Bunny Themed Birthday Party - The Big Reveal

Some bunny is {still} 5.

And that was definitely a reason to celebrate.

We decided to throw Grace a bunny themed birthday party.

We had access to 3 bunnies so a bunny themed party with real bunnies could not be resisted.

On a Goodwill budget, the party was decorated using a thrifted desk, a DIY moss covered letter birthday garland, a free salvaged window and some barn wood bunnies.

I also exhausted my Easter Pinterest board for DIY ideas.

The table was filled with bunny themed foods.

I was happy to finally have a reason to make these carrot cupcakes.

And, since bunnies were the theme, a 'become a bunny station' seemed fitting.  The station was stocked with bunny ears and cotton ball bunny tails.

Our guests, Grace's entire preschool class {16 kids}, embraced becoming bunnies, eagerly waiting to be transformed into bunnies themselves.

After sixteen 5 year olds were transformed into bunnies party games ensued.

The first game was a Rabbit Hole Punch box.  'A Casarella has made it impossible for me not to have a punch box now.

Curious if the kids liked it?  Just look at the picture below.  They swarmed me, anxious to have a turn 'punching' and also watching as their friends had a chance to 'punch' and retrieve their prize.

Armed with punch box prizes, we played the bunny hop on repeat as each guest got to be the leader.  Had the Bunny Hop been the only thing we would have done, I think all the kids would have been very happy. 

After 20 minutes of hop, hop, hopping to the bunny hop, pin the tail on the bunny was the next activity.

I quickly realized, 5 year olds are unconcerned about personal space.  It's not nearly as challenging to pin a tail from 6 inches away with a group of kids propelling you forward.

My last game, a bunny version of bozo buckets, was sadly forgotten about and never played. 

After the games, the adorable cardboard house my talented sister made, enticed the little girls.  No detail was spared from the round door with a door knob to the flower boxes filled with pink blossoms.

Inside the cardboard house, was a box filled with dress up clothes where the bunnies transformed themselves into princesses.

The time came to lure our guests into the house.

As I got the cake and ice cream ready, the kids kept busy doing a craft.  It was supposed to be pipe cleaner bunny whiskers but ended up looking more like a spider on a stick with a pink pom pom.

As soon as the cake came out, everything else was forgotten about.  Singing happy birthday and diving into as much sugar as possible became the goal of sixteen 5 year olds.

High on sugar, the party came to an end and I sent sixteen 5 year olds home with bunny party favor bags.

The birthday girl was happy.

And I was left to appreciate the reason for this celebration..

that some bunny turned 5.

Is it too early to start planning 6?

Some Bunny's Having a Party

In case you hadn't already guessed, after seeing our front porch steps, Grace's 5th birthday was a bunny themed birthday party.  

But, it wasn't just any bunny themed party.  Grace's bunny themed party had a sweet vintage feel to it starting with the invitations.

When I stumbled upon gaddie + tood, a blog filled with the sweetest FREE downloadable invitations, thank you cards and tags, I immediately feel in love with this vintage bunny birthday invitation.

I admittedly, do not have the best quality printer so I wasn't surprised to see some of this bunny's lashes smear when I printed them out.

Fortunately, using a white eraser, I was able to remove the black smears.  When the smears were removed, I followed gaddie + tood's tutorial for adding some sparkle to this sweet bunny with glitter!

Then, there was the matter of dressing up the envelopes.

Thank goodness for my Cavallini rubber animal set of stamps  Each envelope also got a bunny stamp.

These cute little invitations hopped their way into the hands of EVERYONE in Grace's preschool class.

And, now, you are also invited to experience Grace's party through the pictures...once I go through and edit down the 600 pictures I took (sigh).

Make sure you hop over and check out the rest of Grace's bunny themed birthday party.

This is Paris.

We were invited to a birthday party for our niece this past weekend. Trying to figure out a thoughtful gift to give, I took into account her parents had their honeymoon in Paris. In a way, it almost seemed like Paris was the start of her own story. With that being said...

We bought the birthday girl, This is Paris, by Miroslav Sasek, a children's travel book.

Each page has a vintage appeal making it seem timeless and classic. You can't help but adore every illustration.

Paris is brought to life right before your eyes with each turn of the page. The quiet and beautiful details depicted in this book are memorizing.

Each page will delight you with something not only charming but interesting.

It's the type of book, that will promote a love of travel in your child and enchant their dreams with the beauty of Paris.

When I stumbled upon this free printable for a paper city of Paris, complete with street lights, Parisians, a patisserie, Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and Arc D'Triomphe, from Made By Joel, I had to include it along with the book.

Hopefully after the birthday girl reads all about Paris, she can act out a story of her own using Made by Joel's paper version of Paris.

We also exchanged some money for euros and included it in her birthday card with a note that reads: Hoping one day you will see Paris with your own eyes. When you make it there, use these euros to buy yourself something that will remind you of what Paris means to you.

Party like Picasso - As Featured on Apartment Therapy

Color, paint and play as we celebrate Grace's 3rd birthday. Arts and crafts was the theme of the party from start to finish. If you are interested in the details, keep reading...

Since the party was a crafting themed party, I focused mainly on our crafting center.

To cover the table, I used 2 rolls of packaging paper, from the dollar store. At each seat, I attempted to draw a frame. Instead of recycling my cans, for a month, I kept them figuring they would make perfect containers for crayons and paint brushes. The table had an assortment of washable (these are 3 and 4 year olds after all) paint, water colors and crayons. At Hobby Lobby I was able to find wooden wands for $1 that the girls painted and $2 wooden trains, with wheels that actually moved, for the boys to paint.

Every artist needs a gallery. I found a simple and AMAZING tutorial here that walks you through the process of converting pictures into coloring book pages. I made one for each artist but definitely had a favorite or two. Thanks Photojojo for walking me through the process!

Party favors are my favorite part of any party. I had so much fun figuring out what our little crafters would take home with them. Fortunately, crafting runs in the family, my mom made all the personalized aprons out of the most adorable crayon material. I spelled each guest's name out of crayons, you can see the tutorial here, and used that as not only a party favor but their gift tag. I also sent them home with 2 extra copies of their coloring book page.

Having focused so much time and energy on the crafting table, our decorations were kept simple (if you read between the lines this translates into 'I ran out of time'). 3s, balloons and tissue paper poms decorated the house and outside, though, it was so hot that by the time the party started most of our balloons popped. We also left out a jar for people to leave birthday wishes for the birthday girl. I love anything that has an element of memory keeping, which is probably why I have over 5,000 pictures of Grace and she's only 3.

Yes, we had one of those parties with a photo booth area. After months of searching for the perfect frame, I found one in my mother in law's basement. It never fails, no matter what obscure item I am looking for, she has it in that basement. Are you looking for something you think is impossible to find, let me know, I'll go check her basement for you!

The frame was suspended using heavy gaged fishing line. Eyelet hooks were added to the ceiling of our porch and back of the picture frame. The fishing line was strung between both the hooks on the ceiling and the hooks in the frame. It did take time to get the frame level and hung straight. If you don't have the time to hang a frame, we also took some pictures holding the picture frame. Hung or held, the pictures taken using the frame were among my favorites. I can see why this is such a popular trend right now.

The theme of the party started with the painter's palette invitations, described in greater detail here. Continuing that theme and inspired by the painter's palette cupcake tray I saw here. Using a jig saw and a piece of scrap wood, we were able to create our own version. For the cupcakes, I started with white store bought icing and added a few drops of food coloring to mimic different shades of paint.

All in all, I would say the party was a success. Memories were made. Great pictures were taken. Most importantly, the kids all had fun. Now to start thinking about what to do for 4.

Chalkboards and Backdrops

Growing up, I was the kid that always wanted to draw on the chalkboard at school. Something about it seemed so grown up and important, maybe even forbidden. SO when I saw this post on Oh dee doh about chalkboards, I knew I had to try it. Using chalk on a sidewalk or driveway is fun but drawing on a giant chalkboard, at least the kid in me thinks, is so much cooler.

I figured it would be the would be a perfect addition to Grace's arts and crafts birthday, not only for the fun element but also because...

1. it would hide our unsightly chain linked fence

and 2. it would hide our neighbor's unkempt yard.

It was so easy. I used some plywood and 2 cans of Rust-Oleum chalkboard paint, 2 coats per board. When they have completely dried, prime the board by rubbing it with chalk and then it's ready to use. I drilled some holes along the top and used zip strips to attach each chalkboard to the fence. After all my hard work, Martha Stewart emailed me her tip of the day, how to make your own chalkboard paint (ironic). I am not sure how well that would have worked but if you'd rather try a DIY, you can find that formula here.

When I saw the finished chalkboards, the kid in me came out, I had to grab some chalk and start writing. Which turned into an impromptu photo session. Rarely does a day pass that I am not begging someone to say 'cheese'.

And since I can't show favoritism. I had to include my other baby as well.

Though, she was anything but a willing participant.