deep blue sea

August 22, 2011 2 Comments

deep blue sea party ideas

These are some of my favorite deep blue sea birthday party ideas from around the web:

Octopus punch from Better Homes & Gardens
Sand dollar cookies from Diamonds for Dessert
Mini aquarium favors from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen
Invitation from well… okay… this one is from The Celebration Shoppe, but it is my fav!
Jellyfish hanging decoration craft from Scrapbooks, Etc.

We just added several new printables (cupcake picks, dessert tags, beverage wrappers, and more), custom cookies (crab, starfish, and angel fish) and a monogrammed t-shirt to our Deep Blue Sea collection so this party idea has been on the brain a bit lately. If you want to see a few more ideas, hop over to my board on pinterest.

As always, I hope you’re inspired!

Join us on facebook and follow us on twitter.

end summer with a splash!

I hate to say it, but summer is coming to a close! EEk! And with school looming only a few weeks away, why not go out with a splash! Introducing my Deep Blue Sea birthday party supplies.

Have a picnic at the pool or local splash pad! The party collection offers things like beverage wrappers, straw slips, napkin rings, lunch bag tags (perfect to allow guests to grab and go),

cupcake wrappers with waves and cupcake picks with the crazy crab from the Deep Blue Sea collection, as well as

cupcake picks that say SPLASH! I have tons more to share, so look for part II of this post next week! Or check out the invitation and decor in the shoppe and these other ideas:

As always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake, create and celebrate!

Photography by Angie Arthur Photography.

Join us on facebook and follow us on twitter.

splash bash fun food

Looking for party food ideas? Well, you’ve come to the right blog. Food doesn’t have to be complicated to be fun and yummy! For your next pool party serve these “inner tubes!” {snicker} They’ll go over well with guests.

And I wasn’t sure the “rafts” (aka sugar wafers) were going to make our pool party. I actually was probably the worst culprit. They remind me of my childhood and I kept thinking, one more won’t matter. My thighs may feel differently, but they were yummy and perfect for a pool party snack!

Shop my pool party supplies in the party store!

As always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake, create and celebrate!

Join us on facebook and follow us on twitter.

Photography by Angie Arthur Photography

good ole water balloon fight

Who doesn’t love a water balloon fight?! And it makes a great party game for a pool party or summer gathering!

When styling our new Splash Bash collection and additions to our Deep Blue Sea collection, my sons got into a huge water balloon fight in our front yard with the neighbor kids (okay… and my husband) and so we said why not have one at the party shoot too. It gets the kids giggling and makes for a great time.

These are a few of my favorite shots that Angie of Angie Arthur Photography captured!

Gathering ammo.

Catching some air!

The war face. I LOVE this one. These two are brother and sister. Can you tell?!

More intensity. These kids meant business!

The bounce. Some of the water balloons just refused to burst. You can see the one in midair that just bounced right off her side. Trust me, it wasn’t because he wasn’t throwing hard!

And when all the balloons were gone, there was “the drench.” I just love how Angie captured the water in this one!

In the end, cookies, from our partners at Sweet Tooth Cottage, and cupcakes embellished with our crab and SPLASH cupcake picks, brought them all back together. It’s funny how sugar can do that! {wink}

You can find all of my pool party supplies in the party store!

And as always, I hope you’re inspired to craft, bake, create and celebrate!

Join us on facebook and follow us on twitter.

deep blue sea & beach cookies

Today I’m sharing just a small peek into our Splash Bash and Deep Blue Sea party collections shoot from late June. My sweet and super talented friend Angie Arthur of Angie Arthur Photography captured the day and all the fun that came with it!

I have tons to share, but I thought I would kick the week off with the custom butter cookies from our partners at Sweet Tooth Cottage. You’ll notice our crazy crab, fish and starfish (he was so simple, but so pretty!) from the Deep Blue Sea collection and the beach ball from our new Splash Bash collection.

All of these will be in the shoppe later this week. Happy Monday everyone and as always, I hope you’re inspired!

Join us on facebook and follow us on twitter.

half birthday cupcakes

I mentioned a few days ago that my little guy, who is a June birthday, would be celebrating his “half” birthday at preschool this week since all the winter birthday kiddos get to bring in snacks and celebrate during the school year. I think it’s really a nice gesture on his teacher’s part (thanks Mrs. England!). So although I found some wonderful allergy-free ideas (my little guy has a severe dairy allergy), I decided to go with what I knew his friends would like… cupcakes.

But then I was at a loss. I kept asking what “theme” he might want on his cupcakes and he just wasn’t excited about anything (something we’ll have to work hard on by his next birthday since I’m not sure what will beat his dino-roar party in the eyes of this dinosaur loving boy!). So at the end of the day I got silly. {wink}

He and all his little buddies got a cupcake and a half, or better a cupcake and a mini cupcake. His cupcake had the number four in his favorite color, blue (ooohhhh, these cupcake wrappers would go great with our deep blue sea collection too), on the large cupcake and his small cupcake was the half symbol (it still makes me smile!). And all his little friends got two cupcakes too. I’m sure the moms were loving me that afternoon!

The dots and the numbers were just fondant and I promise if you can use a cookie cutter you can make these yourself. You can find white fondant in the baking section of your craft store and I recommend gel food coloring if you want to tint it (it stains your hands so use a resealable plastic bag over your hands to massage in the food coloring). Just tint, roll it out like cookie dough, cut out your shapes and ta-da you have adorable cupcakes! By the way, for dairy free cupcakes, I used Classic Yellow Duncan Hines cake mix (with apple sauce in place of oil… just my preference) and Pillsbury’s chocolate and dark chocolate icing (that’s right, no dairy!).

As always, I hope you’re inspired!

Like us on facebook and follow us on twitter.

DIY toss game

diy-toss-game

And last but not least for our deep blue sea bash, we made a toss game to match our party theme. The great thing about this is you could change the shapes and fabric to match any kind of party theme. Here’s what you’ll need:

2 yards of coordinating fabric
3 pre-cut squares of coordinating felt
plywood (or foam board if you don’t have a saw handy)
fabric glue
staple gun

And here are the super simple steps:

Have the hardware store cut your board to size (3′ x 4′) and have someone handy with a saw to cut your circular holes.
Cover the board with fabric using a staple gun.
Next find the center of each hole, cut a small slit and then cut strips folding the fabric back to cover the hole sides and stapling them in place.
Cut out a fish template from the felt and then a circle in the center, the same size as the hole in the board. Apply the fish with fabric glue.
Finally cut out numbers for each hole and apply those with fabric glue.

We placed ours on an easel that my hubby whipped up, but you could lean it against a tree or make small wooden feet for yours. As for what to throw, use either balls or beanbags and hand out prizes for all those who play! Happy crafting.

beach bash favors

beach-towel-favors

For my guys fifth birthday deep blue sea bash as the local Splash Pad, we gave monogrammed beach towels sporting crabs, whales, seahorses, octopus and fish to all his little guests. They were a big hit. I’ve thought about adding these types of favors to our shoppe… the verdict is still out, but I’ll keep you in the know! {wink}

The other shot I wanted to share was how we used a toy sand wagon to display our chips. Be creative, not everything has to be served on a platter!

wagon-turns-chip-basket1

flip flop crispy pops

flip-flop-crispy-pops

For our deep blue sea bash I also made flip flop crispy pops. I’ve mentioned before that my youngest has severe food allergies and these are a great non-dairy (and non-egg) treat. They’re really super simple to make and a great end of summer treat even if you’re not having a party!

Here’s what you’ll need:

Rice crispy cereal
Marshmallows
Butter (Smart Balance Vegan for non-dairy)
White cake icing
Gel food coloring
Resealable bags (2 per color you plan to use)
Icing connectors, #4 and #103 Wilton tips (both easily found at craft stores)
Candy decorations
Wax paper
Lollippop sticks
Flip flop cookie cutter (available with our sleepover decor)
Toothpicks
Optional: Clear cello bags and ribbon

And here are the super simple steps:

Lay out a piece of wax paper and grease your cookie cutter with a little bit of butter.
Make your rice crispy treats like you normally would and as soon as you can stand to touch them, while they’re still hot/warm, mold them into the flip flop cookie cutter (making your top as flat as possible for easy icing), set them aside and let them cool. TIP: A little butter on your hands will keep the crispy treats from sticking to you! (One batch should yield 8.)
Now tint your icing and separate each color into two bowls. One will be for flooding and the other for piping. We used green and blue to make them as boy-like as possible. {wink}
Insert your lollipop sticks. You want to do this before icing them. If you wait your icing could crack.
Insert your piping icing into a resealable bag with a #4 tip and connector. Pipe an outline, like you’re coloring a picture, around each flip flop you want that color and allow them to set for a minute. (Tip: You are creating a barrier for the thinned icing, known as flooding, so if you see any gaps between your barrier and your rice crispy, pipe in a little extra so that your thinned icing doesn’t run out.)
Insert the second set of icing, the same color as the barrier, into a resealable bag and heat it 10-15 seconds or until runny. Snip a small corner off the bag and pipe it into the center of your flip flop. You may need to pull the thinned icing to the corners with a toothpick. Allow the icing to set if you want it to be one color, OR using another color of thinned icing you can drip (for polka dots) or drag (for stipes) while the first color is still wet.
For the flip flop straps, use a #103 Wilton tip and start just next to where the big toe should be! {wink}
Embellish with a candy; we used stars. And since my guy was turning five, we also piped a five on each flip flop.

Here’s another shot showing how we displayed them in sand buckets!

flip-flop-bucket-treats1

Just be creative and let the kids join in. It’s a little messy, but super fun! Oh, and we made some shark, fish, turtle and seahorse chocolate pops too using a Wilton candy mold and colored chocolates.

chocolate-fish-pops