birthday

{birthday, my real life} goodie bags for school

January 20, 2012 Leave a Comment

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And since I seem to be in the birthday state of mind…here’s a shot of the birthday goodie bags I sent to school with the youngest. Her birthday is 5 days before Christmas. Usually we aren’t in school, but this year we were and since she wasn’t having a party (she got her ears pierced and a special dinner out), she wanted to take goodies to the kids in her class. I raided the junk aisle (ahem, party favor aisle) at Walmart and found these green paper bags at Michael’s. I made little tags with the cutest graphic from Kate Hadfield (I worked with her on the popcorn toppers, remember?).

I filled the bags with goodies, folded a piece of ribbon over the top, and stapled. Then I added the circles I made with a pop dot. It seriously took me about 15 minutes to make 22 of these. quick, easy, cute. This is officially my new way of wrapping bags!

Filed Under: Birthday, Brown Baggin' It, Do Me a Favor, Gift It, My Real Life, Paper Bags...It's in the Bag, Teacher/School Tagged With: birthday, favors, gift, party, party favor, ribbon, school, tag, treat topper

{my real life} Birthday Cup Cakes…literally

January 19, 2012 1 Comment

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I play bunco with a nice group of ladies. I think bunco is an Army wife staple…that, knowing where to stuff the TA50, and knowing how to make a green bean casserole. Anyhoo, it’s a fun excuse to get out of the house. And I always say, if it’s something I can do with a drink in one hand and while carrying on a conversation, then it’s pretty easy.

This month was my good friend’s turn to host. And it was also her birthday. So I made birthday cup cakes. Not cupcakes. Cup cakes. I think we were talking one day and I was saying how I saw some cute clear cups on Pinterest that had been personalized with stickers from Frog Prince Paperie. Then we started talked about what you could put in the cups. It might have even been the birthday girl’s good idea to put cupcakes in cups. And then I remembered this pin, too, from Lisa Storms. We thought it would be a great idea for kid birthdays…no papers to mess with and maybe a bit less messy. So I decided to try it out on the bunco ladies. I’m pretty sure they were a hit with the crowd

I found the ‘crystal cut’ plastic cups at Target. I made a simple happy birthday tag for each one, printed them on sticker paper, and cut them out with a 2-inch circle punch. I loaded each cup with a bit of icing so that the cupcake would stick (plus it’s a nice little treat to get extra icing in the bottom of your cup!). I plopped the cupcakes in and iced them. I gave each cake a candle (like I did here) and a bit of yellow frosting for a flame. The cups actually made it really easy to transport them, too. I lined a basket with tissue and loaded the cups…the cupcakes didn’t touch each other and it made for a nice little display, too.

And a party just isn’t a party without party favors, so each bunco lady got a little something to take home, too. And the birthday girl got a little something extra. My inspiration? Another pin!

And the birthday girl got a little something extra. My inspiration? Another pin from Poca Cosa via Be Different Act Normal!

And the birthday girl was happy with her chocolate cake!

Filed Under: Cupcakes, Do Me a Favor, Fun and Food, Gift It, My Real Life, Show Me Tagged With: birthday, birthday candles, candy melts, cup cakes, cupcakes, edible candles, favors, Fun and Food, gift, party, party favors, personalized cups, plastic cups, pretzel candles, tag, treat topper

A bit more birthday

June 8, 2010 6 Comments

The boy turned 9 a few months ago. I guess when you’re a nine year old boy, you’re too cool for a birthday party…? Buddy didn’t want one this year. All he wanted to do was go to the Rodeo (more on that in a later post) and see The Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie. Can do.

But when you have a mom like me…she’s still gotta cute-sy it up. I don’t mean to. I just like everything to look nice. Presentation, presentation, presentation. So I just grabbed a couple of Wimpy Kid tees from Target and wrapped them up in these plastic popcorn boxes I found in the dollar bins, also at Target.

I used the same digital scrapbooking kit that I used when I worked with Bridget on these cute toppers. It’s from Kate Hadfield’s collab Movie Night available at The Lilypad.

Just thought I’d share!

Filed Under: Gift It, Holiday Tagged With: birthday, gift, Kate Hadfield, movie, popcorn, printable, ribbon, Snack Time

Quick & Easy {girl} birthday present!

June 8, 2010 5 Comments

A few years ago, I need a quick birthday present for my daughter to take to a party. I had seen hairbow holders made from a canvas, but in a large size. I decided to try one on a smaller scale and use it as an expensive gift. I bought a 9X11 inch canvas at the craft store (using my coupon!). I painted it a cheery yellow color with craft acrylic paint. I plundered through my ribbon stash and found a bunch of coordinating ribbon. I cut them a little longer than the canvas, just enough to wrap around to the back of the canvas. Then I made sure the ribbon wouldn’t fray. I spaced out the ribbon pieces and placed them just like I wanted them.

I secured all of the ribbon pieces with a staple gun to the back of the canvas.

I added a few hairbows I picked up at the craft store by clipping them to the ribbon strips.

hairbow6

A great gift for a girl! This girl loved her hairbow holder. It looks especially cute displayed in a little picture easel. I even made a larger one for my daughter. It hangs in her bathroom. (You can buy a canvas hanger that clips on to the back of the canvas in the art supply section of the craft store.) No more hairbows all over the place!

Filed Under: Gift It, Holiday, Show Me Tagged With: birthday, canvas, gift, ribbon

Our little birthday tradition

April 2, 2010 5 Comments

It started three years ago when we lived in New Jersey. My son was in Kindergarten. According to NJ school law at the time, you could not send anything to school (for birthdays, parties, etc) that was not ‘healthy.’ Now that doesn’t exactly make much room for special birthday cupcakes. So, after some thought, I came up with a plan. Cinnamon muffins (which vaguely LOOK like cupcakes) and pretzel candles. I did jazz up the pretzels a bit with candy coating and jimmies…but it’s still a pretzel and pretzels were on the acceptable list and technically it’s a pretzel. I was clinging to that. Turns out, the kids loved them and thus began our birthday cupcake tradition. Now that we live in Texas, cupcakes are still acceptable special birthday treat. At the request of the birthday boy, this year was devil’s food with chocolate icing. Yummy choice.

To make the pretzels, I just dipped pretzels sticks into white candy melts, twirled the stick to get rid of the excess coating, and rolled them in jimmies. Once I get them pushed into the cupcake, I give them a little flame with yellow icing. This year, one of the third graders thought it really was a candle!

And the finished product…

I’ve never seen anyone else do this, so I’m proud to call this an original idea. I don’t know how many more years he’s actually gonna let me make these and bring them to school. I’m enjoying while I can. I love having and creating new traditions in our family. Let me hear some of your birthday traditions!

Filed Under: Fun and Food, Snack Time, Tummy Love Tagged With: birthday, candy coating, candy melts, cupcake, Fun and Food, sprinkles

Cookie Pops

March 11, 2010 10 Comments

This is another project inspired by Leigh. She made the cutest cookie pops for Christmas…and (with her permission) I took the idea for Valentine’s Day. I used Oreo cookies, candy melts, Wilton lollipop sticks, and various sprinkle-y goodies. I carefully opened each cookie (do what you may for the ones that break!) and hollowed out a space for the stick with a drinking straw. Then I put the cookie back together, with the stick inside, and dipped the cookie into melted candy melts. While they were wet, I used the sprinkle-y goodies to decorate them including the nonpareils heart I made (see below). After they were dry, I covered the cookie pops with little bags and tied them off with twist ties.

I printed off a sheet of hearts on my printer and put a layer of wax paper on top of the printer sheet. Using red candy melts, I piped the candy onto the wax paper to fill in each heart. While they were still wet, I sprinkled red non-pareils all over the hearts. I got the idea when Bridget over at Bake at 350 showed us how to do monograms. When the hearts were dry, I carefully peeled them off the wax paper and onto the wet cookie pop coating. It’s a super cute idea for Valentine’s Day, but I could totally see this for just about any holiday. I think I’ll try piping some green shamrocks…