the part-ay

Since Gwen’s first birthday party was well over two weeks ago, I guess it’s about time to write a little recap. The theme of Gwen’s party was “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. Katie was the one who put the idea in my head and I’m so glad she did because it fit just perfectly. Not only because Evalyn’s first birthday party was also the title of a theme song (A Bushel and a Peck) …(sidenote: I seem to have started a trend here… I need to start thinking of other theme songs that could work for parties for future children)….but also because throwing a rainbow theme birthday party in the summer is the easiest thing ever.

Basically, anything that is any bright colour would work for decorations and bright colours are very easy to come by in the summertime. Most of the decorations were things I already had or things from the dollar sections at Target/Walmart and the Dollarstore.

When I thought of the theme I set Elizabeth off to work on creating an invitation and decoration package. And she did not disappoint. Obviously. Her work is always so wonderful. If you’re looking for invitations, birth announcements, nursery prints or anything of the sort, head over to her shop.

After a few (okay, more than a few) back and forths (thanks for your patience Liz!) we had exactly what I was looking for…

She also made coordinating cupcake toppers, favour tags, food labels and a banner … all which you will see in the following photos. Combined with a friend from church cutting scalloped circles and rectangles die cuts out for me – the decorations were easy and perfect!

I had a major brain fart and planned Gwen’s birthday for Father’s Day. Why didn’t anyone tell me this in the planning process? I’m not sure. Anyway, it wasn’t until well after the invitations had been designed, printed and distributed that I even realized it. Ah well, cute baby Gwennie trumps Dads any day of the week.

When I set out to plan Gwen’s first party, my goal was to have a cute, fun party without going (too far) over the top like I did for Eva’s.

Well, HA. HA. HAHAHA.

The thing is, once I start, I just can’t stop.

But being totally honest, I really did achieve this goal. Although my husband still teased me about the level of detail at this party, it was not as intense as Eva’s. Making 40 candy apples the day before a birthday party? Never again. Like I said, most of the decorations were things I already had and/or inexpensive and easy to make or put together. Especially since I suckered my girl Briar into making all the tissue poms for me. One of my favourite accents to the decorations was wrapping a ton of variously sized, empty boxes in two different patterns of wrapping paper that fit with the colours and theme of the party. This was such a cute, simple and CHEAP way to add a lot of POP to the tables. Adding the extra height and patterns really did a lot for the look of things.

I decided on a taco bar for the food – of course, there’s nothing inherently rainbow like in a taco bar, but it was fun and colourful and most importantly, delicious. I did both taco beef and shredded BBQ taco chicken. We also served chips, salsa, guacamole, queso, veggies and southwest ranch dip, texmex quinoa salad, taquitos and 7-layer dip. For dessert, there were cupcakes (duh) made my Evan’s talented cousin, rainbow fruit kabobs made by my girl C-Bisc, with “fluffy cloud” dip (marshmallow fluff and cream cheese), and a candy buffet.

For favours, I skipped making favours for the adults (sorry, friends!) and just stuck with the kids. At Eva’s first birthday there were hardly any kids so I did the candy apples for adults but this time, there were a plethora of kids so it was great to focus on them. I gave the kids a sand bucket with shovel, filled with “rainbow” stuff – freezies, rainbow goldfish, skittles, playdoh, sidewalk chalk, crayons and bubbles. For a guestbook, I had a copy of a “Somewhere over the Rainbow” book for people to sign (this is the same thing I did at Evalyn’s party). I also had tissue poms hanging in various spots and a 12 month photo display of Gwennie. I don’t have good pictures of either of these things because they were all on windows. The tissue poms hung in place of our curtains and the 12 monthly photos were mounted on scalloped rectangles and displayed on the window behind the food table.

I started to get a wee bit (okay a lot bit) nervous in the week leading up to the party because the weather forecast was not looking good. We were expecting about 25 people, plus kids and well, our house just isn’t cut out for that many people. We were so blessed that the rain stopped about an hour before the party started and the sun poked through the clouds, giving us a beautiful afternoon for the party. The bright side is that our icky, unfinished basement is in better shape than it ever has been since we got it all ‘cleaned’ up in the event I had to banish the boys downstairs to play pool. It was a good thing it turned out to be inside, too, because my Sweet Girl was pretty overwhelmed with the chaos when everyone started arriving. It was good for for us to get outside and spread out.

The day was all together so much fun – a wonderful afternoon of celebrating our sweet girl. I guess for the rest of the post, the best thing is to just let the photos do the talking…

Our Family

Normally I don’t think I’d post so many photos of people eating but every time I look through the pics, I can’t help but laugh at the “baby row”, as I called it. Seven little high chairs all in a row. Are my kids blessed or what?

The cake smash.

After Gwen was finished with her smash cake, I thought it would be HIGH-LARIOUS to pretend to smash it in Evan’s face. Then he started asking me why the icing stunk so bad. I was completely annoyed by him asking this out loud in front of everyone since Caley (who made the cupcakes) was sitting RIGHT there. And, well, you know, she's pregnant and hormonal and I was afraid she would cry and be embarrassed about the stinky icing. So I gave him an evil "shut your pie hole right now if you know what's good for you" stare and took a whiff of the cake to prove it didn't stink. And, yeah, you know the rest. Joke's on me. I was covered in icing for days.

It’s so hard to believe my second baby’s birthday has already come and gone. A year has been quick enough to go by in an instant and long enough to change our hearts forever. Thank you to everyone who has celebrated her first year with us!    

A Bushel and a Peck Birthday

I started thinking about Evalyn’s birthday party a few months ago. I was racking my brain trying to think of a creative, personal, cute theme that we could center her party around. We were out for a walk one day and I was looking around our farm and the area surrounding it and thought that it would be fun to play on the fact that we live in the country and her birthday is in the fall. My first thought was to do a pumpkin patch or harvest party. But, I just wasn’t feeling it. A few days later, she and I were playing together and I started singing, “I love you a bushel and a peck, a bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck…”

And I knew. THAT would be the most perfect theme. I even knew that I already had a dress for her to wear that would fit so well.

The next few months were full of ideas and planning and craft and, you know, LOTS of list making. And in the end, I was so happy with the result. I loved her party. It was absolutely perfect. A day where we were gathered with our friends and family, celebrating the first year of this sweet angel’s life.

Most of the decorations were handmade, whether by me or someone else. A friend of mine from church used her die cut machine to cut out the letters and apples and I made the two sided banner using coordinating scrapbook paper and jute. It turned out 195893 times better than I pictured. The photo display was made using a frame that Ev built, painted and distressed. I printed her monthly monkey photos in sepia with a white border and used small apple die cuts, with brown letter stickers to mark the months. (And, um, yea, both the banner and the photo display are still hanging. And will be for a while). The beautiful painted canvas was a very special gift from my dear friend Gina. This was the first decoration that I had, and so, everything else was centered around it. And I love it. The tin flower pots were bought at Ikea and, again, I used a small apple die cut and brown stickers to personalize them a bit.

For the guestbook, I got a copy of the kid’s book version of the “Bushel and a Peck” song. I stuck some yellow cardstock inside the covers, and had it sitting out with pens so everyone could leave a message for the lady. I also used her first birthday portrait, caramels and other little apple decorations to put finishing touches on the decor.

The centrepieces were made with miniature bushel baskets from Michaels, filled with fall mums and handmade tags, done by me. There were four of them. I love you. A Bushel and a Peck. A Hug Around the Neck. A Barrel and a Heap. I gave these away as the prizes for the people who got the most points on the All About Evalyn quiz.

For the favours, my girlfriends and I busted our butts making beautiful, delicious caramel and chocolate apples. We used peanuts, skor bits, and reese pieces as the toppings. Yum. Tied them up with cellophane, coordinating thank you tags and jute – and there you have it. I also had brown paper bags filled with sweet and salty kettle corn – as that stuff, thanks to my friends, helped me survive the first year of motherhood. They were stamped with a small apple stamp, tied with jute and had a thank you tag as well.

The (gorgeous) smash cake was made for Evalyn by her ever so talented Auntie Caley. And the cupcakes were made by my mom and myself.

Now let’s move on to the party itself. Evalyn was surrounded by her cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents and friends as we celebrated her life. What a fun day! The weather was gorgeous. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day.

Tons (read: way too much) yummy food.

And a snoopy girl who wanted to dig into the gifts.

A few photos of the birthday girl and my family on party day.

She had so much fun opening her presents and definitely had some help from her cousins. The singing Mickey Mouse card? Highlight of her life. The chair she is sitting in so proudly was her birthday gift from her daddy – built with his own two hands.

Watching her smash her cake was hilarious, since she hates to have anything messy on her hands. She wasn’t so pumped. She would grab a chunk of icing and then shake it off her hand as fast as she could. Girlfriend doesn’t know what she’s missing.

It was such a special, perfect day.

Silent Sunday: It’s HERE!

The decorations are made. The menu is planned. The guests are on their way.The day is finally here.

This afternoon, we’ll be kicking it autumn style with our family and friends as we celebrate the big FIRST BIRTHDAY of our Evalyn.

Stay tuned next week for a whole line up of birthday posts. I’m going to tell you about the theme, the dress, the inspiration, the invitations, the food, the decorations, the guests, the planning, the games, and on and on and on. I’m going to over do it. I’m going to annoy you. I’m going cherish the last week that my first child is a baby. I’m going to celebrate her life to the max. What can I say? My firstborn will only turn one once. Can you really blame me?

A Great Weekend

Aside from this happening, I had a great weekend! It was busy and fun-filled.

Friday night started out with a surprise party for my friend A. who is getting married in two weeks. There are ten people in my graduate class (all girls) and we have become quite close over the year. So, as a final celebration we decided to have an end of year party but planned for it to be in her honor. She was quite surprised when she arrived and realized what we had been scheming and it was a blast.

I'm sorry to inform you, though, that the party was much less elegant and much more tame than some of you implied in your comments. My decorations and food were nothing fancy. It was potluck style, so the other girls did most of the work. I basically just served heat-and-serve appetizers and Taryn's black and white cheesecake squares (which are incredible by the way). I meant to take a picture of the spread of food but I had 9 ravenously hungry woman on my hands and before I thought about it, all the food was gone. The decorations were non-existent aside from a "Bridal Shower" banner and the games were (relatively) tame. We played Pin The Boobies on B. (the groom). It was so fun. I stalked her Facebook photos for a picture of him, blew it up and then we drew a body on large construction paper to post on the wall. We then "dressed him for the beach" since they are getting married in Cuba by sticking construction paper bikini tops onto him while blind folded. It was much harder than I expected.

Next, we played the oh so classic toilet paper bride.

The last game we played got a little more interesting. In this game, each team gets a list of chocolate bars and candy. You then have to come up with a phrase or saying involving that type of candy. So, for example ... if the chocolate bar in question was Mr. Big... well, you can imagine. And if you can't imagine, I don't want to destroy your innocence.

The party was a blast. Below is a group shot ... all but one of us who couldn't come because her boyfriend got sick unexpectedly and they had to go to emerg. The second photo demonstrates my extraordinary photoshop skills as I added her to the group shot. Love it!

On Saturday, my brother, Mr. Fishy and my SIL came for the day. The boys worked on the boat in the morning and then did some fishing. I marked papers and SIL copied down some recipes from my recipe books in the morning and then we did a little shopping in the afternoon. We finished off the evening with a BBQ, a trip to Toute Sweet and a campfire. I also got some really exciting news on Saturday. I found out that I was offered a provincial scholarship for next year! This really takes the pressure off of us as we go through another year of school. What a blessing!

Today the weekend ended with another Bridal Shower. After Friday night, A. was telling us that she was so shocked we could surprise her because no one is ever able to surprise her. She was convinced the only reason it remained a secret was because her fiance didn't know about it. Little did she know!! Her wedding party planned a Bridal Shower Luncheon in Niagara Falls. Once again, she was completely shocked. Only two of us from school were able to go to this one. It was a lovely afternoon and I was able to meet some of her family, her friends and her wedding party. The process of getting to the shower on time was quite interesting (picture this: two girls carrying a rather large gift, running around in high heels, in the wrong hotel, trying desperately to get to the right place before the bride, worrying that the elevator doors will open and she will be standing there) but once we were there it was a blast. Below is a photo of the bride and I. You can see Niagara Falls behind us. It's funny how we sometimes forget how cool it is that we live so close to one of the most visited areas in the world.

When I returned home, I marked more papers and did my menu planning for the week. When I asked the FD what he wanted to eat this week, he requested meatloaf. Then a few moments later he said, "Just plain old meatloaf. Please no chickpeas, no lentil things, no shredded veggies. Just plain meatloaf please". Ahh, bless his sweet heart. We then went grocery shopping, to the Superstore to grab a few things for my vacation and then to visit our dear friends G&P for a few hours. It was a busy weekend. I am tired, I am joyous, and I am entering a new week feeling full of life. I'd love to hear what the rest of you did this weekend.

And one last thing, don't forget the enter the giveaway if you haven't yet. It's open until Wednesday!