Have a Wheelie Great Birthday!

Monster Truck Madness

6th Birthday!

Monster truck invitations and photo of my little guy

with a Monster truck for hire for the party!

Someone had a wheelie awesome 6th Birthday Party recently!

Front of the invitation envelopes

ready to roll!

His amazing cake!

I made custom Pit Crew passes

for each of the kids to wear....

Monster truck tire cupcakes!

My Route "6" cookie favors

turned out super cute!

Favor bags with custom tags,

Lots of cookie favors,

"Mud Juice" chocolate Yoohoo drinks,

and monster truck display boxes with custom labels

and color-coordinated gumballs!

The birthday boy

in his custom, personalized Birthday shirt from etsy!

Monster truck mylar balloons

checkered black and white balloons

black, white and red pearlized latex balloons

and mylar tire balloons made things coordinated and festive!

We printed out monster truck coloring pages

and had mini trophies at each place setting,

along with their Pit Crew pass!

This party was a blast to put together!

The only bummer was that the monster truck we hired

cancelled one hour before the party!

His trailer broke down en route to the party :(

The kids could've cared less!

They were so busy playing with all of their favors...

monster truck bouncy balls (a HUGE hit!)

flame pencils,

monster truck pull back racers,

racing car chocolates,

monster truck stickers,

monster truck and route sign cookies,

die cast cars,

and I don't even remember what else!

We like to load our guests up!! :)

I hope you enjoyed the pics!!



Palette Cookie Feature

You all know I triple-dog love when some little thing that I've done gets some media attention.

How utterly thrilling to see that my

artist palette cookies

are being featured today on

CutestFood.com

I had such a fun time coming up with this idea when I made them for my son's 4th Birthday party. The theme was Little Picasso Art Party, and I wanted everything to be cute and packed with color!

These cookies were such a huge hit! 

I made the little artist brush cookies separately

(yes, the brushes are cookies, not pretzels as some have asked) :)

They're one of my all-time most pinned, most commented on, and most featured projects!

I'm so thrilled that people like them!

5th Birthday Movie Party

Lights! Presents! Action!

5th Birthday Movie Party!

My baby boy turned 5 recently!

Turning one whole hand is a milestone event!

The fun festivities kicked off the week beforehand by attending his first ever NHL game between our own Pittsburgh Penguins and the Minnesota Wild.  Because it was his birthday the following day, he was choosen to ride the zamboni prior to the start of the game! 

The staff of the Penguins gave us the all-out royal treatment! 

We were given free tickets to see the game, and got to see the players warm up!

One of them even was so kind as to give Andrew a practice puck

(thank you, Matt Cooke)!



On his big day, his dad and I took him to see the Pittsburgh Pirates! 

After the game, we went out for dinner at one of his favorite local restaurants, Quaker Steak and Lube!  Perfect place for a car-loving boy! 

The following week was his birthday party with his friends!

He chose a movie theater party to see

Dolphin Tale!

Adorable magnetic invitations from Deb Den Designs

I loved his invitations! 
They were created for me by etsy seller, Deb Den Designs!

I can't recommend her highly enough!  She worked closely with me to get everything just right!

Right down to the coordinating "ticket" Thank You cards!



Movie-theme cake from Faithfully Cakes

His cake (topped with REAL popcorn, coated in delicious white chocolate and drizzled with buttery-looking yellow candy melts) was created by a local cake designer named Tammy.  She was so friendly and helpful in creating the movie-theme cake I envisioned with movie reels and fondant licorice (oh and the chocolate chip flavor was DELISH!)





His cookie favors from Bee's Knees Creative

In keeping with my movie-theme, I had these adorable cookie favors for all of the kids at the party.  Darling tubs of popcorn and directors clapboards were a huge hit!  The cookies arrived in perfect condition (packed with lots of care) and were even cuter in person!

For favors: I purchased popcorn boxes and filled each one with a cookie favor, movie-theater candies (dots, rainbow licorice, tootsie rolls, rainbow lollipops, and gummies) - along with a Dolphin Tale movie poster!

Each guest received their own movie poster in their popcorn favor box!

Giant mylar balloons helped give the party room

extra cuteness!

Mixed in with theatrical red, pearlized gold and pearlized black latex balloons in
classic movie theater colors, the mylar balloons jazzed up the room's decor instantly!

I wrote party details on the directors balloon with a poster paint Sharpie!

The birthday boy on his extra special day!

His adorable popcorn shirt was from mini Boden.

Before the movie, each child and parent was given a movie meal consisting of popcorn, taffy candy and choice of drink in a cute, portable box to carry into the theater!



I made each child their very own

V.I.P. All Access Movie Pass!

I wanted everyone to feel special, not just the birthday boy! 

A party is a celebration and guests should feel pampered and included in the festivities!

They looked so cute walking into the theater together

with their VIP passes into our own special section...

like they were attending their own Hollywood premiere!

** Please note: I would not recommend lanyards around smaller children's necks. 

Please use caution.  You could substitute stick-on passes instead.

It was SUCH a fun day! 

Popcorn, an inspiring movie, pizza, candy, and presents!

Giant buckets of popcorn lined the party tables.

The kids felt so grown up getting to sit together in a darkened movie theater

(with their parents in the row behind them, just in case!)

What a magical way to celebrate turning 5!

Turning the BIG 4-0

From the movie When Harry Met Sally...

Sally: "...And I'm gonna be 40!"

Harry: "When?!?"

Sally: "SOMEDAY!!!"

....

My birthday is coming.  Let me rephrase that - my 40th Birthday is coming (I don't even like typing that)!  While there are those that might say that age is just a number, 40 seems like an awfully BIG number :(  I didn't think turning the big 4-0 would bother me quite so much, but truth be told, I'm less than thrilled about it.  But I won't bemoan the reasons here...suffice it to say that I've made my peace with it :) 

I've never done much to celebrate my birthday. I'm excellent at celebrating for others - but my own is typically low key. 

A beautiful cake from my Sweetie ♥

This will sound quite sad, really, but I've only had a handful of birthday cakes in my lifetime!  Like seriously - I could probably count them on one hand.  Truth be told, I'm not much of a sweets person, and only until recently have I learned to enjoy a really decadent, delicious cake :)  


I know more and more women are making big party plans for their 40th,  but that's just not my style.  However, if I could plan the ultimate "turning-40" girly-girl party, my dream birthday cake would look exactly like this...

Source: maggieaustincake.com

That may be the very prettiest cake
(and believe me - I could stare at beautiful cakes and baked goods ALL day)
I have ever seen.

Do you do your own birthday up in lavish style or are you more like me and keeping it simple? 

Sweet 15

Happy 15th Birthday

to our beloved, faithful, loveable Westie,

Oliver! 

I adopted Ollie as a puppy back in 1996, and he has been my treasured, loyal companion ever since.  For those of you that are furbaby moms and dads, you know how a pet truly does become part of your family.  And I can't tell you how delighted I am that Ollie has made it to the ripe old age of 15 today to become BFF (best friend forever) to my son, too. 

Happy Birthday, Ollie!

xoxoxo

there will be an extra special celebration this weekend with cake and treats!