Trivia Night

Who doesn't love a great trivia night???  Okay...maybe I'm not the biggest fan of trivia in general...but I do love the social scene and the great snacks!  {Once in a while, I know a little something that I can contribute to the game...it happens!}

This particular project was actually for my husband.  He is the music minister at our church and organized this trivia night for our choir members and their spouses!  Very fun!

These treat boxes held popcorn and doubled as table numbers for the teams!  Our friends make the best {seriously it's movie-theater amazing} popcorn ever!!!  They were gracious enough to fix plenty...some for each table....yum!

Trivia-goers brought snacks to share!  Check out this terrific table full of appetizers...We had everything from spinach and artichoke dip to home-made fudge!  These people know how to party!

The prize table had mason jars {find them at Walmart} tagged with the names of each prize!  Guests got to put their names in their prizes of choice to be drawn at the end of each round!

Shout out to my husband...(does he actually read this blog regularly...hmmm???)...anyway Hubby, I would love to own a copy of the book Crazy Love myself!  Just throwing that out there since my birthday is next month, you know! 

Our church has a soda fountain these days!  {It's the new beloved summer addition to our church family!}  I am going to be honest.  The next picture is really only posted because the brigthly colored lids on the soda pitchers makes me smile!

The trivia night was a blast because we have the best church family!  Truly, they are wonderful people...and it turns out, they really know some trivial things!  Impressive! Who knew??? 

Thank you to our friends who came early to pop the very delish popcorn!  Thank you to the

trivia-goers who brought those fabulous appetizers!  Your culinary skills amaze me!!  ...and a very special thank you to the nursery workers who watched many little ones for the party!  We love you all!

"2 Infinity and Beyond" Second Birthday Party

Gavin's second birthday theme was an obvious choice for me. 

Although I thought about several other themes...I kept coming back to Buzz.  

Gavin loves Buzz Lightyear! 

 (He's only seen the first movie and has watched the same scenes again and again but

I don't think he's caught on!)  I decided to call this party, "2 Infinity and Beyond!"

 in honor of his second birthday.  I made this banner to hang beside the food table.

I made another banner to hang above the gift table...

The favor table included Alien birthday hats, Toy Story Blow-outs,

"Make Your Own Mr. Potato Head" Stickers,

and Buzz Lightyear flyers (a favorite of the older boys at the party.) 

Gavin was a fan of the big Buzz Lightyear balloons!



I ordered Gavin's shirt from a shop called Made Cute Just 4U through etsy.  She did a really nice job!  The shirt was customized exactly the way I wanted it and the quality was excellent!



When asked what Buzz says, Gavin always answers, "ZOOM!" 
 The party tables alternated between royal blue "Buzz"tables
 and lime green "Zoom" tables...

Shout out to my friend, Stephanie for assembling every rocket ship at the party...I owe you!

The theme for the food was, "Andy's Pizza Planet!"
 {Remember 'The Pizza Planet' from the movie???}

The menu consisted of: "Andy's Pizza Planet," "Mr. Potato Head Chips,"
"Woody's Canteloupe Stars," and "Buzz's Moon Pies."



We played the Toy Story Movie (original movie) as guests arrived and ate at the beginning of the party.  The toddler guests were excited to watch such a big version of the movie!

I asked several dads, in advance, to participate in the first game. 

The dads raced to put Mr. Potato Head together while wearing blindfolds.  HILARIOUS!!! 

The next two games were toddler-friendly.  We played, "Don't Let the Aliens (balloons) Touch the Ground," and "Return the Lost Army Men to Andy's Room."  The preschoolers were so funny to watch hitting the balloons around.  They had a blast!  Gavin's cousin (also a two-year-old) won the second game with a total of 23 army guys collected!  She took the game very seriously and won a Toy Story coloring book!

The Toy Story Coloring Table was a popular place to be!  We stuck jumbo-size coloring sheets to the table with double-sided tape and layed out crayons. 



Gavin is very blessed to have such good buddies...



...and we are very blessed to be Gavin's parents! 

Happy Birthday, my sweet Buzz Lightyear!

We love you to infinity and beyond!!!

"Old MacDonald Had a Farm" First Birthday Party



When Gavin celebrated his first birthday, last May, he absolutely loved farm animals!

His very favorite song was "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," 
and he loved books about the farm!

This barnyard bash was a perfect way to honor his first year.  I loved the party favors!  Each child went home with a copy of Down by the Cool of the Pool, a rhyming story about barnyard friends. I found these great animal hats (cows, ducks, horses, and pigs) on the Oriental Trading Company website!  The cow and pig suckers (shown here in the glass jars full of jellybeans) were from Oriental Trading Co. as well!  The farm party guests also took home animal stickers.  Gavin's friends were so sweet in their farm animal hats!

I made a birthday banner that read "Happy 1st Birthday, Gavin!" out of bandana-themed scrapbooking paper from the Martha Stewart scrapbooking line.  I used the same paper to continue the brightly-colored bandana theme to bring a barnyard feel
to the whole party and to tie the theme together!

I was super stoked to find the cow print balloons on the celebration express website!  I used them at each table with red #1 balloons.  Each table was designed to represent a different farm animal.  The color, stuffed animal, and books at each table were specific to that animal.  We gave the farm books to Gavin as birthday gifts from mommy and daddy.  (I suppose that's the elementary school teacher in me shining through!)  I used the same bandana paper to cut out the animal's sound and attached it to the table using double-sided tape.   I had so much fun putting these tables together!  These are a couple of the tables.



The Old MacDonald's Farm menu included:  "Moo Treats and Quackers" (Cheese and Crackers), "Little Piggies" (Pigs in a Blanket), "Gavin's Veggie Garden" (A vegetable tray arranged in garden-like rows), "Chicken Feed" (Chex Mix), Watermelon,

and "Hay" (Pretzel Sticks.)

My favorite menu item was the "Corn on the Cob" (cupcakes!)  I found this great recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks, "Hello Cupcake!"  It was fairly simple.  I just lined up three yellow (cake-mix) cupcakes in a row and put them in yellow cupcake liners.  I added a corn on the cob skewer on the ends of each set of three cupcakes to create the illusion of corn.  The icing was vanilla with yellow food coloring.  I added yellow, cream, and white jellybeans to the tops and used green sprinkles to look like seasoning.  Love it!

Our party activities consisted of a farm animal bean bag toss that I found on Oriental Trading Company and a "decorate your own sugar cookie" table.

I used tractor, rooster, cow, pig, duck, horse, and chick cookie cutters to bake these sugar cookies.  I added a variety of sprinkles (including cow and pig shaped sprinkles) and several colors of icing to the table.  The kids...and a few of the adults...enjoyed decorating their own farm cookies.  Several kids came back again and again!  It was a hit!

...and it wouldn't be a first birthday without a smash cake!

This "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" Party was perfect for our sweet Gavin!