Paper Airplane Party

For my oldest son's eighth birthday he wanted a paper airplane party... somehow I didn't get any really great pictures, but I thought it was still worth sharing. It looked great in person :)

The decorations for this party were so inexpensive and easy, a little time consuming, but easy. I made about 25-30 (maybe more) paper airplanes out of coordinating scrapbook paper, and hung them from the beams in our dining room with invisible thread, at varying heights and directions- so it looked like they were flying. I used a great book about paper airplanes by Klutz to get some more complicated plane designs (which doubled as a birthday gift). For the cake, I did two layers, one smaller than the other, frosted blue. For the airplanes on the cake I went to the florist shop and bought some plant stakes that they use to hold up cards, they worked perfect to hold the planes up and flying over the cake - just be careful with the candles. :) For the favors we had foam airplanes and Airheads candies.

The menu for this party was also simple... for kid's party I think the simpler the better. I just made all his favorite foods in appetizer form (although we did cheat and ordered a $5 pizza).
*Mini pig in a blankets
*Mini sliders (homemade meatballs and homemade mini buns made them extra yummy)
*Fruit salad and dip
*Ants on a log
*Peanut butter, banana, and honey pinwheel sandwiches

Birthdays are special in our home. Most are spent with only our family, but certian years are special years- 1,5,8,12,16..milestone years in our family- and these birthdays deserve extra attention. I love these parties. I love to plan and cook and create. I love to have intimate little parties for our closest friends...which I think makes them all the more special.
So I want to share with you past parties we have held and some ideas for ones we haven't had yet. Also some tips to make things easy and inexpensive (while still looking great). Watch for ideas for baby and wedding showers, holidays and all the other "special little moments in life".
I hope you are inspired :)

Garden Party

This was my daughter's fifth birthday party, I was excited because it was the first "pretty" party I was able to do. It was so much fun.

The decorations were so easy... I used tissue paper to make the flowers for the centerpieces and favor boxes. I used 2 sundae cups, lined with green tissue paper & a container I already owned for the centerpieces. The rest of the table was easily filled with coordinating (not matching) plates, napkins, & cups with colorful straws. Crepe paper hung from the ceiling to make a "canopy". The favors are homemade matchboxes wrapped in decorative paper, they simply held candy buttons (they are the perfect size to hold a pair of barrettes or a small soft bracelet or ring).

The menu: this was by far the easiest party menu I have ever made, it was a lot of fun to reinvent some basic kid food.

*Ham and Cheese "tea sandwiches"

*Tuna "tea sandwiches"

*Peanut butter and Jelly napoleon sandwiches

(stack a sandwich in this order: bread, peanut butter, bread, jam, bread, peanut butter, bread. Cut off crusts and slice thin. The kids adored these.)

*Fruit skewers

*Assorted Crudités and dip

The cake was chocolate with seven-minute frosting. I decorated it with royal icing dots (that I had made earlier and dried completely). So simple and so cute.