Yard Signs

I found yard signs online for the kids' birthday parties in the beginning of June. I thought "what a great idea," but about died when I saw the price on them. $400 for a sign I will only use once!!! That's ludicrous! I decided that I needed this for both my kids' party but wasn't about to spend 3 times my car payment for it!

Instead, I decide to DIY it. I bought three different color poster boards for both kids (black/white/red for Nolan and white/pink/purple for Ryenn). I then figured out the size I wanted and staggered the colors in a pattern. With Nolan's I added the black and whit checkered ribbon to the red letters to make it a bit less boring. I also added Cars 2 stickers to the first letter/number in each sequence. With Ryenn's (which I don't have pictures for), I added the pink and purple polka-dot ribbon to the white letters. It was really windy on her birthday so the pictures of the sign did not turn out too well.

I then hot glued floral stakes to each letter (some had 2) in order to stick them in my front yard. They both turned out really great and cost me less than $10. No where near $400.

Baby Bunting

I have never made bunting and have heard horror stories on how tedious it can be. I wanted the bunting, without the hassle. I also needed it done quickly. For both babies' parties, I waited until the last minute to even start the bunting.

Instead of sewing ANY of the bunting, I just cut triangles out of the fabric I had chosen (for Nolan's party, my mother-in-law and Allsyon cut the triangles for me).

I then took these triangles and started hot gluing them to yarn. I did this until I ran out of fabric triangles. When decorating for the parties, I just cut the strands where I wanted them to end.

Ryenn's Birthday Banner

Much like the decorations at Nolan's birthday party, Ryenn's were handmade. Actually, they were almost identical, just differed in color. Her theme was based of the adorable cake at her party, but was pretty vague; purple and pink. I turned this theme into a princess theme with a few added decorations, but mainly everything was purple and pink. I started with her birthday banner as well. I again found this idea on Pinterest and had to make one. Seeing as it was so easy to make Nolan's banner, Ryenn was getting one too!

I followed the same steps in making her banner but was lacking in amount of paper I had for each color. Instead of having one color for the background and one color for the letters, I decided to do a pattern. This actually worked out better than the single shades would have. I added a white ribbon that had pink and purple polka-dots in order to give it more personality. It was a huge statement piece at her party!

Ryenn's 1st Birthday Party

Although we are celebrating early for Ryenn's birthday, it's still hard to comprehend that I have had two kids for a year now! She was due July 18 but decided she didn't want to wait a whole year to see the fireworks. She instead decided to show her chubby cheeks on July 3rd. She was 9lbs 1oz even after being 15 days early! She was beautiful!

We invited her friends and our family to help us celebrate this milestone birthday! I found a cake at Family Fare that was the inspiration for her birthday theme. I made her invitations and decorations to somewhat match the cake. It was so fun! Everything was purple and pink and very princess-like. I will go into detail this week about all the homemade goodies! WARNING: Many pictures follow!!!



Invitational

I felt completely lazy when I bought the invitations for Nolan's birthday party. It was decided then that I would handmake Ryenn's invitations. I found one that I really loved on Pinterest and began recreating it immediately.

Paper used to cut out bunting

It was tedious in the fact that I had to cut out each little triangle for the "bunting." The work was worth it though. They are gorgeous! Everything I wanted them to be!!!

Invitations (had to blur my address)