The Bird-Theme on a Budget Party

Our youngest has a July 30th birthday - can you say mosquito infested HOT yard? An outdoor party was out of the question but I still wanted to have it at home. She was turning two, which meant mostly toddlers and their older siblings over to the house for a short morning play-date type party. I wanted to celebrate her in the theme so I asked myself what does little Jaycie Lynn love? Birds! She's always been fascinated with birds and loves to go in the aviary at the zoo. So I put together this simple bird-themed party for my baby:

First I googled for bird templates, selected one, then printed a bunch on card stock to cut out and make this fun mobile out of:

*We liked this so much it stayed in our living room until we put up the Christmas decorations!

 

 

Then I got some cute little birdhouses at the craft store for $1 each and painted them for decorations:

 

 

On pinterest I found this awesome owl softie and decided to make them as the take-home gift for the kids. They have a rice pack inside them. Pop them in the microwave for 10-20 seconds or so and the are all toasty warm for bedtime cuddling!

I lined them all up on the mantel for extra decorations and then surprised everyone by passing them out as gifts at the end. Fun!

 

I'm no baker but, with some encouragement from my mother-in-law, I decided to try my hand at a homemade birthday cake. It came out WAY more pink than I planned but we rolled with it and baby loved it.

 

 

 

 

A talented friend knitted these up as her gift to Jaycie. Aren't they cute?! If you had knitting talent I reckon you could make up something like this for a bird-theme party to add that hand-made touch.





Simple backyard birthday for age two

We did our first at-home backyard party when my daughter turned two. Simple is really good. We made cupcakes, invited a bunch of toddlers, and pulled toys out into the yard to occupy them all. My husband and his father worked together to build her a sandbox, a really good one. 5x5ft and 12 inches deep, this sucker was no tiny turtle box. So the toddlers played in the yard, played in the sandbox, and played with toys in the house too when the heat became too much for us (her birthday is in late June and we live in the south.) It was really easy and a perfect fit for the age. I'm all about keeping it age-appropriate. At two, you don't need much more than a handful of friends and a sandbox. :)

Daddy gave the littles rides in the wheelbarrow.

 

Here's the birthday girl in a giant inflatable yard toy.

The amazing sandbox that was the hit of the party!

And here is the same girl and same box 3 years later. Of every toy or plaything we have EVER gotten her, this one thing has provided the most hours of creative play and has had the most longevity. In the background to the left you can see the makeshift cover we have for it (hubby's solution for a wife that can't life a heavy cover.) On the right in the background you can see the double sided compost bin Jon made for me (more on that in a future post!)

Backyard Birthday - The Fairy and Gnome Party

Birthdays are supposed to celebrate the child right? So the child in question is my starting point when developing a theme for a birthday celebration. This year my oldest was really into fairies. We'd built all kinds of little fairy houses in the yard with tree blossoms all spring and she had been on countless make believe fairy adventures with little sister in the yard. It seemed only fitting to have a fairy-themed party. I envisioned tutus, glitter, and all things delightfully girly - a perfect reflection of this girly girl. There was one problem though: she wanted to invite boys from her class at school. I had to come up with a way to incorporate the boys, which took some creativity. So, after some thought, our fairy theme became a "fairy-gnome" theme and we came up with some fun for both genders to have.

I admit that this one was the most expensive party we've ever hosted, though it was still way more thrifty than you might imagine. Pulling it off on a small budget (less than $200) with so many details meant a lot of my personal time devoted to crafting, making lots of compromises on my "vision", and using repurposed materials or natural elements obtained for free wherever I could instead of buying stuff. In order to prevent being too overwhelmed I started on it in January, six months before the party. Yes, I said six months. That is a result of being realistic about myself and my other time commitments. I am a stay-at-home mom to a toddler and also go to school full time, so I gave myself PLENTY of time to get the crafting done. I set a goal to complete one or two party elements per month and just boxed them up and set them aside as I went. I borrowed ideas from pinterest left and right, tweaked them, and made them my own creations according to the supplies I had on hand or could afford. The best part of all this crafting was that the birthday girl, who was turning five, was able to do a lot of it with me -and she loved it! We had so much fun making all the stuff and even setting up the party together on the day of. She even said that she wants to set up her birthday parties from now on - awesome! :)

There were bunches of kids (20 maybe?) because many of my daughter's friends had younger siblings, which doubles the guest count automatically. So, to save a little more mullah, we held the party in the mid-morning and provided only punch, water, and cake. I had to let go of feeling like people "expect" a full buffet of snacks and juice boxes for kids and bank on the kids having a lot of fun to make up for it. But you know what? It was fine! I spent significantly less than most people spend for their kid and 10 friends to do the jumpy-place thing and every kid went home with an armful of great favors:

• a costume (tutu, wings, and wand for girls...gnome hat & beard for boys)
• a bag full of "treasures" from the fairy hunt (little glass gems and fairies I made)
• a bag of candy from the pinata
• a set of handmade gnomes with a little mushroom in a bag made from spare fabric I already had
• a fairy house which they decorated themselves
• a little container of "fairy dust" (though most of that was emptied in our yard lol!

Best of all we all had a LOT of fun, the kids got to run wild outside while breathing fresh air and exploring nature, and parents had plenty of opportunity to converse while kids played. So here are some pictures, I hope you like them!

I made wands using this tutorial. Then we tied them around a big tree to create a "wand tree". As our young guests arrived my daughter (pictured) led them to the tree so that they could select one for keeps.

The tutus were simple and added lots of flair for really very little cost. Tulle is cheap and I waited until it was on sale for half price, so it was really cheap. There are tutorials all over the web, you can take your pick, so I'll just say that I tied the tulle to a long ribbon instead of elastic so that they could  be size adjustable. Children chose their own upon arrival and each had a matching set of "wings" which were just a bit of elastic with some coordinating ribbon which could be worn on the arms for free movement. As with the wands, these were for keeps. *In the background you can see also the gnome hats and beards for the boys.

 

I made a bunch of little gnomes and hand-painted little mushrooms to give as the 'official favor' but had extras out for the kids to play with during the party as they wished. It was a BIG hit - especially with the boys, who had fun wedging the gnomes into the bark of the tree haha.

Here is the birthday girl's little sister (age 2) playing with the gnome village. I tried to create a balance between structured play and free play opportunities, since children have varying attention spans.

 

Here I am with birthday girl decorating her fairy house. My husband build 3 of these little tables and benches out of scrap wood and reclaimed lumber (pallets anyone?) and I preset them with the craft before the party so that kids could just engage when they were ready to. The houses were made of inexpensive poster board (you could use cardboard), twigs from the yard, and a bit of paint. I set out straw, moss, leaves, and other bits I gathered up from the yard for the kids to decorate them with.

 

On the left is one of the little fairies I made. They are nothing more than some little wooden bits from the craft store, craft feathers, pipe cleaners, some embroidery thread, and a bit of tulle (scraps from the tutus, waste not want not!) We stuck them to low branches in a little wooded area we have on the other side of our creek, scattered little 'gems' (glass floral beads) all over the place, and sent the kids on a "fairy hunt" to gather up as many as they could. They got to keep whatever they found. On the right is Miss Thang modeling one of the party hats I made using a tutorial I found here.

 

 

Pennant banners are so worth the investment in time. A couple of years ago I made two for my girls' room and we have used them over and over for birthdays, for Easter parties, even for stuff at her school. They are super easy to make and provide a lot of wow factor. This gift table was nothing more than a simple garden work table covered with a sheer drapery that I snagged at goodwill for less than $3. Inexpensive, repurposed, and beautiful - a great combo.

 

Aside from this there were a few details more that made this work. We cut the lawn really short a few days before to reduce mosquitos and we had a supply of repellants onhand with the costumes for arriving guests. We also combed our little wooded area to make sure it was free of poison ivy (if you live in TN and have even a few trees in your yard it is worth your time to learn to identify this plant!) We also dredged the creek for any debris (trash) that might have washed down to our part on the off chance that the kids would get adventurous and desire to go down and explore it. Twelve years in Girl Scouts as a youngster taught me to be prepared :) Also, since the big back yard is kinda far removed from our house we brought a supply of hand sanitizer and wipes down with us for cleaning up at cake time. We had a small first aid kit stashed under the table too - just in case. Taking time to think through the phases of the party and list out items you will need, then having them on-hand, really will serve you well and reduce your hostess stress.

 

Anyway, so that is how we turned our average Nashville backyard into a magical fairy land and made memories for all involved!