LEGO Superhero Birthday Party

So it has only taken half a YEAR for me to get around to it, but I am finally posting photos from Henry's 4th birthday party. He had a fabulous time, of course, and recently asked to go back to Coppermine Fieldhouse for his next birthday. And the invitations and decorations have been extremely popular in my Etsy store (especially around the time the new Lego movie came out in February).

::  You can find the invitation in my Etsy store ::  

Favor bags and labels

Some of Henry's favorite things were in the favor bags.

::  You can find the small party decorations in my Etsy store. :: 

:: The large posters are in my Etsy store as well. :: 

Mod Batman Birthday Party

Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na.....BATMAN!

I know...I know.....It's way overdue, but here are the details from my son's 3rd birthday party back in September.

Here are the invitations. They are currently available online in my etsy store.  I wanted a more modern, customized take on the standard Batman design. I played with the colors a little to get something a little lighter and brighter than the usual bold blue, black, and yellow.

 I bought the A4 Pochette from Paper Presentation in black, lined it with black dot paper and mounted the invitation inside. I printed custom stickers for the outside of the pouchette to hold it closed.

I also purchased the outer blue envelopes from Paper Presentation. I loved these invitations!!! Are they cute or what? How am I going to top these next year?

The decorations from the party...

I found this number "3" letter, already white, at Hobby Lobby. I just stapled ribbon to the back for hanging and printed a Bat Signal to glue onto the front.

I designed a few 18x24 signs that I printed and mounted onto foam core board. The cupcakes were from a local grocery story, Graul's. They always come through for me! I take a design and the ladies in their bakery replicate it exactly. I've used it for all of Henry's birthday parties with great results!

I always knew one day I'd find the perfect party to match my favorite Fishs Eddy dishes!

The black zig-zag bags also came from Paper Presentation. I used the for the favors and just attached a label to the front.

The favor bag contained fruit snacks and some basic Batman items I found at Party City.

I also printed some of the graphics at a small scale and framed them as subtle decorations in the living room and dining room.

Each child at the party got their own Bat cape and mask. I purchased the masks at Party City, but made the capes. I used blue plastic table cloths and adhesive velcro. I just traced out the shape, based on a cape my son already had, and simply cut it out of the tablecloth. Then I just stuck the velcro, which I cut into squares, at the neck of the cape. Honestly, this was a total trial effort with the capes. I fully expected the velcro to never hold, or hold for a little while and then peel off. It never happened. That stuff is surprisingly strong...and sticky!!!!!

I also converted the basement into a make-shift Bat Cave.

And finally, a few photos from the party!!!!

The birthday boy enjoying his cupcake!!

Batman was more than happy to pose in full costume for his thank you card!!!!!!

Mod Elephant Baby Shower

I know I've been MIA for a little while, but it's only because I've been so busy!!! I'm finally getting around to doing a quick little post about a baby shower I helped throw for my sister-in-law a month ago. Since she knew she was having a boy, I worked up a mod elephant theme that I thought would be fairly inexpensive to pull together and then also come up with some DIY decorations that could withstand being packed up and traveling to the shower. I live in Maryland...the shower was in Virginia Beach. If you're interested in using the invitation or some of the printable decorations for a shower you're hosting, please visit my Etsy shop . I will be very happy to work with you to customize colors and text!

I made this really simple wreath for the door using crepe paper streamer and a little tulle. I used a metal circle form from the craft store and used the same technique I used here to attach the streamer and tulle to the form.

Since the shower wasn't at my home, but the home of one of my sister-in-law's friends, I wasn't exactly sure what I would need for decorations or how things could be attached to surfaces. So, I made paper pinwheel "flowers" for vases. I printed out signs that could be placed in simple frames and set on tables. I also did a poster (18"x24") that I mounted on foam core board and just set on the mantle. I also created a few sections of pendant garland and used one of them along the fireplace mantle.

I purchased a few yards of coordinating fabric and used them as runners or table cloths. Instead of hemming them, I just trim the edges with my pinking shears, which leave a zig-zag edge that doesn't unravel.

For the favors, in an effort to stick to a pretty tight budget, I used large baby food jars (washed and dried, with labels removed) and filled them with M&Ms that matched the shower colors. I also painted the lids solid white. You could spray paint, but I just used a semi-gloss craft paint and applied it with a brush.

I got the idea for this balloon centerpiece just a few days before the shower. The original post didn't provide much detail for how to make it work, so I just made it up as I went along. I started by tying two balloons (just blown up with air, no helium) together with a 2 foot length of twine and then draping them over the light fixture and let those form the bottom layer of balloons. I did that about 3-4 times. As they started stacking up on each other, (with a little help from the husband on duty) we started shortening the length of twine between the balloons until we had covered the light fixture entirely.

Below is a close up of the elephant "flower" arrangements that I used around the kitchen/dining room and living room. Some landed on the food table, others were used on the mantle, coffee table, and with the favor display. For these decorations, I just used small, square gift boxes from Michaels. I assemble them, and fold the lid down inside the box. I used regular yarn to decorate the outside of the boxes. I just hot glued one end to the back of the box and wrapped the yarn around about 6 times, then cut it, and glued that end on the back of the box too.

Then I made two small tissue pom-poms, and one small tulle pom-pom for each arrangement. I cut the elephant shape out of contrasting card stock, cutting out two elephant shapes, in mirror image, for each arrangement. I then glued them together with a wooden skewer between the two pieces of paper. I trimmed the wooden skewer down once I was ready to put the arrangements together. So, with the elephants on sticks, and three pom-poms (which have sections of wire as "stems"), I pulled the stems and stick together and wrapped them with regular tape (the same way you would wrap flowers together with floral tape for a bouquet). Then I placed the arrangements in the boxes. I secured the arrangements in the boxes by creating a flower frog out of clear packing tape across the top of the boxes, which only required two strips of tape per box. I punched a hole with scissors in the center of where the two pieces of tape overlap and stuck the stems of the arrangement down into the box. You can add rocks or something heavy to weigh down the boxes if you think they may get bumped or knocked over.

And finally, just a few photos from the shower. It was a great success and everyone had a fantastic time. We had great food and played a few fun games. Kristi received lots of cute baby things for her little one!!!