Oh my!  This event gave me the best “Candyland Dreams”!!!  I created decorations for my daughters carnival and had the time of my life!!

Let’s start with the “GRAND” entrance…

There is so much going on here that it will take me a few minutes to describe all I did.  The arch was created from pool noodles and pvc pipe.  I then used duct tape to attach the “Candyland” letters that I cut out of hot pink poster board and striped with masking tape.

I created “Lollipops” with paper plates, bamboo skewers, ribbon and gallon size twist top plastic bags.  I stuck the skewers into the pool noodle arch to make it look like lollipops standing on the arch.

I cut pool noddles into thirds and covered them with celophane and tied the ends with ribbon to create “Candies”.  Then I wedged the paper plate lollipops behind the tube candies.

I made large “Lollipops” with pool noodles that I rolled up and covered with celophane gift bags.  I then used a wrapping paper roll as the “stick”.

I draped “Candy Streamers” made from paper plates, plastic table cloths cut into strips, and celophane, along the front walls.

We spray painted the grass with squares to look like the Candyland game board.  The paths led to different activities such as cake walk, silent auction, and inflatables.

These ice cream cones were made from brown paper and pillow stuffing.  I rolled up the paper to form a cone shape and placed a large wad of stuffing on top.  Just to make it extra fun, I wadded up red paper to create a cherry, and glued sticks from my yard as the cherry stem.  Then I wrapped a box with pink wrapping paper, cut out wheels from black paper, and glued on a smaller ice cream cone to create an ice cream cart.

With the help of other parents, we turned the covered table area into a “Gingerbread House”.

We taped on brown scalloped paper and added giant candy canes made from pool noodles striped with masking tape.  We taped on tissue paper covered toilet paper rolls that looked like candies, and paper plates covered in celophane that looked like peppermint candies.

We added more giant lollipops and candy canes under the roof.

We draped more of the paper plate streamers on the inside of the roof.

We wrapped the poles with streamers and taped on paper plate lollipops.  This created the cutest darn gingerbread house ever!

There was fun had by all and the decorations were talked about for weeks.  It made my heart so happy that everyone enjoyed the festive decorations and all the hard work.

Happy candy making!

“Wonder what I will come up with next”…

In my last post, I showed you how to make a festive invitation for a Mehndi party.  Here, I will show you all of the fun decorations that I created for the party.

I started with a color scheme of orange/yellow, turquoise, green, and salmon.  I purchased colored mason jars at Joann, which saved me tons of time in painting jars!  I used gold puffy paint and decorated the outside of the jars to create lanterns.  I placed lanterns on gold chargers and added groups of bangle bracelets tied with colorful ribbons.  Signs on the tables let guests know to wear the bangle bracelets.

Under the gold chargers and jar lanterns was fabulous rosette fabric.  We had bar top tables with white tablecloths, topped with the rosettes.  I used plastic table cloths cut in strips to tie the bottom of the white table cloths.  I also used these strips to create tassel banners.

Every Mehndi party needs a gold beaded curtain for extra bling!  I hung these at the entrance to the party, and draped fabric with the beads to create an amazing entrance.  I also hung 3 lanterns in the center.

On the food table, I draped fabric and overlapped it on boxes to create height.  We had Indian food in trays on the table.

With some extra rosette fabric I had, I covered a box and tied it with the plastic table cloth strips to create a riser for desserts.

The party would not have been complete without henna and bindi dots!

Happy party planning!

“Wonder what I will come up with next”…

Any good party starts with a festive invitation to get the mood going.  My friend wanted to have a 40th birthday party with an Eastern Indian Flare, so we had an Americanized Mehndi party.

To create these invitations, I started by printing the details in an orange/red color and stamped the swirls in turquoise.

To add some dimension, I used puffy paint to add dots onto the swirl stamp, and finished with adhesive rhinestones.

Let the paints dry, then use a glue stick to attach the festive cardstock on the back.

Let the party begin!!!

Happy planning!

“Wonder what I will come up with next”…