Medieval Party

My daughter had taken a field trip to the Medieval Times dinner show, and really enjoyed it, so she wanted to carry that theme onto her birthday party.  She drew up her own invitations, which I replicated on the computer and printed.

FOOD

We thought about what types of food they had during the medieval period and tried to stay with that for the meal.  We included chicken, rolls, grapes, etc.

CAKE
For the cake, she wanted a dragon cake.  I found the idea on the Family Fun website, and it worked wonderfully.  It's made with two round cakes, then cut into pieces and put together to make the shape of the dragon.  Some candy is used to add the wings and other features. I used fruit roll-ups for the wings, butterfinger pieces for the toes, chocolate graham crackers cut into triangles for the scales, marshmallows cut in half and a chocolate chip for the eyes, fruit roll-up strips for the fire.

DECORATIONS
She and I made our own banners to hang around the room.  I looked up a few family crests, and the rest came from her imagination.  We bought felt at the craft store, then cut out shapes and glued them on larger felt pieces.  We found long sticks to hang them on.

 

ACTIVITIES
We bought jewels at the craft store and circle glue dots, then picked up plastic goblets from the dollar store and each of the guests decorated their own royal goblet.

Hawaiian Luau Party

My daughter asked for a Hawaiian Luau for her 8th birthday.  We had fun planning the meal, thinking back to any Polynesian-type meal we'd experienced in the past, including inspiration from Disney's "Spirit of Aloha" dinner.

FOOD
For the food, I made a teriyaki chicken, with vegetables and mashed potatoes (not Hawaiian, but my daughter's favorite side dish).  We had pineapple and other fruit, a salad with Polynesian dressing (home-made), and coconut milk shakes (with paper umbrellas).

CAKE
The cake was a palm tree - I used cupcakes to form the shape, then iced them (second layer) together, so that the design was unified and didn't look too much like separate pieces.  Once the second icing layer was on, I took green decorating icing and drew the palm leaves.

DECORATIONS
I used paper lanterns in various places (above kitchen counters, where food was served, above the party room, above the entryway).  I put an island scene on the wall behind the birthday table, and had lots of bright-colored flowers and ribbons on the tables to match the plates I bought.  I borrowed some silk trees to help give the room and more "outdoor" feel.

I also ordered this luau-girl poster from Birthday Express, where the face is cut out, and each guest holds it up to his face.  They had fun doing that.

I found several Hawaiian-themed serving trays and bowls at the dollar store.

FAVORS
For party favors, each guest received a flower bracelet, flower flip-flop clips, a lei, and some candy. I found coconut cups with straws and grass skirts at the dollar store, and had one for each guest to take home, as well.

FUN
We played Hawaiian music and had a limbo contest.  Everyone was dressed for a luau.

Pirate Party

My son's 6th Birthday party was a Pirate party.  We all had a lot of fun getting ready for this.  I used some ideas from Pinterest and modified some to fit what we had to work with, and our budget.

DECORATIONS
My favorite thing from the party decorations was the Pirate Ship, made from a pumpkin.  Since his birthday is in the fall, this was the perfect time to find a very barnicle-clad pumpkin/gourd in the right shape.

I cut the top and hollowed it out.  I cut three squares into the sides for the cannons.  Taking pieces of the pumpkin that was cut out, I created the cannons to fit inside the squares, and used an apple corer to hollow out the cannonballs that are placed inside.  I used bamboo skewers for the mast heads and large leaves for the sails, tying them together with yarn.

I added a Lego skeleton to the front of the ship.  The Lego pirates came from the Pirates of the Caribbean kit that he was getting or his birthday.

I used popsicle sticks to form a plank and the inside floor of the ship, then added the rest of the Lego pirates.

Other decorations included some old wooden crates we had and a few empty dark glass bottles, which I attempted to stuff with the treasure map. I bought some brown netting from the craft store.  At the dollar store I found a bag of gold chocolate coins (for the kids table), and some gold doubloons for decoration.

FAVORS
For favors, I bought some pirate bandanas (skulls, crossbones, swords, etc.), pirate bouncy balls, eyepatches, pirate tattoos, pirate silly bands and mini-telescopes.

ACTIVITIES
I made a treasure map out of a paper grocery bag - taken apart at the seams and used the inside to draw one.  I crumpled it up to add some age to it.

The location was at a park, which already had a wooden bridge, a rope bridge, part of a ship (front), climbing wall, and other items that played well into the theme and the treasure hunt.  I had my daughter hide gold coins throughout the park and take the kids on the treasure hunt, based on the map we created.

INVITATIONS
I designed the invitations myself and printed them from my color printer, then rolled them into scrolls to hand out.  The kids liked helping with that.

FOOD
I made the cake myself, taking a few ideas I'd seen online and pulling it together into something my son envisioned.  I bought some fondant at Walmart to cut out the pirate hat, skull and crossbones.

For fun snacks, I made blue jello in clear cups with Swedish fish inside.  I also made caramel apples.

An old Shirt Turns into a Drawstring Knapsack

My daughter saw this idea in a Family Fun magazine (Sept 2010) and decided to make this drawstring knapsack out of an old shirt that no longer fit.  She was able to do most of it all on her own (she's 10).

1. Make sure the hem of your shirt will accommodate a large safety pin or plastic needle and the rope you intend to use. When cutting a small slit in the hem to test this, cut it in between the side seams.  The ends of the rope will need to come out in the middle, so the side seam of the shirt fall to each side, when completed. Don't feed the rope through yet, just make sure the hem is large enough.

2. Turn the shirt inside-out, and sew a line (to close it) from right under the arm seam to the other side.  This is going to be the bottom.

3. Once you've sewn across the shirt, cut above the stitching to remove the sleeves and neck.

4. We used a kids jump rope, but any type of rope, clothesline cord, etc. would work. Attach rope to your needle or safety pin.  I used a large safety pin through the middle of the rope end, then taped it to the pin, to keep it from fraying while working it through the hem.

Insert the pin into the slit that was cut on the hem of the shirt, and work it through the entire hem to come out on the other side, gently pulling the fabric around the rope.

5. Turn the shirt back the right way. Next, you'll need 7/16" eyelets (or grommet) kit.  Be sure to pick up both the eyelets and the tool (setter and anvil).  Both were about $4 each at Wal-mart in the fabric section. In the bottom corners, you'll cut a small hole the same size of the inside of the eyelet.  Be sure to cut a tiny hole to begin with - you can always make it larger.  Then follow the instructions of the eyelet kit to attach the eyelet to each hole. It took a good bit of hammering for this to set.

6. Once the eyelets are in place, take the ends of the rope and tie knots to each eyelet.  I also used some hot glue in the middle of the knot to help secure it.

7. Ready to use!

Sprucing Up on a Budget: Look-like-new cushions

I love my porch swing.  I have always loved going out to swing - it's a place to think, a place to talk, a place to calm babies, a place to enjoy with friends, a place to find a peaceful moment.  Today there was the nicest breeze coming toward the swing from the pond beside us.  Birds were chirping, kids were fishing; it was a beautiful day.

The swing that's on our porch I've had about 8 years.  Before this one, there was my handmade wooden swing in our backyard, which, sadly, had to stay with the house when we moved.  Over the years, this swing had had a lot of use.  Finally, a few summers ago, the cushions were looking so shabby and faded, I turned them over to the opposite side, and they looked OK again for a season.  This spring, they were just too much of a mess to put out again.

I haven't seen many replacement swing cushions for less than $30 a piece.  With 3 cushions to fit my swing, that's too pricey for my budget.  I considered recovering them myself, but even the cost of fabric can get expensive.

This weekend, we were searching for a piece of furniture, and checked out, for the first time, some local furniture consignment stores.  If you haven't been to one, look up a few close to you and take a quick detour on Saturday or Sunday to see what's inside.  Some of the places had great treasures, at great prices.

While we didn't find the piece we were searching for this weekend, I did discover 6 panels of perfect outdoor-swing material.  One side was lined with vinyl or plastic to keep out moisture; the other side was a thick fabric in neutral-colored stripes that would look wonderful outside on my swing!  A pair of 2 panels were only $13.  I ended up buying all 3 sets, because I couldn't tell if I'd need one or two panels per cushion, plus it's always good to have extra for repairs later.

I ended up only using one panel per cushion, so I actually have an entire set (of three) left to use later.  I was so excited with my find.

I decided to try hot glue, for time's sake.  I laid out the cloth on our table, put the cushion on top and began wrapping it like a gift.  Voila!  They look and feel great!  And I only spent $20 on the material I used to cover them ($39 total, but I still have three panels left to use for another project or to save for my cushions in a few more years).