Tuesday, February 23, 2010

A FIN-tastic birthday!

I am combining two parties into one post since the decor for both parties was much the same. This may be a huge mistake because there are LOTS of pics...look at them in a few installments if you must! I am warning you...LOOOONG.

We will start with "the family party"...

As I showed you last week, the left pic is of the invitations...I made invitations for both parties exactly the same except for the date and times. I could kick myself for forgetting to take a picture of the labels for the envelopes before I sent them. I like to try to make an envelope really fun to get since the mail is mostly bills or junk these days. The right picture is of course the door sign...used at both parties.



And by now I am sure you know the basic setup of my house and decorating space! Of course I have to have a banner in the middle and lots of balloons. I am not sure you can see it, but a few of the banner circles have "shark bites" taken out of them. Tate loved that part!



Then to dress up the serving trays, buckets, and paper goods...



We made a small candy bar for some early party snacking, I think I still have a sugar high from all the Swedish fish I consumed the past two weekends! (YUM!)



As I said in my "peek" post...I had to make 14 hats this year! So fun to have so many kids hanging around. We also had to continue in the tradition of taking a pic of my sisters and I in the party hats. I am not sure who had the idea of making it a little crazier this year...maybe it was that we did have so many hats sitting there...but what I do know is that it was a little later, we were a little sillier, and Avery had to get in on the double hat craziness!



I will spare you the gift opening and meal pictures since this post is incredibly long, but maybe I will post those on the Newman family blog (which hasn't been updated since October...eek.) We'll skip to that ever delicious cake, made by my high school BFF, Tracie.



She actually made identical cakes for both weekends. I used the same shark fin and cake topper that I made for both parties and added some extra long candles in between.

We sent all the kids at this party home with a squirting shark. I loved these because they would be fun for every kid at the party from babies to 6 year olds! Tate also brought them to school as his "birthday treat" because they can't bring food as treats to his school.



Then on to the "friend party" held this last Saturday, which was T and I's actual birthday. This is the first party for little people only that we've ever had and I think it lived up to both of our expectations. The trend is definitely to go somewhere for a big party these days, but Tate and I both decided it would be fun to stay at our house and play shark-y games here!

I got to decorate our dining room...we always use this room for parties, but I don't usually decorate it since people are kind of sitting all over the house and we do more of a buffet style with that many people. But with 8 kids it was perfect to set the table, personalized for each guest...



My favorite new thing that I've been dying to use for a party is these vintage paper straws. After an idea I talked about with another one of my friends named Tracy, I made each straw personalized with the kids names that were great for the little soda bottles the kids drank out of. (Here you go, Runchey! "Tracy straws" they are!)



You can also see in the back of the picture on the right I covered the pictures that are normally on my wall with cardstock. I knew the images that are normally there would bug me in pictures, so I decided that for a very minimal cost I could cover them with paper and make them part of the design!

After the kids arrived we played several games and made a craft...


(The sharks for the game are SO easy to make!)



The theme song from Jaws is great for musical chairs! The only game we didn't get to at the party because we ran out of time was to play a "Sharky, may I?"... a version of this game I used to play as a kid. We even had this shark hat to wear! We have had a chance to play it as a family since then, though, and it is great for kids of all ages. Even Beckett loves it!

Again, I will skip the pics of gift opening and eating...onto the cake!



The boys were on their way home by noon...



We had a great time and then I spent the rest of the day with my family (I even got a much needed nap in!).



Happy birthday, Tater Tot. Love you!

15 comments:

Unknown said...

everything looks amazing! simply amazing!

Unknown said...

Fantastic details! Great party! The clothespin sharks were my fav detail!

Kim @ http://frostmeblog.blogspot.com
party inspiration

Colleen said...

Love it! You sure you don't want to make me some of these party goods?! I'm in love.

Lora Joy said...

everything looks great and shark-tastic!!! =)

Stacy said...

Great party! I love all the details. And I'm giving you credit for getting me hooked on the banners! I love them! I've only made 2, one for Christmas and one for my oldest daughter but I love how they look. So, thank you! Now tell me what kind of napkins you used. They look awfully fancy. I like that idea also. I may just have to use it also. ;)

Unknown said...

okay i'm gonna have to use bullets to keep track of all the great details...
-straw+letters+litle glass vases=so clever and cute and great!
-shark clothes pegs? oh my1 tooo cute!
-luv that you covered your pictures with matching paper. great idea!
-shark gunnies and swedish fish- what perfect candy!
-love how simple yet adorable the cake is
-such great useful stuff in the favor bags and not junky or overdone.
-that pin the tail game sign is so cute!

cute cute party!

CWBD Parties said...

I love this idea and you justified my thoughts on covering pictures with paper. I took pictures for my Valentine's Day party and there is a picture in the background that I wanted to cover and didn't and now it's all that I see - and not the cute banner and poms :( So, from now on all pictures get covered! I love the straws too! Then the little bits on the banner paper - love all the details!

Unknown said...

love all your details, especially the shark clothespins!

Christina said...

I love your tan w/ green stripe wall in your living room!... Such a creative idea! (I may have to steal it)

and super cute party!... I love all of your ideas, simply fantastic.

When I have kids of my own I'll be sure to come looking your way for party essentials!

Jodee said...

What a fabulous party! I wish I had your creative bone! Everything looked perfect!

Tori {Thoughtfully Simple} said...

ADORABLE! There is nothing better than a theme pulled through to every last detail, and you nailed it! Great job!

Amparo said...

It's a really beautiful party! It's fantastic!
I live in Spain and here it is not possible to find such a beautiful cardboard. Please, please, can you tell me where you find it?
I really love it!

KelliT said...

this party is adorable! Such a simple idea but you made it amazing!!!

I love the shark game w/ the clothespins. Where can you find the container you drop it into? It looks like a giant cupcake liner. I've been searching online but haven't come across those.

Also, where do you order your gable boxes from? Would you mind giving me the website? Thanks so much!!!

The Shackelford's said...

LOVE THIS IDEA!! So great! Where did you get everything? Thanks!
~Melanie

Unknown said...

AMAZING... I see you made your invites and all the paper printables... do you sell them? if so where? and if not PLEASE consider it! kristyfey@yahoo.com