Gender Reveal Party

My friend is preggers with #3 and instead of having a traditional baby shower, I thought it would be fun to have a gender reveal party for her and her family. We BBQ’d, the kids played, and we enjoyed each other’s company without any cheesy shower games. I found a lot of fun ideas online and went with the “What will it bee?” theme instead of a pink and blue theme. I also didn’t want to make a pink or blue cake to reveal the gender and wanted a way for her two kids to be involved in the big reveal so I made a poster that, when the kids pulled on the string, unrolled to reveal that she is having a boy.

The dessert/treat table with cake, cupcakes, vanilla and chocolate oreos, and yellow and black candies

Drink station

“What will it bee?” banner

Beehive cake with marzipan bees

Everyone had to make their prediction before the big reveal.

The kids ready to pull their strings

Everyone was thrilled with the news. Congratulations Mary and David!

Candy Land Birthday Party

My twins turn 5 this week and we had a small party at home on Friday with a few of their friends. We decided on a Candyland theme. We hand delivered the invitations which had lolli pops attached. At the party, the kids decorated gingerbread men, played the Candyland game, guessed the number of gum drops in a jar, and played musical squares. Everyone went home with a whole bunch of candy and a few other goodies, including a toothbrush and toothpaste. For the cake, I just frosted it, piped the message and some really basic decorations and added bubble gum and gum drop borders and a couple of lollipop on top.

Beach Baby Shower

I threw a beach themed baby shower for one of my good friends last night. I thought the cake would be super easy. I made the surfboards and little flowers ahead of time. All I was going to have to do was bake, frost, and slap on the decorations. Unfortunately, the top layer was lemon with a lemon filling that was very slippery so I had a heck of a time layering and frosting the cake. The whole cake was leaning pretty bad by the time I was done, but it survived. I really had much highter expectations for this one, but everyone else seemed to think it was great so I guess I should be happy with it.

While the cake didn't turn out as cute as I had hoped, I loved the way the party decorations turned out. I made a bunch of them from scrapbook paper and tissue paper. I bought some others on clearance at Wal-Mart. Overall, I spent a relatively small amount on decorations and I am going to use them again next month for Hailey's birthday. I told her she has no choice on the theme.

I have several of these ugly folding chairs that I needed a quick fix for so I bought some beach towels from the dollar bin at Target, fused on some surfboard print fabric, and added a tie to each side to keep them in place.

 This is how they turned out. And I can still use them as beach towels if I want to.

Here's the new mom with the blanket I made for her ADORABLE baby boy.