It was a bash...it was a monster bash!

Do you know Natalie "The Busy Budgeting Mama"?

No?

Well then let me introduce you :)

Girl can throw a party let me tell ya.  She creates all sorts of wonderful party decorations and details all while mere weeks away from having her third baby!  Makes me tired just thinking about it.  

My rowdy boys and I had the pleasure of attending her Monster Bash last weekend so I wanted to share some of the goodness with you.  Don't be fooled, these are all Natalie's beautiful photos not mine,
I only took a few on my iphone....lame-o!

I adored the "birch" risers she made.  I'm going to be making some of these for myself too, 

they can be used for so many occasions!  I'm re-vamping my Christmas decor.  

I'm in love with the idea of a "woodland" Christmas so these will be perfect! 

 Girlfriend made some seriously cute felt monster puppets for the kiddos.  So soft and cute. Oh and some adorable little adoption certificates to go with 'em.
You can buy some of her other adorable felt creations at her Charming Felt Etsy Shop.

There was a lot of pink that night.  

I think L & E were a little out of their element at first but after a while they warmed up 

and showed off their plastic weapons to impress the girls.  

Ever the valiant gentlemen ready to defend a pretty lady :)

Check out Natalie's full party post here.
She also creates some amazing printable party details for you enjoyment in her Esty Shop Pretty Paperie!

We finally get to do Trick-or-Treating this weekend since it was delayed from hurricane Sandy.
The boys are so excited to add to their already huge supply of candy.

Happy weekend all!

Old West Party

My little bandit

Here are the details of our Old West birthday party for our boys from this past weekend!

Banner - Wish I had a better pic of the banner in it's entirety.  It was super easy to make, printed out the design and colored it in with colored pencil.  Then I took a wet tea bag and "sponged" it on each piece to antique them.  Hung them on a string with mini clothes pins.   I got this string and clothespins as part of a baby gift from my baby shower and have used several times for a bunch of different things.  It was super cute as a shower gift too...it had little onesies hung on it...sweet right :)

Bean Bag Toss Game - Got these great silver buckets in Target's $1 section.  Kept the theme with the same star graphic.  My mother sewed the bean bags for me from an old pair of jeans that were too small for my son.  They're actually "rice" bags, not bean bags :)  I filled them with rice and closed off the holes with a few stitches.

Party Munchies

Cheese and Crackers
Basic?  Yes, but a staple at our get togethers cause they're kid friendly.

Various "spuds"
I tried to use serving dishes one may find in an old west town.  Wood, baskets and cast iron.

My Trail Mix 
My own mix of Dry Roasted Peanuts, Chocolate Chips, Butterscotch Chips, Pretzels, Raisins, and mini marshmallows.  Served in a Cast Iron pot.

The Cupcakes
From Aldi's mix and icing of course.  It's the best!  Note the gold wrappers :)

Little Mugs
Bought at the party store for the kiddies to drink their juice at the Saloon

The Saloon
Drink station - Featuring Juice, Root Beer, & Whiskey!


The Mining

My outdoor Trading Post and Weigh Station

The Gold!
I painted rocks from my landscaping to make the "nuggets".  Then buried them with regular rocks in two big buckets of sand.  The kids had a good time rootin' for the gold.

The Weigh Station

Once the kids found enough gold to out weigh my big gold nugget, they could trade it in for the Trading Post goodies (aka their treat bags).

I used the same Tea Bag Treatment in the letters for the sign.

The Goodies
Dynamite sticks (Twizzlers), Chocolate Gold Coins, Punching Bag Balloons, Mining Glow Sticks, Candy Filled Gold Bars, and more!  The Gold Bars were my favorite, found these great little gold bar boxes at the party store and they were just perfect.  Used some tins, aluminum cans, baskets, and glass jars as holders.

The Trading Post

Made from two cardboard boxes with hand drawn wood grain.  Gotta love Sharpies!  Turned out pretty good, my kids are still playing with it.  Each kid filled their brown paper treat bag with their name and star graphic on it with lots of goodies.  Can' believe I forgot to take a pic of the treat bag....oh well.

Party planner I am not but I think the kids had a really good time.  It was a bit chaotic, my husband has a large family but they're used to it.  Our friends however are not, hope they still has some fun.  I've come to realize my boys would have probably been just as happy with just some balloons and cake but I had a good time doing this theme.  We'll see what next year holds.

Linking up with the Busy Budgeting Mama today.  Check her out for some REAL party ideas!

My Birthday Party Inspriations

Party day is almost here!  

Of course my boys would end up getting sick 48 hours before their party :(  We'll be pumping them full of liquids, slathering on the Vicks, and firing up the humidifiers to try and get them better ASAP.   We're keeping our fingers crossed that we have good enough weather to have some of the festivities outside.  I'm prepared if it needs to be indoors but it will be so much more fun outside.  

Here's hoping!

Thought I'd share some of my inspirations and tutorials for the party details.

The birthday banner I made was inspired by Megan at Our House of Pink.  See her tutorial here.

 She in turn was inspired by someone else.  Isn't it great how the inspiration chain works!  And we all add our own little something to the idea.  Love the vibrant pink she's using for her party for her little girl.  Wouldn't I love to have a little pink in the house! Luckily I have a sweet niece that I can be girly with.

Natalie at The Busy Budgeting Mama has inspiration for so many different amazing party ideas.  She has made cupcake toppers for many different occasions and designs and sells them on Etsy.   

See her Etsy shop here.  

Her cupcake toppers are way more chic than mine but I love making cupcakes for birthdays and decided to give these paper toppers a shot this year.  Since I was spending more time on the other details, this was an easy way to spruce up the cupcakes without having to create a decoration out of icing for on the top.  Aren't Natalie's valentine's cupcakes adorable?!

Can't wait to share the details of our Old West Mining party with you.  Hopefully I'll have that post sometime next week.  Have a great weekend everyone!