Fairy Party ~ Placemats

My Mom & I have been working like mad trying to get everything done for Lulu's Fairy Birthday Party. Even though the party isn't for a few more weeks, I have so much going on in October that I really just wanted to at least have the fairy party prep complete.

I absolutely fell in love with these artificial grass & flower placemats from Butterfly Craze. The $6.99 price tag? I didn't love so much!
So, I then considered astro turf placemats. Astro Turf is reasonably priced, available at Home Depot and I could make 20 placemats for under $5.00 (you can find a tutorial here for making them). While budget friendly, the astro turf just didn't have the look I wanted.

Then I remembered these pretty petal placemats I saw from Party Wishes...

and Design Dazzle...

I searched for these online & locally, but turned up zilch. So, I thought, "I can make these!" I cut out the size placemat I wanted from cardboard gift boxes I had, purchased 4 bags of pink rose petals from the local Dollar Tree & got out my trusty hot glue gun.

Starting at the bottom of the placemat, I ran a single line of hot glue horizontally across the cardboard. Then, I just put down petals one by one, overlapping slightly. I continued this method until the entire cardboard was covered.

I'm thrilled with the way they turned out! Would I like the grass placemats instead? Ofcourse! But $5.00 for 20 placemats for a 6 year old's party makes so much more sense to me (& my wallet!) than $140! And besides, what would I do with all those grass placemats after the party?

DIY Place Cards

I love these easy-to-make place cards/favors. Aren't they sweet?

Simply punch wood veneer cards with any punch you fancy.
You can find more information here at Alison Ulshoffer Events & Design.

Planning Upcoming Parties

September seems to summon the busiest time of year for me. Summer is over and I have to start thinking about Lulu's birthday, Witches Tea & Cookie Swap party. I've also added Daisy Craft Mom to my list of things to do. On top of everything else, I am trying to get my home completely organized and de-cluttered!

I've been surfing the web looking for ideas for my October parties. I found this card to use as inspiration for the Witches Tea invitations. It is from the latest edition of Paper Crafts Magazine.
I love the idea of making these shoes as favors for guests. You can find the template at Simple Dreams.

And isn't this "melted" witch tablescape fun?

Lulu is having a fairy birthday party this year so I have been busy planning that too!

Back To School Party

Back To School Bunco with my Moms group was a lot of fun. There are so many ways to celebrate the Back To School theme and all of them can be incorporated into a small celebration with your family to a big party with friends.

I made the wreath with items from the craft store and a hot glue gun. It is a wreath I can leave up all month and will take out year after year.
Each table had a school bus centerpiece with mini chalkboard, a colorful bowl of M&M's & a school themed piece of scrapbook paper.

Food was served on divided Styrofoam trays that resemble cafeteria trays. To stay on budget, I purchased the trays 10 for $1 at Dollar Tree. An alternative would be colorful re-usable hard plastic trays, but the least expensive ones I found were $1.27 each.

Water bottles were covered in school themed scrapbook paper.

My husband wrote out the menu board for me.

Mini Club Sandwiches topped with decorative picks.

Mini bags of chips.

Pretzel crayons served in a pencil box. I found this idea at Gourmet Mom On The Go.

I fell in love with these hamburger cupcakes & sugar cookie fries from Bakerella & knew they would be perfect for the Back To School theme! I served the cookie fries with a side of strawberry "ketchup" (strawberry jam).

For the Bunco prize I assembled a gift bag of grown-up school supplies (forgot to take a picture). I filled a school themed gift bag from Dollar Tree with decorative plaid pencils, notepad & mini notebook from the dollar section of Michaels & made a kitchen chalkboard with a silver tray & silver easel from Dollar Tree & chalkboard spray paint from Home Depot (directions here).

Back To School ~ Tallies & Score Sheets

Since I couldn't find any Bunco tally sheets and score cards with a Back To School theme, I decided to print my own.

I used School Script Dashed font from dafont.com (downloaded free) and printed the tally sheets on notebook paper.

I found a back to school image I liked online and used it to make some colorful score cards.

I'll be back from vacation in one more week and will be back to regular posting then!

Back To School Decorative Toothpicks

Using the Cricut Locker Talk Cartridge, I made these decorative toothpicks for Back To School Bunco Moms Night Out. I plan on sticking them in Mini Club Sandwiches.

Back To School Centerpiece

My current party planning project is a Back To School Bunco Party for my Mom's Group. Since Bunco is played at several tables, I wanted to have cute themed centerpieces.

Inspired by Little Ant Designs, I made these school bus centerpieces. They are super easy to make.
The base of the centerpiece is an empty Crystal Light drink container. About 36 #2 pencils were attached to the container with a rubber band. The rubber band was then covered with ribbon & a bow.

Inside the container, I glued a small block of styrofoam (this will hold the ruler). I made the school bus using the Cricut Locker Talk cartridge, but you could even use those little wood cut-outs from craft stores. The bus was glued to a plastic ruler and the ruler is stuck into the styrofoam.

Add a couple of pieces of notebook paper & you have a cute centerpiece for under $4 (this time of year is the perfect time to buy school supplies at great discounts!). Since the pencils aren't glued, the centerpiece can be taken apart & the pencils used!