Zebra and Neon Themed Birthday Party

Growing up, we didn’t usually have big birthday parties. Sure, we celebrated with cake and ice cream, and usually a few family members would come over, but as far as the kind of parties you see on TV – large bunches of balloons, petting zoo, clowns and magicians – no, we never had those.

However, when I turned 10, my sisters planned the coolest party I remember to date. We played games, there were cheesy prizes and I’m pretty sure I got a kiss from my boyfriend (on the cheek; does that still count?). I remember being so excited for weeks building up to the big day.

Recently, my youngest step daughter, Emilee, turned 11. She is still at the age that grown up’s are fun to hang out with and also young enough to appreciate parties. So, I decided this would probably be my last chance to throw an awesome birthday party full of all the girly frills that she will soon outgrow. Zebra and neon are in like crazy right now, so I went with that for the theme of the party.

INVITATIONS

I started with invitations. I made these with my Cricut by cutting out the balloon shape at the 5” setting. I cut one black, one colored and one white. Then, I used a Xacto knife to cut wavy stripes out of the black shape. I brushed the colored shape with glue and sprinkled with glitter to give them an extra fun sparkle and, once they dried, sewed all three together with a zig zag stitch (I used black thread because I wanted the contrast on the white side with the party details, but you could also use white if you wanted contrast on the front or of course any color you want for an even bigger “pop”). I couldn't find any envelopes to fit the balloons, so I just took a white scrapbook paper, cut it in half, folded that in half, clipped the corners, put the balloon inside and sewed (with black thread) around the edges to seal it. I also added a tuft of zebra fabric and a neon button to the bottom to keep the invitation from moving around inside the envelope.

SWAG

I also wanted to create some lasting party favors, so I made each of the girls a matching purse and apron using zebra and neon fabric. I made the handle out of braided black yarn and attached them to the purse by simply sewing them to each side over the knot. I also added a contrasting yo yo and button to the front. You know, details. Emilee’s purse was special. I made it bigger and added a black and white ribbon flower as well as some thin elastic at the top.

The aprons were originally meant to be used for the cake decorating portion of the party which I later ended up scrapping. But, by that time, I’d already made all of the aprons so I gave them away anyway. I love how they turned out. The neon against the zebra print had a big impact and they were simple enough that they didn’t take too much time to put together.  The top of the apron is double sided but the apron is just single sided. The pocket is also doubled since the fabric was so thin. I added a couple of neon buttons and a zebra yo yo. This also helped me finally learn how to sew buttons using my sewing machine. Something so basic, yet I never understood it until this project. If you don’t know how to utilize this feature on your machine, LEARN. It is SO worth it.

The other items in the grab bags were fitting with the theme. I bought them from Party City online and, because I was only supplying for 6 girls, ended up being fairly inexpensive. I gave them a pack of neon headbands, some neon hair extensions, zebra and neon notepads and some neon gel pens.

CAKE

Emilee likes cake, but hates frosting. This makes cake planning difficult, but I also knew I was up against Cake Boss and Cupcake Wars as she watches The Food Network as if it were Saturday morning cartoons.

I decided since she was turning 11, I would build two towers to look like two 1’s. Conceptually, I thought this would be easy as pie.  Let’s just say I have a bigger appreciation for cake artists now.

I went to the home improvement store and purchased a wooden round base for about 3 dollars and a 1” square dowel for around 2 dollars. First, I cut the dowel in half then drilled two holes in the base without going all the way through. I hammered the dowels into the holes and secured with some wood glue. After wrapping the dowels and base with aluminum foil, it was ready for cake. It took 6 boxes of cake to have enough for this tower! I used a square cake pan (the kind with straight edges, not the beveled kind you get at Wal-Mart – I special ordered mine online) and cut each cake into 4 squares. I did a thin layer of frosting between each layer and let the towers set in the fridge for a couple of hours before frosting the outside. I’ve heard this helps make the cake easier to frost with less crumb mess. I admit, it helped, but it was far from perfect. I had also heard running a butter knife dipped in hot water over the frosting after it had a chance to “dry” or “cool” could smooth out the wrinkles. Again, this helped, but it was not a smooth, fondant look. I also purchased some edible zebra paper and cut some round circles to add for decoration. I’m glad I did; it helped cover some of the blemishes I couldn’t fix with the frosting. I also didn’t get enough frosting for both of the stacks which is why one of them is the Tiffany blue and the other ended up being party chip white. When they were complete, I realized they slightly resembled the twin towers from New York which made me a little nervous – especially because I was adding candles and lighting them on fire. But, I figured the girls were too young to notice and I knew that wasn’t what they were.

DECORATIONS

I made some cheap balloon topiaries out of PVC pipe, streamers and balloons for the front yard. PVC pipe cheap! I bought 4 10’ poles for 8 dollars, cut them in half and wrapped them with black streamers. I attached the balloons by tying two balloons together, then sets of two into 4, then sets of 4 into 8. I found it easiest to attach them to the PVC by running a ribbon through the pipe, taping off the bottom end then tying the other end around the balloon bunch.  But this is important: Make sure to secure them in the ground BEFORE you try and tie the balloons to the top. Otherwise you’ll be trying to hammer through a bunch of balloons which is virtually impossible. Because I only had them in the ground a couple of inches, I decided to secure them with some black ribbon to help them stay up in case the wind decided to pick up.

I had some boxes laying around at work that I used for the game prizes. None of the prizes were as big as the boxes of course, but they had a big impact and doubled as decorations during the party. I didn’t find any zebra wrap, so I opted for black with white polka dots and some good solids.

I was picking up all the girls for the party using my van, so I used a washable paint to decorate the windows and also hung some balloons out of the back to add some excitement.

For the outdoor tent (this is where the girls ate dinner and dessert), I used a netted gazebo we already own and purchased some black and white plastic tablecloths to drape from the ceiling. I also added a balloon bunch to the center and got to work setting the table. Most of these supplies also came from Party City and were pretty inexpensive.

I hung some paper lanterns from the ceiling in the basement where the girls slept, played games and sang karaoke. I also hung lines of balloons on the wall which doubled as a photo backdrop as well as location for the truth or dare game (prior to blowing up the balloons, I stuck one truth and one dare in each balloon so they could be popped during the game).

FOOD

For the drink, I prepared some clear Kool-Aid and added some food coloring, then froze it in star shaped ice cube trays ahead of time. I made sure the Sprite was very cold before adding the ice cubes so they wouldn’t melt right away and make the drink yucky colored.

We had a taco bar for dinner as tacos are Emilee’s favorite. I was able to wash the bowls in between games so I could re-use them later for the fruit pizza bar. I had most of these items prepared ahead of time to make it easier to just grab and go. I made the sugar cookies ahead of time as well as the cream cheese frosting which I stored in a zip lock bag with the tip cut for easy application.

The morning after, I prepared French toast, turkey bacon and orange juice.

GAMES

For the games, we played Sidewalk Pictionary, Photo Scavenger Hunt and Streamer Fashion Show. The girls seemed to have a good time and I certainly had fun planning!

Baby Name Frame

Although I know I’m late to the party, I’ve finally discovered the absolute awesomeness of Pinterest. To give myself a little credit, I have known about it for a while and was introduced to it months ago; it’s just taken me way too long to “find the time” to sign up and get to work with my pins.

Now that I’m in the cool club, I’ve started getting all sorts of new inspiration for projects, recipes and just general “why didn’t I think of that?” ideas. I have had an idea of adding the boys’ names to their nursery somehow and had a vague concept of what I wanted to do, but after browsing the pin boards high and low, I came up with this:

I found the frame at a second hand store for 50 cents. I wrapped it with some leftover yarn I had from the project I did with my step son last Christmas (hats for the homeless) using hot glue to attach it to the frame. The background is some scraps of scrapbooking paper I had with calligraphy writing and I used my Cricut to cut out the letters, also using old scrap paper.

I brushed the background paper with some olive green ink from an inkpad and brushed over it with a mix of glue and water after gluing it to the backing for the frame (that little cardboard piece that holds the glass in place). Then I scrubbed the edges of the green shadow letters with the same olive green inkpad and glued the letters on top.

I decided not to use the glass from the frame because I didn’t want it to look like a “picture frame” and also because after wrapping the frame in yarn, it wouldn’t fit anyway. So I used more hot glue to attach the cardboard backing to the frame, then added a small raffia bow under the letters to give it a 3 dimensional look.

As far as how I plan to display this in the nursery, I bought an inexpensive curtain rod at Big Lots for $2. It has tiny little acorns on the ends which matches the Frog and Toad swamp/forest theme of the room. The plan is to hang the curtain rod on the wall and wrap it with raffia, then hang the name frame from it using brown ribbon. To see pictures of the nursery, you can visit my baby blog for even more inspiration!

Nursery Blocks

I have so many ideas going on right now, but I just don't seem to have the time for any of them. Since we are preparing for not one, but two babies in the coming months, that has been occupying most of my time and attention.

I've started working on their baby quilts. I don't have much experience with detailed quilts. The one's I have done are just block quilts, so these require much more time and precision. I'll post pictures of the finished products once they're done - though I have feeling it's going to be a while. The two of them may have to share one until I have the time to finish the other.

I ran out of thread after 6 blocks, so I started looking around the craft room wondering what else I should work on. I found some small canvas blocks and decided to make something out of them.

It's hard to think of anything non-baby related, so the first thing that came to mind was the word "baby". I have never really learned to paint, or know any special painting techniques. But, I took some inspiration from Joshua Radin (my background tunes) and made these little pretties:

How cute are these? I love, love love them! I know the flower throws you off a bit, as these are obviously meant for a boys room. But I don't care. I love them!

Pink Madness

This weekend, my step daughter's and I recreated one of their bedrooms. We bought our house over a year ago and have slowly made improvements, but this one was way over due.

Before the changes, the room was a typical beige-neutral (aka really boring-blah). I would imagine that's because the owner's before us had it set up as a guest room. Having been a teenager myself once, I realize the importance of having your own space that represents your taste where you feel comfortable spending time. Although we had discussed this project many times, my middle step-daughter, Angel, and I decided it was to get it done.

 We started Saturday afternoon by picking out the paint colors:



Cotton Candy Pink

Budding Romance

While we were out, I was looking for these circle foam things. I didn't know what they were called, but I had seen them at Home Depot and Michael's. They look like this:

But alas, the fates were against us that day. When I asked the associates if they knew where I could find them, they all looked at me like I had three heads. Very discouraging. However, while at the craft store, we found a great back up plan: Styrofoam circles. More on what we did with these in a minute.

We originally decided to do a two-tone color scheme. We were going to do the light pink on top and dark pink on the bottom. Angel taped off the wall and we started painting. About half way through the top section, I thought it would be cool if we did a faux-wainscot look on the bottom half by painting contrasting pink stripes. At the time, this was a great idea and all the girls were very excited. However, once we started taping off the rows one by one, we thought maybe we were in over our heads. An hour and a half later, we were ready to go with the first color. In hindsight, we should have painted the whole room light pink first, then done the dark pink stripes over the top.

Peeling the tape away after the paint dried was like magic. Beautiful, lovely contrasting lines of pink covered the wall. I was so delighted! I think I was more excited than Angel.

To add the finishing touch to the paint, we added a one inch black border between the solid color on top and the stripes on the bottom. It was then we realized the room looked very much like a Victoria's Secret shopping bag. But that's ok. Those bags are so cute.

As I mentioned before, I wasn't able to find the foam circles I originally wanted to use for the wall. So, using the Styrofoam stand-in's, we picked out varying sizes as well as some 3" spheres. We cut the spheres in half so they'd stick on the wall, then covered them with the same fabric I used to make her quilt and pillows last Christmas. Her bed doesn't have a headboard, so we made a "headboard illusion" by placing the covered Styrofoam in random spots above her bed.

I also hung up some of the leftover paper lanterns in the corner from the bachelorette party I had hosted a few weeks before. Because the room had so much pink already, we chose a dark purple curtain for the windows accented by a white curtain with bright colored dots and circles. I bunched the white curtain with a hair tie and slid in a large blue Gerber daisy.

We added some stickers under the fabric circles to frame the pillows on the bed...

...And voila: Here is the final product: