Monster High Birthday Invites and cupcakes

These cupcakes were so much fun, the top design was used from a template that I got off of Mighty Delighty site (here is the template) they were a little tricky at first, but then I got the hang of it.

You don't have to fill the entire top of the cupcake with frosting, just do a circular swirl and place the royal icing disk on the top.  Why waste the frosting you won't see it and what you do put on is plenty. Purchase pink sprinkles (you can see the Wilton ones I purchased in the background) and put them into a shallow sided bowl to make it easy to dip the cupcake into.

Favors are always tough, so I decided to make the cupcake the favor, I purchased the cupcake boxes on amazon.com, they were pretty inexpensive, I thought they looked great. I also scored a major sale at Justice and found Monster High buttons on clearance for .50!!! (see underneath the cupcake).

Here are the invites I made, I loved them, I cut them individually so they looked like concert tickets. I guess other people thought they looked official too because they brought them to the party thinking I had to scan the barcode on them. A lot of the graphics I got right off the Monster High website, the barcode font I took off of dafont.com This is the best site ever for FREE fonts.  If your interested in these for your child's birthday I would be happy to do them for you for a minimal cost. You can contact me at bethmahoney70@gmail.com

The address labels are great and a nice little feature. I like to print them on sticker paper and use my 2 inch circle cutter to cut them out. Whenever I use the actual circle stickers they never seem to print right. By using sticker paper I know they are always going to print perfect. I purchased zebra designed slim envelopes to put them in they were a great visual and went perfect with the theme.

Angry birds birthday party

My son this past year, wanted an Angry Birds birthday, and seeing they really didn't have much available out there, I really had to get creative.  The great thing about Angry Birds is that they are all the primary colors, so it made it much easier to find supplies to be creative with.

This banner was alot of fun. I simply purchased 12" primary colored scrapbook paper in all different designs and solid colors, made a triangular template, and was able to get 3 triangles per piece of scrapbook paper. That was a huge money saver.  I have two different sized circle punches -- a 2" and 3". I found a Angry Bird font online, printed the letters first and then circle punched them with the 2" punch. I then took a 3" circle punch and did the primary colors. To string the banner together, I took an everyday hole punch, put a hole on the top of each corner (they don't have to be exact) and strung the banner with curling ribbon.

Yes, I am crazy and made my own pinata. My son wanted the bomb bird. This wasn't too difficult -- just time consuming. If you are going to attempt this, give yourself at least 4 to 5 days. Blow up a large balloon and begin to layer strips of newspaper soaked in water and flour. When making the flour and water combination put water in a half a cup at time until you reach a thick consistency (but not too thick). You need to put three layers on, and each one takes a whole day to dry -- don't rush it. After it's completely dry, break and remove the balloon. The tufting was done with folded pieces of colored tissue paper and each piece glued onto the form.

These birds were fun and easy, and I thought they came out great -- I hope you agree.  I bought primary colored poster board at the $ store -- they were 2 for a $1 -- great price!! I painted them with acrylic paint, cut them out and that's it.

Some more of my Angry Birds. As you can see, they were a nice big size
 to hang on the wall.

This was by far my favorite bird, and the easiest of all -- and to think it was just plain white poster board makes it the best part. The birds are goofy looking so you don't have to be a great artist to pull these off.

Of course with a bunch of angry birds you need refreshments. I purchased the smaller sports drinks in the primary colors and created a template using the existing label.  These are great drinks to use because the labels come off very easy.

Another great $ store purchase. These bags are gorgeous.  They come in packs of 10. I bought as many as they had because these colors can be used in tons of different ways. I found the template online (I have to go back and give credit to the creator). They were meant for balloons but I thought they would look awesome on the bags...
and they did.

This nest was alot of fun. I got the idea from the Better Homes and Garden, Easter craft section (their nests were however much smaller).  Since postal packages are not wrapped in brown paper anymore, what do they do with it??? They sell it to the $ store!  I pulled a good amount off the roll and cut it right down the middle...the entire sheet wouldn't fit in my shredder. I then fed it through my paper shredder -- and wha-la -- many long strands of shredded paper. I took it in both hands and twisted it loosely to make a circle. Once I formed the nest, I wound it with thin wire and tied it off. I then repeated adding paper strips around the rest of the nest many times, and used some more wire to add some form to the nest.  Using fishing line, I strung it from my chandelier.  The golden eggs were large plastic eggs I purchased after Easter for 90% off, and sprayed gold.  I loved the nest and kept it up for a couple of days after the party.  As difficult as it looks, it was probably one of the easiest things I made.

Playing balls were purchased from Walmart, and I used acrylic paint for the faces. I did not mean for the faces to be permanent. Keep in mind -- if you use acrylic, unless you find something to seal the paint, the paint will flake off after about a week of play.

Some more goodies for the guests to choose.

The great thing about Angry Bird fruit snacks is the boxes. These awesome Angry Bird logos can be cut out -- an easy way to add birds anywhere to your display. I used mine everywhere. There are two birds on every box to cut out.

Cupcakes -- I prefer them to cake. They taste so much better, and are more fun to decorate because every single one can be different.  I  designed these toppers to be cut out with my 2" circle punch and taped them on a sucker stick.  EASY!!

This one I had to put some thought into. The TNT box is a plain shipping box.  I found the clip art online for the box, measured my existing box, and adjusted the clip art. I printed out one sheet for each side and simply taped them on. It's sitting on a yellow bowl from the $ store. I used red and yellow tissue paper to represent an explosion. I placed a glass inside the box to the height I needed and put my pig on top of it.

BIRDS, BIRDS, BIRDS. These nests were yummy but a little messy to make. My mother was in charge of these and she did a great job. They are an easy recipe -- melted chocolate and chow mien noodles. Mix the melted chocolate and noodles in a large bowl. While still warm, drop tablespoon-sized dollops into cupcake pans. Press the center to push noodles up the side to form nests. When cupcake pan is full, place in fridge to harden. Pop out and set egg shaped candies inside.

What would a party be without personalized chocolate bars?

View of the table with some of my creations.

Another view

These were big swirly lollipops hidden inside these covers. The template took me little time, but finally figured it out.

The birthday favors were a hit.  These drawstring bags were a major score. I found them at the .99 cent store and they were the perfect size. The t-shirts were made by Hanes and I purchased them at the $ store (can you believe it)?! I designed the shirts -- one for boys and one for girls. I printed my designs on transfer paper and ironed them on (be sure to follow transfer package instructions). It looked like I spent a ton on these favors.

The "pigs" were placed on shipping boxes out on the porch. I also downloaded Angry Birds music and sound effects, and had them playing on the porch. I wanted to make sure the tone was set right from the beginning.

And of course, the whole reason for the party...my cute son, wearing a shirt I also designed especially for him.

If you have any questions about any of my creations above, please don't hesitate to ask.
Thanks for reading about my party obsessions.  
I will be uploading more of my different themed parties in the days to come, so please keep coming back.

Obsession with parties

I have always wanted to make sure that every birthday party doesn't goes unnoticed.  When my children get older I want them to have fond memories of their birthdays, you only get one a year so why not make each one count. So besides everyone telling me I'm nuts I do quite enjoy going overboard for parties. I hope you can get some ideas for your parties from my blog.