Paw Patrol Fourth birthday party

My youngest son recently turned four, and after talking through a few themes, he decided on a Paw Patrol party.

First up was the invitation- I used my Cricut to print and cut the images, as well as my Cricut pens and the CTMH Magical Paper for the background.



When guests arrived, they were invited to colour in a birthday themed Paw Patrol colouring page with some Paw Patrol Crayons, which they got to keep.



This activity was very popular with little hands!



We did not have a lot of decorations this year, but one thing that the birthday boy insisted on were Paw Patrol Balloons.



A party wouldn't be complete without tableware- so we had Paw Patrol napkins, plates and cups for the party guests to use.



The party was held at lunch time, so we had a variety of hot and cold food, with sweet and savoury options. All the food was labelled using these free printables.



We had paw and bone Pup-cakes (made using chocolate and white fondant, plus circle and bone cutters) Paw-sta salad and Paw Patrol cookies.



I served Pup-corn in these cute icecream cups, and we also had Rubble's Chippies, Hot Dogs, Pupperoni Pizza and Chickaletta Nuggets.

The birthday boy approved of everything, especially the cupcakes!



The children ate at a table covered in a green tablecloth and we also had green cutlery to use, as Adam's favourite character is the green dog, Rocky.



After little tummies had been filled, it was time to play a game. I used this giant poster game of sticking the badge on Chase, which brought out the competitive side of the kids!



Of course, you can't have a party without cake! I used more white fondant as well as some bright blue fondant with my circle cutters to create some paw prints over a double layer chocolate sponge cake. I had considered creating all of the Paw Patrol characters out of fondant, but I found these figurines on super special and so decided to use those, as then they could be used again for Adam to play with.



Adam loved his cake!



Happy birthday to our little dynamo- his Paw Patrol party was a great success and we had one tired but happy boy at the end of it.



A huge thank you to Sweet Pea Parties, The Make Company and The Warehouse for the supplies used to create this Paw Patrol party!

Woodland Themed Baby Shower

I am so excited that I am going to be an aunty again soon- my sister is expecting her first baby and I couldn't be happier! I know it is always special when a sibling has a baby, but it makes it even more special for me as she is my twin and we live right around the corner from each other. We are very close and I am expecting lots of new baby snuggles!

I absolutely had to throw her an amazing baby shower. We settled on a woodland theme as my sister is very into neutrals, realistic animals and woodgrain. With the help of three of her friends, my mum and myself, we were able to throw her a baby shower that I loved, and I hope she loved it too.

First up were the invitations. I created these on my Cricut using the Dream Big cartridge. The Kraft and Colonial White blended beautifully to set the theme of the shower.



The inside was written in a variety of fonts using my Cricut pens, with some leaves cut from the Artistry cartridge on my Cricut. I loved being able to put my pens in the machine and let them do all the writing!



When guests arrived, they were greeted by the wooden stumps and pinecones with a big burlap bow, a theme that continued throughout the decor.



My mum made her delicious punch, which I put in glass milk bottles with Woodgrain Straws. We also used some Jute Sheets as table runners on the table, which gave a great rustic feel.



We decorated the sitting area with these Gold and Chocolate Pompoms, which I thought looked like pinecones for our Woodland theme.



We were lucky enough to get some beautiful china to use from Vintage Tea Party- an amazing company that supplies everything you need (including catering if required) for a fancy high tea event. Tea always tastes better from a fancy cup!



I stamped and watercoloured some cards to write wishes for baby and the new parents. I then cut a branch from my garden (well, actually I sent hubby to do that job!) and placed the branch in my mum's white owl vase. The guests then clipped on each wish to the branch to create this pretty focal feature and create a lasting memory for the mum-to-be.



You can't have a baby shower with food! We spread the Jute Sheets over the white table cloth provided by Vintage Tea Party, and also placed logs, pinecones and lilies on the table. The food included cheese rolls ( we are Southern girls after all), mini savouries, fruit and vegetable platters, chicken, cranberry and cream cheese sandwiches, chocolate mousse cups, rocky road, chocolate finger twigs, caramel slice, toadstool cupcakes and fox cookies, as well as a Fox cake.



The chocolate fingers were rolled in white chocolate then either crushed peanuts or pistachios to look like twigs. The toadstool cupcakes were made by a friend of a friend and I made the fox cookies with some standard buttercream icing and this fox cookie cutter. And look at the mousse cups and that amazing fox cake, made by our wonderful friend at Catering in a Box.



I wrapped some Burlap Roll around some glass jars and added a stamped stag head on each one to create containers for the chocolate fingers and the cutlery.



I also created this banner as a decoration for the shower, using up some old scrapbooking paper and placing photos of my sister in various stages of pregnancy along the pennants.



My sister loved the fox cookies as well as all the other little woodland touches.



Here is a close up of the cake- a chocolate mud cake with some amazing fondant work. I heard it was delicious!

The baby shower games we played were fun but simple to organise. We filled a baby bottle with milk bottle lollies and whoever guessed the correct number, or closest to the correct number, won the bottle of lollies.



The Cricut helped to make this game too, where you had to match the baby animal with the correct name. This one stumped a few people, but we had a former vet nurse who won the game!


Another game was that everyone had to create a Playdoh baby, and my sister picked a winner and a "Most Creative Baby' runner up. The prizes were little burlap bags filled with spearmint leaf lollies.



We also played Baby Pictionary using this printable, it was hilarious but I don't have any photos as I was busy handing out the cards.

Isn't she absolutely glowing! I so enjoyed throwing this baby shower for my sister.



My gorgeous sister, I can't wait to meet your little one and I wish you all the best.

Peppa and George 3rd Birthday Party

My son recently celebrated his third birthday, and after suggesting a few themes we finally came to an agreement that he would have a Peppa and George themed party.

We sent out the invitations- this year I did use pre-printed ones as they were just so cute!



As most of our guests were young children, we put out some Peppa Pig masks and colouring sheets to keep them entertained.



We also had some goodie bags with lollipops, Peppa Pig bubbles and a party blower for every child to take home with them after the party.



A 40 piece party pack provided me with the goodie bags, as well as the cups, napkins and plates with a Peppa Pig theme. For the adults I added in pink cutlery, pink plates and pink cups. I placed these all on a navy blue tablecloth for contrast.



We also had a party banner hanging over the food table.



One of my favourite items on the food table were the cupcakes- coconut flavoured and dairy free, with dyed coconut on top to look like grass. You can find the recipe on the 4 Ingredients Facebook Page. The wrappers are toppers were part of a Cupcake Kit, which made the display easy!



Adam gave the cupcakes his seal of approval!



I was a bit sneaky with the biscuits- I used a chocolate cookie dough and then used some Peppa Pig playdoh moulds that Adam received in a magazine to create Peppa and George biscuits.



We also had red and blue Daddy Pig Wobbly Belly Jelly, and fairy bread as Peppa loves fairy bread!



One of the fun food items was muddy puddle pudding- I followed this recipe and they came out wonderfully.



We also had Ham and Cheese pies, and popcorn that was put in some striped icecream cups.



The birthday was ready to eat before the guests arrived- but he managed to wait until everyone had turned up.



I was lucky enough to do a Peppa Pig Cake Topper class at The Make Company, and so had this cute muddy puddle topper and a tree to put on top of the cake. the cake was Rebecca Rabbit's Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese icing.



Adam was thrilled with his cake, and it tasted delicious.



Adam was very happy with his birthday party, and I was too!

The Wild West

Yeehah- it's time to saddle up!

This month, the theme over at Poppins Book Nook is The Wild West.

Living outside of America, we only see the Wild West on television or read about it through books. One of Lucas' favourite stories is "Let's Sing a Lullaby with the Brave Cowboy", mostly because he gets to shriek like this:

This is a book I enjoy reading, as it has a funny storyline and the lullaby is a sweet ditty to sing to the boys at night. The main feature of this book was the cows that helped the cowboy to be brave, and with a twist at the end of the story, this tale is a feel-good read for all ages.

When we talked about the Wild West, my four year old knew about cowboys and cacti. He also mentioned the Wild West scene in the Lego movie!

The first thing we did was some painting using homemade non-toxic puffy paint.



To make the puffy paint, you will need
1/4 cup flour for each colour
water
food colouring
rice bran oil

Whisk the four ingredients together and get ready to paint! This goes puffy as it dries, so it is meant to be a thick, gloopy paint. If it is too thin, add more flour.

We painted a cactus scene printed from the internet, and the boys had great fun colouring the different pictures.



When the paint dries, it becomes puffy!



We also practiced our threading skills by making a cactus out of pipe cleaners and dyed pasta.



To dye the pasta, I simply put 1/2 cup penne pasta in a ziploc bag with 3 teaspoons of green food colouring and 5 teaspoons of white vinegar. After an hour I drained the pasta and spread it out on a plate to dry.

Lucas and Adam wanted to be cowboys themselves, and we talked about the wanted posters we have seen on the Lego Movie in the Wild West Scene and when Bad Cop is searching for Emmett. It was a fun afternoon activity to make our own wanted posters!

Soak some teabags in hot water for an hour, then add some white paper with a sepia photo printed onto it.



The boys discovered their Cowboy names through the Cowboy Name Generator to put on the Wanted posters. The "Wanted" was stamped using one of my stamp sets.



Lucas was Gummy Chuck Huggles! WANTED fer bitin' a bull dog and shavin' a horse.

Adam was Roper "Snuggle Bug" Sweetwater! WANTED fer plain not picking up after himself. (That sounds about right actually!)

The boys got a chuckle out of this, and we put their names and crimes on the posters.

Lunch time had to have a Cowboy theme, and so we had Cowboy Empanadas (bread with a ham and cheese filling), sherriff stars made from ham, some apple slices, Cowboy Crunch (dried cranberries and Cheerios mixed together) and a drink of milk with a cow straw.



Lastly, we had so much fun playing Pin The Moustache on the Cowboy! This was a great game for spatial awereness, taking turns and hand/eye coordination. I purchased this game but you could easily make your own.



We had a lot of fun learning about cacti, cowboys and colours this month with Poppins Book Nook!

Clip art by MelonHeadz.

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