favors

I'm back!  Or rather, my computer is back!  And mostly functional, after two and a half weeks of being in the shop. I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping for the best at this point. But as long as it's up and running, I'm taking advantage of it and posting again, hooray!

The favors from the Balloons party for Festivities magazine are my favorite to date.  

I recently made some surfboard cookies for a little boy who was turning four and having a luau themed pool party.

I was pretty happy with how they turned out, but what I really loved was how I decided to package them up.  

I love making the favors match the theme of a party.  And I love making or buying special favors, rather than just giving out plastic junk that's going to be thrown out at the first opportunity.  At the Sprinkles birthday party, that meant sprinkle jewelry!  

Making your own mock archaeological dig for a party, school, or scout project? Potsherds are a fabulous thing to include. Easy to make, incredibly inexpensive (about $1 for a whole bunch of pottery bits), and authentic enough to make your young diggers feel like real archaeologists!
 

I end up buying fabric for most parties I throw--for various crafts and decor--and end up with inevitable scraps. I'm always fighting the battle between not wanting something to go to waste and wanting to de-clutter. Here's a project that will help you use up some of those fabric scraps and feel resourceful, rather than slightly disappointed in yourself when you throw the fabric in the trash bin.
 

No gnome party would be complete without fluffy white beards--even if the party is for all girls!
 

These fanciful colored pencils were a fun and incredibly easy favor to make for the gnome birthday party.
 

Dydh da dhiworth Kernow! (That means "hello from Cornwall" in the Cornish language. We have a break between sightseeing, scrambling on the beach, and the festivities of the Lowender Peran festival, and I'm taking the time to write the first of the tutorials from the Gnome party.

A gnome-themed party needs gnome-themed hats, of course!
 

Playdough is a hit with all ages. Sure, we might buy it for the kids, but you can't tell me once you have that malleable material in your hands you're not sitting down at the table and squishing it with delight.

You know what makes playdough even better? Glitter.