tis the season for plaid

i've been so lucky to form a partnership with val gimre of

charming touch parties

val is a contributing editor of carousel party magazine.

for the winter edition of carousel magazine val asked me

to create tartan plaid themed printables.

she wanted to incorporate the plaids, reindeer and snow.

this is one of my favorite printable collections and i love what val did with it!

 

saige and horses and painting...oh my...

for my daughter's 9th birthday

she asked for the american girl doll of the year, saige.

like my daughter, saige loves to paint and she rides horses.

so we decided to plan her party around saige, painting and horses.

for the food table, we highlighted saige and her favorite things.

the "chalkboard" horse backdrop was actually black foam core!

i made the hot air balloons

(an important event in the "saige paints the sky" book)

from paper lanterns and paper candy bowls.

this tutorial was very helpful.

all the printables i designed for the party were made to look like watercolor.

how pretty is the cake??

using the wilton gel food coloring to get the bright colors

and following this tutorial,

it was actually the easiest cake i have made.

food

 {food labels are part of the printable package}

 horse ribbon cup labels

{straw flags are also part of the printable package}

{lemonade can wraps}

my kids love lemonade at parties so i like to make these wraps.

usually i buy countrytime lemonade.

their cans look much prettier with the wraps.

 the girls also got to decorate their own cupcake.

i loved this idea of using the paint pallet for the toppings.

the birthday girl (who is a little tired in this picture)

had a great idea to make hot air balloon ice cream.

it was so hot that they were pretty messy, but the girls loved them!

i thought it was a creative idea!

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activities

 crazy party lady moment of this event- i glittered the paintbrushes!

each girl got their own canvas.

i got a GREAT deal at joann fabrics which made this size doable.

i used my cricut to cut the horse shape from vinyl. 

fyi hobby lobby lets you use a 40% off coupon on cricut materials.

some of the horses started to peel off so i used some spray glue to make them stickier.

the girls painted the whole canvas and then when they were done,

we peeled the horse off and the white horse shape was left.

 my other daughter wearing the cute shirt my sister made.

she also has an etsy shop!

and of course - the pinata!

for the girls' favors, we got these cute paint cans (oriental trading)

they collected their pinata candy in them.

printable favor tags available through my etsy shop

my sister also made this shirt for the birthday girl

here are the links to some of the ideas i used at this party including

paint easel holders for food labels,

painting project,

paint brush pretzels,

paint brush rice krispie treats

see lots more painting/watercolor/horse/saige party ideas on

my pinterest board

dr. seuss on the loose

my son is crazy about dr. seuss.

he loves all of the characters, but

cat in the hat and grinch are his favorites.

in fact, cat and grinch are often at our house causing lots of mischief.

for his 4th birthday, i knew we had to celebrate his imaginary friends.

the invitation

i loved all the bright dr. seuss colors!

and if you only knew my crazy son,

you'd understand that this seuss quote was perfect for his invite.

when you untie the twine,

the card folds down to reveal all the party details:

the party

food table

for the backdrop, i had the invitation quote printed on foam core.

then i covered additional pieces of foam core with adorable seuss fabrics.

i designed a small banner with all his favorite book covers.

i found so many cute dr. seuss food ideas on pinterest.

to see the original links for many of these ideas {and many more} please visit my

dr. seuss party board

babybel cheese with thing 1 & 2 labels

sugar cookies frosted like green eggs

jelly bean truffula seeds

more decorations and drinks

everyone loved the truffula trees

made from $1 pool noodles and tissue pom pom balls.

(my sister made the cute thing 1 & 2 outfits for my girls)

his favorite spot was by all his friends.

my daughter's wonderful teacher leant me her seuss bulletin board guys

and i made "me and sally" silhouettes out of posterboard.

printable banner {part of my seuss printable collection}

drink cup labels - with a place to write names

loved this idea!  how cute are they?!

but here's the truth.

the washi tape would not stay on the bottles for more than a few minutes,

especially in the heat.

but we just stuck all the straws in and they were still super cute.

right?

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cake

to make this cake, i use one 8 inch cake and 3 6 inch.

putting a cardboard support circle in the middle

and using dowel rods kept it "straight".

i used this technique for the frosting.

i tried to do it with one tip.  but i'd advise getting two so you can alternate colors.

i had to do all the white and then all the red.  it made it more messy and less perfect.

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activities

parties are more fun when the kids can just run around and play games so i made signs

to explain each game.  of course each one was based on a seuss story.

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{how adorable are the mr. krinklebein bean bags that my sister made}

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we set up a photobooth area with lots of seuss props.

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(trampoline jumping)

and since grinch is his "favorite guy in the whole world"...

pin the heart on grinch.

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favor bags

i found these cute reusable bags in the dollar bins at target.

i thought they were perfect and love that they can be reused as snack bags after the party.

the lorax would be proud!

another favorite seuss quote...such a smart man!

sidenote: about 2 weeks after our party target set up a

whole section of seuss stuff in the dollar bins!

of course.

but i did find some cute stuff here.

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he loved his party!

i am so thankful for everyone who took pictures

including many of the pictures featured here by 

memories by megan photography

the seuss printable party will be available in

my etsy shop

soon!