Pete's Backyard Football Party

Pete celebrated his 8th birthday with a football party in the backyard.  He decided to mix it up a bit after two years of very fun baseball parties.  To prepare for the party, Pete, Dad, and Grandpa Roger built a 10 foot tall goal post out of PVC pipe.  We used it for a punting contest and quarterback contest.  Luke pointed out that a goal post is not actually used for punting or throwing (details!), but it made a great target!  The competition was very impressive.  I think Wayzata is going to have a fantastic football team in 2018!

The best thing about having a July birthday is that you can have a water balloon fight.
It always ends with kids vs. Dad

Burrito Loco at Tour de Fat

This past weekend New Belgium Brewing Company brought the Tour de Fat to Minneapolis for the first time. My friend Greg of Burrito Loco asked me to help him make the BL food tent look cool. I think the blue and orange flags and pennants were definitely responsible for the muchos tacos sold that day.

The event was a lot of fun -- great people watching, good food and drink, fun games and entertainment.

My kids are still talking about the variety show in which two people spit pieces of banana back and forth to each other. Brilliant.

People watching:









Did you know there was such a thing as chalkboard fabric?









Yum.

Annie's Shower

Unfortunately, Annie's Shower had to be cancelled at the last minute. But many of the decorations I made for the shower were also meant for her to take home and decorate her nursery. Above are pennants made from muted baby prints connected with brown organza ribbon and butter yellow rickrack. It should look very cute on baby's tan and cream striped walls.

Pete and I worked on a gift for baby that can hang in his/her room:

Pete chose the fabrics from my stash and cut out the animals, I did the sewing and attached the scene to a prestretched canvas.
Don't know baby's first name yet, but he/she will have a big brown spotted M (baby's last initial) for the nursery. Notice that the spots match the pennants!

A string of green tulle pompoms won't ship well to Ohio, so they found a home in my 7-year-old neighbor's bedroom. They look great blowing in the wind.

And the fresh strawberry pie . . . didn't last 24 hours. Three helpings each for the kids. Yum!

Casey's High School Graduation

What a great time I had planning this party!  The graduate's high school and college colors went well together:  black, white, red.  His extracurricular activities included soccer and music.  With that inspiration I got to work making pennants, windsocks, tablecloths, and centerpieces.

The party was to be set on the small island connected to the client's property by a dock.  Strings of pennants were to line the dock as the guests walked out to the island.  Metallic red windsocks were to blow in the breeze and shine in the sun.  Pots painted red and planted with red gerber daisies and white dahlias were going to be so summery on the red and black gingham tablecloths.

April and May gave us almost no rain and lots of sun, but then on June 6th there was no sun to be found and it RAINED ALL DAY.  What can you do?  We moved some things around and had a lovely party despite the weather.  The graduates even snuck in a muddy game of volleyball when the rain let up a bit.


Cocoa & Fig catered the party.  Their food was wonderful!  Great wraps, pulled pork sandwiches, and salads.  Country Cake Cupboard made the cakes.  They were so cute and really good!

 

Thanks Sue and Phil for the opportunity to plan Casey's graduation party.  

Congrats Casey!  Enjoy college!

Lauren's Go Green Birthday

My wonderful friend Lauren was turning 11 and honored me with the job of planning her birthday party. For the invitation I used wordle.net. Check it out -- fun to play with.Lauren is a budding enviromentalist and chose "go green" as her theme. I found some very cute green (the color) decorations. Dinner was a pasta bar where the girls got to choose their pasta toppings.For dessert we had a strawberry cake and homemade ice cream (ice cream flavors added by Lauren).

We did several green (as in re-use) crafts. As the girls arrived we created button flowers with old buttons, floral wire, and floral tape.

Next was designing a "sculpture". We used empty plastic containers which once held rice and salsa, all the junk from the bottom of the toybox, and a glue gun. The girls were very creative. After dinner we made a tote bag out of an old t-shirt. After sewing the bag the girls used fabric paints to further decorate their bags.Party favors for the girls included pots that Lauren and I filled flowering plants, button flowers in their plants, t-shirt bags, and sculptures.

I had a wonderful time with my favorite 11-year-old and her lovely friends.

Tommy's Race Car Birthday

My little friend Tommy LOVES race cars. For his 3rd birthday I helped his mom with decorations. The pennants and racing flags are my doing. Tommy's mom handled the rest.

Nate's Robot Birthday Party

This was a fun one for 2nd graders. They were at a great age to work on a fun project for much of the party. We built "robots" out of large cans, magnets, tape, and piles of goodies from Ax Man, Home Depot, grandpa's stash of junk, etc. A robot cake and metallic decorations rounded out the theme. Thanks to Burrito Loco for the empty cans!

Nate's invitation:

Lucky kid to have a name that has so many rhyming words.

Decorations, robot supplies set out, ready to party!


It wouldn't be a robot party without a robot cake.
And then the big project . . .

Here is the whole robot family:

We had a great time with friends, enjoyed yummy cake, and had a fun project to take home. Nate, thanks for letting me plan your party!!!

Fall Party

For the past three years my family has hosted a fall party in mid-October. Our big fenced backyard provides a perfect (contained) setting for all of the children.

The menu features homemade soups (Luke's crab bisque is always the favorite) and homemade desserts.




Activities for the kids have included sewing felt pumpkins (decorating with foam stickers for the little ones), cookie decorating with huge piles of frosting and toppings, badminton, football, and the number one favorite . . . bobbing for apples. The adults enjoy catching up with friends, food, beverages, and games of cornhole.

My best Fall Party memory: after dark the adults were all gathered around the fire and the kids were playing ghost in the graveyard. All you could see were the glowstick bracelets going back and forth through the backyard at full kid speed.

Ethan's Snowy Birthday

This year was the first time we took advantage of the conditions in Minnesota in February and planned a snow party. Two days before the party I was a little worried because there was barely a snowflake to be found. But, just in time for the big day we got a nice new coat of snow. Thank you snow angels!

Our snowy treasure hunt was a big hit and the kids got some great exercise following clues around the yard. The snowman cake turned out better than I imagined. He is accompanied by a bowl of snowballs (ice cream) and candycane-coated marshmallows for hot chocolate.




A perfect snow party.

Pete's Baseball Parties

Pete is very lucky to have a summer birthday. It couples nicely with his love of baseball. For the past three years he has chosen a backyard baseball birthday party.


Water balloons are always a big hit and no matter how many hours I spend filling them, there are never enough.

Attacking dad with the water balloons has become a tradition. After dad changes into dry clothes he runs the baseball game.
Mmmm, chocolate ice cream cake.