Woodland Themed Baby Shower

When asked to help plan my sister's baby shower, I was so happy to have a party to plan. I absolutely LOVE themes, being creative, and doing as much of the prep without purchasing already-made supplies. I love to find odds and ends and use them to adjust my vision, sticking with the theme, but taking it to a place a bit off from where I began.

My sister was having a boy and she loves the outdoor, so the woodland creature theme seemed perfect. This theme was simple, easy to accomplish, yet so fun to be creative. I enlisted my boys to go on a nature walk, where they helped me gather pine-cones, which we used as table decor. They also scoured their plastic animal toys, as well as their stuffies, to find any that live in the forest. The boys loved helping me and I love that they spent over an hour sorting animals by habitat. Party planning and learning at the same time!

We started by decorating the rustic cake with some of the plastic animals, and placed it on a piece of a stump that my mama found, surrounded by silk leaves. It turned out so cute! We wanted to continue the theme throughout the table, so we put the pine-cones and a stuffed raccoon on the table as well. As for the other snacks, my mom made a super cute watermelon porcupine and I made donut-hole hedgehogs and Nutter Butter acorns.

This was a wonderful day of celebration for the beautiful boy who had, on his own time, had already joined our family. Everyone enjoyed the snacks, visiting with one another, and of course, snuggling the little guy.

Percy Jackson Themed Birthday Party

When my soon-to-be 6 year old requested a Percy Jackson themed birthday party, I was beyond excited. I absolutely love that he is so fond of reading that he chose a theme that is beyond his usual age group and not a typical party theme. I also love a party-planning challenge.....and boy, was this a challenge!

We started off by creating themed birthday party invites which, thanks to raising a "friend to all" type of kiddo (We are SO proud), went out to each and every child in his kindergarten class. We found a template, filled in our specific information, cut the edges off, and then rolled them and tied them up. Parents and children alike loved them!

When the big day finally arrived, we welcomed guests with a "Camp Half Blood" banner and a pouch of drachma (demigod money, really chocolate coins). Each demigod was given foam swords and shields, that my husband made out of dollar store pizza pans and Velcro strips, to defend the camp.

The house was also filled with yummy camp/god themed treats, including s'mores brownies, Zeus Jello parfaits, ambrosia (a half-blood healing food) and all the blue snacks we could find. Blue birthday snacks was a big theme throughout the Percy Jackson series. His mama always made him/gave him something blue and tasty for his birthday.

Finally, the big hurrah! The cupcake decorated for each of the three main gods of Olympus: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades.

This was one of my favorite party themes and my boy loved every minute of it. I heard nothing but compliments for kiddos and their parents alike. Although it was difficult to track down ideas for this theme, the outcome was better than I could imagine.

I'm pretty proud of this one.