50th Anniversary Party

50 years of marriage. FIFTY. If that's not worth celebrating, I don't know what is.

My dear in-laws celebrated their big 5-0 last year, and I was able to help put together their party. 

I will share some of the ways we made their day memorable through the decorations, food and gifts that honored this amazing couple.

Decorations & Gifts:

These balloons were a big hit. My in-laws had never seen anything like them, and I was so glad I had gone to the trouble of packing them in the car for the drive!  I found mine at a local party store, but you can also find them HERE. Most grocery stores will fill them with helium for a small fee.

Two of the decorations doubled as gifts for the couple. 

One was a bunch of 4x6 pictures I had printed at Costco. I found pictures from when they were newlyweds all the way up until recent ones with their grandkids.  

When I printed them, I chose to have a white border around so they had a more finished look. 

Then I bought jute twine and some miniature clothespins and we displayed their picture memories all around the room. They absolutely LOVED this simple but meaningful display. In fact, they took them home still on the twine and hung them in their own home.

The other decor/gift was a memory poster I bought on Etsy. This party doubled as my father-in-law's 80th birthday, so I bought one board commemorating his birthyear, and one commemorating the year they were married.  You will receive a digital download of the design, then you can get them printed wherever you choose. I used Costco's 16x20 poster board. It is super durable and reasonably priced.

I bought the "50 Years Ago" design from Digital Board. 

I bought the "80 Years ago" birth year design from Little Mountain Top. 

These, as well, were taken home with my in-laws and displayed in their home. 

Food: 

The refreshments were simple, but just right. 

We asked in advance what each of their favorite cakes were (carrot, chocolate, and lemon pound were all listed), so we had some of each. 

Additionally, I bought several "old fashioned" candies and displayed them in mason jars.  Here are some of the candies, along with links to where you can find them:

• Dad's Root Beer Barrels (my favorites)
• Bit O Honey
• Sugar Daddys
• Necco Wafers
• Atomic Fire Balls
• Charleston Chews
• Zots
• Chicklets
• Tootsie Rolls
• Smarties

I used chalkboard labels on each of the mason jars. I love that chalkboard decorations are so prevalent, and they fit with an "old fashioned" theme!

Though the party was simple (by their request), it was filled with love and memories from their many happy years together. 

Graduation Party in a Box

Just over 40 years ago my dad was in the military, and my mom was a senior in college. My dad had completed his undergraduate studies and was pursuing a master's degree while working as an army research scientist. They were happy newlyweds, living in a Tennessee college town, expecting their first baby.

  

Then the army sent my dad to California. My mom had 13 credit hours left to finish her degree in special education. She had already completed her student teaching. But, online and other remote education options didn't exist back then. She withdrew from school so their little family could be together when their first baby was born. She planned to go back, but as her family grew and life progressed, the time never felt right. 

Fast forward to two years ago. My mom's eighth and last baby is an adult. The time had come. She re-enrolled at the university where she began. And a couple of weeks ago, she donned cap and gown to finish what she began! 

I am SO proud of her. She has supported her husband and all of her 8 children in our educational pursuits, while putting hers on hold. I wanted badly to be there, but since circumstances didn't work out for that, I decided to send her a graduation party in a box! (And I instructed my family who was there on how to set it all out when it arrived!)

Here she is at the tennis courts where she played on her college team. Like I said, she's pretty incredible. 

Now on to how I made a Graduation Party in a Box!

1. Candy Graduation Hats

I filled a food storage container with these cute little hats and put the place card on top, easy to set out and be displayed.  

To make the candy grad hats, you will need: 

• Mini peanut butter cups
• 1.5" squares of black cardstock/construction paper
• Embroidery thread and needle
• Scissors
• Clear tape

1. Gather materials (see list above. 

2. Stick threaded needle through center of paper square, pulling until about 2 inches remains on the other side. 

3. Push the needle back through the paper near the first hole, pulling tight (but careful not to rip the paper).  

4. Cut the thread to leave another 2 inch tail. 

5. Tie the two threads in a knot.

6. Place a loop of tape on the top of a peanut butter cup.

7. Place the the paper hat top on the tape. 

2. Diploma Cookies

Rolled Wafers (like these Pepperidge Farm Pirouettes or Piroulines) tied with bakers twine make easy and tasty edible diplomas!These yummy diplomas can be sent in a plastic food storage container or in the cannister they came in. 

 

3. Memory Collage

I really wanted my mom to feel her children's appreciation for her sacrifice. As you can see in this collage picture, she was there for each of us through our academic endeavors--always cheering us on! Never once did she act like it was a sacrifice; but now that I am a mom who was able to finish college, I am sure if I hadn't been able to it would be hard not to begrudge others.  All we ever felt was 100% support. 

I made this collage on costcophotocenter.com, picked it up same day, and put it in a simple frame. To ship it, I wrapped  it (and the other frames I sent) in plastic. 

4. Framed Meaningful Quotes

Everyone has a story. And for every story, you can find inspirational quotes that apply. I found these three that I felt best represented my mom's story. I placed each in a frame. 

(Also pictured here: I bought some yummy regional dark chocolate to send with a "For Mom ONLY" card label attached)

              

5. Congratulations Sign & Other Decorations

Finally, I bought an inexpensive, but easily packable "Congratulations" sign and some festive pom-poms in my mom's alma mater's colors. I threw in some matching balloons as well. 

And it all fit in a medium flat-rate priority mail box! 

With family all over the country, these are second only to Amazon Prime in providing affordable gift-sending options! And from Washington to Alabama usually only takes 3 days! Amazing!

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Watercolor Heart Doily Garland

Want to add some Valentine's Day flair to your home or office?  This simple garland is so easy and inexpensive to make, and looks darling!  Need non-electronic entertainment for the kiddos while you are cooped up in the house? Invite them to paint some, too! 

All you need is paper doilies (I found mine HERE for a bargain), watercolor paints and a brush, clear tape, and some white thread or dental floss!

"Doily" looked weird to me when I typed it out, so I looked it up. Turns out, it can be spelled correctly several different ways (per Wikipedia):  doiley, doilie, doyly, doyley, and doily. 

Ha! Who knew??

I made a video tutorial to show you how easy it is!  Have fun!

Participating in these link-ups.

CopyCat MOD Pizza Bar

 A few months ago our town moved up in the world. A MOD Pizza restaurant opened. It is one of a growing trend in pizzerias around the country that take the "Chipotle-angle" on service by providing customers the opportunity to customize their order, while still providing a fresh and fast product.

If you aren't familiar with MOD, maybe you have something similar.  PizzaRev, 800 Degrees, Blaze Pizza, and Uncle Maddio's are all MOD-like pizza places.

Whether or not you have a fast and fresh pizza bar close by, you can enjoy the benefits along with family and friends right in your own home!  I will give you the BEST Pizza Crust recipe, and tips for setting up your own fresh custom pizzeria!

 

First, make your dough! (Or don't, and buy some pre-made flatbread. I recommend Don Pancho Flatbread, found at many grocery stores).

 I have been using an incredible dough recipe for many years. It is my FAVORITE for pizza. It is consistent and is a quick recipe for a yeast dough.

BEST Pizza Crust 

Makes 24 8"-10" crusts

Ingredients:

4 cups warm water

2 tablespoons yeast

2/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

3/4 cup oil

10 cups flour (I often use half whole wheat)

Direcions:

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in sugar, and let sit for 5-10 minutes, until foamy.

2. Stir in salt an oil. Stir flour in 2 cups at time, stirring well until dough begins to be stiff. Knead in remaining flour and form into a smooth ball.

3. Turn dough over once in a large, oiled bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 2-3 hours.

4. Once dough is 2x original size, punch down and divide into 24 1/2-cup balls. 

5. Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees F.

6. Roll out each  dough ball to desired thickness and poke all over with a fork. Place on greased baking sheets (I sprinkle my baking sheets with cornmeal). Bake 5-8 minutes, just until hard on top. You don't want to brown them yet.

These crusts can be made ahead of time and stored in the freezer until ready to use.

 

The dough will start to rise some on the counter while you roll out the crusts. If you don't want to make all the dough into pizza crusts, it makes yummy cinnamon rolls, too. ;-)

 

I go pretty thin on the crusts, since they rise more while baking.

 

Here are a couple of crusts ready to go in the oven

 

And here they are right after I took them out. See how nicely they bubble up?! Yummo! They will be baked again with the toppings, so be sure to under-bake the first time.

 

I have made these individual crusts for family get-togethers, for a birthday party (Ratatouille movie-themed), and just for fun easy meals. You'll love them!

Now, onto the PIZZA BAR!

 

Sauces: We like basil pesto, marinara sauce, and two varieties of barbecue sauce--one smoky and one sweet. White/Alfredo sauce is another good choice, especially if you are having chicken or shrimp as a meat choice.

 

Cheese and Meat: I like having at least a couple of cheese options.  For meats, I went easy on myself with this pizza bar and bought prepared hard salami and pepperoni. Ground sausage/beef/turkey, shredded chicken, bacon and cooked shrimp are also good options.

 

Veggies: Consider your eaters, and put it all out there. I was pleasantly surprised to see how many teenage boys were putting veggies on their pizzas. Sometimes all it takes is having it available! 

  Preheat the oven to 450. Line up the toppings and let the fun begin. Bake each pizza for 6-8 minutes (on baking sheets).

 

This is the bar after one round of 12 people enjoying it. We had to pull out reinforcements on the sauces and cheese. Notice how dwindled that stack of crusts is. Not pictured: Many happy and satisfied pizza eaters. 

Participating in these link-ups.

Back to the Future Birthday Party

Let me preface this post with a disclaimer. When it comes to party-planning, I am a true amateur. That said, every time I put on a party for one of my kiddos, I get to create in new and exciting ways. So I am sharing my creativity here. Maybe it will be beneficial to your future party planing endeavors!

Over Christmas break, my husband and I decided it was time to introduce our boys to the Back To The Future trilogy. We both grew up enjoying these films, but my husband knows them like the back of his hand. So he manned to remote to try to mute the bad words, and our kids got to meet Marty and George McFly, Doctor Emmett Brown, Biff, and The DeLoreon.  

For my seven-year-old, this introduction may have upstaged Christmas. He has been talking about Flux-Capacitors, time-travel, and going 88mph ever since.  So when I asked him what kind of birthday party he wanted this year, I shouldn't have been surprised when he said, "How about a Back to the Future party, Mom?" 

I accepted the challenge and got to work. 

First, I found the INVITATIONS. A dear soul has created an awesome design and asks only for a $5 donation to download the template.  You can find the download here.

I customized the invitations with my son's party info using my photo-editing program, printed them so they were front and back on a card, and they were ready to hand out!

Next I came up with a CRAFT to do at the party. In the movie, Marty McFly rides a skateboard (converted from a 1950's scooter) to escape the gang of bullies. So I thought a skateboard craft would be appropriate.

I bought these mini-skateboards from Dollar Tree. My son and I took the black sticker off the top of each of them. We used one sticker as a template and traced the shape on some white wrapping paper (also from Dollar Tree). 

I coated the white paper with spray adhesive on one side. (Be sure to use this stuff outside!)

Carefully place on bare skateboard.

Rub to smooth out any bubbles.

Voila! Cute ready-to-decorate skateboards!

This activity was a HIT at the party! The kids were occupied for a good 20 minutes (some longer!). Score!

Now on to Back to the Future PARTY GAMES.

Have you ever played "The Candy Bar Game?"  It was a family favorite growing up. We played an adapted version of the game for the party (using clothes like Marty McFly's).

For this game you'll need:

1 large blanket or sheet

1 dice

1 pair suspenders

1 jean jacket

1 red down vest

1 spoon

1 or more candy bars

To play:  Lay the blanket out flat. Have the kids sit in a circle around the edges of the blanket, facing each other. Place the candy bars in the middle of the blanket, along with the clothing and spoon.  Play begins with one child rolling the dice, then passing to the next player.  Each time a "1" is rolled, that player has a chance to dig into the candy bars. He/she must put on the clothing grab the spoon, then use only the hand holding the spoon to try to break open the candy bar and get pieces to put in their other hand to eat. While this is happening, the rest of the players get to continue rolling the dice, trying to get a "1."  Once another player rolls a "1," he/she gets to put on the clothes, take the spoon, and go at the candy. 

This game was also a big hit! I love it especially because everyone is a winner! It does make a mess, so be sure you don't care about the sheet/blanket you put down. We used a chocolate bar and a couple of packs of Starburst. The Starburst were great because they were so much less messy!

I went pretty light on the Decorations, Food, and Favors for the party. 

I bought a tri-fold display board from Dollar Tree and drew the Deloreon from the movie on it to be a back-drop for the table. 

I taped tissue paper to cardboard strips to make fire streaks coming off the edges of the picture to add some color and dimension to the table. My kids blew up balloons and stuck them around the room, and I hung a few paper lanterns. 

I printed out some movie-related posters I found on Pinterest and mounted or framed them to set around the room. 

"Lou, give me a milk--chocolate." 

I printed and framed a still-shot of this scene from the movie and set it alongside the chocolate milk we served. (My son was likely the only kid there who "got" this one, but it was HIS party, so it was worth the effort!)

 I am showing my very mortal cake-decorating skills here. The kids loved it, so it was all right with me!

And finally, the favor bag.  I almost didn't do one, but then I came across the little electric guitar necklaces at Dollar Tree and thought they went well with the theme. I added candy from the '80's (Pop-Rocks) and from the 50's (Mary Janes and Bit-O-Honeys), and decided that along with the skateboards, the guests would be going home with decent enough loot. 

Another great option for a favor would be these inflatable guitars;

 you get 24 of them, so they are a smokin' deal!

Participating in these link-ups.