TurtlePalooza!

My son in his cute turtle shirt from Macys.com.

Turtle cake from my local shop, Creative Memories.

The candy table. See the brown bags on the right, stamped with a turtle stamp and a red ribbon tied to add a punch of color, used as take home candy bags! (Get a better view of the bags under my previous TOTALLY TURTLE post).

Zebra cake from my local Albertson's bakery.

Notice the wooden turtles along the bottom of the table. Purchased from the Dollar Tree ($1.00 each!) and hand-painted by my daughters and I.

Favors for the babies who attended the party (again from my local Dollar Tree). I just added some shredded paper for color and tied in clear bags.

Handmade turtle card from the dollar bin at Target. An old giraffe frame I've had, added an "M" sticker and a red ribbon.

Notice the tiny turtle cupcake toppers from The Birthday House at Etsy.com!

The favors table, and photographs of my son in and on turtle gear!

The favor bags for the older children. I wanted to use clear bags to show the awesome turtle items that I purchased from TurtleMax.com! The kids couldn't wait to get their own bag!

Water bottle labels I made. I simply stamped a turtle onto some blue paper, slipped the paper into some page protectors, cut and taped into place.

Personalized birthday banner from BirthdayinaBox.com!

Totally Turtle!

ETSY to the Rescue!

If you love purchasing unique, handmade products with a personal touch and friendly one on one service, you will FALL IN LOVE with ETSY.com!! Here are a few of the products I purchased for my son's birthday party...ENJOY!

Set of 12 personalized cupcake wrappers by OnCupcakeMoon (click name)!

Handmade Turtle birthday card by Scrappin Ashley (click name)!

More ETSY to Love!

Turtle Birthday cake topper by PassionArte (click name)!

Turtle cake topper by CRLCreations (click name)!

Mini Polymer Clay Turtle Birthday Figurine by Buttonwilloe (click name)!

it's ETSY, baby!!

Baby Turtle Sticker Labels (I used these to stick on these perfectly sized magnets that I found around the house, see my PREVIEW post for the pics) by Ladybug Labels (click on the name)!

Personalized turtle stickers (I used these as labels for the candy jars)from My Duck Duck Goose (click on the name)!

Tiny turtle cupcake toppers (I used these on the red, blue, and yellow cupcakes that lined the candy table), by THE BIRTHDAY HOUSE (click on the name to go to the link).

Chocolate Covered Cookies 'n Cream Cheese Recipe

Here's the recipe I followed for the Chocolate Cookie Cream Cheese Balls, click HERE. I used Dollar Tree cookies so my measurements were a bit off since they came in 13 oz. packages instead of the 8 oz. Oreo packages. This must have been the reason I had to keep adding cream cheese to make the cookie crumbs stick together. Also, I couldn't get the cream cheese to mix well with the cookies in the first place, so I just used my hands (cleaned and GERM-Xed, of course!!) instead of the hand mixer. Not sure how other people do it. Still, they turned out YUMMY Yum Yum. I'm sure I'll make them again, this time with a bit more time on my hands! In this picture here, you can see that I dumped a small bag of Cherry Sour Candy to add some color (and also because it was the only place I could find to put the candy since I was running around like a madwoman that day ;-)

Oh, how it irks me that the tag on the tray is visible! Meant to remove it of course...

I also whipped up a pasta dish made with "turtle shells," mixed with a bit of white Alfredo sauce and seasoned tomatoes.


And although there is no picture available, I also made "cotton candy cones," which were simply cotton candy stuffed inside both waffle and cake cones. It was like sweet ice cream without the mess!

And we also had chocolate TURTLES, a wrapped piece of chocolate with nuts and caramel. Yummy.

Turtle Madness!

My son's turtle party has come and gone! Wow, I got so many sweet and positive comments on the party's decor! They warmed my heart and made me feel like, hey, I accomplished something!



However, please allow me to vent some of my frustrations with the event, since my vision for the party was not fully realized. The combo of 3 kids age 5 and under who go to bed way too late, lack of time and energy, and the fact that the party was at a venue other than home which only allowed a prep time of 1 hour, made me just have to throw it all together. I had planned to pack all the stuff in an organized manner to have the tables set just right. But no, I just threw it all in the cars.

Plus this was the first time I actually prepared some food for a party. I made 24 cupcakes, some cookies, a (turtle) shell pasta with white sauce and seasoned tomatoes, and chocolate covered cookies and cream cheese balls! It took a lot more time than I knew it would especially considering I had 3 little kids underfoot!



And there was lots of stuff I left at home on purpose, realizing at the last minute it was all too much, too heavy for my family to have to carry in such as 4 heavy white platters, 2 cake stands, the turtle children's books, and a few other things. I also forgot to use the adorable turtle cupcake wrappers that I bought from Etsy! I could put one in his scrapbook, maybe another in a frame, but what about the other 10? Too bad I had "Happy 1st Birthday," instead of just "Happy Birthday," in which case they could be used again. Maybe I could use them as part of the Thank You cards? We'll see.



And then there were the 6 table clothes I bought which were too small (I had planned to open the packages beforehand, but didn't) so my husband went to 2 different stores to find the right ones. And then there was the table skirt that went unused, and the 3 flag banners I made, and the several food labels that I had no time to place! And then the lady who monitors the hall told us we could not put up any of our balloons if we wanted the ceiling fans on which we did since it is summer! That's a new rule since I've used that hall several times before and we were able to use our balloons!

Despite all my complaints, I know it was still a success thankfully! One of my favorite parts of the day was visiting with a couple of my long-time friends after many years! A wealth of friendship given to us and love in every curled ribbon given right back!



P.S. Instead of the sea-turtle printed shirt I bought from Gymboree, my son wore this oh so adorable shirt from Macy's, click here. I think I bought at least four different turtle outfits before I found this perfect one! And what a deal for just $7.00 plus tax and shipping. Love it!

More pictures coming soon...

Preview

The invitations, Thank You favor cards with lollipops attached inside, and decor for the "pastel table" (the main colors are primary red, yellow, and blue).

Turtle Tops

Thanks to a tip from a friend, I shopped gymboree.com today and found great deals on these shirts for the turtle-theme party! I got 2 of the girl design, and 1 of the boy design for only $25.00! Best part is, the boy's shirts matches the turtle shoes I already have for my son. Ahh. Love a good deal, don't you?




I can't wait to see how all my random turtle madness shopping comes together!

Turtle Time continued!

Here's a preview of the oh so cute turtle-themed birthday party I plan to have for my son's 1st.











Most of the favor bag items are from turtlemax.com. The patterned plates are from Target. The turtle/croc cups and turtle/giraffe plates are from birthdayinabox.com. Several items are from amazon.com and others are from various "Dollar stores," and Ross Department store. Oh, and how could I almost forget my most favorite e-shop, Etsy.com ! (more preview items coming soon...)

Turtle Time!

Here's a preview of the oh so cute turtle-themed birthday party I plan to have for my son's 1st.