Home Is Where The Haggis Is

My oldest daughter is turning 6 today!  We celebrated her birthday last Saturday and the party theme she chose was arts and crafts.

I am not that adept (yet) at creating signs and printing them from my simple Epson printer so I just added some clip art, slapped the sign on a painter’s palette and used a giant pink clothes pin to keep it from blowing away from the front door.

When the kids first came in we had a table set up to create sand art.

Then the painting began.  Each child had his or her own canvas to paint.

I sewed crêpe paper streamers to a pretty ribbon to drape behind each chair.

Tissue pom poms were hung from the ceiling.  Talk about easy to make!  The tutorial on YouTube was 4 minutes from start to finish.

I found the plastic tablecloth  and little paint palettes from Oriental Trading Company.  There were markers on the table for the kids to fill in silly faces on some of picture frames, but they were so focused on the painting that they never made it that far.  I played it safe and used only washable tempera paint.

We used Hydrangea from our front yard to give the kids some inspiration.

The bottles of water were flavored strawberry, lemon-lime, blueberry and grape by Crayola.

While she painted, the birthday girl wore a new t-shirt designed by my friend who runs an adorable online store called Little Mac Boutique.  Check it out for your next birthday or special occasion.  She makes tutus, bows, leg warmers and more. Thank you Michelle!

Here is the dessert table.  Sydney picked out a nail polish cake from Pinterest for me to bake.  I made the cake using 6 8-inch round cakes and topped it with 3 cupcakes (2 with their tops cut off) for the handle.  To keep the cake in place, I added three wooden skewers pressed into the middle and then placed the cupcake handle on top of them.  Refrigeration also firms up the cake and prevented it from sliding.

I made the art studio sign from a large piece of plywood and painted it with chalkboard paint.

She looks intimidated here…and excited.  There are edible pink candies encircling the bottom and top.  This close-up reveals that this cake was definitely homemade.  Notice the slight lean to the left and not the smoothest job of frosting it, but hey, I made it and she loved it so that’s all that matters.

The inside of the cake.  I found a tie-dye boxed cake at the grocery store and grabbed three boxes.  This took some effort, but it was worth it.

Care for a slice?

I used paint chip samples and stapled them to create utensil holders.

More sweets.

Sugar overload.  But wait, can you see the rainbow fruit skewers just off to the right?  See? Healthy!

As a memento, my friend Carrie suggested a larger canvas or poster board for the kids to draw on and express their birthday wishes.  It was cute and funny to see what they wrote and drew.

After cake, it was time to burn off some energy so they went outside and I handed each party guest a can of silly string from the Dollar Store.  That was a hit, but there wasn’t much string in each can so a lot of them asked if I had anymore.  Luckily, the weather was beautiful so they enjoyed running around the backyard and playing on the play set.

As their take home gift, I found more goodies from OTC.  Artist palette lollipops, little notebooks, pencil sharpeners and behind the little notebooks is a small bag of Goldfish colored crackers.

I am a HUGE believer in writing thank you notes.  If people are generous enough to take time from their busy schedules to celebrate with you, not to mention bring along a thoughtful gift, then it is important to show some gratitude and manners -in my humble opinion- by thanking them for it.  I found these paint-splashed notes at Target.

This party took some planning, but it could not have gone more smoothly.  A big thanks to Rochelle and Glenda who stayed to help with the crafts and cleaning up.  I owe you.  🙂

By the time the party was over, I couldn’t believe it was done.  I was definitely ready to sit and relax with a glass of wine.

Happy Birthday Sydney!