Sesame Street!

Growing up I loved Sesame Street. So when my son started gravitating to a certain red furry friend (Elmo of course!), I was super jazzed! I knew just what to do to celebrate his first birthday. I chose red and blue with a bit of green as my main colors to tie in all of the fun. Here is a bit of what we did:

For the street sign I screwed together a newel post, scrap wood, and wooden dowl. I finished it off with a coat of green paint and a printed street sign inspired from the show. I ordered these super sweet cookie monster and Elmo cookies (they were gone in the first hour!). So much fun and yummy too!

Rylan's big brother helped with the cake and it was so cute to see him proudly show off our creation to all of his friends! We finished it off with and Elmo topper from Calladoo paper which was a nice addition to Rylan's scrapbook later on. Then, I found the polka dot fabric and just couldn't resist! A pair of peaking shears, 3 yards of fabric, and multiple printouts later, I had my table runners and bunting.

To dress up the kids table, I made a centerpiece out of upcycled chocolate boxes that I decorated with some scrap paper and fabric. The letters and Sesame Street stickers added an extra bit of fun. Rylan still plays with them today!

What is a Sesame Street party without Elmo and Cookie monster poufs? Rylan kept hugging these all throughout the party and let out a big belly laugh when I made them "talk". 

For activities we decided to go with a puppet and craft theme. The little guests tried their hand at making puppets and letters of their name, tattoos, and even got to color Mr. Hooper's store!

They loved crawling in and out of the store and even started playing "store" inside. Big Bird's letter nest (find your name!) and Oscar the Grouch recycle toss also made a showing too. A puppet show and Elmo stopping by to say hello kept the kids engaged and excited for more. So fun!

We did prepacked food for all of the adults and children which I highly recommend to make the day of the party less stressful. The children received cheese pizzettas, grapes, chips, pasta salad, napkin, chocolate chip cookie, and an elmo juice box in their lunch sack. Everything (except the pizzetta and pasta which arrived the day of ) were packed a couple of days prior to the party. The kids loved that they got to pick whether they got an 'Elmo or Cookie Monster'.

The adults had similar nosh with some sandwiches thrown in for good measure. I totally fell in love with these omm...nomm...nomm napkins and it was fun using them in our house later.

I think I sang the Sesame Street song for days after! Rylan had a terrific time and I loved being able to celebrate such a special milestone with those near and dear to us.  Happy birthday to my joyful wonder!

The Art of Fall

Now, who doesn't love Fall colors?! At an art session for 6 year olds, we focused on leaves, trees, and fall colors. The session started with the kids listing out fall colors and I have to say that it was my favorite part!  Apart from the expected oranges, reds and browns, I heard grey, purples and then.. honey, mustard, ketchup and olives! How cute and creative! 

 

We then sat down to make trees. The kids drew the trunks of trees or used printouts and added leaves using paint in the colors that they had listed. We stamped the leaves using corks (that Whole Foods generously donated to the project), pencil erasers, and even our fingers!

Was so great to see all the lovely color stories on each sheet of paper.. true Fall Fun!!

Fabulous fun with Fabric!

I LOVE fabric.. the textures and colors have always fascinated me. I've been working with fabric every since I was 8 when I made a bag for my mum's birthday present. I felt an immense sense of accomplishment! Now, I get such a thrill when I see little ones experience a similar feeling when they look at the fruits of their labor. 

I recently introduced a dozen kids to the world of fabric paints and techniques at a 'design your do' art session. They started off learning how to stamp patterns on fabric - using wood blocks and rubber stamps. We then moved on to stenciling and freehand painting.  We wrapped up with each of them designing their very own apron or t-shirt.

Some of the parents stayed for the session and it turned into an impromptu parent-child project. So fun!

It was amazing to see their excited wide eyes as they peeled off the stencils and lifted the stamps. Creativity was really high with some of the kids conjuring up whole stories on their shirts and mixing various techniques to create something that was truly their own! 

And if I had to make a prediction, the designer bug has bitten more than a handful of these kids!

Can you tell me how to get to Sesame Street?

Growing up, Sesame Street was one of my first loves. From Big Bird to the Count, I learned so much about counting, words, and friendships. So when my son's first birthday came along and saw that he simply adored Elmo, I couldn't wait to bring Sesame Street come to life!

I love sending a little package a week or so prior to a party to build excitement and give the little ones a sense of what to expect. This time I spent some time thinking about what kind of things one would need on a trip to Sesame Street. So here is what I crafted:

I sewed a wallet using foam rectangles, letters and circles, and ribbon. I also filled the wallet with Sesame Street money that I found on the Sesame Street website. We also put together a music CD complete with all of the songs that I sing to my little one as well as the Sesame Street theme song with a little verse on the back   of the envelope about singing is the way to get to Sesame Street. Then I crafted a map with downloaded images and red footprints and asked the guest to help Elmo find his friends. I included all of the activities the children could expect at the party (with some surprises included of course!). The younger kids (2-4) gravitated to the characters on the map while the older kids actually were engaged in the map activity. 

All in all it was a super fun way to kick off the excitement to the party and helped the little ones in their journey to Sesame Street. I always wondered how to get to there and now I know!

Trucking around...

Toddler birthdays are so fun and special! Very recently, we planned a very special one for a li'l boy turning two who was into trucks in a big way.  So, we decided to turn him into trucking king pin for the day! To our surprise, his adorable older brother couldn't wait to play host and lent a helping hand each step of the way. 

Set on center stage, was the birthday cake which we fashioned into an 18 wheeler! Since the birthday boy loves truck stories, we created a fun little story - a scene of an accident - with his fav vehicles and his very yummy cake. He loved it so did every one of our guests. Some of them even engaged in a guessing game of which one was the cake.

 

What is truck party without a playing dress up with some trucks! We created a fleet of trucks for our little party guests out of a cardboard box, paper plates, pictures, and craft paper. The trucks were such a hit that the kids didn't want to take them off! This was perfect for the red light/green light game we played at the party. 

 

The party area was zoned into several sections. One of the more popular ones was the 'construction zone'. A baby pool was wrapped in black plastic and given some tread marks (thanks to some handy dandy chalk) and filled with sand. We finished it off with some mini diggers and sand toys and it was all set! It made the perfect construction site. The slightly older guests had a fabulous time hammering nails (golf tees) onto boards (styrofoam, of course). We had an autobody shop - an art & activity corner - with tattoos, playdoh, paint, nuts, bolts, blocks and more. Another fun spot was the 'city of Truckee' where we created a city with a rug play mat, cars, trucks, and traffic signs.. so fun!!

 

The entire venue was injected with road signs to set the right mood. Transportation themed bunting zig zagged above everyone's heads and made for a festive time!

Guests could recharge at the 'Truck Stop' which had a range of truck and truck themed food that was served along with Oil (apple juice) and Water.

Traffic (cheese) cones, timber (pretzel) logs, and popcorn satisfied those little munchies. We also had sandwiches (cut out in truck shapes), tires, and other transportation themed food too.

So that our little movers had a rest stop we fashioned these moving boxes into little stools. So cute!

As the day wore down our little truckers had to bid over and out. Each guest took home a 'trucker survival kit'- a change of clothes (blockprinted onesies, tshirts or aprons), some instant energy food (chocolate truck shaped lollipops) and a set of handy tools - all packaged in a traffic cone. All the adorable little guests had a fabulous time.. and were a tad disappointed that it was wrap up time. A sign of a very fun party!

Eat, Drink, and Be Scary!

I am a sucker for a good Halloween party. So when time came around for our annual Halloween party, I knew that I just had to do something fun. I looked around the house and found some extra oreos, white chocolate and some lollipop sticks. After doing a bit of thinking I decided on mummy pops! I also stopped by our local grocery store and picked up some Wilton monster eyes and I was all set.

As you can see I dipped the oreos in meltable white chocolate, then set the eyes into the chocolate. I placed the stick with an extra bit of chocolate and then finished off the rest of the 'bandages' using icing. Then I tied on some gauze strips for a bit of fun. Last, I popped them in the fridge to set.

Then, I started thinking about how to display the pops. I figured it would come to me at some point, but I started getting a little nervous as the party drew near. Just when I almost decided just to put them in bags to hand out, I came across this:

I found this wooden Halloween box, foam core, and washi tape at my local Daiso store and I was in love. The foam was a little shy of the box dimensions, so I wrapped the foam in gauze and then made some starter holes so the pops would stand upright. The box needed a bit of dressing up so I added the black tape for a bit of fun and texture (it had this great sculptural feel to it). All said and done the pops were done in about an hour and the box in 15 minutes. Perfect for this busy mom!  Here is a look at the finished product:

Spook-tacular! And they were super yummy and nut allergy friendly (a very important thing for our party guests). Here is a quick look at some of our other food...

I started with a eat drink and be scary sign and then had all of my other fabulously talented neighbors and friends bring whatever they wished. Some of the hits that brought peals of laughter were spider crackers, witches hats, freshly exhumed green jello brains, spooky 7 layer dip, monster spoon pops, jello eyeballs, lychee eyeball punch,  mummy piggies in a bandages, and graveyard cupcakes. For flatware, we rolled it as usual and then added vampire teeth as napkin rings. We also played ghost bowling before going off to trick or treat. To entice the adults, we had them vote on whose door decorations were most impressive. The winner loved her bottle of wine (7 Deadly Zins of course!). In terms of other decor we had all of the usual suspects- halloween bunting, witches fingers, spider rings, dry ice in the fountain, spider webs, creepy petri dishes, potion bottles with cool labels, rats, bones, and such. Even an old cape, dress form, witch shoe covers, and broom were re-purposed into a scary witch.  Soo fun to watch the kids check out the phantom witch!

Our neighbors are always super generous with their candy (more than our kid-lings could ever eat!) so all of the additional candy was donated to a local hospital for the kids to enjoy. The kids had a great time and dare I say the adults too. A great spook-tacular time!

The hills are alive with the sound of music!

I am a big fan of the Sound of Music. I love the whimsy, the catchy tunes, and the nostalgia that that era brings. So when we were asked to lend a helping hand with doing an invite for a Sound of Music party we were totally stoked! 

Diya was absolutely in love with the movie The Sound of Music. So of course the theme centered around that. To account for the guests that weren't familiar with the movie, the family decided to make it a celebration of music (hence music notes and guitars) with a bit of Sound of Music thrown in.  

In our help with the invite, we decided to create a concert ticket. From the bar code to the guitar to 5 going on 6, it wrapped up all of the details in a pretty VIP bow!

                                                          

Then she also wanted a "fingerprint" for the party to tie everything together (food, favor bags, and the like). Using the invite as the jumping off point, we focused on the guitar (as the party had a music teacher led sing-a-long). Sound of Music lyrics, dots, and the like helped it to come together nicely.

We also encouraged her to use picnic baskets (those kids were always picnicking!) to hold food, green fabric on the floor in the eating area (grass of course), with low seating and Do Re Me suspended from the ceiling. 

I am so glad that we got a chance to revisit an old favorite and introduce it to other little ones who will love it just as much as us!