Angry Birds Birthday Party

My oldest son turned 7 today. He wanted to have an Angry Birds party so I did what most do these days and I searched Pinterest for ideas. I was extremely short on time so I picked a few things that I thought we could pull off quickly.

Decorations:
My wonderful and amazing hubby printed these on cardstock for me. He saved the images for other decorations and labels that you'll see below.

Stephen also downloaded a font that was close to Angry Birds and made this banner. I just used scrapbook paper to frame out each letter. The wooden bench came with our Little Tyke kitchen set. The napkins and plates came from the party store and Wal-Mart.

 

 I bought this little grapevine wreath last year for my Lenten display. It was perfect to display this nest. Since Easter is in a few weeks, it was easy to find some white plastic eggs.

Food:
I found these gummies at Hobby Lobby, too. They are gluten free- that's just as important these days as nut-free. We also found some Angry Birds cheese crackers at the store. I served fruit and veggies as well.

               

 

The cake:
I have learned to stop wasting hours planning my kids' cakes because they have their own ideas. This was Caleb's plan. My hubby has become quite the expert in fondant rolling and shaping, wouldn't you agree?  The blocks are wafer cookies that he wrapped in fondant. The flash made the green icing appear to be different colors, but I assure you it looked great in person.

 

Goody Bags:
Stephen made these bookmarks to put in the goody bags because I just needed more ideas, I didn't have time to run all over town finding Angry Birds items. He used a picture of Caleb in his Halloween costume.

We found some Angry Birds graham crackers, the plastic eggs, a little maze, and some stickers. Stephen made labels with AB pictures. He made extra labels and we used them on cups and juice boxes so everyone could write their names on them. I noticed it worked because the kids kept up with their drinks and didn't come back for more and more.

Mother of the Year Award

And the Mother of the Year award goes to..................................................


Not me!

Well, not that I was up for it or anything, but I am still feeling awful about Caleb's party yesterday. See, I have known for months that we would have his party on March 2. I've known that it was also the date that College Station ISD students who read more than 250 pages would be going to the Texas Aggie basketball game so I knew I'd have to plan around that game. Well, this year March just snuck up on me. Maybe it was because we made a day trip to Fort Worth to say goodbye to Stephen's dad and be with his mom who had a stroke that morning. Maybe it was because I had something on my calendar every single morning last week. Maybe it was because there are only 28 days in February, I don't know, but last Sunday morning I woke up in a panic because I realized that his party was 6 days away, NOT the 13 I thought. I jumped out of bed and completed the few invitations we had before church. I knew that most of Caleb's class would be able to come with such short notice. I ran into some good friends as I was dropping the kids off in their Sunday School classes and I told them about the party, followed by, "I know it is really short notice, and I am so sorry. I understand if you have plans." Then I was reminded that the 2nd graders were making their First Reconciliation at the same time as Caleb's party. EPIC FAIL on my part. A few sweet friends told me not to worry, just keep this one small. So, if you are one of the dear friend I forgot to contact, I am so sorry, it was not intentional.

A dear friend and mother of 5, who is the RE director of her Parish in OK posted that she was on her retreat this past weekend when she realized today is the Youth Mass and she forgot to find anyone to usher, lector, serve Eucharist, etc....so it does happen. We are human and we are forgiven.

Thankfully, kids (especially Caleb) are so grateful for whoever shows up and whatever I threw together. It was a success in his eyes and that should be good enough for me...but I am still thinking of a few friends who were left out and I'm so sorry!

Abby's 1st Birthday Party

Our first birthday party in town was a hit. When all the guests arrived, they got to decorate some clay dough ornaments I had made in advance. I set out paint (because I'm brave like that), sequins, and glitter glue. I made sure I had the first initial of each guest, even the tots.

Next everyone had a snack and then we played bingo. I made Tinker Bell bingo for Lauren's party and since this was a "fairy" too, it worked for me. I bought the prizes at the Dollar Tree. We were going to play, "Pass the Fairy Wand" like "hot potato" but 2 kids had a bingo at the same time and it used all my prizes.

Finally we opened presents and ate the cake. It was so much easier than all the previous parties where I had to make the cake days in advance and we had to pack up everything and cart it to Fort Worth. Even the clean up was a breeze. I can't wait until the next party!