This Lollipop Sweetness Birthday Party was originally hosted by Heidi from Blue Eyed Blessings.
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I’m so excited to feature this party because Heidi said she was inspired by parties from THIS BLOG for this party! HOORAY!!! It’s working!! YOU are all inspiring other people with YOUR parties. Keep it up and keep those submissions coming!
Heidi’s lollipop party is filled with several sweet ideas that don’t just satisfy the sweet tooth. I LOVE how she used paper plates as lollipop tops. Clever and inexpensive ideas are right up my alley. Heidi proves that with a little cellophane a dash of creativity and some sweet treats you can turn your next party into a lollipop lovers delight.
Have a look, leave a comment, and then hop on over to Blue Eyed Blessings to see what else she’s got going on!
Enjoy Heidi’s party…..
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For Works for me Wednesday, I want to share something that definitely works for me…themed parties! I love themes! Birthday parties, baby showers, you name it and most likely I’ll create a theme for it. I even enjoy giving themed presents for birthdays and baby gifts. It gives me a chance to get my creative juices flowing and I have so much fun in the process. One very important thing to know, however, is that I often put more TIME than money into creating themes. I like simple, but with some extra special touches. My sister would say I’m an overachiever! I just call it crazy.
TODAY is my daughter’s 3rd birthday and last Sunday we had family over for a fun celebration! So, what was the theme you might ask?
The invitation (pictured below) was shaped in the form of a lollipop. I also made a birthday collage of pictures of Mikayla from this past year and I sent one to each of the family members with their invitations. At the party, each of the cousins received their own lollipop with their initial on it.
At the end of the party, I took out the “lollipops” and had little baggies for the guests to put some of the candy in and take home with them. It was great to use this not only as decoration, but also for a little treat for the guests at the party!
At every birthday party, instead of cake, I make cupcakes (see here for more). This time I wanted to do something simple and bright, so I used lots of sprinkles and made some fun cake toppers with Mikayla’s initial on them. So easy, so cute!
I’ve seen this idea floating around in many different places, so I just had to try it! These are strawberry marshmallows dipped in chocolate and covered with sprinkles. I then put a lollipop stick in them…they were a hit with the kids!
You know you can’t get enough sweetness and I thought it might be fun to throw in some fruit roll ups just for fun and to add even more color to the table.
This idea was originally done by my friend Andrea when we co-hosted a baby shower together, and I just had to recreate it for Mikayla’s party. Of course the matching paper is on purpose!
The completed table. If you look closely I have candy necklaces hanging from the light fixture. The rest of that idea was to have pictures hanging from the necklaces, but I ran out of time! For lunch we had a sandwich bar, chips, veggies, and fruit salad.
Not surprisingly if you know me, there are still lots of pictures to share of the party, especially of opening presents, blowing out candles and such. But, I’ll save that for another post! On Friday, we’re having 3 of Mikayla’s girlfriends over for a tea party/dress up party, so I’ll be sharing some more fun pictures if you want to come back to see!
And…if you want to see some of my other “themed obsession”, check out the following:
Monkey Birthday Party
Flowers & Favorites Birthday Party
Pink & Green Icecream Sundae Baby Shower (aka Pickles & Icecream)
Themed Baby Shower Gifts
This is getting a bit more subjective, but I much prefer the Zune Marketplace. The interface is colorful, has more flair, and some cool features like ‘Mixview’ that let you quickly see related albums, songs, or other users related to what you’re listening to. Clicking on one of those will center on that item, and another set of “neighbors” will come into view, allowing you to navigate around exploring by similar artists, songs, or users. Speaking of users, the Zune “Social” is also great fun, letting you find others with shared tastes and becoming friends with them. You then can listen to a playlist created based on an amalgamation of what all your friends are listening to, which is also enjoyable. Those concerned with privacy will be relieved to know you can prevent the public from seeing your personal listening habits if you so choose.
Sorry for the huge review, but I’m really loving the new Zune, and hope this, as well as the excellent reviews some other people have written, will help you decide if it’s the right choice for you.
The Zune concentrates on being a Portable Media Player. Not a web browser. Not a game machine. Maybe in the future it’ll do even better in those areas, but for now it’s a fantastic way to organize and listen to your music and videos, and is without peer in that regard. The iPod’s strengths are its web browsing and apps. If those sound more compelling, perhaps it is your best choice.
Sorry for the huge review, but I’m really loving the new Zune, and hope this, as well as the excellent reviews some other people have written, will help you decide if it’s the right choice for you.
The new Zune browser is surprisingly good, but not as good as the iPod’s. It works well, but isn’t as fast as Safari, and has a clunkier interface. If you occasionally plan on using the web browser that’s not an issue, but if you’re planning to browse the web alot from your PMP then the iPod’s larger screen and better browser may be important.
Apple now has Rhapsody as an app, which is a great start, but it is currently hampered by the inability to store locally on your iPod, and has a dismal 64kbps bit rate. If this changes, then it will somewhat negate this advantage for the Zune, but the 10 songs per month will still be a big plus in Zune Pass’ favor.