Happy Party Monkey

Cookie Exchange 2013

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 05:01:00 +0000

Um. Yeah. It has taken me a bit to get around to uploading this.
The child had her annual cookie exchange with a mere 18 other girls.
We do the usual - bring several dozen and leave with new cookies YEAH!

The Cookie Exchange is never just about cookies. There HAS to be crafts (HAS TO!)

The first craft of this party was to create etched glasses. Using this tutorial from The Yummy Life each girl was able to personalize a glass. By the way the glasses were a score from a summer garage sale where we bought several dozen for $5 - whoo hoo!

Each girl also created there own 8-bit Perler bead bow clip. So many colors. Want a tutorial on this? We got this idea from, and followed the instructions of the truly awesome and inspiring Cupquake.

Oh and then there were the glitter ornaments. HA. Oh my. Three weeks later and we are still finding glitter about the house. I do not love the glitter.

Anyway - these ornaments are quite pretty. And cheap.

The tutorial for this one can be found on the The Swell Life blog.

We had the girls use the stickers from the the glass etching to personalize their ornaments. As you can see there are several going though a bit of a Walking Dead phase.

The final bit. The actual cookie exchange. Yes. Those are Dr Who cookies in the foreground. Quite adorbs (last year there were One Direction cookies - these girls go ALL OUT!). Because the table was still awash in glitter, the girls noshed on several cookies from the floor. Made life easier for everyone. The punch? Oh that is a pocketfull of yum. It looks like UV Blue though does it not? This is Tiffany Punch. Directions can be found for this punch on the MrsHappyHomemaker blog

Minecraft Party Favors

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Tue, 31 Dec 2013 16:01:00 +0000

We are coming up on two years of having our daughter be Minecraft obsessed. We have NOT had a Minecraft birthday party (much to my shock). We have, however, used school days off to have what I, lovingly, refer to as nerdfest. This nedfest is where her friends come over for 8 hours and they do NOTHING but play Minecraft the entire day.

Anyway. Should we ever have ever had a Minecraft birthday party we would have been certain to include the following ideas. Click on the images to go to the sites from where I have located these images.

Partylicious Events has an incredibly inspiring blog post on hosting a Minecraft party. Theis Creeper candy holder is pretty adorable.

Creeper Perler Bead Pins (though you could also make barrettes) from the Magpie Kitchen

More Perler Beads! This time combined with the ever popular rubber band bracelets. This glow in the dark version is pre-made and can be purchased from Little Shop of Pixels on Etsy.

Seriously what kid would not LOVE these Minecraft inspired cookies.These cookies can be purchased from Crows Custom Cookies on Etsy.

Easy Creeper Treat Bags, also from the Magpie Kitchen

Because I believe every party should have a t-shirt to commemorate it. These creeper shirts from Southern Revivals is PERFECT.

Not everything is Creeper. Sometimes it is Steve. These are some pretty awesome Steve bags from Falling Apples.

What party favors have you done for YOUR Minecraft party?

2012 Cookie Exchange

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 04:04:00 +0000

And I am back. I am committing myself to being better to all three of my blogs this year. I love this blog. This blog helped me keep my sanity between being laid off and starting my own marketing consultation. I will focus on IRLparties, awesome invites and goodie bags and favors.....

And with that. Here is the 2012 Annual Cookie Exchange as hosted by my daughter.

The cookie exchange tends to be about 20 girls and craft crazy two hours.

As with any party we host with kids - there was a schedule we stuck to.

Arrival Craft

Decorating mugs with Sharpie Markers. An idea found here.
I understand from more than a few parents that these were provided as Christmas gifts. Super easy. And a great excuse to buy more sharpies.

The next activity was making washer bracelets. How I did not manage to not take one single picture of these. No idea. I will take a stab though and guess it was having 20 kids in my house. The husband wound up taking each girl in the garage and pounding what ever three letters she wanted on the washer. It was a little more difficult than I anticipated.

From there the girls rapidly loved onto making graham cracker candy canes sleighs. We simply used candy canes, graham crackers and marshmallows. Plus frosting as glue. A little messy. But nice and time consuming as well.

And then yeah! Cooooookies! Onto the cookie exchange itself. Each girl was required to bring two dozen cookies so that each girl would then receive one new cookie. It's really nice to try other people's cookies since we tend to make the same ones every year.

Did I mention this? No I did not. One girl brought super awesome One Direction Gingerbread Cookies. It brought a tear to my eye. Pretty sure I have two Louis' here.

The final activity, and again, wait what? No pictures? Was the incredibly easy Shower Curtain Ring Yarn Ornaments. My daughter has now become obsessed with making these. One of those easy things you can do with your hands while not paying in particular attention to it.

And then they all went home. THE END. Until December 2013.

Three is the Magic Number Part one

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 04:06:00 +0000

We held our Third Annual Vodka Infusion Party this weekend. And it was yummy. But let's back up shall we....

Since it was the third year of the party - we debated for a good long time about whether we were going to go with a Beyond Thunderdome theme:
Two vodkas enter - one vodka leaves....
Or A Die Hard 3 theme
Rye Hard Three - With a Vengeance

In the end - how can one go wrong with School House Rock
or De La Soul

You can't. That is the correct answer.

So year one we had small trophies and last year we had foam number one fingers This year?

We found bowling trophies FOR FREE at a garage sale (five of them!!!!!). The husband took the bowling pins and bowling people off of the trophies. We (my friend Laura and I) spent Labor Day weekend drinking down tiny bottles of UV blue so we could have tiny vodka bottles to adhere to top of the trophies. The husband then spent some time spray painting the tiny vodka bottles gold.

And actually getting them on the trophies

Which was, probably, the largest amount of prep we did in advance of the party.

Other than our own infusions

Mine was candy infused -- hence Candy-o

The husband did Tang and Vanilla Bean.

Simply so he could name it Wu-Tang. Heh. He won the best vodka name

Other entries?

This was the best overall vodka. And I am still not sure what was in it. But it was smooth. Lando Calrissian smooth.

Chocolate infused vodka. This won for sweetest. And it was. Even though it beat mine. WHATever.

This is Mountain Dew Infused Vodka. And it tasted exactly how you would expect Mountain Dew infused vodka to taste like. It tastes like high school.

An awesome case of pandering to the hostess. Sour grape I believe this was. I like sour. So I quite liked this.

The winner of the best label. AND ANOTHER SCHOOL HOUSE ROCK REFERENCE! Lolly lolly lolly! More pictures and whatnot tomorrow. Miss Andrea is ready to put the computer down for a tiny bit.

Three is a Magic Number

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 16:18:00 +0000

It's that time of year again. And by that time. I mean vodka infusion time. Whoo hoo!

I am wondering what sort of fantastic blends we will be trying this year. Some of the awesome previous entries include

Super Sweet Sleep Over

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 02:39:00 +0000

The child had another birthday.
We spent a good part of February debating between several options. The one the child wanted was, what I will refer to as, the rent a limo and go to the mall themed party. Erm. No.
There was also the Clue/Spy theme -- that would be too much background writing for too many girls (we had already negotiated 12). There was also the glow-in-the-dark theme. Where we landed was the universally loved theme of CANDY!

Here is the invite the husband designed

We went with the Super Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet sleepover theme.

So swinging right into it....

Upon the girls arrival we had them guess how many jellybeans were in a vase

At any of the child's parties I insist that there be an activity for the guests to do until everyone arrives. For this party it was creating bracelets and necklaces out of licorice rope and gummy life savers.

Once everyone had arrived and made their candy jewelry, we moved onto a candy bingo scavenger hunt in the backyard. We made bingo cards (alas! a good use for Publisher!) using the logos of the Wonka candies that were in the 3-pound bag of candy from Target. The candy was spread about the backyard (and thankfully the Wisconsin weather did not mess with us too much). The girls were each provided a card and an explanation of what to do. We had the girls line up and on go run! run! run! The first one to get bingo (or candy!) received a prize!

From the candy scavenger hunt we went to pizza!

For drinks, we purchased loads of sports drink (because it's so colorful!)and made a new label.

And then onto the very exciting candy stations.
We had a chocolate lollipop station

And the ever so yummy and fun candy kabob stations. Candy kabob you ask? Loads of soft candies on a stick.

Some wonderful samples of candy kabobs can be found on A Baked Creation or Halloween themed ones at Hostess with the Mostess

And the topper of it all, the one sugar item the girls were actually allowed to have during the party, cotton candy. This cotton candy maker allows you to use hard candy to make the cotton candy. We used Jolly Ranchers and allowed the girls to pick out the flavors they wanted.

That cotton candy maker is a new toy for the family. And one the child intends to use this summer to make money. The machine is not expensive and the girls all LOVED IT!

From the fun! fun! fun! stations we moved onto gifts (yeah and thanks!). And perhaps more importantly. CUPCAKES!
With the fun and bright color theme were using we decided to try out tie-dye (or rainbow) cupcakes. Fun to make and fun to look at! We used Can You Stay For Dinner as our inspiration.

To work off off the cupcake sugar energy, we played the game where you stop the music and the girls would have to freeze. You move and you're out. I will have some video of this. Eventually. For now enjoy the song the girls danced to:

The girls were able to wind down after this with the Kids Choice Awards. Did I say wind down? I meant being screamy with every announcement of a nominee. Oh Justin Bieber and Jaden Smith. How you make the 10 year olds swoon!

Thankfully one of the child's gifts was the delightful Mr. Bean. THAT mellowed the girls out. Of course. No one fell asleep during it. But ah well.

After the all donut breakfast - we broke out the promo t-shirts for the party (ironed on with love by the birthday girl's father)

This year we used fabric markers and encouraged the girls to sign each of their t-shirts. This has to be one of my favorite give aways for the child birthdays.

And with that...the girls wandered about and cleaned! yeah to another year!

Vodka 2 Electric Boogaloo

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 21:16:00 +0000

Whooop! Our second annual vodka infusion party came and went last night.
We are already working on ideas for next years event (Vodka 3 = Mad Max Thunderdome Theme).

The awards for this event were made by the husband, and they were all sorts of awesome!

'Cause who does not need a foam finger with a breakdancer?

We had a really good assortment of infused vodkas too:

As with last year, every invitee brought an infused vodka and then all of the guests voted on 5 categories (Spiciest, Sweetest, Best Label, Best Name and Best Overall)
My own Wasabi infused vodka (Name? Oh The Humanity with a picture of the Hindenburg on the label;) lost to Blackheart (as it should have, the Blackheart HURT. Sweetest Vodka was taken by Kettle Plum. Best Name Senor Mustachio (I am pretty sure Pistachio flavored) and the best label, the very elaborate Pumpkin Spice. The husband's root beer barrel (with a hint of vanilla) infused vodka won best overall.

Lots of fun to be had

And with the closure of this party, HPM is moving on to the annual ornament exchange, a cookie exchange party for the daughter and her friends and a 60's (hopefully 60's zombie theme) themed birthday party.

Perhaps a Simple Night at the Winchester Would be Better

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 03:58:00 +0000

I was sitting here, trying to think of a good theme that I have not covered, while watching the terrific Gorillaz documentary Bananaz

While watching the docu, it occurred to me that Jamie Hewlett's (Jamie is the illustrator behind the Gorillaz) design firm is called Zombie Flesh Eaters. Hey....there's a theme. ZOMBIES. You know, plus one of my favorite movies?

Shaun of the Dead.

So....I went off in search of some of the best Zombie parties the internets has to offer. I was not able to find a full party out there. But bits and portions everywhere.

Invite?

From MackerelMade

Fancy Dress?
Take the lead from these images (all found on Flickr.com and attributed underneath to photographer).

Athalfred

Mark Lobo

Shaymurphy

Food
Well really. There is only one thing zombies are looking for braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaains.
But your guests would probably want more - eh?
I would love to state that a zombie party is probably the one and only situation in the aughts that you could probably get away with serving cannibal sandwiches, which I love, but apparently, not too good to eat raw meat. WHATever.

Other foodstuffs?

Zombie Cupcakes (from xsomnis)
Or how about a bowl of spare ribs?

Drinks
Well quite obviously there is drink called The Zombie, this one is called the Zombie for a reason, so be careful with this one. Another obvious choice is the Bloody Mary. And a personal college favorite of mine -- The Swampwater; another potent drink.

I would love to see other Zombie parties...send me links if you come across any.
@

The All New Manner of the Week Feature

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:56:00 +0000

Manners was not something I focused on last summer. Well...other than my preoccupation with creating a Manners Boot Camp. After watching my daughter and her friends, and the other kids that run about, not to mention all the kids and adults I don't know, manners ARE important. And it appears to be a lost art in today's society. Granted, I say that as a person more likely than most to drop an f-bomb. But I do have the distinct advantage of having actually gone to charm school.

Today's manner...
Write Thank You Notes
I am not certain at what age people are under the impression they get a pass on writing thank you notes, but this is a lifetime activity. No, not a thank you email. an actual hand-written thank you note. Does a salesperson take you for coffee, write a thank you note. Has a neighbor done a favor for you? Write a thank you note. Did you organize a speaker to come and speak to a group? Write a thank you note. Did you child spend the night and do an activity with another family? Write a thank you note. There is probably not one situation in life that does not require a simple thank you. And handwriting the note provides some actual warmth to your thank you.

With this next generation growing up in a world of technology, where there has never not been a computer or a mobile in every house, parents need to set an example by sending out thank you notes themselves.

Invite Spotlight - Cocktails

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:37:00 +0000

ooooh boy. As an advertising professional AND a dedicated follower of the employees of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce I sure am happy I came across these.

Mad men returns to our airwaves next weekend, so it's a touch late to order these invites from Ruff House Art for a premiere party, but there is always an end of season party...or really a cocktail party would work as well.

For a girl party look at CDesignIllustration's Peggy Inspired Invite

And ahhhh. I am worried this invite from Paisley Print Etc is a touch tooooooo close to the trademarked graphic. But I love the mix of the background with the silhouette.

The return of Weekly Posts

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:24:00 +0000

I admit, I have been horrible about updating my blogs. With the advent of my birthday last Friday, I wrote out several goals for the next year. One of those to blog on a regular basis. My last seven months have been focused, primarily, on my marketing consultation business Apothecary. I have created a easier on me editorial calendar (because NO ONE makes me feel as guilty as I can make myself feel).

Monday - Goodie Bags (or favors)
Wednesday - Invites
Friday - Manner of the week
Weekend - Party Ideas

Plus you will see, here and there, the fun activities the family as casa de barber creates. Enjoy!

And on to this weeks Goodie Bag.

I found this on the Pleated Poppy blog.
These look adorable and also, perhaps more importantly, easy to make.

And she includes something I realllllllly like on blog postings. Pictures and tutorial of how to make what she is showing. Because me? I need all the steps.

Back to School Party 2010 Style

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:51:00 +0000

We are working towards our plan for our 2010 Back to School party.
With the new Harry Potter movie coming out shortly after school is back in session, I am pushing for a lovely Harry Potter themed party.

We have already had one HP themed party, for the P's birthday. You can read about that party here.

I have been looking at some of my favorite blogs for insperation

Hostess with the Mostess has some very gorgeous ideas including these drinks...

And these yummy wands can also be found on her site.

The following images are from Little Ant Design. I addddddddoooore her Harry Potter work and will be certain to adapt the following for our back to school party.

The wand shop.

Potion Class

Three Broomsticks To Go Bags (which I will use for goodie bags)

These were used to place the movie pass in, however just as lovely for the actual invite we will be sending out....

It's a Cruel, Cruel Summer....

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 04:05:00 +0000

Ok. Really I was simply looking for a reason to invoke the best girl group of all time. And Cheers Then...didn't really work with the subject matter. Oh but please enjoy the video anyway.

ONTO Day one of summer break.
As I mentioned before this summer I am working. Albeit from home...but working nonetheless. I made it my mission to come up with a series of occupiers for the child.

The first one I took from 30 Handmade Days who had a post from Everything Nice. An absolutely brill idea of a job jar. Things that need to get done before one can play on the Wii or with friends for that matter. This was the first thing the P did when she got up this morning. Whipped the 7 activities out....
Here are our job sticks

Hopefully the enthusiasm for the job sticks will continue right on through summer!

The second item we are implementing (starting tomorrow) is the "We Were Never Being Boring" jar o' activities.
Yes, the name is derived from my favorite Pet Shop Boys song....

The jar now contains myriad possible activities to occupy oneself. No more of the "I'm Boreds..."

I most certainly must name check Somewhat Simplee via Skip to My Lou for this fab idea. I used some of their activity suggestions and came up with more of my own. Email me if you would like a PDF of the jar inserts....

As I mentioned in a previous post, we also have weekly themes. This week is Animals. So far the P has written in her journal, done math problems and checked out books at the library about animals. Yeeeee haaaa.

Summer Loivin' had me a blast....

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 03:23:00 +0000

The 9 year old has now become obsessed with Grease (which, well, that's all right in my book -- I always liked Grease more than the HSM series). So the title song - yes - stuck in my head. Daily.

I have been working on the summer plans for the child (and me) for the last week, as school ends this week. Agh! As opposed to last summer, I do actually have steady work this summer (my full time job is marketing alchemist (check that out at ApothecaryComm.com)). So I needed, neh, wanted to come up with an organized way of having an awesome summer (that also included writing, math and learning and, erm crafting and cooking). I felt this might (MIGHT) be a touch less hardcore than my 50 crafts in 50 days goal last summer. So after reading this post from 30 Handmade Days entitled Summer {home} school, I came up with my own plan...

My own, somewhat overachieving plan you ask?
Each week this summer break will have a theme....
Animals, Art, China (the country -- although now that I think about it -- place settings may be interesting), Laura Ingalls, Money, Two Historical American Girl doll time periods, family, royalty and science.

During each week we will:
Go to the library (to check out books on the themes PLUS read books towards all of our summer book reading freebies (check those out here FREE BOOKS FOR KDIS), a craft (such as the below lovely from Merriment Design that we will do during Family Week

We will also be making some sort of food stuff item. Which as we all know is chock full of irony. Because I don't cook. Or Bake. Very well. So we will see how the Maple Candy turns out during Laura Ingalls week.

Picture from Dinner Celebration

The child will also need to write in her journal, with questions I have already written up, and relate to the subject of the week. Like the ever so popular "What is your favorite cloud shape" question during weather week. And you want to know how mean a mommy I really am? There are math worksheets too. Cause that's how I roll.

I look forward to updating the site on a weekly basis to see if this pans out EXACTLY as I plan it (bwaaaa ha ha ha). Wish me luck.

Oh goodness

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Sat, 01 May 2010 21:49:00 +0000

We have had a couple of projects that we have worked on that have turned out a touch on the 'eh side.

First off we made Peepshi right after Easter (when there are loads of Peeps on sale). We found the idea at Serious Eats. Perhaps you are asking - what is Peepshi? Why duh. It's Peeps Sushi. And the thought of it amused me to no end.

Above is the picture of Serious Eats Peepshi. Very, very very lovely.

Here is our day of peepshi making:

Pretty sticky and I think the girls were fairly frustrated with the project. Worse yet. After about 20 minutes of working on this, the child that is not my daughter realized that since she just got spacers, she would not be able to enjoy the creation (due to all of the stickiness). Which, of course, made me feel horrible that I planned a fun thing that she could not eat.

The next craft that I thought would be super dooper easy. Ha!

Jelly Bean Bracelets.

Jelly Bean Day was the same day as Earth Day. Since I am not the hugest fan of nature (see Pave the Earth), I came across this activity when I was trying to figure out what else I could celebrate. The directions and fantastic pictures can be found at Sarah J.

Even as an adult I found the stringing of the plastic thread and the needle difficult. The girls found it more so. As indicated in Sarah J's post, you really do need to use the table to get the needle through the jelly beans. This put the girls at a disadvantage pretty quick, as you needed a moderate amount of strength to get the needle through.

The final result? Above. Very cute (Jelly Belly's have such prettttty colors).

Both were the sort of craft that look awesome -- but perhaps not for the younger girl.

Oh.My.Goodness.

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 04:40:00 +0000

So sad. I started this post back in April. And am just finishing it now. Ah well.....

I cam across a new site that I have bookmarked and will be going to back to for the loads of YUMmy recipies listed within. Jewels from the Roving Stove. A FANTASTIC site. She is for certain a foodie. And she has lived a fabulous life (and I am particuarily endeared to how relistic she talks about her life - everything is not all Chanel handbags and unicorns and rainbows).

Want to know what has truely endeared me to this woman? These cookies.

Here is her complete overview. This is one cookie the tiny one and I are making this summer - for certain.

Sure. I will be upfront and admit the sole reason I initially went to her blog is because she is Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran's ex-wife. 14 year old me would have continues to totally hate her. 40 year old me -- well I really enjoy reading her blog and seeing the food that she is making. And as I said before reading that her life is, in effect, very similar to mine.

While your at it - go fan her page on Facebook too.

Alas. The Rock n Roll Party. 9 Year Old Girl Style

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 02:38:00 +0000

It has taken me nearly a week to get back on with my life after this years party. Whooops.
Pretty good stuff here.

The final two themes were Spa or Party like a Rock Star. And...Party Like A Rock Star won out. And it was Party Like a Rock Star. For 11. Eight and nine year olds. Over night. A slumber party.

The invites went out two weeks before the party.

We used some old 7" records and created a new label with the party information. Note to self. When you use death metal 7" records, be sure to make sure nothing is etched into the record. We forgot. And whooo boy. Did Peyton's school let us know about that.

We didn't do much for decorations this year, other than hanging these tiny records

Which now reside in the daughter's American Girl's "bedroom"

When the girls arrived, as I strongly believe in having something to do until everyone arrives, I had purchased color and letter beads and chain necklaces from Michael's for the girls to place their name on a necklace.

And then....the pizza arrived

Which is only the precursor for getting ready to rock out.

Grandma and Grandpa bought Peyton a karaoke machine for her birthday. And gave it to her early so it could be used at the party. I knew the girls would like it. But man oh man oh man. Did they LIKE it.
A montage can be seen here

Eventually, we moved on to a dance party complete with a Soul Train line

This could have gone on allllllll night. BUT we finally pulled the plug in order to have yummmmm CUPCAKES!

Post cupcake and gift opening. We had the girls play Truth or Dare. But not with their own questions and dares. Because I am not crazy. We found a great list of both that were easily editable here. I cut all the truths and dares and put them in separate bags and allowed the girls to pick out. The questions were edited to appropriate for the age of the girls at the party. This is another item the girls did not want to end.

We finally got the girls to all get their sleeping gear into the living room for the night and they enjoyed watching G-Force and Marley & Me.

The next morning the girls were treated to the husbands becoming infamous chocolate chip pancakes. Yum!

And of course, each and every girl left with a delightful gift bag containing a t-shirt, rock out stickers, temporary tattoos and candy candy candy

The t-shirt, you say you can't see it clearly? Here is a close-up. As a bit of a backgrounder -- the child -- she likes cats. Just.A.Bit.

My understanding from the girls I have been able to corner, is that the party was quite enjoyable. Whoooop! Oh and the t-shirts...quite popular. Many of the girls wore them to school the next day.

Valentines Yummies

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:39:00 +0000

I was just looking at the oh so fabulous Bakerella website.
Which the fact that I look at that site so frequently is no doubt laced in irony, as I dont really cook. Or bake. Or venture into the kitchen other than to find a Starbucks Frapp in the fridge.

Anyway. This Bakerella suggestion is so Andrea proof, it's awesome!

Oreo Cakesters cut down with a tiny heart shape cookie cutter.

Did I mention Andrea-proof. I am not really certain that even I could mess this up.

I love I DIY

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 05:01:00 +0000

I-DIY, is a wedding site, primairly, but ahhh such an inspiring site. Every time I visit the site I find something new to make.

As I was crusing about looking for insperations for the daughters birthday party, I came across this terrific gathering of free kraft bag printables on the site

Really. Go to the site and look at all the free downloads available. It's a vitual children's treasury of fun!

Working on a couple parties

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 02:15:00 +0000

And they are all to be contained in this house.

The first came out of my daughter reading through a 2010 calendar.
The theme

I am not really certain how we are going to go about this. I am thinking that we will probably do masks of his face and adhere them to Popsicle sticks. And have cupcakes. My brother suggested to see a play in Abraham Lincoln's honor. Bwaaa ha ha ha.

When I think about Abraham Lincoln, I tend to think of the work of one of my favorite artists - Mark Ryden. Much of his work contains Abe somewhere....

The second party is the darling daughter's 9th birthday. She has not provided me with any clear theme direction. Spa? Pop Star? CSI? American Girl Dolls? Japanese Tea House? Aghhh. The decisions I have laid upon her tiny shoulders.

Thanksgiving Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:19:00 +0000

We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house. And that means the peanut and I must be kept occupied while the husband and my mother actually make the food. What are we going to be doing in the lead-up time? A whole lot of fun things.

I found these printable Thanksgiving themed fortune cookies on Kind over Matter. Being that it's Peyton and me, we will likely put something silly in there rather than nice, happy Thanksgiving messages.

The child will love the tiny cornucopias I found on My Insanity because they are the perfect size for her American Girl dolls. I think they are highly amusing because of their tiny-ness.

Oh Martha. These are a perfect centerpiece. Very retro. And, for once, it's a Martha Stewart project that I may have patience to make.

I believe the Oreo Truffle recipe that I found on Skip to my Lou is for kids. But I am reading the title as Easy Oreo Truffle for Andrea. This will be my second food contribution to Thanksgiving.

Ornament Exchange

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:44:00 +0000

Working hard on preparing my own ornaments for the 70's themed ornament exchange this weekend.

Have two sets out of three done...

The first one done was the avocado green and harvest gold ornaments.

We filled glass ornaments from Michaels with paper printed out in those fabulous 70s colors.

Ohhh and I love these. These ornaments are going to be realllllly hard to give up.

Ha ha! Only thing missing is an ornament dedicated to the fabulouseness of Charles nelson Riley and Brett Somers. And perhaps a Regale Beagle ornament.

Ornament Exchange Party

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 03:20:00 +0000

We are moving forward with the annual ornament exchange. The event is a week from today. It's my official launch to the season. Have you attended an ornament exchange before? My initial reaction to an ornament exchange was to recoil and sigh. AHHHH too crafty (crafty in a baaaaad way). Too square. Too meh.

We resolved those the above listed issues by creating an event in our our likeness. FABULOUS! We have moved our ornament exchange around from home to bar to resrauarant and back to bar. Who is the we? It's me and my BFF Kim and this year is our 7th ornament exchange event.

Each woman (and it is all women) are instructed to bring an ornmanent to exchange. Once everyone has everyone has arrived we provide numbers to each of the guests. Starting at one and moving up each of the guests picks an ornament to open. We allow the women to open the package AND THEN determine if she wants to trade out. This year we have thrown in a theme. And why yes, we could have made it easy and gone with angels, or snowmen, or even red. But no. We are going with a seventies ornament theme.

I am making and taking three sets of ornaments and here is the insperation for the sets:

Television

Color

And Wacky Packs (which was the husband's suggestion...)

I imagine there will be loads of disco balls and actual ornaments for the 70's. Whoop. At the end of the exchanging we are going to provide a gift bag for the person who brought the ornament that was traded most. Should be interesting.

Are you Boo'ing?

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:46:00 +0000

OOOOh. I so love Halloween.

We received our Boo basket two nights ago. Do you know what a boo basket is? It is a yummy basket full o' Halloween goodies like candy and pencils and stickers and more candy. Whoop! Whoop! Each basket is provided with a Boo sign and instructions. We redesigned ours and I love, love, love our we've been booed sign...so I thought I would share it with you. You in case you want to boo a neighbor or two.

You have been booed. Download this here.

We've been Booed. Download this here.

More images from the vodka infusion party

noreply@blogger.com (Miss Andrea) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 02:59:00 +0000

I just received a couple more pictures from the Vodka Infusion party...

Winner of the Best Vodka Name was Heather with "Appletite for Destruction". I believe her entry was an apple clove mixture.

Julie won Most unusual infused ingredient. Her entry was cucumber. Yummmm.

Hey and keep in mind. You have until friday to enter the UV Vodka goodie bag contest.