Horse Party Theme

When I was asked to help create a horse party for a loved 12-year-old girl, I immediately panicked. I know nothing about horses. Well...I've ridden a horse once, does that count? Luckily, party planning requires very little background knowledge.

After a bit of brainstorming on Pinterest and a little time sourcing products on Amazon, I came up with this inexpensive and simple plan. Take a look.

This post contains affiliate links to help you locate products.

The stars of this show were these awesome horse balloons. I ordered them here. I was amazed at how big they were and how easy they were to inflate with a straw and a little blowing. I taped wooden skewers to the legs of the horse balloon to stand it up in my wooden planter box. It worked perfectly.

I also purchased these horse napkins. When planning parties, it's always fun to find a great themed party plate or napkin for the table. I've planned entire parties around a fun paper napkin.
These napkins tied in the horse theme perfectly. I added solid colored paper plates and cups to go with the blue and green in the napkins.

This post contains affiliate links to help you locate products.

Turf pieces were leftover from another party and used as chargers. I use them all the time!

Wooden sporks are from here.
My blue and green felt letterboards have been used for so many parties...I love them.
Click here for similar option.
I added these horse cutouts to all the printed signs and sprinkled them on the table!

Now let's talk about the snacks!

Creative tags make ordinary snacks extra fun!

I printed out these tags, (click here) on kraft cardstock and stuck a horse cutout on each one. Small, thin skewers were taped to the back of the tags and tucked into the snacks.
Now take a look at this horse cake made by a local bakery! Wow!

This horse-loving birthday girl was in heaven!
A birthday she won't forget!

Click here to print your own tags.

Did you know that I have an A to Z list of every party on my blog? Click here to see!

I've done a few animal parties over the years:

Beaver Party

Oh Deer Party

Flamingo Pun Party

Frog Baby Shower Party

Puppy Party

Whale Party

CONTINUE READING

Safari Party- We're Going to Africa!

Our family is going to Africa!
We're traveling to Arusha, Tanzania to visit our friends who are working with World Vision.  We'll be with a World Vision team of 12 other people (adults and teens) for 10 days. We're so excited!

Our team wanted to have a little gathering to talk about our trip.
This 'gathering' was to take place at our home, so of course that meant I needed a party theme...

Not only will we be seeing many World Vision projects in Tanzania, but we're going on an African safari together as well.
Which gave me the perfect theme...
It's a Safari Party!


I transformed our kitchen table into a safari themed appetizer and dessert party...and it only took a few decor items.  Most of these were found around my house.
(This post contains affiliate links to help you locate products.)

-old globe (found at a garage sale)
-raffia (from a dress up Hawaiian costume)
-bamboo trays (found at Goodwill)
-dark wooden tiers and iron food stands (I have a collection of these picked up from various places.)
-woven paper storage basket
-zebra wrapping paper
-animal print scrapbook paper
-fake banana leaves (found at Joann's Fabrics and Crafts)
-giraffe print ceramic travel mug (Can't find the exact mug online, but this one is close.)

I cut a wide strip of the zebra wrapping paper to make a runner down the center of my table.  (Wrapping paper is my favorite way to make table runners...super easy.)
As a centerpiece, I laid out the raffia skirt and turned the woven basket upside down to bring some height to the globe and vase. The banana leaves were placed in a dark vase behind the globe with a few dark sticks that I already had.

The little chalkboard easel was found at Michaels, but this is a close match.
It was a perfect way to display how many days left until we leave!

  

My giraffe printed mug worked well for holding forks.  The wild animal napkins brought in more of the giraffe pattern and added the leopard/cheetah pattern to the party.

On the globe, I placed a star on the country of Tanzania.  It seems so far away, I can hardly believe we're going there!

The food was placed around the table for guests to easily help themselves.  And yes, the food went with our theme...you know me well.

Simple animal crackers were placed in cheetah printed cupcake liners.  I placed a sheet of scrapbook paper underneath and added a chalkboard label.

Tropical fruit is a must at any Safari party.  I chopped up cantaloupe, honeydew and watermelon into tiny squares.  These were displayed in glass parfait cups (no longer available at Pier 1), that I use all the time.
Mini forks were stuck in each one and I wrote Melon Cups on the chalkboard label.

One of the biggest hits at this party was the Pineapple Meatballs. (Click here for the recipe.)  Everyone loved the pineapple tangy sauce these meatballs were drenched in.  Bonus: they're so easy to make!

I served a few other treats, you might have seen in the pictures...tropical picks (mango, pineapple and sausage on a pick) and also coconut macaroon cookies.  I then tried my hand at a zebra cake--another big hit of the party!

This was a square, double layer, white and chocolate cake.
White buttercream frosting with black marshmallow fondant for the zebra stripes finished it off.


I tried to make the inside look like a zebra, but it didn't quite turn out the way I had hoped.  The guests didn't mind a bit!  The idea came from here.
Also served was Tanzanian coffee.

And that was our little Safari Party!

Now, the hard part...what to pack?!

 Want to see more of my themed parties? Click here.



Linking up to:  CraftyCornerLinkParty

CONTINUE READING

Whale Themed Party

Hello!
Today I'm popping in to share with you this whale themed birthday party for my mother-in-law.  To be honest with you, I wasn't sure if a whale theme would 'sink or swim' with our family, but everyone loved it, especially the grand kids!

(Note: This post contains affiliate links to help you locate products.)

The table was lined with blue striped wrapping paper, blue tulle and blue vases filled with white flowers.  For some reason, I'm really into tulle lately. (...you know that netting stuff that tutus are made of? It's perfect for parties and bow making.)  Better add that craft item to my favorite things list: ribbon, washi tape, chalkboard, tulle...
Name rocks are from this post.
 

And of course, I used every whale pun I could come up with!

Yes, this post is 'drowning' with whale puns...some are better than others.  This cute little chalkboard easel is from Michaels.

A friend gifted me these precious Whale Wooden Ornaments- click here. They looked adorable hanging from the glass vases placed down the center of the table.  I actually found the turquoise glass vases at a garage sale, but these vintage vases online are extra fabulous!

This was a family dinner, so of course the menu had to coordinate with the theme.  (You know me so well.)

-Fish-n-Chips
including sweet potatoes 'chips'.
-Cedar planked salmon
Have you ever grilled salmon on cedar planks?  If not, YOU are missing out!  Oh wow!




The salad was appropriately named Seaweed.  Naturally, most of the grandkids stayed far away from it.

But, the veggie tray got some attention.  Look!  You can spot, (not a sea cucumber), but an orca whale surfacing right in the middle of the vegetables!  Oh yah!

The vegetables were appropriately named as well.

And the showstopper?  The fabulous watermelon fruit whale!

My sister-in-law (who has never attended one of my parties, because she lives so far away) was in town from Virginia, and offered to help me prepare food.  Oh, was she in for a surprise when I gave her this job.  Needless to say, nothing phases her and she totally rocked this watermelon whale 'right out of the sea'!  We served fruit out of it for a week, because it was so cute.

...and don't forget about refreshments. 
Sea Water...I mean fresh water, was the drink of choice. 

You been waiting to see the dessert table, right?  Here you go!

I hung my handmade paper Happy Birthday banner with a wood planked whale to set the stage. I found the whale at Home Goods, but I love this online Wooden Whale Wall Hanging, too!  Of course I had to paint the whale to match the party colors...everyone does this, right?

Treats included:
Whale blubber- blue jello with gummies
Blowholes- dried apples
Bottlenoses- blue drinks in a bottle

Chocolate Plankton- M&M's
Whale food- Goldfish crackers (Finding Dory version)
Whale bubbles- large white gumballs

Sweet Whales- sugar cookie cut outs

and a whale cake!

My sister-in-law and I crafted up this sweet and tasty thing.  It's a triple layer white cake with blackberry filling and buttercream frosting.  The whale on top is make out of fondant and lots of blue dye. (...be sure to wear plastic gloves if you attempt this.)

I almost don't want to show you this picture...
(The forks were labeled, harpoons...in a clever way, not a mean way.) 
Save the whales!
Those cute little glass jars with metal whale tags were found at Michaels.

We used the whale and banner wall as a photo shoot backdrop...(just carefully pull the table out.)

And there you have it.
Happy Birthday, Nana!

Click here to print your own whale signs.

Want to see more of Nana's Birthdays?
Check them out.


Hiking Party


Balloon Party


Sunshine Party


Beachy Starfish Party


Puppy Party

CONTINUE READING