Thank You For Being A Friend, A Golden Girls' Birthday Party

. . . for my golden-haired 12-year-old. Abby pretty much always has an unusual birthday party  - her "Cozy Party" comes to mind - and it's not unusual for parents to ask me how exactly her party ideas originated. Truthfully, I enjoy the challenge of creating a practical party plan or developing a theme from her ideas. Her parties are always uniquely Abby and so much fun because they're a couple of hours where she can share unusual - or sometimes very ordinary - activities that she loves with her best friends. They have fun celebrating together and I believe that is the heart of any party.

This year, Abby told me that she wanted to have an "old-person party." Turns out what that really meant was that she wanted to play Bingo, wear her favorite cozy cardigan, and play "Just Dance 2019." She also wanted her friends to feel free to dress like the elderly also, if they wanted to.

We thought about it together and realized that an "Oldies" party had a definite 50s vibe that would be pretty misleading and anything with "Elderly" or "Over the Hill" didn't seem to strike the right tone. Enter "Golden Girls."

A quick search of Pinterest revealed we aren't the only ones who find them positively inspirational.

As you know, we have a lot of Hallmark Channel fans in this house and, if you're one too, you may know that "Golden Girls" comes on in the evenings. Luckily, some parts fly right over their heads but My girls have watched enough to realize that the Golden Girls aren't just a group of ladies that are even older than their mom. They're hilarious characters who are feisty, fun and all about friendship! Perfect.

For our Bingo grand prize, I found this darling Sophia Pez. She's a crack-up.

Here are some pictures of the super fun goodie bags - the girls felt very grown up with their party swag. Inside the bag, we put some handmade Golden Girl tees, tissues, socks, "Spare Part" chattering teeth and, of course, some hard candies.

Aren't these socks darling? I love sending home useful items. Thank you, Target. 

Abby's little sister had the idea to include chattering teeth. She's so clever. I found these tiny "spare part" wind up toys at Party City. While not necessarily practical, these were surprisingly fun for all three of my kids. 

We wanted to include butterscotch candies or something similar and, let's be real, Werther's are the best. Period. If I were speaking to my kids, I would say The-Bomb-Dot-Com just to hear them tell me that nobody says that except me. It gets a reaction every time and makes me giggle.

And here's the highlight of the bag for me: matching shirts for all of the girls. As with most projects, they took longer than imagined but they weren't difficult. The design was a sort of mash up of a couple of Golden Girl-inspired tees that I saw - loved the hash tag - along with the "Name Shirt" trend. I've seen everything from Harry Potter characters to Pride & Prejudice. I bought the tees from Joann's (they are the ladies fit which run pretty small) and I used gold iron on vinyl that I cut with my Silhouette. I got a couple of different sizes of the tee. The tissues were part of a cute set of travel tissues with inspirational messages on the packaging.

Here's the actual bags. I used a set of black paper gift bags from Michaels. The "tag" was a sticker from Target's Bullseye's Playground (aka "Dollar Spot") that I had on-hand and I drew the hang-tag "string" using a white gel roller pen (the same that I used on the chalk labels here). The tags say "Thank you for being a friend" as they say in the "Golden Girls'" theme song and Abby used the same line when she penned thank you notes to her friends. I guess one of her friends was mildly offended by the "a friend" designation and asked another friend why it didn't say "Thank you for being a  -  "wonderful," "amazing," "best," etc. - friend"? Ha ha ha! Abby loves ALL of her friends and was just keeping the theme alive.

Thank you . . . for being a WONDERFUL friend (and reader)! Party on!

XOXO,
Hillary

Haunted Graham Cracker Houses

Now don't get me wrong. We love ALL kinds of graham cracker houses in our family. Grahams +  frosting + candy is an all around winning combination, but these Haunted Graham Cracker Houses are especially fun and a great tribute to the season of tricks and treats. Chocolate Grahams and marshmallow ghosts make these tiny haunted houses both spooky and sweet. 

Mel's Kitchen Cafe has great graham cracker house assembly instructions here. Hot tip: burnt sugar "glue" is the BEST!

Abby's Little Man Baby Shower

The shower was lovely - perfect weather, beautiful venue, delicious food and a wonderful group of ladies.  I can see why Abby is friends with each and every one of them.  My little Abby joined me for a weekend away and she was beyond thrilled to participate in such a 'grown up' event.

Guest of Honor: Abby

L-R: Sheila, Me, Abby, Abby Rose, Jessica Elizabeth, Jessica Lorraine

The 'mustache bouquets' were so much fun.  I ordered the milk and dark chocolate pops from a local cake and candy supply and then bagged and tied them up for the bouquet.  I followed Martha's simple how-to for the candy-filled vase here.

 

Who took the beautiful photos?  My beautiful sis-in-law.

I found the idea for the sign and gift tags here.

Party Prep, Baby Shower Edition

Getting ready for a baby shower to welcome a new nephew, due in February.  These were some of the many bow ties I made for the invitations.  Each bow tie is on a bobby pin (easier to mail than a hair clip or pin backing) and can be worn in the hair or on a button placket.  Which is your favorite?  I love the red with the white polka dots and the blue . . . and all of them lined up together.

In case anyone is interested in making some, I used this tutorial as a jumping off point, modifying to fit my project and my fussy ways (i.e. sealing all the cut ends to avoid fraying, using a single row of gathering stitches and machine stitching the center portion before sliding it onto the gathered bow).

Mario (Pizza) Party 7

This year, we celebrated Oliver's 7th Birthday with a Mario-themed pizza party at California Pizza Kitchen.  The party started before the restaurant opened, so we had the whole place to ourselves for a little while.  It was perfect and allowed the boys to amp up the silly - chasing balloons and playing games - without disturbing anyone else.

One of Oliver's silliest faces.

When each boy arrived, we handed them their own Mario hat.

(Hat + Fabric Paint = Mario Baseball Cap)

We played a Minute-To-Win-It style game with ping pong balls and cups that was a HUGE hit with the boys and a party classic: musical chairs to Mario music.  Truthfully, we couldn't hear the Mario music well over the piped in music but our CPK host was wonderful and got all of the kids and parents to sing along with my iPhone speakers.

After the games, it was pizza time!

The kids loved designing their own pizzas.

Me, being goofy and modeling one of the extra hats.

Let the kitchen tour begin!

They must be very organized in the CPK Kitchens because it was small space.  The giant oven was the most impressive part, in my opinion.

 

Oliver seemed to enjoy the whole thing.

The pizzas were awesome!

Evelyn got one too!

Ice cream sundaes for dessert.

 

And a few goodies for the boys to play with at home:  bubble gum coins, fake mustaches, Super Mario fruit snacks, a marshmallow shooter and marshmallows (just because)!

 - GAME OVER -