Wintery Rainbow 1st Birthday Party

I came up with the wintery rainbow theme for Leyna’s party after falling in love with all the beautiful rainbow parties I’ve seen online the last year. I loved the idea of brightening up a party in the middle of winter with lots of fun colors.

I hired Charlotte from The Paper Cupcake to design the invitations (which featured Leyna’s cake smash pictures that we took on her actual birthday, December 28th) and all the printables for the party. She really helped me set the tone from the beginning.

We had the party at our house, which made for some chaos the morning of and a huge mess to clean up after, but it actually wasn’t that bad having it here.

This front door sign was made with this wooden plaque I ordered from Etsy. I painted it with chalkboard paint and taped ribbon on to the back. Then my sister prettied it up with some chalk markers. Super easy, and now I can just take off the ribbon, wipe off the chalk and repurpose it.

The cupcake stand is one I’ve repurposed since I made it nearly 3 years ago for Kendall’s 1st birthday party. The wreath above the fireplace is our Christmas felt pomp wreath that I added rainbow ribbon to. The picture collage on the fireplace is made from a canvas that’s painted with chalkboard paint. The pictures are stuck on with adhesive photo corners, and we used chalk markers to draw snowflakes on it.

The giant Polaroid photo booth was a huge hit! The kids loved playing with all the funky accessories, and I think even the adults had a good time pretending to bundle up (even though it was nearly 60 outside and I had the AC blasting).

I got my inspiration for this after seeing a pin from this blog, but had no idea how they made the frame. With the help from some reader suggestions, I wound up getting a giant piece of foam insulation from Home Depot for $9, had Scott cut it with a box cutter, and we painted it white. The dimensions were 3.5 feet wide x 4.25 feet long. There is a .2 foot border on each side, a .25 foot border on top, and a .875 foot border on bottom.

Scott hung it from our ceiling with fishing line, a few feet away from the yellow chevron fabric backdrop I got at Hancock Fabrics.

For favors, the kids got Snow Day Survival Kits full of popcorn, hot chocolate, crayons, stickers and notepads. (The babies got packs of Boogie Wipes for those inevitable runny noses.)

We also handed out these beautiful and sooooo delicious rainbow snowflake sugar cookies, courtesy of Cookies By Becky . I don’t know how she got them to look so perfectly frosted and managed to ship them without a single one breaking, but I looked like a regular ol’ Martha Stewart handing them out… until I admitted I had nothing to do with their creation.

The party was 2 hours of total fun, and I’m so happy we had it here… even if it did take a whole day to clean up after it. OH! One more thing. I don’t have a picture of this, but we made the most kick-ass white hot chocolate and let the adults add rum to their cups. Magically delicious, y’all.

1.75 gallons milk
2 bags white chocolate chips
Melt in stock pot on the stove slowly, pour into coffee urn or keep on low on the stove to keep warm.
Optional- top with rum and/or whipped cream.
Serves- a shitton of people

(We have a ton left over, so we froze it in muffin tins and then put the cubes in freezer bags. Now we can pull a few out, pop them in the microwave and enjoy.)

That’s it! Thanks for stopping by to have a look. As much fun as I had doing this party for Leyna, I’m really thinking we might do a birthday outing over a party for Kendall’s 4th in May (OMG MY BABY IS GOING TO BE FOUR).

Becky is going to give a lucky one of you 2 dozen cookies, too! All you have to do is comment telling me your favorite design she has listed in her Etsy shop right now (though you’re not limited to those if you order from her since she does custom designs, too). U.S. shipping addresses only, please. I’ll draw the winner with Random.org in about a week.

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Snow What Fun!

Leyna had her first birthday party today, and a good time was had by all. I’ll be back with tons of pictures on Monday, but I thought I’d share one from our giant Polaroid inspired photo booth tonight.

 

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The Calm Before The Party Storm

Leyna’s birthday party is tomorrow! And we all know what that means… I’m about to LOSE MY MIND. 

We’re having it at our house because, why not? Who DOESN’T want 20 something people in their not-exactly-large house that’s been in a constant state of renovation for the last year and isn’t quite completely finished?

“We’ll save money this way,” I told Scott.

Then I proceeded to order half of Etsy and Amazon, and have a shopping list for 2 baskets full of food at Sams Club.

“Just relax. It’s not a big deal. She won’t remember it anyway,” people tell me. Uhm, this party? Not really for the birthday girl so much. I only have 2, maybe 3 years to have any say whatsoever in how this goes down, before she’s begging for Chuck E Cheese and licensed characters. Let’s call it like it is. It’s for me.

I‘m bracing myself for Disney Princesses, but let me be clear- I will CUT anyone who introduces her to Barbie. Give her a Bratz doll? Prepare to die.

Assuming we pull it all off AND I managed to take pictures while running the show, I’ll show it all off to you on Monday. But now, I must go. CLEAN! CRAFT! CLEAN! CRAFT! SPEND MORE MONEY!!!

I think I should stretch first.

Leyna is 13 months old, and we’re having her party one month late since December 28th is sort of a rotten day for a party.

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Living An Old Nightmare In The ‘Burbs

“Where did so-and-so move?” I asked my hip, single sister who lives in a posh little apartment near the heart of Austin.

“Oh, you know, those McMansions in the suburbs,” she joked with that undertone of distaste that I distinctly remember having myself not too many years ago…

Ugh. The tragedy of having to move to the “cookie cutter” homes in the expansive suburbs. What a sorry and uncultured existence those people with children must lead. They can’t even walk to a coffee shop, they’re surrounded by strip malls, and those poor people must always be in their cars since they’re so far away from anything fun. ~ Me, Age 25

Flash forward five years…

“Hey, those McMansions in the suburbs aren’t that bad!” I teased.

“I’m too old to care about living anywhere ‘trendy’ or close to the city. They have underperforming school districts, and we can’t afford private school, ESPECIALLY with how much a house half the size of my ‘McMansion’ costs there. And even then, that house would be, like 50 years old and probably have gold velvet wallpaper. I will take my ‘cookie cutter’ brick home on a quiet street, my HOA fees, and my strip malls. Plus, I don’t have to drive more than 10 minutes to get anywhere. Target is only 5 minutes from here, and that’s all I need,” I continued.

And then I realized I’ve fully become immersed in Suburban Culture. I am now one of them. Oh, how my 25 year old self weeps.

Oh, how my 30 year old self doesn’t care.

Life in the suburbs is good. We are blessed to live in a spacious, safe, beautiful home. We may not be able to walk to a coffee shop, but we can walk to the elementary school (an excellent one) that Kendall will attend (too soon!), a pool and 3 parks. They are luxuries I try hard not to take for granted.

Would I love to live in a downtown loft and take public transportation everywhere? Sure! Except, well, I’m not even sure that’s a reality in Dallas, and that’s just not the most practical situation for a family with young children and large dogs. Not to say people don’t do it, and don’t love it, but *for us* it’s not worth the trouble and the expense.

Scott and I often talk about what we’ll do when the kids all move out. How we’ll sell half our stuff and move into that hip downtown loft we dreamed of before we had kids. We’ll get our fun, urban existence eventually, but we’re okay with giving it up for now.

Basically, I’m living my worst nightmare from my 20s. I fought it hard, but it turns out kids really do change you and the way you live. I can think of worse fates than moving into a “boring McMansion in the cookie cutter burbs.”

Now, I realize not everyone with kids feels this way about the ‘burbs. What about you? Have you changed your views on how you live since having kids?

Kendall is 3 years and nearly 9 months and Leyna is 13 months old

 

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