Monster Bash Roundup

Tags

birthday, centerpiece, color scheme, decoration, diy

There was more to this monster bash than just the monsters I made, the first birthday bunting, and the monster food and drink.

I made a centerpiece by picking out the cereal with the right color scheme for the party and displaying with a 1 candle. I used cereal because it is less expensive than candy – at least to get the right colors – and the birthday boy could actually eat it if he wanted.

Can you tell I think a color scheme is really important? Even the flowers matched the color scheme – lime green flowers!

There were balloons in all three colors. I’d intended to hang them, but I ran out of time so they were floor decorations and toys.

I couldn’t resist adding more googly eyes to my gift for the birthday boy. I also displayed his scrapbook (even though it’s not a monster theme). I caught one or two people looking through it.

I think everyone got into the theme because most of his gifts were monsters as well (not pictured: monster bowling)

And perhaps most importantly, I hired Danese Kenon to photograph the event, so I get the gift of fabulous photos to frame for my family wall.

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Making Monsters: Food and Drink

Tags

cupcakes, fruit, gluten-free, pizza, punch, ugly dolls

The Monster theme was actually inspired because thee of his first gifts were monsters. He got his first Ugly Doll at his half birthday party. These cupcakes were patterned after the Ugly Dolls. The original plan was only to make these cupcakes…

but the gluten-free cake mix box seriously underestimated how many cupcakes could be made from one box (it’s 24 not 12), so I made a cake as well. Since it wasn’t planned, I didn’t get too creative on decorating the cake.

Luckily the fondant recipe I used was huge (even though I nearly halved it). Even after the cake, all these cupcakes, and a 40th birthday party cake, I still had some left over. I was intimidated, but the fondant was pretty easy to work with, and it had a great flavor.  It is best served fresh. It got harder as the leftover cupcakes waited to be eaten, but the fondant that had waited in the refrigerator for the 40th birthday cake tasted really fresh and soft because, although three days later it had been freshly rolled and cut out. The eyes were made by Wilton.

Obligatory Baby Eating Cupcake At First Birthday Party Photo

I made “slime punch” from this recipe. I used all natural ginger ale which I love because I don’t believe in high fructose corn syrup. I also drastically cut the sugar. I maybe added half a cup. Next time I would half the amount of orange juice. I considered floating the rest of the Wilton eyes in the punch or making marshmallow eyes to float, but I wasn’t sure how well they would last.

The monster cups are just paper cups from Walmart ($.97 per package) with googly eyes glued on. Fun, easy, and a way to add more monsters to our party!

I also served monster pizza and watermelon, pineapple, and blueberries with a monster-shaped watermelon (with marshmallow eyes).

Pictures marked “photo by DKP” were taken by Danese Kenon.

Making Monsters: Decorations and Attire

Tags

Monsters, t-shirt, utensils

The theme for this first birthday party was Monsters. Here are just three of the monsters that I made for this party. All were inexpensive and easy.

1. Monster Utensil Holder

The supplies for this guy were practically less than $2: an empty tissue box, scrap printer paper, streamers, adhesive, and goggly eyes (just two in a large pack I bought for many projects for this party).

First cover the box in white paper, so you don’t have a flowery monster. I cut the square for the top, gently folded it in half and cut out his toothy mouth.

Making him furry takes a little time, but it is not hard. Cut the streamer into strips; I tried to make most of mine just a little longer than going all around the box. Fold each streamer strip in half (making it thinner not shorter). Cut fringe on the ends. Glue the folded (and not cut) side to the bottom of the box. Layer strips as you work up to the top.

The face required shorter strips and more creative angles to get it to look right. The goggly eyes were the last thing added.

2. Monster Initial

I had tons of streamer left over (still do), so I used the left over poster board from the Mario photo frame to make this guy. Since he has curves, there was a little trial and error to get the streamers layered the way I wanted them to be. (You can also use this same technique to make home made piñatas without paper mache.) Mostly I worked from the outside to the middle. He looks very “Sesame Street”, doesn’t he?

3. Monster Shirt

I had envisioned a lime green t-shirt or onesie, but this was what was available in the right size at Hobby Lobby. I believe it was $2.99. The felt was 4 for a $1, so I grabbed lime, light blue, white, and black. I used heat ‘n bond to attach it to the shirt, but I can’t tell you what that cost because I grabbed the wrong stuff and had to use the heat ‘n bond hem tape I already had at home. Everything was cut free hand, but I did use cookie cutters and other circular objects I had available to trace so I could stay mostly circular. I actually had plenty of felt to make two monsters and I nearly made myself a matching shirt. I think he was pretty adorable!

Danese Kenon took photos during the party, and this last one is one of hers. You will see more of her photos when I do a round up of the party. Ignore the pizza on his shirt; it washed right out. I was able to wash this in the washing machine without issue, but I did not dry it just to be safe.

First Birthday Bunting

Tags

birthday, decoration, diy, pinterest

Every first birthday party needs baby photos. I liked the idea here of a guessing game of how old baby is in each photo month by month, but I knew our guests wouldn’t really participate. Instead, I used mommyinthemidwest as my “pinspiration”. Everything I needed for this project I already had at home, but if you don’t the supplies are fairly inexpensive. The most expensive part will be the patterned paper. I had a slab of patterned papers that pretty closely matched my color theme of lime, orange, and light blue.

The first step was choosing the height and width of the triangles for my bunting, which I did based off of the slab of papers that I had. I created a triangle template in pages then adjusted each of my photos behind the triangle to make sure the baby’s face fit how I wanted it to. (Here is the triangle I created: bunting template) I turned all the photos to black and white in iPhoto. There is plenty of color in the patterned paper, and I wanted the focus to be on his adorable face. I printed each picture with the triangle, so that I could cut the photo out using the triangle guide and cutting all of the background out. I did leave the hands holding him in one or two, but mostly the photos are just the baby. The triangles also had to be cut by hand, but maybe you can figure out how to cut the correct angles with your paper cutter.

Once I had the photos and the triangles cut out, I simple glued them together. My bunting is hung on a line made of three threads of embroidery floss (lime, orange, and light blue) twisted together. I used a large needle to simple “sew” it all into one line. Notice, that some of the photos are sized in a different place on the triangle. The majority are at the bottom, but some fit better a little higher. I like that it’s not all exactly the same.

For the party, I hung it over the french doors behind the dining room table (where all the food would be). After the party, I moved it to the baby’s room because it is too adorable not to keep around as long as possible.