Spaghetti and Hotdog Monsters!

This is such a simple and fun meal that the kids will love to help make!

All you need are some hotdogs and spaghetti

 Cut your hot dogs into 2 inch pieces and begin sticking pieces of spaghetti through in random order (This works best when the spaghetti is broken in half)

Keep going until all of your Spaghetti Hotdog monsters and ready to cook

Pop the monsters into boiling water until your spaghetti is cooked through

Now your monsters are ready to eat! 

Serve with some butter and Parmesan cheese and enjoy!

A Jungle Baby Shower

The adorable JUNGLE themed baby shower that I've been planning for weeks has finally come and went, and I'm extremely proud of the result!

I was originally inspired by these cute invitations from Tiny Prints

And from that point on I really ran WILD with the animal theme (no pun intended)

I created this cute sign using animal print cardstock and wooden letters

(see the how-to HERE)

 Instead of the usual table numbers, I gave each table an ANIMAL name



and created matching PLACE CARDS which we displayed on a magnet board

Each guest received an ANIMAL cookie favor that matched their table theme
(see more HERE)

This adorable BOOKSHELF was used to display all the books that each guest

brought to help build the mommy-to-be's children's book collection

And finally...the CAKE!

Of course I had to incorporate all the cute ANIMALS for this as well.

Overall, it was a great day, and most importantly, the Mommy-to-be LOVED it!

We're linking at these parties!

 

Jungle Animal Cookies

Dana made these adorable Jungle Animal Cookies as favors
for our cousins baby shower!

She started off by cutting each animal shape by hand using a clip art printout as a guide

Once they were baked and cooled she iced each cookie...

This layer of icing needed to dry completely before she could add the final touches

Each guest was greeted by one of these cuties on their plates

C'mon.. who could resist a cookie this cute??

Check back on Thursday to see our post highlighting the entire  
Jungle Themed Baby Shower!

We're linking at these parties!

 

Month-by-Month Onesies

It seems as though baby shower season is in full swing! We've seen countless posts filled with baby shower inspiration lately! 

We've also been busy with baby showers around here! 

Have you seen the adorable Vintage Winnie the Pooh Cookies that Dana did recently for a friends baby shower?

Last weekend we also attended a baby shower for our cousins wife.  We wanted to give her a meaningful and memorable gift so we decided on Month-by-Month Onesies! 

We used the boy version of the

Petite Lemon Printable

but there are also several other printables available for free online or to buy on Etsy

Petite Lemon offers both a boy and girl color pallet

Martha Stewart offers a neutral color pallet that could work for boys or girls

Once you find (or make if your not Photoshop deficient like me) the perfect pattern you simply print it out on iron on transfer paper, cut it out and iron it on!

This gift was a huge hit with the mommy and all of her guests!

Check back for more goodies from this jungle themed baby shower later this week! 

We're linking at these parties!

 

Vintage Winnie the Pooh Cookies

I'm so excited about these Vintage Winnie the Pooh cookies

 that I made for a friend's baby shower. 

I was inspired by her baby bedding..

They're just so cute, you could eat them!

Enjoy!

We're linking here!

A Carnival Birthday Party

In NJ the weather is cold and snowy, so I thought I'd warm things up a bit by sharing the details of my daughters 8th birthday party last summer!

The Theme: 

A Carnival Birthday Party! 

Planning a Birthday CARNIVAL is possibly one of the most exciting party themes I've worked with.

If you're a crafty DIY kind of person, this theme will be a dream come true! 

If you're not, don't worry, you can pretty much find every carnival related thing imaginable for sale or rent online. 

Either way, your CARNIVAL PARTY will be the talk of the town, and the kids (and parents) will have a BLAST!

 YOU'RE INVITED TO KAYLA'S BIRTHDAY CARNIVAL...

 My first project was the invitations.

When I bought the invitations they looked like this.. 

Cute - but a little to young for my big 8 year old! 

So after working some magic with my exact-o knife this is 

what I came up with...

I used these invitations as my starting point and designed the rest of the 

party details and decorations to match.

I printed up matching tags for the party favors -

 Our older guests took home T-Shirts printed up to read  

"I had a Blast at Kayla's Birthday Carnival"  

and the younger guests were given bubbles and sand toys.

GAMES

What fun is a carnival without games?!

With a little help from the Birthday Girl and Oriental Trading, 

I was able to recreate some of the most popular carnival games..

 

 Bean Bag Toss

Balloon Darts 

(Supervision required - Thanks Tara!)

To make this we used large cork board, thumb tacks, small balloons and darts for playing

(I was smart enough to recruit Alison and Matt for balloon blowing duty!)

Duck Pond

I wanted to make sure there was a game for everyone and 

this was a hit with the younger guests

 

 

Slip and Slide

We set up two of these in the front yard and the kids loved racing down them

 The Main Attraction

The Dunk Tank

We rented this from a local party supply and this was a huge hit with everyone!

Prize Table

After playing each game, win or lose, the kids were given tickets to trade in for prizes

Some Other Attractions

Balloon Animals

Silly Photo Board

The Food

We wanted to stick with classic carnival food so I served

Popcorn chicken

French fries

Sliders

Mini corn dogs 

We put all the food in these cute popcorn boxes that I found at the party store. 

I cut the boxes in half for smaller portions and printed up the "popcorn" stickers.



And of course Cotton Candy 

And last but not least THE CAKE (always my favorite part!)

A perfect end to the perfect party!

-Dana

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