This month, I am writing a three-part
series to share some of the birthday invitations I have made for parties
we have hosted over the years. In the first post, I described how to make spider, Elmo, and Cookie Monster invitations. In the second post, I provided instructions for Cinderella and Charlotte's Web-inspired invites. In this post, I will share invitations we created for two different destination birthday celebrations.
SWIMMER / POOL PARTY INVITATIONS
After planning family/friend parties for several years, my husband and I told our daughters we would forgo friend parties and choose a special outing for our family instead. Our older daughter decided she was interested in visiting The Beach Water Park, in Cincinnati, to celebrate her birthday. I immediately agreed because I had just come across a deal for this water park on Groupon! My daughter is a member of a local swim team, and she helped me design the invitation. Even though her dad, sister, and I were the only people joining her for a day of fun at the water park, we sent invitations to her grandparents and uncles, hoping they could join us for a special birthday dinner that evening.
I used the following tools:
To make this invitation, you need:
- white cardstock (this invitation happened to be 5" x 6")
- blue cardstock, 2.25" x 6"
- red cardstock, 4" circle
- flesh-colored cardstock, 4" circle
- navy cardstock: 2, 1" x 1.25" ovals (for the goggles) and some scraps for the straps (0.75" x 0.25")
- silver/reflective cardstock or vellum (1" x 0.75" ovals, for the lenses of the goggles)
DIRECTIONS:
- Cut the pieces as suggested above.
- After cutting a 4" circle of red cardstock, either use the edge of an oval cutter to cut the bottom edge of the swim cap or draw a light line with a pencil and cut with scissors.
- Use a wavy paper cutter to cut the blue paper. I used the Creative Memories Wavy Trimmer.
- Using a glue stick, adhere the swim cap to the head, the lenses to the goggles, the goggles and straps to the face, and the head to the cardstock. Glue the water to the cardstock, slightly overlapping the chin of the face.
- Write party details on the back of the cardstock. *If using a printer, print the party details on the white cardstock before cutting the invitations to the 5" x 6" dimensions suggested above.
BUILD A BEAR INVITATION
As I mentioned, my husband and I told our daughters we would forgo friend parties and choose a special outing for our family instead. Our younger daughter decided she wanted to go to Build A Bear for her seventh birthday. She and her sister had the opportunity to build an animal before returning home for a special birthday dinner with family.
We came across an adorable teddy bear invitation (from Etsy) on Pinterest, and it inspired the invitation pictured above.
I used the following tools:
To make this invitation, you will need:
- background patterned or solid cardstock: red--4 1/2" x 6 1/2", brown--5" x 7"
- dark brown cardstock: bear's belly--3 1/2" circle, bear's head--2 1/2" circle, arms (2)--1 3/8"x 7/8" ovals, legs (2)--1 1/8"x 1 5/8" ovals, ears (2)--1" circles.
- light brown cardstock for the bear's muzzle: 1 1/4" circle
- pink cardstock for inside of ears (2)-- 3/4" circles
- white cardstock for invitation wording--3 1/4" circle
- red cardstock--small scrap for bear's tie (1/2" circle and two triangles)
- black cardstock--small scrap for bear's nose
- googly eyes--1/2" eyes were used for this invitation.
Directions:
- Cut the pieces as suggested above.
- Arrange the pieces for the bear on the cardstock rectangle as desired.
- Use a glue stick to adhere the belly, arms, legs, and head to the cardstock rectangle.
- Glue the party details (white cardstock) the bear's belly.
- Adhere the components of the face to bear's head.
Since most of my readers are Girl Scout troop leaders, I will explain in my next post how we made the invitations for our bridging ceremony. I invite you to visit again soon. Thank you for reading!
This month, I am writing a three-part series to share some of the birthday invitations I have made for parties we have hosted over the years. In my last post, I provided instructions to make spider, Elmo, and Cookie Monster invitations. In this post, I will describe how to make invitations inspired by Cinderella and Charlotte's Web.
For the two invitations described in this post, I used the following tools:
CINDERELLA'S CARRIAGE
Our daughters are between sixteen and seventeen months apart. When my younger daughter was a baby, my older daughter was going through that phase when she didn't want to nap but really needed one. I always seemed to feel exhausted, so when I would lay my younger daughter down for a nap, my older daughter and I would lay in my bed and watch Cinderella until we both fell asleep. By the time her third birthday rolled around, everybody knew Cinderella would be the theme of her party. (When we were planning her 10th birthday party, I had hoped the 2015 movie version of Cinderella would have been available on DVD. No such luck).
To make this Cinderella Carriage invitation, you need:
Directions:
- Cut the pieces as specified above.
- Arrange the components on the 4" x 6" cardstock as desired.
- Use a glue stick to adhere the carriage to the cardstock and the carriage window to the carriage.
- Adhere the wheels with vellum tape. For other adhesive options, check out this forum came across online.
- With a pencil, lightly draw the lines for the curtains on the carriage window, the spirals on the vellum wheels, the carriage door, the handle, and the seat. Go over the pencil lines with silver glitter glue.
- Round the corners of the cardstock with a corner rounder.
- Write or print party details on back of cardstock.
NOTES ABOUT THE PARTY:
We invited two families to this party, so we were entertaining a total of six kids. They played "Hot Potato" with a sparkly shoe while listening to "Bippity Boppity Boo." They also decorated foam princess tiaras with adhesive back jewels.
CHARLOTTE'S WEB
This was one of my favorite birthday parties to plan! Our younger daughter was a HUGE fan of Charlotte's Web, the book and the movie. We invited another family to join us for an afternoon of crafts, games, and food.
To make this invitation, you need:
- blue cardstock (for the sky), 4" x 6"
- beige cardstock (for the frame of the barn door): 2, 1" x 4" (for the sides) 1, 1" x 6" (for the top)
- white cardstock, 2.25" square (for the web)
- pink cardstock: 1.5" circle (for the pig's head) and 0.75" circle (for the pig's snout), though you could use 1" or 0.05" punch as well
- brown ink pad
- cotton ball
- small googly eyes
Directions:
- Cut the pieces as specified above.
- Dab the cotton ball on the brown ink pad. While holding the beige rectangles in one hand, take the inked cotton ball in the other hand and gently wipe/dab/scrape the cotton ball across all of the edges of the beige cardstock, creating a weathered look with the brown ink.
- Use a glue stick to adhere the beige rectangles (barn door frame) to the blue cardstock.
- Using a pencil, lightly draw a 2.25" arc from the top edge of the square to the right edge of the square. Gently tear the paper along this line.
- Draw the web lines, "She's (or He's) Three," and the spider with a pencil. Use a black marker to trace over the pencil lines.
- Use a glue stick to adhere the web to the top right corner of the barn door frame.
- Glue the smaller pink circle (snout) onto the larger pink circle (head).
- Add triangle ears and googly eyes.
- Use the black marker to make two nostrils on the snout.
- Glue the pig to the bottom of the invitation.
- Write or print party details on back of cardstock.
NOTES ABOUT THE PARTY:
We invited another family to join us for this party. There were a total of five children in attendance. I painted their faces using cornstarch-based face paint. They played "Pin the Tail on the Pig," and they had a relay race with a plastic egg and a spoon. They also made spider webs on a paper plate, using paint and a marble. We ended the celebration by enjoying adorable pig cupcakes made with strawberry wafer cookies (ears), strawberry marshmallow (snout), chocolate chips (eyes), and mini chocolate chips (nostrils). We sent the kids home with store-bought caramel apples and cotton candy as party favors. A great time was had by all!
In my last post, I explained that we often turn to the internet for inspiration. This is true for invitations, party games, and birthday cakes. Oftentimes, we combine several ideas that result in an original creation. I am not a baker, nor am I a cake decorator. But I am a mom who enjoys spending time with my kids, and my kids like to experiment in the kitchen. My daughters will choose a birthday party theme, and we search for different ideas online. In the past, I have decorated their cakes as a birthday surprise, but in recent years, they have been helping me bake and decorate the birthday cakes. For these reasons, I have established a Birthday Cake Board on Pinterest to showcase some of our creations. Be prepared for the good, the bad, and the ugly. Though I have provided rough descriptions of our processes below each pin, there are many more experienced bakers and decorators out there who have spent time posting detailed instructions and helpful tutorials. I encourage you to check out their work.
I invite you to stop back next week--I will share two more birthday party invitations. Thank you for reading!
Since our Girl Scout troop does not meet during the summer, I decided to branch out a little with my blog posts until we reconvene this fall...
Over the years, my husband and I have hosted birthday parties for our daughters, and I have enjoyed making the invitations. Since we usually limit the guest list to members of our family, I'm only making around half a dozen invitations. The process isn't terribly time-consuming, especially now that my daughters are older and ask to help.
In my last post,
I explained that I've had friends tell me they're not crafty, but they
would be willing to try (a craft) if they had detailed instructions. I flipped through my daughters' scrapbooks and chose several invitations we've made to share with readers in a three-part series. Part One includes directions for a spider, an Elmo, and a Cookie Monster invitation.
*Please note that we often turn to the internet for inspiration. Oftentimes, we combine several ideas that result in an original creation. If we have simply put our own twist on someone else's invitation, I will give credit to the original artist.
For the three invitations described in this post, I used the following tools:
"It's an Itsy, Bitsy Party!" SPIDER INVITATION
Around the time of our younger daughter's first birthday, she loved the "Itsy, Bitsy Spider" song, and her favorite book was The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle. Since her birthday is just four days before Halloween, a spider-themed party was perfect.
To make this Spider invitation, you need:
- solid cardstock 7"x4" (green)
- black cardstock: 3" circle and 8 rectangles, measuring 2.5" x 0.75"
- Scissors--Deckle
- googly eyes, any size
- silver or white pen
Directions:
- Cut pieces as specified above.
- Use deckle scissors and cut along the 2.5" sides of each black rectangle. Round one end of the rectangle with these scissors.
- Place 3" circle in center of solid cardstock and arrange the eight legs as desired.
- Use a glue stick to adhere the spider's body and legs to the cardstock, tucking the legs beneath the edge of the body.
- Attach the googly eyes, using glue stick or tacky glue.
- Write party details on spider's legs or on back of solid cardstock.
FISHBOWL ELMO
When our younger daughter was turning two, Elmo's World and Thomas the Train were her two favorite shows. To celebrate her birthday, we invited her grandparents to join us on the Lebanon Mason Monroe Railroad Pumpkin Patch Express. I knew I wanted to combine Elmo and Thomas on the invitations. While watching Elmo's World, I was inspired. In each episode of the show, a small object related to the story's topic appears in Dorothy's fishbowl. I was inspired!
To make this fishbowl invitation, you need:
- red cardstock 6.25" x 4.25" oval
- vellum 6.25" x 4.25" oval
- light brown cardstock (I had scrapbook paper that looked like sand) for the bottom of the fishbowl. Must be at least 6.25" long.
- orange cardstock oval 1" x 1.25" for Elmo's nose
- gold cardstock oval 1" x 0.75" for Dorothy's (goldfish) body
- a gold triangle for Dorothy's tail
- 2, 1" white circles for Elmo's eyes
- 2, 0.5" black circles for the pupils
- cute stickers to match the party theme like these Thomas the Train Stickers.
DIRECTIONS:
- Cut pieces as specified above. If printing party details on the invitation, print first and then cut.
- For the beige (sand/rock) paper along the bottom of the fishbowl, cut the oval, and then tear straight across (6.25") to make the sand/rock as thin or thick as desired. The other half of the oval can then be used at the bottom of another invitation (you may have to make an additional tear).
- Position Dorothy, Elmo's eyes, nose, and the Thomas sticker where desired.
- Use a glue stick to adhere these pieces to the red cardstock.
- Use vellum tape to adhere the vellum to the redcardstock. (In the picture, you can see the vellum tape is visible. For other options, check out this forum came across online).
- Write party details on back of cardstock.
COOKIE MONSTER INVITATION
When our older daughter Brooke was an infant, my husband would help out with some of the late-night feedings. She was so hungry, she would growl at him as she ate. He lovingly referred to her as his "Brookie Monster." For her second birthday, Sesame Street was becoming popular at our house, and it seemed a Cookie Monster-themed party was appropriate. I had snapped this cute picture of our daughter, and I wanted to incorporate it into the invitation.
To make this cookie invitation, you need:
- light brown cardstock
- dark brown cardstock for the chocolate chips
Directions:
- The finished invitation is a 4" circle (because this photo was cropped to a 3.5" circle). Cut the cardstock to measure 4.5" x 8".
- Fold the cardstock in half, creasing the folded edge, giving you a 4.5" x 4" square.
- Cut a 4" circle, making sure to cut through both layers of cardstock. Leave about 2" of the folded edge so the invitation can be opened.
- Adhere the photo to the inside of the invitation with an acid-free adhesive.
- Use deckle scissors to cut a bite out of the edge of the cookie, making sure to cut both the front and back of the invitation.
- Use these scissors to cut chocolate chips to glue to the outside of the invitation.
- Write party details on one side of the inside of the invitation.
In my next post, I will share our Charlotte's Web and Cinderella birthday invitations. Thank you for reading!
