Blue and Gold "Pow Wow" Banquet

I love Scouts.  I have 3 boys and plan on spending a lot of time in Scouts.  I am currently the Unit Commission, Scout Committee Chair and the Wolf Den Leader.  Did I say that I love scouts?

I wasn't in charge of the Blue and Gold Banquet this year, but it turns out that two of my best friends are the Cub Scout Committee Chair and Cubmaster, so I got to help plan the banquet.  

Feathers, arrows and all things tribal are kind of a big deal in decorating right now.  What a better theme to have for cub scouts, than a Pow Wow!!!

I designed the invitations in Photoshop elements.  We wanted to use blue and gold, but more specifically gold glitter and add other colors of blue.

For the envelopes, I cut a feather on my Silhouette Cameo and added a little washi tape.

Centerpieces on the tables were wooden tree slices.  We had mason jars with beads tied around the top.  Inside the jars were feather arrows.  Some were blue, others were white or natural color with gold glitter tips.  Along with the jars, we either had antlers, succulents or teepees.

We decorated this backdrop with craft paper and washi tape.  

I also made a few basic dream catchers.

I made a make shift teepee out of just 1x2 boards and some twine tied at the top.  I used old white sheets to cover it.  The leader who was presenting our Arrow of Light awards had the fake fire... it was the perfect touch.

Our main course was navajo tacos.  I didn't snap a shot of those.  For dessert we had donut holes with an arrow through them.

We also had teepee cupcakes with gold and blue sugar.  They turned out sooo cute!

We had a little "tee pee" trail mix snack.

We had a craft table where the boys (and family) could decorate a headress.

There was also a station where the boys could shoot the bow and arrows at a target.

And I really can't take credit for much!  My partners in crime really pulled this off and made it a fantastic night!!!

PS... my oldest son earned his Arrow of Light at the banquet and is moving on to Boy Scouts!!!  I'm excited to start on this new adventure.
PPS... red pants looks awesome with the yellow scout shirt!!!

Video Game/iPad Birthday party {Terreria, Madden, MInecraft, Crossy Road}

For my son, Joren's, 9th birthday, he wanted a "late night" video game party... meaning a bunch of little boys come over and eat and play video games all night.  Sounded good to me... cheap and easy.

I created the invitation in photoshop elements.  I found a blank iPad template.  I had him text me a fake conversation... I took a screen shot of it and put that on the invitation.  Then I put his 4 favorite games at the bottom of the screen.

Whenever I have a party, I like to decorate the dresser I have in my kitchen.  Because it was a hodge podge of iPad games as well as playstation games, I decorated with all things gaming.  I had a banner left over from Brenner's Minecraft party as well as the Steve head.

I also put out remote controls on the tables, Skylanders, stacks of games, etc.  Joren had bought a football gum dispenser that he just had to decorate with... it worked out great because Madden was one of his favorite iPad games as well.

  

Brenner made this "Eye of Cthulhu" giant cake ball... that's something from Terraria.  

 And Joren insisted that his cake was his armor on Terraria... He also insisted it was made of fondant.  So, I baked 3 tiny square cakes and covered them in fondant.   Then, I tediously cut fondant squares and stuck them on the cake.

 I used mostly green and black because that was the minecraft colors and seemed to go with everything.  I made some torches for the table and also had Skylanders in the middle of the table.

 For the party favors, I got these little square buckets at the dollar store.  We put zombies and light sticks in there (both from Terraria).  We also put coins because, well, most video games have you collect coins in some way.

Aside from the fact that having a bunch of boys at my house late at night when I'm tired, it ended up being a fun party!!!

Book Themed Bridal Shower

Before my cousin's wedding, we had a bridal shower.  It made complete sense to use the decorations I had been working on for the wedding to decorate for the shower.

Here is an overall view.  We hung the fabric garland and one of the banners on the window.

We used one of the table center piece groupings on the table.

 And we used one of the table runners we had made out of music book pages.

We just had a variety of sweets for dessert and for party favors, we put a few chocolates in a small cellophane bag topped with a doily and some ribbon.

 It was really quite convenient to use the same decor for both:)

Harry Potter Birthday Party

My 10 year old son just recently decided he liked Harry Potter.  He made a goal to read all of the books before his 10th birthday party.  He made his goal and we planned a Harry Potter birthday party for him.

 As you walked to our house, I tried to have the porch set up like the train station.

I made a platform 9 3/4 sign for the door using my Silhouette.

 I set out vintage suitcases, a white Hedwig owl in a bird cage and even a broom.

I decorated everywhere with as many candles as I could find as well.

When you walked in the front door, I had a banner hanging that said Hogwarts. I made the banner from an old Harry Potter book.  I cut the letters out on my Silhouette using the Harry P font.

 In my entry I have a little alcove.  I made it into my Honeydukes candy store.

 We had jars of all sorts of Harry Potter candy.  I got the labels for the jars from Two Delighted.

 More candles, Harry Potter books and another owl.

I had empty treat bags so they could fill their own up.

 Just inside the house was the sorting hat.    I made the hat just by covering a witch's hat with brown fabric and hot glue.  I made a sort of pocket inside to put a walkie talkie and had my hubby on the other side of the wall assign houses.  I made the ties but just glueing felt stripes on felt ties.  When they were sorted into the houses, they were given the appropriate tie.  I got the tie pattern and tutorial on The Brilliant Crafty Type.

 I bought cheap glasses on Amazon and every kid had their own pair of Harry Potter glasses.

I had a table mostly just for decor with more candles, a quidditch cup trophy filled with golden snitches and some fake Quibbler magazines.  I got the free printable for the magazines on Just Sweet and Simple.

 I set up a table that was Olivander's wand shop.

  Brenner and I made wands for everyone out of wooden dowels, hot glue, seed beads and paint.  I think the best tutorial I found was here.

I copied a book of spells and made covers and book marks out of felt and ribbon.  I got the potions book printable on Just Another Day in Paradise.

Outside on the back patio I set up the potions class. 

 Brenner insisted that everything had to be edible.  So we got different liquids... juices and sodas. then we had different stuff to go in them like pop rocks, kool-aid powder, etc.  We got our potions class idea from Puddle Wonderful Learning.

I made a potions book with the recipes inside.

I had recently been cleaning up our science lab and came across some awesome old bottles.  I filled them with colored water and just had them sitting out for display.

I think this was the kids' favorite part of the whole party.

 After potions class, we played a game of Quidditch. My hubby and I made the hoops out of pvc pipe and small hula hoops from the dollar store. We pounded rebar into the ground then just put the pvc pipe over the rebar.

The team that won got to share the Quiddich cup and the "golden snitches (truffles)" inside.

 After quidditch, we came in the house for cake and ice cream.  

Brenner's cake was a snitch cake.   The cake idea came from Home Stories A to Z.

I had to have more cute owls in cages:)

 I set up the table with tons of candles. We closed all of the blinds and made it as dark as we could in the house.

Brenner loved his party. He planned everything and helped me make most everything too.