It’s that time of year again, when I fire up the blog for entirely self-serving purposes! My youngest turned THREE today (forgive me, I’ll just be over here sobbing). So in an effort to cheer myself up, I’m pretending people read my blog and that you’ll find as much joy in Milly’s art pARTy as we did!
It is no secret I love planning parties, but planning kid’s birthday parties is the one of my favorite creative outlets! That said, the older they get, (Read: the more good ideas I’ve used for previous parties) the more challenging it becomes. I have a bad habit of needing to top the previous party, and coupled with the fact that my children have started to have their own ideas about the theme, guest list, etc., its getting really hard!
I know I live in the age of the e-vite, but I cant’ help myself when it comes to sending physical invitations. I love the idea of sending a surprise in the mail, and what better surprise than some delicious treats from Bluesky Bakeshop!?! I went to pastry school with the owner, Katie, and she always blows my mind with her ability to nail my ideas.
Now, as a side note, if you’re suddenly dreaming up your own custom cookie creations from Bluesky Bakeshop, don’t wait too long! Like seriously, her schedule fills up months in advance! I’d say she’s Cincinnati’s best kept secret, but people obviously know about her! Just who are these people planning even further ahead than me? I need to meet them, I bet they are full of great ideas I haven’t used yet! 😉
For the actual invitation, I attached a small circular tag that opened to reveal the party details. I designed the tag in Pages (apple’s version of Microsoft Word) and printed it at Kinkos. Not the best quality, but CHEAP and you know every party purchase has to get approval from the budget man! I used my Cricut machine to cut out the shapes and holes. After several invitations, some diy projects, and an Etsy shop I “owned” for about 5 minutes, I think its safe to say my Cricut machine has paid for itself
This year’s cake was super simple, so simple I surprised myself by knocking it out it one nap time! Don’t roll your eyes. If you can make a snake with play dough, then this cake is in your wheelhouse. I feel like I shouldn’t let this secret out, but my kid’s cakes are always Duncan Hines. Yes, I went to pastry school and I know how to make a cake from scratch, but why bother when everyone raves about my boxed cake? I do make my buttercream from scratch, and as a frosting lover, I believe that is where the magic is! Sticking with the art theme, I used fondant and buttercream to create a paint pallet & brush and hid five layers of rainbow colored cake inside.
I don’t know if this is a parenting hack or just laziness, but I never make enough cake for everyone! I don’t really like cake and the bigger the cake the more work to decorate it. I make a small cake to ensure my kids get to blow out a candle and we cut tiny slivers for anyone that wants some. Its never been a problem since I make sure to provide other treats I don’t have to decorate! My absolute favorite craft this year is my new ice cream freezer. The freezer is old, but her makeover and sudden blind devotion to housing only delicious frozen treats, is new! I didn’t get a picture of her, and she is now sitting in the gross unfinished part of my basement so I won’t be getting one, but $14 worth of fabric and a glue gun and the ‘ol girl has new life!
This year’s other DIY projects included giving some Ikea Mala Easels a face lift with a little paint, decoupage, and some Rifle Paper Co. wrapping paper from Poeme. I also repurposed last year’s “sprinkles” on our cornhole boards by turning them into paint brushes. – Next year’s theme will be completely dependent on what I can turn paintbrushes into! 🤔
One of my party priorities is to always give a meaningful favor. I love having original ideas, but I just can’t top the turkish towel. They are so cute, they dry really fast, and they are so easy to pack for the beach or pool. We now have a growing collection from the past three years and I love that we always refer to them as “party towels”. I simply can’t use the towels without remembering where it came from and that makes me happy! One of my favorite details was Crosley’s last minute selection of these plastic glasses from Target. All the kids look so stinking cute and my children haven’t taken them off since!
With no more babies in the house, this might be the last birthday party I get to pick the theme, so before every party is Paw Patrol, I had to give my little artist this bright and cheerful Art Party. I searched high and low for the right outfit for Milly and when I found this ric rac suit, I knew it was perfect!
For this year’s themed activity, each tiny party goer got their very own 16×20 canvas to paint. I was pretty sure most of them would end up entirely brown, but thanks to these painting cups that come with a brush for each color, our little guests made some pretty impressive works of art! These budding Picassos are obviously adorable . . . but would they have been as clean without these $3 child sized aprons? Thanks to my insomnia and Amazon, the world will never know!
Water slides, painting, rainbow sprinklers, and a freezer entirely devoted to ice cream . . . there was something for everyone! Thank you so much to everyone who came to celebrate our Milly girl. Watching these second generation friendships bloom is the best!
A huge shout out to my husband who, yet again, agreed to go along with my ideas, endured my to do list nagging, and spent the day performing manual labor from sun up to well after sundown. Next year, this blog post will include a time lapse video so you can laugh as two fools scurry around like ants!
I hope its not a sign of age, but days later, my body still aches. Despite the wasp sting, bruises, and total exhaustion, I would do it all again tomorrow. A round of “Happy Birthday” and a hug is probably all Milly really needed to celebrate her birthday, but I will only have the power to make magic for her for so long. One day my kids won’t want to party with me (or so I’m told), so I’m going to make the most of every celebration with them!
Milly, Mills, Mil Mil, Milly Bean, Pickle, Pickle Beans, Beans, Milly Girl – you are just the best! You have so much personality and spirit and I know you are destined for great things. From the moment you arrived, you have been a strong willed and independent spitfire. You do things at your own pace and you have your own well defined ideas about most things. No one asked me before you got here, but that determination and self confidence is exactly what I would have picked for you.
You have finally gotten in touch with your sweet side, and like your brother, you now shower me with hugs, kisses and serenade me with “I love yous” and “You’re beautifuls”. You insist on holding my hand from the backseat while I drive, you refuse to wear shoes when I pick you up from school, and we can’t have dinner until you are “sitting twinsies”. You like to wear your hair in “pony rides” to school and I have no plans to correct you anytime soon. You also call your “belly button” your “belly butts” and I am not helping to fix that one either!
Emmaline Alexander, you are just the best and we love you so much! All the ways I could measure my love for you are cliché, and all of the clichés don’t do justice to just how much we love you! Happy birthday Milly girl!
