Pink Saturday's 1st Birthday!

I'm busy getting ready for the big celebration!
Everyone gets a giftie!

A toast to Beverly!

Happy 1st Birthday Pink Saturday!

Wishing you many, many more!

All pictures from Country Living

Memories of Birthdays Past

On Thursday June 4th, my youngest son will turn 11. I have been looking at photos of birthdays past and thought I would share his 9th birthday party. We had a mini golf party at home.

I made the custom banner by cutting triangles with pinking shears and attaching all of them with double seam binding. I made a carnation golf ball topiary for the centerpiece and had a Golfer Check-in table. When the guests arrived, they got a blue golf hat and signed a scrapbook page. They also had to guess how many tees were in the jar.

I hired Putt-2-Go to set up a 5 hole course in my backyard. They bring the course, clubs and even engraved trophies! The guests went around 3 times plus 3 holes (to equal 18 holes). I had trophies for first and second place. For the highest score (last place) I gave the "winner" a plastic golf set so they could practice. All of the guests received golf medals.

I made the cupcakes and flags for the pins out of scrapbook paper. I attached the flags to skewers and the cupcakes sat on raw sugar to look like a sand trap. I wish I could have found mini chocolate golf balls to put on the top of the cupcakes.

I can't wait to show you what I have been working on for his party next Saturday!

She did it again!

Amy Atlas is so amazing! She owns a company in New York that puts on the most amazing dessert bars!
Maybe I'll have these at my next backyard movie!

Go check out all of her "eye candy".

(sorry...couldn't resist!)

Intimate Tea

On Friday morning, my friends, Suzanne and Belinda hosted a tea. I am part of a tea group called "Table for 8". It was founded by my friend Natalie about 4 years ago but 2 years ago she moved to Texas and I have taken over as "leader" of the group. We get together about once a month or more if our schedules permit. Someone will host a tea at their home or arrange reservations at a tea room.
So the tea on Friday had a little twist. Suzanne and Belinda put together some games so we could get to know each other better. Some of us have known each other longer than others but it was fun to know some intimate facts about each other.

The first game was "Middle Name". We wrote down our middle names on a scrap piece of paper and dropped them in a basket. Belinda pulled out each name and we had to guess whom it belonged to. This was hilarious! Then we described how our parents came up with our names. Sandy revealed she was named after a "bitchy but pretty red-headed neighbor" and Debbie was named after Debbie Reynolds because her dad had a crush on the actress.


The next game was 2 Truths, 1 Lie. We wrote down on cards 2 truths and 1 lie about ourselves and others had to guess which one was the lie. OH MY! Some of the reactions were priceless!

After the games, we had a lovely lunch on Suzanne's back patio . Belinda made a wonderful quiche with gruyere cheese, sausage, bacon and a cinnamon bread crust. The salad had a yummy lemon dressing and grilled eggplant. I made some cupcakes to celebrate Suzie's upcoming birthday.

Now we love each other even more!

Try some of these games with your friends.

Ice Cream Social

On Wednesday night, I hosted a Court of Awards for my Brownie troop.

I served an ice cream sundae bar and I carried the theme to their bags that held all of their badges and patches.
A few weeks ago, Tangarang posted a free template for an ice cream cone. I cut the the cone to make it flat for the name tags for the bags and then I used them 3-D for the decor on the chandlier.

The kids had a great time creating their own masterpieces.

After I passed out the awards, we watched a DVD on the big screen of the past year's activities. The scouts each got a copy of the DVD to take home.

They will start their 3rd and final year of Brownies in August.

Backyard Movie Part II

On Saturday night, we had our Opening

Night of our Backyard Summer Movie series. I love to decorate the table to match the theme of the movie (duh!).

Since we showed "Night at the Museum", I had it set up like a museum.

I made cards to identify all of the important items. Here is a reference to the movie.
The Easter Island head calls Larry, the security guard, Dum Dum and wants him to bring him Gum Gum.

I even identified the s'mores.

These are some Spanish doubloons I had for my Pirate party.

Sheridan handed out tickets to everyone who came.
Guests also received glow-in-the-dark bracelets. I got a whole pack for $1 at Michael's.

Chasen welcomed them at the door and said "Welcome to our 3rd annual movie series. Enjoy your movie". He came up with that on his own! So cute!

A few hours before guests were to arrive, I checked the DVD box and the movie was MISSING! I had to run to WalMart to get another copy. There was one left!

I also picked up an outfit for Matthew to wear. He agreed to be the "security guard" for the night!

Everyone enjoyed toasting the marshmallows.
and making s'mores.

This year, we asked for pantry donations for the Hunger Defense Fund. For every item you bring, we give you a raffle ticket to win a box of GIANT candy! It was a big hit!

Everyone had such a great time! Our next screening is May 29 and we will be showing "Sense & Sensibility".

Pink Playhouse Saturday

On Mother's Day, Sheridan and I cleaned out her playhouse. After months of neglect, there was a lot of work to be done. We had to sort the dishes from the food and stack all of the tea sets.

We washed the floor and I re-painted her ladder and loft.

She was so excited to have a clean house...

she woke up on Monday morning at 5:30 am.
She went outside to her playhouse to make me "breakfast".
At 6:00 am, she stood over me while I was lying in bed and woke me up to invite me to her house for breakfast.

She served waffles, eggs sunny side up, croissant and tea. We had such a wonderful time. It was a wonderful start to a long week.

Next week, I'm making some curtains for the windows.


Happy Pink Saturday!



Thanks again to the wonderful Beverly at How Sweet the Sound for hosting this amazing event week after week!

Backyard Movie Part I

It's THAT time of year again! 2 years ago, I had the idea to have movies screened in my backyard. I borrowed a projector, screen and speakers from a neighbor. I did this about 3 times and the both of us got pretty tired of schlepping everything back and forth. So last year, I bit the bullet and bought my own set-up.
This year I made up a whole new movie schedule (after sending out an email poll!)
Our first movie is this Saturday night and we are screening "Night at the Museum" to coincide with the second movie opening next Friday. Of course, I have to have a table to match the theme of the movie so I looked around my house to find "museum" pieces.
I decided the giant diamond I used for my friend's Breakfast at Tiffany's party would make a great Hope Diamond! I did a little research and found out that it is a blue diamond. I just happen to have a submersible light from Matt's grad party 2 years ago and placed it under a tissue filled square vase turned upside-down.
I also made "museum" labels for the items. Here is a replica of a dinosaur tooth from Chasen's 4th birthday---7 YEARS AGO!

I save everything!

We serve fixin's for S'Mores and toast the marshmallows in our fire pit prior to the movie.
Guests bring their own blankets and pillows and lay them on the grass to watch the flick.
I have 12 movies scheduled throughout the summer.

I will have more pictures this weekend!

P.S.- If you are in the Los Angeles area, please stop by!

Alice Sneak Peek

It's starting to come together! Monday was a publishing deadline and I'm not quite finished with all of my painting for my newest party theme -Alice in Wonderland.

I had planned a huge photo shoot with 6 kids and my entire party set up, flamingo croquet and kids in costume but since I had a deadline, I scaled it down.
This is my dear little friend, Kylee. She just turned 6 last week and I think she makes the perfect Alice!

She had just finished a long, hard day at Kindergarten, but she agreed to do some modeling for me. Of course, I did buy her lunch at McDonald's and we ate it in my daughter's playhouse. I really know how to treat my employees well!

The whole shoot took about 10 minutes. Kylee was a great model.

I told her about my plans for the BIG photo shoot and maybe we could have it on Sunday
but I had a Princess party to host as well that day.

"You can do it" she reassured me. "Am I coming to the Princess party, too?"

What a sweet potato!

The first picture is what I am using for the ad.

I'll let you know how it turns out!