Nostalgic "Cabbage Patch Kids" Birthday Party

 Hello, Happy New Year (and Merry Christmas and Happy Thanksgiving, all of the other holidays that have passed since my last post, etc.)! I have so many events, classroom activities, gift ideas and projects to share. 

Today I would like to share a birthday from back in August that was Cabbage Patch Doll-themed for my mother, who grew up loving Cabbage Patch Kids (though I personally find the concept weird and creepy). It was intended to be a fun, nostalgic theme but also tailored for an adult, so I went with a muted sea green, white, and tannish-pink color palette. I drew or painted the logo on a poster, changing the letters to "Happy Birthday", used an old pumpkin dish upside down to kind of look like a cabbage (hopefully), bought matching flower dish sponges and party blowers as party favors, and a matching Ingles bouquet as the table centerpiece. I printed out vintage Cabbage Patch Kids templates for the party blower packaging. I bought the cookies, drew faces on them, and wrapped cabbage around them to create Cabbage Patch cookies (okay, admittedly not the most appetizing idea but visually the closest thing I could make to the logo). I also drew/painted a Cabbage Patch Kid poster and used a doll we already owned. I hope you enjoy!

Thank you for visiting!

-Lauryn 

Jacob's Nutcracker Birthday Party

As my last Christmas post, I present a Nutcracker birthday party. This was a boyish Nutcracker party I did for my brother's 17th birthday in mid-November. I wanted it to have an adult-style simple elegance. I used wood, pine and dark reds inspired by the toy soldiers, Christmas tree, toys, candy and other themes in the story. We set up a hot cocoa bar, and served cookies and cake among other foods. I decorated a Walmart cake with some red icing from the store by looking at silhouettes online. The wreath was just an embroidery hoop with a Leland Cypress branch tied on. I gathered more branches from the yard and painted some gold for the centerpiece. The clocks were painted thrift-store plates. The trumpets, banner/soldier-like trim (? I don't know what to call it), and candles were also thrift-store finds. The nutcrackers came from Dollar Tree. For other favors, I made some rather useless thing-a-bobs made of hot glue painted with nail polish, I guess to craft with. I placed Christmas pencils with mini notebooks that were around a quarter each, which I painted black and white with Nutcracker silhouettes. It was a lot of fun! 

This theme is easy to do, so if your searching for a theme next winter, you could try your own twist on the Nutcracker. Please visit again soon for gift ideas and crafts!

-Lauryn