Pink Peppermint Blogger

It’s hard to believe that the end of the school year is upon us. In fact, here at the Pink Peppermint house, school’s already out for summer! They both really loved their preschool classes this year, and I know when we relocate later this summer that they’ll miss seeing those friends. So, we gave everyone a little something fun to get them ready for summer time.

Our two-year-old friends got a set of these fun sand tools from Target. I think they’d also be great for summer garden fun.

The tag said, “I really DIG being your friend!”

And the four-year-olds in the Monkey class got this super cute polka dot sidewalk chalk. I remember having one chalk holder when my sister and I were little. Seems like both of us always wanted it, and I’d never seen a chalk holder for fat chalk, so I thought this was extra fun.

The tag says, “Chalk it up to another great year!”

I think either of these work well for a sweet and inexpensive take-home from a summer time party too. But, I have to say my most favorite summer party favor is this:

How about gifting a roll of these sliding popsicles at room temperature? They come stuck together and perforated to separate.  Just freeze and enjoy. What a fun way to ring in the summer season! This is about the most fabulous idea ever, and I so wish I could take credit. The truth is I saw a boy at my son’s preschool toting one of these last year, so there’s some other mom out there who gave birth to this fantastic idea. Hats of to you, whoever you are! Our tag read, “Stay cool this summer.”

Hopefully these ideas will spark those of you who are planning to entertain kiddos this summer or who are looking for a little something to give to classmates as the end of school approaches. My kids aren’t old enough yet for me to be relieved that there’s no homework for three months. Instead, the pool’s not open yet, and we are looking for ways to entertain ourselves. Wish me luck!

My college roommate, Gina, and her family just celebrated her daughter’s first birthday. It seem like just yesterday that we were throwing her a baby shower. Wait. Maybe that’s because I just blogged about it a few weeks ago. Either way, I can’t believe it’s been a year! Gina had a birthday carnival on the brain. That’s the ticket! So I whipped up some custom invitation options, and here’s the one she chose.

We batted around some other sweet ideas for the party, and I think you’ll agree that Gina did not disappoint. Enjoy these photos from Ava’s First Birthday–an adorable Backyard Carnival Party!

Here’s the birthday girl doing a little pre-party horsing around with the carnival games!

Gina’s husband, Matt, built this awesome ticket booth. Dibs!

Rain, rain go away! Bad weather caused them to go to Party Plan B. They hustled to move what they could inside, but no worries! Things were lookin’ mighty festive in there!

Look at this sweet personalized birthday banner done carnival style! It framed the window near this adorable table.

Pinwheels, animal crackers, cotton candy. Yum! I love that adorable striped fabric and LOVE LOVE LOVE what they did with it on the ceiling!

I hope they left it up. So festive! And speaking of festive, how super sweet is the birthday girl in this smocked carnival-themed party dress? Perfect. (Update: For those of you who have asked, the dress is Little Threads brand purchased from bestdressedchild.com!)

Check out this popcorn machine. I would so love to have one at my house!

And of course, something to wash it down with–Colonel Smith’s Magic Elixir.

And look at this adorable cookie bouquet. How fun!

The cupcakes picked up on the colors and the polka dots from the party invitation. The design is so simple, but so joyful! Seriously. Don’t these cupcakes just epitomize a party mood?

Everyone had a BIG time despite the rain, and when the little guests left they got these happy treats! Adorable.

Here’s a closeup of the favor tags.

Once the guests had all gone home, Gina sent out thank you notes on these matching folding note cards.

What a charming first birthday carnival! Thanks G, for sharing and to Matt for playing along. Happy 1st Birthday Ava!

Our most recent soirée is proof positive that you can throw a sweet party without spending weeks on planning or execution. I pulled off the look of our daughter Caroline’s 2nd birthday in less than two hours at Hobby Lobby with both kids in tow. The dear girl’s birthday is December 27th, you see. I was later with my Christmas preparations than usual with all the holiday orders coming in and had thought up until the week prior that we would celebrate with some friends a few weeks after her actual birthday once school started back. But, we had family and friends already in town, and that coupled with my desire not to drag things out another few weeks made the decision easy. So this year, we celebrated her big day with an intimate Sunday brunch.

I started playing with digital silhouettes back in the Spring of 2008. My mother had the beautiful hand cut ones done of my sister and I when we were young, and even today when I see them, I am compelled to stand and study them for a moment. This was my inspiration for our party invitations. I love the keepsake aspect of it, and what could be more feminine and classic?  I created this sweet little girl look with a pink and brown invitation featuring a silhouette of our birthday girl. I used a scalloped paper punch to create matching return address labels with her monogram.

Pink and brown fabrics were an inexpensive and impactful way to dress up our two dining tables. I used coordinating polka dot scrapbook paper as place mats and we dusted off our fine china. Hey, we have to use it some time! Am I right? We use paper mache presents wrapped in Parisian-themed paper and grosgrain ribbon for the center of the table.

The kids ate from pink and brown nursery rhyme-themed toile and polka dot paper plates, and I used the same Parisian wrapping paper to make the party hats. I wasn’t sure about the four-year-old boys wearing pink party hats, but it turns out a party hat is a party hat, and they wanted in!

We had a fabulous spread of Cajun- and Creole-inspired dishes compliments of my fantastic husband. He not only planned the entire menu (he’s quite the foodie), but he and his wonderful mother, known as “Granny” around these parts, did literally all of the preparation and cooking. There was Shrimp Toast with Sweet Creole Tomato Sauce, Garlic Cheese Grit Souffle, Creme Broulee Lost Bread (a fantastic French toast dish), Baked Eggs with Crawfish and Mushrooms in Ham Baskets, muffins, pecan tarts and fresh fruit. The food was out of this world! I can say this because, as I said, I had no part in it. We had mimosas and coffee too because if you’re going to get yourself and your clan dressed and to our house at 9:30 on a weekend morning, then by golly, we’re going to make it worth your while!

Our cakes echoed the pink polka dot theme.

I used the paper punch again to make special candles for her big wish!

The kids played, and Caroline opened some fantastic presents while we all recovered from too much good food.

Look at her big bro so dutifully standing by to help her tear them open!

While our guests were here I took a few profile shots of them so that I could make their parting gifts. We said thanks with these folding thank you notes and what else but silhouette keepsakes?

Pink for the girls…

and red for the boys…this is one my favorite. He’s just a rock star!

What a great birthday brunch we had! Happy Birthday Sweet Caroline!