5th Golden Birthday Party Details!

Last weekend my middle girl, Marie, turned the big 5! Since she turned 5 on the 5th, we had a very special golden birthday party for her. For those of you that have never heard of of a golden birthday, it's when you age is the same as the day you were born. (1 on the first, 10 on the 10th, etc) Some of our friends have heard about it, but many have not! 

Isn't it funny when something that you've grown up with, just isn't common everywhere? It's a funny feeling. Makes my world feel a little bigger. 

On to the party!

Here are some party details, in case you're wanting to throw a "golden birthday" too, or just wonder what kind of food is good to serve (mine was super awesome, if I do say so myself.)

Decorations: 

Gold spray-painted wooden 5 (picked up at JoAnn's)

fresh flowers in a vase wrapped with gold tissue paper (picked up at Target)

gold spray-painted horses (taken from our toys; we have a lot of horses!)

black paper roll with gold glitter tape (picked up at target; on the food table)

chalkboard banner with "Golden" written in chalk (from Target too)

Fringe Tissue Paper Background with homemade "Happy Birthday" Pennant Banner (I'm going to do another post about how I made this--see it below!)

Cake:

2 boxes of vanilla cake mix made into cupcakes, mini cupcakes and a heart-shaped cake

My mom used to decorate wedding cakes, so we used 2 cans of store-bought frosting, gold sprinkles, and a decorating kit to make them pretty. 

Games:
We played Pin the Horn on the Unicorn and the kids had a lot of fun with it! Click the link and check it out! A cheap, easy game and it came in 2 days with my Amazon Prine; I couldn't have asked for an easier game. The kids swam in the pool for most of the party so I only did one game.  Those that didn't want to swim could play in our playroom.

Food:

Baked Ziti (see below for recipe)

Fruit Bar:
Watermelon

Blueberries

Green Grapes

Apples (bought already cut up)

Cantaloupe

Strawberries

Carrots

Cherry Tomatoes

Potato Chips

Tortilla Chips

Salsa

Cheese Dip

Spinach Dip

Drinks:
Water Bottles

Juice Boxes

I picked up most of the food at Sam's club, it was perfect that they already came in a big size! (and bonus: there were leftovers for days!) The 3 dips came in a 3 pack, so that was easy too. 

Plates were gold-striped plates mixed with regular white plates.

Napkins were solid gold mixed in with plain white. 

I purchased the napkins all at Target, and the plain white ones were so much cheaper than the pretty gold ones, so I just mixed them together! 

I put a bunch of plastic forks in a blue Mason jar that I topped with some of the gold glitter ribbon. I picked up the jar at an antique store while shopping in Minnesota this summer, it's a joy sparker for me!

Every party that we have, I always wonder about what food to serve. The one dish that has always been a clear winner is the Baked Ziti.  I found the recipe a few years ago on allrecipes.com, and it's been our favorite since then!  Here's the recipe:

Baked Ziti II

Recipe By:BUCHKO, found on Allrecipes.com, modified slightly

Ingredients

• 1 (16 ounce) package ziti pasta
• 32 ounces ricotta cheese
• 1 pound shredded mozzarella cheese

• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 (32 ounce) jar spaghetti sauce
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add ziti and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain and rinse.
2. In a medium bowl, mix ziti, ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, egg and 1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce.
3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
4. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish and spoon in ziti mixture. Top with remaining spaghetti sauce, followed by Parmesan cheese.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes; let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Trust me, it's amazing! And it tastes even better the next day. 

Gift Bags:

I wrapped a bunch of candy in gold tulle circles (I got mine at JoAnn's) and put them in a basket that I spray-painted gold. Easy! 

Party time! See the cute fringe background? 

After opening all the presents, she immediately started coloring this backpack. Love her!

So, the party turned out awesome! We had a bunch of kids and parents swimming and then we had cake and presents and then everyone left! Seriously, everyone cleared out and the girls had the rest of the afternoon to play with all the presents. After a couple hours of serious playtime, and some clean-up, we all went to the movies to see Shaun the Sheep. It was so funny! If it's playing nearby, definitely go see it! We all enjoyed it, even my mom who was visiting.

It was a great day!

~Patricia

My 30th birthday surprise

So anyone who knows me, knows I love to dance.  I mean, I.love.to.dance.  And not your clubby-hip-hop-bump-n-grind business either. Oh no. I love folk dancing. You want to go square dancing? I'm in.  You want to cut a rug doing some swing or polka? I'm there. Scottish? English Country? Where do I sign up? I'm ready. Now. I even bring my scottish dance shoes on vacation. Because you never know.

And guess what else I didn't know?

That my awesome husband, with help from my amazing mother-in-law, was going to throw me the best surprise 30th birthday party ever, with dancing.  That's right, they hired a polka band to play for my surprise party. And invited all of my friends and even my parents (another surprise) to come. My husband even danced with me, and I didn't have to ask. He knew exactly what I wanted.

It was awesome.

Like totally, in-your-face-I-love-to-dance-you-can't-get-me-off-the-dance-floor awesome!

I had such a wonderful time, and really thought they were up to something, but I never suspected anything this great.

I'm really lucky to have such a wonderful husband and family. Really lucky!

And I hope someone took some pictures, because I sure didn't.

I was too busy dancing!

~Patricia

DIY Custom Tablecloth Tutorial

Think making a custom tablecloth is hard? It's not!  Let me show you how!

DIY Custom Tablecloth Tutorial

Materials needed:

• Table you wish to cover
• Tablecloth OR Fabric to cover (see TIPS)
• Marker
• 1/4in braided elastic
• Sewing Machine
• Thread
• Scissor

TIPS: 

• Make sure that the tablecloth/material is large enough to cover the table and extends at least 5 inches outward
• A table with legs that are not flush with the edges works best
• I used a cheap flannel-backed tablecloth that I bought on clearance, but any fabric would work, maybe something from the outdoor section at the fabric store
• I used 1/4 in braided elastic, but anything similar would work fine, thin elastic is the key

Let's get started! 

Step 1: Lay the tablecloth upside-down on the table you wish to cover.

Step 2: Trace the edge of the table on your tablecloth

Step 3: Using a sewing machine, sew the elastic approx. 5-6 inches from the line you traced.
This may change, depending on the depth of your table, but the idea is that you're creating a pocket for the table.
Be sure to stretch out the elastic as you sew.
Note: It'll be under the table, so it doesn't have to be perfect! 

Step 4. Cut of the excess tablecloth, about 1-2 inches from your sewn elastic.
Again, this will be under the table, so it doesn't have to be perfect. 

Step 5: Put on your table and enjoy! 

And there you have it!  An easy, fun way to dress-up your table for the holidays, birthdays, whatever your celebration might be!  And once you're done with it (or your kids have poked holes in it and spilled nail polish all over it), you can just toss it and start again. 

Happy sewing!

~Patricia~

Birthday Bunting

Call it what you want, bunting or garland or a banner, these make awesome decorations for parties (like this example (c) Land of Nod)!

So after seeing all those cool pictures of flag banners on Pinterest, I decided to make my own for my daughter's 5th birthday party this month.

There are so many tutorials out there, but I figured it was as easy as sewing a bunch of triangles onto a piece of ribbon, and guess what? It was!! No tutorial needed here! And the sewing took about 20 minutes tops and I was able to cut the triangles out of remnants with pinking shears. Could this get any easier?

When my daughter saw the picture, her eyes lit up and she said, "Is this for my party? THANK YOU!!"

And that's really all the thanks I needed.