Sugar Overload

Tristan's 18th birthday was this past weekend so we had a party for him yesterday. Family from as far away as North Carolina came, as well as family members that we rarely see. I have wanted to do a candy bar for a long time and I figured this event with tons of kids would be the perfect opportunity.

Allie made the golf hole cupcakes. She was going to do a golf hole out of multiple cupcakes like The Funambulist Damsel, but it looked like too much work! Instead, I googled images of golf hole cupcakes and then she created these. Green frosting, a black dot, a small spinkle for a gold ball and a red flag that she made out of paper and toothpicks. Ammy added the number 18 to all of the flags.

At 2 a.m. I came up with the idea to use astro turf for the base of the buffet. I purchased this lovely indoor/outdoor carpet at Lowes. I was going to cut it to fit the top of the table, but we liked the way it looked hanging down.

Kellen, Allie, Ammy and I picked out the candy at Fresh Market. They have M & M's and jelly beans separated by color. I wanted to use colors that you would see at a golf course (green for fairways and greens, white for balls and sand, blue for water) . The lollypops, pixie sticks and gold coins were just extras!

We used a bunch of vases, mason jars and candle sticks to put the candy in.

"Look out Mom/Aunt Kim! We are all sugared up and we have silly string!"



I am linking up to:
The DIY Project Parade,
Making the World Cuter
Tatertots and Jello Weekend Wrap up Party

I Love Wordle

Have you heard of Wordle? ( It is another new obsession of mine. ) According to the website, "Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends."

We were looking to create some cheap art for my sons' rooms. Since they are both golf fanatics, we entered in a bunch of golf terms. Note: I have had trouble when I used the paste in text box. Half the time is doesn't work. I prefer to use the advanced option where you enter in your weighted text. Give the words you want to be bigger a larger weight. (Golf is 1345 on mine.) The numbers I used for each word were totally random.

One result. Once the wordle comes up, you can hit randomize and another wordle with the same words will appear. You can also change your original wordle by clicking on the menu options.

Another one.

In order to save your wordle so that you can manipulate it, you need to download a third-party software program like CutePDF. You also need to download the converter. Once you have done this, select print on your wordle and change the printer to the CutePDF. You can then name your wordle and save it.

This is the wordle that Tyler wanted for his room. I opened the wordle in Photoshop and enlarged the wordle. I made it slightly smaller than the finished size that I wanted. I then copied it and placed it on an 11X14 black background. I did this because Wordle places the words all the way to the edge of the box and I wanted a little more black around it.

I then printed the wordle and placed it in a cheap frame from Walmart. (not the best pic, but you get the idea)

Total cost was around $6.

I also used Wordle to make invitations for Tristan's 18th Birthday!

The possibilities are endless. Now go forth and create!

I am linking up to these blog parties today:

I Heart Martha

Several years ago, I came across this article for photo centerpieces in Martha Stewart Living. At the time I was working on a donor dinner for my kids' school and made 60 of them--I used photos of the school from the late 1800's to current day. They were a total hit.

When my sister-in-law asked for help with her party, I immediately thought of this project. I used old photos of her in-laws for the centerpieces. They were pretty easy to make.

First, buy a bunch of black frames. I prefer those that are flat on the front and back. It makes them easier to attach to each other. Michaels has a bunch of sizes that are very reasonable. 4 x 6 frames and 5 x 7 frames are the easiest to make. 8 x 10's are more difficult.

Print your photos onto vellum. Martha suggests using ecru vellum--Michaels only has white and it is called Translucent Specialty Paper. Terrifically Tacky Tape is the perfect thing to use to attach the photos to the inside of the frames. It comes in several sizes, but I buy the thinnest size.

Take out everything in the frame (find another use for all of the glass and cardboard backs. If you come up with one, let me know since I have tons of supplies from the last time I did this!) Place the tape on all four sides of the inside of the frame. Remove the backing of the tape. Then place your vellum photo down onto the tape. This can be tricky with the 8 x 10 photos--work slowly and only attach one side at a time.

Once you have the photos taped down into each of the frames, tape three of them together using electrical tape. Fold the frames into a triangle shape and put a votive candle inside of the frame. I will post pictures of the frames when they are lit up on Saturday at the party.

I also made stickers for the fronts of the buckets that are being used for the prizes for a trivia game about the couple. Again, the buckets are filled with some of their favorite things.

I am also creating a memory book at the party--there will be some super fun mannequins that will be used. Check back on Sunday to see what we have planned!

I posted this idea on:

For Dayna

My sister-in-law is hosting a 50th wedding anniversary party for her in-laws this weekend. This video is one that I put together to be shown at the event. I need her to see it (and youtube won't allow you to upload a video with music) so all of you followers get to see it too.

Check back tomorrow for more cool things you can make for a 50th anniversary party.

Wine Tasting

The other night, we hosted a wine tasting at our house as a fellowship activity for parents at our church. We had 34 people in attendance and it was an absolute blast.

When people arrived we had them take this quiz on the computer (we had two laptops set up in the kitchen) to determine what kind of wine they were. Then they selected the corresponding name tag and wrote their name on it. (I was a chardonnay which is funny since that is my favorite. Pinot Noirs were very common at this party)

Tony and I provided the wine for two blind tastings. We did a chardonnay tasting and a cabernet tasting. We bought a lower priced bottle (under $10) a mid-priced bottle ($15) and an expensive bottle (over $20) of each kind. Each bottle was covered with foil so you couldn't tell which wine it was. Everyone tasted the wines and rated them using this sheet.

We had each couple bring 2 bottles of the same kind of wine and an appetizer that went with their wine. We opened one bottle of each wine and placed it with the appetizers.

Everyone got to decide which wines they wanted to try. I made these wine journals so that people could take notes about the different wines they were trying. I bought little composition books and then used Avery full page labels to make the covers.

With the second bottles of wine we set up a drawing. Each couple picked a number and then they got a bottle of wine to take home that corresponded with that number.

The carnage--all the different wines that people tasted--we were left with a lot of half-empty bottles! Luckily, some people took bottles home when they left!

I loved the concept of the blind tasting. It was a lot of fun to see what people liked-most people liked the least expensive chardonnay and the mid-range cabernet. It was also neat to be able to try a variety of different wines. My favorite quote of the night was from a friend that said, "I haven't tasted a wine that I haven't liked!"

Who Let The Dogs Out?

The kids had a party for the Ravens game last night. Everyone was decked out in their black and purple.

Even the dog.

We made shirley temples

and made them purple with grenadine and blue food coloring. After we finished, Ammy asked why we didn't just use grape soda. Duh, didn't even think of that!

We made buffalo sliders (and they were good!)

Old Bay chicken wings, Pioneer Woman's pico de gallo and guacamole and chips...it doesn't get any better than that for teenagers!

And football cupcakes to end the evening.

Too bad they didn't win.

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! The Parties Are Over!

Kellen's party was a lot of fun. Of course, it rained in the beginning of the party so I had to rethink how I was going to do things (love when that happens) We started the party making life size knights. The big kids traced the kids' bodies on brown paper and then the boys painted themselves as knights. I found some really cool knight masks and we used them as the faces. I was afraid that some of the kids might not be into this project, but they loved it (and spent over an hour working on their knights).

After painting, the kids got dressed in their costumes. We dressed up in blue and red tunics that I made out of felt. I found the helmets at the dollar store and the kids made their shields out of cardboard.

All of our activities were team oriented. Gold coins were awarded for different things and the team with the most coins at the end won the tournament. The first activity was a scavenger hunt where the knights had to find a horse, a knight, a castle, a jouster, a bag of gold coins, a princess, a pigeon, the Holy Grail and a king.

Then we moved on to shooting a foam arrow through two hula-hoops that I hung from a tree. Every child got two tries to get it through one of the hula hoops. If they got it though the top hoop, they got 2 coins and if they got it through the lower hoop, they got 1 coin. They could have played this game for hours!

Then we had the team catapult activity. The kids moved through the different positions on the catapult (end holders and launcher in the middle) and each team tried to launch their water balloon farther than the other team. This was a little difficult, but it was hilarious when it worked.

We had another bow and arrow activity where we used marshmallow bow and arrows and frozen mini marshmallows. I set up a bunch of empty soda cans and they got a coin for each can that they knocked down with the marshmallow. Again, they could have spent hours doing this.

My friend made a cup cake brown dragon (adapted from an alligator) for Kellen. It was really good-especially the chocolate wings. This picture does not do it justice.

Then we had our joust. I placed rings around the yard and the kids had to ride the hippity hops while carrying a 4 ft. sword. As they got to each ring, they had to try to pick up the ring on the end of their sword. If they knocked the ring over, they had to leave it. Two kids went at a time--we gave a coin for the team that got finished first and a coin for the person who got the most rings. The best part was that the big kids and some of the adults bombarded the kids with water balloons and shot them with the marshmallow bow and arrows while they tried to get the rings.

Of course, we launched the rocket.

The second launch did not go well...we are hoping for a good storm so that we get our rocket back!

This party was so easy! We never got to everything we had planned--I got a bunch of boxes so that each team could make their own castle and then we were going to have a game of Castle Wars.

I might have to have this crew back next Friday so that they can finish the fun! Just kidding...no more parties until December!

Hula 'Til You Drop

So, yesterday was day one of the birthday party extravaganzas.

We decorated with palm trees, umbrellas, lanterns, parrots and all things pink, blue, orange and green.

We made dollar store flip flops with fabric scraps. Someone told me you can do the same thing with balloons. Might have to try that sometime!

We did the limbo. There were some really flexible girls at the party!

We made candy leis.

We wore really big sun glasses.

We did relay races with hippity hops and water balloons.

We made sponge balls.

We soaked the sponge balls and attacked Tyler.

We drank a toast to the birthday girl in margarita glasses coated with sugar and filled with lemonade and a paper umbrella.

We ate the yummy chocolate cake that Allie made.



We learned the hula.

We launched the rocket (not originally part of the tiki party).

We attacked Tyler again with water balloons.



Then everyone went home and mom went to bed!

Eight is great!

Now, I'm knee deep in all things knight. God help me!