sister's first baby shower that I put sparkly branches in. They were probably meant to be winter decor, but I thought they looked like sparkly seaweed. Then I put out strings of iridescent beads and some under the sea confetti.

You can also see the favors for the kids in the above collage. Everyone got their own under the sea activity placement and some ocean stickers. The girls also got pearl mermaid necklaces that I made and the boys got either a whale or a shark toy.

And of course there were balloons!

There were balloon bunches and a fishing net filled with balloons to try to cover up some of the Christmas decorations.

For the food, I stuck tight to the theme as well.

We had Veggies and Octo-dip, Goldfish, Seaweed (spinach) Dip with Crispy Seaweed (vegetable tortilla) Chips, Seashells & Cheese, and Submarine Sandwiches (tuna, egg and chicken salad).

And then, of course, there was dessert!!

I made Sand Dollar Sugar Cookies, as well as making and decorating the cake and cupcakes.

Overall, it was a really fun afternoon! I think all the kids had fun playing together and the cupcakes disappeared in the blink of an eye!

Audrey made a wish, opened lots of presents, and was then surprised with her new bike from Mommy and Daddy!

To give credit where credit is due:

I found the clip art for the invitation just by searching for free clipart on Google.

I found the paper lantern jellyfish tutorial on Party City's website.

A lot of my inspiration for both the food and decorations came from Pinterest.

I printed out the cake decorations and attached them to string and straws, but again, the mermaid was clipart I found searching on Google.

The BIG 30!

On Sunday, I turned the big 30! I spent my birthday weekend at my sister's house in Maryland, with her, my brother-in-law and nephew, my parents, my husband and Audrey. We went out for a nice birthday dinner, did some shopping, watched some football, and just spent time together. It was really nice.

A lot of my friends are or were dreading turning 30. Not me, I'm completely embracing it! I have never been more comfortable and confident with who I am, where I'm going and what I want in my life. That, to me, is worth celebrating!

I have a lot of really wonderful people in my life and so many blessings to be grateful for. So bring it on 30s! I'm ready and excited to see what you have in store for me!

And something that is definitely in store for me this year, is that I'm going to be a Titi again! I've known for awhile, but my sister officially announced today that she is expecting a baby girl! I'm so excited for her and can't wait to meet my new niece! And since I was down there this weekend, I used the opportunity to take some photos and create their pregnancy announcement for them. My sister used it today to announce her pregnancy to her friends and family on Facebook. Because it's not really official until it's on Facebook, right?!

P.S. Can we all just acknowledge that this is my 4th post in a row that is not about Audrey! Go me!

Tea for Two!

Audrey turned 2 years old a week ago, but we actually had her birthday party before Christmas. I asked her a few months before her birthday what kind of party she wanted, and she responded, "Tea party!" I had a few suggestions prepared if she didn't respond, and tea party wasn't one of them, but it sounded like a great idea to me!

I designed the invitations and got them out in the mail!

For the party, I started off with decor. With her birthday so close to Christmas, I wanted to make it a special day just for her and attempted to divert attention a little bit away from all the Christmas decorations.

I made tissue paper flowers to hang from the ceiling fans and light fixtures.

I even made some little ones to put on the table with a vintage tea set of my grandmother's. There were also balloons, Happy Birthday headbands, and little toy rings for each of the kids to choose one of their own.

It was a tea party so, of course, we had a variety of teas! But we also had punch.

Lunch included peanut butter and jelly triangle sandwiches on white, egg salad triangle sandwiches on wheat, chicken salad stuffed croissants, clementines, olives, baby pickles, pecan bites, cucumber slices topped with vegetable cream cheese, and an apple onion tart.

The dessert table was the best though! There were more tissue paper flowers and a Happy Birthday banner. And we had many different kinds of cookies to have with our tea!

And the centerpiece of the dessert table was the teapot cake that I made with a little bit of help from my cousin!

Audrey was so excited to dress up for her tea party! It was snowing during her party though, and for a little bit, she kept looking out the sliding glass door because she wanted to go out and play in the snow.

But then she had lunch with her cousin, had fun playing with her friends and forgot all about the snow!

After a little playtime, it was time to blow out the candles! Audrey had been eyeing the little fondant ball on top of the cake since the day before. So after she blew out the candles, she thought for a moment, snatched it right off the top of the cake, and took a big bite out of it!

After cake, there were lots of presents! She got lots of books, which she loves! She also got a doll house, a set of pots and pans, and from Mommy and Daddy a camera of her own, just to name a few things! She is so cute with the camera and says, "Got it!" every time she takes a picture!

So we celebrated our sweet girl's 2nd birthday with a tea party that was a huge success! Everyone had a great time, especially the birthday girl herself!

To give credit where credit is due:

Happy Birthday Banner Printable - Anders Ruff

Teapot Clip Art - The Graphics Fairy

Teacup Clip Art - Sweetly Scrapped

Pecan Bites - Natural Noshing

Caramelized Onion Tart with Apples - Real Simple

Everything else was a little bit Pinterest inspiration and a lot of little ole me!

My hubby's 30th

My hubby turned 30 this month. He had to work and didn't want a party or anything special, but I still wanted to make him a cake and something a little silly.

He works in the golf industry, so I decided to make him a golf cake!

I used a star tip to make the grass, although it would have looked a lot better if I was more patient and put the frosting back in the refrigerator when it started to get soft. The putting green is just green decorating sugar  on top of a smooth layer of frosting and the sand trap is ground up rice krispies. The golf ball is a plastic ball that goes to Audrey's play golf set, sitting in a hole that I cut out of the cake. And the flag is a lollipop stick with construction paper and the number 30 written on it. I didn't bother to even take it out of the glass baking dish, but he still loved it!

The silly gift I made him is all over Pinterest. I can't take credit for the idea, but I did try to make it my own a little bit.

And my hubby loves lollipops, so it was perfect for him!

Winter One-derland!

We had a Winter One-derland party to celebrate Audrey's 1st Birthday and I was really happy with the way everything turned out! We had a fairly small family party for her, but if you know me, you know the details were still important to me!

 The invitations I made. 

(With my address, phone number and email blurred out for internet purposes.)

 

Snowflake sugar cookies I made and decorated for favors.

 Cupcakes with homemade pink buttercream and royal icing snowflakes.

 Audrey's snowflake smash cake.

 Snowflake decorated highchair

 Paper snowflakes hanging from the ceiling

 and the light fixtures.

 Photo collage on display with the cupcakes, smash cake and cookies.

 Pulling bows off the presents before the party even starts.
There are little silver snowflakes on her dress too!

 Audrey's new princess car from Mommy & Daddy!

 Cake time!

 Testing it out.

 Feeling it in her fingers.

 Yummmmm!

Audrey mostly got money for her education fund as gifts, which I was happy about because she got so many toys for Christmas. I'm worried about making her birthday special for her, being so close to Christmas, as she gets older though.

Do any of you have a birthday or a child's birthday close to Christmas? What did your parents and do you do to make the birthday special? I'll take any suggestions! I've heard that some people celebrate their half birthday in the summer instead. I like that idea, but I would feel like I needed to do something on her real birthday too. What do you think?