Birthday Breakfast

Today is an important day at our house.  We're celebrating Lily's birthday!  (You can read more about Lily and her birthdays here, here, and here.)  Lily's birthday celebration is traditionally planned by her siblings, Endeaver, Justone, and Superkid.  This year, they wanted to have a special breakfast, and requested a very yummy treat.

I made these chocolate crepes for the first time last week, when we were visiting my sister.  They were such a hit that we all wanted to have them again.  What better day than today? (Recipes are after the pictures, below.)

{Almost Easy} Birthday Cake

We celebrated my belated birthday this weekend.  The Bionic Man and our children were off the hook for cake making, because I needed a good excuse to try out a cake recipe I found.  The original recipe and accompanying gorgeous photographs can be found here.  The original recipe, however, seemed a little tricky to me, so I modified it and came up with a somewhat simpler version of my own.

Pretty, hmmm?  And, admittedly, very tasty, too!  This is how I made it:

The cake layers and frosting were made of some basic ingredients

and a very few not-so-basic ingredients.

A Teeny Tiny Celebration

We celebrated Superkid's 7th birthday yesterday at a party with her friends.  I was so happy with how it turned out; my early preparations turned into a delightful little event.  Want to see?

Our party theme was "teeny-tiny with a touch of fall."  You can view the invitations and the blogs that inspired the theme here.

The Invitations are Out

....now it is time to get crackin' on the rest of the party!

Superkid's seventh birthday is later in October.  We're having a party for her friends early in the month, so that Superkid's birthday won't be overshadowed by her daddy's extensive Halloween decor (among other scheduling issues, too).

During the summer, I saw the posts Lindsey from The Pleated Poppy did on her daughter's Teeny Tiny birthday party, and I immediately knew this would be the perfect theme for Sariah's party.  I did a Google search on "tiny party" and found additional inspiration here and here and here.  So, our party theme obviously isn't original, but I've had fun personalizing it for Sariah's enjoyment and adding a few touches of fall.

I've been using these colorful papers to make some of the decorations and party items.

I'll be making party hats using this template I found and shrunk down to the tiny scale I wanted.

I've been cutting out lots of little triangles, to make teeny-tiny pennant banners to use instead of streamers.

Pretty paper is also being used to cover little water bottles.

The invitations were a cinch to make, and I thought it was a fun touch to put the 2x2 inch invitation card inside progressively larger envelopes.  Just giving the hint of shrinking down to tiny size while the little girls open their invitations.

The real story on these invitations is that I didn't come up with the pennant banner front idea until today....when I was recreating an invite just for this blog post...I feel silly saying it.  What the guests received actually looked more like this before they went into the envelopes. 

 Simple, easy....but the pennant card really is cuter, don't you think?  Oh, well.  Too late, now!

 I was able to fit all the party info inside that tiny card by printing it onto paper, which I folded, accordion style, and glued inside the card.

I had some fun coming up with the wording for the invitation.  (We must use our English degree somehow, mustn't we?)

The invitation reads:

Once there was an itty-bitty baby,

Who grew into a pretty little lady.

We know she can't stay small forever,

She just keeps growing!  However...

....We thought it might be fun to celebrate

Superkid sprouting from small to great

At a little bitty,

                 teensy weensy,

                         skinny-mini,

                                       smally-wally,

                                                                    teeny tiny

                                party! 

(Time, address, RSVP, etc.)

We'll enjoy tiny snacks, tiny treats,

and have a tiny bit of fun

as we celebrate all things tiny

and 

Superkid's 7th Birthday.

Now that the invitations are out, I'm finishing the decorations, and gathering the supplies we'll need for games and fun.  Besides the tiny pennant banners, we'll make things festive with tiny balloons.

At the party, we're going to have a little fun with mini pumpkins and we'll even have a mini marshmallow roast!  I'm going to work on making some really darling party favors this weekend, so I'll post more pics and ideas, soon!

In the meantime, if anyone has seen some great ideas for cute cupcakes (possibly with a fall vibe?), please, please post a comment with a link.  It can't be too complicated, but I'd love to have something fun for the party since I'm not planning on having a big cake at this one.  Thanks!

I'm linking up with:

 

 

Party ON!

Five years ago this week, we moved into our current home. 

Previously, we'd been living on the East Coast, in Connecticut.  Did you know that Connecticut has more millionaires per square mile than any other state?  Yep.  We weren't millionaires.  So we moved.

To Indiana.  Did you know that the cost of housing in Indiana is less per square foot than almost any other state?  Yep.  We moved into a home 3 times the size of the one we sold in Connecticut, for almost the same price.  Crazy!

Back when we lived in a tiny cottage in Connecticut, there just wasn't a lot of room for entertaining.  Oh, we still invited people over....but unless we could be outside, more than four or five additional people in the house made if more like a can of sardines than a party.  But, we had wonderful friends who didn't seem to mind.

One of those friends, LeeAnn, had a fabulous house and yard.  She and her husband, Rob, completely renovated an old farmhouse, and it was amazing.  Unfortunately, I have no pictures.  (LeeAnn?  Are you out there?  Send me some pictures of your house so I can post them on the blog, 'kay?)  One of the great things about LeeAnn and Rob was their willingness to share what they had with others.  And we loved the way they shared their house every Fourth of July!

from Martha Stewart

LeeAnn and Rob threw the party to end all parties every Fourth of July.  They opened the doors to their house, set up party tents and games and groaning tables of food, and invited everyone they knew to come join the festivities.  We all brought along side dishes and desserts (my mouth still waters when I think of the delectable fruit tarts Lauren brought one year) and our children and bug spray and celebrated like only Americans can.  At dark, Rob would begin what seemed like an endless display of fireworks.  Oh, it was so much fun!

When the Bionic Man and I realized our move to the Midwest was going to bring us a much larger house and a much flatter yard than we had owned in Connecticut, we made a decision.  We decided that we were going to follow the example set by our friends, and share our house with others as often as we could.  While I can't claim my friend LeeAnn's talents for event planning (she does weddings, remember?), I do like to throw a party!  It gives me motivation to clean and de-junk beforehand, and I just love seeing everyone have a good time at my house.  I also derive a lot of pleasure from casually telling my mother that I'm cooking for eighty--possibly because I wasn't exactly known, growing up, for my domestic abilities.

Anyway, the Fourth of July is now the anniversary of our family's arrival in Indiana.  On our first Indiana anniversary, we followed LeeAnn and Rob's lead and began our own tradition of celebrating Independence Day with everyone we know in our backyard.  Only, somehow, we ended up doing it on the third of July, and we've never looked back--the third of July is our big day, thank you very much, don't schedule anything else!  Another part of the tradition is that the women bring potluck side dishes and desserts, and the men bring potluck fireworks.  We set up games and turn our playscape into a waterpark.  The kids get wet, the adults get full of yummy food, and everyone enjoys hours of fireworks after dark.

Admittedly, after the first two successful backyard parties, we had to take a couple of years off.  First, Lily was in the hospital, then last year we spent all of July with our families in Utah.  We got a lot of, um, feedback from former guests, however, and made the Backyard Extravaganza a priority, this year.  Seriously, folks, we put off a family vacation for this:

So, now that I consider myself a seasoned veteran of three annual backyard extravaganzas, it is my duty as an American and as a Blogger to share with you my party planning tips.

A Few Handy Tips for Throwing a Really Big Party

1.  I recommend mailing invitations.  Despite the rising cost of postage, this will save your sanity in the long run.  While I love the convenience of invitations via e-mail, e-vites have caused me headaches in the past.  Sending out invitations in a mass emailing (i.e., more than 10 addresses) means that inevitably, someone's system will mark the invitation of spam, someone's email address has changed, someone's computer has crashed, and someone else never checks their email.  Someone won't get their invitation, and will be offended when they find out that you had a party and THEY didn't get invited.  In many respects, the US Postal service is still more reliable than email.

2.  Invitations needn't be expensive or complicated or handmade.  I whipped out this year's invitation using Picnik.com.  Yay for Picnik!  I created my collage, downloaded the file to Walgreens Photo (where I happened to have some free 4x6 prints waiting) and had them printed off.  I think I paid a whopping 80 cents for my stack of 36 invitations.  I slipped each picture into an envelope, stamped and addressed them, and dropped them in the mail.  Easy peasy.

3.  State expectations (if any) for your guests on the invitations.  If you only want adults at the party and all your friends have children, let them know that they should get a babysitter.  If you want them to contribute to the meal, let them know.  In my case, I simply do not have enough lawn chairs to seat eighty people, nor do I have enough towels available to dry off fifty children.  So I politely reminded my guests to bring towels and lawn chairs.  One year, I didn't mention towels on my invitation.  Let's just say I had a lot of laundry to do the next day.

4.  Throw a party that is within your means.  When we plan a party, the Bionic Man and I set a budget.  We set that budget before we plan the guest list and send out invitations.  I suggest that you be very realistic about this.  What are you going to feel the need to repair or refresh or repaint around your home or yard before the party?  If you can think of something, then you better include that in your budget!  Things can really add up.  

The phrase "within your means" doesn't just apply to money.  What are your "means" for accommodating guests?  If it is going to stress you out to have a large number of people inside your house, then find an alternative: the backyard, the neighborhood clubhouse, a nearby church gymnasium.  Many churches are willing to allow families and groups to use their facilities, for no or low cost.  


5.  The most important thing about the food you serve is that there is enough for everybody.  My experience has been that the majority of party goers are just really grateful that they didn't have to cook for their families that night.  If cooking for days beforehand is your thing, great!  Enjoy!  If not, simplify your menu.  As you can see, this year we had hotdogs, along with a variety of condiments and toppings.  The first year of the party, I served tacos, another easily prepped food.  When I threw this same party three years ago, I was extremely pregnant and not up to doing much.  I moved the start time to 7 P.M. and asked people to share snacks and dessert--no dinner was served.  

6.  If you are inviting children to the party, it helps to be prepared for them.  We are lucky to have such a big, open backyard.  This year, I printed out signs to label each activity area (water balloon toss, water slides, sky ball, croquet, etc.), attached them to stakes, and had the Bionic Man put them in various spots of the yard, along with the accompanying equipment.  The kids were able to run around the yard, within sight of the adults, and enjoy the games and activities.  We only had one organized activity for the kiddos, a scavenger hunt--which was wildly popular.  

Well, the party is over and we had so much fun, this year!  I'm really grateful for the example I've had over the years--not just from LeeAnn and Rob--from so many friends who have thrown open their doors and gates and welcomed us into their homes.  I love having the opportunity to make others welcome in my own home.

Happy July, everyone!