Breaking 30 Badly

Amy and I threw, our brother Mike, a surprise 30th birthday party with a Breaking Bad theme. The cake was killer, it was a definite center piece. It came out even better than we expected, complete with Los Pollos Hermanos chickens, a bacon 30, Heisenberg, and a cartoon Jesse and Walt in hazmat suits, and, of course, blue meth. The theme was carried throughout our menu, we served roof pizza, Los Pollos Hermanos Chicken Wings, Heisenbergers (cheeseburger sliders), madrigal sauces, awkward guacamole, funyuns and blue rock candy. You could wash it down with Shraderbrau or blue barrel juice for the kids.

















Decorations were a bit sparse, we were smack dab in the middle of our painting project. Time already wasn't on my side, I was further delayed when the guest of honor showed up unannounced about two hours before his party. I scrambled to keep him out of the fridge and party details out of sight while I came up with an excuse to send him to my sisters until the big reveal. We had nods to the show scattered inside and out. In hindsight, I could've done a better job capturing the details. However, we pulled off the surprise and had a fun celebration. I can't ask for better than that.

A Winter ONEderland Party

To celebrate my youngest niece's first birthday we invited friends and family to join us in Alexis' Winter ONEderland. As luck would have it, it was a very chilly & rainy day. Everyone was eager to warm up with hot chocolate. We set up a bar with all the fixings. The party was held in the evening to accommodate work schedules. So, we also had a chili bar to satisfy the hungriest appetites. My sister and I found all sorts of decor on clearance after Christmas that fit our theme. Amy made the banner we draped over the window and snowflakes tied everything together.

The kids kept busy with snowball fights (multiple sizes of styrofoam balls from Hobby Lobby) and build your own snowman using marshmallows, Oreo thins, Reese's miniature peanut butter cups, string licorice, orange tic tacs and edible markers. Gift bags were filled with treats such as hot chocolate packets, marshmallows and sixlets, or squeeze applesauce for the little ones. Lex seemed to love it, she was a cuddle bug throughout her party. It was just the sweetest. Happy 1st birthday, Lexi girl!

I Choose You - A Pokemon Birthday

Last month, we celebrated Nick's 10th birthday. Like most kid's his age he's been obsessed with Pokemon. He told us months before his birthday that he wanted a Pokemon themed party. I looked into various options and narrowed down party ideas to two and I let Nick have the final say. Instead of a painting party (Pikachu) he chose a party at home with a bounce house. I wasn't sure a bounce house would fit in the backyard, but I measured twice and it'd be tight, but it would indeed fit. I didn't account for the bounce house to move with all the kids jumping inside of it so one of our bushes took a beating, but otherwise the bounce house was a great success. The Incredible Hulk didn't quite fit the theme, but no one seemed to mind.

A couple months prior to the party, I bought the Pokemon decorations from a Facebook garage sale group, $7 well spent! Invites and Thank you cards I downloaded from Etsy. I taped dollar store table clothes together to create pokeballs and I made a Pikachu balloon that was a crowd favorite. I found free printables online to dress up odds and ends that tied everything together. I also created a game called, Pikachu Pop. I stuffed small Pokemon toys (Amazon) into balloons and had the kids catch them all by popping the balloons on their butts. It was a frenzy of screams and giggles - a real hit! Amy had a friend make the Master Pokeball Cake. It was the perfect center piece for all of our snacks. Treat bags were Pokemon cups (party city) filled with treats and Pokemon wristbands (Amazon). Said and done, a fun time was had by all.

A Birthday in Fairytale Forest

Addison's second birthday has come and gone. We had a fun-tastic party and we had lots of friends over to help celebrate. Our theme was Disney's Goldie & Bear, which is still in its first season so they have not printed decor, clothes or made toys. I couldn't find a single thing - not even in Anaheim. So, pulling the theme together took a little creativity, but Amy and I had fun coming up with ideas.

Addy just loves (Jack) Bear. She asks daily to watch and I know the episodes like the back of my hand. She also likes the three little pigs, big bad and the frog. The "Cow Jump" episode is a favorite. We had pin the tail on the cow that jumps over the moon. I made pigs out of paper laterns. Our snacks all fit the fairytale theme: humpty-dumpty's deviled eggs, three little pigs in a blanket, little red riding hood muffins, Jack's beanstalks, and snack mix with bricks (chocolate chunks), straw (shoestrings) and sticks (pretzels). We also had bottled water in Jack's pail. Addy was more interested in her candy necklace than her birthday cake, but Lexi thoroughly enjoyed the sweet taste of frosting - much to mama bear's dismay, but that's what grandpas are for. The kids swam and chased bubbles. Addy was fortunate to receive many awesome gifts. It was a great day. Let's hope the 2's are anything but terrible. In any case, the next year will certainly be an adventure with this hilarious, too smart for her own good, insanely cute kid.

Addison in ONEderland

Miss Addison is one year old. She is adorable, funny, a daredevil and an acrobat. She loves to imitate her big brother. She likes to eat just about everything, except foods made for babies. She been walking for couple months and she continues to learn new things every day.



A while back Amy told me of her plan for a Addison in ONEderland party. I took the idea and ran with it. I was able to find printable decorations on Etsy, I ordered color coordinated accessories on Amazon - hard to be the prices and you can't beat the convenience. Amy put together a menu with snacks fit for a tea party, and made the cupcakes & Addy's smash cake. Friends and family joined us, we had nine kiddos running around to help celebrate. It was a great success. The birthday girl needed some help to destroy her cake, but needed no assistance in getting messy.