Party Planning: Little Golden Books Baby Shower

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Pin It I have had a party-free June (and unfortunately, a June free of progress on the remodel), but I have several upcoming events that I am excitedly planning, like Stephanie's baby shower! Stephanie and I have been friends since we were eight years old! That is a LONG TIME, people.

I co-hosted the Luau Shower celebrating her marriage to Eddie two years ago, and now I get to help celebrate the impending arrival of their first baby! (Whom I'm sure will be named Emily, no pressure.)

Stephanie had mentioned liking the idea of a Little Golden Books-themed shower a while back. When we found out she was having a girl, I tried to take the ideas I had found online and feminize them a little bit. Here's a peek into my planning process and my thoughts so far.

Don't mind my rambly theme food ideas at the top--those are a work in progress. I had seen Little Golden Books fabrics before, but many of them were in brighter, primary colors. Finding the same print in a aqua and rose colorway, and pairing it with the pink "Poky Little Puppy" print (both found here) helped to make the palette a little more girly, which Stephanie liked. I like it, too, because I have two boys and don't get to do many frilly, feminine parties.

Anyway, aqua, rose, and some gold to bring in the golden spines of the books. I'll be making decorations and food based on the more classic LGBs: The Poky Little Puppy, Scuffy the Tugboat, The Little Red Hen, etc.

Feel free to weigh in with any suggestions for the party, and make sure to check back in August to see how everything turns out! Pin It

Graham's Mappy 3rd Birthday

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Pin It The following is a look back at my son Graham's 3rd birthday party, in 2009. It originally appeared on my personal blog, and it was featured on Apartment Therapy. The map-themed birthday was a big hit, especially with the guest of honor. We set up almost everything while he napped, and when he woke up and saw everything, he just kept saying, "Wow." It was the best reaction I could have hoped for. Although I like themes (okay, I have a theme sickness), I generally think super-specific themes are not worth the trouble and expense for toddler parties, but Graham is so OBSESSED with maps, flags, and globes that I felt like this theme would be worth it.

For decorations, we used (of course) tissue paper poms in lime, aqua, and orange, as well as hanging globe-printed beach balls. The colors were inspired by the bright map colors of his invitation. We placed some earth-printed and other solid-colored balloons around the yard, too.

Never one to miss an opportunity to beat a theme to death, I made little state maps for the food: Iowa (Caramel) Corn, California Grapes, Wisconsin Cheese, Idaho Potato Chips, and Georgia "Peanuts" (um, actually Nutter Butters, but you get the idea). We stuck to snacks because the party was at 3:00, between meal times.

 

My mom made the fantastic caramel corn, which we put in some DIY paper cones that I cut and stapled in coordinating paper.

We  went a little overboard on cake: Mom made a Tennessee-shaped chocolate cake, and I made cupcakes decorated with tiny state flags. Just about everyone had a serving of each.

The beverage table is covered in a fabric remnant my friend Mimi left at my house (thanks, Mim!). I think she had originally planned to recover a chair with this, but it made a perfect last-minute tablecloth. The beverage signs here  (Tennessee Tea and Florida Key Limeade) didn't turn out quite as planned--I had intended to tape them to the beverage jars but didn't think about condensation.  Oops. I ended up slapping them onto the lids, which I guess was okay.

We denoted the boundaries of the party (and of our yard) with some lines of flags (international, since I couldn't find any state flags like this and ran our of energy to make much more stuff). However, that didn't stop some Graham and his cousin Caspar for trying to ambush the golf course. Luckily, their dads intercepted them.

We got so lucky with the weather (70s and overcast!), so for activities we just put out lots of outdoor games and random seating throughout the yard and let the kids help themselves. We have a small cornhole set and a cheap ladder ball game (found at Aldi, of all places, for $5). We also left Graham's teensy Kangaroo Climber out, and we drug out his castle-shaped tent. All of these options made it easy for us to be fairly unstructured and just let the kids run around and be kids.

I resisted the tent at first, but Seth insisted, and it ended up being the hit of the party. We stretched the theme, figuring it was loosely related to the Grahamville idea, so we decided that Graham was king of Grahamville, and we stuck Seth's old prom king crown on him.

Oh, and a couple days before the party, I worried that there wasn't enough to do (ah, last minute freakouts) and ordered a parachute. The kids seemed to really enjoy it.

For favors, everyone left with a little bag containing an earth punch ball and some geography-themed treats: a Charleston Chew, Boston Baked Beans, and some flag-wrapped Tootsie Rolls.

Everyone had a great time, especially Graham. He's still talking about his "states party."

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Godzilla First Birthday

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Pin It Note: Cross-posted at my blog, Spaghetti Arms. 

I was excited and honored to see Dean's party featured on Apartment Therapy Family recently, after having the honor of being in the  Party of Five round-up at Hostess with the Mostess and  on Project Nursery's week-end round-up. Dean feels very special, ha. But Dean's first birthday wasn't my only special project in April!

Last fall, I donated a party planning package to the silent auction  at my kids' daycare fundraiser. I couldn't believe someone actually paid for it, but they did! In fact, the high bidders were my friend Mimi and her husband, the same couple I threw the Penny Carnival baby shower for, just over a year ago. You can probably guess what recently rolled around--Penny's first birthday!

I threw out a couple girly party ideas, only to be surprised with a theme that Kevin and Mimi had cooked up themselves--Godzilla! Kevin and Mim are fans of vintage horror movies and Japanese films in general, so I had the best time collaborating with them on this little monster bash.
 

I wanted the invitation to be reminiscent of a movie poster, with a toddler silhouette instead of Godzilla's, and the Nashville skyline, to make it a little more personal. I used the free Godzilla font, downloadable here.

My husband remembered that he and his brother had owned large Godzilla toys as kids, and he went hunting in the treasure trove of his parents' basement and found them! They made a big difference in our tablescape. My mom and I made a cardboard cut-out of the Nashville skyline, painted it gray and filled in the details with pencil.

The banner is reminiscent of Japanese flags, with the word "PenZilla" in the Godzilla font linked above. It's just 8.5" x 11" white cardstock, with the letters printed on red printer paper that I cut into circles. It's sewn together with grosgrain ribbon. 

We put some peeps in the Godzillas' hands as a funny nod to Easter, which was the next day.

Red lanterns and green paper poms rounded out the rest of the decor.

The food was loosely themed around Godzilla and his radioactivity/atomic fire breath. "Atomic Chicken" was really hot chicken--if you live in or have been to Nashville and have never tried it, you are missing out. Eat hot chicken! But keep a glass of milk nearby. (We also had a plate of "non nuclear" chicken for the kiddos.)

"Chopped sticks" were just crudite and ranch dip in individual cups.

And it's tough to see here, but we had peanut butter and jelly "sushi," basically just PB & J rolled up in white bread and sliced. It was adorable and the kids couldn't get enough of it.

I carved a Godzilla (or a dinosaur, whatever you prefer) head out of a small watermelon, as recommended by the National Watermelon Promotion Board(who knew, right?). You can see the "sushi" a little bit here, to the left.

Here's a hasty iPhone pic of the Dino-Melon in progress. Ignore my messy stovetop--when I am getting ready for a party, the kitchen is chaos.

 

I filled him up with cut fruit, and here he is again after everyone had . . . eaten the fruit from out of and around his mouth? It didn't seem so disgusting at the time, sorry.

I made Godzilla Egg cake pops, natch.

We served "nuclear limeade" and "uncontaminated water":

Some Sapporo and other beers provided some grown-up drink choices (looks like the guest of honor's bottle is chilling in here, too!).

Guests mingled outside and inside, where the hosts had the original Godzilla movie playing.

My little monsters and I had some fun playing with the backdrop afterwards!

Dean seemed to take his role very seriously.

We had a great time with this theme! Mimi and Kevin, thank you for letting me be a part of Penny's special day. She is one sweet little monster!

Photos: the lovely and talented Carrie Fanning, Pickafig Photography,  except for the ones that are so obviously from my phone (dinosaur melon close-ups, cake pops) and the last ones of my monkey boys.

Banner, invitation, food signs, backdrop: Yours truly

Cake Pops and Watermelon carving: Me again
Chicken, hot and not: Pepperfire, East Nashville
Godzilla props: vintage





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Pin It Happy Weekend!

I just had the lovely surprise that Project Nursery has featured Dean's first birthday on their "Nurseries and Parties We Loved This Week" feature!

I love Project Nursery for party and decor inspiration, so I am so excited to be featured on their site.


If you would like to vote for Dean's party (and it's certainly fine if you don't!) as your favorite of these features, all you have to do is visit this gallery page of his party and click on the "like" button at the top, just above the first picture. Maybe I will get to be the fan favorite. They'll reveal the favorite on Monday.

Have a great weekend! I will be back Monday with at least one exciting party to share Pin It

The Dean's List

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Pin It Well, as much as I tried to deny it, my little tater tot turned one this month. We celebrated with this little play on his first name.

Mock-up of the report card-style invitation we sent out.

I had said I was going to try to stick to items that I could scrounge up around my house and/or borrow from friends and family, and for the most part, I succeeded! I think the only things I bought (besides food) were cardstock for the banners, thrift store neckties, a navy sheet and little mini chalkboards.

Here is the table o' goodies, before we moved it out of the direct sunlight. I really wanted that brick backdrop, but we had to relocate so everything wouldn't melt.

The trophy cup is my sister's (in addition to being glamorous and successful, she is a seriously good golfer); the globe (and another one elsewhere in the party) is from my grandmother's; and the luggage, typewriter and books are mine.  I tried to make the banner look like collegiate pennants.

I used one of Seth's belts to make a "book strap" to go around some of my cuter (and color-appropriate) books. I attempted apple cake pops. Some of them looked like apples, and . . . well, some of them really benefited from this chalkboard sign explaining what they were.

My mom made this incredible cake that looked so much like old leather books! It was so gorgeous that I didn't want to cut into it (fortunately, it was also delicious, which eased my guilt a little).

Favors (just little bottles of bubbles--most of our younger guests were two and under), were in brown, lunch-bag style sacks with coordinating name pennants.

My in-laws had this amazing vintage school desk and chair, just hanging out in their basement. We put some little school-ish props around it and tried to coerce the young'uns into having their pictures taken nearby.

Graham's contribution to the decor--notice his initials, so no one else takes credit.

A friend of mine happened to have a great collection of vintage school trays that we all got a kick out of using.

I think our little Dean's Lister approved. I was just happy he kept the hat on long enough to snap a few pictures.

Happy Birthday, Dean! I can't believe you've been here a year already.

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