Family Game Night!

Every Christmas, after we open gifts, my family and I play board games.  We are a competitive family, so everyone who participates have to bring their A game.  This tradition started when I was younger.  Every Christmas, my dad would buy us a board game and we would play games like Monopoly, Life, and my favorite Uno.  It didn't matter how old or young you were, no one took it easy on you, you had to learn quickly and fend for yourself.  Playing Uno was a big deal at my home, my brother is 12 years older than me so he never took it easy on my sisters and I.   When playing Uno, when he would win, he would place the winning card on his forehead face up and yell Uno Out! He would make my sisters and I so angry, that we would start forming alliances to try to beat him.  We would try to get him out of the game by making him draw four, draw two, by skipping him, by changing the color, etc. but nothing worked, he would have 16 cards but still come back and win. 

This year, we didn't get a chance to play a board game for Christmas.  So my mother suggested that we have a Family Game Night.  My husband and I hosted the Game Night this past Saturday, and it wasn't a dull moment at our home.  We are still a competitive family, but now we have my brothers wife, our husbands and a teenage niece and nephew so it's even crazier.  We played Battle of the Sexes, and it was so fun!  The men were on the same team, and the women were on the same team.  The men had to ask the women questions that men would know, and the women had to ask the men questions that women would know.  If the men or women didn't answer their question correctly, then opposite team could answer the question through a steal.  Let's just say it was pretty intense, we were neck and neck with the men until the last question.  The men asked us a question with multiple choices about Japan's Prime Minister.  The men was laughing because they knew they had us, it was no way we knew the answer.  To be honest, my team didn't know the answer, but my younger sister just happened to guess the right answer, and We Won!  The men were so flustered, they couldn't believe it.  They know that we will be rubbing this win in their faces for at least two months!

Here are some tips, if you are planning a Game Night for your family or friends:

1.Schedule the party at a reasonable time and day.  The weekends works best for most people because they are off from work.  I scheduled the Game Night for Saturday at 6pm.

2. Provide an assortment of games or have each of your guest bring a game.  This way, everyone can vote on a game they want to play.

 My brother brought the Battle of the Sexes and the other games were my games.  Everyone voted to play Battle of the Sexes because we had never played it before.

 

3.  Provide a fun menu for your guest.  We made a hot dog station, with different toppings for our guest to put on their hotdogs.  Everyone invited contributed to the menu, my older sister brought paper goods, my other sister brought drinks, and my brother brought cookies.

 



 The hot dog station consisted of grilled hotdogs, coleslaw (regular and spicy), grilled onions, mushrooms, and jalapeno peppers.  They were delicious!

 

 

4. If kids will be attending with their parents, make sure they have board games to play as well.  I made a mistake by not providing my nieces and nephews games to play.  They were pretty upset, and kept asking me, what are we going to play?  

 

 

Hope this helps if you're planning on hosting a Game Night!  What are some games you and your family and friends like to play? Chime in below!

A Pinkalicious First Birthday Party!

I can't believe my daughter is already one years old.  It seems like yesterday when I gave birth to her. She gave me such an easy birth experience. I literally woke up around 4:30am with contractions, and gave birth to her at the hospital at 6:30am.  It was the complete opposite of my first born, in which I labored for 13 hours.  So it shouldn't be a surprise to me that she is already one, because she entered this world so quickly! 

If you read my blog about my oldest daughter first birthday, then you would know that I plan on having my daughters birthday parties centered around book themes.  My first daughter birthday party was based on the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  If you want to see the colorful and creative party click here.  For my second daughter's first birthday, I decided to base the party on the book Pinkalicious!

Pinkalicious is about a girl who loves to eat pink cupcakes that she and her mom made together. Her parents tell her not to eat too many cupcakes but she does not listen.  She eats so many pink cupcakes that she turns pink. When the pink doesn't wash off, she is told by the doctor to only eat green foods to get better.  But Pinkalicious continues to eat pink foods like watermelon, grapefruit, etc.  She eats so many pink foods that she turns red. When she turns red, she realizes that she does not want to be red, so she eats green foods to become normal again.

Here are some pictures from the party inspired by the Pinkalicious Book!



This is the book that the party was inspired by.

 

My guest signed my daughter's Pinkalicious book for memories.

 

These are the Pinkalicious invitations I sent out.  I Purchased them from Etsy

 

This is a picture of the serving table. The menu consisted of pink foods.  I served Pink Ham, Pink cocktail shrimp, Pink Pasta salad, Pink watermelon, and Pink grapefruit.

 

Here is a picture of the Pink Pasta.  To turn the pasta pink, I boiled the pasta in water and added two splashes of red food coloring.

 

All of the guest drank pink lemonade from these pink/sparkly mason jars.  I found the mason jars and lids at Michael's.  I used a 50% off coupon at Michael's and purchased a box of 12 mason jars for $8.00.  I used a recipe online called Princess Punch for the pink lemonade.

 

I also filled this pink container with pink soft drinks and water with pinkalicious tags that I found here

 

I used these small pink frames as Food Tags.  I bought the pink frames from Michael's for a dollar.

 

Up close picture of the centerpieces

 

I used my daughter's First Birthday photo shoot pictures as centerpieces.  The photographer captured this moment when my daughter picked up the letter O in the word One and put it on her face.

 

A picture of my daughter and I that was used as a centerpiece.

 

I hung a timeline of pictures of my daughter's 12 months of growth using a pink feather boa, large pink clothesline pins, and mini chalkboards.  All items were purchased at Michael's.

 

 A close up picture of the timeline.

 



 

 I hung different shades of pink streamers on the wall and I made a birthday banner out of pink poster paper and white letters.

 

The cake was inspired by Pinkalicious wand in the story.  The cake was made by my favorite bakery The Cake Shop of San Jose. It had pink icing and pink cake with a raspberry wash.

 

 

The girls took home these sparkly pink gift bags filled with pinkerific treats!  The boys took home an anecdote for pinkitis, green treats.  I forgot to take a picture of their party favors, but I got the idea from 733.blog.com



 Last but definitely not least, my daughter wore a beautiful custom made Pinkalicious Shirt and Tutu from an Etsy shop called Audrinascloset

 

I must say my daughter had a Pinktastic time! To see her smile and enjoy herself was priceless!

 

What was your best pink detail of the party? Chime in below with your comments!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 





 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mom's Favorite Things Party

The month of July is a month that is filled with lots of summer fun! It is also the month that I celebrate my mother's birthday.  My family tends to have so much anxiety because my mom is the hardest person to shop for.  Anybody who knows my mother will testify that she has a lot of clothes, shoes, jewelry, hats, and purses.  She is a pastor's wife, so she has accumulated so many things over the years.  So when my dad and siblings shop for my mom's birthday we never know what to get her.  This year my dad asked my sisters and I to plan a surprise birthday party for my mom at church.  At first, my sisters and I were skeptical of my dad's idea because we thought she would prefer a more intimate party with only family members. But, the more my dad explained his reasoning behind the party, the more my sisters and I begin to get on board with his vision.  When we started planning my mom's party we could not think of a theme for the party.  We did not have much time to plan and we had limited resources.  We were so stressed out thinking about a particular theme that my mom would love, until my sister Robin said, let's plan a party based on mom's favorite things! We loved that idea and began to brainstorm different things that my mom loves.  After we made our list of her favorite things, we begin to look for items to represent her favorite things from stores, restaurants, and even my mother's house, in which my sister and I had to sneak into her house to get pictures and memorabilia. Once we gathered all the items, we decorated the banquet hall in the church the night before the party.  We managed to surprise my mother, and she was overwhelmed with joy to see all of her favorite things! Here are some pictures of the decorated tables filled with my mom's favorite things.

   This is the Cracker Barrel table! One of my mom's favorite things to do is to eat at her favorite restaurant Cracker Barrel.  The waiters and waitresses know my mom by name, she eats here for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The table accessories included items that we found at Cracker Barrel along with southern accessories that I found at Dollar General.

 

Another thing my mom loves to do is teach! My mother was a stay at home mom for over 20 years.  But recently, she decided to make a difference by becoming a substitute teacher.  She loves encouraging students to be the best they can be!

 

My mom is a first lady, and one of her favorite prints that she loves to wear is Polka Dot. We got the collectible doll and some of the polka dot items from my mom's house.

 

Another print my mom loves is leopard! The leopard hats and scarves was taken from my mother's house.

 

My mother's favorite Holiday is Christmas! She loves to deck her home with lots of folly. We decorated this table with my mother's Christmas table runners and ornaments.

 

My mom is from Georgia, so she is a Georgia Bulldog fan. We decorated the table with Georgia Bulldog fabric, hat, pom poms, and tulle.

 

Last but not least, the cake was decorated in polka dot, one of my mom's favorite prints.  The cake was made by The Cake Shop of San jose

 

 

What table do you like the best from my mom's favorite things party? 

 

 

Baby First TV Theme Birthday Party!

I had the privilege of helping my sister Renata decorate her daughter, my niece first birthday party.  When she first told me about her vision of a Baby First TV theme for little Reagan's birthday party, I immediately fell in love with her idea and told her I wanted her to give me all the details of how she created such a unique birthday party. I asked her to be a guest on my blog, to share with all of you, every detail in creating a Baby's First TV Birthday Party.

Brett (me):  How did you come up with the Baby First TV theme for Reagan's first birthday?

Renata: Regan loves baby first TV, she loves the Hide and Seek show on Baby First TV. She loves the acorn song on Hide and Seek. When she hears that song, she claps and has the biggest smile on her face.

Brett:  Where did you get your ideas for the party from?

Renata:  I got a lot my ideas from pinterest, and I got the colors for the party from the TV Show, Rainbow Horse.

Brett: How did you plan your party on a budget?

Renata: I didn't use party supplies that had the baby first TV logos on them.  I used the rainbow colors of the show as a guide in purchasing items like cups, plates, party streamers, and centerpieces.  I shopped at Dollar General and got a lot of their summer clearance items that were marked down, and I used a lot of decorations that I already had and incorporated them into this theme.

Brett:  What is some advice you can give parents who are thinking about having a Baby First Theme Birthday party?

Renata:  There were not many ideas on the Baby First TV website, so I searched the web and found inspiration from sites like Pinterest, You-tube, and Etsy.  Also, start early and set a budget.  You don't have to spend a lot of money on a birthday party for it to be memorable.

Brett: Thanks Renata, for sharing such a creative and colorful party with us.  Check out the pictures below!

This is the Baby First TV logo.  Renata got a lot of her colors and the inspiration for Reagan's cake from this logo.

  

 Full view of the table.  The table was decorated using rainbow colors from Baby First TV Rainbow Horse character.

Rainbow Horse Fruit Tray consisted of strawberries, mandarin oranges, pineapple, green grapes, blueberries, and mini marshmallows at the end.

Lil Bennie's art paintbrushes were inspired by a pin Renata found on pinterest.  She used the Rice Krispy treat recipe and let them cool for 25 minutes.  After they cooled, she poured some of the Candy Melt Wafers into a bowl and microwaved them until they melted.  Once they melted, she dipped the popsicle sticks half way unto the candy and stuck them inside of the rice krispy treats, and let them cool for 15 minutes.  While they were cooling, she took out six bowls and separated the candy melts by color and heated them in the microwave until they melted.  On wax paper, she painted the rice krispy treats on both sides with a spoon using the melted candy wafers.  Renata found this recipe from this Youtube video!

This vase centerpiece was made using red, yellow, orange, and green skittles, it was inspired by a pin she found on Pinterest.  The Baby first cut outs were found on the BabyFirstTV website, and were printed on card stock.  After they were printed, they were taped on Kabobs and placed inside the centerpieces.

 

The plates, cups, and napkins were rainbow colored.

 

The Staircase was decorated with red and pink flower balls. In between the flower balls was party streamers that were wrapped around the staircase post. 

 

The cake was inspired by the Baby First TV blossom logo

 

Reagan's smash cake was also inspired by the Baby First TV blossom logo.

 

The cable also had the rainbow colored gift bags on display.

 

Little Regan was a doll in her Birthday Tutu and Birthday Headband by Mud Pie.

 

Let's just say that little Reagan was not shy when it came to smashing her Smash Cake!

 

 

I give this party an A+ for creativity, color, and charm! Thanks Renata for sharing! What did you like about the party? Chime in by leaving your comments!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



The Very Hungry Caterpillar Themed Birthday Party

I had a hard time trying to find a theme for my oldest daughter first birthday.  First I thought that I would have this elaborate carnival birthday party with bouncy houses, bubble machines, and clowns.  But I knew that my one year old would be too young to enjoy and remember all of those things.  My second choice was a Yo Gabba Gabba theme birthday party, but I thought that would be too cliché, I wanted a theme that you wouldn't find in a store like Party City. I wanted something that would be memorable and creative.  I begin to think about what my daughter and I love to do together, and a light bulb went off in my head, we love to read books! After I get off from work, I always read to my daughter, it is our moment to bond after being away from each other. One of the stories we like to read is The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle.  The story is very child friendly and it pretty much gives you a menu of items to serve at a party.  I thought I was the first person to think of this theme, but when I begin to research, I realized there was a plethora of ideas from pinterest with moms who had the same idea.  I used some of their ideas and incorporated some of my ideas, which equaled to a fun and creative first birthday party for my daughter.  Check out the pictures below! 

 

 In the story, a baby caterpillar is born, and from birth he is very hungry, and begins to have cravings. He eats fruits for 5 days, first day he eats 1 apple, second day he eats 2 pears, third day he eats 3 plums, 4th day he eats 4 strawberries, and on the 5th day he eats 5 oranges. Than he eats a variety of  foods like chocolate cake, ice cream cone, pickle, Swiss cheese, salami, lollipop, cherry pie, sausage, cupcake, watermelon, and a green leaf, than he becomes sick. After he recovers, he spins a cocoon and stays there for two weeks. Later, the caterpillar emerges as a colorful butterfly with large colorful wings.

 

The menu for the party consisted of all the food that was in the story.  I also labeled the food with food tags that I found online. I added all the foods that is in the story, for the Swiss cheese and salami, I made a Swiss cheese, salami, and cracker tray.  For the sausage, I made sausage sliders.  For the green leaf, I made a spinach salad.  I got some of my ideas from pinterest, and this blog 

 

For the banner, I printed out the letters, and glued them on colorful construction paper.

 





On the wall, I made the very hungry caterpillar with 13 circles. Twelve of the circles showcased my daughter growing from 1 month to 12 months.

My daughter wore a custom made The Very Hungry Caterpillar Pillowcase dress  and Party hat from Etsy shops.

 

 Up close picture of the Pillow Case Dress

 

 The Very Hungry Caterpillar cake was made by the Cake Shop

 For Arts and Crafts, the children made caterpillars out of chenille stems and cotton balls.  They also made butterflies out of chenille stems and cotton balls.

 My niece displaying her beautiful creation of the butterfly the very hungry caterpillar transforms to.

 





 

Here is the template I used for the invitations , the shop is closed now, but you can still order from this shop through email on etsy.

 

 

The party was such a success that I plan on making all the themes of my daughters birthday parties after books.  This year, my daughter's 2nd  birthday party theme was Dr.Seuss.  My ten month old first birthday party is November 15th, it will also be a book themed party, so stay tuned for the theme and pictures.  I will also have a guest next week, who I will interview about a adorable party that she's planning for her beautiful daughter. Stay Tuned!