I can't believe my big boy is 5! I spent a couple months planning (I like to plan over a period of time so that I can complete all of the ideas I get and not get stressed!)Adria took some fabulous pictures at the party. She is not only a great graphic artist but a killer photographer!
I will be posting another note with pics of behind the (messy) scenes!
Update: Jeffrey's pool party has been featured on Hostess with the Mostess!
Photo above is from their writeup they did about Jeffrey's pool party!
You all saw the invitation that we added to our shop, right?
I made tissue poms to line the entrance to the party area (on the gate to the pool). There is a great tutorial on how to do this at Martha Stewart's website.
Since my new crush is Amy Atlas, I had to make an attempt at a dessert table.
Our pool has a nice long covered terrace where we had all of the tables and the sweets table. I decided against an "under the sea" or "beach" themed party and instead stuck w/ a fun green and blue color scheme for the party. We repeated patterns and pinwheels throughout the whole party.
I just LOVE the pinwheels! We stuck them into buckets with sand (to hold them down)
I found these super fun blue and green clear vinyl square bucket things and put those on the tables with goldfish (a standard party snack, right!?) in them - they kinda looked like fish bowls on the tables.
The sweet birthday boy....
and his Peanut brother, Pierson! ;-)
This is a funny photo of Jeffrey... his facial expression is so funny!
So,... on to the details!
Lunch - We served lunch in personalized sand pails (bagged lunches) - We made butter croissant turkey and provolone sandwiches, bag of chips and a fruit cup. Each bagged lunch had a little sticker on it with a coordinating party logo from our shop. We hung a napkin over the side and the kids were off! They could sit on the beach chairs by the pool or at the tables. They feasted!
Water bottles had a custom water bottle wrap from our shop that said "Don't drink the pool water" "Jeffrey's 5th Birthday" on them.
We also had cups (with the logo on it) for lemonade. I got some blue and green sippy cups for the babies, too!
I have been a huge fan of Amy Atlas and her amazing dessert tables, so I did my own first try at a themed dessert table.
I couldn't fit "Happy 5th Birthday Jeffrey" on a banner so we just had the words "Jeffrey" and "Five" on the seersucker covered backdrop.
I always loved cupcakes in ice cream cones when I was growing up. The kids LOVED them! I made like 75, so I had extra to hand out to lifeguards, etc.
Cookie pops were stuck into a long aqua box with a lime ribbon wrap.
Old fashioned candy sticks - blue in color, of course!
We had fun lemonheads in all sorts of crazy flavors (green, blue, pink and orange in color), and also blue gummy sharks:
Jeffrey's cake was in a waffle cone bowl and had a "5" cookie pop sticking out of the top.
Cupcake toppers adorned all of the fun cupcake/cones!
Lolli pops with our fun lolli pop cover on them... organic pops in yummy flavors like pomegranate pucker, mango tango,...MMM!
We did 2 games. 1st game was Pingpong Pool Search game - I had 144 ping pong balls and several had a 5 written on them. J had all of the kids stand back on the side of the pool and then he threw all of the balls out in the pool - they all went rushing to find the balls with the 5s on them. So fun!
The 2nd game was just the "biggest splash" contest. The kids LOVED this!
Jeffrey and Gabby were tied for 1st!
Pingpong Pool Game:
Pierson playing his own games ;-)
The 8 winners got bubbles!
Favors are almost my favorite thing to plan - I just love doing something nice for all of the guests and they have to coordinate with the party. In this case, Jeffrey had tons of friends at his party and lots of them have siblings Pierson's age. We did a favor for each kid/age.
The older kids got a wrapped present (which they LOVE to open a gift at someone else's party!).
Jeffrey had originally wanted a LEGO party but we decided to do that next year, but he decided he wanted his friends to have a building block favor. We got Fisher Price TRIO building kits for each kid and wrapped them saying "When it gets to hot to play in the sun, go back inside and build your own fun"
The little toddlers got a bucket of sidewalk chalk that had our party logo on it.
and last but not least, everyone got a fresh sugar cookie pop that I made. Fun polka dot or striped patterns.
Adria and I.... exhausted!
Thanks for all the help, Adria! Thanks to all the guests for a blast of a party!!!
XOX
Maureen
By popular request, I am listing where I got some of the key items from my party:
Pinwheels - Hobby Lobby
Navy/Green Striped Cups/Paper Plates/Napkins - Ikea
Green/Blue Sippy Cups - Dollar Tree
Sand Buckets - Michaels
Bubbles - Walmart
Chalk Buckets - Target
Table Cloths - Garden Ridge
Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes and Iced Sugar cookies - Maureen Anders' kitchen (I love to bake!)
Old Fashioned Candy Sticks - Cracker Barrel
Blue/Green clear boxy basket/containers - Dollar Tree (of all places!)
Items that you can have designed from our shop (www.andersruff.etsy.com)
- Birthday Banner
- Cupcake Toppers
- Party Logos (for stickers on the cups, bubbles, fruit cups, lunch bags, etc)
- Favor Tag
- Water Bottle Wraps
- Custom Wrap (as shown on the chalk, etc)
- Lolli Pop Covers
- Invitations
- Address Labels
In the following order: Jaci, Erin G, Me (Adria), Cindy (and this was the best one out of several shots... someone is always doing something crazy!)
What we do best: Drinking... talking.... laughing
