E&K's birthday party

did something totally new this year for my girl's 9th birthday.

we did a joint party.  

loved it...

em's best friend was born 4 days after her.

they share many friends through their dance studio.

why not save some time for everyone and 

let them have a party together!?

we found a great location that has a

pool, bowling and mini golf all in one!

the nine year olds and all their friends had a great time...

my friend Ali made these - amazing, right?!

loved the loot bags, inside and out!

yep, there was an underwater window in the pool.  super fun!

i couldn't really share the rest of the photos for two reasons

1. many didn't meet my quality standards 

(as they were shot in a dark basement).

2. lot's of girls attended and I did not

ask for permission to share the images.

i hope the few I did share give

 you a glimpse of the love that went 

into planning this event and the fun that was had!

the best part of the joint party, 

was planning it with my good friend Ali.

i think we made a great team.  

sweet shoppe party

this was such a fun party to put together for my 8 year old!

it was a sweet shoppe in the 60s theme, 

and all the girls came dressed for the fun.

i was amazed with the costumes and hairstyles of our guests.

the premise of the party was to earn sweet shoppe dollars

that they could spend at the sweet shoppe.

to earn the money they participated in simple activities 

that you would do at most parties,

but adding the money factor was cause for great excitement!

the first activity was creating a paper purse 

that would hold the money earned.

then it was on to auntie beth at the nail and tattoo shop

 to get their nails done and a 'sweet' tattoo applied...

a little music from hairspray and dancing...

then opening gifts.

the girls thought they might have to use their money 

for the ice cream shoppe, 

but they actually got 'paid' to create and eat ice cream sundaes...

(squeals of joy!)

~

flavours included mint chip (my girl's favourite),

chocolate, vanilla sprinkles and orange sorbet.

for toppings we had chocolate and strawberry sauce,

smarties, jelly beans, gummies, sprinkles and whipped cream!

finally, they were on to the sweet shoppe to spend their sweet shoppe dollars!

it was so fun to watch them count out their money 

and fill their paper purses with goodies to take home.

~

hearing my girl say it was her best birthday party ever... 

was sweet music to my ears!

aubree's 3rd birthday

my niece (who is also a big sister now) had a birthday party recently:

i had the pleasure of making the cake (pinterest inspired)

for the celebration and photographing the fun!

~

there were many guests (of all ages) at this party, 

but we'll keep the focus on the birthday girl...

i think she liked the cake!

a scooby party for my girl...

as you know, selah had a scooby doo party this year!

selah and her friends made scooby collars, worked on a scooby maze,
and listened to a scooby story before we had pizza and scooby snacks...

the mood of the party changed after all the scooby snacks were gone.  

selah was hoping to open her presents and they were nowhere to be seen!

what we found was a video message from a scary ghost 

telling everyone they should go home...

fortunately there was also a clue that led us up to the girl's room,

which was full of balloons.

surprisingly there was something inside each balloon,

so we had to pop them to find out what it was!

inside one balloon there was another clue 

that helped us convince the ghost to come out of hiding.

just to be safe we trapped him with a hula hoop,

removed the mask and convinced him to tell us where the presents were hidden...

(and he would have gotten away with taking 

all those gifts if it weren't for those meddling kids!)

after opening presents, it was time for the cake!

and then one more visit from our new friend, the ghost of the presents...

zoinks!

(click here for more detail images from this party)

scooby doo birthday party

 if you've been around here before - you know how much i love to plan parties for my girls.

selah is 6 now and she wanted to celebrate with a scooby party!  

i was happy to oblige...

i didn't love the colours of the current scooby party supplies in stores, 

so i chose the colours i wanted to work with and went from there.

orange, purple, teal and lime green.

usually i work with 2 or 3 colours when planning a party,

but using 4 gave me even more options with decorating!

scooby pull apart cupcakes:

i didn't have a tray large enough to place all the cupcakes on, 

but around here we have many canvases...

so i painted one and used it as the tray.

~

i will admit, i am a bit controlling with my party planning

(i like to do it all, by myself...),

but who can resist two willing and able little helpers

emery cut the flowers we used to decorate the walls 

and selah had the idea to colour scooby print outs, 

one for each doggy bag.

~

speaking of doggy bags,

i picked up a dozen bags at michael's and 

printed out a personalize label for each one.

a little inspiration from pinterest goes along way...

this is what else was in the doggy bags for each guest at the party:

scooby dvd

mello smello food stickers

scooby gummy snacks

a ghost pop

and a balloon bopper 

(to catch the villains with)

as friends arrived, they joined the craft table

where they could try some bones

(chocolate covered marshmallows and pretzels),

work on a scooby maze,

and bead their dog collar with fruit loops...

yum.

here is glimpse of the table when 'scooby snacks' were served:

 on the menu was:

pizza (a scooby favourite)

popcorn

groovy grapes

veggie sticks (not so popular)

veggie straws (a little more popular)

green apple juice and blue water complete with bone shaped ice

and...

scooby snacks!

(i picked those up during our last visit to the states to see my sister)

so there it is, a glimpse of the prep that went into this party...

i'll share a little more about what we did at the party in my next post.

in the mean time - you can check my pinterest board 

if you're looking for more inspiration for a party.

thanks for checking in!