He Turned Two

As I sit here typing this, I can't help but feel like George Banks alah Father of the Bride.  The party is over, everything was fantastic and just now, I have a moment to reflect on everything; it was delightful. And I mean that literally.  Every guest that came was important and appreciated, all of the love that was abounding from one side of the house to the other was awesome and in the middle of it all was my sweet boy- who spent a better part of the afternoon spinning in webs of balloons and attempting to fall asleep.

Since it was his Golden Birthday, Arden enjoyed a Willy Wonka themed extravaganza.  I will go into detail where necessary; almost everything you see was handmade and inspired by Pinterest or some other serious time spent Google Image searching.

Enjoy!

The candy buffet idea is a pretty common one.  I made the candy jars from pillars that I found from Target and then glued jars on top.  While they look nice, they're also sturdy; midway through the party Arden toppled over the gray pillar.  Needless to say, 100 or so Jelly Bellies scampered across our floor in a matter of seconds, but the jar and pillar remained intact.  I call that a success. 

These I purchased from a party supply store.  They look nice, but they are seriously annoying to fluff up; probably never doing this again.

So, we were going to have people "cheese" with the golden frame I got at Michaels ($7.99), but that never happened.  Arden was the only lucky guy to get a framed picture.

Easy.  Cute.  Cheap.

Dip large marshmallows into semisweet chocolate.  Next dip them into nonpareils and skewer.

Bought these at a party store.  Not necessary, but very cute.

My calling card: chocolate covered pretzels.

Glorious.

So, these were supposed to be edible teacups.  Let's have a little chat about Pinterest fails shall we, 'cause this is one of them.  Time consuming and fragile; but it's my favorite part of the movie, so I think it was still worth it.

Despite what you're thinking, the mark on his forehead is a bruise, not chocolate... so no, don't think that I just forgot to wipe it off or something.

By the end of the party, there were: Doritos, fingers, mac and cheese, animal crackers, marshmallows, rice krispie treats and probably a few things that I don't even want to know about, all dunked in the chocolate fountain; in other words, it was a huge crowd pleaser.  Side note: when someone asked me if I bought this, I said, "yes."  A friend of mine said, "You need to flip your hair and say, 'yea, I own a chocolate fountain now."  Apparently, chocolate fountains are a sign that a girl has made it, so consider me: made.

Absolutely adorable.

I love this girl; she's always down to party and appreciates the details like no one else I know.

i'm a big deal.  wow.  let's party.
Anyone who knows us, understands that those captions are spot on.

Clearly, the signage action was plentiful with the over 28 crowd.

Super simple, super cute.  I found this heart ramekin for $1 at Target.  I got a small styrofoam ball for $3.99 at Michaels and then I put a whole 'lotta Dum Dums all up on it.  Tip: angle the sticks towards the surface of the table and not horizontally; I learned that the hard way. 

I searched high and low for a tutorial on making these styrofoam lollipops, here goes: take a styrofoam disk ($5.99 at Michaels) and cover it in tissue paper; do not leave gaps, cover the entire surface.  (I purchased my tissue paper at the dollar store, it's much cheaper and works just as well.)  Insert a dowel rod into the bottom of the disk, I interred mine about an inch and a half.  Take iridescent cellophane and wrap the entire disk, tying a bow at the base of the disk where the dowel rod is sticking out.  Make sure to arrange the cellophane so that it appears as though it is wrapping the disk like a lollipop wrapper would.  Wha-lah.  Project complete.  They cost about $8 a pop, so they are nice, but pricey.

And what Willy Wonka themed party would be complete with out a Wonka bar and a purple top hat?

Happy Birthday, Arden.  We love you!

These 5 Things

Today's post is presented by the number 5.  Here are 5 things that I totally want.  That's right, I don't need them, but I really, really want them.  

Uhm, a lamb planter is just what I need.  In fact, I'm pretty sure that I had one of these as a kid; if my mother knew that she could sell this for $28.00 on Etsy, it'd be game over for little lamby.

via: Rhett Didnt Give A Damn

Most people all people are not grasping my need to totally over due it for Arden's golden birthday- and I get that, it is an odd tradition.  For those of you who are not familiar, please, let me explain.  One's golden birthday occurs when a person turns the same age as the day of they were born.  For example, someone born 10/7/12 would have a golden birthday when they turn 7.  I have decided to make it pirate themed since all good pirates are in search of gold, alah a golden birthday in the truest sense.  This is something that I'm going to need to buy  in order to make Arden's special day extra special.

via: Target

If you don't know who Super Mario is and why this is incredibly amazeballs, it's a real shame and you probably need to educate yourself- right. now. Seriously, go do it.

via: ink affliction

Because what girls' moto isn't: I Don't Drink Cheap Wine- except for in college, when all girls drink cheap wine and mostly from a box.  (Woah, true story- just learned that it's packaged in a box to leave less of a carbon footprint.  And here, I thought it was because binge drinkers were less likely to shatter cardboard boxes than they are glass wine bottles.  Who knew?!)

via: CVS

I want an iPhone.  4, 4s, 5, it doesn't f'ing matter.  I'll take what I can get- that is, when my current phone upgrade is available.  Boo!

via: Digital Trends

**Actually, I liked this post and concept so much that I'm creating a new series of posts called "These (however many) Things," which will be filled with delightful finds from the interweb and I why I love them so much.**