FairlyOdd Parents Party Thank You Cards

Instead of using a lot of references to the FairlyOdd Parents on the thank you cards, I opted to personalize them with photos instead. I used publishing software to do the design in postcard format. For each note, I chose a picture taken at one of the two parties the guest had attended. There were a few thank you cards needed for people who weren't at either party, but had given gifts. For those, I chose one good picture of both of the birthday girls and arranged them on the front of the postcard. A simple 'thank you' was also printed on the front of the cards. They were four per page, and I printed them on card stock. After trimming them, I wrote the thank you messages on the backs, and had my oldest sign both of the girls' names. I used Fairy stickers to embellish the front with the pictures, so that the effect was fairies and butterflies flying amid the party pictures. Sometimes simple does just fine!

Shindiglet: The Before-the-Party Party

Shindiglet - Like a grand shindig, only a much smaller to-do. There are times, when even a small group of people getting together creates an occasion for celebrating with a theme. And if it is within my power, I always try to make that happen.

A before-the-party party, for me, is such an occasion.

I planned to make a lunch for the family members coming to the FairlyOdd Parents Bowling Party. During the lunch, we could open gifts from them instead of toting more stuff to the bowling alley. What started off as a light lunch, soon became a shindiglet!

Inspired by the Magical Tablescape post over at Party Planning Mom, I envisioned a fairy theme spin-off of the FairlyOdd Parents theme we'd be ensconced in later. My girls were turning seven and three, and pink and green fairies (nod to Wanda and Cosmo's colors) seemed to be the perfect focal point.

Since this was to be a smaller affair, with the main party following it, I wanted only to provide a few key decorative accents. We have a green woodland fairy that sits in our kitchen, so I snagged her to reign supreme as the table centerpiece. Some silk floral stems softened her up a bit. I found a few ceramic fairies at the Dollar Tree that surrounded the woodland fairy tucked in between the flowers and leaves. The green forest bed (a square of green felt) looked very pleasant atop a pink table covering. This picture was taken a few days before the party, as I was planning it all out.

Two shades of green crepe paper were draped from the chandelier to the corners of the room to give the effect of a luncheon under the shade of a big tree.

The table setting was very simple. Every enchanted forest has flowers, so we had a floral napkin with pink utensils. We used a floral napkin spread open as the placemat, a pink plate with a white doily on it, and had a tiny pink cup filled with pop rocks which, when later added to the pink lemonade, became fairy punch (although my girls couldn't wait, and drank the pop rocks straight up!). This great drink idea came from the Magic Tablescape post previously mentioned, as did the idea of putting cotton candy into the drink cups to munch on before the lunch was served. The girls loved it!

For lunch, I served cold cut sandwiches, cheese & crackers, fruit salad, deviled eggs, pretzels, and for dessert, birthday cake, of course!

We lit seven candles for the oldest child and sang Happy Birthday to her, then repeated the process with three candles for the youngest. We ended up not having enough time to open presents before the bowling party, so we waited until afterwards. What a great day spent with family & friends!

FairlyOdd Parents Bowling Party Summary

After a few weeks of the everyday chaos of life, I'm finally settling in to wrap up the details from my daughters' FairlyOdd Parents Bowling Birthday Party that took place in early April. It was a day of Fairly Odd fun!

Let me begin with the cake... er, non-cake, as it ended up. Since we had to be portable, given that the party wasn't being held at our house, we opted for cupcakes. I had originally envisioned a fishbowl cake similar to this photo that I found online.

Tailored to the FairlyOdd Parents fishbowl, this would have been perfect. The car ride over to the bowling party worried me, though. So I scaled things waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back and made these very simple cupcakes. They made it to the bowling alley without any issues, and were gobbled up with no muss or fuss.

As for the venue itself, we couldn't have asked for a better site. We had plenty of room to set up the goody bags and the cupcakes, as well as room for the presents that the guests brought. The kids and adults could share the same lanes, with programmable "bumpers" to appear when it was a child's turn bowl. The bumpers block the gutters so there are no gutter balls. The cost included pizza, chips, a soda, and an ice cream cup for each guest. They also provided all of the plates, napkins, etc. It was a great deal!

There was plenty of time allotted for bowling. In addition to the bumpers, there were also light-weight bowling balls to make it more appropriate for children. Most of the kids still had trouble maneuvering the ball. To aid this situation, there were these wheeled devices that allowed them to push the ball instead.

My girls had a great time, I enjoyed myself, and the rest of the adults were still smiling when it was all over. If you're considering a bowling party for your child, I highly recommend it. We're not regular bowlers at all, so don't let that stop you, because the kids always love it!

Wordless Wednesday: Let the Good Times Roll!

See more Wordless Wednesday shots here and here.

Fairly OddParents Birthday Party Goody Bags

It took me most of the day to get it done, but my Tackle for this Tuesday was to create and print all of the necessary tidbits pertaining to the goody bags for the girls' quickly approaching birthday party. I used a Publishing software on the computer and printed some things onto card stock and the rest onto regular white paper. Here is what all of the supplies looked like after printing, but before sorting, cutting, and attaching.

I used my paper trimmer to cut everything apart so that all of the edges would be clean. Here is the finished product with the contents laid out for picture purposes.

I picked up pink and green gift bags from AC Moore, on sale this week 3/$1. Score! Each bag is labeled with each guest's name alongside the gender-appropriate fairy. The green card stock is the TV show's theme song lyrics (those really get stuck in your head!). The big page is a foldable fortune teller with a Fairly OddParents theme. Do you remember those things from elementary school? You fold them up in just the right way and you can use your hands to open and close it, at last revealing the answer to whatever question you asked it in the beginning. Sort of a poor man's magic 8 ball. There is an Air Heads candy which has a picture of Cosmo and Wanda on it. This was my soon to be 7 year old's idea, as the Fairies float in the 'air'. The packet of pixy stix has a picture of two pixies from the show on it. I bundled several green and pink straws together with a fairy wand and tied them with green fiber. I wasn't sure what I was going to do when I bought the straws, but it turned out cute, I think. I found one store in all of my shopping that had Fairly OddParents stickers, and I bought the only three packets they had!

Because Cosmo and Wanda regularly take the form of goldfish in Timmy's room, we had to have Goldfish crackers. A picture of the Fairy goldfish was attached to help make the mental connection.

Similarly, a picture of Chip Skylark (singer character from the show, famous for singing the song "Icky Vicky") was attached to the packet of mini Chips Ahoy cookies. The Fun Dips were tossed into the mix, not for any Fairly OddParents significance, but just because my birthday girls really wanted them included. :) Oh, and there is a coloring sheet that will also be included in the Goody Bags, but they're off being photocopied at the moment.

On the back of the bag, I listed 10 Fairly OddParents trivia questions. The answers were attached to the bottom of the bag. Since this party will be at the bowling alley, I didn't need to plan any games, but I thought a little trivia was a fun idea.

I had lots of fun planning this party so far. Now all that is left is making the cake!

Check out more Tackles here!

Let the Fairly Odd Times Roll...

My two little girls have birthdays coming up very soon. I have been getting the party plans together, but still haven't sent out the invitations. Yikes! 

In all fairness, I ended up with less time than I originally thought I would have to plan the party. My girls' birthdays are the 8th and the 10th of April, which falls during Holy Week this year. In my mind, I had the party date set for the weekend after Easter. Family members, it turns out, have plans that weekend, and wouldn't be able to come. So... I chopped off two weeks of the planning cushion and set the date for the weekend before Easter. Talk about scramble time!

A bowling party was requested, as was the theme "Fairly Odd Parents," which is a cartoon on Nickelodeon. I got to work right away, and reserved the date at the bowling alley. Check. I sent out a "save the date" email to the invitees to buy a little more time to get the invitations together. Check. Then I scoured the web looking for ideas to pull the theme together, cutting and pasting the thoughts into a document. Check.

Armed with ideas, I found myself ready for my Tackle it Tuesday: create and send the party invitations.

Mimicking the Fairy Godparents rule book "Da Rules," I fashioned the invitation to be "Da Rules" for having a good time at the birthday party, with the party information details being the rules. A little Fairly Odd Parents clip art was added to help explain the theme. Check.

Okay, so I was well on my way to getting these things on their merry little way to the party invitees. Shucks! I didn't have envelopes to fit those bad boys! After checking prices online at the office supply stores for envelopes fitting the measurements of the invitations (which came 100 per box), I decided to attempt making my own. Wrapping heavier grade paper around an invitation, I created the pattern and made the few that I needed. Check. (Afterwards, I found a lot of internet sites providing printable templates and more ideas to create your own envelopes.)

The next task that needed to be completed was sealing the envelopes. A little scrapbooking adhesive tape closed the envelope, but it needed some flair. Hmmmm. I didn't have any Fairly Odd Parents stickers, so instead, I found shiny gold stars to use. I added a straight black line, and voila! A fairy godparent wand! Check.

The last thing to do is get these to the post office. So, I'm off to do that now. Since the envelopes are homemade (nonstandard), I want to make sure I have adequate postage on them. After all that work, I want to be sure the invitations actually make it to their intended destinations!

Be sure to check out 5 minutes for mom for more tackles!