Party Time!

I must say ... 
Of all the parties I have thrown and hosted (which is a LOT lately ha!) ...
this goes down as one of my very favorites!

Ella and Ava didn't have a blow out birthday party this year :(
I got mixed up and thought they were having one at their mom's house ... then we got so so busy with work and then before I knew it, it was Halloween, then November, and well, sadly, it just didn't happen.
So I told them we would think about having a Christmas Party for their friends, and of course they didn't forget me saying that haha ... are you kidding?
They have the most amazing memories conveniently on these things ;)

I started with ordering these adorable invitations ... 

Precious!
These were purchased from Michelle at The Party Chick's Etsy Store and she was so great to work with.
She changed the format to add another little elf, put glasses on Ella, and names on the hats! Love it!
She emailed me the pdf super fast and then I printed at Kinkos myself which was cheaper.

We decided we would have snacks, Minute to Win It Games, a Reindeer Food Bar, and do a Cookie Swap! 

 I had some Grinch Punch in little ornaments for them to sip on ...
Then made some AMAZING hot chocolate in the crock pot from this recipe below ...

We did a fun cookie exchange!

I got little $1.50 Christmas tins from Walmart for everyone to put their sweet treats in ... then we spread them all out around the table, walked around and collected one off of each tray, until they were allll gone!! 

They LOVED the cookie exchange! 

Everyone left with a tin full of sweets and cookies!

Then we were off to play some Minute to Win It Games ... 

Game #1 ... Red Solo Cup Stack 

Rules: Stack all of the cups into a pyramid with only one hand, in a minute. If they fall, start over, you get one point for each cup stacked at the end of the minute! 

This was a great game, the kids loved it!

Game #2 The Candy Cane Nutcracker

Rules: Stack as many nuts as you can with only using a candy cane, no hands! Get one point for each nut stacked at the end of the minute. **This was a hard one lol **

Game #3 Can you get an Oreo Cookie from your forehead to your mouth with NO HANDS?
**Warning: Have your camera ready if you ever do this, it was HYSTERICAL!!**

And the ONLY person who got this one ... 
Drumroll ...
Jake!! 

Hahahaha
He was SO proud of himself! Everyone else tried and tried and no one achieved it but him!
Go Jake! :)
This was my favorite game ... even though it was the hardest, it was the funniest to watch!

Game #4 How good is your Aim?

Rules: How many marshmallows can you throw thru a wreath in a minute? One point for each marshmallow that makes it through! 

This was a good game too ... it took a while for each kid to go and then pick up the marshmallows for the next person, but they all enjoyed it and really tried! 

I made a point chart for them to see who the winner was ... 

It was a lot of fun! 

They all really had a good time! 

At the end, we let them go through the 

Reindeer Food Bar ;) 

I saw this on Enjoying the Small Things Blog and knew that I had to do it for our party. 

 ALL the supplies either came from the Dollar Store or Meijer... Including the Mason Jars. 

The only thing that did not were the labels on the mason jars and those are my favorite line of supplies, The Martha Stewart Office Supplies from Staples!! 

This was awesome ... I LOVED this idea! 

Each child left with a jar to sprinkle on their lawn on Christmas Eve for the reindeer to munch on! 

The tags were labels that I printed from HERE: 

We had SO SO much fun, and I think the kids enjoyed it a lot!

Their friends were so excited also!

Hopefully this will be a memory they will always remember ;)

That is what Christmas is all about to me, making memories that last a lifetime!

Any questions on the party? 

Shoot me an email or comment, I am happy to help! Feel free to Pin these pics, I am going to do that hopefully this week sometime!

XO, 

Everybody Needs a Photo Booth Prop Set!

I love doing fun, crafty, creative stuff... this is probably not a surprise to anyone! hehe :)

With that said, one of my favorite things at weddings is when the bride and groom have a photo booth, or photo props, etc. I think it is so fun, for adults and kids, and something that people can save as a memory forever! When my friend, Stephanie, got married last year they had an awesome photo booth and we had a blast with it!

Now clearly, we can't have a photo booth in our house...

 (how awesome would that be for my crazy parties though? lol)

 so I decided to order these cheap, fun, little props to make our own "photo booth" pics if you will...

Take a look at The Manic Moose on Etsy ...

 They have SO MANY FUN THINGS!

Great props for weddings...

 classrooms (all my teacher sistas out there!) birthday parties & more!!

Here is the mini prop set I got...

Only $26

 (one of the smaller ones, they have huge fun ones for up to $100)

Filled with just enough fun stuff to last for hours and take some good pics... I originally ordered these for the kid's Valentine's Day cards project I wanted to do.. will do a post on that for V-day... don't want to give it away yet because I haven't stuck them in the mail!!

The Manic Moose did a great job, they shipped quickly, they arrived just as they look and were perfect... I guess this is why celebs like Ashlee Simpson and her son, Bronx, think they're great too... ;)

(Chris loves to say that I often dislike something or don't like a certain place, but as soon as I hear a "celebrity" has it or has been there, then I am all over it, like flies on horse sh*t hahaha I would say that is not completely true, maybe just a tad bit, however I will say I ordered these before I knew Ashlee was a fan, promise!)

They also have vinyl decals for your iPads and laptops too... I am really wanting one of these :)

How cute is that ??

Only $8!

Comes in these fonts and colors...

Ok,

 so of course last night we had to test these bad boy props out... here are just a few quick shots to show you how fun they are!!

(and give you a good laugh for your Thursday of course!)

Hahahahahaa this is a favorite for sure!

I have no clue what's with the serious face?? lol

How cute is that? A framer for sure!

And now for my favorite...

Hahahahaaha Jake is killing me! What a ham!

So fun!

You need one ... whether you're a teacher, getting married, have kids or don't have kids, or just like to have a parties (like moi!) ... there are props for everyone!! :)

Angela, over at The Manic Moose was gracious enough to
offer 10% off your order
 to my followers on your purchase!
Enter the Promo Code "MOOSE" at check out! :)

Happy Hilarious Photo Taking!