This one is a bit of a throw back because I was looking through my files and realized I never fully posted the Woodland Birthday Food Ideas from my son's first birthday (yep he's four now, that's how behind I am lol and don't ask me about his baby book - still not done). Anywhoo I felt I made some pretty fun food for his woodland party so I thought I would share regardless of how of how long it took me.

I picked up some balloons, checkered table clothes and mustache straws to take the Pizza party them to the next level because well it's me.




They started the party by handing out paper chef hats for the kids to write their names on and decorate. Then they gave each child a ball of dough to kneed and flatten. We chopped up some cheese, meat and veggies and put the pizzas in the oven. 



I couldn't help myself so I made some additional pizza party favours complete with pop bottle bubbles, pizza stocks and felt mustaches. 


I loved that they took care of all the prep and clean up and I especially loved how happy it made my son. He and his friends had a blast. There's nothing I love more than seeing the smile on my son's face and hearing his hearty laugh. His birthday is a wonderful reminder of the day he made me a mom - I love you little man.

These past few days I've been feeling really nostalgic and a little teary eyed about how fast time goes. It seems like just yesterday my youngest was doing a cakesmash photoshoot for his first birthday and now I'm setting up his Monster machine Birthday party for his fourth birthday.

My little guy is such a joy and has always had the best comedic timing. One time, when he was about 5 months old, he accidentally dropped the ipad and when i picked it up I saw he had typed "hj m[on;" into the search bar (I always think of that as the beginning of some of the most memorable things he has said to me).

Last year he wanted a dinosaur birthday party and this year he wanted another dinosaur party but he had new ideas every few days so I knew it would change. We landed on a monster machine birthday party, specifically Blaze and the Monster Machines, one of his favourite cartoons (honestly the kid could say "Let's Blaze!"before many other words and believe me it led to many embarrassing moments in public).


We had a few scheduling changes so I literally bought and made everything the night before; I'm talking the cake, the decor, the gifts and loot bags. I made a large size Blaze out of a few sheets of bristol board and taped it to the wall with a special happy birthday message. On the morning of his party I heard the kids wake up and walk down the hall, I quickly walked out to see his reaction. He was excited by the balloons and then freaked out when he saw Blaze on the wall, letting out a loud steady scream ahhhhhh (lol I thought he was going to fall over). His older brother said “it looks just like Blaze!”

 
I prepared the rest of the party while his older brother was at hockey. I set up the table, put out the cake and displayed the loot bags. The cake turned out a bit more rustic than I had anticipated, I just kept layering on stuff to cover gaps, but my son loved it. When he saw the table he said to me “why do you do all this?” and I said “because we’re celebrating you”.




Grandamama and grand-dad, your Uncle, cousins and neighbourhood friends attended the party. You spent most of the day playing ps3 Jurassic park with the kids in the basement. The joy I saw on your face all day is something I will always remember. We ended the day scrolling through some old photos of you as a baby on my laptop and then got ready for bed. When I snuggled with you at bedtime that night you said to me “I love you mommy… for my birthday party” (another one for the memory bank).

My youngest son had his third birthday a few weeks ago. Even now, after every meal he says "cake and then presents please"  I'm not sure he has fully grasped this birthday thing yet but his take sounds good to me. His theme was dinosaurs because he is currently and always obsessed with dinosaurs. It was a pretty simple birthday, I added some small birthday hats to his t-rex's and made an ombre cake. Most importantly I made hims a Modern Balloon arch and here's the how to:


If you've seen my stories on Instagram you'd know he is a super fan of dinosaurs. Seriously, even when he could barely talk he was able to say "ankylosaurus" in context before I even knew what it was (don't lie some of you had to look it up). So with this in mind we had to make it a dinosaur themed birthday party.



I created the balloon arch with fishing line and a needle. I simply sewed through the knotted end of each balloon to create a long chain of balloons (be sure to leave a bit of space between each). Then I hung it on the wall and readjusted each balloon to my liking. Finally I filled in the empty spaces with smaller balloons, garland and green leaves (I adhere them with scotch tape).





We added birthday hats to his existing dinosaur collection and put out Cadbury Easter eggs to act a dinosaur eggs.


 
I made a green ombre cake and stuck a dino on top. I know ombre is on the way out but I still like it in cake form.



In the end he was super happy and I loved watching his face opening presents.

Have you always wanted to host a bohemian party with low tables and tons of pillows but have never been sure how to make it happen? Well let me share my story with you... here is my DIY bohemian Party tutorial.


A few weeks ago, my fellow blogger friend Kate (Emmetts ABC's) and I launched Collective Influence Co, an association for Canadian bloggers and influencers. We wanted the launch party to have a unique feel and to really wow our guests (especially because most of them were bloggers who love to take pictures of pretty things). Kate found this great unused office space we were able to use for the event. With the exception of a few chairs the space was empty which presented us with a challenge - furniture. We knew we needed seating because we were planning to have some speeches and networking activities. The idea of low tables popped into my head and the indoor bohemian theme grew from there.  I've always loved the style of a bohemian party but I had never seen it indoors before but after some brainstorming we came up with a plan to make this DIY Bohemian Party happen. We reached out to Ikea and they were thrilled with the idea and offered to provide a few rentals for the evening.


Putting together a DIY Bohemian party was fairly easy. For the tables we used desk tops from Ikea and rested them on diaper boxes wrapped in black paper. We added some table runners, rugs, string lights and obviously all the pillows we could carry (Ikea is a great place to score an insane amount of pillows because they always have plenty in stock at really low prices).





A DIY bohemian party is a great party theme for any occasion whether a birthday, shower or sweet 16. Indoor or outdoors these low tables and decorations are sure to wow your guests.

In the end our Launch Party was a hit (even in the midst of a snow storm). Thank you to our wonderful sponsor Ikea for helping us make this happen!

Taking a small break from design blogging to give you a sneak peak into my son's 4th birthday party. Around Christmas I mentioned to my son he should start thinking of a theme for his birthday party, and after I explained what a theme was we talked about a few options. He picked "Mike the Knight" (a favourite TV show). A few days later it was my birthday, he woke me up to a great big "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" and before I could give him a hug he said "what's your theme?" (haha, maybe I put a little too much emphasis on birthday themes).

In any case, here are all the details of his knight themed birthday party. Complete with blue suits of armour, bejeweled milk cups, swords, shields (which eat kid got to decorate), a castle, a dragon pinata and a mike the knight cake.












In the end all the kids enjoyed themselves and our little 4 year old Mike the Knight was super happy.

Admittedly I bought these macaroons but you could probably make them if you're ambitious and a good baker. I added my personalized touch by adding a cute chocolate arrow on top.


Simply melt the chocolate on a double broiler or in the microwave (about 10 seconds then stir and repeat until melted). Then pour the melted chocolate into a ziplock bag and cut off the bottom corner.


Do a few test runs on a plate then take to the macaroon. Use a toothpick to add the finer details.


These were the perfect addition to my son's woodland first birthday party.