A Pinterest Inspired Party For My Grandson
I have discovered the magic of Pinterest. If you have never heard of it please check it out. Some of the most creative ideas and DIY stuff imaginable is on this site. Information on anything from photography, art, travel and crafts can be found on Pinterest. On my own Pinterest Page I have boards that revolve around everything for parties. Birthday, Baby Shower, Holiday Party themes are found on my page along with Party Games, Recipes and Party DIY Decorations. ( http:// pinterest.com/snappyfacepaint/ ) I gathered pictures of 259 different themed parties (and counting) so you can get ideas to create your own themed party. It’s a lot of fun and I love that you can create a party inexpensively with inspiring and “do it yourself” ideas from Pinterest.
After seeing so many wonderful party ideas on Pinterest, I decided to throw a themed birthday party for my grandson Nathaniel. His birthday is around Halloween so he was going to have a costume party. My daughter and I decided on a “Cute Monster” themed party. Well, I was going to get ideas about birthday decorations, baking recipes and such from Pinterest. I love the fan shape backdrops I’ve been seeing on Pinterest lately, so I decided to make them for Nathaniel’s party. It is just made of construction paper folded and hot glued into circular shapes. I didn’t realize just how much folding was involved (it took about 8 hours to make them) but I was pleased with the results. The ghosts and felt black bat cut outs were purchased at a hobby store. Nathaniel loves building things so he put together the haunted house from a kit that was purchased as well. This turned out to be a nice centerpiece. The table cloth is plastic purchased at Target with a spider web runner.
For games we decided to make a gum ball filled vase in which the kids guessed how many there were. A miniature pumpkin tossing contest (similar to hot potato) and a costume contest.
We made Mummy Hot Dogs (recipe on Pinterest) and Monster Cookies on sticks (Pinterest) and bought some pizzas. The cupcakes were purchased from an amazing baking artistic talent here in Denver, Colorado. Astonishing Cakes not only makes the most adorable and beautiful cakes I have ever seen, but they are the most delicious as well. Renee from Astonishing Cakes can design anything for your party. I asked her to make cute, adorable monsters (vampire, frankenstein, mummy and a hairy monster) for cupcakes using the colors purple, green and white. She really met the challenge and the cupcakes were the hit of the party. My only regret is that my own Monster Cookies I baked looked terrible (and didn’t taste all that great) compared to the Monster Cupcakes from Astonishing Cakes. Some things are better left to the professionals. Next time Astonishing Cakes will do ALL the baking.
All in all, I had a lot of fun making decorations for Nathaniel’s birthday party. Now I’ll have to get more ideas from Pinterest for the next party, my other grandson Ethan’s birthday.
Face Painting Belen De Leon for 9news morning show
I had a very busy and creative year, but painting for Belen De Leon from 9news was an unexpected treat this year! Getting a call the night before, she told me she was interested in me painting during their shoot for the Rockies home opener. Wow!! Sure I'll do it, what time? I would have to be downtown at Coors Field at 5am in the morning. She would get back to me that night. She was putting together the production and would give it to her editor for approval (wow... a reporter's job evidently has long hours!).
After the initial shock wore off, I realized I forgot my grandson was going to spend the night that night and we would go skiing the next day. I'll just take him with and we will ski after. Belen called later that night with her editor's approval and the details. Once I get at the entrance of Coors Field at 5am I would have to call and they would meet me. Great! Wait!! What do I wear? I don't have any Rockies gear (I'm a Broncos fanatic). It was about 10pm so the stores were closed. Purple, I must have purple somewhere in my closet! Yes, I found one lone shirt that was purple (whew!).
Ethan was super excited at the idea of seeing TV in action and didn't mind getting up before the crack of dawn. We left early, but I got a little lost in the one-way streets (I hate driving downtown) and finally made it to a parking lot ($50 for parking!!!!!! Aaaaaghhh!! They really hike up the rates for a home opener!). We get the gear out and call Belen. Change of plans she said, we have to meet her at a restaurant a couple blocks away. They will be broadcasting from the roof top there. At first they had a different restaurant to broadcast from the rooftop patio in case they weren't able to broadcast in front of Coors Field. But the manager at that restaurant didn't show up to open early for them (what a lost opportunity for television exposure). Instead they came across another restaurant with a roof top bar who was opening for different broadcasting crew. That manager was gracious and allowed Belen and her crew to film there. Wow, what luck! Definitely have to go with the changes if you work on a news crew.
Belen was super sweet and explained that she would like to get painted for the shoot. So I painted a baseball with flowers (in the Rockies purple color). Ethan had a great time and was able to see 2 different news crews and how they put together a shoot for the morning news. What a great opportunity for him and me to see it in action! Thank you Belen and 9news for a wonderful experience!