Lego Birthday Party!

Last Saturday was Lucy's lego birthday party!!! I let Lucy decide what invitations we should make. We found the idea here, and I downloaded the lego font here. They were pretty intense, but I love them. Totally worth the effort (especially since I only had to make 6). :)

It was Lucy's idea to write "Everything is awesome" on the back.

Lucy helped me make a lego banner for our living room. It turned out super cute. We had the idea to write "Lucy" on the dots instead of "Lego." Lucy wrote most of them herself. :)

The party was so much fun. First, we let the kids play with the giant castle blocks while we waited for everyone to arrive. They loved building the towers, but they especially loved knocking them down.

Then we let all the kids build cars out of legos, and raced them down the track (putting my old college research poster to good use). ;) They did a great job. It was fun to see the different cars they built.

Next was the lego pinata! All the credit for this goes to Logan. I was about ready to buy one or just put some crepe paper on a cardboard box, but Logan took the time to paper mache it and cover it with crepe paper (using this blog as a reference). I think it turned out amazing!

Next, by Lucy's request, we played pin the head on the mini-fig. I doctored up this printable so the kids could draw their own faces. I think it was my favorite part. So cute!

Next presents, and then decorating cupcakes! We used yellow frosting and had m&ms and licorice to make faces for their little cupcake mini-fig faces. It was fun -- plus who doesn't like decorating their own cupcake?

We also drew different faces on all the places. The kids loved it.

I bought some cute "party block" AKA lego treat bags at Zurchers, and filled them with matching "party block" stickers, lego candy, and these cool lego necklaces. The necklaces were a huge hit! They were the perfect little gift for these kids. Plus, the etsy seller was super accommodating and was willing to give me both pastel "friends" pieces, along with the gears and gauges (she just gave me the 9 necklaces I ordered, with a small bag filled with TONS of extra tiny pieces). I would totally buy these again.

Finally, the cake. Lucy chose everything for the cake. I think it turned out so cute! Plus it was super easy to make! It was a win-win. :) Happy birthday to my wonderful little 5 year old.

Lucy added the lego candy herself.

Monster Birthday Party!

Lucy decided that she wanted a monster party this year! We started off by making some monster invitations (kudos to my Mom for always making incredible party invitations -- I now feel like a party is not complete without them!).

Inspired by this pin

About 1 minute before the party started, I realized I had zero decorations, so I quickly cut out monster eyes and teeth for our door.  I think it turned out pretty cute!

To start off the party, we decorated monster party hats. I hot glued the eyes on the night before. No one likes it when their googly eyes fall off!

We also gave out little monster bracelets. Most of the kids had never seen a slap bracelet before, and they got a huge kick out of the monster grabbing onto their arm. =) I scored the bracelets at the dollar store for half off after Halloween, and then added the googly eyes. We also lucked out with some awesome monster candy on clearance at the dollar store too. There are advantages to throwing a monster party the week after Halloween.
 

After all the guest had arrived and decorated a hat, we went Monster School! We taught the kids how to ROAR and how to hide and then jump out to scare someone. We had a tunnel obstacle course, and then we all RAN as fast as monsters! We didn't get many pictures. It turns out that with 10 kids, Logan and I had our hands full! =)

Next was the pinata! Lucy found about pinatas about 6 months ago, and has been talking about having one ever since. Logan (the best husband ever!) made the pinata and added the yellow "fur." Lucy and I decorated it. It was only three layers of paper mache, so it was easy enough for 4 year olds to break it. Everyone got three turns to hit it before it broke. It was perfect.

Then presents and decorating monster cupcakes. One kid told me, "This is the best party of my entire life!" I think it was a success!

 

Pirate Party!

Okay, okay.  I'm a little slow.  My dear Luz turned 3 in November, and I'm just now posting about it.  Oh, January.  You are so boring that I finally have time to post again!

Let me just say how happy I was that my little girl who was Cinderella for Halloween, wanted to have a pirate party for her birthday!  Yay for little girls who know they can be whatever they want to be! =)

After searching for a cute, not horribly expensive costume, and trying to avoid the awful, awful options they have for girls, I just decided to make her costume.

I modified this pattern to make a reversible red/black pirate vest.
I used this tutorial for the tiered skirt.
I used this tutorial for the red/black striped leggings.

For the sash I just cut a 4"x40" strip -- since it is a knit fabric and won't fray, I didn't worry about hemming it. Super easy. In fact, it was so easy, I made 4 more as party favors for the other kids.

Here are the invites I made.  I printed them out, burned the edges, and rolled them up to look like  pirate maps!

The party itself was a blast! First we had a treasure hunt, which I took absolutely no pictures of. Sigh.

Then we played a "walk the plank" game I found on this website. We had one kid walk the plank, while the other kids pretended to be tickle sharks, and would tickle them as they ran to the safety of the other room. The kids LOVED it. 

Luz walking the plank!

Then we played pin the eye-patch on the pirate. Luz is either super skilled at this game, or could see through the blindfold. =)

Then we all decorated cupcakes.  I got this pirate cupcake kit at Zurchers that had the pirate flags and cupcake wrappers. Super fun.  We used mini reese's peanut butter cups as pirate ships and sour patch kids as the little captain.

Our pirate Luz wanted a castle cake! =) 

Attack the castle!

Happy birthday, my sweet little pirate!