Violet's Red, White and Blue Party Post 1

I decided to do Vi's party in 2 posts, one of all the decor, food and stuff I made for it and one of the kiddies having fun enjoying the party.  I figured it would be too many pics for one post!  

I got most my ideas and stuff from Pinterest and Etsy.  Let me just say, this was WAY TOO MUCH WORK.  I went a little crazy with the decorations and stuff.  And I get all caught up on making the stuff myself when really I should just save myself the stress and buy some of it.  Anyways, next year I think we will tone it down a little.  Maybe go big for her 5th bday.

I have to admit I almost canceled the party about 3 weeks before.  Annabelle has been so tough and up until about a week ago I was getting about 2 hours of sleep a night.  And thats the truth.  I felt so tired and overwhelmed and stressed I was about to snap.  Not sleeping for almost 5 months can really make you a lunatic.  Long story short, I was encouraged by my hubby and good friend that I COULD do it and I just needed to ask for help.

I am super type A and have a horrific time asking for help.  I like to do it all myself and usually drive myself to the ground.  I'm learning its ok to have help.  So here we are, we made it through and had an AWESOME party.  I can't wait till Vi is older and I can show her pics cuz you know she won't remember it.


Here is the invite!

Food table.  Printable party pack (banners, signs, etc) from totfulmemories on Etsy.  The letter are spray painted with red glitter.

printable free on Pinterest, spray painted dollar store frames

Utensil bucket- target, basket- Dollar Store

close up of the sign

favors--chevron bags from CakesAndKidsToo on Etsy

Most the baskets are dollar store, glasses- party city

I bought a ton of crayons at the dollar store and a candy mold tray of stars and made red and blue crayons to take home as well.  Super easy and cheap fun favor!

the favors- all red, white and blue candy, bubbles, flag bracelet, glow in the dark tattoos, mini clapper (Oriental Trading and Party City)

Dessert Table

Saw this "Idea" Red, White and Two" on pinterest after the party was planned or I would have made it the theme.  I made the sign on PicMonkey, the knew photo editing site I use and then had it printed poster size 16x20 at Walmart.  Then I just glued it to a foam board.  Love it!

Cake balls by my sister Annie (idea from Pinterest), chocolate/sprinkle covered pretzels

She did such a amazing job!

cake by sister Annie (idea from Pinterest), the inside is r/w/b too!  I made the banner with grosgrain ribbon, bakers twine and striped straws.  Cake stand made by spray painting old candle stick and gluing it to a dollar store platter.

chocolate covered strawberries and brownie pops (Pinterest).  I bought a ice cream bar cookie cutter (recommended by the original blog it was pinned from) to make these so they look like fudgesicles.

Mini r/w/b marshmallow stars dipped in chocolate and sprinkles.  Styrofoam rectangle spray painted and covered in scrapbook paper (I used these same ones for cake pops last year and just redid them!)  Lastly I glued this one to a spray painted candlestick as well.  Flags- party city

Giant marshmallows (these are BIG) dipped in chocolate and sprinkles.  The sticks are shown below, super cute.

these are the cute paper covered sticks from ThePaperedNest

R/W/B M&Ms and Sparkly Star Paper Centerpieces from Party City.  Glass candy dish- dollar store, R/B dishes- dollar section at Target

This may have been my favorite thing I made.   Cupcake and doily garland.  They have lots of variations of this on Pinterest.  Cupcake liners from LulusCupcakeBoutique on Etsy.  I used 100!

Love this red/white ticking fabric and navy yarn bunting  I saw on pinterest.  Wish I bought another yard though to make it longer. 

Clearance burlap canvas with scrapbook paper, vinyl V and fabric tape around the edges. 

Actually saw this idea on a blog I read- cut paperplate centers and glue to sticks for DIY fans for outdoor parties.  These were actually hits!

fuzzy pic of party city $4 bucket and paper wrapped waters

I'm a dork and didn't take a pic after I put the drinks in the cups and container.  I actually tried a pinterest idea of R/W/B drinks using fruit punch, blue gatorade and diet sprite.  The sugar content in the drinks is supposed to keep the liquids separate.  Ummm.. so didn't work.  Oh well.  It was a nice shade of dark red and still tasted good!  Juice boxes for the kids!

The mason jars are actually are glasses we use in our house tied with fabric scraps with a paper punch tied on for names.  The cute lids are from Groopdealz (daily deals website) and the straws are from DimeStoreBuddy.  I used fabric as a table cloth and then dollar store wrapping paper on top.

Drink sign and Riley Blake fabric bunting

We rented a kid banquet table from Celebrations Party Rentals and 10 chairs for the kids and 10 chairs for adults all for $30!  I think that is an awesome deal.  I bought 2 yards of the big butcher paper at Beverlys in Rocklin for about $2 to put on top of the table cloth.  I added some dollar store stickers and a bucket of the crayons I made and a bucket of mini bubbles.  I figured the kids could color while they ate. 

Last year I made these by hand, this year I bought two packs of 3 at Party City!  And my Dad and Justin fluffed them and hung them for me.  See? Asking for help is good!

Sweets and Treats Table outside.  The fans are from Party City.  I wanted to make them from Scrapbook paper but ran out of time.  I just noticed the bunting is falling off the table in this pic, oops.Its a fabric bunting made from Riley Blake patriotic fabric and bias tape.

the wind is blowin the little ones!

I didn't get good enough close ups of all the goodies but there was tons of candy from Oriental Trading, Party City, Sprouts and Nuts.com.  The buckets were Target dollar section, glass dishes from the dollar store,and a a few dishes I already had. 

We had R/W/B licorice, taffy, tootsie rolls, jelly beans, candy corn- all with R/W/B wrapping.  Lots of swirly suckers, rock, candy, ring pops, cinnamon bears, gummy sharks and USA suckers.  I went a tad nuts.  You would be surprised all the patriotic stuff they make!  

These are the cute snack cups from InTheClear on Etsy I set on the treat table

I made these cute pinwheels from scrapbook paper from Beverly's, fabric covered brads I had onhand and the paper straws.  I bought a wooden crate from Walmart, stuck some floral foam in there with shredded paper from the dollar store.  Loved how this turned out!

licorice from Sprouts

I forgot to take a pic when this was full but I thought it was too cute!  I saw this idea on pinterest.  "Let Freedom RING"

Our back deck all ready for the party! I made outdoor fabric pillow covers for a few pillows I had to make it a little cozier

Two pools, bubble maker (which broke, booo), lots of little tike/step 2 play stuff, slipnslide, sandbox and Vi's bday present.. the trampoline!!  We had a sprinkle going under it to so they could jump in the water.  We took this pic too early because I had bought a dozen R/W/B beach balls from Oriental Trading and we had them all over the lawn.

playhouse, sandbox and more!

Welcome!

Front porch-  Amazingly cute ripped fabric garland made by my dear friend Nicole (she knew I was stressed and jumped in to help!)

how cute is this printable?

Found this vase in my garage, spray painted it and added burlap, grosgrain bow and pinwheels.

Onto the food! Fruit skewers in a flag, seen on Pinterest (duh)

Food Table... with the food.  Salads, sandos, hotdogs, fruit skewers, chips, jello salad

cute paper garland from the printable package

Saw these on Etsy.  The top is a paint chip garland.  I took a boat load of them from Home Depot and used my 2" punch to create circles.  I used left over scrapbook paper for the bottom one.  Just sewed straight through the middle of each to create a super cute, super cheap decoration!

So, a bazillion pictures later, I am SOOO happy with how it turned out.  And so proud of myself for doing it on NO sleep.  Oh, and most importantly, proud of myself for asking for help.

And the best part is all the decor can be used again!  I could do a 4th of July Party for years!

I want to give a Ginormous thank you to my Mom, Dad, Inlaws, Hubby, Friends that helped and my lil sis Annie.  If I forgot anyone I'm sorry.  You were all a HUGE help and I so appreciate it.  Especially thanks to my Mother for watching my girls, my most prized possessions, love u mama, your the BEST!