Pink Peppermint Blogger

Well, I finally did it. I threw one of the MANY non-birthday related parties that I dream up.

Yea me!

This time, we were celebrating the addition of sweet Miss Buttercup to our family. Seemed like as good an excuse as any to have friends over and eat junky food, no?

I felt a bit of urgency to have the party quickly before we got swallowed up by fall commitments and she didn’t look like a puppy anymore.

She is gaining three lbs a week, and is already quite the hoss.

Anyhoo, I just bit the bullet and distributed invitations one Tuesday to force myself to kick things into gear. We had it on a Friday after school but before dinner time.

Here’s the invitation if you missed it.

Guests were invited to come “smooch our new pooch” and to please respond to “the alpha female”. (That’s me.)

Note: when folks at Milk Bones say, “Mini” they mean it. Are those the cutest, tiniest things you’ve ever seen?

Door sign: because our doorbell is pitiful and things were loud.

We had several small pawty tables set up on the back patio.

The kids used frisbees as plates and drank from these cute bone straw sippers.

I made these little tags for everyone’s cup so we could keep up with whose drink was whose. I think they kind of look like dog tags! Must be my subconscious keeping tightly to theme.

Inside we had all the pawty food set up. Here’s the doggy-themed topiary I made for the table. My husband balked at the use of the word “topiary” here, but you see it don’t you?

Never question the alpha female.

You know I love a thematic food selection, and our puppy is a yellow lab named Buttercup (who we sometimes call “Butter” because, let’s face it, “Buttercup” is a mouthful when you’re pleading for mercy with a puppy to let go of the very last pair of yoga pants you own that she hasn’t already bitten holes in).

We served Butterscotch Blondies and Puppy Chow, that yummy mix with Crispex, chocolate, PB and powdered sugar.

For a little something salty we had Cheese Nips and Buttered Popcorn. I made this super sweet and completely addictive Lemon Bark.

We also had Butter Cookies, which make me smile. As kids, we used to eat them off our pinky fingers in Sunday School. Anyone else?

Since my son is named Reese, and we sometimes use the word “peanut” around here as a term of endearment, I set out a bowl of Reese’s Peanut Buttercups! I wonder if I can make that her registered name. Hmmm…

Any finally, drumroll please…

My very first (and probably last) attempt at cake pops.

Or as we called them, “cake pups.” Not too shabby if I do say so myself. The kids really liked them, and my boy immediately requested I make some for his birthday. Whoa, there tiger!

The stand, if you can call it that, was a Wilton cardboard number that you can use to hold them during the dipping and drying process.

I reinforced it with some hot glue and dressed it up with a large lime green paw print cutout.

Confession time: I don’t care for the taste of a cake pop. Gasp! This is why I will likely never make them again. That and the sizable PITA it is to bake, cool, crumble, mix, cool, roll, cool, stick, cool, dip, cool and so on. And these were just regular plain ol’ balls of cake. I am in complete awe of all of you cake pop making phenoms out there even more so than I was before! I am very pleased with the fab tips from my FB fans on how to avoid cake pop disaster. Thanks, y’all!

Back to the pawty…

We served sparkling lemonade. I dressed up the drink dispenser with a ribbon and some D-rings to mimic a dog collar and threw on the new tag for Buttercup that we haven’t put on her yet.

And what’s a pawty without music? Not much of a pawty at all, if you ask me. Among other songs, we played:

George Clinton – Atomic Dog

Baja Men – Who Let the Dogs Out?

Rufus Thomas – Walkin’ the Dog

The Foundations – Build Me Up, Buttercup

George Thorogood – Bad to the Bone

Arrested Development – Wag Your Tail

Widespread Panic – Walkin’ (For Your Love)

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse – Hot Dog!

Here’s our girl on the prowl. Estimated number of Milk Bones consumed that day: 752.

I know that furrowed look on her brow. It can only mean one of two things:

1) I don’t like this at all.

2) You should run. I am going to eat you now.

This particular time, it was No. 2. Lucky me.

When guests left, they each took home a frisbee plate, bone cup, an XL bone cookie and a doggie bag of assorted goodies for their S, M or L pooches–a sWAG bag, if you will.

Terrorizing all those kids makes a pooch bone tired.

Welcome to the family little girl!

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

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 have a treat for you today. A guest post from Lauren, my accomplice at Pink Peppermint Parties. Enjoy! And don’t forget to leave a comment!

………

A couple of weekends ago, several friends flocked together to celebrate the upcoming arrival of a tweet baby girl. This brunch shower stole its theme from her adorable nursery, which features a brown, pink and teal color scheme, polka dots, green gingham, lots of rick-rack ribbon and, of course, birds! It made for a fun and festive way to celebrate the nesting mommy-to-be.

First things first, here’s the invitation!

Birds seem to be all the rage in the party world this season. Go ahead…I dare you to Google bird shower. It’s overwhelming! However, Eleanor and I wanted this event to be as unique as the guest of honor, so we created lots of touches all our own. Take this “bird on a wire” giftline for instance. A spin off the common clothesline version, this one was crafted out of grapevine twine and had paper birds attached to clothespins perched on the line and holding the gifts. Please note that many of the birds are replicas of those found on the invitation—the paper patterns, too. I love consistency!

And a big thanks to a certain retailer for having the PERFECT assortment of precious bird inspired clothes to hang on the line.

Next up…the food! The table featured a beautiful floral arrangement in a copper container, bird statuettes and fun “nest” bowls for jams and jellies. We certainly did not eat like birds will all the delicious options this brunch buffet had to offer.

Each brunch item was labeled with these festive bird menu cards.

The table also featured napkin and flatware sets dressed with a gingham ribbon bellyband, an actual twig (spray painted white and crackled) and finished with a paper bird cut out.

Some of our paper bird friends were also found perched on drink glasses.

One of the hostesses took the invitation to her baker and together they whipped up this fantastic (and super delicious) cake which announced the little chick’s new initials.

Decorating the cake table was a square glass vase filled with birdseed and two long branches also spray painted white and crackled like the twigs on the napkins. Scattered on the branches were an assortment of feathered friends cut from the same paper and in the style as those found on the line. They were attached using mini clothes pins.

Remember these adorable paci mints Eleanor made for the “All In Due Time” shower? Well, they made the perfect addition to these mint nests, which were placed in gathering areas around the home.

Can you spot the adorable little nest the florist added to the arrangement for the drink table?

Finally, since no one should leave a party empty handed, we created these little favors for the guests. They were set up next to the door in a galvanized tin bucket on a stand so it didn’t take someone with eagle eyes to find them. Inside the bucket, birdseed anchored the favors and a lone branch with one bird holding a card let the guests know to take a favor to their nest. At the base stood a wooden birdhouse

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Inside the brown paper favor bags was a birdseed ball crafted from bird-friendly foam, peanut butter and birdseed. A piece of pink rick-rack ribbon was fashioned as the hanger.

And finally, the bag closed with a coordinating paper bird perched on a mini clothes pin. On the outside, a thank you message to each guest on a 2×2 card that matched the invitation.

What a fun celebration for a mommy-to-be who is truly a rare bird and a friend like no other. We wish her all the best as she nests and waits for her tweet baby girl to arrive.

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!