Saturday, June 19, 2010

A jungle birthday party and my idea of slightly overboard.

So Kirsti's party was today and was a huge hit.  I had 12 kids (plus my 6 for 18).  I thought I would give you an overview of what I consider "a slight bit overboard" on birthday parties.  If you look closely at the background, you can also see what happens to a house when mom is busy planning a birthday party for two weeks.

First of all, the cake.  She wanted a 3D monkey cake and she got it!  I had extra cake mix so she had some cupcakes, too.  Good thing, because I had to write happy birthday somewhere!
This cake was made from a 3D Wilton Teddy Bear cake pan with the ears cut off and reattached lower and hand molded Rice Crispie Treats for the hands, feet, and tail.  I came close to just adopting it and making it part of the family; I loved the outcome that much. Also, it took nearly as long as my labors to get it here.  Especially since the first go around fell apart.  When in doubt, use this recipe for 3D cakes, I guess, because that is what made it  work.
Next came the goodie bags.
  • I designed and made the actual bags myself.  Fabric stores now sell gorcery bag material and mine carried it in zebra stripes.  Awesome!!  
  • I also designed and made all the monkey masksThis site has great blank templates for masks.  I'll be coming back later in the summer for crafts.   
  • The foam puppets were bought in bulk and separated out.  
  • The monkey keychains were the craft.   I judge age appropriate craft by my kids' ability to do it, forgetting they have extra practice in crafts, but it turned out okay and the kids liked them. You can make your own with this pattern.  Due to a lack of brown beads in all three local craft stores, I special ordered the beads. Kwik crafts had a fantastic deal and they arrived 2 days after the order was made.


Then there were the decorations.
  • I printed out coloring pages of animals and enlarged them onto poster board with my tracer.  What?  You don't own a tracer projector?  I'm on my second already.  Then I traced over the lines with a sharpie, colored them all, and cut them out.  
  • I filled 23 balloons with helium, 5 of which survived till the end of the party.  
  • I also bought animal birthday hats, animal shaped paper plates with matching cups, some table covers.  
  • God provided the rest of the decor, it was lovely.  I wrapped all our presents to her in brown paper with animal print ribbon and thought it looked fantastic!


And finally, the party itself, where I forgot to take pictures until lunch time).

  • We began with coloring bookmarks backed with animal print that I laminated during the party, added a hole and some hemp rope.  
  • Then we played pin the tail of the Zebra (I was particularly proud of the zebra I made, almost wanted to adopt her, too).  Then onto the beach for an elephant race. Basically you reach between your legs and take the hand of the person behind you who does the same until there is a long chain and then race.  
  • We settled down for the keychain craft and then headed onto the beach/sandbar for several minutes of play.  
  • Then pizza, pinata, cake, & presents.  (Sadly I could not think of a word for cake that started with "P".) 

Was that as exhausting for you as it was for me?  Probably not.

Too many hours to admit to prepare, 2 hours set up in the morning, 3 hour party, 1 hour clean up.  Four more years till her next friend party.


Here is a picture of the birthday girl opening our family presents because we ran out of time before the party ended.  Happy birthday Kirsti!!



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37 comments:

  1. Absolutely amazing! It looks like it turned out wonderfully! I am impressed at the amount of work you put into it! It all looked fantastic.

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  2. Cake = Pastry? All I could think of

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  3. You should have told me you needed the Wilton Teddy Bear! I have one taking up space in my cupboard. I've already used him for a Bear Party and a Frog Party.

    I still can't get over how close you live to the ocean. So jealous. (Even if it is a rental.)

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  4. Although we did use the bear pan for the blue and gold banquet this year too. An actual *Cub* Scout. Get it?

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  5. oh my! can i just say, that party looked funner than a day at Disneyland! and the beach I mean that is the best scenery. how fun. I bet your daughter loved it! I like your 4 year friend party rule. It is too hard to have a friend party every year.

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  6. I was there for Dr Seuss, so sad I had to miss the Jungle. The cake looks amazing and everything looks so fun. Happy Birthday to Kirsti.
    (Oh and it took me like five minutes to figure out Gordon's comment, but I got it now :-)

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  7. So adorable! Looks like a super fun time.

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  8. Who are you? Wonder Woman? It looks soo good!

    And now that I have met you I think all of your kids look like you!

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  9. I'm stunned, and totally understanding the every four years concept WAY better now. You are amazing - what great pay off for all that hard work. It looks fabulous!

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  10. Wow! I can't say anything else. You are so very crafty and talented. Wish I could have come to the party. Happy Birthday Kirsti see you in July. Love you

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  11. YOu did an amazing job!! You did not spare any details.

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  12. WOW! That is so fantastic! To me, a good party is all about the details..and you certainly detailed it out;)

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  13. Wow, Charlotte! I can't believe you make everything yourself! I thought I was doing pretty well just by having a party at our house at all and baking rainbow cakes! It never occurred to me to make everything! You are something else! Looks like it turned out great!

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  15. Awesome Party!!! Can you come Gabby's when she turns 3?? =0)

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  16. Simply staggered by this party. WOW!!!

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  17. pastry was my suggestion too :) way cute, but yeah... a tad overboard!

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  18. What a wonderful party! Seriously, that cake is AMAZING!
    Clint's mom makes wedding cakes for friends on occasion (she made ours) and she has tubs (literally!) of the fancy fluffy icing bakeries use and she freezes it.
    Did your monkey cake hold together better than the crazy mad hatter cake?

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  19. What fantastic memories for you and for Kirsti!

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  20. Holy smokes. You are AWESOME!! That should keep Kirsti happy for four more years. : )

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  21. So........my birthday is in August, just in case you wanted to start to prepare my jungle themed birthday party. instead of the the word cake you could have switched to spanish and gone with "Pastel" but then people would have wondered why you were referring to a color, especially since you did not use pastel colors and then you would have to explain yourself and by the time you had done that the cuteness of using all "p" words would have worn off.

    Whew this is like the longest comment ever that never really says anything.

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  22. Awesome!! Thanks so much for posting all those links, I will for sure be checking some of those sites out. I kinda wanted to do a party for Addie this year, but I really couldn't think of any ideas, other than copying Madison's. Although, I think I will wait until next year- the only friends she wanted to invite were Kaylee, Trevor, and Nathan.

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  23. I love it! I feel like I was there! And I left the party feeling happy, yet exhausted. :) Thanks for sharing all the pictures AND the links.

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  24. Woman, you are incredible! No truly, it's so amazing!

    I want to be just like you when I grow up.

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  25. you know what my big plan is for my kid's 7th birthday? Going to a bowling alley, ordering pizza, buying a cake and that's it!

    You are a God in my book

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  26. You are SO creative and talented! You totally went all out, no wonder you only do this every 4 years.

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  27. Will you plan my next party for me, PLEASE? This looks fantastic!

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  28. Um, after reading this, I'm realizing it's possible my children are unloved. Is it bad that I bribed my brother to take my son to Magic Mountain for his birthday and called it good?

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  29. Holy cow!!!!!! Now I see why you do birthdays every 4 years. Your parties are almost as elaborate as the productions I direct. Great cake!

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  30. You honestly NEVER cease to amaze me. I used to think I threw pretty rad parties. But you have pretty much put me to shame 10 fold. You are my new idol... The cake alone deserves a medal.

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  31. Yep, definitely overboard. But that's okay when you only throw a friend party every four years! Love the cake, bags, games...all of it! Kirsti is lucky to have you for a momma. My kids would never even think to ask me for that kind of cake.

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  32. Wow! All that looks awesome. I'm glad Kirsti has more friends than Madalyn. Emma is still the only girl in her primary class, so her birthday parties are low-key (i.e. jump on the trampoline). But what fun to have a big party like this. What a great mom you are! By the way, I noticed you commented on my friend's blog, Sarah Serene Smith (can't remember her married name, but the Smith's are Nathan's family's best friends in Florida.) How do you know Serene? Small world.

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  33. You are by far the coolest person I have ever known. Do your children understand just how lucky they are? Do they? If not, they can come to one of our underprepared parties & truly realize exactly what a gem they have in you!

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  34. WOW! It all turned out great. You found a great place for pin the tail on the zebra. She is such a cute and lucky girl to have such a dedicated momma. Miss you all.

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  35. I used to do parties like this all the time, and it was tons of work but so much fun for the kids. I've lucked out so far with my youngest two, they just want to go bowling or miniature golfing. So much easier!
    Oh, and yes, I do own a tracer projector, so you're not the only crazy one. :)

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  36. The party really was amazing. My children had a wonderful time. They love the monkeys! The cake was adorable and I can't believe you made those cute monkey masks. You are very talented! You could be a party planner!

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  37. Holy Hannah…that cake us unbelievable!

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