Wow... It feels like forever since I've added to this blog.

Well, I've been so busy this year with all the events, planning and parties I held. I'm taking a break in December and then picking back up in January. I'm exhausted!

Anyway, this is the invite I did for my daughter's final party of the year. She had a Spa Slumber Party and the girls had a blast! I was so happy with the turnout and I don't think I would've changed a thing, even when the girls got fussy.

What matters is that they had fun and all in all, it was a great ending to a fantastic year...

A Night at the Movies

It's Movie Night at my household!

This Sunday, my lovely daughter is having a slumber party. There will only be 4 girls, though. We're having it at a hotel for a change.

I was so excited about my new projector that I bought that I decided to have a couple of her friends over to watch movies on it. So what I am doing is showing UP and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and whatever else they want to watch. I figured why not turn it into a night at the movies? So it turned into a slumber party.

The girls will bring their tickets and bucks with them (I made some cute ticket holder pouches - they look like the pouches that hold airline tickets - to put everything in). I have a little (fake) handheld "scanner" that I'm going to use to check them into the theater. Then they'll be able to go to the "concession stand" and get their snacks.

I also went to Target to get things for their little goodie/gift bags. THIS is the perfect time of year to go and get things for little girls. I literally cleaned up there. They had tons of stuff for Valentine's Day and all these little cute journals and diaries and pencils and candy necklaces and ring pops and just tons of stuff that fit perfectly in these cute little boxes they have to put valentines in. I couldn't have gone to find a more perfect set for my girls!

They also had the popcorn containers (the red and white striped ones that say "Popcorn" on them). I had to have them for this night.

I think for this one, once again, I'M the excited one. My daughter is ready to have a blast with her friends and I'm looking forward to it, too.

After the movies, we're going to play group games and cards and board games.

I can't wait!!!

A friend of mine has a birthday party coming up for her soon-to-be 1 year old granddaughter and asked me to do Tinkerbell invites (again). Since I already had a picture that I thought was really cute, I went with it. Nothing too fancy, though, she's only going to be 1.

These are some invites I did for a good friend of mine. Her event is coming up in October. I got roped into becoming a co-host for this gig, but I don't mind. I love this kind of stuff!!!

Anyway, she just gave me the theme and I went for it. She wanted tons of games, which I'm also supplying her with. Although these are two invitations, they work together. The big rectangle invitation is the real invitation. The ticket is the keepsake, since every single event I do someone is always asking me if I have extras. This way they will have something to remind them of this event.

The ticket will also serve as the door prize ticket. All the tickets are numbered ranging from 1-40, however many people she is inviting. The tickets tell the guests to bring them with them because this is what they will use as their door prize ticket. Once at the party, they will cut the ticket on the dotted line and drop it in the box (which I still have to make). Sometime before the end of the party, the hostess will draw 2 tickets from the box. The people with the corresponding numbers will win door prizes.

We have about 8 other games planned for the night, but I'm preparing for at least 10, since most people, once they get started with games don't want to stop, at least in my circle of friends.

There is still more to make for this event, but for right now, here are the invitations! Enjoy!!!

My little cousin liked the idea of the VIP passes, so for her 15th birthday, I did them for her also. Apparently I did too good of a job because the kids she gave them too really thought they were going to be in a special VIP section of the place, as well as get in free (there was a $5 cover charge by the venue).

I punched a hole in the top of the invite and tied ribbon to it to make it a necklace, just like a real backstage pass. I even made her a box that said confidential that she could keep them in, to add to the illusion. She said she felt like a celebrity passing them out.

She got into a few "discussions" with her friends about the passes. They thought that, because I used a mock barcode on them, they were special VIP who would get to sit in a roped off section and get in free after their invite was scanned. Hearing her tell the stories people were trying to use once they got to the door was HILARIOUS!!!

But she was happy, I was happy and overall, everyone loved them. I see these are going to become a big hit...

I love to plan parties, weddings, showers, all kinds of events. I always make my own decorations, invites and all the little things for whatever the occasion calls for. I planned a Back-to-School carnival for my daughter (who is 8) and her friends. I planned and made all the games and bought pencils, erasers, pencil sharpeners, glue, crayons, just some of the little things that the kids might need for school and gave them away as prizes at the booths. There was even a little candy thrown in for good measure.

I bought tubs of cotton candy from Sam.s and bought sandwich bags from the dollar store and designed my own cotton candy bag. I also bought brown lunch bags from the dollar store and used prepackaged bags of popcorn to make our own bags of popcorn, carnival style.

The first picture below is of the invitations that I made. I wanted them to look like backstage passes, kind of VIP. It even says on the invite that you must call the Carnie Hotline to activate your VIP status. The adults loved the invites and they all kept at least one as a souvineer after the carnival.

This next picture is of the coupon booklet that was in the envelope with the invite. I gave this to the kids because I wanted them to have a real feel of being at a carnival. When the Rodeo/Carnival comes to town in Houston, I always buy a coupon/ticket booklet for my daughter and myself. I wanted to do the same thing here. This booklet has all the coupons they would need to get their tickets (from the homemade ticket booth), their food and treats. There was even a coupon for the kids to retry their favorite game! The extras that I had for the "extra kids (i.e. the kids that you don't expect because someone else brought them)", were also taken home by the parents as souvineers.What I did was rented a moonwalk, the most expensive thing I purchased, and allowed the kids to play in that until most of the guests arrived. They didn't seem to mind, as it wasn't a long wait. Once all the kids were there, I had them line up in front of the ticket booth to get their tickets.
They had to tear out the first ticket in their coupon booklet and hand it to the ticket booth operator to receive their tickets. Then, they were off to the different areas to play the games. I had games for all ages and I was pleased to learn that everyone got a chance to play all the games several times and no one was left out, couldn't play or didn't know how to play the game. There was one game, though, that was the most popular, not only with the kids, but with the adults, tool. It was called "At the Races". What I did was spraypainted across the grass a grid of blocks that was 6 columns across and 10 rows down. I took a small square box, about 8inches all around, and drew dots on it to make a die (dice). There were two versions of this game: one where if there were less than six players, they each rolled the die and moved the number of squares that was shown, OR, the other where there were six players and the booth runner rolled the die and whichever player's number came up, they moved up two spaces. This was a big hit because the adults all thought they could beat the other. There was even one parent who, everytime he played, would buy (with tickets) 2 lanes to play on, trying to guarantee himself a win. Surprisingly, it never happened. But yes, eventually I had to give the adults tickets to play the games. Even some of the kids took over the booths while the adults played.

All in all, EVERYONE had a blast and are already talking about the one for next year, that I hadn't even thought about yet. I've talked to some of other parents and we've all agreed to make this a yearly thing now. Of course, I don't mind. I love doing this kind of stuff for my family and friends. The hard part now if topping myself with my next event.

Hmm? What do YOU think about...

So I'm finally on my way. I got my computer hooked up, all my files moved onto them, at least I think all of them, and I even got a few of the necessary programs needed.

Now, the printer. I got it, hooked it up and all, but now, IT WON'T PRINT!!! So now I have to figure out how to work that. I don't know what to do, but I can guarantee you that I am going to figure it out.

After that, the only other thing left to do is get the net hooked up and I'll be in business! I can't wait!!!