News Taffy

Every mother can relate to how crazy, overwhelming, and expensive birthday parties for kids can be. (Not that that usually stops us for going all out in order to see little faces light up.) Last week was my eldest daughter's birthday. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I now, officially, have a terrible two's and I'm documenting it for the public. I must be crazy.

This year, we went with a Minnie theme and I decided to make her decorations, some from tweaking ideas I saw online and some from last minute necessity. I got some pink with white polka dot ribbon and black foam and went crazy. First, I spray painted a large Styrofoam ball and flat ring for it to sit on black. (who doesn't love spray paint? I think it's the instant satisfaction you get) I bought a short white feather boa at Hobby Lobby to go around the bottom. Then cut out some black circles to hot glue on as ears and added a bow from the ribbon. Tada! Minnie centerpiece. I also had some glass bottles from IBC cream soda that I glued the ribbon on to and stuck some pink and white flowers and pinwheels I found at Hobby Lobby down in them.

For a banner, I simply cut out circles in card stock, cut out letters (truth be told, my husband cut out the R and B. I'm awful at letters) and as usual, hot glued them on. Then I tied them all together with tulle. I made more foam ears and bows to glue onto headbands for Minnie and Mickey ears for guests and also used the foam to detail some photo frames and a pink and white bib I found. This all sounds much more difficult than it was so I hope looking at the pictures gives a better idea. Note: I did NOT make the cake. That was from Goad Alamode Cakes. 

I also made a tutu, though I'm not taking too much credit for it. I was extremely lazy and tired the night before the party, and so I seriously laid the tulle all down and cut circles out of different sizes. (very wasteful) I cut the same sized hole in the middle and sewed it together around the center circle, pulling the bottom thread to bring it in and closer to her tiny waist line. Then I sewed on some elastic (seriously not my strong point), and hot glued some ribbon on to cover my messy job. Then added a big black ribbon bow and white polka dots (cut from an old white t-shirt) with hot glue. All in all, the party was a big hit, and for all the decorations I spent around around $20 thanks to sales.

You could throw these ideas with any theme. A cowboy hat on the ball for Toy Story themed, or any other accessories. You could even get crazy and paint the ball a solid color then add details with a paintbrush to make it a soccer ball, basketball, or whatever.

I'll leave you with another very random picture taken from the start of a project from the cardboard our swing set came in. Come back next week to find out what it becomes!

Until next time,
Heather