Rylee Turns Five : A Royal Tea Party

Our oldest daughter, Rylee, has hit a huge milestone! She's FIVE years old! That's a whole hand of fingers! She's our sweet girl with a vivacious spirit. She challenges me everyday, and that's a good thing! Her strong will teaches me (well inspires...) me to be more patient, and less controlling; her fearlessness teaches me to worry less and let her be, because when I do she never ceases to amaze me; her laughter and goofiness reminds me stop and enjoy these moments, she's a kid, and its ok to just be silly once in a while. She really is a remarkable kid, so full of life and joy. Everyday she inspires me to be a better mom, to love all that she has to offer, and to raise her well to make a beautiful difference in the crazy world.

She being the kind of girl who knows exactly what she wants, decided almost a year ago what her five year old party was going to be! So to celebrate this milestone we threw none other than a tea party for her and her closest friends. It was lovely and actually quite simple to pull off what looks like time intensive details... most of my time went into finding affordable teacups and baking the goodie bag cookies.

Unfortunately I didn't capture of the birthday girl individually, she was dressed up to the nines in a Belle-like princess dress *sidenote: she came minutes before her party from soccer, kicked off her muddy gear and jumped into this dress... I love that she's a tomboy and princess all in one! She had nine friends attend her special event, all of which were amazingly well behaved, and had lots of fun.

We served Shirley temples to kick things off. Candy bracelets doubled as serviette holders. PB&J Sandwiches, ham and cheese croissants, cream puffs, muffins, cookies and fruit were on the menu for their high tea. Each had the choice of hot chocolate or cinnamon apple tea to choose from.

For activities they colored Chip & Mrs. Potts (free printable found HERE). They made their own candy necklaces, which I just cut cord long enough to fit over their head easily with a knot at the end, then got all kinds of candy with holes in it (ring pops, lifesavers, sour keys, etc...), this activity was a hit...maybe not for the parents, but the kids loved doing it! Next up they got to decorate their own cupcake, I set up a few paint trays with a variety of toppings and let their inner cake decorator come out.

To finish up the kids watched excitably as Rylee opened their gifts. And then we got them outside to run off the multitudes of sugar they consumed, and then that was it! We sent them home with homemade "tea bag" shortbread cookies, which Rylee had helped make (recipe and idea found HERE).

DIY : Princess Party

We celebrated Rylee's fourth birthday just the other day. A sparkly pink princess party is one I never in a million years thought I'd be planning, but alas, my girl is one of the most girly girls there can be!

Everything I tried to do myself, my husband calls me insane, but honestly I have a lot of fun doing these themed parties. Its my creative outlet in my world of chaos. To another mom or parent it may seem crazy, and thats ok, but this is my niche, its something I'm happy doing... do what you love and love what you do, right!?

As our guests entered princess Rylee's kingdom we had swords for our little princes, made out of cardboard and felt. And for the little princesses there were crown headbands (dollarstore headbands, homemade fabric stiffener, lace ribbon, and gold paint),  and sparkly wands (felt, sequins, polyfill, and bamboo skewers).

In our party room our only decorations was a canopy overhead made of three dollarstore tablecloths cut in quarters and six balloons. I was so pleased with how it turned out and I can say I will probably never use streamers again... ever, this looks SO much better! 

And the hardest thing I created from scratch was this cupcake masterpiece. I am not a baker, it is not my forte and totally stresses me out. But, Rylee and I did a trial run a few weeks ago so I felt somewhat comfortable that I could make this happen, and although its not perfect, it far surpasses anything I have ever baked. I used this recipe for the cupcakes, and this recipe for the icing and used a 4B Wilton decorating tip. I finished it off with Wilton candy pearls and some dollarstore trinkets to make it look more like a princess dress. Everyone seemed to enjoy so I think I can say it was a success... a stressful, messy success!

For eats we kept it simple since it was an afternoon party. There were fruit wands, skewers of grapes and pineapples cut into star shapes; Cinderellas pumpkin patch, mandarin oranges with celery; and Cinderella's coach, chips with soardough loaf filled with artichoke dip (bread wheels attached with toothpicks) 

And last but not least our party favour, snow whites poisoned apples (minus the poison of course). Another first for me, candy apples and to add to the learning curve doing it without a candy thermometer... key phrase for that experience is "be patient, don't panic!" I'm not sure how they actually taste, haha, but it was more for the novelty!

Not pictured is our craft activity for the kids. We had some mosaic crowns the girls could decorate with jewel stickers. For the boys I cut shields out of foam and got felt pens, sparkly star and dragon stickers for them to decorate with. And additional entertainment was provided by queen Gramma Jamma who read the classic and my personal fave childhood story, "The Paperbag Princess" by Robert Munsch. 

Rylee's Monster Bash

Here is the long awaited pictures from Rylee's monster bash we had for her third birthday! I apologize in advance for some slightly out of focus pictures... I was just snapping pictures totally not aware it was on the total wrong setting. 

This day was a lot of work but I had a lot of help thanks to pinterest and friends and family! I think it it turned out great, and more importantly I think everyone had fun! We went with a cutesy monster theme with Rylee's favorite color, purple, and just for some contrast threw in some orange. 

We had the googly eyed monster cups (which you can learn how to make HERE), monster cake pops (which were way harder than anticipated!), little veggie cups, mini rolls with monster toppers, one eyed monster twizzlers, a fun punch out party game, cookie monster goodie bags (my favourite), and a vast array of monsters hanging around keeping us company. 

And here is our little birthday girl blowing out her candles!!

DIY // Cute Monster Cups

This has got to be the most easiest thing I created for Rylee's birthday party... actually it's the easiest thing I've ever created... EVER! These cute monster cups are a sneak peek of whats to come for our "Monster Bash"!

All you need is party cups, a glue gun, and googly eyes of various sizes. Minus the glue gun this project cost: $3.75 / 24 cups (You can find all these things at your local dollar store). *And honestly my glue gun was $1.50 at Michaels and the glue you can get at the dollar store too (so still super cheap)!

Step 1 : Heat up your glue gun

Step 2 : Attach your eyes, I used the smallest and medium size to give them a more kooky look.

And la dee da! Your done! Well after you do all your cups but that will only take you a few minutes. Pair with some awesome paper straws and your set! (And if your lucky like me you'll find those ridiculously overpriced straws at the dollar store too!)

More projects to come from this "Monster Bash" but your just going to have to wait until after the big event!

Second Birthday Party

For Rylee's second birthday party we went out to a nearby MK Restaurant to celebrate. We feasted over chinese style hot pot and devoured a classic DQ ice cream cake (although they had a bit of typo with her name, no big deal) topped with her favourite movie character, "Stich"! Rylee was pretty much jumping in her seat at the sight of that cake, (how kids know things are yummy without ever tasting them is beyond me) and surprisingly she actually blew her candles out (and then made Sevio light them again and again).

After lunch and dessert Rylee was showered with love by all who attended with fabulous gifts and hugs! It was cute to watch her be so excited and everyone around be excited for her too! The restaurant even took a family picture and printed it on the spot for us! 

Thanks everyone who attended, and to everyone who wished her a happy birthday via facebook and skype! She is one loved little girl!

Tastey Tuesday - Owl Cake Pops

 

At Rylee's owl themed 1st birthday party we served the guests owl cake pops! I discovered these on pinterest (Follow Me Here), which led me to a great video tutorial on how to create these awesome little treats. I will warn you they are quite time consuming and I wouldn't attempt them on your own (one because its more fun with a partner, and two it would take even longer!). 

Grocery List:

Lollipop sticks (found at Micheals in varying different sizes)

Wilton Candy Melts (found at Micheals in different colors)

Chocolate Chips

Brown M&M's 

Candy Necklace

Cake Mate Rainbow Rounds

Cake Mate Stars

Rainbow Chip Sprinkles

Paramount Crystals (which we didn't use but would definitely use it next time as it is to help with thinning the chocolate for better dipping)

Cake mix (your choice of flavor) or Tim Bits! (We used Tim Bits as a time saver, I pre-ordered 40 chocolate unglazed from Tim Hortons and it was the best decision I made regarding these pops!

Foam Base (Found at Micheals or any craft store)

Directions:

Step 1: (If you are using Tim Bits skip this step) Make up your cake mix and line a baking sheet with wax paper. Make golf ball sized rounds of cake and shape them into somewhat of a square for the owl body. Then bake.

Step 2: Melt down your candy melts (using a double boiler) in small glass bowl with a little bit of water in the top pan. Stir it as it melts down and add the paramount crystals. (All of this we did not do....resulting in crummy dipping conditions)

Step 3: Add the ears to the owl, aka the chocolate chips. Take a toothpick and dip in the chocolate sauce and apply it to the bottom of the chocolate chip. Attach the ear to the body, repeat for second ear and wait for it to dry. (stick them in the freezer if you want to speed up the process)

Step 4: Get your sticks ready! Dip the end of your stick in the chocolate sauce and insert into the bottom of your owl body and then dip the cake pop into the sauce using a spoon to cover it. Take it out of the sauce and tap while rotating repeatedly against the bowl to get rid of excess sauce. Stick in foam base.

Step 5: Place wings (M&M's) on the body while its still wet and hold it for a little bit for it to dry. Repeat for second wing. 

Step 6: Place eyes (Candy Necklace), nose (Rainbow Chip Sprinkles) and feets (Cake Mate Stars), using sauce as extra glue if necessary. and Voila!! you have owl cake pops!!

They were a hit, and how could they not? They were cute and yummy! 

Below is a picture of Rylee's grandpa's enjoying the cake pops, one of fave pics of the day.