We've been making Valentine's to put into the special Valentine bags hanging on each of the kids chairs in the classroom.
The twins turned 5 on Sunday. 5! I can hardly believe it. Marisol wanted to ride a horse for her birthday (as she does most days). So we decided to have a Cowboy and Cowgirl themed party. Flynn tends to just go with the flow, he generally thinks everything is a great idea ... unless I'm taking him shopping of course, he tends to voice his opinion on that subject.
It didn't take me long to find a location for the party. A quick google search of horse riding in San Diego took me to the Mega Arte Riding Academy. By chance this wonderful place also hosts parties. The party was split into three parts - horse riding, feeding the animals, and then party time. Each portion lasted about an hour.
Before I share a ton of photographs though, here are the precious birthday kids.
Horse Riding
There were three instructors to look after the kids. They took them around the ring, through cones, over small jumps, and some kids even trotted. Flynn thought trotting was hysterical, he couldn't stop laughing as he bounced up and down around the ring.
Animal Feeding
The kids were each given a bucket of food for the animals (which needed to be topped up numerous times throughout our tour - the animals were very well fed). There were pigs, roosters, horses, llama, peacocks, bunnies and goats to feed.
The Party
Activities
I had set up number of activities for the kids.
There were wooden horses to throw hoops over, horseshoe toss, tin cans to knock down, and a playground with swings, a slide and toys to play on.
The wooden horse idea came from Growing Home (which I found via Ohdeedoh). I contacted a friend (who was also a party guest) who's dad loves making things with wood and had him make a couple for me - you can contact them at Nana's Tutu Trunk.
We had the token mustache photo station which is popular at the moment.
I purchased the mustaches from Piccadilly Party Co on Etsy. The frame I found at a thrift shop for $1.99 and I had my husband hang some rope from it. I put the collection of mustaches in a silver bucket along with a bandanna for those wanting to use that in photographs too.
I lined all of the tables with brown paper and set out buckets of crayons for the kids to draw. There was also a bucket of western themed coloring book and crayon packs (that the kids could also take home with him), and we had cookie decorating.
For the cookie decorating I had the Edelweiss Bakery I have been using for years make cowboy cookies for me with plain white icing. I set out an assortment of Wilton Sparkle Gel and Edible Color markers in buckets for the kids to decorate their cowboys.
The Mini Western Activity Kits were purchased from Oriental Trading.
The Food and Drink
The twins are not allowed to have soda, so we decided to go with milk and water for the party. For those who didn't want plain milk or water though I set out containers containing chocolate powder and crystal light to fancy their drinks up a bit.
I found the great idea for the personalized party straws on Pinterest, they were made by On To Baby. I simply took large address labels, folded them (before peeling off the backing), used some mini western themed letters and stamped the names on, then cut a small triangle in the side of each, peeled the backing off and attached them to the straws.
The milk bottles are actually wine carafs I purchased at World Market. I was worried about bugs getting into the milk though so I made little covers for them. I simply cut out a circle of oil cloth, turned it upside down and placed it over the top of the bottle. Then I stitched a thin piece of elastic together to make a circle and slipped it over the top of the oil cloth and bottle. While it was on the bottle I hand-stitched the elastic onto the oil cloth every centimeter or so. Once stitched together I flipped it inside out and put it over the top of the bottle as a lid.
The biodegradable gray and white paper straws were purchased from Amazon.
The drink cups and lids, as well as the containers for the drink mixes were purchased from Smart & Final.
We order Subway for our guests for lunch. Along with that there was plenty of candy, horseshoe shaped cookies, grapes, meringues, cupcakes, popcorn, pretzels, cowboy cookies, and dip with veggies.
The lollipops were purchased from Party City, you can customize your own labels for them.
The adorable farm house candy holders with little silver scoops were purchased from World Market. They were filled with jelly lollies, jelly beans, M&M's and yogurt covered raisins.
The dip and veggie cups were very easy to make. I put a spoonful of hummus, yogurt dip, or tzatziki dip in alternate souffle cups then popped a few green beans, celery sticks and cucumber sticks in each.
The Cupcakes
I made yummy chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing and dunked each into a bowl of chocolate sprinkles. Each cupcake was topped with a horse. I found tubes of horses at Joann's. Most places carried tubes of assorted farm animals so I was ecstatic when I found ones with just horses in them.
There was a very cheeky girl who somehow managed to sneak a second cupcake.
Party Favors
Each guest went home with a handmade hobby horse, cowboy hat and a bandanna on a stick to fill with decorated cookies, a horse from their cupcake, gifts from the 'pass the parcel' game, lollipops, and Mini Western Activity Kits.
The hobby horses ended up being a lot of fun for the kids to play with during the party too.
The Hobby Horses - my husband purchased the pre-cut sticks at Home Depot. The horse heads were made out of socks. I found the idea on Dandee however made a few changes. I used regular buttons for eyes. I used a combination of rope, grommets (found at Beverlys), and canvas straps (similar to what you would use for a bag handle). The mane was made out of Lion Brand Wool-Ease in wheat. I used leftover rope from the hula-hoops to wrap tightly attach the sock onto the stick (along with gorilla glue).
The bandannas on sticks - The sticks were the exact same ones we used for the hobby horses. The bandannas were purchased from Amazon.
The cowboy hats were purchased from Oriental Trading.
Invitations were sent using Punchbowl. They have a lovely horse invitation that has twin horses on it.
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I caught Marisol raiding my stash of ribbons a number of times over the past couple of days. She'd been twirling them and gathering bunches of them in her hands, dragging them all over the house.
So I decided to make a couple of these
I had quite a few wooden dowel rods in my cake decorating kit and the wooden beads were left over from our recent Wood Crafts Kit projects. The ribbon was from my craft room stash.
These are very quick and easy to make. Cut three ribbons in different colors to the same length. Tie them onto the wood dowel rods. Put the end of the rod into the bead, using hot glue to secure it - this will stop the ribbons from sliding off the end of the rod.
Whether it was inside or outside, the kids had so much fun with these today. They made up games such as taking it turns to be the leader when running around in circles; one would lay their ribbons along the floor for the other to jump over, and they would wave them like a flag to start a race.
So if you are looking for a quick and easy craft to do with the kids this summer that will keep them entertained for at least an hour or two at a time, give this a go.
These would also make fabulous party favors.
Instead of celebrating Valentine's Day, the twins preschool are celebrating Friendship Day.
Remember the Friendship Bracelets we made for the girls in the class. Well we made these for the boys.
These are very simple to make. I found the train sand molds at Target. Using the kids crayons I sketched out the picture, scanned it into the computer, added the text, then printed out enough copies for the boys in the class. Then using a couple of Elmer's glue spots, I attached the train to the picture.
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The small packets of crayons I picked up on clearance at Target after Halloween last year for $1.24 for a 20 pack.
Each pack was paired with 3 coloring pages - the FREE printables are available at Make and Takes.
They were tied together with ribbon and scraps of Halloween paper used as gift tags.
But you can do this without the special Halloween crayons. Just tie a few crayons in Halloween colors (green, orange, purple, black, grey, red) to the coloring pages.
These Halloween treats were given to the twins preschool friends.
My tip: Think ahead at the clearance sales after Halloween. What can you use for next year?
AS SEEN ON:
Our twins turned 4 on Saturday. 4!!!! I can hardly believe it.
We celebrated with a Teddy Bear Picnic.
The twins had a marvellous day and were on such a high for the remainder of the weekend.
THE INVITATIONS
Instructions to make these invitations can be found here.
THE PARTY HATS
Instructions to make the Bumble Bee Headbands can be found here. I will be posting instructions for the Teddy Bear Headbands in the next day or two.
A produce box from the market turned upside down, painted and holes punched into it proved to be the perfect way to stand the headbands up.
THE CAKE
I loved how it turned out. I had my head stuck in the refrigerator for a day as I iced it because the house was so warm and I needed to keep it cool, but the kids loved it, and that is all that matters.
DECORATIONS
Decorations were kept fairly simple. There were lots of balloons, red and white check cloths on the ground with matching cushions, plain white table cloths, a handmade banner above the cake table and picnic themed tableware.
THE FOOD
For the kids:
Snack cups: (pictured above) containing cheese sticks, popcorn and pretzels.
Teddy bear sandwiches: assorted whole wheat and white bread cut into the shape of teddy bears. Half were filled with cheese, the other half with nutella.
Assorted snacks: Candy, Sun Chips and Teddy Grahams.
For the adults:
Peach and Brie Quesadillas: Flour tortillas filled with peach and brie slices, with honey on the side for drizzling.
Sausage Rolls: A typical Australian party food - see here (and served with tomato sauce ketchup)
Tea Sandwiches: Assorted whole wheat and white bread filled with roast beef and mango chutney
Salsa and Corn Chips: Homemade corn and black bean salsa with corn chips for scooping.
Produce: A bowl of fresh red and yellow cherry tomatoes and another with peaches.
Beverages:
Lemonade, Chocolate Milk, and bottles of water both large (for adults) and pop-top (for the kids).
As you can see above to help reduce spills, we put out plastic cups with lids and straws.
ENTERTAINMENT
Teddy Bears: It was a Teddy Bear Picnic afterall, so each guest brought their favorite bear with them.
Balloons: we took 2 Balloon Time helium balloon kits with us so my husband was able to blow up balloons on request. We took extra balloons in the party colors and scattered them in a large empty room. The kids loved that.
Photo Boards: Here are the instructions for the Bumble Bee photo board. I sketched and had my son paint a Teddy Bear one the morning of the party too.
Craft Table: Coloring pages and a couple of small craft projects.
Bee Movie: We lay red and white checked cloths and pillows on the grass and played the Bee movie while the kids ate their lunch. It was a big hit. And it was only $5 at Target.
Playground: There was a playground at the location we had hired. Thankfully there was also a large tree to provide shade on what turned out to be one of our hottest days.
Grass area: There was also a large grass area where the kids could run, where we lay out the cloths and pillows for the movie and also where we put out some extra large balls for the kids to kick around. We also had a couple of bumble bee flying toys.
Music: We played Marisol's favorite CD - the one she listens to (almost) daily in her bedroom while she hosts tea parties for her dolls, and that the kids listen to outside when they are splashing in their little pools.
TREAT BAGS
After scouring various stores for a couple of weeks, I came up with quite a collection of bee and bear themed gifts for the kids, ranging from: stuffed toys, jigsaw puzzles, sticker sheets, craft activities, books, and bags of Teddy Grahams to name a few. Each gift was wrapped in paper and tied with yarn and placed in a large picnic basket. As the little guests left they were able to choose a gift from the 'lucky dip'. Bags were also provided to hold gifts, craft projects and headbands and to tie balloons so it would be easier for the kids to take their goodies home.
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Catch My Party ... Bird Crafts ... 10marifet.org ... Everyday Celebrating
To celebrate the last day of pre-school the teachers hosted a pot luck Luau.
My contribution. The cake.
Or should I say cakes. One chocolate, one vanilla and one lemon. So similar, yet so very different. These were made using just the base of the Wilton giant cupcake pan
The party favors I put together for the twins teachers and classmates:
Glass seahorse: hand-fused by Dynasty Gallery, purchased at Monterey Bay Aquarium
Treat boxes from Michaels. Labels printed by me using free clipart from Hscripts.com
Seahorse bath fizzer: from Pier 1 Imports
Treat boxes from Beverly's. Labels printed by me using free clipart from Hscripts.com
Isn't this card divine. I gave one to each of the teacher's. The artwork is by Jocelyn Slack and it's printed on 100% recycled acid-free paper. Purchased at Monterey Bay Aquarium
That is my brother in the photos above with Marisol. She absolutely adores him. As you can tell.
A re-make of the old ball-in-a-cup game.
This is the Spring craft project I made for the twins to give their little preschool friends.
YOU WILL NEED:
HOW TO MAKE:
Cut out the cups from the egg cartons.
You want these to be as large/wide as you can so although most people would cut them down to avoid the holes, use the remainder of the egg carton to cut out pieces and glue them into the gaps, then paint. Note: I did not do this step first as you will see from the photograph. Initially I had a slightly different idea of how I wanted these to look, but changed my mind after making up a few prototypes.
Paint your egg cups. I used a teal paint on the outside and a shiny champagne on the inside.
Knit your surround for the top of the cup: Cast on 28 stitches. Knit 5 rows garter stitch (knit). Cast off. Stitch the ends together and slip it over the egg cup (from the bottom). Attach with hot glue.
Next, make your bird: Cast on 7 stitches. Knit 27 rows garter stitch (knit). Cast off. Stitch the cast on / cast off edges together. Using a large sewing needle (for wool) gather the stitches around one edge and pull tight. Sew a couple of stitches so it doesn't come loose. Turn inside out. Fill with stuffing (not too much), then using the sewing needle gather stitches around the opening and pull tight. Leave a long end. You have a little ball. Now add on your wiggly eyes, cut a small beak from yellow felt and hand-stitch it on with orange thread.
Using the long yarn end and the sewing needle run the yarn back through the center of the bird to the tip of the head, form a few loops (loose stitches), but make sure each one is secure. Run the yarn back down through the center to the bottom.
Keeping the yarn threaded into the sewing needle pierce a hole in the base of the egg cup (nest) and pull the yarn through. Remove the needle and knot the end of the yarn. To ensure it stays in place put a little hot glue over it.
Viola. You are done. All that's left to do is to watch your little ones trying to get their birdie back in its nest.
Seeing as we have just recently moved to a new town and don’t know too many people, I didn’t organize a big birthday bash for the twins this year.
Yes, those who know me personally are gasping in horror right now.
That doesn’t mean that we won’t be celebrating. After all, we had a last week while my parents were visiting from Australia and we will have another one tomorrow on their actual birthday.
Instead I arranged for the kids to have a celebration in their classroom at school.
In keeping with the ‘school’ theme I sent along bags of organic fruit (oranges, apples, pears and peaches) that the teachers cut up after lunch and I made educational gift bags for all of the children in the class to take home.
Each gift bag contained:
And all of this for a little under $2 per gift bag.
On each chipboard book I hand-stamped “My Book” on the cover and then using the twins play-doh cutters as stencils I cut out assorted characters that the children could glue into their book.
Each book kit was put into a lunch bag.
I hope all of the children in their class enjoy the extra art activity that we sent home with them today.
While at the BlogHer conference last week I picked up a little swag. 2 of the items I collected from the Mom Select Swag Suite were these:
These party favors were provided by the wonderful people at My Princess Party To Go. My kids were over the moon when I gave them each their party favor last night.
Check them out for your princess party needs. They seem to carry a lot of really cute princess party items on their site and they are affordable too.
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