Bowling Birthday Party!!

It's been more than a month since we've celebrated

my son's 8th birthday and I am finally getting around

to sharing it with you.

It all started with his idea to have a bowling party.

And my obession of going overboard.

Here's what we did:

These were the invites I created in Publisher. I printed them on White Card Stock and sent them as postcards.

These are the treat bag toppers. I filled the bags with gumballs and Rolo's.

I cut these out and taped them to a wooden skewer. I used this "picks" in the pails of food on the table.

We bought red and blue plastic table clothes to coordinate with the colors in the invite. I used my Cricut to cut out white card stock circles for the black cake plates--they look like bowling balls!

Here you can see the STRIKE picks displayed in the food pails!





I decided to make a Pinata Cake for his birthday because it would be round like a bowling ball. Unfortunately, it looked more like a ghost after I frosted it! I didn't want the kids to have black-stained mouth, tongue and lips by frosting it in black, so I went with the white frosting. Once I put the finger holes of the bowling ball on the cake, I realized it looked more like a ghost than a bowling ball. (didn't help that his birthday is only a few weeks away from Halloween!)

OH WELL!

It was fun watching the boys reaction when I cut into the cake! I stuffed that cake with Skittles, Gummy Bears, Sour Gummy Worms, M-n-M's and candy corn. It turned out great, but the boys were really only interested in the candy!

I'll share the how-to for the Pinata Cake later on!

I'm already working on Hailey's--she wants a sledding party. Not sure what PLAN B is if we don't get enough snow by the time her birthday rolls around at the end of December!.

Here's what we did last year for his 7th Birthday:

Football Party

Do you ever get carried away planning parties for your kids? Share a story with me!



Wahoo!! Crazylou is 1!

Whether you are new here or have been with me all along, I am giving you a big virtual hug today! I am celebrating my one year writing this blog called Crazylou! Thank you so much for sticking with me and supporting me along the way. This blog is a hobby of mine, something I do in my spare time. I love it. It's my creative outlet and way to connect with other creative people. It's been a whirlwind year. I have so many dreams and visions for this blog and I can't wait for them to be realized.

I am working on a birthday surprise for you, but it's not quite perfect yet! BUT...I still have a surprise for you on Monday, so be sure you come back bright and early---this is something you don't want to miss. Seriously.

Happy Birthday to Crazylou! Go out and have a cupcake to celebrate!

Cupcake Wars Birthday Bash

I'm so far behind in posting this up on the blog. My daughter celebrated her birthday at the end of December. How pathetic is it that I am now getting to posting about her awesome birthday? She turned 11 in December and requested a "fun" birthday party. After brainstorming for a bit, I realized that one of our favorite shows to watch together is Cupcake Wars on Food Network. I mentioned my idea to her and she loved it. She wanted the theme to be "One Direction" and wanted the entire party to be a secret to her friends. 

We created a cupcake-shaped birthday invitation. They were made out of scrapbook paper, stickers and rhinestones.I found these via Pinterest, which takes you to this cute blog. Hailey was able to cut and assemble them herself. I created the party information on the computer, printed it off and glued it to the invite.

Next came the preparation and planning for the big day!

• First there would be 2 teams. 
• They would have 2 hours to make and decorate their cupcakes as well as create a stand for their cupcakes. 
• We would set-up two stations--one at the kitchen counter and one at the kitchen table. I decided to put up a large plastic tablecloth to block the teams from seeing each others creations.
• I set-up a table with all the supplies they could use for their cupcakes and their stands. 
• Each team received a basket full of the kitchen supplies they needed to prepare their cupcakes. The basket include bowls, measuring cups and spoons, oil, eggs, cupcake pans, mixing spoons, frosting (homemade by the birthday girl's request), cake mixes and a SECRET INGREDIENT! They needed to work this secret ingredient into at least one batch of the cupcakes in some way. The secret ingredient was Cookie Dough Bites candy. I also gave each team 2 cake boards and 3 used toilet paper rolls for the cupcake stands. 

When all the girls got to the party we had them gather in the basement living room and made the big announcement. Only 2 girls at the party had never seen the show before, so they were going to be on separate teams. Next, we split the girls up to make equal teams. They came up with their team name and then the clock started. Each team was allowed to "ASK THE BAKER" one question. This could be anything! (neither team did!). Because we only have one oven and each team was making 24 cupcakes, each team was allowed to put one cupcake pan in the oven at a time.  I also reminded the girls that they needed to allow time for the cupcakes to cool before frosting them.

The girls worked hard and very well together. One team designated who was doing what, the other team just did everything together. One team used the artistic strength of one of the girls to paint the cupcake stand like the Union Jack Flag which represents One Direction. They were laughing, being silly and really having fun in the kitchen. One team finished with minutes to spare while the other team came down to the final seconds before finishing! It was really exciting. Here are a few snapshots I took during the party:

Next, the girls had to present their cupcake displays and cupcakes to the judges (me, her dad and her brother)(this was a very tough job, I tell ya!). They were being judged on appearance, taste, use of secret ingredient and theme as well as the cupcake stand and kitchen clean-up (very important!!). It was super close. Each team did such a fantastic job, but it came down to the use of the secret ingredient--we liked how the winning team put theirs into the batter versus chopping and sprinkling on top!

 

After the competition, we opened gifts and ate cupcakes! Each girl took home a cupcake, too!

Aren't they such beautiful girls?

 

All-in-all, this was such a fun party to prep and watch! And I think Hailey had a happy birthday celebration too!

Do you do themed birthday parties for your kids?

Cindy

It's a Happy 7th Birthday!

My son is OBSESSED with sports--you name it, he loves it. In fact, he chooses to watch Sports Center on ESPN versus Sponge Bob! What 7 year old does that? He's really into football right now (surprise, surprise--GO BEARS)!

His 7th Birthday was coming up and he wanted the theme to be Football. Done. So when we started planning his party, all he wanted to do at his party was play a football game. But, I couldn't just let them do that, now could I? It took me almost 2 weeks to convince my husband that we should spray paint our backyard and make it look like a real football field. I also convinced him that we needed to make a goal post out of pvc pipe. 

Carson decided on his cake (thanks to some of the PINS I gathered on Pinterest) and agreed  that we needed to do something other than play a football game during the party. We decided we would have a punting contest and a football throwing contest (using that awesome pvc goal post!). He requested a simple menu of hot dogs, chips and Kool-Aid (good enough for me!)
So as party planning was underway, we kept our fingers crossed that the weather would hold out. We've had a dry summer and so far the fall was dry too (Hello--did anyone hear about that drought?). But, as the weekend approached, the rain chances increased.

NO RAIN--WE HAVE LOTS OF BOYS COMING TO PLAY FOOTBALL ON OUR BACKYARD FOOTBALL FIELD! I prayed and prayed for no rain, but we weren't lucky enough. So, onto Plan B...which also meant no football field or goal post. Bummer.

So, what do you do with twelve 7 year olds that were planning on playing football outside? Well, Plan B meant a game of Flick Football (paper football that you flick into a "finger goal post), Pin the Football on the Goalpost, and HOT! Football (like HOT Potato)! (all of these Carson approved of!) But, when it came to party time, all the boys wanted to do was play football...in the house! YIKES! But, they managed to do a good job of not breaking anything! We did get two of the three games in and prizes were awarded! Next, it was time for lunch! Boys. Can. Eat. Then it was time for gifts and before you knew it, cake and ice cream, too! The party was a hit and it seemed like everyone had fun despite the rainy weather conditions! Each boy was sent home with a Football Cup filled with candy, silly straw and football trading cards!

Here are a few pictures from the party:

Carson didn't want anything "written" on the cake, so I made a "Happy 7th Carson" banner and hung it off of two brown and white straws! The goal posts were made from

popsicle sticks, mini chocolates were the players, and we added green sugar to make the field look like grass. Each end zone had to be a Chicago Bears Color.

So glad you stopped in!

Cindy

These boy party ideas were also featured on Spaceships and Laser Beams.

- See more at: http://spaceshipsandlaserbeams.com/blog/2013/02/party-central/boy-party-ideas-add-yours-to-our-linky#sthash.cDEcwr41.dpuf