Pink Peppermint Blogger

I love to share Lauren’s parties. They are so chocked full of thoughtful detail, and this one is no different. Her oldest boy just turned three, and he is a Buzz Lightyear aficionado. OK, that may be an understatement. Since his last birthday, The Children’s Museum of Mississippi has opened. There’s a retro rocket right in their logo, and the kids absolutely LOVE to spend a day there immersed in the hands-on activities. Plus, there is A/C, which in Mississippi in July, is a game changer.

Lauren already had the venue, the rocket theme and a color scheme in mind when we started talking birthday, so I whipped up this invitation.

The party was right at noon, so the idea was to get the kids in the party room first, knowing they’d all be chomping at the bit to play. We fed them some lunch, had cake and released them into the museum as they were ready to play until they dropped. I created some large-scale printable party signage, a Pink Peppermint first. The first stop was the Party Room.

When everyone arrived it was lunch time, so the boys and girls settled in and went to work at tables covered in dark blue butcher paper. They ate from silver star-shaped plates and enjoyed UFO PB&Js, star shaped graham crackers and fresh fruit.

To drink, there was Zimbi Super Alien Juice. It’s awesome, because not only are the bottles cool looking and shaped like rockets, but also because when the drink is gone they fly! Seriously? Yes!

The kids also got these awesome alien cake pops from Mom’s Killer Cakes.

I love the way these alien pipe cleaner napkin rings turned out. Super cute, inexpensive and right on theme!

UFO sandwiches were made using Uncrustables, alien finger puppets and the clear base from gumball machine containers. Adorable!

Here’s the fresh fruit skewered on these cute silver star picks.

And here’s one of my favorite elements–a little craft pack of stickers, crayons and glitter glue that invited guests to decorate their space. How creative is that? They went to town too. Right on the butcher paper. It was great because it gave those waiting for others to finish eating something to do before the cake was served.

And while the kids ate, moms and dads had a chance to fuel up too.

There were chicken nuggets, fresh fruit, chips and other goodies like Orbit gum, starbursts and starlight mints! Love it.

And since everyone was likely to stay and play in the museum for a couple of hours, they also got these awesome space age to-go packs of Black Holes (mini Oreos), Nuts and Bolts, Shuttle Smoke (popcorn) and freeze-dried Fruit in Space. The sign read “Take Me to Your Leader.”

And when they were done with their plates, they knew where to find the trash can, labeled “Space Junk.”

There was also a chance to play Pin the Tail on the Comet. I was excited about this one. It’s Pink Peppermint’s first ever printable party game!

Finally, the moment they were all waiting for. Cake. How cute! I love the cloud effect of the icing. The bakery matched it to the invitation.

And here’s the birthday boy making his wish! They turned out the lights while he blew out the candles, and the look of pure magic on his face watching everyone sing was priceless!

Only a couple more pieces of business to attend to before turning the kids loose on the museum. Party favors were made from these great, oversized candy capsules. We added some simple paper rings to turn them into goody-filled flying saucers.

Included were toy laser guns, starbursts, bite-size milky way candy bars, glow-in-the-dark stars, spring-loaded martians, suckers and other treats.

The message read “Hope you had a stellar time!”

Guests also got a sticker to wear and filled their pockets with take-home snacks before they left the party area.

Out in the museum the kids pushed, pulled, moved and squirted, loaded, built, digested and then did it all again.

What a great celebration! Happy 3rd birthday, buddy!

My nephew turned five in early June. My sister, who would have you believe she isn’t good at this sort of thing, whipped up a fabulous day of birthday fun. Jack’s latest obsession, one that is also sweeping my house and the rest of the globe, is Angry Birds. Here’s her invitation. Normally, I’d advise against mixing electronics and water, but since there’s a pool at the birthday boy’s house, guests were invited to take a dip in the bird bath.

She made balloons using the templates from The Party Animal

and laid out quite the spread of snacks for all the little piggies. Or birds, depending on whose side you’re on.

She served VERY angry birds (chicken nuggets) and VERY naughty piggies (bacon-wrapped hot dogs), pigs in a blanket, deviled eggs, worms and grubs (gummy worms and slugs), goldfish, bird’s nest cookies and bird seed (snack mix).

Here’s the birthday boy enjoying a tasty worm.

She made this awesome game with construction blocks and plush Angry Birds and pigs.

Just like the real game we all love, kids threw the birds and tried to knock the pigs off their pirches!

Water temperatures in New England in June not being what they are down here, not all of the guests chose to take a dip in the “bird bath.” There was still water play for those not quite ready to brave the pool temps. Guests could launch water balloons at the king pig. When the kids tired of taking it out on those thieving pigs, they turned on one another, and then ganged up on Jack’s dad.

Then, it was time to take a breather and cut the cake! And what an awesome cake it was!

After cake, they had a chance to cream some more pigs. How much do I love this goofy pig piñata?

Once the pig was bested, they filled these loot bags up with the candy.

And before they left, guests each grabbed one of these awesome cake pops

and chose from either a sling shot or a bird house they could paint! Awesome.

Not bad, sister dear. I’m taking notes. We scored a licensed tee for my son’s party that has the black bird on it and reads, “I’m the bomb.” If you like what you see here, check out this post!

As you may know, my family and I moved recently. And when I say recently, I mean right at a year ago. Why am I thinking about it now? Because after a mere 377 days on the market, we just sold our old house! WOO HOO! I know a lot of folks are in the same boat. Hang in there!

Lots of us are on the move during the summer months and scurrying to get settled in before school starts. Thought I’d share a few custom moving announcements I’ve done over the last year or so.

For a friend moving to a new home in their golf community, I combined some existing artwork to create this moving announcement.

This is one of my favorites. It was created in a round of options for another friend moving to a new ‘hood in Nashville. Not the announcement she picked for those keeping score. That’s OK, though. Totally need to add this one to the online store.

This is the one she picked. Bungalow style.

**Technical note** I’m crossing my fingers that these images look more crisp to you than they do to me. I’ve tried jpgs, pngs, various size compressions. Blurry images. It’s a mystery. If you have a clue as to the problem, help a girl out. When you click to enlarge, BTW they are crystal clear. Even more vexing.

And now for a couple that are more whimsical…

I laugh at this next one every time I see it.  My friend “Rose” (names have been changed to protect the innocent) had a vision of this one when she contacted me.

How hilarious is the dog? Boston Terrier. His name was not changed. Hello, Norbert!

We have moved three times in ten years, and only once have we avoided having to move in the heat of summer. July in Mississippi is like “fry your face off hot.” And don’t forget the humidity. But it’s the South. It’s where we come from, and we love it. Mostly. This last one is the announcement I designed when we moved last year.

It’s hard to believe we’ve been here a year! We’ve just now gotten some paint on the walls and still have no furniture in the entry way. Man, we’ve got some WORK to do!

If you’re on the move, here are some free printable moving announcements for you. Print single-sided as a 4×6 and add your personal info on the flip side or print double-sided and mail as a postcard! Three colors to choose from: chocolate, melon and lime. The font is cheap pine. Download below.

Enjoy and remember to lift with the legs.

Printable Moving Announcement Chocolate

Printable Moving Announcement Lime

Printable Moving Announcement Melon

Chocolate Back

Lime Back

Melon Back

I recently co-hosted a baby shower for my Pink Peppermint Parties partner, Lauren. She and her family welcomed a second baby boy, Coleman, and something casual like a Sip and See seemed perfect to mark the occasion. For those of you not familiar with the Sip and See, it’s an opportunity for friends and family to visit with the new mother or mom again and see the new baby. Hostesses provide light food and drink, giving guests the chance to drop in, snack and visit for a few. It’s also a great opportunity to drop off that little something you picked up for the baby, although it’s certainly not expected.

I was really excited to take on this party for our special honorees. Having worked with Lauren on parties since her oldest son’s carousel birthday almost two years ago, I have a pretty good idea of the kinds of things that make her squeal. I should also note that she is the closest thing I have to a Martha in my life, so I wanted everything to be just right. I had a throwback to good old-fashioned boy stuff in mind and settled quickly on a “Boy Meets World” theme with a color scheme of red, pale blue and navy. Here are the invitations I designed with baker’s twine embellishment.

We set out for some boyish fun to introduce baby Coleman to the world. Guests knew they were in the right place when they spotted themed wreath marking the front door. The parked cars were a good clue too! The wreath was made using foam ring forms, fabric, batting, baker’s twine and pages from an old atlas. The words were shaped from flexible garden tie wrapped in yarn. I got the idea here.

The phrases “Hello, world!” and “Meet Coleman” were repeated throughout the party–at the entry, on the main table and on the menu card holders, which had clear acrylic bases where you could slip in your own one- inch square photo or bit of artwork. Yeah. This will not be the last time you see these little beauties! Prepare for them to be reinvented over and over.

Here’s the grassy centerpiece, trimmed with picket fence, mini map bunting and a double-sided pinwheel also made from an old map.

We trimmed the house with a few other classic elements to lend the party more boyish charm.

A letter banner matching the invitation and strung with the red and white baker’s twine hung on the mantle.

The beverage table featured paper medallion flowers with yo-yo centers and other fun themed touches.

We use oversized jacks as napkin weights.

And since the guest of honor loves a thematic napkin ring, these cute retro bicycle napkins got the red sneaker treatment, complete with eyelets and shoe laces.

The party was set for mid-afternoon on a Sunday, and with the help of some clever friends I had a load of ideas for food we could serve.

Here’s the food table, complete with our “Meet Coleman” centerpiece and trimmed with mini flag bunting!

Oh, how I love a tiny bunting.

Because of the time of day, we tried to keep the food light and summery.

Guests chose from a handful dishes that were all boy, starting with Rocks in My Pita Pockets and Hummus, topped with basil pesto, pine nuts and Feta. Yum!

Sword Fight Skewered Fruit

Bow Tie Pasta

My personal fave, “No Girls Allowed” Club Sandwiches complete with clubhouse-style flag picks.

and for dessert, Soap Box Derby Pie Tartlets,

and since we are in Jackson, MS, what else but Mississippi Mud?

Menu items that didn’t make the cut: Quiche It and Make It Better, I’m Not a Baby Spinach and Strawberry Salad, and some sort of Pots and Pan Seared Chicken, among others.

To drink we served Grasshopper (Mint) Iced Tea and Sour Puss Lemonade.

And in case guests needed help finding the mints… I thought if we’d done favors it would have been cute to use these and say something like, “Glad you could find you way by!”

Guests noshed, visited, held the new baby and had a lovely Sunday afternoon together. Welcome to the world, sweet Coleman!

Lauren and I recently gave our friend Sarah a little inspiration for her son’s first birthday. Her youngest boy, Caleb, just turned one, and mama had a sweet and simple clutter cutting celebration on the brain. Sarah introduced us to the Milk + Bookies Birthday Party, a concept that has party goers bring new books in lieu of gifts to donate to the charity of the host’s choice. I, for one, have always had a hard time choosing gifts for kiddos with older same gender siblings.

Sarah used a color scheme of brown, white and red and used children’s books throughout the party areas to tie in the Milk+Bookies element.

Look at these cutie pies in their milk and cookies shirts from the kizart Etsy shop.

Here’s the cute table she did using coordinating fabrics and featuring the main course–COOKIES! Chocolate chip, sugar, OREOS, animal crackers and more. What kiddo wouldn’t love a party full of cookies?

Next to the cookies, there were plastic “pints for your half pint” in 2% and chocolate from the local University dairy. And in a separate area, the milk bar had carafes of plain, strawberry and chocolate milk on ice.

Also hanging out at this station were the most fab drinking straw ’stache sippers–one of my most fave things I’ve seen in a long time! These cuties were spotted over at It’s Toile Good, and Lauren had the idea to use them as {swoon} milk mustaches for this event! So what’s it gonna be? Plain white milk mustache or chocolate milk mustache?

A purist, I see. An excellent choice! I beg your pardon, sir, but you seem to have a little something on your chin. Too funny!

There were cookies all over!

And even a few bookworms.

And here’s Caleb, the birthday boy, enjoying his smash cake, which was made by a local cake shop to look like a giant chocolate chip cookie.

Happy 1st Birthday Caleb!

I whipped up a little Easter party for my daughter’s class yesterday. The kids are two and three years old, so I tried to keep things fun, simple and inexpensive. Here are a few ideas for quick and easy food and decorations.

Here’s one of the tables. The plates were all ears. Super quick, cheap and easy to make. You can download the template here.

I found some fun and springy plaid napkins and thought it would be sweet to pleat them into bows. Hair bows for the girls’ bunnies and bowties for the boys’.

I secured the center with a small piece of white pipe cleaner.

I used inexpensive plastic tablecloths–lavender layered on top of green with ruffled edges as seen here on Cupcakes & Cutlery.

I found some cute little plain spring trees in the dollar bins at Target and used them as centerpieces. I stuck jellybeans on the tips of the branches to make them a little more colorful and fun.

The kids couldn’t help but snack on them while they enjoyed their other food. I made my bird’s nest brownies, and served baby carrots and ranch dressing and some snack mix with juice boxes.

A customer of mine asked me for some treat tags for Peeps last week with the message “You’re one of my favorite Peeps,” so I whipped some up for her and they turned out so cute that I decided to make some for myself and leave those in the kids’ cubby holes from the big man – the Easter Bunny.

After they all had a belly full, it was time to head outside for the egg hunt!

They sure did find all those eggs a lot faster than we hid them! Go figure. I was really pleased with the way everything turned out. With just a few simple ideas that were easily executable, we had a cute and memorable party. Just goes to show you don’t have to spend weeks of time and lots of money to do something fun for your little ones! Note to self.

We have a winner! Actually several. The masses have spoken. Or at least 15 of you have!

You liked all of the invitation choices, but by majority vote the Easter invitation fave is No. 6 – Brown Bunny. It’s the pom pom tail, isn’t it?

No. 3 – Peeking Bunny was a close second.

These two were my favorites as well, and I think they are different enough in style to warrant adding BOTH to the online store.

For wording, you liked No. 6.

Hippity hoppity!
Shake your bunny tail,
Then hop on down
the bunny trail.

Anna’s 2nd Birthday’s
on its way!

Saturday, April 23
3 to 5

12530 Silver Tree Place,
Rockford

Bring your basket
for the Egg Hunt

RSVP to Ginger
at 555-123-4567 or
gingb543@vmail.com

and No. 3.

Somebunny sweet is turning two,
and she’d love to celebrate with you!

Saturday, April 23
3 to 5 pm

12530 Silver Tree Place
Rockford

Bring your Easter basket
for some Egg Hunt fun!

Will you be hopping by?
RSVP to Ginger at
555-123-4567
or gingb543@vmail.com

But quite a few of you join me in loving these little guys.

I mean, come on. Who doesn’t love a bunch of party chicks? I like it because it’s springy without being overly Eastery. It works for a variety of ages from baby chicks to a play on being “no spring chicken.” Plus, I think it’s just different and hilarious. So I’ll be adding this one to the store as well!

So there were three winners! Four if you count Melissa from buckets-of-grace.blogspot.com/ who won a $15 gift certificate to our online store for her comment about her wording faves! Go check out her blog. I’m in love with those personalized Easter buckets (and reminded that I need to try my own cutter on some vinyl decals).

Congrats Melissa, and thanks to everyone for your input! So, what do you think? Would you like to see this become a regular feature on the blog?

OK, so I have been so crazy busy over the last few weeks that only yesterday (under pressure from an impending visit from my inlaws) did I take down the snowflake decorations that have been hanging in my dining room since January.

And TODAY, out of a mixture of guilt and utter shame over not having announced this yet and a major need to get thee winter merriment out of mine house, I finally compiled all the entries, and the winner of this fun giveaway was chosen by Random.org.

Drumrooooollll please…. and the winner is Cineca of Dreamin’ N Details! She is a fab party girl herself, and I can’t wait to see what fantastic creations she uses her winnings for! Check out her blog for more great party inspiration.

Congratulations, Cineca! And thanks to all who entered. Stay tuned for more giveaways when we launch our new website in the next few months!

Did you see the winter princess party we threw for my daughter’s third? We did a little transformation around here. The dining room table became the royal dining hall complete with snowfall and other royal and winter decor. Well, the party’s over for us, but not for you!

We’re giving away a winter wonderland party for 12. As I said, ours was for a girl, but I think this easily lends itself to a special girl OR boy.

Here’s what one lucky winner gets:Having trouble viewing? Here’s a big, beautiful PDF image.

Here are the ways you can enter to win. One entry per person for each of the following:

• Follow Pink Peppermint Paper on Facebook
• Follow @peppermintpaper on Twitter
• Become a public follower of our blog
• Share our winter princess party with friends on Facebook or Twitter with this link: http://site.pinkpeppermintpaper.com/blog/2011/02/07/winter-princess-party/ and tag Pink Peppermint Paper in the post
• Leave a comment on the winter princess party we threw here.
• Invite friends who might be interested in our products and services by suggesting our page on Facebook

So get busy entering, then come back here and leave a comment telling us what you did.

Contest ends on Thursday, March 3rd, 2011 at 12am CST. Winner will be drawn at random.

Ground shipping to 50 U.S. states included.

Good luck!

My Caroline is the princess-loving tough as nails variety of little girl. A sweet jumble of contradictions. The kind of girl you only get from having an older brother in the house. It’s hard to predict what she’ll come up with next, but when it came to her 3rd birthday celebration, she and I decided we’d combine two of her current faves–princesses and snow!

In case you missed it, here’s the invitation. We handed out the majority of them so I got a little playful with addressing them. There were Ladies, Dukes and even Barons on the invitation list.

Here’s the glitter embellishment on the envelope.

Guests were welcomed to Castle Touchet with these grapevine wreaths spray painted silver and flocked with snow.

Inside where it was warm, the royal banquet table stretched out underneath a sky of falling snow.

We had snowflake crowns for the boys and tiaras for the girls.

Princess Caroline’s birthday throne at the head of the table was all wrapped up in a bow and set off with her royal portrait.

Laid out on a blanket of snow down the center of the table were snow globes filled with a different royal and snowy scenes.

A royal crown, a snowy church, a silver slipper, and a Victorian ice skate among others.

The princess one turned out to be my favorite!

After everyone checked out our stash of toys, it was time to eat!

Our centerpiece was made up of sparkly winter branches embedded in a vase of snow.

We had simple breakfast foods like sausage balls, mini muffins, pigs in a blanket and fresh fruit on these snowflake skewers.

The crowd favorites were these donut snowmen.

And look. There’s our dainty little princess enjoying one now!

The kids also really went for these marshmallow pops.

They had juice from these sweet little cups that come with snap on lids so they don’t spill.

I decked them out in royal fashion with some ribbon and scrapbooking embellishments.

And for the adults we had hot chocolate and coffee.

The mantle was decorated with a glittery snow village and castle.

And since it was a surprisingly mild January day {naturally}, we set up a play table of snow outside.

We had a few scoops and buckets and those kiddos went to town!

Then everyone headed back inside for cake. The birthday girl was feeling unusually shy as everyone sang.

Then there was more playing in the snow before everyone said their goodbyes.

As party favors, everyone got snow powder so they could make their own snow at home.

We had a great time celebrating with the birthday girl and a sweet group of friends for her first big girl party. Happy third birthday sweet Caroline!

Sources:

Large/Small Ripple Cups, Clear Favor Boxes – Think Garnish

Invitations, Paper Crowns, Cup Wraps, Favor Tags – Pink Peppermint Paper

Cake – Dream Cakes