Seashell Jewellery Trays

Super ages ago I had the idea for these (though just a tiny amount of googling informs me that I was not the first), and a Mermaid Party was JUST the excuse to make them.  I *almost* forgot them entirely, and remembered only recently, after some beach combing.  Whew.  

They were a little time-consuming, but def worth the effort.  I think I used about four coats of paints, and probably couldn't done another coat or two.  I had ten to make, and I ditched early.  I think they look fine *crosses fingers*.  I also wish I'd glued the 'pearl' after painting the shell.  I made the call to glue first, hoping that I could tidily paint around the pearl and disguise the glue.  It didn't work out marvellously, but I ended up kinda blending the pearl into the shell with white paint, so I guess that's okay.

My original idea included iridescent paint, but that stuff is expense!  So I used what I had on hand, and a little bit of glitter looked just as good.  A fun, simple idea that was easy to execute.  Perfect.

Edit - The placement of the pearl is not especially accurate - but we wanted the pearl as a placeholder for rings 'n things.  Yanno.  Creative licence and all that.  I mean, it's a scallop shell so we're not going for complete accuracy here ;-)

Messages in bottles

I've started some makings in preparation for Eleanor's party.  These little bottles contain glittery sand, a tiiiiiiny plastic jewel, and a wee scroll.  Of course I still need to find some chains before they are complete.  I decided not to seal the cork with glue, so they can switch the sand etc. out and replace it with something else (mini terrarium, beads, whatnot), if they choose to.  I found the bottles on Trademe and they were inexpensive.  The tiny chest I found on eBay, but have seen these in $2 stores too.

Now to make a mermaid tail or three *scared face*.

Party: /ˈpɑːti/ — n, pl -ties. 5. Favours

Tiny Teds - Eleanor's 2nd birthday.

My favourite bit!!  I know that party favours aren't everyone's bag, but they sure are mine.  Gorgeous mini presents for every party guest, yes please!  This is the real benefit of keeping our guest lists small, fewer guests = more favours!

Nautical themed favours, Travel party treats, Lawnmower/garden favours.

Okay, I've done party favours in varying degrees.  From Eleanor's 2nd birthday with allllll the favours, to sweetly packaged handmade soap on her 4th.  It's like this, for me - if I have the time and the inspiration, I looooove to go all out with handmade favours.  I can think of nothing more delicious than little people opening a paper gift page filled with tiny handmade treasures, all for themselves (I always make one for the birthday child, too).  If that doesn't happen, we are so down with the simple take home gift - treats, soap, stickers etc.  No rules, peeps.  It's marvellous :-)

Matchbox lawnmowers - Garland's 2nd, walnut sailboats, paper craft gifts.

Do you know what?  I'm a total geek very normal person and have kept favours from each of our kiddo parties, which I'll save to give them when they're older.  That day...  Oh, oh!  

So back to being exceedingly helpful and knowledgable (mmmhmm, oh yes) about party things, and offering yet more unsolicited party throwing advice...

Packaging!  Scroll on...

Disco party, Milly Molly Mandy party.

Cute paper bags are amongst my top fave material things...  Sad, but true.  And, even a plain old paper bag can be made pretty, with the addition of some cool stickers!  Hello vistaprint!  Washi tape is also the shiz for making a boring bag look pretty (or, a pretty bag look prettier).  I AM SO HELPFUL!  You're welcome.  Okay, here's a tip: fake flowers!  Yeah!  Don't all thank me at once.

Let's not forget - Christmas party favours!  I know, I'm trying to make kiddo-pre-Christmas-parties a thing, and so far I'm the only person I actually know who throws these, but I'm sure they'll catch on soon ;-), because seriously, who can resist handmade Christmas crackers?!

Christmas party #1, Christmas party #2

Okay, probably best not to write a blog post when I'm just a little sleep-deprived (did it contain any information?  No, I do not think so).  For the rest of this sliiiightly gratuitous series, follow these links:

Party Invites

Party Decorations

Party Food

party Games

And for some free party printables - check it.

Party: /ˈpɑːti/ — n, pl -ties. 4. Games

Hmm, party games.  I'm gonna keep this one brief, though I think there are some super cool ways to bring it to the party games devision of party planning.

It's just that there are many, many peops who are much more inventive than I, when it comes to creating party games.  This is something I'm working on, actually, because with growing kiddos, pass the parcel isn't always going to cut it anymore.   I still maintain that kids are naturals at creating their own entertainment, so really, setting the scene is sometimes all you even need (and yep, often you don't need even that - but for the purpose of these posts, let's just roll with it).  It's good to have a plan though, eh.

Really I only have a couple of super lazy tips to give (directed at a party throwing newb, not all of you experts out there):

+ Don't reinvent the wheel.  Take an old favourite and put a spin on it to suit your theme.  Pin the feather on the flamingo's bum, dinosaur salad (like fruit salad, but with dino names), whatever.

+ Read them a story.  So underrated, but actually a really effective way to keep the tone of the party nice and calm.  They can do some running around later to burn off some sugar, but an on-theme story is such a nice simple way to set the mood when guests first arrive.

+ Self-directed games ftw!  The less you have to do with it, the better.  If you can rope in an older child then yuss!  Even better if you can give your kiddos some instructions and and leave them to it (with some supervision, of course).  Obviously this is easier with older kids, but if you keep it simple, this can be achieved with younger kids too.

+ Balloons, balloons, balloons!  Kids never seem to get tired of these, and so often they seem to be the biggest winner at birthday parties.  If all else fails, start handing out balloons *nodding sagely*...

Told ya I didn't have much!  But I'm working on something a bit more exciting for a certain lass's 5th birthday, and it involves hiring some mates to do the entertaining.  My laziness knows no bounds...

More party posts:
Birthday Invites
Party Decorations
Party Food