Rainbow Spa Birthday

Pre-Teen - Tween - Teeny Bopper

Whatever you call it - I've got one.  

Little K turned 11 recently, so I guess there is no denying it.  We are full blown into the Tween Years. 

Her actual birthday was at the beginning of March, but trying to coordinate schedules meant that she wasn't able to have a Party with her school friends until last weekend.

This Years Theme:

Rainbow Spa Sleepover

Here is the invitation that I showed off earlier:

Made from Paint Chips (with very little help from me).

The SPA table was set up in the Kitchen Nook, so I used the buffet to layout snacks and sweets.

Rainbow Fruit Kabobs

There had to be some healthy options as well...after all it is a Spa Party.  Rainbow Veggie Tray.

I wanted to make paper cones to hold the caramel corn, but couldn't find any paper that was cute enough, so instead I folded Rainbow Polka Dot tissue paper into a clear cup.

Gum Balls (that I thought would be just for decoration....but they ate nearly half the jar), and Rainbow Twizzlers in fun fruit flavors.

Cake Pops decorated with Rainbow Colored sugar and drizzle.

 Jars of flowers lined the center of the Spa Table.  Paper Zig Zag Streamers and a Rainbow Balloon Swag that was planned to hang over the front door, but it was wet and windy and I was afraid they would PoP so we moved it inside.

There were 7 girls that attended and each one of them was assigned one of the 7 Colors

(notice how the Tween Girl Rainbow includes Pink)

At the Spa Table there was a basket of beauty supplies, and a Robe for each of the girls in their Color.  The Rainbow Rugs (from the seasonal bins at Target) were too cute to pass up.   

 They applied home made beauty treatments including:

Warm Lemon and Mint infused Towels (to open up the pores)

Oatmeal Scrub (to cleanse)

Strawberry Astringent (to tighten the pores)

And Lastly - an Avocado Mask with Cucumber Slices (to hydrate and moisturize).

Don't they look so Relaxed and Happy?

Everything was going great - until we discovered one of the young ladies was allergic to Avocado!

Yikes! 

It was a bit scary - but after we removed the avocado and let her rest with a clean cool towel over her face - the hives cleared up and the itching stopped. 

Thankfully her mom came right over with some Benadryl and she was able to get back to the Party Fun. 

They made some Jewelery.  Painted their Nails. Played Truth or Dare. Talked - Whispered - Giggled. Watched a Movie and got a few hours sleep.

I premade some Body Scrubs using essential oils and Sea Salt for each of the guests to take home. 

Her Cake was layers of vanilla frosted with plain white buttercream.  

Adorned with a sweet  Rainbow Flag Topper.

I'm kind of obsessed with these little flags.  I though they were so cute - it was the only decoration the cake needed.

Except for the "11" candles.

Did I forget to mention I added a little color to the inside of the cake.

Rainbow - of course!

Happy Birthday to my Sweet Little K.

Assorted Birthday Bits

Yesterday was Little K's 11th Birthday.

 

How does that happen - our kids keep getting older, and yet we keep getting younger?

I would love to share pictures of our wonderful day together...

BUT

...as I picked up my camera - the strap caught on the drawer and the entire thing went crashing down to the tile floor.

This is what's left of my favorite lens. 

Weep - Sigh - SOB

(I'll be researching camera repair options later on today)

Back to the regularly schedule Birthday Celebrations.

 

 Last week we made treats to share with her Ballet Buds at the dance studio.

I'm not sure what to call them:

Cake Push Pops

Cake Shooters

Push Ups

I love the idea of them being Self Contained, Easy to Transport and No Mess to eat.  

Not to mention Super Cute.

They were so easy to make.  I baked the cake in 3 square pans in order to get thin layers.  Then used a round cutter to make mini rounds of cake and stacked them into the push pop alternating with layers of frosting.

A few sprinkles on top and the domed lid keeps everything in place.  I printed Happy Birthday labels onto sticker paper, and punched them out using my favorite round scallop punch.  

There are lots of sites that sell the containers including etsy.   I got mine through Amazon:  The Push Pop Containers here and the Acrylic Stand here. 

Today at School - Little K celebrated with her Classmates by bringing in a Doughnut Cake.

I think we've made this same treat every year since First Grade.  It started because they were not allowed to bring in Home Made food at her last school - so a trip to Krispy Kreme solved the problem.

There have been a few years when there were no Krispy Kreme Doughnut shops around, so we had to substitute.  I'm happy to say we have access to one again - although it is almost 30 minutes away - it's so worth it to get the soft and warm glazed goodness.  

Little K is having a party at home with some of her friends in a few weeks.  She in charge of all the planning - and lets me know what I can do to help.  

At the moment - it's a Rainbow Spa Themed Sleepover Party.

The invitations have been mailed.

Little K made them herself (I was allowed to help by peeling the words of the cricut sticky mat). 

She saw an adorable Framed Art Piece (in the March issue of Paper Crafts Magazine) designed by Stephanie Halinski and used the idea to create her invitations.  

Yep - those are Paint Chips.  I wonder how long it will be before the paint stores start charging for those little strips of color inspiration?  Have  you seen all the great things people are making from paint chips?

 

Hopefully I'll have my camera back and working again before her big party.  

Stay Tuned.  More to Come.

School's Out.....for Summer

I have the urge to break out into song, feel free to hum along.....

note: Alice Cooper lives in Phoenix (more accurately Scottsdale) Arizona, near where we used to live. I've never met him personally, but apparently he is quite an upstanding and philanthropic member of the community. So much for his Shock Rocker image of the 70's.

Little K finished up school last week and her class decided on a Movie Star Party to celebrate.

That celebration was in addition to the other activities that have been going on at school in the past few weeks:

Field trip to the Aquatic Center
Music Recital
3 Day Overnight Trip to Coloma, CA
(where gold was first discovered)
4th Grade Water Play Day

Phew - I am definitely ready for summer vacation after all that!

As much as I wanted to do all the planning for their Movie Star Party, Little K's teacher convinced me that the kids were more than capable of taking care of most of the details themselves.

As a perfectionist amateur party planner who has control issues - those are fightin' words.

In retrospect - the kids has some amazing ideas for their party and did a great job pulling it all together.

I managed to take control of making the cupcakes. This was a perfect time to try out the Popcorn Cupcakes from the Hello Cupcake book.

I used a different technique for the popcorn than described in the book.




Bowl of popcorn?
Nope - they are made from mini marshmallows, cut and squished to look like popcorn kernels.

I used the yellow mini marshmallows (from the pastel bag) and also white mini marshmallows.



With a pair of scissors, cut into each of the marshmallows (about 1/2 way down). I used a different number of cuts for each. (in the photo above from L to R: 3, 3, 2, 4)

Then dip the cut marshmallow in powdered sugar (because the inside of a mallow is very sticky) and squish it with your fingers (also dipped in powdered sugar). Squeezing the bottom uncut portion of the marshmallow so it opens up like a flower, and then flattening each of the cut sections.



I added the popcorn marshmallows to the frosted top of vanilla cupcakes. If you plan on making these - be warned. It takes a lot of marshmallows to cover the cupcakes, so mine ended up looking a little sparse after making enough for 30 students.

Given more time, I would have found/made red and white striped cupcake papers, but I still think they turned out cute - a little plain, but cute.



I made a few mini cupcakes and put them in a popcorn box - just for fun.



Now that I think about it - real popcorn would have tasted good as well (sweet and salty)



The Movie Stars loved them.

All the Party decorations were created by the students (with some on-sight supervision - I just couldn't stay away).



The classroom was dressed up with the Hollywood Hills, Stars from the Walk of Fame, and a Red Carpet covered in balloons and bordered with red paper chain ropes.



They collected autographs from their movie star classmates.



And we put together simple prize buckets for some of the games.

The paparazzi was on hand to snap pictures of all our Stars including Jack Black, Hagrid, Harry Potter, Jack Sparrow, Charlie Sheen, Bethany Hamilton, Quinn Fabray, Taylor Swift and Brittany Pierce. Even their teacher got into character and came dressed as Rapunzel.

It was a great way to end the year. Looking forward to summer relaxation, if only the weather would cooperate.

Big 10 Birthday

We just celebrated Little K's 10th Birthday - Again.

Her actual Birthday was several weeks ago, but we were out of town on our annual Ski/Snow Trip with friends.



Not to worry - we brought along some cupcakes to celebrate.



Almond Cupcake with Raspberry Coulis Filling and Raspberry Cream Cheese Frosting



And Vanilla Cupcake with Chocolate Ganache and Toasted Coconut Topping



10 candles just barely fit on that little cupcake



She also celebrated with her classmates and a Donut Cake.


But last weekend was her party at home with friends from school. It was one of the easiest parties I have ever done - mostly because Little K planned it herself. I was just there to execute it all.

The most time consuming thing was the cupcakes.



Her Party Theme was "Favorite Pets", so I had to decorate the cupcakes with each of our family pets.



Peanut Butter the Cat.



Tabby the Hermit Crab.



Baxter the Parrot (OK - it's really just a birdie - but it's in reference to our pet parrot).



Plus a little Puppy - because her guests have dogs.



I've been wanting to make these little pinwheels, and I had some extra cupcakes (since I made both chocolate and vanilla), so I used them as centerpieces.



The house was decorated simply with balloons and streamers.



I did add a little Happy Birthday Banner because I had some paper leftover from the pinwheels.



And I wanted to use my Cricut machine that I haven't played with much since I treated myself to the purchase.


The weekend celebration started with a trip to the roller rink.



Why is it that these places all look the same no matter where we live?
(note the Medieval Theme)
They haven't changed much in the 30+ years since I used to go as a kid.



I guess that's what makes it to much fun.




Then we headed home for pizza, snacks, cupcakes, presents...



...and a Sundae Bar.



While the girls were playing Twister - one of the neighborhood boys stopped by with some flowers for Little K.



His note is very careful to point out that the gift was just because they were friends, classmates and neighbors (just in case anyone might think there was some crushing going on). I'm sure his mother had something to do with it - but the sentiment is so sweet. I love our new neighborhood!

After more giggle time, movie watching and many rounds of Truth or Dare (thanks Aunt Lisa) - the girls finally fell asleep (and so did I).

I think I can get used to this low key kind of Birthday. Turns out Little K knows how to throw a mean party.
Until next year!