What a Group

Oh my goodess.  What a Blast.  The Old Navy Funnovation Imaginarium with the BUNCH group was sooo much fun.  I had never been involved with this type of event before, but I would do it in a heart beat. 

I gathered my dream team who did not dissapoint.  Everyone had smiles and were so into the event and involved.  It was amazing.  The true spirit of the event was felt by all.
The kids loved dancing and the "CAT" walk - the limbo was a hit  Maude and Brian from Quality Entertainment.  The Energy was phenomenal.  I can hardly wait to see the photos that were taken by Daniel
I also cannot say enough about the Old Navy Rideau staff.  What a team  Paul, Nat and Priya were awesome and so accomodating to the staff.  Thank you.
Let's do it again next year??!!!

I Can't help Falling in Love

What can I say.  I love my kids and I love LOVE day!!  What's a valentine's day without a party.  I am seriously looking forward to my daughter's Valentine's Tea party.  I made a cute Smilebox invitation with one of the pictures one of my favourite photographers took at our local candy sotre.  Gotta love Sugar Mountain!!  It was fun.

This cute photo gave me the idea to finally have my daughters school friends over.  She has been asking for while and I finally decided I needed to take time to make time!!  So off I went to put together a hopefully fun and cute tea party.  (I almost forgot about the tea party part oops)  Here are a few sneak peaks.

I saw this cute idea on Pinterest.  S'more treat bags.

I also have little Martha treat boxes

All dolled up and ready to party



The little one is making homemade graham crackers.  Yummy.  I got the recipe here.  The leftovers I have dipped in chocolate and will add a few homemade marshmallows for teacher and bus driver gifts.
The party is on Tuesday.  Let's hope that 7 little girls and one little boy will fall in love with everything as I have.

Blow Out Cute

Ok, those who know me know that I love {I really mean LOVE} to surf blogs. I always find the best inspiration and great ideas. Today's for me was sooooo worth it. I mean this has got to be the most creative person I have come across. I just can't believe that someone thought to do this. So of you might thing that it's just "ok" or kinda cute but I think there are so many possiblities with this, and who knew you could make party blowers so easily. My brain is racing, I could do a whole party theme around this. Oh...what fun!! I want to thank The Silly Pearl for this.

Isn't it amazing. Look at those wonderful handmade blowers and the cutest little hats. She even provides the tutorial and everything!!!!! If I was her I think I would keep it a secret. sssshhhhh!!! Don't forget to send her some love on her blog. I think she deserves it.
Now off to make some Easter Birthday blowers - ohh my head is bursting with idea's now!!!!!

This will make it fun

I am so excited, my package from Shop Sweet Lulu. Ohh my this stuff is so cute. I am dying to do an ice cream party now that I have these darling kits.

They come with spoons too. How fun!!

Next up are the paper straws that are so popular these days and pretty darn cute if you ask me. There are so many parties that these would go with. Without a doubt a must have for any party.

And finally, these darling cupcake cups and ginham treat bags. So polka dotty fun. Have I mentioned that I love polka dots. I know that these ginham bags will be perfect for so many occasions.

I can hardly wait to get these into action.

Votes and {invitations}

Sooo, I entered a contest yesterday to be in the best Party Blogs list. There is a button on the side that you can go to and vote for me. Could you? Would you? It would make me happy and get some exposure for this new venture of mine. I would greatly appreciate it. On the other side of things we now have a wonderful graphic designer doing invitations for me. My son came home yesterday with the most fabulous birthday invitation. I am not sure who was more excited, myself or my son. It was gorgeous, so personalized and fit the theme perfectly. There was no company name on the invitation so I hopped on the phone and called the mother. It turns out that is was her sister who did the invitation and does it as a home business while she is at home with her 1 year old. I immediately sent her and email. I was so excited about her work. It turns out that she is excited to so, I would like to welcome Serendipity Designs to the Poppylop team. Welcome aboard. We look forward to you wonderful works of art.

The reviews are in

The girls had a great time. All went well. YAY. I love happy children!! Some wouldn't take off the skirts, the treasure hunt was a success, they danced, they ate and everyone left happy. Even mom was happy. Now that's what I call a great party.

Super Pops

Wow, how fun are these? I came across these a few weeks back and HAD to have them for someones party.... will it be you? I looked around and found that everyone was out of stock ---ug. Then I found the wonderful Kate from CupKatesEventDesign on Etsy. Thank goodness for her. She sent me a whole wack of them and in no time flat. I think I received the order withing 5 days. Not too shabby. Thank you Kate.

These are called Push ups (no not the female kind). These hold yummy delish cake and icing. They fit any theme and can be customized with lables, bow and whatever else your imagination desires. I have seen them used for pirate parties and princess parties, but they can also be used for adult parties. The flexibility of use here is never ending.

One thing that I think will be popular with them is that they reduce mess and waste. They have lids, so that if children don't finish all their cake (can you imagine NOT finishing cake) they can put the lid on and take it home. Also, the crumbs stay in the container reducing the chance of having to chase those nasty cake crumbs all over the place after the party. (Nice eh!!)

We are not limited to just cake here either. I am thinking ice cream, pudding parfaits...oooh the list goes on. Can you tell I'm excited about this one? Yup I am. Are you too?

Recipes For Fun

Bubbles - Spring and Bubbles, For some reason I think the two go together. Call me crazy. If you are planning a spring party or even anytime of the year (outdoor) party, this bubble recipe will add a little extra fun.

1/4 Joy dish detergent - or any really inexpensive dishwashing liquid. (the cheaper the better)
3/4 cup water
5 drops of glycerin Do Not Skip this part. (available at pharmacies)

Mix it all together.
You will probably need to double or more the recipe and place in serveral containers. Shallow dishes work best. I like tin pie plates.

Next you will need to make some bubble blowers. Feel free to pick some up at the store, but for added punch it would be very impressive to have some hand crafted ones. Kids can make these as well.

• Pipe cleaners are great, bendable, flexible. Bend them into any shape.
• Wire works well too.
• Very inexpensive toilet paper rolls are easy for little hands to handle and while they work only until they get soggy, the blow great bubbles.
• For a more impressive bubble (you will need a bigger container for this) Tie a long length of string onto a dowel (tie both ends on so they will slide back and forth. Close loop, put tied ends together, dip in solution. Slowly open the string, slide on end back and swing the string through the air (boy I hope this makes sense!!)
• Another easier way is to get two straws the same length and a lenght of string. Put string through the straws and tie two ends together. Put knot end inside straw. If you hold the straws apart you will have a square or rectangle. Dip in the solution and blow.

This should keep young and old amused for a few hours. It really works best on a humid day.

If this is all too much, you can buy or rent a bubble machine. Any under the sea, princess or bubble party will be complete.

BACK TO YOUR ROOTS

It is said that a"home based" party can be the most memorable in a child's life. If you think back to your birthday parties, I am sure that the ones that come to mind right away are those that you had in your loving room, backyard or basement. Mom's homemade cake, playing pin the tail on the donkey (which has come a loooong way now) or hot potato. Believe it or not these simple and basic activities are the best and probably the reason that you remember them so fondly. Your mother probably made your favourite food, had things decorated the way you liked with your favourite colours, and yippee, BALLOONS. It was out of the ordinary and full of your favourites or "FLAVOURITES" in the case of food. What could be better. Time moves forward and now the tendency is to blow the roof off of these parties. To "out do" the Joneses and make it bigger and better than last year. Some people spend upwards of $20 000 on this one day or a couple of hour events. Who is this party for? The parents or the child. It is important to keep this in mind when planning. We can want to bring in the whole petting farm, but is it really necessary. What if we just put some stuffed animals behind a small garden boarder fence. Would your 3 year old mind?? No probably not, but it would add to that farm theme without taking it overboard.

It time to get back to basics. It can be hard to hold back. I know for a fact that it's a challenge. I do have a tendency to go over board, but when it comes down to it the visit from the professional actor/pirate was not really necessary when my husband's free version was even more entertaining. Don't hesitate to go back to those good old games either. Chances are that your kids have probably never even heard of "HOT POTATO" and I have yet to meet a child who didn't cheer when we announced it was time to play musical chairs!!




Go back to your roots, think simple and see how it turns out. If your child was not happy with the results, there is always next year.