40 Happy Years Together {My Parents' 40th Anniversary Party}

My parents' celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary on August 25th.  My sister-in-law suggested back in the spring that we do something for them to celebrate.  My parents have a LOT of friends... I mean a LOT.  So, we decided to gather some of their nearest and dearest including several from their wedding party and have a party for them in Lake George, New York last weekend.  This is the same weekend as the Adirondack Balloon Festival making it a fun trip for anyone not local.

Here are a few pictures of my parent's wedding in 1973...

And leaving for their honeymoon...

And 40 years later enjoying their party at a local restaurant -

Although my parents knew a party was in the works, they didn't know any details other than the date.  The biggest surprise was that four couples came from loooong distances (2 from South Carolina and 2 from Michigan) just for my parents' anniversary.  Here is part of the Michigan contingent (all friends from Siesta Key).

Of course, I had to put together a few decorations for the occasion.  

The banner was from this shop.  The albums were from my parents wedding and honeymoon.  I made the poster on the left using black foam core board and gold duct tape.  Here's a closer look.

I also made a guest book using a Shutterfly photobook.  I just made custom pages with lots of blank area.  My parents loved reading the comments the next morning.  

My sister-in-law found this cute way to make a great keepsake for them... their 3 grandchildren holding up signs.  This can be done long distance which makes it great for families who are spread out across the miles (like ours!). 

We made a last minute decision to add some mums to the tables.  It felt pretty bleak in the private room when my sister-in-law and I went to set up earlier in the afternoon.  I thought of some mums and my sister-in-law's mom came up with the burlap, ribbon, and "40" picks made with her Cricut machine.  Her awesome family assembled these just hours before the party!  They came out so well and everyone loved them!

It was a really fun party and a great weekend.  And of course, we got to see a few balloons go up (although not nearly as many as we would have liked!!).

 Happy 40th Wedding Anniversary, 

Mom and Dad!

Alex's 4th Birthday Party: Construction Theme

My little guy, Alex, turned 4 in May.  We celebrated with yet another backyard birthday party.  This year we went with a construction themed party.  After the cowboy and cars themed parties the last two years, Alex really gets into choosing his theme.  Fortunately, I was able to direct him towards a construction theme that my neighbor Meghan (yes, THAT Meghan) also used for her son's birthday a few years ago.  She is so awesome that she saved the signs she made and even moved them to her new house (yes, still in the neighborhood!).  She did a lot more for her son's party but I think my party still passed muster with Alex!

The cake was a masterpiece if I do say so myself.

Jim baked two chocolate cakes in 13x9 pans.  We then laid them on a foil covered cutting board and layered on the chocolate icing with the aim of not being careful about it.  I created a little hill on the right side using two leftover cupcakes, and added some smashed Oreos.  Finally, I used some of Alex's construction toys for construction site effect.  Fun!

In other food news, I made a few signs for the food items.  Cheeseballs were a HUGE hit with kids and adults.  Chex mix served as 'spare parts'.

When guests entered the party, they passed through the roadwork signs (made by Meghan) and one of our sets of sawhorses.  

In the back of the driveway, I had a big stack of boxes available for stacking and building.  I had visions of having painted all of these boxes but that just did not happen. This was free and easy, and really fun to play with!  

The kids spent most of their time in our moon bounce.  This was a great investment and we have more than gotten our money back.  We'll break it out again for our 4th of July neighborhood party this weekend.

Each child received a gift bag that included a pair of kid size gardening gloves, a small tomato or strawberry plant kit, a small sticky frog (one of my kids' favorite toys!!), all packaged in a reusable produce bag.  All of these items were found on the Target dollar spot except the sticky frogs from the party section.

I decided not to get any entertainment or other activity because I find that my kids mostly just want to play.  Might have to change things up for his 5th birthday and get some sort of entertainment or activity.  It was a fun afternoon with family and friends.

Happy 4th Birthday Alex!

Gingerbread Party 3.0

My wonderful neighbor Meghan hosts a gingerbread party for neighborhood and school friends every year. She works really hard on it but it is so worth it because the kids really love it (and she must too or she would not keep doing this!).  The basic premise has not change but she has found that some candies work better than others, and that you can never have enough royal frosting (Joy of Cooking)!  

Here's the table ready for the kids to start decorating.  All of the houses are pre-made by Meg and her husband Jeff (see recipes and tutorial here).  They make the gingerbread well in advance and freeze it so they don't have a made rush in the days leading up to the party.  Fortunately you don't really have to worry about staleness since these are better for looking than eating.

Balloons are always a big hit. This year Harris Teeter is carrying brown balloons - perfect for gingerbread parties!

Each child has their own candy dish.  About 75% of the candy makes it onto the houses.  25%... doesn't.

This was my little guy's first gingerbread party. He was so excited to be a "big kid" and worked so hard on his house.

The kids had some time to run off their sugar highs while we did a quick clean-up and reset the table for snack time (popcorn and bananas to counterbalance the sugar!).  

As parents started to arrive, Meghan and Jeff did the awards ceremony.  Here's Elizabeth with her award!  I was so proud of her house - she worked really hard and probably would still be working if we had not pulled her away!

 Here are some of the finished masterpieces!

For more information about the party, please check out these posts: 2010 and 2011.  These parties have always been my most pinned pictures so here are some more to add to the mix!

Thanks again Meghan for another great Gingerbread Party!

Party: Backyard Movie Night

We threw a neighborhood movie night in our backyard on Saturday night.  Yes, outside.  Yes, it was soooo much fun.  The weather was dry and cool - just like fall should be. Everyone bundled up in their blankets and sleeping bags to enjoy the evening. I may have had more fun than the kids!!  Honestly, it was probably one of the easier parties we have ever thrown in terms of food but the technical set up was the hardest part the first time around.  Next time (and there will be a next time), it will be super easy because we'll know what to do.

Here's the set-up a few hours before showtime.

We borrowed a projector from my office which hails from an era when you had to bring your own projector for presentations.  Laptops also weighed 10 lbs so fortunately those days are gone and fortunately my office had one gathering dust in a storage room.  I think you can rent these from some office supplies stores or you can buy your own for less than $400.  It is similar to this but much, much older.  It still worked well.  We hooked it up to an old table top stereo Handy Hubby uses in his workshop and added an extra set of speakers and a subwoofer compliments of one of generous neighbors.  

The screen was a queen size sheet that we hung from the garage gutter with some clamps.  Handy Hubby clamped a lightweight piece of wood across the bottom and then steamed the sheet to take out more of the wrinkles (after this picture was taken - it was too dark by then!). 

We used plastic toy cones to warn people about the wires.  The speakers above are sitting on Little League T's with a homemade speaker stand attachment compliments of Handy Hubby!

We set up a movie theater style snack bar complete with four types of popcorn from Trader Joe's and array of movie theater candy - M&Ms, Twizzlers, Dots, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and Junior Mints (my personal fav).  In a bid to the season, I added some candy corn mix in a bowl.

Much to Handy Hubby's chagrin I made a late attempt to add signage. I think he was hoping for a sign free party :)  Here is the party table before I poured the popcorn in the bowls. I was worried that birds would try to eat it before everyone arrived!

I found these popcorn containers at a yard sale last week - perfect timing!  I bought four for a dollar.  They added the perfect flare for the table.  

The kids settled themselves in to watch a double feature.

We started with the Berenstein Bears Trick or Treat at 7:15 and then "Big" with Tom Hanks at about 7:40 when it was really dark. Some families with very young kids went home after the first flick, but many remained through most of Big.  Next time I think we'll show Shrek, or something along those lines.

Best part for the parents may have been that beer was readily available... and of course the piano playing scene in FAO Schwartz!

The kids had a blast and every last piece of popcorn and candy was devoured!!  

Probably one of the best parties we have ever thrown - probably because I was able to fully enjoy it.  The only thing I did during the movie was refill the popcorn bowls a few times!  We love our neighborhood and we are so happy to be able to throw fun little parties like this which make everyone want to never leave!!

Elizabeth's Pancakes & Pajamas Birthday Party

Last weekend we celebrated Elizabeth's 6th birthday with a Pancakes & Pajamas Party.  Six of Elizabeth's best friends came over at 9 a.m. on Sunday morning wearing their PJs ready for pancakes!!  They were all so cute and super excited to show off their PJs!  This was a great compromise for a 6 year old birthday since most of the kids are not ready for sleep-overs but they are already excited about the possibility!

I spent a good part of Saturday morning hanging a ton of streamers in the dining room.  I wanted it to feel enchanted. Thankfully the blue painters tape held overnight and only 2 streamers had fallen by morning!

I added balloons, paper lanterns, and tissue paper poofs around the chandelier.

While the girls arrived, they started working on cereal necklaces. They strung Fruit Loops (a delicacy in our house) and multigrain Cheerios onto elastic meant for jewelry.  To stop them from falling off the end, I clipped a small binder clip on the end of the string.  They would have done this for 45 minutes I think but I wanted them to eat the pancakes while they were still warm...

That's my little man Alex working on his own cereal necklace!  

After tying 8 square knots on the necklaces, we moved them into the dining room for pancakes and hot chocolate.

We had special toppings for the hot chocolate including graham cracker and oreo pieces and mini chocolate chips.  And of course whip cream in a can!  For the pancakes we had maple, strawberry, and blueberry syrups, as well as fresh fruit.  I also had yogurt for them in a bowl on the side.  

I think they felt very adult sitting in the dining room with coffee mugs!

Of course, curly straws and a cereal necklace snack ensured they were firmly in kid-ville!

After pancakes, they headed outside (it was almost 80 degrees at 10 a.m.!) so they could decorate a pillowcase. I bought the pillowcases in bulk on ebay and I already had the fabric paint from baby shower onesie decorating (more on that here)! 

When they were done, they played outside on the swing set while I cleaned up. Then we came back inside for a candy hunt! Elizabeth had missed Easter at home while we were in London, so she really wanted to do it. We could have skipped it but she loved it!  I made baskets for each of the girls from the dollar store. Each had their names on them and a little label

Finally, they came back in for my no-bake homemade cake (recipe to follow tomorrow).

By this point the girls were super sugared up but with only a few minutes to go, Elizabeth opened her presents. Total chaos but so much fun for the girls to see her open their hard-thought presents!

The adorable invitations and favor labels were made by Michelle at Bugaboo Designs.

I also customized my winter wreath to greet Elizabeth's guests with some more ribbon and some "6"s cut out of card stock I had on hand.

Hard to believe my baby girl is 6 years old!

Happy Birthday Elizabeth!

p.s. I found a lot of inspiration on Pinterest, and especially from the very talented Cassie at Hi Sugarplum!  Thanks Cassie for so many awesome ideas!!