Tag: party ideas

Best Birthday Party

Musings on Life and Beauty

Earlier this week I blogged about my sweet 8 year old’s birthday party.  It was the most enjoyable party I’ve ever given,  so I thought I’d share what we did.  For any of you out there who have girls in the 8, 9 or even 10 year old range, I highly recommend it.  I don’t think that a girl needs to like dolls to enjoy this activity, either, although an affinity for American Girl dolls doesn’t hurt!


It’s the Samantha Mystery Party Game, made by American Girl.  It takes an American Girl character, surrounds her with friends and gives them a problem to solve.  The story is made into a script, and your daughter and her friends each take a role.  You assign them their part in their invitation so they can come to the party dressed as their character.


The game comes with 8 invitations, 8 role cards, 8 scripts, clues to hide and a parent’s guide that tells you everything you need to know and do in order for the mystery to play out.  From start to finish, it was simple and easy to do.  It took us only minutes to prepare the invitations.  All of the girls were so excited to come, and several of their moms commented to me on how curious their daughters (and sisters) were.


On the day of the party, I got the house and clues ready.  When all the girls arrived, I gave them simple instructions, passed out name tags (which also came with the supplies) and gave them each a script.  They spent the next hour reading, prompting each other and acting out the play.  I spent that entire hour with a big grin on my face as I watched these darling girls read their lines, trying to infuse them with the right emotion.  Most of them read their lines well, but occasionally when there was a new word or if someone was shaky they came to each other’s rescue in a way that made my heart swell with gratitude for the sweetness of 7 and 8 year old girls.


Most of the action took place around the dining room table, but some clues had to be found in other rooms.  One of the clues had a morse code message that they had to decipher.   The mystery took  about an hour to complete.  It was a huge success.  All of them had a great time and each of them asked if they could take their script home with them after the party.


Unfortunately, American Girl no longer makes these Mystery Party Games.  They were made in 2005.  I found mine on ebay.  A Mystery Party Game was also made for the American Girls Kit and Molly.  After reading the simple description of all three, we settled on Samantha and I’m happy with that choice.  It was perfect for an 8 year old girl’s birthday party.  I’m seriously considering purchasing a second one to save for a few years down the road.  After all, my 8 year old has three younger sisters!  My older two daughters were also talking about how much fun it would be to each invite a couple of friends over on a rainy day and solve one of the mysteries for fun.

And now, just because the sweetness of each little face bent over a script was too much for me, I’ll finish this post with a photo of each of our guests that day.




















Absolutely adorable!

Jennifer

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Graduation Cupcakes

Parties

As a dessert for this party and keeping with this theme , I had an idea for some BYU cupcakes.  It turned out to be inexpensive, creative, and added the final touch to our party.


I used some dark blue candy melts, a Wilton squeeze bottle and a sheet of “Y” letters I printed on my computer.


I placed the printed Y’s on a cookie sheet and put a piece of parchment paper over it.  I then melted the candy in hot water and began tracing the Y’s.  I just moved my pattern around underneath the parchment paper until it was filled.


We let them harden overnight, baked some cupcakes and whipped up a fairly stiff buttercream icing.  I simply piped the frosting onto the centers of the cupcakes and we stuck the Y’s in the center.  TaDa!


For the kitchen table centerpiece, we lined up my cupcake stands and put a cupcake on each one.


We all had a lot of fun with these.  Everyone enjoyed trying their hand at making some Y’s.  As we did it, I thought how versatile these cupcake toppers are.  You could make numbers for a birthday party, monograms for a birthday gift, or even photocopy and trace logos for schools or other organizations.  These treats were SO much fun to make, now I’m looking for an excuse to make more!


I hope you’ll try them!
Hopeful Homemaker Linked to The Inspired Room

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Graduation Party

Decorating, Musings on Life and Beauty, Parties

For last week’s graduation/birthday party, we used a few small touches to make the atmosphere festive.  I want to share what we did because it was so simple and inexpensive.

To see the idea that sparked a party theme done in BYU school colors, click here .

In addition to that, we added a few more things for a great blue and white party.  We opted for a simple menu:  shredded barbecue beef sandwiches, veggies and dip, fruit and dip, chips.  To dress it up we lined the kitchen counter with blue and white table runners and served the food in beautiful dishes.


I used this idea to whip up a bunch of blue and white napkin rings out of a $1.50 spool of ribbon.  This project literally took less than 10 minutes.


I found some blue and white York peppermint candies to add color.  You could get m&m’s in any school color combination.


In the dining room I used a blue and white tablecloth, then took a little walk around the house looking for a few blue or white things.  I came up with a blue ice bucket, filled it with stars, and added a couple of little chalkboard garden markers to write messages on.  (We scored the garden markers at my local craft store for $1.24 each.  They’ll be put to good use!)  I remembered my silver “baby” letters and put the Y to use on its own.


My awesome Mom bought some pretty white flowers which we put in a white enamel pitcher with a blue and white striped ribbon tied around it.   In front of that, another silver Y that I picked up somewhere on clearance forever ago.


Again, I used one of the chalkboard markers I’d scored the day before.  I just stuck it in the pitcher full of flowers.  I especially like how this looked.  I’ll be doing it again in the future.  This completed the vignette on the end of the kitchen counter.


My next post will be about the fun we had with a simple dessert.

The decorating was fun, but the quote I always try to remember when I’m entertaining is this:
“It’s not what’s on the plates that matters.  It’s what’s on the chairs.”

So, here are a few pictures of the MOST IMPORTANT things in my house that day.

First, our guests of honor, my brother and his beautiful wife.   This brother of mine is pretty amazing.  He’s never had a hard time remembering that people are what matter most.  I want to be more like him.


My brother blowing out candles on a blazing cupcake:


My parents, working too hard in the kitchen (as usual).


My brother, my sister, her husband and some of the children.


My almost teen-aged son who rarely lets me take pictures of him.


One of my brothers (who I don’t see nearly enough).  He is one of the nicest, most forgiving people I know.


My youngest sister, who is also one of my best friends.


Lastly,the babies, getting to know one another.


Thanks to everyone who came and provided so much fun for us, especially my parents who traveled from Denver to be here.  And congratulations, again, to the graduates!  What a great accomplishment!

Jennifer

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