Crafty Party!

Rita, I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO IMPRESSED with your Blog and all the partys you've thrown.  I only wish I COULD HAVE DONE EVEN HALF of what you did for your kids.  They are VERY LUCKY to have such a FUN and caring MOM (and DAD).  They will ALWAYS REMEMBER THESE PARTYS, and all the work that went into them.  I know I was certainly JEALOUS  and would have LOVED having a MOM like you.  You're the GREATEST! 

Hi Heather,

I'm so glad you've enjoyed looking all around my party site!  You can tell that this is a fun hobby of mine.    The book "The ABC's of ___'s First Year" was made on Shutterfly.com using one of their book templates.  It was all laid out like a scrapbook for each letter- all I had to do was stick in the pictures and put what I wanted the letters to represent.  Hopefully Shutterfly still has that template!  Otherwise, it could be done by using a picture, "A is for ___" text box on each page, and another text box with reasons why that word represents the letter.

Have fun!  Your son will enjoy the book for years to come.  Let me know if you get stuck on a letter.  (For example, I used "X-citing Times" and "Xylophone" for the difficult letter of X, "Quiet Times" for Q, and "Zzzzz..." with a sleepytime picture for Z.  That kind of thing!)

Rita

Hi there! 

First of all - these parties look amazing and definitely take themes to the next level!! 

I was wondering what you did for the "ABCs" of their first years? I'm interested in doing that for my son, but was wondering if you could help me out with some ideas? 

Thanks so much! 

Heather

Hi Mariah,

Thank you for your kind note!  I do have a lot of fun planning out the birthday parties for my children each year, and they have fun helping too.  I would be honored to accept your "Best Birthday" badge, and will post it on the home page of this site.  Thank you for taking the time to look through the parties we've had, and to write me a note!

  Rita

Hello Rita!

My name is Mariah Olson, and I am a representative of the company Birthday Express. My job is to search the internet for outstanding children's birthday blog posts that deserve recognition. When I came across your site, I knew immediately that there was a great deal of time and effort spent on celebrations in this family! The special themes that you included like the Candyland and Star Wars parties were unforgettable, and the pictures of your children over the years are so adorable!

On behalf of Birthday Express, we would like to offer you our "Best Birthday" badge for throwing such a sensational party. Congratulations--you and your little one deserve it! If you are interested, let me know and I'll send it your way.

Again, congratulations, and thank you for your time!

Best Regards,

Mariah Olson

Wow, Jenny!  I'm so pleased that you came across my little party site and enjoyed browsing it!  Yes, my kids and I have a lot of fun planning out their birthday parties to be unforgettable events for them and their guests.  I figure that I only have a short amount of time that they'll let me do that with them, and then it will be "You can just drop me off at the corner, Mom.  Ugh, don't embarrass me by waving, Mom!"  I'd be quite honored to accept PartyPail.com's award for "Best Decorations".  Thank you very much for your kind note!
Rita

Dear Rita,

My name is Jenny Franklin. I work with PartyPail.com; my job is to search blogs such as yours for individuals who put a great deal of effort into making parties and celebrations extra special.

I have to say I absolutely love the creativity that you put into all your parties. On behalf of PartyPail.com I would like to award you the "Best Decorations" badge.  We usually award the badge for a specific party but in your case we can offer it for your whole site! It looks like one big party extravaganza!

If you are interested in displaying the Best Decorations award just let me know and I'll send it along to you. Once again great work on your blog! I look forward to hearing from you!

Jenny

Hi Jaime,
I'm so glad you've gotten some good ideas from my son's angry birds birthday party!  I certainly owe a lot of that to my Pinterest heroes.    Yes, I had the same issues with the banner, so I had to use my Photoshop to enlarge the angry birds that were too small.  I've saved all of those- which ones are you missing?  I can email them to you.

Good luck with the party!  It was a fun one.
Rita

Hi Rita. I'm using a lot of your ideas for my son's star wars angry birds birthday party this Saturday.  I cannot figure out how to get the birds on http://mobilehomemommy.blogspot.com/2012/12/angry-birds-homemade-holiday-garland_663.html to print at full paper size.  Some of them are large, but others (C3PO, Chewbacca) are small.  Do you remember how you got it to work? Thanks!  Your pages are great and very helpful.

Jaime

[/Jaime]

Hi Rita. I'm using a lot of your ideas for my son's star wars angry birds birthday party this Saturday.  I cannot figure out how to get the birds on http://mobilehomemommy.blogspot.com/2012/12/angry-birds-homemade-holiday-garland_663.html to print at full paper size.  Some of them are large, but others (C3PO, Chewbacca) are small.  Do you remember how you got it to work? Thanks!  Your pages are great and very helpful.

Jaime

Hi Cassy!

I'm so glad you stumbled onto my little party site, and that it's helped you get some ideas for your daughter's princess party!  I agree- many of the parties I see online simply knock my socks off with their details and professionalism, but would be impossible for me to recreate in real life without an expensive party planner.  That's why I'm happy to share real-life DIY ideas that worked for me, and pay-it-forward from the other DIY moms and Pinterest geniuses who gave me ideas too!  

Good luck with your Princess Party!  I'd love to see your pics if you've got a blog or a site!

Rita

I just found your site through pinterest (yay pinterest!) while looking for princess party ideas and I have to say your princess party looks adorable!  My daughter wants a princess party this year and like you I am probably as excited as she is, but trying to find reasonable ideas has been challening.  Some of the sites I have found are so over done it's like a wedding-yours looks like a perfect childrens party!  Thank you so much for posting so many pictures-they are very helpful!

Thank you so much!  We really enjoyed making them   Can't wait to see you back at our shop.

Tori and Chris

Tori and Chris- Thanks so much for making such amazing invitations, party signs, and buffet labels for Julianne's Rainbow Birthday Party!  They were the perfect touches for the party.  I'll certainly be back to your shop soon!  Rita

Sorry me again.  I meant to say thanks again for the acknowledgement and sweet note that you listed for the images we made   We really appreciate it.  We had a GREAT time working with you.  Hope to see you back at our shop soon

Chris and Tori

Hi

It's Tori and Chris from 2 Cute Party Prints.  I hope ya'll have been doing well.  I wanted to share this link to my blog: http://2cutepartyprints.blogspot.com/2012/06/rainbow-party.html  It's something I listed to show the party ya'll had   Thanks so much for letting me share it.  Sorry it has taken me so long to get it up there.

Thanks again!

Tori and Chris  

Thanks, Paul!  I'm just having fun.    Wish you could have been here for the Rainbow Party!  (Thanks for sending the amazing rainbow galaxy picture for her Rainbow Wall!)

Sister - you are the most incredible party planner ever!  I want you to plan my next party!! :-)  The Rainbow party looks amazing, I can't believe that cake!

Michelle, your "So Wonderful, So Marvelous" Cars party blog was my inspiration and starting point!  Thank you for sharing your party ideas!  xox Rita

Rita, you did SUCH a fab job on the Cars party.  I'm so glad you shared it with me!  LOVE all of the touches, especially the sandwich road, that was awesome!