ethan's nightmare before christmas 7th birthday party

Ethan's actual birthday isn't until the end of June, but he informed me a few months ago that having a summer birthday is the worst thing ever. All of his classmates were discussing their summer travel plans, and he realized early on that no one was going to be in town for his actual birthday. I heard his request loud and clear, and so we had his birthday party a month early before school let out. This year, he requested a Nightmare Before Christmas theme and, as usual, we held his party at My Gym here in Coconut Creek, Florida.

The party was at 10 a.m. so we went with bagels and cream cheese, plus other snack-y foods. My friend made us Ethan's beautiful cake and also the Oogie Boogie cupcakes. I got the cake toppers from Etsy and they were the perfect touch. I made a bunch of Halloween-themed chocolate lollipops and attached them to a giant cut-out of the hill from the movie. I also set out jars for Sally's spells and little trick or treat pumpkins for the kids to use at the candy buffet (er -- spell counter).

I turned part of the gym into Christmastown and used that for my party favor themes. Each kid was sent home with a Christmas stocking filled with Playdoh and shape cutters, coloring pages and crayons, slime, Halloween tattoos and a gift card for a free Italian ice from our favorite local shop, Cecilie's Italian Ices in Coral Springs, FL.

As I do every year, I insisted we needed a photobooth area. I scored this Jack and Sally shower curtain off Amazon for super cheap, which made the best backdrop.

As always, my sweet little Jack Skellington had the best time ever -- and I couldn't ask for anything else.

turning 6 is awesome: ethan's lego themed 6th birthday party

Ethan had his sixth birthday party this past weekend. He asked for a Lego theme and (because I'm his mom, duh) was very hands-on in the planning this year. This was his first year in school, and so he had so many friends to add to the guestlist. Having a summer birthday is hard because you never know if your school friends will be in touch or if they'll be traveling, but he was so excited that so many of his friends from school showed up to party. Our venue was My Gym in Coconut Creek, Florida, as it is year after year -- it's our home away from home and you can't beat a My Gym party (we love you, Mr. Lee!). Instead of the Lego-printed plates and decorations, I tried to recreate my own primary color scheme and go from there.

My best friend's dad and my sister collaborated on these awesome wood cutouts. Ethan was so excited to have them at his party!

The favors were primary color play-doh tubs with custom Lego mini-figure shaped cookie cutters, which I ordered from Etsy seller Cookie Cutter Supply. I packaged everything up in bags that I morphed into Lego bricks with the help of a craft hole punch.

I had the banner printed on Vistaprint. The cupcake tower and the cake stand were both inexpensive Amazon purchases that I painted and decorated with Lego Duplo blocks. My sister drew the Lego faces on the two glass jars (the held hummus and ranch) that I had also painted yellow. Ethan built the napkin and silverware Duplo structures and I love that he added his own little touch to everything! For food, we had pizzas delivered but I set out an array of snacks in different primary colored bins and containers.

My sister donned a Lego Ninjago costume for the first half hour or so of the party as a special gift to Ethan. All in all, it was an awesome (see what I did there?) party!

carmen's enchanted forest: a woodland fairy first birthday party

I love parties. Love them. Sure, in the weeks leading up to the big day I become frazzled and a total stress case, but I love them. From meticulously planning the little details to watching it all unfold, nothing makes me happier than planning a party. Carmen's first birthday party was a labor of love, for sure. We held the party at my parents home and initially decided we should have woodland animals. This is not such an easy feat in South Florida, so we opted for farm animals (true story: children do not care what kind of animals there are when it comes down to having animals to snuggle with). Then it spawned into unicorn rides. And then it morphed into "she loves the carousel at the zoo, maybe we can rent a carousel." (Hey, your last baby turning one is a milestone for both mother and child.)

Keeping with the woodland fairy theme, I wanted to incorporate natural and wood-textured elements into my set up. I made the donut stands using a $0.50 dowel sawed in half and hot glued onto a wood round from the craft store and found the birch napkins and wood plates from Webstaurant Store. The disposable wood silverware came from Amazon, as did the birch-textured paper straws.

My mom and I do this thing where we panic there won't be enough food. Without fail, there's enough food leftover to last seven families two weeks. We had sandwich and wrap platters catered from the local grocery store, four different quiches, spinach dip, vegetable and fruit platters, macaroni and cheese, popcorn chicken tenders, salads and an assortment of snacks (chips and hummus, etc.). There was plenty of food (for days). I definitely dropped the ball on getting photographs of the finished table, but these pictures from the setting up stages give you some idea. The moss table runners and circle mats are all from Michael's.

Our golden unicorn smash cake topper is from Topper and Twine and our custom Carmen's Enchanted Forest golden glitter cake topper is from Topper That. I worked for weeks hand making the cake stands, the tassels and the backdrops and wall hangings. The high chair birthday skirt was one I purchased from Stuff So Simple.

Inside the house, I had three stations set up: a fairy garden making table (using tiny 2.5 inch ceramic pots), wand decorating and also a rainbow fairy face painting table manned by the incredible daughter of Ethan's art studio owner (thank you, Art Paper Scissors in Parkland!).

Outside, we had the "enchanted woodland" (farm) animals, unicorn rides and a carousel. The carousel was the absolute hit of the party, perhaps even overshadowing the unicorns.

Also outdoors, I set up a photo backdrop with some assorted props from Party Ears and The Gipsy and the Yarn along with some fairy wings from the dollar store. The kids all loved the "photobooth" and everyone got so many cute pictures! Ethan's gym teacher assistant also came to help with the party by dressing as a fairy and taking pictures with all of the kids. Everyone loved the "magical fairy" who came to play with them!

For favors, I made enchanted forest themed word searches and mazes and put them into treat bags with wooden color pencils from World Market online. These pencils were so cool and such a perfect (and affordable) fit for our theme!

It was the perfect day to celebrate my little woodland fairy as she turned one -- cue the emotions, because I'm not sure how this past year has flown by so very quickly.