First of all, I would like to thank Ciel for allowing to be a guest blogger. She is truly an inspiration to me as an artist, a mother, and most of all, a Christian.
For my son's 3rd birthday, we decided to throw a last minute party. I had about a week to prepare, which isn't much. Well, everything turned out great and my son had a great time. I combined my son's favorite things to create this party. He loves to help me cook - well, he really just likes to pour and mix. He also likes anything with wheels and his favorite movie right now is Toy Story 3. I decided to have a pizza theme, but I couldn't resist the 3-D Toy Story party supplies. We had a very small intimate party with 8 kids and 12 adults.
DECORATIONS
Vendors: Dollar Tree, Birthday Express
Materials: red, white, green crepe paper and balloons, cardboard box, white tissue paper, poster board, apron, and paint. I used whatever materials I had in hand like an empty diaper box, left over supplies from past parties and crafts, etc.When we decided to have a party, I didn't have time to create hand-made invitations, so I just emailed our guests. We only had a few guests, so I didn't bother with Evite. To decorate our house, we hung red, white, and green crepe paper around our banister. We tied 1 red, white, and green balloon together in bunches and put those all over the banister as well. We did not use helium to blow the balloons; my husband just blew them up so the balloons did not float but sat on top of the banister. On our front window was a hand-painted sign "Chef's Ristorante" to welcome our guest. My cousin and I made chef's hat for each of the kids using white tissue paper and poster board. I found a great tutorial for the chef's hat from "http://metromom2008.blogspot.com" Paint In My Hair.
To complete the chef's outfit, I bought kids' aprons from Michael's for $1 each. I had won a deluxe party package from a blog giveaway from Birthday Express. I entered thinking that if I won, I would throw a party. I won. I chose the "http://www.birthdayexpress.com" Toy Story 3 Deluxe Party Pack. Everyone loved the 3-D stuff. Everything was 3-D: the tablecover, napkins, plates, cups, and centerpiece.
FOOD/ACTIVITIES
Vendors: Trader Joe's, Michael's, Costco
Materials: whole wheat pizza dough, pizza sauce, pizza topping, "http://www.wilton.com" roll-out cookies, fresh fruit, whip cream, transportation cookie cutter, royal icing, food markers, and placemat
We made our guests work for their lunch. The kids made their own pizza, fruit pizza, and decorated cookies. Each of the kids were given a placemat to work on. We had a pizza kit for each child which contained: pizza dough, sauce, and cheese. To make my life easier, I bought store-made whole wheat pizza dough and pizza sauce from Trader Joe's. I cut the dough in quarters, which is just big enough for a personal sized pizza for the kids. I put the sauce in sandwich sized ziploc bags. Instead of pouring or spooning the pizza sauce on the dough, the kids just piped it. The hole was big enough that the sauce oozed out easily without any effort from the kids. It was a lot less messy this way. I also put sliced mushrooms, ham, and pineapple on a plate if any of the kids wanted extra toppings. Large roll-out cookies served as the crust for the fruit pizza, whip cream was the pizza sauce, and thinly sliced mangoes, strawberries, and kiwi were the topping. My cousin used a mandolin to cut the fruit to a consistent width. The last activity was coloring their own cookies. My cousin and I baked car, plane, and train-shaped cookies the day before the party and she piped them with white royal icing. The kids used food markers bought at Michael's to decorate the cookies. To further reduce the amount of effort for this party, all adult food was bought at Costco. My brother-in-law was nice enough to make sausage and peppers for the party.
GAMES
Materials: cardboard box, poster board, and paint
I had planned several games for the party, but we didn't have enough time to play all of them. We did play "put the slice on the pie" which is a variation of pin the tail on the donkey. I used the other side of the empty diaper box as the pizza container. The slices were cut from poster board. I painted a pizza on both the diaper box and poster board, then cut the poster board in 8 pieces.
FAVORS
Materials: bubbles, red, green, and white curling ribbon
I did not really give out favors except for bubbles. I used curling ribbons to add accents at the top. Along with the bubbles, the kids went home with their personalized chef's hat, apron, and left-over food. I put all the left-over food into a round to-go container like the ones from restaurants.
I hope you all enjoyed this post. I sure enjoyed being a guest.
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