Pink Peppermint Blogger

I’m excited to share the details of my son’s 7th birthday party with you. Seven. Wow. Not sure how that happened. He is all about the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and loves Jack Sparrow. That’s CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow. I set out to throw him a sort of creepy and realistic pirate party, and we must have done pretty well because it got the birthday boy’s pirate seal of approval. I am crazy excited to tell you that I hired a photographer for the first time, so you will not be subjected to my mediocre photog skills (and the blogging world breathes a collective sigh of relief). Here we go…

We set the tone with this parchment colored map themed invitation. I used a sort of messy ink pen font that read, “If it be adventure you seek, yer compass need look no further…Captain Reese be expectin’ the service of his regular crew as he sails the 7 seas in search of treasures.” It was delivered in a kraft colored envelope printed with map elements and sealed with a blood red wax “X.” Everyone said the kids would freak over the wax seal, and that absolutely held true from the feedback that I received.

We had rain in the forecast that day, so our backyard activities sort of flew out the window. I repurposed our props, using them to greet all those scurvy dogs.

I made the ship mast for about $10 using PVC pipe (which is crazy cheap–who knew?) , a bushel basket from Michael’s, a mini skeleton and some creepy fabric swags, both from Dollar Tree. I borrowed the tattered Jolly Roger flag from my partner, Lauren, who had ordered it from Oriental Trading.

We already owned this awesome chest, which has been in my family since I can remember. It used to be green and yellow and live in my parents’ room. Ahhh…the seventies. I got ahold of it in grad school and painted it black. It lives like this in my guest room, minus the bones and stuff. I had already purchased and made another treasure chest before I even thought about this one, but it’s huge and would’ve been difficult to hide for our treasure hunt.

Dead Men Tell No Tales…

This guy is one of my very favorite details of the whole party. His name is Jolly Roger, and he narrates the DVD menus on the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He’s got quite a bit of personality and inspired a lot of the invitation wording. His Captain Jack goatee makes me giggle.

Inside, we were all decked out in fine pirate style!

This year, I did a little birthday retrospective of my boy from past years. You know, afore he was captain.

Funny, no? Thought it was better than a pirate’s wench costume, which I also have. Kidding.

We screened the first POTC movie in the living room. The kids were totally captivated (and some of the adults too). If you haven’t seen the movies, I highly recommend although you may want to pre-screen them before letting your kids watch. Johnny Depp is amazing.

Since the party was mid-afternoon, we wanted to keep the food on the light side, but after all the plundering, those kiddos had worked up an appetite!

We served chicken, fruit and these hilarious little crab sammies, which were my favorite! They look to me like they’re pleading not to be eaten.

I pinned these from familyfun.go.com and substituted mozzarella balls for the eyes and red apples for the pincers. We made them into turkey and ham sammies.

Here’s a closer look at the cupcakes I made for reasons which were totally logical at the time. Then I was kicking myself at the 11th hour for not hiring it out. They were yummy though!

I had this raw cupcake stand from Pick Your Plum. I looked really Piratesque to me already with the burned edges so we just left it plain. For now.

I made an XL cupcake for the birthday boy and topped it with this weird little candelabra I found at WalMart. There was one. It was $1. Random. And oddly perfect for the occasion.

Here’s the birthday boy making his wish. It was for Skylanders. Trust.

The kids drank juice poured from these plain bottles which I corked and labeled with art I created from The Graphics Fairy blog.

There are six different designs to choose from. Download them and print your own for free here:

Pink Peppermint Printables Rum Labels

For the adults, we taste tested grog, mostly because I had a curiosity about it myself and thought others might like to taste it too. It’s a rum drink with lime juice (fer tha scurvy), sugar, mint and water. Not bad.

For a fun activity, we did a twenty clue treasure hunt. It was a bit chaotic having to move it inside, but we managed. If you ever do one, plan on having an adult read the clues aloud. I would also have devised some way to let everyone find at least one clue. They had a blast searching though!

We cordoned off certain areas of the house to the treasure hunt by hanging these signs on the door knobs of rooms that were off limits.

We hid the clues in the common areas of the house and in both kids’ room. They were hidden inside the birthday boy’s pirate boots, by the PlayStation, under the TV remote, in his school backpack, inside a prop compass and on and on. The clue that led them to the timer said this: “Set the time and push to start. I beep when done. That is my part.” I used a great little program called RiddleMe, that allows you to enter an inventory of things and places you have in and outside your home, and it will help you to generate clues. I had to redo all of my clues for inside use at the last minute since we had rain, and although I reworked them all to rhyme and be more pirate-like, it was a huge help to have a place to start.

We even hid a clue next to some skeleton keys by the dog’s crate. In the POTC movies, there’s a dog that carries the keys to the prison cells, and all the pirates are always calling him to come closer so they can grab them. We ALMOST got a photo of our Buttercup carrying them. Proof positive she will put anything in her mouth! The clue read, “I guard the keys to the prison gate. When I’m not working, I’ll be in my crate.”

Well, who would’ve thought they’d find the treasure buried in the gas grill. We took the tank out and hid the chest underneath. It held treasures for pirates and mermaids because we had a few little sisters and a dear classmate too, and hey, there are mermaids in the POTC movies. Even if they are mostly evil. Details…

We made the boys Captain Jack head wraps, complete with beaded dread.

And the kids and I made the mermaids each a beaded bracelet.

When guests left, everyone took home a small bag of chocolate pirate’s gold with a compass to lead them to the thing they want most. Spoiler alert: It’s chocolate.

A week or so later, we sent these message in a bottle thank you notes out, which I thought would be a little different and fun. We placed them in mailboxes mostly around the neighborhood. I printed them on 1/4 letter sheets of parchment with silly notes that would speak to the kids’ imaginations and make Captain Jack Sparrow proud.

One note read,

“Dearest cousins,

From the bottom of my tiny Pirate heart, a sincere thank you for the Skylanders.

It helps with me boredom while marooned on this deserted island.

Mutiny is no laughing matter. “

And was signed, “Pillage and Plunder, Captain Reese”

Happy 7th to my devilishly handsome boy!

…………..

Photography by Kirk Giessinger

A few months back, Emily came to me through mutual friends I’d worked with. She had a fishing-themed birthday in mind to celebrate her son, Jack’s 4th birthday and their life-long love of the water. Her desire to use family photos and heirloom fishing items drove the vintage look and feel. After much searching, she decided she wasn’t going to find what she had in mind for invitations, so we talked about some custom options. Here are a few of the versions I created for her.

This last one was the one Emily decided on. She felt it best incorporated her “Hooked on 4″ idea.

Enjoy the pictures Emily shared and the party details as told by her!

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We have a pond in our backyard and we often walk down to feed the fish and just play around in the water. Jack loves being outside, playing in the dirt, picking up worms and of course “hooking” up anything he can scoop up in his net. I also share the same passion for being outdoors and close to the water. I am from the Coast, and my Dad’s parents always had us on the water!

When I began tossing the idea around as a possibility,  I thought it would be fun to incorporate some of our family heirloom pictures, cane poles and cast nets that belonged to both my Granddaddy and Papa. I started to think of colors and wanted to create a vintage, simple, classic look.

After shopping around on the internet and in and out of stationery stores, I remembered Pink Peppermint’s wonderful creations! Eleanor helped bring my idea to life and the party was fabulous! We had a fish fry to celebrate “our fly guy” and I put snack chips in an old fishing basket – “fish and chips.”

We also served boiled shrimp and smoked tuna dip. For our non-seafood guest, we served corn dip, party sandwiches and cupcakes, of course!

I had a galvanized oval tub and filled it with water and plastic fish. I attached a mini tin bucket to a cane pole with fishing line to scoop up the fish for a fun activity!

I decorated these mason jars with red raffia and had Swedish fish and gummy worms for their “fresh catch” or their “live bait”…This was a huge hit!  There wasn’t a fish or gummy worm left over!!!

Adorable party, Emily! Thanks for letting me be involved, and a happy 4th year to Jack! I think as the weather continues to warm up, this is a great theme to keep in mind for spring and summer months too!

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!

We return for the final installment of our story to find our super friends eyeing the fantastic candy buffet.

A stroke of creative brilliance by no other than, you guessed it, supermom. Super candy with an element of danger and complete with superhero toothbrushes? Seriously, it doesn’t get much cuter than this.

Except for maybe this. Cityscape cake wrappers with hero and villain cake toppers. Complete with flying capes!! How did supermom make this work? Let’s just say, there is nothing Eleanor can’t make happen in her lab. A little fabric stiffener, a cup, a rubber band and BOOM! Perfection.

And yes, these cupcakes were as good as they looked thanks to Kristen of Crumb Gourmet. Check her out even if you are not local to the Jackson area. She also does cookies, and she ships!

There was even one specially designed for the birthday boy and placed on his own mini version of the industrial cupcake stand.

As this super day began to come to a close, guests were asked to fill their bags with goodies from the candy bar. They also grabbed a beginning reader comic book favor. Hero and villain options available, of course.

Truly, no ordinary day indeed. Bravo supermom and Happy 5^th Birthday to our hero, Reese.

Don’t miss the other installments of our heroic adventure.

Tables and balloons

Decorations and food

Invitations

As we return to the story, we find our team of heroes and villains heading back outside….

Our super friends were greeted with tables perfectly outfitted (and caped) for both the good and the bad to pump up their muscles and enjoy some of that SUPER hero sandwich.

WOW! Even the balloons were perfectly outfitted for the occasion.

Let’s pause our story for a minute and talk about how adorable these Pink Peppermint Paper balloon costumes are. A perfect accompaniment to the theme. And our supermom stashed them everywhere—inside, front door and food tables. AWESOME!

About as awesome as the super weights holding them down. GENIUS!

But that’s not all…

Tune in next time to see what sweet surprises supermom has in store.

Click here if you missed the super food and drink or here to see the invitation. And for pity sake, if you’re reading (and we know you are) be one of the good guys and leave us a little comment. Thanks and have a super day!

Hi there. Lauren here again. Back with more from the big day…

Our party begins on an unusually warm October day in the metropolis of Madison. Our birthday hero and his band of super friends began gearing to meet and celebrate Reese’s big day. Why, even our villains were excited about this extraordinary meeting of both the good and the bad.

Outside, the stage was set for the caped tots to face off in supermom’s awesome box village. WOW! What an awesome way to use old moving boxes and guarantee literal squeals of delight from heroes of all ages. In addition to painting and adding the great window details, Eleanor even cut a path through the middle so the kids could hide and play inside, while some super tunes from the birthday boy’s own heroes and villains iPod playlist filled the air.

Opposite the life-size village was a mini creation for some of super boy’s favorite plastic heroes and villains to duke it out in.

Meanwhile, back inside…

Supermom laid out a spread for our hungry heroes and famished villains that consisted of what else—a 6-foot hero sandwich and ONE-TWO Punch to drink. YUM!

Not to mention the plates and napkin sets. Will you eat with the good or dine with the bad? Make your choice….

To Be Continued.

Miss the invitations? Check them out here.

I am on the road, so Lauren graciously offered to tell you about Reese’s Heroes and Villains party last weekend.

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What a weekend for our supermom and party-planning hero, Eleanor. For months she has soared over everyday ideas and leapt past licensed superheroes to create a fifth birthday celebration for her son that was truly out of this world. It all began here with the design, development and distribution of these one-of-a-kind invitations announcing the theme—Heroes AND Villains. KA-BOOM! What a fabulous idea. I mean, let’s face it what five-year-old doesn’t want to see what it’s like to flip their cape every once and a while. Brilliant! So with a theme in place, a date set and a super boy to please, our mom of mystery set out to execute no ordinary party. Did she succeed? Tune in next post to find out.

I would love to tell you that we’ve been up in arms around here. Racking our adult (and almost five-year-old) noggins trying to figure out what direction to go for Reese’s 5th birthday party. Sleepless with the possibilities. Nope.

My boy decided approximately 45 weeks ago what he wanted. That’s three whole weeks after his last party–the illustrious garbage party. And when he started talking birthday again so soon, I could have wept. It started out at a cutie pie Halloween birthday party we attended, and he decided it would be super if kids wore costumes to his next party. Then, he got “blue Batman” party stuck in his head. He does love The Batman, but he likes the other guys too. The muscles. The cool gadgets and extraordinary powers. It’s just too much testosterone to resist. Heck, my two-year-old daughter is even into all the characters. I have GOT to get that girl into some ballet classes.

Now, I confess that, when it comes to me and licensed characters, the thrill is gone. There’s usually so MUCH of it, and I have an invitation business. How am I supposed to work with that? So I started working my angle. Slowly. Methodically {rubs hands together in evil fashion}. Wriggling free of the shackles of the branded hero. Trying to think of something that would make an everyday, overdone superhero party, well…super. One Super Day, coming up!

I thought it might be fun to do a Homemade Heroes party. One where you come dressed as a superhero using stuff from around the house. You know, a pillowcase cape, dishwashing gloves, rain boots, scuba mask. You get the idea. Then I thought maybe a lecture-style superhero training course would be fun too. One with an obstacle course to help you hone your inner hero skills. And not actual lecturing. Mine get enough of that on your average day. I think either of these could be totally cute and different!

The route I ultimately sold my boy on was a Heroes and Villains party. Honestly, how often do you see the bad guys represented here? We have a reversible Spidey/Black Spidey costume and he LOVES to swap back and forth between good and bad. Now that I think of it, he does that in real life too! So, Heroes and Villains it is. We are going to mix the color scheme up a bit with the traditional super colors, and we’ll be using some purple, black and lime green for all those villains out there. We may have a room full of heroes on party day, but you can always count on Mom and Dad to be the bad guys, right?

So…hot off the presses, here’s the invitation I designed for Reese’s Super 5th Birthday! I’d love to hear your thoughts.

I’m giving Lauren a much-needed break, so I’ll be the one to tell you about her son’s second birthday! Quite frankly, there’s some gushing to be done, and it’s much easier to gush about someone else’s party than it is your own. The party was so very cute, and I have so many pictures that I don’t even know where to begin, but here goes…

Pink Peppermint Parties has been all abuzz over the details for Lauren’s son’s 2nd birthday. No flies on us, for sure. For those of you who don’t remember or weren’t following me very early on, this is the adorable party she worked up for his 1st birthday.

This year’s theme was Bugs, and the challenge was to make it a party any boy would be proud of but also keep it sweet for a birthday boy still knee high to a grasshopper. We set the mood with this invitation design.

The munched edges turned out to be one of my favorite little details! Lauren even munched the flap on the envelope. Love it.

Party goers handed over these sluggy buggies to gain entrance to the Museum park. Now onto the BIG day!

The festivities were held at an outdoor pavilion. Each table had a sweet, grassy centerpiece complete with all types of creepy critters centered around these pint-sized, colorful arrangements of fly swatters and a butterfly net–all planted like flowers in large Mason jars.

Every kiddo had a place set with these stinkin’ adorable bug boxes that were personalized in buggy fashion with their names.

Also, waiting for them were butterfly nets, magnifying glasses, Build-A-Bug gummies, and these bug-eyed party hats.

There were bug-themed coloring sheets and crayons too!

How sweet is the little ladybug on that bunch of crayons? Swoon. I ran to get my camera when I saw them. I am SUCH a sucker for little details like that.

There was also an adorable game table with bug-themed puzzles, a bubble machine  (aka “the Fogger”) and COOTIE! Remember that game? Ahhh, memories…

Before lunch and cake, everyone enjoyed a bug hunt on the lawn. The kids grabbed their nets and had a great time searching for all the different kinds of bugs. Here’s the birthday boy in action.

Then it was time to munch. Note the hand sanitizer in that adorable buggy dispenser. Lauren really thought of everything!

I love the munched plates and the napkin rings too. I held one out to my two-year-old to take and she jumped a foot when she saw that spider on her napkin.

There were Slug Sliders, Roly Poly pinwheels, P, Bee and Js, Ants on a Log, Grub Worm Fruit Skewers and Bugs in a Rug.

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On such a hot summer day, the kids cooled off with what else but Bug Juice!

The adults enjoyed their drinks from these adorable homemade bug jars.

I designed the butterfly, bee and ladybug straw critters and cut them with a newly acquired piece of equipment. I was so excited by how they turned out! Rest assured there is much more party stuff along these lines shaping up!

After lunch, everyone made a beeline to the dessert table, which was highlight by delightful mosquito netting that had caught paper butterflies and ladybug hairclips, handmade by the birthday boy’s grandmother, for the girls to take home.

We also made a birthday banner with our new equipment and hung it with grosgrain ribbon behind the dessert table. It’s a little hard to see here, but it read “Happy Bday” and had a cutout of a bee in place of the letter.

The cake was a yummy chocolate bumblebee. How cute is that? I loved the antennae.

We did these cupcake wrappers with a sweet little plaid bee buzzing along for the delicious vanilla cupcakes.

And what dessert table is complete without a few grub worm gummies?

The birthday boy made his wish and everyone dug in. Look at that big boy in his buggy outfit. Too cute!

When kids and parents were all bugged out, they all headed into the Museum to cool off and have some more fun before heading home. Here’s the sticker they got before leaving.

Happy 2nd Bee-day sweet Wright!