Minecraft Party at the Video Game Place

 W wanted his Minecraft party to be at Game Plan Entertainment. I had quite a time finding square paper plates, and had to go to Party City, my least favorite party supply place (because they are jerks about coupons and returns).

Food labels, check.

 Square cookies with creeper face, check.

 Square cake labeled "cake", check.

 This was my view the entire party. I don't think they even played Minecraft, but whatever.

 At least he learned how to use a rifle with a scope. This is Texas, after all.

Gift bags were made using a cardboard template and a permanent marker. I tried having the birthday boy help. Yeah, that didn't go well. I ended up taking over the job myself.

Your kid just used up his entire allotment of screen time today, you're welcome, parents!

Ballerina Party

Little girl had a ballerina party at our house. I made a tulle wreath by tying lengths of tulle around a straw wreath (still wrapped in plastic).

I took small gift bags and added ribbon and gathered tulle. We put some goodies inside.

I found a ballet shoe pinata on Amazon but then didn't have the heart to let them smash it. So I just sprinkled the rings and necklaces on the floor.

I ordered the cupcake picks from Etsy and then repainted them using nail polish because the colors were dull. Yes, I realize that's insane.

Cake has buttercream frosted roses. I viewed a YouTube video and it was quite easy to do.

Tutu and ballet shoe cookies.

I bought the dress form from Hobby Lobby (best craft store ever!) and spray painted it gold. (Her room is pink and silver, so I repainted it after the party and displayed it in her room atop the armoire.)

I gathered a tutu (which I had removed from an old tutu dress) and tied it around the form. I bought the least expensive pointe shoes I could find on ebay. The backdrop is vinyl tablecloths cut in strips. I bought the tulle balls from Michaels.

Yes, the tissue paper balls aren't even but that was the only space I had. I made the table skirt from vinyl tablecloths. The ruffles are strips of vinyl that I ruffled on my sewing machine and taped onto a white vinyl tablecloth.

I really liked the pink and gold color scheme that Little Girl picked out.

Harry Potter Party - Great Hall floating "candles"

Great Hall with floating candles made from rolled 8x11 paper and "wicks" made from yellow paper. I don't know if anyone even looked up. LOL

DIY Harry Potter wands -- a better way

In the past few weeks planning for W's Harry Potter party, I've read dozens of blogs about DIY Harry Potter wands. I decided to use dowel rods (of varying diameters) and hot glue. I got the best glue gun of all time for this project, featured in HGTV magazine last month. In a word, awesome. The clouds parted and the angels sang. I've been using a cheap mini glue gun for years. This is bliss. 

I used a marble at each end of the wand, to lessen the chance of eyes being poked out. 

After they were dry, I painted them with M's acrylic poster paint, in varying shades for a natural look. 

They all looked different, which will be fun for the kids. 

For the girls' wands, I used gems for one tip and painted them purple. 

I will finish all the wands with a coat of Mod Podge glossy. Tomorrow. Right now I'm exhausted.  

Harry Potter Party Invitations -- The Cupboard under the Stairs

It took me forever to create the labels for W's Harry Potter party invitations. I wanted them to look like this:

I used a few different fonts, small caps, and font sizes to approximate the look.  Here's the final product:

Mr. W. Williams,

     The Cupboard under the Stairs 

I used Hogwarts Wizard in small caps for the first line, then Hogwarts Wizard in regular caps for the second line.  The "p" in cupboard is Freebooter Script. The word "under" is Wellsley.  I also made the "R"s capitals and made the size smaller.  I also made the "h"s a smaller size.  I made the font a dark green.  Whew.  So much effort for something no one but me will notice. 

Princess Party with Real Life Princesses! No Wigs!

Please don't look at the cake. It is about to fall over.

I found the banner as a free printable and changed the colors in Photoshop. Source: http://www.disneybaby.com/uncategorized/disney-princess-printable-birthday-banner/ 

Here is the chandelier I repurposed into a cookie stand. 

Pinana purchased at Walmart or some other unsavory location.

I bought paper lanterns from Sky Lanterns and spent way too long hanging them up.

Oh yeah, I made tissue paper poufs, too. 

This beautiful dress was my favorite birthday present to Little Girl. Guess what? It was "itchy" and she NEVER WORE IT.

Party favors were ribbon wands. 

Wilton food writer pens do not work very well. Ahem. I prefer sanding sugar. It hides flaws better.

I knew that I wanted to have real princesses when Little Girl wanted to have a princess party. However, I had been to a few princess parties where the "princesses" were as old as I am! Um, no. Like it or not, Disney princesses are teenagers! And the wigs just made them look fake. So, I decided to ask around to see if anyone knew any high schoolers interested in playing the part of Aurora, Cinderella or Rapunzel for the day. I interviewed the young ladies beforehand to make sure there were no surprises. I purchased the Aurora costume on Amazon, and it was very nice quality. I met with the young lady beforehand at a local boutique and had her try the dress on and I altered it to fit. 

The Cinderella dress was more difficult. The first one I ordered one was complete junk. I finally found a Cinderella dress that was good quality. I bought a petticoat to go underneath because it did not have much in the way of underskirts. 

The Rapunzel dress was the most difficult of all to obtain. Apparently, there is some sort of licensing agreement with Disney in America that disallows adult costumes, or some such nonsense. Anyway, I found a costume in the UK, but they could not guarantee it would arrive before the party. So, I had to sew one. There were no Rapunzel patterns available in adult sizes. So I followed this tutorial and used Simplicity Arkivestry pattern 2757. I made a six gore skirt using a tutorial that involved some horrific mathematical calculations the likes of which I have not done since high school. I can't find the tutorial I used, but this one looks good. 

The young ladies were just darling with the little guests. Having real teenaged girls as princesses really added to the event. They had such a youthful air about them. Plus, their hair was real. Rapunzel had really long hair to begin with, and I bought a braid extension (a "yaki pony" that matched her hair exactly) from a local wig shop (Quarter to Ten). 

This was such a fun party, although a LOT of work. Little Girl was so appreciative, it was so sweet. She thanked me profusely afterwards, without anyone prompting her. Sniff.

Beast into beauty

I am quite happy with the way it turned out. I got the brass chandelier from a neighbor who was updating her light fixtures, so it was free. A couple cans of spray paint (pale pink and a top coat of sparkly paint), some dollar store glass plates, liquid nails, and Voila!