Thursday, November 24, 2011

Keziah's Rainbow Party


I'm pretty sure Keziah's been planning her 5th birthday party ever since her 4th one was over last year. And she's changed her birthday theme several times over the past 12 months. As November crept nearer, she was really leaning towards a princess fairy theme. But since we've done either princesses or fairies for the last 2 years, I hoped to convince her to change her mind. After she saw a few of the rainbow party ideas I had pinned on Pinterest, she started to see my vision and get excited!

There were so many great ideas, but I decided to pick just a few ones that were do-able. The first being this rainbow pennant banner. I used scrapbook paper that I already had on hand (thanks to the big Costco pack of paper I bought several years ago) and used this free printable template to trace them. I bought some ribbon at the dollar store and then stapled the paper on in a rainbow pattern. Very easy and super cute. I think I'll hang it in the kids' room now that the birthday party is over.


With the extra paper from the pennant banner, I had an idea for the invitations. (This was an idea I came up with on my own - no Pinterest needed, thank you very much!)


I cut up the coloured paper into strips and glued them onto a piece of folded card stock. Then I free-handed a cloud shape on a piece of white card stock, glued it on the paper and cut any overhanging edges. It was a bit time-consuming since I had to make about 10 for all the little girls Keziah had on her list of party guests.


But I think they turned out pretty cute! I purposely didn't worry about cutting the strips all the same width or lining them up evenly (which was also nice since Keziah wanted to help with the gluing and she didn't have to be too careful). I think it turned out better that they were intentionally a bit crooked.


I also let Keziah address all the envelopes. I suggested writing all the names in rainbow colours and Keziah decided to draw a rainbow on each one.


I found a really cute idea from here for rainbow cupcakes. I made the cupcakes (using rainbow bit cake mix of course!) a few days ahead of time and then froze them. On party day, I died my white icing sky blue, warmed it up a bit in the microwave and let the kids help me with the cupcake dipping. This technique is SO easy that they were able to do all my cupcakes and they all turned out great!


Then came the decorations. I found these sour rainbow belts at my new favourite Dollarama in Aldergrove. I decided to try to make the clouds out of marshmallow cream because it seemed like it would make the clouds extra fluffy and creamy. But it turns out that marshmallow cream = a BAD idea. I should've just stuck with white icing (and I would've had plenty leftover from the icing that I already had, except that I had died it all blue), but you live and you learn, right?


After making a few cupcakes I quickly realized 2 things.
1. Marshmallow cream is really sticky. And I had about 5 different spoons and knives going to try to get the goopy stuff where I wanted it on the cupcake.
2. My rainbow belts were too long. I ended up cutting about an inch off of each one so they wouldn't droop. (But that was OK, because the kids and I were happy to eat those extra inches :)

The finished product:


Another downside to the marshmallow cream was that by the time we got around to actually eating the cupcakes, it had all sort of melted down the sides. Of course the kids didn't notice one bit - and I was just happy I'd thought to take some pictures before they got all melty and drippy.


Rainbow goody bags.


Party snacks.


Another idea I found was a rainbow drink. The week before the party, I made different colours of ice cubes from Kool-aid packs (omitting the sugar that it calls for).


Then you just serve them in a clear cup with clear pop and let the ice cubes melt and make the drink all rainbow-y. It's also nicer than just food-colouring because each ice cube had a different flavour as well.


I also decided to make rainbow fruit skewers. The kids LOVED these. I forgot to take a picture of the ones that I made. (Honestly, they got gobbled up so fast I didn't really have a chance!) But this was my inspiration picture (from here).


Erik totally thinks I went overboard with the party. Like, how much do 5 -year-olds really care about whether their drink and their fruit and their invitation look like a rainbow?
I know, I know.
But I just couldn't really help myself :)

17 comments:

laura.h said...

So cute Jamie! You did such a great job. And you tell Erik, that Keziah will most definitely remember these fun birthday parties! So it's worth the work!
So nice that Keziah was able to help make the invitations and ice the cupcakes. It means more that she got to help you with it!
You're a great mom!

kelly ens said...

in response to erik...taeya LOVED all the rainbow details. the invitations and rainbow fruit skewers were her FAVORITE :)
very well done on this party Jamie - Taeya had a blast!

Elissa said...

very very cute!

Lindsay said...

you are WAY creative. can you plan my next party?

The Koops said...

Absolutely NOT overboard! Your ideas were creative, relatively inexpensive, and really - half the reason you throw a great kids' party is for yourself, right? I stayed up WAY too late making and decorating elaborate cakes for my girls, and I love looking back on those pics and videos now. I've never been sorry for putting time and care into their birthdays. Now as to theme-planning: my girls are not allowed to mention their next birthday theme until there are less than 3-4 months to go. Then they are free to dream, and b/c their bdays are 2 weeks apart (and always right near Easter), we get all the madness over at once!

jupo said...

I LOVE everything here! The cupcakes are super cute, the invitations are adorable (esp. with the crooked stripes) and what a great idea with the fruit and the drinks. Good work!

Melissa said...

Your ideas looked fabulous! Nicely done!

Bonnie said...

Oh my goodness! I think this might be the cutest little girl birthday theme I've seen in a LONG time. Nice work Jamie! Every little detail may not matter to the 5 year olds, but it is sure fun for the rest of US to read about and gain inspiration from :) I may just have to steal this for one of Callie's future birthdays. Just LOVE IT!!

Amber. said...

FUN FUN FUN! LOVE the invitations...and how Keziah wrote the names & drew rainbows, so sweet! Also, the cupcakes look amazing...well, everything looks amazing!! Parties are so much fun!!!!

KDees said...

Holy moly, Jamie!!! You're awesome! Love all your rainbow ideas - and no, I don't think you went overboard, because all of it was easy and cute and totally went with the theme! I want to have a girl now so I can do a rainbow-themed birthday party! Great job!

Trev and Rebekah said...

So fun!

rachel joy said...

wow, what a lot of work. but so fun! good job, Mama.

Kate McLaughlin said...

Wanted to let you know (since I don't see one on your page) that I thought you should add a "Follow Me on Pinterest" button to your page. You can find the code about a third of the way down at:
http://pinterest.com/about/goodies/
Thanks for the link to the Mennonites Can Cook blog; I loved a couple of your posts, but consider their site my new ALL recipes!

Elizabeth said...

Hi, I saw your beautiful rainbow fruit skewers on Pinterest via several other people and have repinned them and others have done the same.

I would like to feature them in the healthy food pages in schooldaysmagazine.com as inspiration for others. May I have your permission to do so, with credits to yourself and blog?

kelly ens said...

I'm looking over this again because Taeya wants a rainbow party...thanks for the inspiration! :)

Jamie said...

Hi Elizabeth - yes you definitely can use my blog! However, the fruit skewers that I pictured here are NOT the ones that I made. There is a link in my post I believe that should take you to the original site where I found them. My party-goers ate them up before I had a chance for photos of my own!

Melissa W. said...

This is so cute, and what I love is it is darling, yet your kids were involved, and you didn't spend a fortune. You should write a book on reasonable parties. This is a perfect party, and you must be a great mom! I also love the original theme!