Inspiring Ideas: Charley Harper Matching Game

Today I saw this Charley Harper Matching Game at the SF Moma Store. There are many other wonderful Charley Harper items for children including ABC and 123 board books that would make wonderful gifts or favors. It got me thinking that it would be mighty fun and certainly hip to have a Charley Harper-themed party for kids.

The tricky part would be the invitations because the Charley Harper Art Studio doesn't appear to make licensed invitations. They do offer blank notecards in sets of four or individually for only $2 each and I think it would be easy to deconstruct them into an invite.

© 1983 Estate of Charley Harper

I particularly like his Lucky Ladybug for this purpose. I would use a paper trimmer and make the card into a postcard and either rubber stamp invitation information on the back or adhere it to a larger piece of cardstock and print the invitation information around the image somehow.

In any case, although I am new to Charley Harper and his gorgeous art in this past year (thanks to Ward), I am fast becoming a huge fan. His style and whimsy are a perfect fit for a Wee Festivity party.

Party Favors: Custom Candy Bar Wrappers

Pardon the screeching halt over here, I bailed on NaBloPoMo to participate in a holiday boutique last weekend and lost all momentum. Yikes.

But Jessica over at How About Orange inspired me to hit the keyboard again so I can share her awesome find with you guys.

© Rachael Ray

Cute, custom candy bar wrappers that you can print at home?
It's a wee-tail all the way!

Party Food: Rachael Ray's Mega Milkshake

© Jonny Valiant

Ran across this Rachael Ray recipe today and I will definitely be trying it out at one of our family's next festivities. The Noodle would have to make a hard choice between a chocolate or strawberry Mega Milkshake. And Mister Blue Eyes and I would share a chocolate & peanut butter one, no thought required there.

A Wee PSA

Oooh Wee Festivity is kind of giddy over our new little featurette over there to your right...Goody Goody Gumdrops. Whenever I have a free minute to eat eye candy, I head straight to Etsy. Now I can share some of my finds here with you!

Yum, Yum.

Gift Idea: Birthday Royalty

© Cakies

© Dream Child Studio

{the photos are direct links to the Etsy listings for these items}

Wee Festivity recommends investing in a crown or two for the entire family to wear on their birthday. Although I am featuring children's crowns, knowing most Etsy sellers, it would probably be possible to custom order one with enough elastic to fit an adult also. After all, you're never too old to feel like royalty on your birthday.

In fact, I'm guessing adults need to be reminded even more than children how special THEIR birthday is too!

Inspiring Ideas: Kid Dingbats

Granted, I am way biased in my love affair for all things typographic. However, I bet these cuties will inspire everyone, not just font-happy folks like me.

© Efon by Nan Sakurai

For more kid-flavored dingbats from dafont, click click here.

Flickr Fun: Le Cupcake

I don't know about you but I needed a little eye candy today. Flickr to the rescue! Check out Kylie Lambert's (Le Cupcake) Explore set with me.

© Le Cupcake

You can also just click on the cow.
Moo! Are you inspired now?

Party Planning: A Crafty Idea

Wondertime Magazine featured the most darling item that I had to post about: the Leaf Press by Selecta. Although their linked store doesn't appear to carry the item anymore, Wee Festivity found it at Blueberry Forest Toys.

© Selecta/Blueberry Forest Toys

At a fall party, take the kids on a nature walk (even just up and down the street) to collect fall leaves. Once back at the party, each child can take a turn pressing their leaves and then gluing them to a blank card that you provide. Or glue them all on a posterboard and have each guest sign their name and it can be a birthday poster for the guest of honor.

I'm sure you can come up with a million other creative ways to use this product, please leave a comment and share!

Gift Idea: Betty Bunny Amigurumi

© trinlayk

Wee Festivity has not really gotten into talking much about gift ideas yet but Betty Bunny Amigurumi here reminded us that while our kids will naturally gravitate to the mass market stuff out there, they can be influenced in other ways. What little girl or boy wouldn't love to carry Betty Bunny everywhere they go? We think this is a perfect gift for any age and not a budget buster at $14. Etsy seller trinlayk tells us that Betty Bunny likes to bake cookies and cakes and have tea parties.

Wee-Tails: Ice Cream Cone Candles

© CraftedCandles.com

What kid would not go beserk over these ice cream cone candles on their birthday? I think I am even going beserk and my birthday is 10 months away. These candles are simply adorable and a wee-tail if we've ever seen one.

A Wee PSA

We are excited to tell you that we are going to begin ramping up our Flickr group!

We plan to collect a visual feast of party goodness to inspire you whenever you want or need it.

Inspiring Ideas: Wooden Spinning Tops

© Sleeping Forest

We think these hand-colored, wooden spinning tops from Etsy seller Sleeping Forest would make an excellent party activity for toddlers or party favors for any age. You get a set of three tops for $18 and as the seller notes, "Put these in a bowl on the table, and we guarantee hours of fun."

Beautiful!

A-Z Guide: Western Party Games

We'll wrap up our first A-Z Guide with a few fun party games that fit in perfectly at a Western party.

© Land of Nod

1. Classic Pin the Tail on the Donkey

Land of Nod has this vintage game. Their version has reusable sticker tails so the birthday child can play after the party guests have all gone home.

2. Lasso Practice

Family Fun's guide to a Western party has this fun game idea in which you take a hula hoop, a wooden rocking horse and a kid and have some good old fashioned lasso practice. Wee Festivity might even decorate the hula hoop with red handkerchiefs cut into strips and hot glued around and around to make it more festive. Last time we checked, hula hoops came in bright, fluorescent colors that don't really match and it's all about the wee-tails you know.

If you have the energy for a third game, we suggest this additional idea from the same Family Fun guide: Sidewinder Jump in which...

"...guests have to avoid the "bite" of a deadly rattler. Make your snake out of an 8-foot length of rope. At one end, glue a piece of thick cardboard cut and painted to resemble a rattlesnake's diamond-patterned head. On the other end, create a rattle by filling a few film canisters with a teaspoon of dried beans or rice. Punch a hole in the top of each canister and poke a pipe cleaner through, balling up the end beneath the cap to keep it from slipping out. Glue or tape the canister shut. To play, have adults or kids hold each end of the rattlesnake rope and whisk it back and forth along the ground. Children try to jump over the wriggling snake without touching it. For older kids, try raising the rope a few inches off the ground."

We've enjoyed planning a Western party with you this week.

Y'all come back now, ya hear?

A-Z Guide: Western Party Favors

At the Noodle's party, a western hats & badge was given to each guest as they arrived and the items doubled as their party favors. One of many advantages of a small guest list is the affordability of higher quality favors, like a hat for each guest.

Hats from Birthday in a Box's Cowboy theme.

A bag of badges was found at Diddams.

A-Z Guide: Western Party Food

For the food at a western party, the possibilities are endless. What comes to mind most obviously if you need to serve a meal would be chili, or hot dogs & beans.

We timed our party such that we only needed snacks for folks. As such, we went with the Noodle's favorites which was strawberries and more strawberries. He is a bit fond of the strawberry. Okay we also threw out a bowl of chips or two.

A sign above the snack-laden table in our kitchen.
Found at Diddams

Baking is not how I like to spend my creative energy. So I opted for a local bakery's chocolate sheetcake that they wrote on for me. However, I giddily embellished the generic cake with more strawberries and a toy cowboy. You can find the details on this idea in a prior Wee Festivity post.

The most fun part was serving the cake and ice cream. I picked up some Handi-Foil pie plates at the grocery store and used those instead of standard party plates. They were one of the biggest hits at the party and the kids were adorable eating from them.

A-Z Guide: Western Party Decorations

Decorating for the Noodle's western party was so much fun!

A giant paper star from Diddams marked the house for guests.

A steer (also from Diddams) greeted folks at the front door.

Cow & horse balloons carried the theme outdoors.
(from Birthday in a Box's Cowboy theme)

Appropriate table linens were rented,
along with the child-sized round table and chairs.

Dad and the grandparents built a Western Town from refrigerator boxes acquired by mom at a random appliance store. My only regret was I didn't discover Mr. McGroovy until the night before our party. Drat!

The crowning authentic touch was a RENTED bale of hay from a local feed supply store. Because who wants to buy hay just for a party? Learn from us though: don't forget to bring gloves and two people to pick up and return the hay.

Tomorrow we will share food ideas for a western party.

A-Z Guide: Western Party Invitations

Wee Festivity is proud to introduce our A-Z Guides, in which we'll outline an entire party from invites to decorations, food, favors and games.

Our first Guide is for hosting a Western-themed party.

Here are two invites to get started, these are actual invites created by Rosina Red Designs (RRD is the main creative outlet for the founder of this blog). One invite was for her Noodle's fifth birthday and the other was designed for her friend's daughter.*

The Noodle's invitation

Bella's invitation

As you can see, RRD used two completely different color schemes, but both clearly set the mood for an authentic Western party. No detail was overlooked, including coordinating the envelopes with coordinating liners (Bella) or artwork (the Noodle).

Tomorrow we will share photos of decorating ideas.

*Note: Since these invites were for real children, we have blurred out identifying information on the invitation.

Party Planning: Treasure Strings Game

Let's wrap up the week with another tip from the wonderful Birthday Cake book: a variation on a treasure hunt for younger children.

Treasure Strings involves a different color ball of yarn for each little one at your party. Write each child's name on a tag and tie it to one end of the ball of yarn. Now comes the fun part: winding the yarn all through your chosen area (house, yard) being careful to go over and under things and crossing the yarns. Cut the yarn and tie a small treasure to the end of it, then hide the gift under something. During the game, the children follow the trail of their assigned color and are rewarded with the little treasure. Maybe the first person to find their treasure also wins a prize!

How much fun is this? We think this would be great for the preschool & kindergarten set. It would even be a great activity for a playdate on a rainy day.

Inspiring Ideas: Sno-Cone Machine

© A-1 Party Rental

Did you know you can rent Sno-Cone Machines? No need to save this inspiring idea for next summer, Wee Festivity suggests planning a winter party just because you can. The kids will love it, undoubtedly. But we have a hunch the grown-ups will be lining up as well.

Another Wee PSA

Wee Festivity is very excited to participate in tiny*prints affiliate program.

Their products blew us away more than a year and a half ago (at least) so it is with pure glee that I have their banner shining in my blog.