Noah's World Grand Prix

Like many boys {and girls!}, Noah just adores the Disney "Cars" series and chose this theme to celebrate his fifth birthday! Last year, I helped style his "Under Construction" party at an indoor playground, which is always a bit tricky due to the time and space constraints. Although his party this year didn't take place in the same location, it was still an indoor space that allowed a mere 10-15 minutes for set-up!

We focused on the second movie in the "Cars" movie franchise, where the characters participate in the World Grand Prix in several different cities around the world to give it a more race car flair! I designed the invitation with graphics from Jessica Weible Illustrations, inviting guests to join Noah's pit crew!

After confirming the amount of tables available with the party location, we decided to include the food and desserts all in one set up for the crew to make their pit stops and fill up their tanks. Signage, including the international film posters from the movie, were displayed in colorful frames from Ikea, while food labels referenced characters and movie topics. The various food items were displayed in buckets, bowls and oil pans and though I utilized the same galvanized cupcake stand as last year, I changed it up by lining the sides with checkered crepe paper and cut out and glued cars racing around the tiers.

Since the construction set up from last year's party made such a big impact, we decided we wanted to achieve a similar look this year and were fortunate that the party place had several picnic tables available for the kids to sit and eat. We lined the tables with checkered plastic cloths from Hobby Lobby and the seats with racing helmets from Birthday Express. The perfect plastic Cars plates were found at the 99c Only stores and were paired with oversized tire cups from Birthday Express. The cups are intended for a Monster Truck party and included a corresponding graphic, which we replaced with tags I designed to match the rest of the decor. Toys from Noah's personal collection were sprinkled about the tables for an added touch! The pit crew had a blast, especially when the race car driver that Noah's mom hired showed up!

The favors were displayed at the Winner's Circle by the front door for the pit crew to grab on their way out of the raceway, which included Cars books, crayons and tire yo-yo's inside a re-usable bag ~ all found at the 99c Only store and The Dollar Tree! The tags were paired with adorable character race medals from Party City. We were so thankful to be part of Noah's Crew to help celebrate another win and fantastic year! Ka-Chow!

P.S. For more "Cars 2" party inspiration on a limited timeframe, be sure to visit GreyGrey Designs' winning party, too! ♥

Teacher Appreciation Week!

We're in the midst of Teacher Appreciation Week and are having a blast showering my daughter's teachers and support staff at her school! We are truly so appreciative of educators and since my husband is a teacher himself, we know just how much love and dedication they invest in their students and we are more than happy to spoil them with gifts to show our gratitude! As you may recall, we started school with the "I Hope You Dance" party expressing our wishes and hopes for the year and feel so grateful to our teachers for helping our baby girl dance!

Our school helped out by sending home a list of daily themes to follow and emphasized the importance of creativity, not expense. And I am so thankful to the amazingly sweet and talented graphic designers that have so graciously offered up FREE printables that helped us find fun and creative presents!

Day 1 theme: Fresh & Fruity

Last year, we made gifted our teachers with a "Berry Sweet" basket of strawberry-themed cupcakes and notebooks utilizing the adorable tags by The Girls at Eighteen25. For this year's fruit theme, we utilized the same tags, paired with apple items I had purchased at Target months ago and saved for this specific occasion (see... hoarding isn't always a bad thing!). Don't worry ~ the apples were fresh! ;)

Day 2 theme: Sweetheart 

When I saw the adorable Donut printable that Piggy Bank Parties designed for Mariah of Giggles Galore, I knew they would be perfect for the "Sweetheart" theme day! We picked up some delicious donuts, packaged them in individual clear bags and tied the tags to make a super sweet treat!

Day 3 theme: Shower Them with Flowers

I caught a glimpse of the beautiful flower arrangements in mason jars that Michele of Sweet Threads Clothing created and decorated with gorgeous tags by the sweet and talented Amber of Party On! Designs and knew they were just perfect for this theme! We simply wrapped small mason jars with some raffia ribbon and added the tag and flowers and the end result was simple, yet beautiful!

Day 4 theme: Crafty Art

To keep the creative juices flowing, the theme of the day centered around getting the kiddos to do something crafty. We debated a few different projects that included school supplies and was simple enough for a six year old, but as soon as I saw these super cute "Highlight" tags by sweet Lindi from Love the Day, I knew incorporating highlighters would be perfect! We utilized a metal can and we worked together to glue the pens to create a holder to brighten up the classroom!

Day 5 theme: Give a Gift!

The last day we were asked to give a gift certificate... to their favorite restaurant or coffee or to help out around the classroom! Since my daughter's teacher loves Mexican food, we utilized this super sweet printable by the amazingly talented Kori of Paper & Pigtails posted on Skip To My Lou to attach a gift card to Chipotle. And just because I think their burrito campaign is hilarious and cute, we had to include a miniature wrapped burrito!

Needing some last minute tags to show your appreciation for your teachers?! Hurry on over to the vendor websites listed above to download your FREE printables and show them some love! ♥

Aloha! Vintage Hawaiian Luau

Has it already been another year?! I can't believe a year ago we were scrambling to put cardboard boxes together for my daughter's "No Toy Gets Left Behind" Toy Story-themed party commemorating her fifth birthday! This year was especially fun, as Anabelle was more excited than she has been in years past and was convinced she was taller when she awoke on her actual birthday! 

When it came to deciding upon this year's theme, we were inspired by the amazing and unforgettable family trip we took to Hawaii last month that was gifted to us by my incredibly generous in-laws! My little hula girl had so much fun and fell in love with the islands and has already decided to move there after she graduates from college! For the luau, I focused on a vintage Hawaii feel reminiscent of the classic postcards, which inspired my design for the invitations, with digital images from Clip Art Corner, as well as the paper products throughout the luau.

Guests were welcomed to the luau with a bamboo sign and a cart similar to the ones found at the International Market Place in Waikiki! We dressed up a lemonade stand I had purchased from Joann Fabric and Crafts a couple years back with some hula skirts, offering some lei necklaces I made, as well as shell necklaces and beaded bracelets for all the "Junior Boys" and "Honey Girls".

We re-purposed some wooden signs from The Dollar Tree by spray-painting them and decorating them with some of the luau activities and tropical flower stickers.

Because we anticipated a bit of a heat wave here in Vegas over the weekend, we set up a "Sunscreen Station" and made fans to keep guests cool and protected!

When searching for party inspiration on-line, I came upon these adorable grass hut umbrellas on Parents.com that we just had to replicate and pair with some buckets of sand and straw mats for guests of all ages to relax and enjoy!

The decor on the tables included natural tablecloths and runners, tropical fruits and framed vintage Hawaiian postcards. The plates and napkins included rich, vibrant colors and were topped with wooden forks with "ALOHA" stamped on the handles. Guests drank Hawaiian fruit punch, tropical juice and cold water out of both coconut and palm tree cups. The tables sat underneath a big gazebo, embellished with colorful tissue poms and brown paper lanterns, resembling coconuts.

The luau feast was presented on a table lined with a burlap tablecloth and a grass skirt and adorned with tropical and beach-inspired decor. Vintage luggage trunks presented a variety of Hawaiian chips, while red pig-shaped plates carried ham sandwiches to symbolize the traditional luau roasted pigs! The menu wouldn't be complete without some teriyaki chicken, tropical fruit salad and ham and pineapple kebabs on palm tree picks. The food labels were made to look like little bamboo signs, displayed inside tiny metal buckets filled with crushed graham crackers and decorated with wooden surfboards {bookmarks!}.

When planning this party, the one thing Anabelle specifically requested was a volcano cake with sparkler candles! When I saw a volcano cake on Disney's Spoonful, along with a recipe to make candied lava, I thought it would be perfect! I utilized the Wilton Classic Wonder Mold to bake a red velvet cake and added chocolate frosting and the erupting lava. But I just couldn't have a party without cupcakes, which I organized on three levels: volcano, sand and sea. Just below the volcano sat the chocolate cupcakes with fondant plumeria flowers, torches, palm leaves and coconuts. The next layer included vanilla cupcakes topped with crushed graham cracker sand and embellishments, such as vintage surfboards, pineapples, wood "SURF" signs, ukuleles and flip flops {slippers} with drink umbrellas. The final level represented the ocean with light blue water frosting, sea turtles, tropical fish and coral, shells and sea life.

Also on the dessert table were gummy candy fruit kebabs displayed inside coconuts, Hawaiian pineapple candies and caramel popcorn in the most adorable tiki popcorn boxes designed by the amazing Piggy Bank Parties! The cute boxes brought added dimension to the table and were easy for small guests to carry! If you are not familiar with them, you have to check out all the amazing work they do, especially the creative and original favor boxes! The sides of the table were anchored by some tiki torches holding a banner with Anabelle's name and embellished with a grass skirt.

If you are familiar with the parties I throw for my daughter, you know how much I love to have added entertainment for the children. This year, we were fortunate to have Mayra from Las Vegas Hula come and teach the kids about hula dancing and traditional instruments! Because a lot of the children happen to be boys, we included a Maori Warrior lesson, which also included tribal chin tattoos and headbands and was the perfect addition to keep their interest!

Other beach activities to keep the kids busy and having fun included bubble guns {you can never go wrong with bubbles!}, hula hoops, paddle balls and blow-up dolphins. And no luau is complete without a limbo contest!

It was so, so nice to see guests, young and old, relaxing, eating and playing under the umbrellas and the gazebo and enjoying a day at the "beach"! And since I come from a fashion background, it was especially fun that everyone came dressed up in their luau garb!

We even welcomed a special visitor to the luau who came to wish Anabelle a happy 6th birthday!

We just had to have some Hawaiian Host chocolates with macadamia nuts! And to combat the high temperatures, freezer pops were essential ~ our version of Hawaiian ice!

 Anabelle's volcano erupted with her requested sparklers as we sang "Happy Birthday"!

My sweet and incredibly talented friend, Jenny of Craft That Party makes the most adorable peg dolls and she surprised us with this precious little hula girl that just made Anabelle's day! It was truly such a generous and thoughtful gift and an on-going memento of this celebration that will be added to her current collection of peg dolls from Jenny! Be sure to visit her Etsy store to see the cuteness she creates with this little wooden dolls!

To say "Mahalo" to her friends for coming and commemorating her birthday, Anabelle's favors included tropical fish loofahs, after sun gel, hand sanitizer, stickers and air fresheners as a reminder of their time on the island! And a special "Mahalo" to our OHANA {family and dear friends} for all their incredible support and help in planning, executing and cleaning up after such a wonderful celebration! ALOHA!!! ♥