that's a wrap

Last month one of our favorite little friends turned six!  To celebrate we brought him an over sized "6" balloon.  We attached a card that listed the six reasons why we love him and a Lego watch.  This would be a fun gift to give anyone of any age! 

balloon party favors

The favors were one of my favorite details from this party.  Since my daughter turned five I put five special objects in a bag with a poem. (Special thanks to my friend Katy who helped me with the wording)

Thank you for coming to celebrate my day!

Here are 5 things to take on your way:

I think you are sweet, so here is some candy



You're worth more than gold, so a nickel is dandy

Balloons are so fun, like us when we play

And a sticker can mean that we never part ways

 You're a great friend, this I always knew-

So blow out your candle and may YOUR wishes come true!



I put all five objects and the poem in a green paper bag that I decorated with the personalized sticker and some polka dot ribbon!



the pinata

My daughter requested that we have a pinata at the party.  I actually found one that fit our theme too (the party store had one that you could attach a Mylar balloon to the front).  Perfect!  Although I love the idea of pinatas it always seems like they are either impossible to open and/or someone always ends up crying or getting hurt.  I think I solved both problems.  You can now buy pinatas that have magic strings attached.  Each child takes a turn pulling a string to see if it will open the door and let everything fall out.  It turned out at our party that the very last string was the magic one and the birthday girl was the one who pulled it! To avoid the mad dash for candy I filled little plastic bags so that each child could find one once the pinata opened.  In each bag I put a green balloon, a twisty balloon with miniature directions to make a balloon animal, some large gumballs and some tiny chocolate candy spheres.  There were no tears (and no parents needed to rip the thing apart) after this pinata which I consider a great success.

balloon fun

I had a lot of activities out for the children.  At most of my parties I like to leave the activities out for the children to do if they choose.  I find it is better (and easier for me) than having structured activities.  It takes into account that some kids may not want to do crafts or games.  Most of the kids just enjoyed playing on the playground but there were things theree for them if they wanted to rest and create something fun to take home.  I put the activities in metal green buckets on the tables with labels and directions.  The activities were to make animal balloons, play with rocket balloons, and do face painting.  We also did a balloon burst.  The balloon animals were from the Martha Stewart's craft line a few years ago.  I had some and ordered some more on EBay. The rocket balloons were a big hit.  You can buy 12 for $1 at the party store and they were a lot of fun for the kids.  The last activity on the table was face painting.  I found a really easy and fast way to do it here.  I found a balloon stamp in the dollar section at Michael's and I am going to use it for our thank you notes too.  The balloon burst activity was probably the most fun.  I saw this idea on Martha Stewart and adapted it to fit the colors and theme for this party.  The kids loved taking turns popping a balloon and then searching for the candy that came out. I also had the book "Where do Balloons Go" and a large blanket to sit on in case the kids needed some down time.  They didn't and it was a little to cold and windy to sit down and listen to a story but, I had it just in case. We also had a pinata that I will blog about next.  Although it wasn't a sunny hot day, it wasn't raining and the kids didn't seem to mind on elittle bit!

Balloon Birthday

On Monday my daughter will be five!  Back in January I asked her what kind of theme she wanted for her birthday.  She said "balloons".  I asked her to pick a color and she choose green and when I asked her where she wanted to have the party she told me the park.  I really loved having her input and enjoyed all of her help with the planning and putting together of her party. I found that by picking a theme a few moths before her party it allowed me the time to find everything I needed and more!  For the invitations pictured above, I used personalized stickers from Tiny Prints and mini cards from Target.  I used a Martha Stewart stamp inside for the party details.   I saved a lot of money by making my own invitations and I think that they came out pretty cute!  I also used the stickers for the favor bags.  Stay tuned next week for all of the party details and prey for sunshine on Monday!