Happy Birthday Hubby!

Today is Hubby's 33rd Birthday!

I am so excited to have our little annual family celebration!

We always make a cake, blow up balloons, hang a banner and have a great little family party together! I am extra excited because this year I am giving Robyn a gift that I have wanted to give him for a while but in one way or another it wasn't possible or it was not available at the places I had looked...

This year we are giving him a "DAD" ring...

This may sound silly to some and many men who don't wear jewelry may turn their noses up but this is something that Delaney and I have searched for for quite some time...When we picked up this lovely little gift for him I suggested that we have a look around and see what one was best for her one and only Daddy!

When we went into the first store I did all the talking and I made sure that I was clear on what we were looking for, a "DAD" ring in white gold, stainless or titanium, and something in a size 10. After not finding what we were looking for in the first store we left letting the lady know that we may come back. In each store after Delaney walked up to the lady at the counter of the store and said "I am looking for a Dad ring for my Daddy's Birthday..." and then she took over...

In a way I am so glad that I waited to get this gift for him so that Delaney can have the memory of giving it to him, the memory of shopping for it and the feeling of being all grown up and getting her Daddy his Birthday gift!

I hope you have a lovely Birthday Robyn and that you enjoy the day as only you can!

Sesame Street Party! Loot Bags!

I love a good kids party... heck I love a good party!

I also love when you can make your Loot Bags and make them fun for the kids without breaking the bank and filling them with junk toys and junk food!

I didn't DIY all of the Loot Bag fillers this year like I have done in the past (click here to see those ones) but I did make sure that there wasn't too much candy filling up the kiddos after cake, cupcakes and lots of cookies... I put in a fruit snack and a candy skewer, and then rounded it out with Sesame Street Stickers, bubbles, a glow stick and a thank you photo of my boy!

For Max's Loot Bags I knew that as one of our kiddos favorite characters Cookie Monster would be the star and I wanted them to be easy to make as well so I set out with my trusty scalloped edge circle cutter and a few brown paper bags to make my own Loot Bags as I have before! This was beyond EASY! I punched out a few Cookie Monster Blue scalloped edge circles and added a few crazy eyes, and a huge black smile then it was as easy as gluing Cookie to the the bag and filling them up...

I made the candy skewers myself and picked up the candy at the bulk store for about $8.00 and had enough for  9 skewers and some extra (ok a lot extra) for snaking at the house and on a quick road trip to visit family....

The skewers them selves were $1 at the dollarama (the bag had about 100 in it and while about 4 or 5 were cracked or split and unusable I guarantee I wont ever use the whole bag!)

To make the skewers I just threaded the candy on the skewer in a pattern and covered it with a sandwich bag (you know the type, the ones that fold over that you pick up by mistake when you are reaching for the zip up kind but not paying enough attention at the store...) then add a ribbon around and you have a quick easy Loot Bag filler!

As for the Photo I edited a snap of my boy in Picasa (It's my preferred editor) or you can do it in any of the online editors you use, then email to Walmart! I usually just add Thanks for celebrating my __ birthday with me... or Thanks for making my __ birthday special... or any cute saying I like to include the year so that it becomes more of a keepsake then just a thank you note. Now this where it can get a little expensive. I usually print about 30 photos as I want to have enough to put in the Loot Bags and you need a few extra for the adults at the party too... goodness knows that Nanny and Poppy need one and so does great aunt whats-her-name, and what about that old friend so-and-so. But at 19 cents a print its still not too bad, at just $5.70 (plus taxes) its a nice gesture to say thanks to kids and grown ups alike that attended your party and brought a gift.

So the price break down for each Loot Bag....

Paper bag: 0.02 (packaged 50/$1)

Photo:  0.19 (each)

Bubbles: 0.25 (packaged 4/$1)

Glow Stick: 0.19 (packaged 6/$1)

Stickers: 0.33 (packaged 6 sheets/$2)

Fruit snacks:0.33 (packaged 12 packets/$4)

Candy Skewers: 0.51 (Skewers 100/$1 Candy Bulk 8.00 for WAY more than enough!)

This years Loot Bags came in at roughly $1.79 per bag.... not to shabby if you ask me! 

Now you may look at this and say that's all you put in your Loot Bags? But keep in mind that you just loaded those kids down with not only cake, cupcakes, cookies and lunch but also a prize for the lucky cup and plate, a prize for each game, and a pinata! Trust me its ENOUGH!


What do you put in your Loot Bags? Do you skip them all together? I'd love to hear about your party and your Loot Bags in the comments!

Happy 4th Birthday Delaney!

My first born, my baby sugar, my sweetie pie was born this day 4 years ago.

It feels like so long ago yet it feels like it was yesterday....

I remember going into labour and the horrible night that went nowhere and resulted in an emergency c-section at 3 am, I remember the pure exhaustion after I was brought back for recovery, I remember shaking all over and the horrible headache from the spinal but most of all I remember being so in love with my beautiful baby girl....

She's not a baby anymore, she's a big girl who will be quite a woman someday!

I'm proud to be her Momma an her friend!

Happy Birthday Sugar!

Sesame Street Party Overview!

So as I have mentioned a few times we celebrated Max's BIG first Birthday last weekend (the day after his actual birthday) and I have to say it was quite a success!

So I figured I'd give you a run down of what happened and how it went before I give you anymore of the DIY's... so be prepared you are about to see LOTS of adorable pictures of my FABULOUS ONE YEAR OLD and his soon to be FOUR YEAR OLD big sis!

Birthday Boy waiting for friends to show up for some fun!

I love to DIY my decorations and while I have already shared the balloon wreath there is oh so much more to come... Including a whole post on a scalloped edge circle punch!

Playing Oscars Trash Toss!

Super easy Sesame Street theme game, just get a garbage can, I happened upon this Sesame Street one but a regular one would be fine too, and give the kids three pieces of "trash" have them throw each piece toward the can and try to get them in. If you get at least one piece in then you move on, move the trash can a little further away and you just keep going until only one kid gets the trash in the bucket.

CAKE!

What's a party without cake??? 

I make my kiddos their own smash cake up to age three, that way they can dig in get as messy as they want and eat as much as they want without man handling the cake for me the guests.....

 

Max's smash cake was seen on Facebook already but I will give you a few more details in a future post all about the cake... including the secret recipe to the cookie dough filling!

Of course there were presents! 

I wanted to make this area a little special and to make it a little Sesame street too I hung some of my DIY decorations and used a Sesame Street quilt that was given to Max as the present table cloth.

He's a proper member of the Kiss army now... and got lots of Big Boy Toys too!

There was food all around as well... 

Lots of cupcakes and cookies were served up along side of the BBQ and of course they were all topped off with DIY cupcake toppers!

Look for a quick cupcake topper section in the DIY decorations post next week!

I was so inspired by this post (that I found surprise surprise on Pinterest) that I just had to make a Cookie Monster Pinata!

It was super fun and the kids loved it! Look for a full post on making a Cookie Monster Pinata and what to fill it with soon!

So that is the Sesame Street Party in a nutshell.... It was a blast to plan, to DIY and to enjoy with my baby boy! I hope that you will join me next week to have a look at how it all came together from Invites to decorations and of course no birthday part series is complete without a cake post! 

Hows that for a Photo Friday?

Happy Friday!

Photos by Momma Made It! and family!

Sesame Street Party! DIY Balloon Wreath!

So as you likely already know Max celebrated his BIG FIRST BIRTHDAY this past weekend if you follow Momma Made It on Facebook you may also know that Max had a party on Sunday that was Sesame Street Themed! (Yes I like theme parties and yes I start them young!)

So as with all parties (which you can see here, and here) I like to make some if not all the decorations as well as the cake and the food and the invites and the list goes on... so since both our kids have August birthdays I have been crafting and DIYing for months trying to get everything just right...

One of the first things that I wanted to make was one of those cool Balloon Wreaths, with the logic that 1)It looks awesome and 2)I can reuse it every year no matter the theme.

So I pinned one (similar to the one above) on Pinterest and thought nothing of it until it was time to get crafting.

However when you click HERE to check out the cool project and start to DIY it wasn't quite what I thought.... you actually buy a straw wreath and floral pins then pin the balloons into the wreath....

Well since I couldn't find a straw wreath in my budget (yeah that means at the dollarama) I bought this ugly thing that apparently keeps up flowers that you plant in your garden... I have a black thumb and don't plant so clearly I needed to find a new use for it.

So away I went with bags and bags of assorted sized of balloons, this interesting thing and an IDEA!

Once home I (and by I, I mean Robyn) sorted all the assorted balloons into color groups.

 Then I actually tied each balloon around the wire hoop....

From there you just alternate colors and and keep tying... I watched a whole episode of Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe while doing this, it goes quick and doesn't take any more skill then tying a knot... I found that the assorted sizes made for more interesting texture on the wreath, some are large and some are flat and some are the twisting balloons... its just more FUN!

Soon you end up with this... and you can jazz it up a little by wrapping a pipe cleaner around the wreath and twisting the end so that it is a bit more forward than your balloons...

Then it's just hang it at your party and enjoy how pretty it is and all the complements on it when you tell friends, family and other adoring mothers that "Yes I made it and it was so easy!"

So even though its not your traditional balloon wreath I think it looks good and will as I hoped suit any party we have for Max in the future... I can see it now.... Lego, or Rainbow, or The Very hungry Caterpillar or Pirates or, or, oh man do I dread the day when the kids don't want to have theme parties anymore....

Do you DIY your party decor? or do you DIY/ make it your own other DIY projects for your kids parties? Share your party ideas in the comments I'd love to hear all about your theme parties!

PS Look for a full over view of the party before the Weekend and then more DIY projects next week!

Happy First Birthday Baby Boy!

Today my baby is one, I can't believe that this year has passed so quickly and he is on his way to becoming a toddler, and then (some day way off in the future....) a man.

He has grown so much in the last year, accomplished so many firsts, and has learned so much but to me he will always be my baby boy.... my monkey!

Happy Birthday Max! 

Momma loves you!