Young, Wild & Three

 Duke turned three in August but with the move on the 10th and all of the packing and craziness that goes along with moving we decided to hold off on his birthday party until September when we had settled in a bit. Plus we sort of made it a house warming event as well. I'm so glad we decided to go this route, it was a great way to kick off the memories that will be made in our new home!

 At the front door I put out some head bands. These were super simple but INSANELY time consuming to make. I cut them all out in one go which made things a bit simpler. So many little pieces. We had just shy of 20 kids show up but I made up 20 head bands which each took about a hour to rock out start to finish. Like I said, time consuming but each head band cost $1 and who could argue with that price?  

 I love how they turned out! Each one unique with different patterns and colors!

 This guy is my personal favorite. 

 Next to the head bands we had a picture of the birthday boy and his little fox. I also typed up an eye spy game. 

 I love having an I Spy game, especailly for the older kiddo who can read. It is easy to type up, and they can do it on their own. That is a win win in my book! 

 The super cute fox pinata. (Click here for creative process.)

 I set up the very wrinkled diy teepee in the living room. (Creative process here.) We put the little sheep rug inside and the big fox. 

 I knew I wanted a camp fire all set up but I wasn't sure if I was going to make it out of wood, streamers? a table cloth and fan with Christmas lights? So many cute options so I headed to Pinterest for some pinspiration. That's when I stumbled on this fire. Only it was $44 and there was NO way I was spending that much when I knew I could make it. So $5 worth of felt later... voila! It turned out super cute. 

 The whole reason for making this chalkboard was so that I could write this on it for the party! 

 The food table with the cake. I knew I wanted to have some wooden logs on the table. And while this picture doens't do them justice they really made a huge difference! They were a pain in the butt to get/ cut but for the price of free, they were TOTALLY worth it!! We used some brown packing paper as a table cloth/ runner. I also loved how perfectly that striped wall in the new house went along with the theme!

 Food time!

 Then we went on a bear hunt. The kids had to go around the tree....

 ... through the river...

...through the tall grass...

 ...over the hill...

 ... shoot through the hoop... (these DIY bows and arrows were a huge hit!!) 

 ... into a cave (which was a large wardrobe box, not pictured.)...

 and then they took pop guns and shot their bears! Such a fun favor for the kiddos. I got them all at the thrift store, tossed them in the wash with some ammonia and they looked fabulous! the kids were super excited to have their own little bear. 

 Then it was time for some magic cupcake!

 Pinata time!! Get it little man!

 

 

 And cake time!!!!! I could stare at this cake forever! That lit campfire is the bomb-diggity!

 Happy Birthday to You!!!

 Part of the crew!

 Our little family!

 Present time! He was over the moon! Thank you friends!!!!!!!

We are so in love with this sweet little boy. This was a pretty low key party but we had a great time! Thank you to everyone who came and a special thank you to Mom Tobler who stayed to help with the party, the cake, and made all the food!!! I don't know what I would do without you! Happy birthday Duke! You deserve the world! Run wild, my child. You are loved!

Under the Sea Mermaid Party

 I may or may not have gone insanely overboard but seriously... this party was SO much fun to do! Most everything was DIY and I was really happy with the outcomes of all the mini projects. For those of you who are wondering how I find the time to do these things you should know that parties like these take me months. I started planning in January and I started crafting In February. So here we go with way to may pictures! 

 E's invites were super simple but a bit time consuming. I had all of the supplies on hand and I used my Cricut to cut out all of the circles. 

The Decorations:

 Starting at the front door this is the first thing that you see. We gave out the mermaid dolls and hair bows as favors. I bought the dolls here and had to sew and stuff them. For E's doll I added some extra beads and sequins but I gave everyone else a baggie full of jewels they could sew to their mermaid if they wanted to. The seashell in just cardboard I painted. I bought a large net on amazon and I cut up pieces of it to use throughout the house! Totally loved it! 

 Across the front room window we had tissue pom poms and some lantern jelly fish. I had most of the pom poms from previous parties but I made a few purple and gold ones. The lanterns I bought at Party city. 3 for $6 but you can find more for less on Amazon here. While the lanterns were a bit spendy I really like them because I can reuse them over and over and they collapse to be flat. 

 

Over the couch we had another piece of the fishing net with pictures of E this year. I used mini clothes pins and paperclips with seashells hot glues o them to hang the pictures. 

 The shelving over the TV we went with simple. 

 

 

 I got the drift wood mermaid on clearance at Hobby Lobby (similar here) and I wrote out the chalkboard.

 The mermaid sculpture I got at Hobby Lobby as well. They had a TON of mermaid and ocean items. (Click here for link.) The strong art I made with supplies I had on hand. It was a fun way to fill up the shelf and an awesome mini project.

 

The pinata took me 13 hours (+/-). (Tutorial here)

 

Towards the kitchen. 

I really loved the idea of having some sort of curtain but I thought streamers would bee too heavy. So we went with circle curtains. I simply cut out circles out of paper I already had on hand on my cricut. i then started sewing them together using a straight stitch in a long string. I hung them in an arch so that they wouldn't get tugged on as much. 

 Super simple but time consuming! I really love the effect and how it adds color to the room!

More Jellyfish and pom poms over the counter. It was a good way to sort of hide the kitchen without adding a solid curtain.

For the Jelly fish tentacles I cut some streamers in half length wise then I ran them through my sewing machine. The tension was just right so it gathered all on its own. Because I wanted to use the lanterns again I decided not to cut out the bottoms  but simply shove the tentacles through the bottom. Once again super easy but it took the better part of a morning with a few helping hands to cut!

I painted a cardboard cut out. It was my first attempt and I was really please with how it turned out. Next time I need to make the face hole a bit smaller. I simply used a piece of cardboard. 

The Food:

Mom was totally in charge of the food! She is such a life saver! Food is Not my forte and Mom just makes everything look so fancy! Dad was put on eye ball duty and he kept the kids entertained while the women decorated and cooked. I am so spoiled to have such wonderful helpers!!! 

For the backdrop I took a stick from the tree outside and glued streamers too it. Not exactly the look I was going for but I wasn't wanting to make an entire streamer wall like previous years. The we draped the rest of the net from the stick. I really liked the final out come. Then we added a tassel garland to the front of the table. On the menu we had...

I just love Mom's octopus!! It's all in the little details and she nailed it!! 

And the cake!!! *insert choir of angels here!* (Link for creative process)

The Party:

First up... make a crown.

Then we got our arms / faces / legs painted while we waited for our friends to arrive. 

Then it was lunch time!!! Sooo good!

 Photo op!

Next up... dancing! 

Then we did some magic coloring and made some magic cupcakes (which is E's favorite part!)

They were so excited!!

 Then it was pinata time!

Happy birthday to you!

Presents!!

Happy birthday my sweet E! May all of your birthday wishes come true and may this year be full of joy, love and laughter. We love you deeper then the ocean and wider than the sea!