We started off with a Curious George party, then did the Cowboy thing and finally the lego party. I was starting to run out of fun ideas for my boys parties.

One thing Landon loves to do is draw and color, seemed only obvious to throw him an art inspired party.  Now that he and most of his guests are 5 they are able to keep the mess to a minimum so I forged ahead in making this happen.

I bought dollarstore white placemats and cut them into the shape of a painter’s palette.  I then adhered plastic die cut circles to mimic paint which are easily washable.  Yet another trip to our dollarstore yielded plain canvases on which the kids could paint their masterpiece just like the professionals.  I am convinced the one to the far left will be worth money some day.

I knew this cake would be perfect for our art party.  No wimpy food coloring for this one, the real dark vibrant food paste was brought in to pull this off.  Beware!  If you get this on your counter be prepared to love the tie die look because it does not wash off easily.  Better yet pawn the job off on your poor unsuspecting parents.  It’s amazing what you can get away with in the name of grand kids.

For favors I simply picked up some small tubs of Play Doh, a plastic painters palette, some paint brushes and a few tubs of washable paint.  Ironically last minute I forgot to pick up favor bags and tossed the stuff in small green recylcing garbage bags.  I figured everyone at some point can use those and will more than likely come in handy when letting your toddlers paint or use play doh…or as in my case both at once.

With three kids I am sure to be repeating one of these parties, or better yet I may even take them bowling.  Problem solved.

I had so much fun creating my son’s cowboy themed third birthday party, so much so I had to blog and brag about it.  Imagine my surprise when the ladies from Creative parties and Showers contacted me to submit his party for them to showcase.

You bet I did.  Thanks Shannon!.  Head on over and check out the amazing parties ladies around the worlds have created.  I know I’ll never be stuck for ideas with this site on my RSS feeds.

I thought I should post on Landon’s 4th birthday party celebration before preparations are underway for his 5th.

In the past he had a Curious George as well as cowboy theme party but this year we decided on a Lego motif to go with his recent fascination with this timeless toy.

I started with a simple handmade Lego invitation using shiny red scrapbook paper on which I placed raised pop dots on matching cut out circles.  Using a simple stamp set with a printed date and time card, they were simple and frugal.

For decorations I stuck to primary colours of blue, yellow, red and green.  The tablecloth was bright yellow on which I placed plastic storage bins filled to the brim with various flavoured potato chips.  For added interest I sat them on two large Lego boards I picked up at a thrift store for a quarter each with plenty of Lego colouring sheets and crayons to keep the little ones busy.  In the centre I filled a large clear vase with Lego candy I got on sale several weeks back using a 30% off coupon at our bulk food store.  You can actually build stuff with these candies and I made sure to send each child and their poor mother a large size goody bag filled to capacity.

For lunch I made my tried and true recipe of garlic fingers made with Amy’s pizza hut style pizza dough and to further streamline the process I pre-baked them the day before.  This way I only had to melt the cheese over the garlic butter to provide hot garlic fingers to hungry toddlers.  The best part of these has got to be the donair sauce.  I originally had two versions, one fattening and the other so much so you can actually feel your arteries clog as you swallow.  Of course I went with the latter, special occasion calls for special donair sauce.  I also know my best friend Stef loves these so I made sure I had them for her.

After last year’s cake masterpiece created by my father masquerading as a Martha wannabe, I thought he would have no problem pulling off Lego cakes.  I simply mixed up a double batch of my foolproof chocolate cake thanks to Voluntary simplicity and baked them in 4 small loaf pans.  Using a regular icing recipe of milk, icing sugar, vanilla and butter I tinted and mixed 3 different colours using food paste I picked up at Micheals with their 40% coupon resulting in deep prominent colours.

After unsuccessfully trying to coat the chocolate Rolo’s we decided to use to mimic the bumps, we finally admitted defeat and left them as is.  Nobody seemed to notice and there were plenty of oohs and aaahhs from the kids in awe of the chocolate blocks.

Finally, what is a party without a goody bag?  I used some plain red lunch sacks picked up on clearance after Valentines day and used an extra one to cut out red circles to adorn the bag similar to the invitations.  Using the same circle punch I made use of my scrapbooking scraps and crafted some simple thank you tags to attach to the bags using red ribbon once again picked up cheap after Valentines day.  Inside we put a Wii Pez dispenser, a mini Lego block set, a box of Smarties, candy ring and finally a large bag of Lego shaped candy.  I also picked up these inexpensive travel cups filled with craft activities a while back on clearance at Michaels. Inside there is instruction and supplies for several different crafts and after they are complete you are left with a nifty sippy cup.  Before leaving I simply washed and dried them before replacing the supplies back in to enjoy at another time.

All in all this party was inexpensive and made use of supplies I already had on hand.  By deciding on a theme early on I was able to keep my eyes open and take advantage of specials to further cut down expenses.  By making my own cake and garlic fingers I eliminated costly trips to the pizza joint and the added bonus to making my own was the ability to pre-bake them so I could quickly toss in another pizza if need be depending on how hungry people were.

All in all this party was a success and Landon had a blast as did the other children.  Now I have 11 months to come up with something for next year.  I am tired thinking of it. On that note:

This is what a 20 month old looks like on a sugar high……………….

and this is the same 20 month old on his way down

For more frugal tips visit Bilblical womanhood online