Tag Archives: party favors

Lalaloopsy Party for a sweet little girl

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Lalaloopsy Party for a sweet little girl

The day of the party (post) is finally here!  After a lot of thought, and a bit of prep, the Lalaloopsy and Hello Kitty Cute-as-a-Button birthday party actually came together.  Here are some photos of some very budget-friendly DIY ideas for decorations, food and activities at a sweet little girl’s party.  It was supposed to be a sewing party, but no sewing was actually done by anyone!!  Buttons were the big inspiration for this party. Buttons and a crazy brightly-colored curly-haired doll….paper button decor at a Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 022A button paper punch from Martha Stewart supplied a whole bunch of cute buttons for party decor, as confetti scattered on the table, and as wall decorations and even ended up on the juice cups!   {The table runners (in turquoise and in yellow) were part of Ikea’s summer line.}  Here’s the Lalaloopsy doll that also inspired the party and the party color scheme.  Her name is Marina Anchors, with her little pet whale and dressed in a cute sailor suit.  I found a perfect turquoise metal bicycle for her.  Her friends Hello Kitty and Pink Sock monkey took a ride with her.

I did a photoshoot of Marina and her friends and made up a digital invitation.  If you would like a copy to use for your little girl’s party, just let me know!!  They can be emailed or printed out as 4×6 photos.  lalaloopsy party invite by dennasideas.com - Page 075

For place-mats at the table, I made up my own Lalaloopsy coloring page using some images I found online.  Did you notice that her eyes are black buttons?  And the sock monkey has button eyes, of course.  I know a lot of people think that the button eyes are a bit creepy, but they fit so nicely into the cute as a button party idea….
Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 024There are lots of sewing party and cute-as-a-button party ideas online (Pinterest) that I found.  You can look at my Lalaloopsy and Cute as a Button party idea board here.  I loved the idea of using embroidery hoops as wall decorations at the party.  I decided to use scrapbook paper and wrapping paper in the hoops.  It was a little tricky squeezing the paper in some of the hoops, but it did work out.  On one pink page, I printed out the title “Tasya is turning Sew Seven” (the Sew Seven title was an idea from the Sweet Designs blog, and a few other sewing party ideas).Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com l - Page 007
Here’s some wrapping paper with a doily….Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 026And a few paper buttons were added on some of the hoops and on the wall.  Hmmm, how to arrange these hoops on the wall….should I set them out on the table and arrange them….?  It was easier than that….
Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 025Using sticky tak, everything was strategically arranged on the wall to cover up every mark and ding possible!!  I just followed the places I wanted to hide…..right above my old sewing machine.  That’s why there are buttons scattered randomly around.  Pretty clever if you ask me…..that’s how I work, my motto long being Necessity is the Mother of Invention.Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com l - Page 005I pulled *all* my sewing stuff (a very small collection, as I am not a sower, but just terribly fascinated with it all).Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com l - Page 006Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 018Add a little baker’s twine to the machine!!  It’s in the party colors, too.  I had seen a lovely banner to make on the Raising Up Rubies blog, and I really really wanted to make one, but at the last minute (as with a lot of things) ran out of time, so my daughter made a few for a small scalloped edge below the sewing machine and it looked very cute.  Made from paper doilies and cupcake wrappers.  Click on the blog link for a tutorial!Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 023The morning of the party, I decided to do a little craft with the b-day girl’s photo…..on a canvas on an easel.  I was so pleased with the way it turned out!  It was super easy, too. I’ll try and get a post done of this little DIY craft…Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 014

There were a few other photos displayed….Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 020

Along with some vintage handkerchiefs that belonged to my grandmother.  They seemed to go with the sewing theme…Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 027

Another awesome decorating idea, which was super easy, super budget-friendly and super fast was this paper plate button banner.  My older daughter and her friend whipped it up for me very last minute (like, guests were already inside the house!!)  Paper plates + punched paper circles + glue stick + hole punch + ribbon= party banner!!!Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 019One of my favorite ideas was another last minute brain wave, when I brought down my vintage sewing basket and realized that the inside lining was perfect party yellow!!  I decided to line the top tray with yellow cardstock and set the mini cupcakes right into the sewing basket!sewing basket on dessert table at a Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com I have already posted about how to make button cookies here, and they made it to the party, too.  The day before the party, they were sent to my daughter’s class packaged in little bags that said “I’m Sew Blessed to have you as my friend!”  They make perfect party favors, too (but I didn’t actually get enough made for party favors…)button cookie favors for a Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com I put the buttons in a jar…for the sewing machine dessert table….they were my favorite dessert at the party!Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 011Then there was a cute sewing button cake.  Here’s a step by step how to for decorating the cake.  It was very quick and easy…even the little doily banner.  It seemed like a good idea at the time to use a cake mix…..bleh!denna's ideas: how to make a Lalaloopsy Sewing party cake with sprinklesSo here’s how the display turned out:Lalaloopsy party dessert table  by dennasideas.com Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com Lalaloopsy party table by dennasideas.com Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com

Mason jars with cupcake wrappers over the top and a blue paper button, for the very pink lemonade:mason jar drinks for kids at a Lalaloopsy or Sewing Party by denna's ideas.com

My Lalaloopsy girl was wearing a pink dress and eyelet pinafore that my mother sewed for me, oh, years ago!!  I used to wear it to school….without blue curly hair, though.Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 035

Here’s where Hello Kitty makes her appearance at this party!!  She didn’t want to be left out.  Super cute plates from Target…
Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 010Giant sized coloring pages, also from Target, were used to last-minutely add some wall decor…just right to cover up the annoying thermostat….Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 013And here is where my big splurge comes in….I’m usually pretty good about DIYing my party stuff from dollar store supplies, but I found THESE.  These pink sparkly purses with big bows.  There were 6 of them and they were on sale!!!  So I guiltily bought them and saved them for the party…for the party favor bags.  In the end there were going to be more guests, so I went back to Claire’s and found some more matching little backpacks and purses.  They were pink and purple plaid.  I had not wanted to invite Purple to this Pink and Red and Yellow and Turquoise party, but she ended up sneaking in anyways.  She would have looked cute in the button cookies…oh well.  So the purses were tied onto the backs of the chairs…party bag purses at a Lalaloopsy & Hello Kitty party by dennasideas.com l - Page 002Filled with a few treats and candies…not too many as the purse was the big favor!!  (the colors in my photos are so wonky!!)Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 016There were a few more last minute decorating ideas that actually happened…like this poster cloud that had to appear to hide a big decal on the wall….with pink sharpie stitches running around the edge and a doily and more paper buttons to disguise the nail sticking out….Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 017My sister had given me this adorable fabric for Christmas, with little paper dolls on it!!  So last minute it was taped to the lampshade and pinned onto a pillow….(with safety pins of course!!)Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com l - Page 003Hmmm, that other pillow….I guess I did actually sew it, about 10 years ago, with my Mom supervising me on her surger….!  I suppose I do occasionally sew things, with a lot of supervision, but in between projects, I actually forget how to sew.  And still can’t get my machine’s tension right!Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 028There was also this cute flower arrangement on the table….like a cherry sundae made of flowers!  There’s a how-to right here under budget-friendly flower arrangementdenna's ideas: how to make a budget friendly ice cream Sundae flower arrangementLalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com

Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com We had the table set with the coloring place-mats and crayons in mason jars so the girls could color right away as the first activity.crayons by dennasideas.com - Page 001 denna's ideas.com Lalaloopsy partyLalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 034

And then came lunch!!  The food was Lalaloopsy themed and you can see the recipes and how-tos here in my previous post.denna's ideas: pasta salad, party food for a Lalaloopsy party denna's ideas: pasta salad, party food for a Lalaloopsy or Hello Kitty  party denna's ideas: party sandwiches for a Hello kitty party or for a Lalaloopsy girly party

After lunch I wanted to play “Button, button who’s got the button?” but wasn’t sure exactly how it was played…so I invented my own version, with the girls hiding buttons in their fists, and the next one guessing and keeping the button if guessed right.  It worked!  Another game was the one where you get lengths of yarn, and must tell something about yourself while you are winding the yarn around your finger.  That worked to get the girls telling some things about themselves!  Oh yes, and a button craft!!  I had wanted to do a sewing craft, but it just didn’t work out.  So we made cards with a stamped mason jar and there were lots of buttons for the girls to choose from to fill their jar…lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 006lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 004lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 003I had some stamps with phrases, so the girls could choose to add Thank you or Happy Birthday or Happy Holidays.  Most of them chose Thank you.  The girls were quite creative with their cards, and decorated the envelopes, too.  After the party was over, I found my daughter’s card…Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 012It says Thank You Mom for my Birthday, with adorable misspelling!!  How cute is that?  So wonderful to know that she was happy with her birthday party! 🙂Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 033The girls had a laugh making “lalaloopsy eyes” heh, heh!Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 032And trying on Hello Kitty glasses!!denna's ideas.com????? denna's ideas.com denna's ideas.comIt was a lot of fun!  Here are a few last ideas for a Lalaloopsy themed party.  One of the snacks could have been Froot Loops (loopsy, get it?)  I had found the perfect box. a Birthday Edition with hearts in with the loops….since that’s our birthday tradition, sugary cereal of their choice for the birthday child…Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 015Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 031And then there were some really cool spool of thread pops that I saw in several places on pinterest, made from marshmallows and fondant and candy melts, that I started working on…but I wasn’t pleased with them, the marshmallows were too weirdly-shaped for my liking, so I didn’t finish them….and we totally didn’t need any more sugar!!  (I never put the candy melt “thread” on the “spools”)lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 002 lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 001As you can probably tell, I do a lot of things last minute for my parties.  Not to mention that the whole house has to be tidied up before the party, too.  It all adds up to a lot of work!  I’m grateful for my family’s help!  My oldest daughter especially helped me get a lot of the last minute decorating done.  Seems like I don’t stop decorating ’till the 2nd or 3rd party guest arrives… Ah well, Lalaloopsy party has now come and gone, good thing I still have my little dolly around to brighten my days!
Lalaloopsy party by dennasideas.com - Page 030

DIY Recycled 10-minute Mini Piñata

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DIY Recycled 10-minute Mini Piñata

Flashes of genius happen at the strangest times.  Like when you are shredding documents.  And then emptying the shredder.  And you think, “this shredded paper is so cool, what could we make out of it??”  How about a Piñata?  A mini piñata that won’t take much time to make.  A recycled earth-friendly piñata.  Sounds good to me, I say to myself.

First of all, I collected all the kids’ field trip forms that are always sitting around cluttering up my counter….they are usually printed on brightly colored paper….perfect for a cinco de mayo type piñata.  I mentioned that I had already emptied the shredder, so then my daughter had a fun time feeding in all the colored paper that I had decided to recycle.  Now empty the shredder again…denna's ideas: how to make a recycled mini piñata

Lovely!!

I’d be happy to just have the shreds sitting around in a jar to decorate….not everyone’s idea of glamorous decor….denna's ideas: how to make a recycled mini piñataFind some little boxes to use, and some tape and something to hang the thing with…like string or ribbon…we found a box from icing colors, so even the box looked colorful….denna's ideas: how to make a recycled mini piñataNow would be a good time to fill the box with candy….if you want to!!  Then knot a length of string and secure it in the corner of the box, then fold the flaps down to hold the string in place and tape it all closed.  Can you see the loop of string coming out of the corner?denna's ideas: how to make a recycled mini piñataCover one side of the box with glue, plain old white school glue…denna's ideas: how to make a recycled mini piñata

Grab a small handful of the shredded paper and start sticking it on!  Don’t be a perfectionist!denna's ideas: how to make a recycled mini piñataGlue paper on another side,  doesn’t really matter what order you do the sides in!denna's ideas: how to make a recycled mini piñataMy 6 year old daughter and I each made one…denna's ideas: how to make a recycled mini piñatadenna's ideas: how to make a recycled mini piñataSeriously, it took about 10 minutes to make one of these little guys!denna's ideas: how to make a recycled mini piñata

Now hang it up!!  And add a little tissue paper tail….denna's ideas: how to make a recycled mini piñatadenna's ideas: how to make a recycled mini piñatadenna's ideas: how to make a recycled mini piñata(I “boosted” the color in these photos…I wish I had kitchen walls this lovely papaya shade of burning orange!)

The Hello Kitty Party!! or “La Fiesta de la Hello”!

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Yes, we have finally come to the Hello Kitty party itself! 🙂denna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party Ideas

I had been thinking for a long time that a Hello Kitty party would be fun, but here are the two things that made me feel really inspired to go ahead and go for it!!

denna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party Ideas, chocolate

this Hello Kitty chocolate “Easter egg”

denna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party Ideas, mug

and this Hello Kitty mug!

denna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party Ideas, HK mug

My photos of the mug didn’t turn out so great, but really the mugs were my inspiration for the party.  The girls have had them for years, and I am always seeing them!  The mugs have Hello Kitty with ice cream cones and candy, and they are done in these pastel colors.  So I decided that the colors for the party would be mint green, pastel pink and red, oh! and chocolate instead of black!  And that it would be a Hello Kitty Sweet Shoppe kind of theme!  Following are some easy how-tos for some of the Hello Kitty stuff we did for the party.  Links to sources and how-to posts are in red letters, so just click on them!

(An Aside:  my friend over at Paper Glitter did a Fab-U-Lous Hello Kitty Sweet Shoppe party for her daughter! It’s amazing!  I decided to go with my mug-inspired homemade party this time, though.  If my printer had been working, I would have printed some of Paper Glitters’ gorgeous Sweet Shoppe Party printouts and this sweeeeet stationary set!  Linnette makes the most adorable things for parties!  But my printer is on it’s last legs 😦  )

So mint and pink and red….and a little white cat!  A package of pastel card stock from the dollar store made a quick and easy backdrop.   Just tape the pages onto the wall with painter’s tape so they won’t stick forever! (We were able to print out one black and white kitty and my youngest colored it in.  We found it on this site of coloring pages).

The lighting in our house in the winter is just atrocious, and so all my photos look kinda strange…they look very brightly colored, but really are softer pastels, oh well, I guess you get the idea….denna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party Ideas, easy Hello Kitty party backdrop

The little Kitty banner was so fast and easy to make. denna's ideas: Fast and Easy Hello Kitty Party Banner how toCheck out the How-To here for a quick and easy Hello Kitty banner.
denna's ideas: Fast and Easy Hello Kitty Party Banner from playing cards

A trip to Party City for a few little party favors, and a trip to the T&T Asian supermarket for some fun Hello Kitty packs of gum and box of cookies!
denna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party Ideas, Hello Kitty party favors

At the dollar store, I found this cute little book of painting pages….(I must say the kids weren’t the only ones who had fun painting them!)
denna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party favorsdenna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party Ideas, HK party gum favors

We set out a few of our Hello Kitty memorabilia to decorate…enna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party ideas, HK memorabiliaand something new….denna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party Ideas, HK lunchbox

And now for the party table set up!denna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party Ideas, bubble teaWe found some bubble tea in just the right colors…they looked super, but just are not my personal cup of tea!  I made a plate of Hello Kitty crackers…um, those weren’t so fabulous, but might work out with a different recipe.denna's ideas: Hello Kitty crackersSome easy party balloons in the shape of ice cream cones for the party table.  Just add some “cherries” and sprinkles!  There’s a quick how-to at the end of this post heredenna's ideas: Hello Kitty Banner and party ice cream balloonsEverything was finally put together….with the Hello Kitty Cake, too!

denna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party IdeasI made a Pocky Cake and added Hello Kitty peeking over the top!  Her whiskers are made out of Pocky, too.  I posted about what a Pocky cake is the other day, what a quick way to decorate a cake!!denna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party Ideas, Hello kitty dessert tableThe salad bowl was really a flash of genius, if I do say so myself!!  So fun and tasty, but super easy to make, too!

denna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party IdeasHere’s the post about the Hello Kitty Fruit Salad Bowl containing my favoritist sweet salad ever!  (I know that’s not a word! but it’s yummy)enna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party ideas, my girl

My birthday girl!!!  No girl is ever too old for a Hello Kitty party!!denna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party ideas, my girldenna's ideas: Hello Kitty Party IdeasSAM_0879It was a whole lot of sugary pastel colored sweetness, with a few Japanese and Korean treats thrown in!  The only things missing were these Hello Kitty strawberry treats!!  They were easy to make, but just didn’t make it to this party, haha!  The link for the how-to is here.denna's ideas: Hello Kitty Strawberry snacks