What little girl doesn’t like to pretend she is a movie star on the “Red Carpet”?  I would imagine all little girls dream of this at some point in their lives.  When my daughter turned 11, I created a faux experience for her and her friends.

The girls entered the house on the “Red Carpet”, complete with stanchions that I made from sprayed painted gold toilet plungers purchased at The Dollar Tree!  I used gold foil door covers and a gold foil chandelier and hung them from upstairs to create a “Grand” entrance.

There were even “paparazzi” at the entrance…

Here is a different view of the entrance.  I looped black & red tulle through the upstairs banister to hide where the gold foil door covers were attached.

The tables were covered in black table cloths with red table cloths folded and used as runners.  I wrote each girls name on a gold star.  I created center pieces by covering styrofoam cubes with red cardstock.  I then stuck in tall picks of red, black and gold that had stars on them.  I added gold curly picks for effect.  Around the base, I taped some “celebrity zone” ribbon that i found.

What fun is a “Red Carpet” party without a photo booth?  I had fun props for the girls to use, including directors “take” boards.  I borrowed a friends bridesmaids dresses so the girls could dress up in fancy attire if they wanted to for their photos.  During the photos, I moved the stanchions from the entrance for the full “Red Carpet” effect.

Every girl won an “Oscar” at this party!

…and they got to create their own ice cream sundae, with numerous candy toppings to choose from.

Happy Birthday my sweet daughter!

“Wonder what I will come up with next”…

We had a retirement party for my father-in-law last year and I kept struggling with what theme to use for the party.  I didn’t want the typical “retirement” type party.  I felt he deserved something more personal than that and I wanted the party to have a more masculine feel.  He had spent 50 years in the classroom as a teacher, both at the high school and university levels, and deserved to be celebrated in an extra special way.

Why a clock themed retirement party you may ask?  Think about it…when you are retired, time is irrelevant.  You no longer need to wake at a certain time, or be at work at a certain time.  You can spend your days at leisure and it doesn’t matter what time it is!  I had a blast planning this party!  The only problem is that now I can’t wait to retire!

I created simple centerpieces with clocks that I printed from the internet.  I glued them back to back with a bamboo skewer in the middle and placed them in some simple low vases with green styrofoam and green basket filler on top.  It was festive, but had a masculine flare.

I decorated cupcakes to look like simple clocks…

I printed signs that read “Time is Irrelevant”, “Time does not matter”, and “Time is on Lew’s side” and placed them in Dollar Tree picture frames.  I had them scattered throughout the party.  My mother-in-law had a collection of antique clocks that I borrowed for the party and strategically placed them as decorations.

I also asked my father-in-law to bring anything of significance from his teaching career, and I put them on display.

In my opinion, the most amazing attraction at the party was a timeline that my father-in-law created of his 50 years of teaching.  It was unbelievable to read about his entire career!  I hung it on the wall for all of the guests to view.

The party was a success!  My father-in-law is enjoying his retirement and truly doesn’t care what time it is!

Happy Retirement Lew!

“Wonder what I will come up with next”…

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”…