Ellie's Cow Party

I decided on a cow theme for Ellie's party.

She loves animals so I picked this one cause she was born in the year of the ox (cow), she loves to moo, and cause black & white is fun and easy, especially with touches of pink. And once I found this free stock photography image, I was sold. Not only was it cute, but it reminded me of school. We had a ton of these cute cow stress relievers that said "Cornell University" on them. So much cuter without.

One of my goals for this party was to spend as little as possible and I think I did pretty good. Of course what ended up happening was I had to make as much as I could with myself using whatever I found around the house. I planned everything out a few weeks before the party but I didn't start doing any of the actual prepping until really, the night before. I'll always and forever be a procrastinator.

So ever since Halloween, my kids have been big on dressing up so I naturally figured to make a simple cow costume for the kids. Thought they would enjoy dressing up. I emailed the moms to bring their kids in white, black or neutral shades. I got headbands as favors from some previous parties and glued on some cow ears. For the cow bells, I used my stash of leftover ribbons from gifts to tie 'em on. The actual bells were the only thing I bought. I cut out a ton of cow spots and just taped those on with packing tape. And lastly, I used the ribbon and whatever yarn I had to make tails. I even put them on the kids with these little clips that came from bags of coffee I buy. I was originally going to use safety pins but didn't want to risk poked kiddie butts. I even had the hubs cut out a fence from cardboard boxes so the kids could stand behind and take a pic but that was a FAIL cause only half the kids wanted to dress up and only for a short amount of time. I guess I was asking for too much.

Either way, the kids looked SO friggin' CUTE! I suck at taking pictures when I'm hosting but I got a few of Ellie.

The second activity for the kids was MOOsical Squares. (I seriously have gotten so corny after having had kids.) Used Spotify for the first time. Love it. And the older sibs were the "finalists". Great job to Miss K for beating all the boys!

The last activity was making your own strawberry or chocolate milk. (No pics of this, boo.) I had the kids decorate clear cups with farm themed stickers and they just mixed the powder or syrup into their milk. Yum. I loved choc milk when I was a kid. Went perfect with the cupcakes too.


I didn't have time to bake so the hubs picked up some regular and mini cupcakes from the local Shoprite. I thoroughly cleaned some farm animals we had and stuck them on and voila! Themed cupcakes. Ha ha ha. This was pretty ghetto but cheap and I just love mini cupcakes for kids cause all they eat really is the frosting anyways.

Huge thanks to "Cookie Emo" for her, once again, amazing cookies. Super cute designs, perfect packaging and even the layout. Sweet ending to our cute lil' party.

Decor was basic. I taped cow spots on the wall, made some flower balloons, and hung some more over the food area. I ran out of time so I didn't get to make a Happy Birthday sign. (Sorry Ellie.)

Kids all went home with their cow accessories (if they remembered) along with a white goody bag that had some farm animal stickers, tattoos and a "make your own farm" activity I made from paper, plastic animals, and a Costco cup. Again, ghetto looking but after talking to the moms, the kids seemed super excited to make their farms and that's what mattered.

BEFORE...

AFTER...

Oh, forgot to mention food. I tried to think of what went with cows or a farm theme and ended up ordering KFC. With three kids, cooking was out of the question...even grilling. I now need the hubs watching at least one kid SO...we went with original, grilled and crispy chicken, mashed potatoes and coleslaw. I also got family size mac n' cheese from Wholefoods, which was pretty yum. And had some corn, grapes and clementines to add a dose of healthy to the menu.

Can you tell Ellie LOVED it all? She loved the attention, wearing the costume, she inhaled the chicken, the cake and cookies...all of it. She was smiling from the moment she came downstairs from her nap...until she went back up to bed. I think she really felt special so it made me and Gunn SO happy. Made my almost all nighter all worth it. And heck, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy most of it.

happy birthday girl + happy friends + cost efficient = Successful party

One thing I regret...the same thing I always regret. I really need to take the time out to take some good pictures. Probably need a better camera too.

Secret Message Bananas

I want to do this when my kids know how to read. And stick 'em in their lunch boxes. Just write on them with a toothpick and after time, the message will slowly appear. Easy peasy and so sweet!

Pumpkins & Snow

This year, I found out that the hubs is all about pumpkin carving. Who knew! I was going to print templates for the faces off the web but he insisted on sketching them himself. Happy surprise. We let Maxx & Ellie remove the seeds and gunk from the insides and then we did the poking and carving. The kids were surprisingly patient. And of course their favorite part was when we lit the candles inside and turned out all the lights.

Then today, I was going to put the pumpkins on the front porch but then decided to stick them on our deck, off the kitchen. I'd rather our family be able to enjoy them than strangers walking by. (My neighborhood isn't much of cozy community.) And of course the kids wanted to play in the grossly wet snow, so I bundled them up and out they went. My house is such a mess right now. I'm so behind in putting away summer things but my laziness actually paid off this time. The water/beach toys were right by the deck door and did the trick.

Now that I know the hubs is into pumpkin carving, I think I want to make a day of it next year and make a display of multiple jack o'lanterns. This means I really have to find a nicer pumpkin patch next year.

Maxx (cocking his head back imitating me laugh): HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
me: You're suck a punk.
Maxx: I'm a pumpkin?

More Kiddie Party Ideas

So I'm planning a small shindig for M's 3rd birthday and found a ton of super cute ideas. At best I'll probably only get to one or two of these since I don't have much time...or energy these days.

So simple!

I'll take the carvel ones over these skinny cow ones anyday.

If only I had the skills and time this'd be perfect for M's "green" party

Not your typical corny looking streamers, eh?

Lollipops as cake toppers...how simple yet adorable!

Remember these from an old posting? You can now get them here through esty! BFF4E!

Sewing Sewing Sewing

I want to get a sewing machine already.
(Yes, I know. I have no time and no money. Boo.)

I want to hem dress pants, shirts & skirts (skirts for Ellie one day cause I obviously don't wear them). I also want to hem expensive jeans to make them look like they weren't hemmed. It's SO expensive to get it done! Maybe I could be like Julie Andrews in Sound of Music and make dresses and play clothes for Ellie? Maybe some random things too like hats, dish towels, tissue box covers, and pouches for pens and change? You could make a ton of baby things too like changing pads, diaper/wipe pouches, bibs, burp cloths, blankets...dang! The list goes on. SO fun.

On Sunday, I was asking some mom friends at church where I can get cute hair accessories for Ellie. The ones I've seen online that I like are stinkin' expensive. My mom friends said that you lose them really easily, too. So even though Ellie has troll hair that's too short for anything yet, I'm going to try and make some myself so I don't have to spend much and I don't need to know how to use a sewing machine to make 'em!

Here are some tutorials I found online:

1. Felt Flower Pin by Hoot and a Holler

2. Rose Barrettes by The Purl Bee

I didn't think the rose pins were too cute but they look really cute in the girl's hair.

3. Ribbon Hair Clip

You can make these without the button too. You just need cute ribbon.

4. (Another) Ribbon Hair Clip

 

And when I finally do learn to use a sewing machine...

5. A Kinder, Gentler Headband

Arent headbands so sweet on little girls?

6. Little Boy's Tie - Something for Maxx too!

  

7. Christmas Stockings

I want to try to design ones for M & E on my own. :P

On a completely different note, I found a desktop wallpaper site I liked called PixiePresents. I downloaded this one. It makes me think of Maxx & Ellie a few years down the line. They're holding hands & looking up to God in the heavens. How precious.