Tailgate 2nd Birthday Party

For our littlest guy's second birthday, figuring out what type of party to throw was no problem.  With balls being one of his loves (any type of ball...footballs, baseballs, soccer balls, volleyballs, basketballs you name it...) and his birthday being near the beginning of football season I knew that we needed to throw him a birthday tailgate party...and so we did.

The Invite
The first part and one of the most important parts of any party is the invite.  It is what sets the stage and gives the party guests a glimpse of what they can expect.  It also happens to be one of my favorite parts to make.  When I was a kid my parents bought me a Crayola Card Making Kit.  I loved it.  I would make cards for everyone with the plethora of art supplies, stickers and card phrases that came in it.  I was pretty sure that I had a future at Hallmark!  ;)  In the past I have created cards that I spent weeks on; designing, cutting, printing, and crafting.  They were fun but took way to much time for what I've got available these days.  For this party I found an invitation online that I liked and basically created my own photoshopped version.  I can't take much credit for them since I didn't really design it, but it did turn out pretty cute!

Once the invite was out, I continued collecting and studying my Pinterest ideas and worked to create the rest of the party while also working to keep it a bit more low-key and low-stress than previous parties had been.  Here is the result:

The Decorations:
Decorations are always important to me.  As a designer, I just can't help but create a space that is unlike the day-to-day; a space that turns our home from a house to an event space.  Although there is a lot of stress involved in party planning, making and hosting I have to admit that I love it.  I love the creativity, I love opening our home to guests and most importantly I love making something special to commemorate the big days of our special little boys.  For this party, I wanted to go with the football theme, but it was also important to me that it remain generic.  For basically anyone that knows our family even a little it is no secret that we are big Michigan fans.  We bleed Maize & Blue, but for the party I wanted everyone to feel welcome in our home...even the few Buckeyes that were invited.  For this reason I encouraged everyone to wear their favorite sporting attire and then went with a very neutral color palette: brown, black, white and grassy green.

The dining room is always party central at our house, and this party was no different.  I made our dining table the main focus by creating a scaled-down football field for the table's cover.  Then I made a simple Happy Birthday banner for the windows and finished it off with some crete paper and poms that I picked up at the Dollar Tree.

Happy Birthday banner on the left windows.  Football table cover at the center table.

I loved how the football field turned out!  I made it by spray painting the numbers, letters and lines on some indoor/outdoor grass carpet from Menards after drawing up scaled a plan of a football field using dimensions I found online.  Considering it only cost me $10 and a few hours to make, I was very pleased.  PLUS as an added bonus, I found the little orange goal posts at the DollarTree as part of a finger football game and they turned out to be almost exactly the correct size that I needed to match the scale of my field perfectly, making this type-A/perfectionist momma very happy!  :)

A number '2' that I made along with the crete paper and poms that I purchased from the Dollar Tree.

To go with family tradition, I had some M&Ms out on the table for pre-dinner munchies, and I placed them in some football shaped bowls that I found at the dollar store.

Concessions:
In addition to the Dining Room decorations, I had two other main areas of focus: The Concessions and The End Zone.  Since this was a tailgate/football party, I wanted to focus the food for the party around things that you might actually find at a football concession stand and wanted to decorate the area with items that would make that feeling come alive.  I kept things very simple by using my kitchen cabinets and shelving to feature the decorations and my kitchen counter to set out the food for the party.  On my left cabinet I made a chalk-board style sign using a piece of black pasteboard and actual chalk to write out the menu.  On the right, I made a similar sign posting the event's MVP (our little birthday boy) Stats.  Then, I simply made a small "Concessions" banner by printing out each letter on a piece of cardstock and using small yellow paper clips to hang them between the signs.  Finally, to bring home the Concessions idea, I also pinned up small chip bags that I purchased at Sam's Club on the shelves below the banner.

For the food, we kept the menu very simple with football-named tailgate foods: 

• Hail Mary Hot Dogs
• Long Bomb Brats
• Hook & Lateral Hamburgers
• Passing Yards Pasta Salad. *
• Punter Potato Salad
• Victory Veggies & Dip**
• Fullback Fruit Salad ***
• Cornerback Crackers & Cheese 
• Chop Block Chips
• Penalty Flag Jello Jigglers

Notes:

*/** For the Pasta Salad and Veggies & Dip I found a great football-shaped bowl and football-shaped veggie tray at the DollarTree. 

***For the Fruit Salad, I found a watermelon football helmet on Pinterest that I thought would be a fun and easy addition to the party.  Since I knew my dad (who is pretty artsy) would be around the morning of the party I figured it would be a great task to give him.  I was right!  Not only did he make the helmet for me but he went all out for it and said that if he wasn't going to make a Michigan helmet there was no point in making one!  ;)  Go Blue!

The concessions with the food.  You can't see the plates good, but my hubby found some perfect ones that were very sturdy and matched the party wonderfully at Sam's Club for me.

Dad's Michigan watermelon football helmet!

For the drinks, we kept things very simple with a "Wet Your Whistle" zone including a sports-style water cooler, some Gatorade and some soda.

The End Zone:
The End Zone was the final focus of the party, with a touchdown table full of goodies to celebrate our MVP.  Here I kept the decorations pretty simple as well, making a goal post out of yellow crepe paper,  more poms from the Dollar Tree, a home-printed 'End Zone' banner, and some game plays made on more black poster board.  I also made a runner out of left over grass carpet to set all of the goodies on.

The goodies themselves included a football shaped cake (made with a Wilton football cake pan from JoAnn Fabrics), some football brownies, some vanilla cupcakes topped with "grassy" frosting and mini foam fingers (we're #1) that I found I Amazon, and finally some popcorn tubs with cheese popcorn and caramel corn (made by my Mom) to keep with the concessions/football theme.

The Game(s):
With so many kids coming to the party I knew it would be too much work to coordinate games for them all to play but wanted to come up with some game-time fun for the kids.  My husband borrowed his corn-hole set from work (a tailgate must) and then I purchased a gigantic football and a target football toss on Amazon for the kids to play with.  Unfortunately the gigantic football was a major let down.  I was so looking forward to watching 20 little kids play with a football bigger than they were, but when we opened the package we found that the ball already had a hole in the seam.  My father-in-law tried to patch it with the patch that came with, but it wouldn't hold, so other than a few pictures of the ball right after it was inflated, no one was really able to play with it.  The target football game seemed to be a pretty big hit with several of the bigger boys though!

For the really big "kids" (aka adults) we decided that there should be an actual game on for people to watch during the party...and what better game to watch than the Michigan game?  For this, my husband again borrowed a projector from work and then set up a "big screen" in the garage for people to check out of so inclined.

The gigantic football before it was completely deflated.

Hubby setting up the big screen.

Playing both games at once before the party started.

The Ticket Holders:
The invitation, decorations, food and treats are all wonderful, but what really makes it a PARTY are the guests!  Although it is a lot of work, we love having family and friends (from both long ago and those we are still getting to know) over for fun, food and fellowship and that is exactly what we did!  We had close to 40 people show up for the party (many of which remembered to wear their favorite sports gear) and had a great time playing in the back yard and the boys' playroom inside.

Sorry ladies...He's All Mine.

The Half-Time Show:
When dinner was over, it was time for the half-time show, also known as Happy Birthday to You!  We lit the candle, gathered around and sang Happy Birthday to our little man.  He loved it...or most of it.

Happy Boy!  Can't believe he is TWO!

Game Day Souvenir:
Finally, the party was almost at it's end and it was time for our friends to get their littles home and in bed.  Before they left though, we made sure each kid got to take a Game Day Souvenir home (choosing between some Amazon inflatable footballs or DollarTree foam footballs).

"Thank you for coming.  We hope you had a BALL!.  Please take a ball (and some sweet goodies) to enjoy at home!"

Pirate 3rd Birthday Party

When my son's third birthday drew near, I debated on what to do.  With two kids I barely have any free time and throwing a party is a lot a work.  As I thought about this, I started talking to my sister-in-law who was also thinking about an upcoming birthday party for my nephew who was turning four around the same time.  As we talked, I randomly suggested that we should just throw a family party together and although we were both kind of joking about it, the more we talked the better the idea sounded.  So, in the end that is what we ended up doing: a combined family birthday party for my son's 3rd and nephew's 4th birthday.  

When we decided to combine our efforts I suggested an idea that I thought would work well for both boys: Pirates (my son's favorite cartoon is Jake and the Neverland Pirates).  My sister-in-law was game and off we went into the land of Pinterest!  :)

The Invitation:

First was the invitation.  Usually, I love to make my own cards for these types of events, but I have been trying to push myself to simplify my life where possible.  I considered making invites but knew it would just stress me out.  My SIL suggested evite.com and when I found this invitation, I was in agreement:

The Decorations:

Not only did we go with an emailed invitation, but I also vowed to myself to simplify the decorations.  Now my husband would probably not agree that what I ended up with was "simple", but compared to what I had put myself through the previous two years (1st Birthday / 2nd Birthday), this was simple and my Silhouette Cameo was a BIG help!!

Photo Props, Crocidiles, Food Cards and Ship Sails

Game Signs & Treasure Maps

The food table with the food cards & photo props

The dining table.  I simply used a white table cloth with a brown paper runner.  Then we threw on some skull and cross bones I'd cut from my machine, some candy treasures, some treasure map placemats that my sister-in-law had found and other assorted items we had left over from the decorations and treasure boxes.

Behind the table, I used some crinkled brown paper (that was actually in Amazon packages I had gotten earlier in the week for my son's birthday presents) along with some crepe paper and balloons.

To add a little more fun, I typed up a "What Be Yer Birate Name?" sheet and gave some labels for everyone to get their own pirate name for the day.  I based the names off a list I found on Pinterest, but rather than using the first letter of our First, Middle and Last names, I did the first and last letter of our first name and first letter of our middle name (because of the 20+ people at the party, there were only about 3 last names total as it was a family party).  My pirate name was "Red Thomas Barnacle" and the birthday boys' names were: "Captain Spike Beard" and "Squidlips Jim Tree Gates".

The Treasure Hunt: 
What Pirate Party is complete without a Treasure Hunt?  Since my son is finally at an age that he can really participate in things and understands the idea of a party in the first place, I really wanted to focus the party on making sure the kids had fun.  After scouring Pinterest, I came up with six games for the kids to play that I tailored as needed to take the kids on a Neverland journey to their treasure.

I designed and printed these treasure maps for the kids to get and use on our journey.

1. Aw Coconuts!

"Bowl with the coconut and knock down the pins to get your treasure map!"

First we had "Aw Coconuts" to get a treasure map like Cubby.

I used some Jake & the Neverland Pirates bowling pins that we already had and centered them between 2x4's to use as bumpers for the coconut (aka bowling ball).  Once the kids knocked down the pins, they each got their own treasure map (shown above).

2. Walk the Plank

"Walk the plank past Tic Toc Croc and his friends if you dare to prove your pirate worth and join the crew!"

Next the kids had to "Walk the Plank" to join the pirate crew.  Once they safely made is through the swamp, the kids were given compasses, eye patches and pirate tattoos to officially be part of the crew!

Here, the water is a blue tarp and the plank is a 2x4 for the kids to balance on.  The crocodile heads I made with my Silhouette Cameo by tracing an online image I found.

3. Catch of the Day

"When you're part of the crew, you have to pitch in and do your part.  Go fishing to get some grub for your journey ahead!"

After the kids walked the plank, they next had to go fishing to get some food (what else, but Goldfish crackers?) for their journey.

I came up with this game on my own as I reminisced playing as a kid at my hometown's annual Memorial Day carnival.  There was always a fishing game that you always won a prize and it was my favorite (probably because I couldn't lose).  For this game, we just hung a sheet across the swing set and then I tied a string and clothes pin to my son's play fishing pole.  My brother played the fish and clipped the Goldfish onto the line so the kids could reel them in!

4. Ring Around the Sword

"Toss a ringer and get your sword!"

Once the kids had their food for the rest of the hunt, we headed to site #4 where the kids just had to get a ring around Jake's Sword to win a[n inflatable] sword of their own!

All this game required was a sword and some rings.  My sister-in-law found some rings for a water game at Walmart and I found directions to make Jake's Forever Sword online and then just enlarged them.

5. Pixie Dust Punch

"Find the Pixie Dust to get some Pixie Dust of your very own!"

The second to last stop on our treasure hunt was to get some Pixie Dust like Izzy.  The kids each had to punch through one color until they found pixie dust (glitter).  Then they were prized with some pixie dust of their own (Pixy Stix).

For this game, all the credit goes to my brother.  Originally, I had thought that we would put glitter in balloons and have the kids pop them until they found glitter, but my sister-in-law said that a couple of her kids were not fans of popping balloons, so we had to think of something else.  I came up with this option instead but was thinking of a much simpler way to build it (simply screwing the cups to a board and covering the tops with tissue paper and a rubber band), but what my brother came up with was much better...although time intensive.  It turned out great.

6. Buried Treasure

"Beat Captain Hook to 'The Spot' and find your buried treasure!"

Finally, the last stop on our journey was at the 'X'..."The Spot" to search for buried treasure!

This game was pretty simple to put together as well.  We got 5 large bins which my brother filled with leftover sand from their sandbox and then we buried treasure in each one for all five kids to find.  For the treasure, each of the kids got a JatNP puzzle and a treasure box filled with one can of play doh, some jewels & jewelry (aka Mardis Gras beads, a candy necklace and candy bracelet, a glow-in-the-dark bracelet and a flashing LED animal ring), some gold doubloons and gold bars and nuggets.

So now that you know what lay ahead for our little pirates, here are some pictures of them on The Hunt...

1. Aw Coconuts!

2. Walk the Plank

Now part of the pirate crew: The kids getting their compasses, eye patches & tattoos.  Arrrrr!!

One cute little pirate!

3. Catch of the Day

4. Ring Around the Sword

5. Pixie Dust Punch

6. Buried Treasure

The Food:
The dinner included a pretty simple spread of Jewel Salad & Fruit Swords, Octopus Veggies, Cannonballs (cheese puffs), Ocean Jello (blue jello with Swedish fish), Seashell Pasta Salad, Gold Doubloon Mac & Cheese, Jolly Roger Pirate Ships (hamburgers) and Bucky Pirate Ships (brats).  For drinks we had Ocean Spray (water) and Jungle Juice (juice-Hugs barrels for the kids/pop-for the adults).  Finally for dessert we had Pirate Treasure (assorted pirate-y candies), Nutter Butter Crocodiles, Rice Krispie bars and an awesome Pirate Ship Cake that my SIL decided to take on (& turned out great!).

The Jewel Salad and Cannonballs, with the Octupus Veggies and Fruit Swords in the background.

Seashell Pasta Salad, Ocean Jello & Gold Doubloon Mac & Cheese

Bucky & Jolly Roger Pirate Ships

The Cake: All credit goes to my Sister-in-law (I was just going to make some very simple cupcakes)!!  It turned out awesome!

Nutter Butter Crocodiles

When everyone was done with dinner and had had some time for their stomachs to settle, we brought out the cake.

The Loot:
Finally, the party ended with a table full of pirate blunder!  Thankfully though, these gifts were not stolen, but graciously given to the birthday boys who got quite a haul!

So, that was our Pirate Party and I thought it was pretty great.  Of all the parties I've thrown so far, I think this one was my favorite, because it was the first one that was focused less on food and decorations and more on the kids having fun (because my son is finally at an age old enough to appreciate it).  Although they threatened rain all day, the rain did hold off at least until all the games were done so we could enjoy the backyard adventure.  The rest of the time was spent inside, but we didn't let the rain ruin the day.  We had an awesome time visiting, eating and playing, but the best part for me was watching the looks of wonder, excitement and pure joy on my little guy's face as he enjoyed his third birthday party!  I love that little man!  <3