Birthday Train, How To

Remember the birthday candy train I showed you last month? It was a fun addition to the Rainbow Balloon Birthday party we threw for our sweet baby boy.

I promised you a tutorial, so here she is! This one is simple, very simple. My favorite kind. I wanted a white train for the table but did not want to spend a lot of cash so I dreamed up this little idea one afternoon while roaming Hobby Lobby. I picked up one of their natural wood train engine pieces, and three small cardboard craft boxes.

I got rid of the lids, then painted everything white, except for the wheels, which I painted black. Then I hot glued colorful buttons for the wheels, and to add height.

 The most tedious (and expensive) part was separating out the Skittles for the rainbow cargo. :) I cut white coffee filters to fit the boxes so I could pour the Skittles in on top of those instead of the painted (not food-safe) boxes.

There you have it! An easy, eye-catching centerpiece you can make in one afternoon (or less) on the cheap. Happy crafting!

Linking to:
   Tater Tots & Jello   

A Rainbow Balloon 3rd Birthday Party

My precious baby turned the big three years old recently and we threw him a big birthday bash. The theme was balloons but rainbow balloons are even more fun, so we combined the two.

A six layer R.O.Y.G.B.I.V. (minus the indigo) cake with cream cheese frosting. It was a big hit and tasted fantastic! The trick is using gel dyes instead of liquid. They make for very intense colors!
My son loves balloons. He can spot them from a mile away. But truth be told, I didn't think I had it in me to make a cake shaped like any of his favorite characters of the moment. So we went a little more abstract this time around. He still was thrilled with his cake and was absolutely head over heels when he discovered we had filled an entire room full of balloons. He had a blast plowing through them again and again.
Whoopie pies! Key lime, lemon, and red velvet all with cream cheese frosting. My son loved these and even skipped cake, instead saying, "I want a gween one, Mommy!" (I'll post directions for these soon but trust me, they are a piece of cake! Ugh, puns...)
Rainbow tissue poms added fun color and a festive backdrop. I couldn't believe I had never thought of those before! It's just your basic tissue pom, only with a variety of colors.

I'll have a tutorial soon for the candy filled train as well.
All of the food was served on white servings trays I have collected (on clearance, of course) over the years and we ate off of dollar store napkins and plates. Nothing too expensive or fancy, just fun and bright. It was the perfect evening celebrating our incredible blessing!

A lot of my inspiration came from Pinterest. Oh, Pinterest. Where have you been all my life? See the inspiration board for the party here. If you want to follow along with all the goodies I'm discovering on the web, you can follow me on Pinterest here.

Hope you're enjoying your last few weeks of summer!

Rainbow Cake

Summer is still in full swing over here but we've managed to fit in a party or two. I'll post more pictures later, but here's a sneak peek at the birthday bash we threw last weekend. It was an absolute blast!

Mustache and Most Interesting Man in the World Party

I'm back from a summer sabbatical. Thanks for sticking with me! I'd like to say that I spent the last month on a beach in Hawaii or relaxing at our (imaginary) mountain cabin, but in reality we spent most of it doing what most youth ministry families do in the summertime: hanging out with teenagers. Majority of the time we were blessed to work with teens at camp in Oklahoma. If you thought it was hot in Texas, Oklahoma has us beat. Great state, miserable heat. The only place that has them beat is Arizona. The one summer I spent there I thought I was going to swelter to death.

We did squeeze in some family fun as well. My husband's grandfather turned 95 (ninety-five!) this year so we threw a surprise party for him to celebrate. Our theme was The Most Interesting Man in the World (because 95 years of living earns you that title) and mustaches for extra fun.

Here are a few pictures from the event.

We used these mustache-on-a-stick as decor and then later as props for photos. Our giant family portrait turned out great and it's one of my favorite family treasures of all time. Everyone from age 2 to 95 was proudly holding them up.
Pictures of Grandad from earlier days were everywhere, and this sign greeted guests: Grandad...The Most Interesting Man in the World.

Throughout the house we put "most interesting man in the world" quotes to go with his pictures. There are a ton of hilarious ones all over the web. We chose a few of our favorites, including this one...
And these, to just show a few.
This is Texas party y'all, so you know we had a lot of this...
And if you've been reading this blog for more than 2 seconds you know I love me some pennant banners. Throw it on top of a banana pudding and you can't go wrong.
Grandad's favorite impossible-to-make birthday cake passed down for generations.
We had a great time together and Grandad was caught with a tear in his eye more than a few times. He felt honored and special, and that was the whole goal. We displayed the verse Prov 22:1 ("A good name is more desirable than great riches, to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.") in a frame as well because it describes beautifully what we all feel about our favorite Grandad. What a beautiful legacy of faith he has given us.

An added bonus: We threw this party together for less than $5 by using Silhouette's free download of the week to make the mustaches, skewers (in a pack of 100) for less than $1, blue play sand we had on hand to anchor centerpieces, and displaying quotes and pictures in frames we had throughout the house.

Thanks for stopping by today!