Red & Blue Gingerbread House Decorating Party

So I am totally obsessed with Red & Aqua this Christmas! Here is a party by Tradewind Tiaras & was featured on Amy Atlas Design & Kara's Party Ideas. She used Frog Prince Paperie for the printables(LOVE Frog Prince!!) Using flavor filled paper straws is brilliant. I will be keeping that in the memory bank! Take a look & enjoy this stunning party!

Nothing is better than decorating gingerbread houses on a cold winter day. This party was sent to us by Nicole ofTradewind Tiaras. Instead of a dessert table, Nicole created a candy display for decorating the gingerbread houses. An assortment of decorating candy was displayed in colorful boxes with tags from Frog Prince Paperie. Do you see the cool backdrop? It is made of painted and cut Styrofoam to depict snowy hills.  The houses, snowmen and Christmas trees on the snowy hills were made of cookies. Pretty amazing, right? We also love how Nicole decorated simple cups with felt for homemade cozies. Guests filled their cozies with hot cocoa or mulled cider, and then stirred up their drinks with ”Mixie {pixy} Sticks” to add special flavors like cinnamon and mint.  We love these fun holiday decorating ideas!

Photography by Tradewind Tiaras.

Hurry Up class Christmas!

So here was the dilemma. Twenty mins to set up a class party for 25 kids(while they were at recess) with NO CANDY allowed. While I would of LOVED to really decorate. Time was an issue. Again, 20 minutes to set up, for a party that would last 30 minutes, with a planned activity during the party.  Overall it was really cute & the kids had a great time.
I was inspired my the colors of Maree Trueloves clip art that I posted about a week or so ago. It was a Red & Aqua Holiday!

My verision of the paper cone wreath.  I was ready to hang things from the ceiling, but thought a more practical solution was a better idea. So I glue magnets the ribbon, wreath & ornaments and "hung then up" that way. MUCH  easier then the fishing line & a ladder.

Tissue fans from Party City(5 for 1.99) attached to a light blue paper straw.

Donut Tree!!!

Holly Jolly Christmas Party

This paper is unbeliveable & fits right in here at Budget Birthdays.  Be sure to read the whole article to see how inexpensive this party actually was!! This party is by 505 Designs +Paperie.(You should really take a look around her site. This lady is TALENTED!)

 It was inspired be the North Pole party I posted about a week ago.  I found it at Kara's party ideas. This is how the designer explains here party inspiration,tips & tricks

Here is what Cathy said about the party- "I created this party to display my new printable set and give some easy and inexpensive ideas for anyone hosting/attending a Kids Christmas Party this year. I wanted everything to be very lighthearted and child-like, of coarse Santa had to be included. Thank you so much to my good friend Monica of Andary Studio who captured the party perfectly and Tracie’s Sweet Treats for coming through at the last minute with delicious Red Velvet Cupcakes.

My main inspiration came from the adorable North Pole Cupcakes found on Kara's Party Ideas here.

To create the hot coco cups simply dip the rim in red chocolate and then again in red sugar sprinkles. This can be done a few days in advanced to save on time. The milk bottles were Starbucks frappuccino bottles cleaned and wrapped with drink bottle label topped off with 2% milk & a red polka dot straw. The Rudolf suckers were chocolate Rudolf peeps on a lollipop stick – pretty simple but way cuter then throwing them on a plate. Milano Cookies were dipped half way in red chocolate and then dipped in crushed up candy canes/peppermints. The reindeer doughnuts were made with chocolate covered doughnuts, pretzels cut in half for antlers, white chocolate chips for eyes and red balls for noses – make sure you remove the noses before serving ;).

This party was created with mostly inexpensive store bought items displayed in a super cute way. Totals: The desserts cost a whooping $25. All in all the party was less then $100."

Vendors:

Holly Jolly Printable Set – 505 Design+PaperiePhotography – Andary StudioRed Velvet Cupcakes – Tracie’s Sweet TreatsPeppermint Table Cloth & Place Mat, Square and round plates – Christmas Tree ShopPolka Dot favor boxes, Straws and Cupcake Liners – The Bakers Confection
Glittery Stockings and Hot Coco Tin – Target
Candy Cane Mint Milanos Recipes – Hostess with The Mostess

Goody Goody Gumdrop Party

Found this at Hostess with the Mostess  Soooooo many cute ideas in this party. This party was designed by Paper & Pigtails.  I love using the gumdrops as garland & the gumdrop cake looks super easy to make. Well....buy :) Here are the details from HWTM in the designers own words.

We are totally sweet on this bright and playful GOODY GOODY GUMDROPS themed kids party by Kori of Paper & Pigtails! There’s such a wonderful simplicity to the overall design that really makes Kori’s adorable gumdrop-patterned stationery details POP. This is would be a fabulous, approachable theme for both holiday parties orkids birthday parties year-round!

A few favorite details include the homemade candy & ribbon garlands and necklaces, DIY gumdrop t-shirt making activity {what a fun treat for the kids!}, and the super cute “gumdrop bouquet” fashioned from Blumeboxes and Pastry Pedestals. And as a certified frosting-lover {the more the better!}, I’m definitely loving the generously iced gumdrop-shaped cake, which serves as the perfect functional centerpiece for the dessert table.

Read on for lots more colorful eye candy + party details…

*****

PARTY DETAILS, as told by Kori…

::
OVERALL IDEA/DESIGN:
When the idea of a ‘gumdrop’ themed party was brought up to me, my mind started swirling with ideas! One of my favorite things about gumdrops are their bright, festive, colors which led me to an nontraditional Holiday color scheme of orange, yellow, red, green, and purple! I designed the invitation first and it served as the inspiration for the whole party. I decided to design this party outside, both to bring in more color, and because I know there are many other places who are still enjoying beautiful weather and love taking advantage of it!

KID’S TABLE:
For the kids table, we put together 2 kids picnic tables and covered them with linens. At each place setting was a colorful plate, favor bag of gumdrops, and a personal lunch in a little kit! The centerpiece was a large gumdrop covered ‘tree’ and several smaller ones the kids made from ice cream cones by spreading them with icing and sticking on gumdrops!

DESSERTS TABLE:
If you have a gumdrop party, you have to have a lot of sweet treats waiting for after lunch! The center of the table boasted a gumdrop cake, and on either side of the table was a Blumebox holding ‘gumdrop buttons’. I usedPastry Pedestals to make the skewers. Across the front of the table was a variety of gumdrop cookies from Bees Knees Creative sitting on a bed of gumdrops!

ACTIVITIES:
The kids at the party can have a blast making their own gumdrop trees! We used sugar cones and let the kids coat them with icing, then stick on the gumdrops. The other fun activity we did was make gumdrop candy necklaces! The gumdrops are really sticky, so we could only string about 5 on before the thread got way too sticky to work with, so we used ribbon to tie onto the ends!”

*****

VENDOR CREDITS:

– Party Printables & Party Theme Styling: Paper & Pigtails
– Cookies: Bees Knees Creative

How to make a Paper Cone Christmas Wreath

I fell in love with this when I saw it. This paper cone wreath is adorable & believe it or not...looks super easy to make. Even the ruffled crepe paper circle looks easy.  This wreath & the peguin party are design from Frog Prince Paperie  There are tons of party ideas, tips & tricks. Everything is so beautiful. Here are the instructions on how to make your own from the designer herself:

I am giving instructions here for the large double rowed wreath, but you can follow the same method for a single layer wreath. The materials for this project are very (very) basic:

• Cardstock in two shades of green (6 to 7 sheets of each)
• 8 inch cardboard cake circle
• 4 inch paper circle with graphics
• 5 inch paper circle in complimentary color to 4 inch graphic
• Green crepe paper (I used a roll of streamers)
• Red buttons
• Ribbon for hanging (mine is 1.5 inch red satin)
• Glue gun

Step 1: Cut your paper. The larger ring I did in the darker shade of green. These need to be cut to 4.25 inches square.  The smaller ring is a lighter green, and cut to 3.75 inches. The number of squares you need will vary depending on how tightly you roll your cones and how you place them. There are 21 large and 16 smaller cones in the wreaths in the picture above as a loose guideline.

Step 2: Make your cones!

This is probably the most important tip when making this wreath: make sure you fold all your cones the same direction. Right over left or left over right–just be consistent!

 

I went with right over left. If you’re using a heavy card stock like I did here, you absolutely have to pre-fold them so you don’t end up with glue in unpleasant places.

Just a little hot glue on the inside of the top edge–

And we have cones. I used hot glue because the paper is pretty strong, and didn’t want to stay put with double sided tape or a glue stick.

Step 3: Arranging your cones. 

It’s good to do a quick pre-flight to make sure you have enough cones to make your wreath shape. I needed a guide to show me that I had the cones all in a perfect circle, so i used my lens cap in the center. A bigger guide would have resulted in a bigger wreath!

Step 4: Gluing down.

Work two or three at a time to glue down all your perfectly placed cones. remember to step back every few and make sure everything is still lining up!

Step 5: Row two!

The top circle with the smaller cones is created the same way as the first circle. Only this time there is no guide and all the pointy ends touch. Glue them all down a few at a time with hot glue.

Step 6: Giving the center some bling. 

My 4 inch circle in the center was made from the circles in the penguin party printables. I traced a bowl from the kitchen onto red card stock to make my 5 inch circle (nothing but the best in crafting tools here!)

Using the adhesive of your choice, layer the two circles together.

Step 7: Ruffles! 

This only looks intimidating. It’s not. Real simple stitch there–just use your needle and thread to run a quick hem stitch along one of the edges of your crepe paper and pull the paper gently to gather it.

Keep ruffling until you have enough to go around the outside of your 5 inch circle. I forgot to measure this step for you–shame on me.

Turn over your layered circle and glue your ruffle around the edge.

Ta-dah! It’s ready to go in the center of your wreath! Just hot glue it down like everything else. Your option to add the buttons here.

Step 8: Hanging it up.

I glued a 1.5 inch red double faced satin to the back to hang my wreath with. Make sure you glue the ribbon down from the center to the edge, or else the wreath will fall forward when you hang it up. And that would just look silly.

And you’re ready to hang it up. I can’t wait to see all the creative variations of this out there–send them in and I’ll show them off!

I can't wait to make one of these! But I guess I should finish the paper straw & coffee filter wreaths first! :)

Here one that I made for my sons class party.