party prep

Here's a little sneak peek at Carter's birthday party...

I took so many pictures that I will probably end up doing multiple posts. 

This was such a fun party to plan and prepare...I loved the bright, primary colors and all of the inspiration that I found on Pinterest.  A very talented friend threw her eldest son a Lego party last year (I wish I could post a link to her blog, but she keeps it private - you'd see that I recreated many of her ideas!), so I was able to reuse ideas and decorations.  She was very generous in sharing her time as well as her party supplies.  It was fabulous and I'm so grateful.  Thank you, Kathy!

A multipurpose wreath -

plan to use it again for Kennedy's party and probably Valentine's Day, as well.  A simple ribbon change and it's transformed!

Instructions found here

The beginnings of my homemade pinata.  I found simple, easy to follow directions on the internet here.  This little project saved me the $40 dollars that they wanted on Etsy. 

Nana and Kennedy got in on the party prepping, too!

I was able to cross off an item from my New Year's goals - made chocolate cupcakes with vanilla butter cream frosting from scratch.  It was actually quite easy and they tasted really good!  The Dutch processed cocoa that the recipe called for cost a small fortune (a .$99 box of cake mix would have been a lot cheaper!), but I was proud of the end result. 

Carter enjoyed licking the beaters :)

Finished pinata

I was able to salvage cardboard and round paper tubing from work, so this ended up being a nearly free project.

It was after midnight on the eve of the party and I still hadn't finished Carter's photo banner (another wonderful idea from Kathy).  Thankfully I had the pictures printed, my mom had cut the rectangular paper and Kyle had glued it all together, I just had to punch and thread ribbon through.  I had a few embellishments that I wanted to add, but at 1:20 AM, I decided to call it quits!

Lego man cut out template found here

I cut out one for each guest and used them as place cards.  I also blew them up to a larger scale and used them to decorate the windows on either side of our front door.  A few also made their way onto various decorations. 

Borrowed hanging rosettes made for cute decorations over the main table.  I just used a glue dot to adhere the little Lego men.

A second table was set up in the living room to accommodate all of the kids

Mason jars filled with Legos served a dual purpose, table center pieces and balloon weights

Carter and Kennedy helped me make this cute door sign - simple and free!

Lego marshmallow pops

Found a super simple tutorial here

I actually prefer these to cake pops for two reasons - 1. we already had two kinds of cake/cupcakes and 2. using marshmallows was so much easier!

The food marker that I had to use wasn't great, but I was able to eek out a couple dozen faces, although some looked better than others.

I found primary colored polka dot balloons at Polka Dot Market and used them to decorate both the inside and outside of the house.  We even took a few to the bowling alley and tied them to chairs.

Gift bags

I hung the photo banner from the mantle and then put all of the goodie bags on top.  Bright yellow tissue balls hung on either side and then the finished wreath was at the center.

Kyle spray painted bubble wrap green to look like Lego building mats, and we used it for the table runner on the main table.

The paint ended up rubbing off when it was touched, so I'm not sure I would do a full runner like this again.  Maybe just a small rectangle in the middle of the table.

I used our entry way to set up a dessert table

Reused Carter's "happy birthday" banner from last year in the dining room

And here was the piece de resistance - an amazing cake
A friend recommenced the very talented baker and cake maker, Stacey Kim and she made the best cake!  Not only was it super cute, but it was so delicious. 

snickerdoodle cake with cinnamon butter cream - yum!

Every single thing on the cake was edible

The Legos and little men were made from homemade marshmallow fondant

Carter loved the cake