Princess Peach Mario Kart Birthday Party

This weekend was Emma's 9th birthday party!!  We had to put it 2 weeks out but it was so worth the wait!!

my sweet girlies!

The Invite

Props goes to my sister for this awesome invite!!  She is the BEST graphic designer and does amazing work.  She literally just whipped this together for me :o)

The Games

Mario Kart Racing
First of all, the cars didn't turn out exactly like I had them in my head.  I got cardboard boxes from work, took them apart, and then made the cars.  I spray painted them...they turned out duller than I wanted, but...OH WELL!!  We divided the kiddos into 3 Pit Crews.  They had to assemble their cars by attaching the racing stickers, numbers, and license plates.  Then there were 3 laps...each kid in each Pit Crew got a turn to get inside the car, hold the handles on the sides, and race around the track.

Caaauuute!!!

Mario Bingo:
After the race, we decided to settle everyone down by playing some Mario Bingo!  I printed the card from HERE and the calling cards from HERE.  I found gold coins at Party City that we used for the bingo pieces.

Pinata
The hubs drew and colored Bowser Koopa for the front of my DIY pinata.  I used cardboard, duct tape, and crepe paper to make the body of the pinata.  I made it pretty sturdy...we had to break it open to get it to fall apart!

The Cake
I am not sure why I always feel compelled to change recipes, especially whenever we have company. Branson's exact word was dangerous...lol! I changed up my buttercream recipe and it turned out AMAZING...everyone seemed to love it.  I planned to make the cake messy...turns out that's harder than I thought!  I'm so used to smoothing everything out.  Anyway, the cake was strawberry, my family's fave.  My sister created the pennants.  I used checkered flag duct tape for the flags on each end.

Birthday Banner
Again, my sis did an awesome job making the pennants for the birthday banner.  All I had to do was cut out, put on cardstock, and connected each pennant with 3/8" ribbon.

I LOVE the bubbles!!!

The Table

I didn't get a picture of the table with all the food on it.  We had hot dogs, chips, homemade mac and cheese, and baked beans - the traditional Ragan party food!  I used checkered flag duct tape over the water bottle labels.  I also got these pvc pipes from Home Depot, spray painted them green, and used them for the utensils.  I found these great red bowl at the dollar store...they remind me of some of the plants in Super Mario.

Thanks for letting me share about Emma's birthday bash!!  I love hosting my girlies' birthday parties, but they sure do wear me out!

Birthday Weekend Re-cap

Birthdays are always a big deal in my family!  Yesterday was my birthday...can't believe I am another year older!  My husband is just awesome, and planned an entire day just for me.  I felt so special!  Saturday morning, we dropped my girlies off with Nana.  Then the hubs whips out a list of 6 quilt shops in the area that I've never been to...along with their addresses.  He told me that we were going to all of them and I could get 1 yard of fabric from each!  He is such a doll.  So, we plugged in the first address into the GPS and were off.  It was just the best day, spending time with my man all day, having fun in the car driving to each new place, and he helped me pick out some pretty great fabrics.

We went all over creation, Raleigh, Wake Forest, Cary, Apex.  There were 2 shops that I just loved.  I also got to try out a long arm quilting machine...squeal!!  I have always wanted to try one and I finally did it!  The last shop we went to offered lessons and quilting by the hour.  It's a 4 hour class, and then you get 2 free hours on the Gammill long arm.   I am definitely going to sign up for that one!

We ended up getting cupcakes at Gigi's Cupcakes, did some more shopping, and then went to get the girlies for dinner.  I had no idea what the plans were for the day, so I didn't bring my camera! oh well.  My husband is absolutely the best, hands down.

Junie B. Jones Birthday Planning

Birthdays are a huge deal in our family!  I am fortunate that my girls' birthdays are about 6 months apart, so just when one is over, it's time to start planning the next girl's party!  Emma's birthday is in 2 months and she wants a Junie B. Jones birthday party...oh dear.  Emma is a bookworm, just like I was as a kid, so of course, she wants to have a party with her favorite characer!!  I haven't been planning and there is virtually nothing available to purchase for said party theme!  Time to read one of her books and get some ideas...I already have a CUTE idea for the invites...can't wait!!  Also, cannot believe my girl will be 8 years old.  I have no idea where the time goes!