What a Terrific Birthday!

So this was the year of the BIG one.

4-0.

Ugggh.

So I thought I'd pull a little trick from Wonderland and celebrate in more "Un-birthday" style. I didn't want any fanfare. No party. No hoop-la. No big deal.

Maybe if I did it that way, well, it wouldn't seem so monumental.

Originally, my husband and I had planned a trip to Cancun to this amazing resort. But then after a trip to Disney and the beach, I opted not to go all out with the big birthday trip, save some cash and go next year. So, in my mind, it would be business as usual.... normal day.... normal mommy routine.

But the dear Lord above, some fellow party bloggers and my sweet family had a few different ideas.....

It all started first thing, early on my birthday morning. I went to my computer..... the very same one that the previous day I had spent hours thinking my hard drive had crashed.... and what do you know??? It booted as usual..... everything was there..... and I CANNOT TELL YOU what a great start to the day that was!! My life, my work, everything my kids have done for the last 6 years..... it was all saved. Hallalujeh!!!

Next thing..... my daughter, knowing how upset I was over the weekend at myself for hastily throwing away a t-shirt, (months ago I might add), that all my kids wore when they were little, came in and said, "Mom, close your eyes. I have a present for you." And guess what?? There it was!! She had found it high on a shelf in her closet. That old, torn, magic marker-colored-on t-shirt that Jonathan brought Madison back from a bear hunting trip in Canada. I never knew how much that little thing meant to me until I thought I had gotten rid of it. Thank you, Macy! You made my day!

Next comes all the sweet Facebook messages and then the emails.... I got another great surprise when two bloggers in the party business found my fairy party and both said they'd like to feature it on their blogs. How wonderful.... birthday gift number 3!

And then my nephews (who are staying with us this week), my kids, me and Jonathan went out for a rousing night of bowling, beer and pizza (the beer -- only for me and Jonathan, of course!) It was actually supposed to be a romantic dinner for two, but when the boys came to stay, we turned it into a kid-friendly celebration. And I must say, not being the athletic one in the family, 40 was treating me right last night on those lanes. Yes, the 40 year old Mo-Jo even got me a few strikes and spares! It was a lot of fun, and probably an even better way to spend the night than a stuffy, old restaurant.

They were so thoughtful to get me a cake, lots of cards they had made, some balloons (which they made sure to show me said "Aged to Perfection" -- Ha!), and best of all, the boots I've been wanting all year stuffed full of chocolate and the t-shirts I wanted from our beach trip but wouldn't spend the money to buy.
And then, just when I think the day is done, Jonathan surprises me with a small little wrapped box on my pillow when I came to bed. And what a surprise it was!

A beautiful three-tiered diamond necklace, symbolic of our three amazing kids. I was stunned. Boots AND diamonds.... my goodness.... 40 Ain't So Bad After All!

Thanks Babe for making my Un-birthday so special.

You went all out.... even when I begged you not to. I love you!

And to my sweet, too-good-to-be-true children....

Mommy loves you and thanks you, too!

Enchanted Fairy Party

"It's All in the Details," they say.... and for this wonderful little girl's party, I couldn't get enough of the details. It seemed that every where I looked, I found inspiration for this woodland fairy theme. I truly could have kept designing for months! I hope you enjoy the pictures and gather a bit of inspiration yourself for your little girl's next birthday bash.

The enchanted fairy table setting complete with toadstool seats. I made the tree from a piece of driftwood, and fashioned some windows, shutters, window boxes and the door from some thin wood pieces. The tree top was actually made by covering the top of a green turtle sandbox (yes, you heard me right!) with burlap, then adding moss, leaves and ferns.

What a magical setting

The fairy house

I covered the iron garden gates with spray glue, then moss (a MESSY project!!) and then added some silk floral garlands, glittery leaf sprays, and I made a Happy Birthday sign for the birthday girl.

The fairy's place setting - I sewed all the napkins and napkin rings and attached a bird nest with a sweet bird on top. I made all the fairies and their toadstools. The fairy were wood parts from Hobby Lobby, embroidery thread hair, pipe cleaner arms covered in flesh colored embroidery thread and finally a skirt made from a silk flower and a hat from the silk flower, too. The glasses were flower vases from IKEA.

Fairy place cards - each girl had a placecard and a unique fairy at her seat.

The Fairy Food Table - I used various items from the woods to create this party dessert table. I had marshmallow pops covered in pink chocolate and sprinkles (Magical Marshmallow Pops), sandwiches cut into butterfly shapes with a bit of butter and then multi colored non pareils on top (Pixie Dust Sandwiches), cupcakes were displayed on clear plates made into a cupcake stand by cutting down tree trunks and making the various layers, fruit skewers with a cantaloupe star on top (Fairy Fruit Wands), some Fairy Berry Juice and Crunchy Butterflies (small pretzel twists) and Fairy Trail Mix (Chex Mix).

Sweet Sulli's Birthday Cake with her mini birthday banner

Buttercream White Chocolate Fairy Cakes with fondant decorations

The Fairy House craft table - the girls each made a fairy house from a bird house and various natural elements like moss, sticks, acorn, leaves, etc.

Mushroom Grotto - I made the mushrooms by using cylinder shapes (plastic megaphones, tomato cages) and covering them with batting and fabric. I used cocoa plant liners for the mushroom caps -- I painted them with spray paint and added felt circles for the full effect.

Their Pixie Dust making station - The girls used colored sand and a little glitter and made their very own pixie dust to take home. They each were given a container with a silk flower glued to the top to mix their own pixie dust.

The Land of Flowers where the girls played a fun game. I told them the Tooth Fairy had flown overhead the previous night and accidentally dropped her money bag. The girls found all the coins and the Tooth Fairy was so happy, she let them keep the money.

I made the flowers by using a wire flower I bought at Hobby Lobby then added crepe paper and felt backings, attaching it to a green dowl and adding large felt leaves.

Games were everywhere in the forest. I made a Pin the Wand on the Fairy game that the girls enjoyed playing. They each got a pixie stick after their turn and the winner received her own bag of candies.

The Flower Ring Toss Game

The girls looked for moonrocks around the Shimmering Lake so the could give them to the gnome to enter the forest

The girls' beautiful costumes -- I made the tutu's, bought the leotards and plain wings, and embellished all with ferns, leaves, and flowers. They were so beautiful in their costumes!!

Their sparkling fairy wands that I made from Christmas ornaments, painted paper machie stars and curling ribbon.


It was a wonderful time for all! I want to thank Jamie at Giggledust Parties for some of the wonderful inspiration for this party. Jamie is an inspiration to me and proof that a busy mommy with lots of little kiddies and a passion to create beautiful parties for children CAN do it! So thank you Jamie - You are my Idol!

You can find the Amanda's Parties To Go's FAIRY PARTY PRINTABLES set here in my shop to help you host your own enchanted fairy party. 

Star Wars Birthday Party

Hi, I'm Jacob and I love Star Wars. I love it so much that I talked my mom into a whole birthday party of Star Wars.... because, really.....

what else matters in life but R2D2, Chewbacca and Darth Vader anyway??

Mom had some ideas for my party.....
I had even more.
And as much as I also love legos, it couldn't just be a

regular ole Star Wars party, it had to be a Lego Star Wars party

with a Lego table to build spaceships, too.

It was really cool to have all my best friends there....

Sutton & Madison were pretty fun helpers, too

And here's one mom made us take before we all went outside.

By the way, she asked my dad...... rreeeeeeeaaal nicely..... to pretend to be a Jedi and teach us how to use our light sabers..... she even sewed him a costume to go with our Jedi robes

and, best of all, it even had real bullets!

Here we are at our official Light Saber Training,
and, of course, we were trained by none but the very best....
there he is..... Luke Skywalker himself!

Dad, AKA "Luke" worked on our fighting skills

Luke was showing us all his moves....

I know that Luke guy is supposed to be the "Master,"
but just between me and you, I DEFINITELY took him down.....

After some training, we had to prove ourselves to the Jedi Master.
Princess Leia, on the balcony above us, let go of some asteroids
for us to keep in the air using only our light sabers.....

Watch out Darth Vader.... here we come!

Now it was on to the next task. To save the galaxy,
we had to find all our supplies in the jungle

So we took off to find all six things we Jedi's would need

Oh, look, Reese found one right there.

Uh-oh, I see the Death Star ahead......

It must be killed before we are killed!!

So we went after that Death Star with all our might.

And knocked the fool out of it..... we smacked it..... we creamed it....

And we creamed it again....

After three rounds each, we Jedi's were tired. That Death Star gave us a little more than we bargained for. So thank goodness, Princess Madison took a turn....
and Whoo-hoo! She knocked it on the ground....

Then Macy tried her hand at it....

Growing a bit frustrated, Sutton came in with the big guns...
Ahhhh, Look! A big crack!

So Luke grabbed that Death Star and showed it who's boss....

And F-I-N-A-L-L-Y we scrambled for some Death Star candy!

After all that fighting it was time for a little obstacle agility test.....
Jedi's must be light on their feet to battle the Evil Empire....

So we ran through that course....

And ran.....

and we ran some more....

And we crawled through a tunnel....

and we made our way out of the tunnel...

And we tossed some rings....

and we swung over hot lava....

And, in the end, we saved Yoda from the Vader Dungeon....

After all that training it was definitely time for some Galactic Grub. We went inside
where Mom had gone a little coo-coo with the decorations...

And the food table, too..... doughnuts, ice cream, pizza.... what was she thinking??

And we celebrated my 5th birthday in style....

and we ate like kings.... Junk Food Kings, that is....

So we were happy and we smiled....

And here's the cake she made of all my favorite things

She made me some Star Wars cupcakes, too

And Macy played the Birthday Song just for me!

And then I blew out those candle with all my Jedi breath

After it was all done, we settled down to play a little
Star Wars Bingo before everyone had to go

But most of all, we had a blast with our buddies.

May the Force Be With You!Thanks for helping me Celebrate!
Jedi Jacob
_______________________________

I've had lots of sweet requests to post more about this Star Wars Party, so if you'd like to see a little more about how it all came to be, check out the post HERE.

You can find the Star Wars Lego Printables at my Etsy shop HERE.