Hello Auntie Lolo Crafts readers! It's Mary Kathryn (of Mathews Family Happenings) and I'm back to share with you another one of my kiddos recent birthday parties. Our 2-year old loves Barbie and also has a bit of a shoe fetish (she comes by it honestly) so I decided to go with a Vintage Barbie/show theme for her last party. Here's the details:
Here's what Eliza's table looked like-
You know I'm all about using what I already have on hand-
so that's exactly what I did.
Here's the deets-
1. The tall black vase (that used to live on the mantel) and the pink roses (which were purchased for E's party last year) are both from hob lob 2. The pink cupcake stands were actually in the Easter section of Target and I purchased them for 75% off after Easter this year.
**They were literally pennies a piece- and this is a GREAT TIP for ya-
Shop those post-holiday sales for items that don't necessarily scream that specific holiday. You never know what you can find that will work for a non-holiday specific party.
In this case- those hot pink cardboard cupcake holders that were intended to be used during Easter, worked out great for a Barbie party.)
3. The black frame was one I had on hand and the 'Barbie' diecut (as well as the Barbie silhouette's used on the table) are from THIS etsy seller.
4. Fabulous little-girl-who-loves-to-wear-her-mama's-heels book found HERE,
on a metal stand from hob lob
5. Black shoe box under the book is actually the box my wedding shoes came in
7. Large white memo board from hob lob- purchased at 66% off because it has a small crack which was fine.by.me.
8. Black vintage Barbie silhouette from THIS etsy seller
9. Small white ceramic pitcher usually lives in my dining room hutch. I purchased it about a year ago for $5 at TJMaxx
10. Gray/white and pink/white striped straws are from THIS etsy shop.
11. black/white checked tablecloth is actually just a 5-yard long piece of fabric I've had for several years. I've used it multiple times as a table covering for different events and will probably never cut it for this reason.
12. small frame in the back is one I've had for years and actually used to be gold. Nothing a little spray paint couldn't handle.
13. black frame in front is another that I bought years ago from hob lob. The silhouette of the little girl is one I cut myself using my cricut and the Child's Year cartridge (which I purchased off of ebay for less than half of retail price)
I picked some pink scrapbook paper from my stash and that was all she wrote.
14. I had intended to use this frame (from hob lob) with shoe silhouette's (from THIS etsy shop) on the table, but swapped it for the cute book instead.
Again- all I did was pick 2 shoes from the several that came in a package, cut some scrapbook paper to fit, and popped it all into a frame.
Done.
(and aren't those shoes great? I had planned to attach some of them to toothpicks to act as cupcake toppers but never got around to it. I have no doubt I'll find other uses for them though.)
15. This Hallmark ornament also lives in my dining room hutch and was the perfect addition to the table.
16. hot pink/houndstooth plates and napkins were purchased at the hob lob, along with these...
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"True love comes in pairs"
Perfect.And there ya have it-
Pink strawberry cupcakes (courtesy of my Aunt Cindy) and some cream puffs finished off Eliza's Barbie table
I made a dress for E to wear
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I found the pattern in THIS cute book full of great ideas for what to do with designer fat quarters.
I actually purchased both of the fabrics I used in the dress at our local Hancock and am currently looking for something else to make with that crazy-cute Barbie fabric since I bought 2 yards of it.
(a top for myself, perhaps...?)
I must say, E looked absolutely smashing in her party dress.
go on a dragon ride, walk through a LEGO jungle, 
visit the "hall of fame" with famous LEGO-made artwork reproductions and famous figures, 
and visit the mini factory (did you know only 18 out of every MILLION LEGOs is discarded from a factory? Talk about quality!). We also got to see a miniature Chicago--very detailed and realistic looking, except for a Batman figure on top of the Sear's tower!
Then we had LEGO team building relays. This was everyone's favorite part! I made three stacks of identical "challenges," which included objects they had to build and the inches high it had to be (for example, in the picture below, the word "Paul" at least 3 inches tall...we also had planes, giraffes, tables and chairs, etc., at varying heights). I backed each set of challenges in a different color, with a ruler to match, for each of the 3 teams, then shuffled them. So, everyone's building the same things, but not necessarily at the same time. One person from each team started off, and when they finished they had to take a picture of their creations with the rulers and then tag the next person to go build.
LEGO chopsticks (transfer LEGOs from one bowl to the other in 1 minute), 
and a LEGO toss into bathroom-sized cups, with points at the bottom for you to add up. 
At each "station" was a paper to record your name and stats, like the height of your tower or how many chopsticks or the points you got. It made finding the "winner" of each category super easy, and let them know what they had to beat, while still giving them time to have fun wandering around a bit and socializing in more intimate settings. :) We had a "closing ceremonies" and I awarded the winners for each game and the quiz and guessing game earlier with prizes--like the LEGO salt/pepper shaker, or LEGO post-it notes, or keychain, or magnetic frame (I made that one myself), etc.
