While I am once again able to walk around a bit, and am no longer crawling around my apartment, I am still not quite back to my full abilities and am having to be very careful about overdoing things and reinjuring myself once again.
Unfortunately, Punkin Pie's big birthday bash was planned for today. Which left me with a lot to do and no ability to do it. But lots and lots of time to plan. Hello Pinterest!
My Love had requested a beach setting, because Punkin Pie absolutely adores the beach. I had been thinking Princess theme, because Punkin Pie is nothing if not a princess.
In my Pinteresting I found several great beach ideas that I felt certain could be tailored to our 'Princess by the Sea' theme.
The first were these wonderful partitions that give a sense of your area to an otherwise up for grabs type situation. Bonus was they are beautiful, flowy, made of ribbon, and a great princess effect. I had to have them for my princess! Project #1.
Next were matching pinwheels. On the Pin I was following, the pinwheels matched the colors used in the ribbon partition. I thought maybe I could make some simple ones of my own for a nice effect. Project #2.
Then, I found a pin where the had used sand pails as lunch boxes for the kids, and another where they had used them as the goodie bags. I decided I wanted to combine the two ideas into something good for our little group. Project #3.
I also found some great ways people had incorporated food into the theme, like goldfish crackers and gummi shark skewers, and starfish cookies. Project #4.
Last of all, I knew we needed activities to keep the kiddos busy. I found a cute idea for dinosaur eggs that I thought could be used with shells instead of dinosaur toys,and thought we could bury them to have the kids dig up. Project #5.
Unfortunately, Punkin Pie's big birthday bash was planned for today. Which left me with a lot to do and no ability to do it. But lots and lots of time to plan. Hello Pinterest!
My Love had requested a beach setting, because Punkin Pie absolutely adores the beach. I had been thinking Princess theme, because Punkin Pie is nothing if not a princess.
In my Pinteresting I found several great beach ideas that I felt certain could be tailored to our 'Princess by the Sea' theme.
The first were these wonderful partitions that give a sense of your area to an otherwise up for grabs type situation. Bonus was they are beautiful, flowy, made of ribbon, and a great princess effect. I had to have them for my princess! Project #1.
Next were matching pinwheels. On the Pin I was following, the pinwheels matched the colors used in the ribbon partition. I thought maybe I could make some simple ones of my own for a nice effect. Project #2.
Then, I found a pin where the had used sand pails as lunch boxes for the kids, and another where they had used them as the goodie bags. I decided I wanted to combine the two ideas into something good for our little group. Project #3.
I also found some great ways people had incorporated food into the theme, like goldfish crackers and gummi shark skewers, and starfish cookies. Project #4.
Last of all, I knew we needed activities to keep the kiddos busy. I found a cute idea for dinosaur eggs that I thought could be used with shells instead of dinosaur toys,and thought we could bury them to have the kids dig up. Project #5.
![Picture](/uploads/1/3/5/2/13525094/1366958730.png)
Project #1 - Though I adored the feel of the partition, I wasn't interested in spending a fortune in ribbon that would, most likely, be used once at the beach and never again. SO, I planned out how much ribbon I needed at the very least for 12 total feet of partition; each length being 1 yard, 1 length every 2 inches, 72 total yards of ribbon. Then my mom and sister pooled their combined ribbon resources and brought it over so we could determine how much we had and might still need.
Turns out, if you are willing to use the inexpensive plastic crimped type ribbon, one of those big bolts will hold a whole heck of a lot more than what's needed for 12 feet of partition. So we increased it to one every inch and filled in with longer ribbon where it seemed appropriate. It really turned out nicely! I loved the look and the effect at the beach was just perfect!
An added perk was that not only was it a great partition, but it was really easy for our party goers to find us!
Turns out, if you are willing to use the inexpensive plastic crimped type ribbon, one of those big bolts will hold a whole heck of a lot more than what's needed for 12 feet of partition. So we increased it to one every inch and filled in with longer ribbon where it seemed appropriate. It really turned out nicely! I loved the look and the effect at the beach was just perfect!
An added perk was that not only was it a great partition, but it was really easy for our party goers to find us!
![Picture](/uploads/1/3/5/2/13525094/1366958837.png)
Project #2 - Matching Pinwheels. Hmm... pinwheels are harder to make than I had planned. Especially stuck laying down on the couch. Ok... time to recruit more help! After many discussions on how best to accomplish this feat, we decided...
bought is best. So... they didn't match, exactly. But they were really cute anyway and the kids loved them! Thank goodness for the Dollar Store!
![Picture](/uploads/1/3/5/2/13525094/1366958924.jpg)
Project #3 - Sand Pail GOODIE BAGS! I would say this was one of the best party ideas we came up with. If you are looking for a great, easy way to keep the kids are your party busy while they're waiting to be fed, then this is the way to do it!
Granted, we were at the beach, which makes thinking of things to do far easier, but we were still in danger of having bored escapees head down unsupervised to the water, and we really didn't want to have the parents chasing their kids every five seconds, so this 'party favor' came in really handy.
We filled the pails with; a shovel (in most pails these come attached), sunscreen (just in case anyone didn't bring enough, plus the kids felt pretty cool to have their own), sunglasses, bottle of water, goldfish snacks (individual bags so no one was starving while they waited for the hot dogs to cook), sand toy and bubbles. Kept them totally entertained and happy. We also had a couple smaller kids there, so we had pails for them as well; plush fish, baby sunscreen, sand toy, pail and shovel, puzzle and sunglasses.
Granted, we were at the beach, which makes thinking of things to do far easier, but we were still in danger of having bored escapees head down unsupervised to the water, and we really didn't want to have the parents chasing their kids every five seconds, so this 'party favor' came in really handy.
We filled the pails with; a shovel (in most pails these come attached), sunscreen (just in case anyone didn't bring enough, plus the kids felt pretty cool to have their own), sunglasses, bottle of water, goldfish snacks (individual bags so no one was starving while they waited for the hot dogs to cook), sand toy and bubbles. Kept them totally entertained and happy. We also had a couple smaller kids there, so we had pails for them as well; plush fish, baby sunscreen, sand toy, pail and shovel, puzzle and sunglasses.
![Picture](/uploads/1/3/5/2/13525094/1366958979.png)
Project #4 - Food. We had goldfish snacks, swedish fish skewers, and cupcakes that my dear friend made for us. The cupcakes had adorable fish friends on them. A total hit with the kids! Their favorite seemed to be the crab, which they decided was Taxicrab from Jungle Junction.
![Picture](/uploads/1/3/5/2/13525094/1366959057.png)
Project #5 - Games. I officially handed this over to my sister. Who has a kids party game and activity blog called Cricket's Corner. She is absolutely fantastic with little kids and she planned lots of fun games for them! The dinosaur eggs didn't pan out, since it took a lot of ingredients to make just one, but the idea was a good one, and something fun for the kids to do with their sand pails. So my sister and mom purchased all kids of fun things from the dollar store to bury. We roped off an area and buried everything and the kids probably spent half an hour after lunch digging for 'treasure'. My sister had a whole story for them about pirates and buried treasure and the kids ate it up!
While she had lots more activities planned, just in case, we ended up not really needing them, with the eating and digging and cupcakes we had already spent 3 hours on the beach! But the kids had a great time and it was a very nice day.
While she had lots more activities planned, just in case, we ended up not really needing them, with the eating and digging and cupcakes we had already spent 3 hours on the beach! But the kids had a great time and it was a very nice day.
![Picture](/uploads/1/3/5/2/13525094/2312558.jpg?642)
The birthday girl... perhaps too much of a good thing??