A mining we will go...

My babies are growing up...I can't help but get emotional.  My youngest will be 2 and my oldest will be 5 in a few days.  They were both born on the first day of spring, 2 years and 364 days apart.  

We did separate parties last year because I wanted my baby to have his own 1st birthday party like his big brother got.  But this year we're doing a combined party.  So far the boys both seem to be OK with sharing the day.  We decided on a old west kind of theme.  My oldest likes the show on Discovery Channel "Gold Rush Alaska" and thinks gold mining is way cool.  And anything my oldest likes, my youngest thinks is cool too.  He's such a little copy cat :)

Here's a snipit from the invitations I did.

Wanted

"Bubba" & "Eagle Eye"

Gold Thieves

Grab the next stagecoach
and 'giddy up to the _____ Homestead
to search for the missing gold!
We'll have a rootin' tootin' good time!

Help us celebrate the _____ Brothers birthdays!

Saturday, March 19th 2011

3-1/2 hours past HIGH-NOON (3:30 pm)

at the _____ Homestead

We're going to do some gold mining with little aluminum pie pans that I'm going to punch holes in.  Each kid will get a bag of sand with rocks and "gold" in it.  They'll then get to sift out the sand and rocks to get their "gold".  Once they have their gold, they'll bring it to the trading post where we will weigh it and exchange it for some goodies they can take home.  Each kid will get the same amount of gold and basically I will be assembling their treat bags from the Trading Post goodies.

 I took a lot of time to draw the wood grain on these cardboard boxes that will serve as our Trading Post.  I still need to add the sign at the top.  My oldest said "Mom, I can still tell its cardboard".  Sheesh!  Give a Mom a little credit!

We'll also have a Saloon for some beverages.  We got some cute plastic mugs from the party store that are actually for coffee but look like they could be an old style beer mug.  And their the perfect size for our little guests. 

I'm making a banner and cupcake toppers too.  Ideas inspired by some fellow bloggers.  I'll share their details and tutorials once I post all my finished party props.

These will be cut out and strung for a banner

Cupcake Toppers

I ran out of colored printer ink so was limited to a small color pallet.  Printed everything in black and hand coloring in some parts.  A less insane mom would just go buy more colored ink.  But alas it's not in the budget (remember what I said about learning how to decide where to spend your money from my last post?)  I actually kind of like the way the colored pencil fill is looking, adds a little to the old time effect but is still colorful.

I'm enjoying the planning and trying to add more details than usual since this is the only birthday party we'll be doing this year.  I'll keep you posted on how it all turns out.

 Linking up with the Busy Budgeting Mama!