A Simple Gender Reveal Party

     Way back in April, my brother and sister-in-law threw a cute Gender Reveal Party to tell the family whether they would be having a boy or a girl. Spoiler alert, they had a boy and he is darling! I was really impressed with how simple yet clever and affordable all of their party ideas were. 

     They started by having everyone play a fun guessing game. The votes were pretty evenly split. 

The party decorations were very simple and incorporated many items that can be found from around the house. Mason jars were given a quick coat of pink or blue acrylic paint to become flower vases. A punch bowl was also turned into festive decor with a simple strawberry-blueberry lemonade. Edible cake decorating pearls were used to make the Muddy Buddy dessert fit the theme.  Other decorations included simple plastic table cloths, streamers, and banners.

  

They ended the party by having us pop some confetti filled balloons. The first set of twelve balloons were filled with white confetti, unbeknownst to everyone but them. Anyone that wanted to could take a turn throwing a dart to pop a balloon and it provided for a good fifteen minutes of entertainment. Actually more because there were some technical issues with video chatting with various family members so that they could watch the festivities. After all of the balloons were popped they pulled out one more balloon filled with blue confetti. I'm not sure how it was marked differently so that they knew which was which, but somehow the people at the party store that filled up the balloons made sure things were labeled. 

I thought that it would be fun to capture their reaction to the news, so here's a fun little video that I made of the Gender Reveal Balloon Game. 

Do It Yourself: Harry Potter Owl Costume

    I've mentioned multiple times that my daughters are big Harry Potter fans. Even my two year-old requests "Potter," before her nap. When I asked my oldest what she wanted to be for Halloween her immediate response was Hermione Granger (with Bellatrix Lestrange as a close second...she likes that Bellatrix has curly hair). The Hermione costume was simple enough -- I shortened an old graduation robe, picked up a Gryffindor patch, tie, and wand, and voila -- Hermione Granger costume! 

     With Hermione's costume finished, I decided that Hedwig the Owl would make the perfect costume for my two year old. She is great at running around and saying "whoo, whoo" and she makes a really cute owl.  The owl costume ended up being really simple, very cheap (I used stuff that I had at home and spent a whopping $4.00 on a yard of white felt), and relatively little time (it took about two-three hours to make and I watched a movie during this time so it really was a great way to spend time).

Materials needed for this project:

-White fabric for the wings and owl body

- 1 Yard white felt

-Elastic (for cape arms and wrists, as well as headband for the mask)

-Ribbon for shoulder straps

-Velcro (for owl body)

-Glue, thread, scissors, etc.

-Cardboard (to make a feather template)

OWL Cape

Step 1. Trace "feather" shape onto 1 yard of white felt and cut out the feathers. I ended up using the full yard for my two-year-olds costume, you may need more or less felt depending upon the size of the person the costume is for.

Step 2: Create the backing for the owl cape by measuring the arm span of the person you are making the costume for and then cutting out a half circle that is roughly that width. 

Step 3: Starting with the bottom of the cape, attach feathers to the cape row by row using either glue or a sewing machine. I sewed mine on because I want the costume to be durable for my active toddler. 

Step 4: Attach elastic shoulder straps and wrist straps near the top of the cape, you can easily do this by attaching them between the rows of feathers (making sure to move the feathers on the other side out of the way before you sew.)

 OWL Body Instructions
1. Start with a rectangle of fabric, measured according to the person you want the costume to fit. Leave enough room for it to wrap around their back and attach with velcro. The length can be cut as desired. I made mine tunic length but shirt length would also work.
2. Attach velcro to each end of the fabric as well as straps, I used ribbon and measured my daughter according to how I wanted it to fit.
3. Sew or glue feathers onto the front center portion of the fabric (the part that will show while they wear the costume, the back will be covered by the cape.) Always start with the bottom row and work your way up.

For my OWL mask, I must confess that I winged it and created it little by little based on what I thought an owl should look like. I didn't take pictures as I went so I created these illustrated instructions when I was done. 

DIY Suede Donut Purse

Over the weekend my mom gave me a big box of suede that she was getting rid of. Today my five year-old and I decided that it would be fun to try a project together. She wanted a purse, and when I asked her what kind she said a donut. I am not sure if that had to do with the fact that we were eating breakfast while we were having this conversation, or if she really did want a donut purse. Either way it turned out really cute and she loves loading it up with stuff and carting it around. We just winged it when we were making it, and below is a list of steps we used.

The Harry Potter-Camping-Princess Birthday Cake

     We are celebrating a big birthday at our house this week! My daughter is turning five and she is thrilled about that fact. For her birthday cake she requested a Harry Potter-Camping-Princess themed cake, I'm not really sure how she dreamed that one up, but her wish was my command. I think the combination came from the fact that she has been obsessed with Harry Potter for the past few months. She listens to the audio books on repeat, thinks that she is going to Hogwarts when she is eleven, sometimes likes to wear her hair like Hermione, and she has requested a wand for her birthday. 

     When I first thought about how I would put this cake together I looked on Amazon for Harry Potter Action Figures and found that the prince range per character varying from around $10-$149. Etsy also had some cute options for Harry Potter peg dolls but the cost of a complete set varied so much that I decided that I should just make my own. They're not perfect by any means, but I don't think they were a fail either...although my daughter commented that Lord Voldermort looks like a Chinese guy.  It is relatively easy to guess the characters, and I spent less than $10 to make most of the characters. The peg dolls were from Amazon but you could order those anywhere. 

    To tie the Harry Potter, princess, and camping concepts together I made a very simple castle (since princesses and witches and wizards all reside in castles) using different sized round baking dishes. In the last book Harry, Ron, and Hermione camp for a portion of the book and so I decided to have them camp on the lawn in front of Hogwarts. To make the "tent" I hot glued some BBQ skewers together and then glued some fabric to the wood.