Summary of the Night Owl Party

This is a summary of Boo's 8th birthday party.  It was a sleepover spa night owl themed party.
The invitations were owl cards made on the cricut and were delivered with a sleep mask:

The goodies:

Owl topped treat bags filled with spa items: bracelets, rings, nail polish, lotion, an eraser shaped as a spa item (you know the fun ones that come apart), and homemade lip gloss.

Owl pillow boxes filled with M&M's (also doubled as the prizes for Bingo).

Sundaes, but not an ordinary sundae, one made for the bath.

Owl S'mores - graham crackers, marshmallows, yellow candy melts, chocolate chips, and a candy corn.

Bottles to hold their drinks.  They had owls on the front, holes drilled in the lids for straws, and their first initial on the back.

The owl cake:

and blowing out the candles (can you tell the flames are colored?)

Bingo:

And the sad part: I didn't take pictures of the spa part.  I was busy finishing the cake & s'mores.  I put my oldest & her friends in charge of the pedicures and manicures.  We had a foot bath using the ingredients from the Sundaes pictured above.  The girls picked out their nail polish and they were all decorated up.  We had started the party with a pizza dinner, had manicures/pedicures, played bingo, had cake and ice cream, unwrapped presents, and then watched a movie.  That filled up the night from 6:00 pm until 10:23 pm (but who was counting?). 
To see more detail about the party, for tutorials, and printables, click HERE (Part 1) and HERE (Part 2).

Linked to:

Bloom Designs

Sundaes too Good to Eat (Spa Sundaes)

,This is a tutorial of how to make some Sundaes you enjoy in the bathtub. I found the idea here. I have to warn you thought that I just estimated. The good thing is that you don't have to be exact and you can alter it to your liking.
First step, the ingredients:

You need Epsom salt (found in the pharmacy section), baking soda, Vaseline bath beads, bath poufs, sundae glasses, and we used Crayola color bath drops for the cherry.  You also can use food coloring to dye the Epsom Salt, but I didn't.

The poufs and glasses I bought at Ikea (they come in larger sizes too).   They weren't expensive at all.  However, since I bought those things before I read the recommendations by others I didn't realize that you can get some cups from Dairy Queen that look nice as well.  I like that they can use these glasses again (they just have to be careful since it is glass in the bathroom).

The Epsom salt I bought at Cotsco (it is under the pharmacy window when you drop off prescriptions), but you get a lot more than you need that way.  I purchased the bath drops and bath beads in the bath section at Wal-mart.  Others used bath beads for the cherry.  If you can find them they look great, but they serve the same purpose as the mix you are making.  I thought the kids would like the color changing drops best even if it doesn't look much like a cherry.

Take a large bowl (I ended up using two bowls to hold it all) and pour the Epsom salt in. Add about 1/2 box of baking soda to each bowl. I just added the Vaseline beads as I saw fit (a little more than half the box). We stirred the three ingredients until they were well mixed.

My girls scooped up the mix into the cups, placed a straw, a pouf sponge, and a color drop on top.  I wrapped some celephane around them and attached this tag (I printed them on color paper):

They turned out cute:

If you want to use the tags you download them HERE.

Night Owl Spa Party - Part 2

To see Part One click here.
This is what party favor table looked like (a couple days before the party):

I did tutorial for the middle owls here (owl pillow box) and here (owl bag toppers).  Now onto the rest of the fun stuff we made for the party. 

First we made Sundaes, but these aren't any kind of sundaes.  They are nonedible designed for the bath sundaes.  I found this idea here.  I actually bought the stuff for my daughter Candyland birthday party (yet to finish the post on that one), but we had so many things already and Boo wanted a spa party.  In the end I decided to save the supplies for this party instead.  Step by step instructions & printable are HERE.

The other fun thing we made was drink-ware for each girl.  I believe I saw a picture on Pinterest, but I didn't pin it or click on it or see the source so I can't give anyone credit -  I just saw it in passing.
I had a friend & coworker gather Starbucks bottles for me from her boyfriend.  I have seen so many fun things to do with these bottles, but don't drink anything with coffee in it.  When I mentioned it to her she said she could get me some.  My problem is that I don't know what I originally wanted to do with them - I have to find all those cute ideas again.  But I did figure out this cute idea.  

What better way to give girls' at a sleepover drinks without worrying that they will end up all over the floor?  It was perfect.  Here is what we did.  We screwed the lid on a bottle (we used the same bottle for all the lids so metal bits would be collected in one place) and then took the drill to it.  Actually Bugs did the best job at this.  For some reason his came out nice and smooth while my holes left bits of metal.  So it became his job to do the drilling.  We used a drill bit just big enough for our straws.
Then I took the cricut back out and cut out some owls.  I made them small enough to fit under packaging tape.  I used glue dots to adhere the pieces together then taped them on with clear packaging tape.  I'm hoping this will waterproof it somewhat.  If you don't have a cricut some other ideas: print something off the computer and use the packaging tape or print onto a clear label.  All the owls had a brown background and then they were two other colors: green, pink, or purple.

There were three different styles of owls too.  To the top of the lid I used a circle punch and punched out a piece of pink vinyl.  Before I took the backing off I held the circle (back down) over the lid.  I traced the hole onto the paper backing.  I used my crop-a-dile to punch a hole in the vinyl where I marked it.  After taking off the paper I placed it on the lid. If you don't want to use vinyl you could just spray paint it.  That would have been fast too, but I did like how the vinyl kept the straw in tight and covered up the drilled hole nicely.

On the back I cut out the initial of their first name out of the same pink vinyl.  We had a couple E's and a few M's.  I made sure the owls on the front were different colors & patterns and the straws were different colors.  This helped the girls' know which bottle was theirs.

To add a final touch we tied green and purple ribbon around the top.  It added a little more color to the pink.  Since we had a pizza dinner the girls selected Sprite or Rootbeer to fill their bottles with.  They were limited to two sodas and then it was refilled with water.  I think they turned out well.  I had all the supplies on hand and it turned into another party favor they could take home.  One last picture of them all filled up.

I haven't had a party since I started working (except for the two who have summer birthdays) and I wasn't thinking about the day of the party.  I agreed to a sleepover and planned it for 6:00 since we were having dinner.  The day before it hits me that I get off work at 4:00.  That does NOT give me much time to get things ready.  So most of that day was spent cleaning.  Before I knew it the party was almost here & I hadn't made her cake or s'mores yet.  We had decided on the cake already and I had the supplies.  The morning of the party (before work) I made the cupcakes.  Ooops, running a little late?  I had less than two hours to get home, set up for the party, and make cake. 
I was so busy making the cake that I didn't take picture of The Spa, but here is what we did.  We set it up in the basement.  We had two comfy chairs with foot baths (we used the same stuff in the Sundaes for the foot bath), there was a bench for them to sit while getting their pedicures, and a table for the manicures.  Of course a sheet was under everything with towels under the foot bath, and a pink table cloth on the manicure table.  My oldest and a few of her friends were in charge of painting all the nails.  They had lots of colors and detail brushes.  They did a great job and the girls loved their nails.  We decorated the ceiling with light up balloons and lanterns.  The balloons had something in them that made them glow.  You pulled a tab out and blew it up.  It was supposed to glow for something like 15 hours, but they were glowing for several days.  I have a picture, but it isn't very good.  Trying to get a decent picture of something glowing isn't the easiest thing to do:

While the girls were getting their nails done I was working on the cake.  I found a few options and Boo picked out the cake found here.

It turned out pretty close to what their looked like.  I was going to type up the instructions, but it will save me so much time if you just clicked on the link above.  I used Oreo Fudge Cremes for the Cookies on the cake and Grosshoppers for the cookies on the cupcakes.  I used a peach ring for the eyes on the cake and yellow candy melts upside down for the cupcakes (I purchased jelly lifesavers to use, but couldn't find them.  Not sure if they are the right size or not).  The store I went to didn't have the circus peanuts so I cut up some of the peach rings for the beak & talons.  I think that is all I changed.  Oh and an FYI, you don't need nearly that much blue & purple coconut.
Here are a couple more cake pictures complete with colored flame candles.

The other goody I made were owl s'mores.  They are very simple, but don't always melt quite how you want them.  

You need 1/2 of a graham cracker, one large marshmallow cut in half, two yellow candy melts, two chocolate chips, and one candy corn for each s'more.  First take the graham cracker and place the marshmallow halves on top.  Add the candy melts.  I did two at once and set the microwave for 20 seconds.  Keep an eye on them because the marshmallows will start to puff up.  I let them puff up a bit or the candy melt won't melt.  You don't want the candy melt to melt completely.  It just needs to be soft enough to hold on the chocolate chip.  When it is done add a candy corn beak.  You can actually make these the day before if you would like.
After their nails were done they played bingo (see part one for the printable).  When everyone finished up we moved to cake & ice cream followed by presents.  They had so much fun!  They after pumping them full of sugar the girls got ready for bed, set out the sleeping bags and settled down for a movie.  The movie ended just before 10:30.  A couple of the guest left and I told the others it was time to settle down.  They were quiet, but I did finally have to go down at midnight and tell them to go to sleep.  Turns out during that hour and a half of quietness they had two pillow fights.  I couldn't tell and I wasn't that far away.  I wish my other daughter's sleepover party went as smoothly!  
All in all I would call it a success! 

Linking up With:

Owl Pillow Boxes Tutorial

The supplies you need: colored cardstock pillow Boxes (I used the Sizzix pillow box die cut & my Big Shot), 10 paper (color coordinating to the cardstock body) 3/4 inch circles & 2 black cardstock 3/4 inch circles,  two 1 1/2 inch ovals in the same cardstock as the pillow box, 2 orange cardstock hearts one at 1 inch and one at 1 1/4 inch, and two 1 1/4 inch white cardstock circles.   I used my Cricut to cut out the circles, hearts, and ovals but it can be done with punches as well.   

Lay out your pillow boxes.  Adhere your larger heart upside down to the bottom.  It will hang over the edge when folded. (I creased the green one to give you an idea of where they will fold at).  Angle them how you want.

Adhere three circles on the bottom of the pillow box.  I used a tape runner and put adhesive just on the top of the circle.  After they are all on I bent them up to give them dimension.  They look nice, but not putting adhesive on all of it they fell off easier.  Keep that in mind when you make yours.  I start with the middle circle and put it just above the crease (so the feathers won't hang off when folded) and line the two sides up equal with it.

The next row take two and put them above where the circles meet (I'm at a loss of how to describe it).  Cut another one in half and put it on the edges (straight side lines up to each side) to fill in the row:  Your row is basically going to shift so the feathers are staggered.

Add another row spacing it the same way as your first (the bottom) row (the green one is through this step, blue through previous step and yellow is the second step):

Take your last circle and cut it in half.  This is going to be the top row.  The flat side are up and I use the top of the circles to line them up. (click on picture to enlarge)

Then bend up the bottoms of the feathers (if you choose to) to give them dimension.

I adhered the black circles on the white circles before adhering them to the body.  Don't center them, put them closer to one edge.  They are going to overlap all over the place: each other, the beak, the feathers, the edge of the box.  Point them in various directions to give them their own personality.

Then it is time to add wings.  Take your two 1 1/4 inch ovals and glue them on the sides.  This is where you cover up that little spot of cardstock left on the top row.  Make them point in different directions.  Why? Personality!  Did you forget already?

I didn't add bling to these, but I will before I give them away.  I didn't have any with the rest of my supplies and I wanted to be sure to get the tutorial done and posted.  When the bling is added they will look like this:

I played with using papers really close to the color of the body and some with more color.  What do you like best?  (The purple on the top right had some coming off. It is easily fixed, but make sure the circles are stuck on good).  I still think these are so cute!  To see the birthday party that these were used for click HERE!  I saw this idea on Pinterest here.

I linked this up to:

Tatortots and Jello 

Bear Cub Scout Achievement 4

I'm going to post what I did for the entire Achievement 4 (Requirements a-c).  We only meet for an hour once a week so I had to take two weeks to get it all covered.  If you meet for a longer period of time you can cover it all.  The best part is that it includes a game so you get a several things accomplished and have fun too.

1. Tell in your own words what folklore is. List some folklore stories, folk songs, or historical legends from your own state or part of the country. Play the Folklore Match Game in the handbook.
2. Name at least five stories about American folklore. Point out on a United States map where they happened. 
3. Read two folklore stories and tell your favorite one to your den. 

First we talked about what folklore is. Then we read all of the summaries in the book.  This is basically the answers to the Match Game in the book.  I brought copies of the Match Game just in case someone didn't have their book (which is every time).  We went over the match game together.  Once they were familiar with it we played memory.  On one card is a name and they have to find the description of that name in order to have a match.  

 
I printed the cards off onto colored card-stock so the print wouldn't go through and then I laminated them for durability (not required). The kids loved the game.  Keep the matching game you just filled out handy in case you forget who did what!

I can't take the credit for creating this one.  I found it at Strong Armor.  The only problem was that it didn't print quite right for me.  I emailed her and she sent it to me via email.  I asked her if I could share it with you and she agreed.

To Download the matching game click here.

I then printed 5 different folklore stories from http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/tall-tales/
You can print your own or use the ones I did by downloading them here.  I also printed a map of the United States to bring in so we could locate where each folklore originated.  We read the titles of each.  The boys each took turns reading two of them to themselves.  They each selected their favorite and summarized it for the group and  showed us on the map were their story happened.


We had fun and it covered the entire Bear Achievement 4!

A Little Organization

I've been pinning all these organization ideas on Pintrest.  I so need to incorporate them.  Sadly, I have pinned them, but not even looked at 90% of them.  Then I noticed my sister (whom I dragged into Pintrest) was actually USING the things she saw online.  It got me thinking more about ways to organize my house.  Yesterday I had an inspiring idea.  I was going to organize all the board games.  I went from this:

To this:

And in the second picture there are FIVE more board games and EIGHT more card games.
I purchased eight 12x12 paper keepers from Michaels (they came in a 4 pack - normally $30, but on sale for 50% off) and a few plastic 4x6 photo holders and some travel soap holders.  I'm using these to store some of the card games.  Right now I have many of the pieces in plastic bags.  I'm still trying to decide if I should get containers or leave them in bags.


Here are some pictures to show you what I'm talking about:

  

This one actually has two Uno games in it and there is plenty of room.  If you have just one package the soap dish would be your best bet.

This one has two games in it as well.  An oversized Curios George Uno is on the bottom.  And a Go Fish game on the top.  Under the cards is instruction to Go Fish that wouldn't fit into the soap dish (but also works as a separator for the two games):

 Here is Phase 10 in the soap dish:

I have one more Uno game (think we have enough Uno cards?), Dice Game (Greed), and some regular playing cards that I need to pick up soap dish containers for.  Then my games should be organized.

FYI - I bought the 4x6 containers at Michaels.  They are $1.49, but are 40% off right now.  They are sold in the scrapbook organization aisle.  The soap dish you can get at Walmart or Target for $.99.

I arranged the games into the 12x12 containers just by the way they fit the best.  Since I was getting rid of the boxes I cut out their names.  I put the smaller names on the front and the bigger names on the top.  I just taped them on with packaging tape.  Some of the games already didn't have boxes anymore and some where in metal containers (all bent out of shape).  For these games we just wrote down their names and taped them on.

The five games pictured on top of the containers had game boards too long for the containers.  I was hoping would fit into a legal size hanging folder and I was going to file them away, but alas they are too long.  Hopefully their boxes won't be destroyed and they can sit nicely on top.  I also may purchase one more 12x12 container to put that red game into (pictured between the stacks of containers).  So if you like this idea you can go from this (plus 5 board games {Chess, Parcheesi, Chess, Jambo, Buckaroo}, lots of card games {Phase 10, Uno, Go Fish, Uno, Crazy 8's, Uno, Old Maid, and did I mention Uno?} and a dice game {Greed} and minus a toy laptop & art station):

To This:

Oh, and did I mention the 12x12 containers are made to stack so the won't just slide around like my games were before?  They should stay in two nicely stacked piles ~ until the kids forget to put them away :).

Linked to:

Tatertots and Jello