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Let’s Get this Party (planning) Started!

December 31, 2009 /

let's get this party (planning) started!

I finally got off my butt and designed Bug’s fourth birthday party invitations. They’ve been in my head for a month or more but I had a lot of trouble getting them out of my head because the theme “Rainbow Birthday Seed Party” just seemed like such a stretch for me. I didn’t fall in love with it like I have past parties I’ve planned. I almost had a micro-mini depression about it and had to sit myself down for about five minutes and say over and over, It’s just a small party. It’s just a small party. This is really NOT a big deal, Brenda.

I know. You’d think I’d have bigger things to worry about but I let Toby handle that stuff. Taxes? Medical insurance? Saving for a house? When are we going to have that second child? Ever? That kind of stuff just shuts my brain down. My hard drive isn’t fast enough or something so I focus on the light and fluffy tasks like cleaning the house and designing birthday party invitations. Whatever gets you through the day, right?

Bug's 4th Bday invite

Anyway, I think they turned out cute. I’m not sure how I’m going to carry this kawaii (I crap rainbows) theme out with food and activities but I have some ideas. Maybe a craft where we glue seeds onto paper and of course we could plant something. For food we’ll just eat seeds. Hummus counts as a seed, that’s all I care about. Just kidding. I’m sure we’ll think of something tasty. Rainbow Jell-O® maybe?

then we covered them with stickers

Then I let Bug decorate the bright neon pink envelopes with some cute Japanese stickers and we mailed them off at the crack of dawn. Well, as soon as the post office opened that is because I wanted to buy special stamps that matched. There weren’t any so we settled for Simpsons stamps. Which sort of matched but not really. Yep, that was me in line at the post office rocking back and forth while saying over and over to myself in my head, It’s just a small party. It’s not a wedding. It’s okay if the stamps don’t match. I’m such a freak.

a romp around the post office

Pray for this poor child who may someday grow up and have a wedding planned by me. Or just pray for the mother who will be weeping when her daughter elopes while wearing sweatpants with words on the butt and eating a cheeseburger.

34 Comments

  • briana garrott

    December 31, 2009 at 1:57 pm

    i have to say those are the cutest invites ever. i am a crazy birthday party lady as well and i say yes, love it. i have to confess that i got a hello kitty tattoo on my forearm when I was 32 and own 6+ tokidoki bags!!! i may be a little biased, i love that type of “art”. anyway mad props to the mama, super cute!

  • Sam

    December 31, 2009 at 3:39 pm

    And you can have the rainbow cupcakes that Bethany makes! I made them for my son’s 2nd birthday party and everyone was super impressed. Maybe let Bethany be in charge of that, though, as they are kinda time consuming on party day! The invites are ADORABLE. I want one, just because they are so very cute! Oh, and that last line made me laugh. Hopefully Bug won’t do that to you!

  • Carolyn

    December 31, 2009 at 4:17 pm

    those invitations are adorable…Bug is so lucky to have you as a mom! I thought a rainbow cake would be cute too…or how about a mini garden cake (not sure how exactly…)

  • Marissa

    December 31, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    Such cute invitations! How funny about the stamps. I was just at the post office yesterday trying to buy the Celebrate stamps for my daughter’s invitations and they were out. I didn’t think they would be out so I didn’t have a second choice. In a split second decision I picked the Simpsons stamps too and had to remind myself that people are just going to throw away the envelope.

  • CAROL S-U

    December 31, 2009 at 7:35 pm

    Those invites are fab!! You’re not alone on wanting to have great stamps to match – can be frustrating!

  • elz

    December 31, 2009 at 7:54 pm

    Just like every other commenter, I immediately thought of a rainbow cake. I made rainbow cupcakes for my daughter’s birthday and they were a HUGE hit with the 3-6 year old crowd! How about a plate of rainbow colored fruit (in a rainbow- grapes, kiwis, blueberries, strawberries, oranges, lemons)? Flowerpot muffins or biscuits would be fun.

  • Helena

    December 31, 2009 at 10:13 pm

    We made a flowerpot cake for a party once- crumbled chocolate cake mixed/layered with chocolate pudding (maybe a layer of heath bars crumbled up), top layer was crumbled up oreos. This all presented in a flowerpot lined in aluminum foil, served with a (new) garden spade. I think I plunked a plastic flower in it. For the ‘seed’ theme you could hide m&ms or something. Oooh! Or chocolate covered sunflower seeds!

    Good luck! I’m at the point where our “sound of music” party idea is fizzling in favor of the bag o’ plastic unicorns we just scored for $1.50 at a thrift store. Plus red heart/valentine decorations/pinata/cake. Unicorn Valentine’s party? Unicorn love party?

    Also, I had to stop a moment at “fourth birthday party”. Yikes. It’s my bug’s fourth also, but yeesh. That’s practically TWEEN OMG.

  • Jamie

    December 31, 2009 at 11:31 pm

    Ha! I totally know how you feel about having the right kind of stamps. I am such a stamp snob it isn’t even funny. I went to the post office and asked for some Christmas stamps and the guy behind the counter said they were all out. I wanted to either 1) punch him in the face or 2) stand there and cry or 3) do both. I had to end up using the american flag stamp. I almost didn’t want to send out the rest of my Christmas cards because of it, but I did. Good luck with your party planning! I am sure Bug will love anything you put together!

  • pinky

    January 1, 2010 at 9:23 am

    those invites are totally adorable – and if Bug knows what is good for her, she won’t be having a sweatpants-and-cheeseburgers wedding :-)

  • BeachMama

    January 1, 2010 at 11:51 am

    I love when you start planning Bugs birthday, it gives me inspiration in this wintery time of year. I love the rainbow seed theme and can already picture how colourful your house will be. And I think BethanyActually is very good at making a rainbow cake.

  • OMSH

    January 2, 2010 at 7:50 am

    I was standing behind a girl the other day with words on her butt. It said “PINK” – and I couldn’t, for the life of me, figure out why someone would want to wear words on their butt. They were sweats…they were NOT complimentary…they were rather low…I could see the band of her panties…it was all very “off”.

    I wish I had eloped.
    I’m all for pretty invitations and planning, but the stress is for the birds.

    ENJOY this birthday, don’t stress over it.
    Keep chanting! HA!

  • Beth

    January 2, 2010 at 4:11 pm

    I was going to suggest the rainbow cake but it looks like I wasn’t the first to have that idea! Good luck with the planning. I’m sure it will be spectacular!

  • Lady in a Smalltown

    January 2, 2010 at 5:06 pm

    OH, and one more thing. When I was in college my friends and I made a rainbow cake like none I have seen on anyone else’s blog. We divided the cake batter into 3 bowls and made them purple, green, and orange and split the frosting and dyed it red, yellow, and blue. Then we layered with purple on the bottom and red frosting on the outside. It did kind of look like a rainbow when we cut it.

    I wish I had pictures, but alas this was a time before digital cameras and I don’t know where the hard copies are.

  • Janna

    January 3, 2010 at 8:03 am

    I agree with the rainbow cake idea. SO cute!
    You could also serve all colors of fruit on plates side by side to create a rainbow affect- strawberries, oranges, mango or pineapple, kiwi, blueberries, blackberries… same idea goes for veggies. :)

    You could have a candy station with rainbow colored jelly beans, candy sticks, bumble gum balls and let the guest scoop some into a bag for their favors.

    For activities, seed or flower planting is a great idea! You could get little terra cotta pots and paint each one a color from the rainbow and have ribbon and fun adornments for them to decorate their pots. Then have pansies (since they’re durable or something similar) and potting soil for the kids to plant. You could make cute little plant stakes for each guest with their name and the type of flower they are planting made with your mad graphic design skillz and attached to a popsicle stick they can stick into the soil after the flower is planted. It could even have directions for caring for their new flower on the back.

    You are so creative I know the party will be awesome and I love the invitations!!! I hope I can be as creative with Clara’s birthday parties as you are with Bug’s! I’ve got 11 months to figure something fantastic out. Any ideas for a first birthday in December?

  • tracy

    January 3, 2010 at 3:35 pm

    i made a cute craft where we colored, cut out and glued a leprechan body to a cup (that was filled w soil & grass seed) then had a little hat taped to a popsicle stick that stuck into the soil. when the grass grew it was his hair. lol! i can picture this for your crafty craft.
    btw…i LOVE the seed theme.

  • Meemo

    January 3, 2010 at 11:36 pm

    I love the invites. Can’t wait to see how the party turns out. You have a true talent that could make you lots of moola. I wish I could just get the invites out in time as I usually end up having to do phone invites because I never get it together in time. You are a birthday planning genius. I can only imagine a wedding you’d throw.

  • elz

    January 5, 2010 at 3:01 pm

    I just thought of a decoration idea. I think I saw it on Jordan’s blog? You basically sew streamers together. It is very easy and you could make a rainbow without too much effort, or just sew different color streamers together. Much longer lasting than regular streamers and cheap cheap cheapery cheap! You also HAVE to make tissue paper flower poms. They are ridiculously easy to make and have a huge impact.

  • Jennifer

    January 8, 2010 at 2:08 pm

    My daughter’s second birthday was rainbow-themed.

    I made a rainbow cake (chocolate inside) with cotton candy clouds:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenandchuck/2541395599/

    And rainbow cupcakes:
    inside: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenandchuck/2511685050/ and http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenandchuck/2510855179/in/photostream/
    outside: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenandchuck/2542172028/in/photostream/

    And rainbow jello:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/jenandchuck/2542883471/

    And then we saw disco rainbows in our brains as we had seizures thanks to the artificial colors. It was pretty awesome.

    Just some ideas to share with you, though you are MUCH more creative than I, so can’t wait to see what you come up with.

  • Michie

    January 12, 2010 at 2:10 pm

    I spent 20 minutes in line at the post office to get stamps for our Save the Dates… you know… our WEDDING… and all they had were those Simpsons stamps! I love the Simpsons and if I were sending anything other than wedding stuff, I would have totally gotten them.

    Anyway. What’s up with the post office having crappy stamp options?