A Christmas Birthday

Last weekend we celebrated a fourth birthday in our house. This year we decided on a Christmas party and we had a ton of fun. For the invitations, we gave the Bust a Move Gingerbread Man cards from the Teetoo Holiday Card Pack.

I made up some loot bags filled with Christmas candies, chocolates and a Christmas activity book...

I made these strawberry cupcakes and topped them with gingerbread men. They were delicious.

Every little person who came got to design their own gingerbread person or gingerbread dinosaur which was a request from one of the party-goers :)

We played the Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer soundtrack and of course my personal favorite Christmas album, A Charlie Brown Christmas Okay, as far as Christmas albums go, Charlie Brown and Christmas with Boney Mare equal favorites for me. What's your favorite Christmas album?

I have to say a big thank you to my amazing mother-in-law who saved my cupcake icing (which I ruined by adding pureed frozen strawberries that were still too cold to my already blended buttercream causing the butter to solidify) and made our house look great.

Happy Winter solstice! And only four more days till Christmas! Can't wait!

♥ Andrea ♥

Spooky Party: Pop-up Bat Cards, Sand Witches + Cupcakes!

We had a great (and slightly exhausting) weekend. My son just turned five and we celebrated with a spooky spring party! If you've been reading the blog for a while, you know that my son has a penchant for the sinister. He loves anything to do with spooky, scary, doomy and gloomy. He wishes it was Halloween all year 'round. So just in case you were wondering, that is why I'm posting about a party that looks like a Halloween party at the end of March.

DIY Sand Witches and Pop-up Bat Cards
For anyone who may be interested in making either of these projects for their next Halloween party here are some hints and links...

I found the inspiration for the pop-up bat invitations on the Paper Source blog (a great blog if you're into paper crafts) and the cute sand witches, on a Halloween party blog post by Lisa Storms. I changed them and free handed everything but if that's not your thing, you can find tips and links to tools that make these projects easier on both posts.

I just winged the bat (hehe), but if you'd like one, there is a bat template here. Once I cut them all out, I just folded each bat in half and then folded the corners of the wings down. I found the best way to attach the bats to the cards was to lay the bat as close to the top and right edge of the card as possible while making sure the bat's nose didn't stick out beyond the edge of the card. Then I drew a light line with my pencil along the edge of the wing before removing it to apply the glue to the wing tip.

Once I adhered the first wing along my pencil line, I applied glue to the other wing tip and then pressed the card closed.


Ultimate Vanilla Cupcakes
I also tried my hand at some cupcakes and they turned out really well! I used The Ultimate Vanilla Cupcake and the Vanilla Bean Buttercream Frosting recipes from the Cupcake Project. While they were absolutely the unhealthiest thing I can ever remember making, they were also one of the most deliciously decadent things I've ever made. They were not much to look at, but I was pleased by how many oo's, ah's and raised eyebrows they received. Also, they were very easy.

Thank goodness for my husband who made all of the food (besides the cupcakes)! I can't believe how much work a birthday party is! And in case you haven't experienced it yourself, a house full of four and five year old kids is completely mental.

♥ Andrea ♥

Party!

We had a party here over the weekend. My son turned four and we had a great time!

I was so happy to find these biodegradable paper plates. Here's a link to some biodegradable plates available at Grassroots. You can buy them on line or purchase them at one of their stores in Toronto if you live in the area. Giving a party is a lot of work. Lately I'm really feeling the crunch to cut down on labour in all areas of our life. But of course I don't want to go against my ethics. Sometimes this dilemma causes stress. Clean up was so easy after lunch and I didn't feel guilty about putting all of the plates into the compost bin. I will use these again for sure.

After some food and fun, the kids made crafts...



I worked at a Micheal's Arts and Crafts store for several years while I was at school. One of the jobs I did while I was there was to facilitate arts and crafts birthday parties. One thing I learned while doing crafts with kids, is that when it comes to art, kids are told what to do way too often. When this happens, kids are paralyzed creatively and have difficulty thinking for themselves and beginning projects. So, when I do crafts with kids now, I always show some examples of work done by others for inspiration and let the kids decide what to do. Every time I do crafts with kids I get at least one child who asks in a surprised tone of voice, "Can I make anything I want?" I love the look on their faces when I answer, "yes!"

Here are some of the awesome crafts that were made...

I stuck with the arts and crafts theme with the loot bags and gave craft supplies and some chocolate for the kids to take home. Handwritten name tags gave the loot bags a little personal touch.



Overall, it was a great weekend. My son said his birthday was "awesome" and that's music to my ears. He received some really lovely things. My favorite of course being a little handmade dog to go with the cat the kids got a couple of weeks ago. They were made by our friend across the street. This is the sewing kit she used. It looks like a great first sewing kit for kids.



And he got a Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear from Toy Story 3. I must say, I love this toy! He's really very adorable and huggable. He talks and sings songs too, all about how much he wants to get hugged.

Here's an adorable commercial that's made to look as though it's from 1983 that Disney Pixar created for Lotso. I was 6 in 1983 and I would have loved this bear! Even as an adult, I honestly can't stop myself from hugging this toy!



Happy Monday to you!

♥ Andrea ♥