I was teamed up with Mariah of Giggles Galore, Mayra of In Flight, and Aimee of Project Aimee. We dubbed ourselves the “Barnyard Babes” and quickly got to work. Ideas were flying like chickens fleeing the coop! I have to say, these girls have some serious talent!

Planning an event with 4 party planners from all across the country is definitely a challenge. Mariah took all of our ideas and pulled them together to create, what I believe to be, a fun and creative party! {Under budget, baby!}

My small role in this shindig included providing the food and snacks that could be shipped and handling the details for the Barnyard Buddies printable collection. We chose to use a custom 8″ x 10″ Menu, 8″ x 10″ Party Sign, Favor Tags, Party Cards, Banner and Lil’ Party Tags.

Here is a simple, yet adorable, way to display a Welcome Sign (or Menu). And…are you ready for this…it costs only $4! Yep, we party on a serious budget!

You will need:

• 1 – 8″ x 10″ Frame (from any dollar store)
• 1 Can of red spray paint
• Enough chicken wire to fit the 8×10 frame
• Cutting Sheers
• Tacks (to secure the wire)
• Miniature Clothespins

Start by removing the glass and backing from the picture frame. Then spray paint your frame.

 While the frame dries, cut the chicken wire to fit your frame.

Secure the chicken wire to the back of the frame using tacks (2-3 per side). Secure the sign with a miniature clothespin and…WAH-LAH! AdorableNESS!

I want to send Thank Moos and Love to the Barnyard Babes! They were an amazing group to work with! I’m very proud of how all of our crazy ideas came together! xoxo

Final product photo by Elayne Dunn Photography

• • • • •

Thanks, Cineca for such a simple and fun tutorial. I love the rustic charm with a pop of color. Speakin’ of PoPs…I thought I’d PoP a lil’ surprise giveaway onto today’s post!

We’re so excited to partner up with…

…for today’s giveaway! Sweet Mady {paper + gifts} is giving away one of their adorable lunchboxes to one of our lucky FaNs!

Lunchbox Details: These lunchboxes are stylish, easy to clean and help to prevent waste, not create it. They come in 5 colors kids will love. Parents will love that they are BPA Free, Phthalate Free and Lead Free. Lunchboxes are dishwasher safe too! The removable faceplates are water proof, tear proof and are easy to wipe clean. Plus, you can get new faceplates at any time! The kids will love collecting them. Click here to see all of the fun styles they offer! {Retail Value: $34.00}

Here’s how to enter…

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We’d love to have y’all stop back this weekend for more fun how-tos from the Crew! Happy Friday!

Jenny of Crossing the Bugger-Dixon Line is sharin’ one of her projects from the Sassy Spring Chickens’ “Old Mac’s Farm Band” playdate. Click here to see the fabulous party! Take it away, Jenny…

• • • • •

Throwing a barn bash? Animal masks are a great way to provide fun, interactive activities for the kids!

Materials  Needed:

• Barnyard Buddies Animal Faces Printable
• Bright white cardstock
• Paint sticks or Popsicle sticks
• Tape
• Glue
• Scissors

Directions:

1. Print out animal face on heavy card stock paper. Attach a second blank piece of cardstock to the back of the printed face with tape.

2. Cut out animal shape, then separate the two pieces of cardstock.

3. Tape a paint stick to the back of the printed animal face.

4. Glue the blank piece of cardstock to the back of the printed animal face. Not only does this hide the paint stick but will also add extra stability to your mask.

Suggested Party Activities with the Masks:

• Turn on music for a dance party
• Create a stage area for dramatic farm play
• Animal sounds contest
• Barn Bingo
• Duck, Duck, Goose (or Pig, Pig, Cow)

If you missed Monday’s blog post, The Piggy Bank Parties Crew is facing off in a Head-to-Head Team Challenge. Read all of the details here. Yesterday we saw the Sassy Spring Chickens’ challenge entry which was adorable! You can see their party here. Both teams did an amazing job on their parties and I’m thrilled to share our second entry from the other half of our Crew, The Barnyard Babes.

Without further ado, introducing…

The Barnyard Babes are excited to share the BARNYARD BUDDIES BRUNCH, our interpretation of the adorable Piggy Bank Parties’ Barnyard Buddies Collection.

We decided to celebrate friends with these fun barnyard animals at our Barnyard Buddies Brunch and planned a barnyard play date. Where would you host such a fun play date? A farm with a cute little red barn, of course! Our play date friends were invited to join us for brunch and fun at Nash Farm, a historic working farmstead.

Brunch was set up next to the little red barn and the table was anchored with a custom table cloth complete with denim pockets, made by the talented Aimee Broussard. The pockets held napkins, paper straws and the utensils for the party. Aimee also made a beautiful barnyard inspired Aproness for the party hostess.

 Brunch included Baaa-nana Bread Pops, Piglets in a Blanket, Morning Moo Pies, Chicken Feed, Piggie Mud Pudding, Fresh Fruit and Mooo-licious Chocolate Milk.

Store bought marshmallow pies were transformed into Morning Moo Pies with cow print fondant toppers made by Mariah from Giggles Galore.

Little piggies love to wallow in the mud and these fondant piggies from Lynlee’s Petite Cakes loved their chocolate pudding mud bath!

Fresh banana bread was given a trendy new look and made adorable Baaa-nana Bread Pops, which were displayed in a small bale of hay.

Even the store bought treats looked tastier when displayed in farm fresh containers like the strawberry baskets from Bake It Pretty and the chicken wire basket from Giggles Galore’s personal collection. The little party tags were tied to the chicken feed scoop, push-up pop containers and display pieces for a little extra pizzazz.

A small table was set for our play date guests to enjoy their treats. We used denim scrapbook paper as a table runner and added a small bale of hay, little cowboy boots, milk bottle with sunflowers and a welcome sign attached to a chicken wire frame made by Cineca from Dreamin’ N Details.

Each place setting was customized with a name tag and adorable custom cow print milk bottles made by Mariah from Giggles Galore. The Barnyard Buddies found a straw cowboy hat hanging from their chair which also doubled as a party favor. Custom barn favor boxes were also placed at each seat and filled with M&M’s and little chocolate sheep made by Mayra from In Flight.

Yee-haw for party games! An old wooden wheelbarrow held burlap sacks and bean bags at the activity station. A fun Yee-haw banner was strung on twine and hung from the front of the wheelbarrow. We had an old-fashioned sack race and a bean bag toss competition to keep the kids entertained.

There was so much to explore on the farm and the kids enjoyed driving tractors, looking in the chicken coup and talking to the cows! Our sweet little barnyard friends took home their little barn favor boxes and a “thank moo” cow print bottle with M&M’s.

Thanks Ya’ll for letting us share our Barnyard Buddies Brunch collaboration!

A big thanks to the Barnyard Babes team for all their hard work and contributions as well as our fantastic sponsors!

Vendor Credits:

• Custom Denim Pocket Table Cloth and Apron – Aimee Broussard
• Barn Favor Boxes and Sheep Party Favors - In Flight
• Cow Print Milk Bottles, Cow Print Fondant Toppers, Party Styling – Giggles Galore
• Barnyard Buddies Printable Collection- Piggy Bank Parties
• Yee-haw Sign, Favor Tags and Welcome Sign – Dreamin’ N Details
• Fondant Pigs – Lynlee’s Petite Cakes 
• Strawberry Baskets – Bake It Pretty
• Items owned or borrowed (straw hats, burlap sacks, bean bags, apple baskets, sunflowers, milk bottles, hay bales, denim, gingham and bandana print fabric) – Giggles Galore
• Photos – Elayne Dunn Photography

Budget Breakdown:

• Barnyard Buddies Printable Collection – $20.00 {On Sale! Regular Price $30.00}
• Printing – $19.88
• Custom table cloth and apron – $12.00
• Food – $28.00
• Paper Goods & Utensils – $2.00
• Party Favors – $4.50
• Strawberry Baskets – $2.50

Total: $88.88

Lynlee’s Petite Cakes 3D Fondant Pigs (Sponsored Item): $27.00

Nash Farm Location: Free for Picnics and Parties (see restrictions)

Elayne Dunn Photography Party Photographs (Friend): Service Swap*

*Do you have a friend that can take great photos, bake an awesome cake or has mad sewing skills? We encourage you to swap services with them! The lil’ piggy didn’t pay for a cat or housesitter for 5 years in exchange for invitations and Christmas cards. It’s amazing how many things you can get for free by just asking!

Tomorrow the teams will start sharing tutorials on how they created some of the items for these two adorable parties. I hope you’re inspired to create a lil’ barnyard bash of your own!

If you missed yesterday’s blog post, The Piggy Bank Parties Crew is facing off in a Head-to-Head Team Challenge. Read all of the details here. Join us over the next 10 days for tons of inspiration, tutorials and a giveaway or two! Before our first team takes over, I just wanted to personally thank the Crew for taking on this challenge and for doing it with such exuberance! If you haven’t “met” these ladies, be sure to pop over to the Crew page as well as their blogs to get to know them better.

Without further ado, introducing…

When the Piggy Bank Parties Crew Spring Challenge was revealed, we were so excited to see it featured the Barnyard Buddies Collection! This fun collection is based on a timeless classic theme that can be used for just about any type of event. Our team, dubbed the Sassy Spring Chickens, was comprised of Jenny from Crossing the Bugger-Dixon Line, Tara of The Shindig Diva, Dorothy of Life is Sweet in Michigan and Maria from Love & Sugar Kisses!

For our challenge entry, we chose to design a fun outdoor playdate using the classic song, “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” as our inspiration (which was an awesome idea from Jenny). Our playdate consisted of a sweets table, favor table and activity area. The budget was $100 and we were happy to actually have some funds leftover in our piggy bank!

Our guests were greeted at the door with this adorable wreath that Jenny made. The tambourine chicken set the tone perfectly for “Old MacDonald Had a Farm” music fun!

The guests headed to the backyard where the sweets table was the focal point.

The first rule of budget party planning is to shop your house and we certainly did just that. All of the serving pieces used were taken from around the home. Our children’s toys were also used for decorations as well…keeping everything super budget friendly!

The fabrics were leftovers from other projects and the hats and bandanas are from our children’s dress up box. The only purchased item on the dessert table is the mini haybale!

The dessert table featured a variety of yummy treats. The adorable cake pops were made by Cindy of Cuter than Cake. When keeping to a budget, asking friends to help out with treats can be a great way to save money! Cindy generously donated these delicious cake pops for our playdate. How perfect do these coordinate with the printables? They were as yummy as they were cute! Awesome job, Cindy!

The cake and fondant toppers were made by Maria. If a custom cake is not in your budget, a simple homemade cake can be dressed up with printables or even some toys that your children may already have.

Tara made these fun egg-shaped Rice Krispy treats displayed in a recycled egg carton. Perfect treat for a farm themed party!

Dorothy created these fun popcorn cones. The paper used was a music print to tie in the music theme. Tags with animal sounds tie in both the farm and our inspiration song! The cones and bucket were filled with yummy kettle corn.

Music note lollipops were purchased from Sweet Pete’s, a local all natural candy shop, using a great coupon Maria had! We displayed them in recycled mason jars filled with oats from our pantry.

Store bought mini-cupcakes were decorated with fondant music note toppers made by Maria.

Puppets found in our children’s toy bin were used to decorate the tables…keeping it fun and budget friendly!

Dorothy created a fun activity for our playdate…a “Make Your Own Instrument” station! All of the instrument supplies are recycled materials. This was a very kid friendly activity spread out on a picnic blanket.

These instruments were a huge HIT!

After making their own instruments, it was time to put on a show!

All those sweets and performing required something to quench their thirst. Farm friendly root beer fit the bill! Displayed on a simple kids chair with the bottles dressed up with some more fabric.

We provided some fabulous parting goodies so the kids could keep the fun alive after they went home.

Jenny created the fun animal masks using all materials she hand on hand. The kids loved them!

Tara made CDs of kids’ tunes for the guests to enjoy long after the playdate was over! By purchasing the songs online, you can inexpensively recreate the CDs at home as a great party favor. We used blank CDs from a large spool of ones we already owned.

This was a fun, budget-friendly kids playdate that is very easy to recreate! The vast majority of our party items were already owned or made from items we had on hand. You would amazed at how much you already own that would be perfect for your next event. Just use your imagination and search every nook and cranny of your home! We used craft store coupons to help keep our costs down as well.

Budget Breakdown:

• Decorations: $7.92
• Food and Ingredients: $16.65
• Downloaded Songs: $7.92
• Craft and Activity Supplies: $8.10
• Piggy Bank Parties’ Barnyard Buddies Collection: $20 {Sale! Regularly $30}

Total: $60.59

Cuter than Cake Cake Pops (Sponsored Item): $30.00

Hope this inspires you to create your own Piggy Bank party…”E-I-E-I-O!”

{microphone drops from the ceiling}

Introducing…

The Crew was randomly divided into two teams of four—each member was assigned a number and teams were picked using Random.org. Then each team set up a private Facebook group to brainstorm and share their progress. This lil’ piggy wasn’t a member of either team and didn’t have access to their private groups to keep the pork chop impartial. The Crew has a private Facebook group so needless to say…there was a lil’ bit of smack talk between the two teams along with lots of giggles!

Each team chose a team name and decided who would be in charge of styling and photographing the team’s party. Both teams were given the same printables collection to use as their inspiration and a party budget of $100. Each team had one sponsor—Lynlee’s Petite Cakes and Cuter than Cake—who generously donated one item to the challenge.

Over the next 10 days I’ll be sharing the two amazing parties they designed along with tutorials so you can create the same items for your very own Barnyard Bash! Then starting on Friday, May 25th, y’all will be able to cast your vote for your favorites along with our panel of party lovin’ judges! Did I mention we’ll also be hosting a giveaway or two…or three?

{break for a Happy Dance!}

By the Team Names—Sassy Spring Chickens and Barnyard Babes—you’ve probably already guessed that we haven’t strayed too far from the farm! The inspiration for the challenge was based on a collection we created for a very special lil’ boy named Jakob!

Back in 2007, Jakob was celebrating his 1st birthday and Michelle, his mom and one of my dearest friends, asked us to design an invitation based on “Old MacDonald’s Farm.” {You can see Jakob’s party here.}

The Barnyard Buddies came to life back then and it was the first collection we added to The Market when we opened. Recently, we gave the collection a makeover and decided it would be the perfect inspiration for the Team Challenge. The Barnyard Buddies Collection is great for both boys and girls…young and old! We added a number of ”Create-Your-Own” products so the collection could also be used for non-birthday celebrations—playdates, family reunions, summer picnics, fall festivities and more!

One of my favorite additions to the collection is our new Barn Favor Box. The barn roof can be personalized to use as placecards or with a fun phrase. You can also purchase the printable box separately or if you’re not a crafter…we’ll print and assemble them for you!

The Barnyard Buddies Collection is currently on sale in The Market for $20.00 {a 33% savings} through Sunday, May 27, 2012.

I hope you’re inspired to hang out with the Crew in the Barnyard for the next couple of weeks! They’ll be lots of “Yee-Haw!”-ing goin’ on!

In honor of Mother’s Day, I wanted to share a birthday party with you in honor of a very special lady in my life…my mom! It’s actually been over a year since we celebrated her 80th birthday. A number of our party photo files were lost due to a series of equipment failures which was pretty devastating for us. (Yes, we backup but those were lost, too!) We lost two of my own birthday parties and a number of photos from my mom’s birthday. Fortunately, my sisters finally found a photo of our cute lil’ mom and I was able to pull together enough photos to finally share her party with you!

“Audrey is a Classic!“

My sisters and I tossed around a few themes for my mom’s 80th birthday. In the end, we decided that our mom would really enjoy a classic birthday party—cake and ice cream surrounded by family and friends. Our mom, Audrey, is the quintessential ”classic” mom. When we were growing up, her hair was perfectly set, her outfits were color coordinated and she sewed most of our clothes to keep the family budget in check. She had a home-cooked meal on the table every night even though she worked full-time as a teacher for over 30 years. I don’t remember her ever missing a choir concert, band concert or play and she was always waiting at the curb to pick us up after an activity. She wasn’t perfect but as near perfect as a mom can be!

My mom’s birthday is at the end of October so I took inspiration from classic autumn colors and icons—jewel tones and fall leaves. The invitations included a photograph of my mom and the pertinent details. In lieu of gifts, we asked guests to shower our mom with birthday wishes. She was thrilled to receive cards from dear friends and family who couldn’t join us!

My mom requested that we have the party at her home. When my daddy was alive, he wasn’t big on having company over so a lot of her friends had never visited her home. She lived in a 3 bedroom ranch at the time so hosting 75 guests was going to be a challenge. Fortunately, her daughters love a challenge!

It was a beautiful day so banners were hung along her front porch railings. It let unfamiliar guests know which house the party was at and where to enter.

We placed the dining room table against the doors to the back deck which served as our table backdrop. The table was covered with a lace tablecloth layered on a chocolate cloth from our wedding reception. I found a set of baskets on sale at Michael’s which were almost a perfect match to the party décor I designed. I made a cardstock divider for the smallest basket to use for silverware.

Hank’s Hint: When serving a large crowd, utensils should be easy to grab. Wrap silverware in a napkin, lay out the silverware for small events or place them in a basket or vessel with the prongs, spoon or blade facing down. Grabbing the handle is easiest and prevents the eating portion of the utensil from being touched by other guests.

Cupcake flavors included banana and dark chocolate fudge with vanilla buttercream and pumpkin with cream cheese frosting. It was my first attempt at using a fancy tip for frosting the cupcakes. A guest asked where we bought them, so I guess I did a pretty good job!

My mom loves carrot cake! It has to have the perfect balance of sweet and spice though…with a heavier accent on the sweet part! I topped the two-layer cake with a mini banner and served it on my mom’s fostoria cake plate. We cut the cake at the end of the party and Mom said it was just right!

I wanted to serve a few other classics on the side—sliced ice cream, nuts and mints. We found ice cream slices at Gordon Food Service which were popular when I was a kid and are perfect for serving large crowds—no scooping! I can’t remember a wedding, graduation or birthday party back home without a bowl of nuts and mints on the table. It wouldn’t be a family event without them!

My lil’ second cousin, Jessica, thought the table was so beautiful! She had a hard time deciding which flavor of cupcake to pick.

The biggest challenge was finding a place for more than 10 people to sit at one time during the month of November in Michigan. We decided to set up tables in the garage and use space heaters. My sister, Nora, used to sell scrapbook supplies and would host scrapbooking nights so she had a bunch of small folding tables. We rented chairs from a local vendor and covered the tables with tablecoths from our wedding.

Centerpieces included coordinating striped paper topped with strip pumpkins—made by my mom and sister, Dorothy—and bowls of nuts and mints or a mosaic candle holder (also from our wedding). To cover up the garage storage shelves and dress up the garage door, we hung leaf banners vertically. It was surprising how such a simple lil’ touch really did transform the room.

The joy on my mom’s face that day was infectious! It was so fun to make her feel as special as she has always made us feel!

Besides having the most incredible mom in the world, I am blessed to have a wonderful mother-in-law, a bubbly stepmother-in-law and the sweetest sister-in-law ever. On this special day when we honor mothers, I wanted to tell them how special they are to me…and to J. We love you! 

For those of you who have been blessed with children, we wanted to wish you…

I’m so excited that you’re joining us back on Oink! today! I know that cobwebs are starting to fill the corners of the blog and I’m expecting to see tumbleweed roll by. I’ve really missed hanging out with you. I mean REALLY missed hanging out with you! J and I have been extremely busy with client orders, custom illustrations and favor boxes which we are so grateful for. We have also been focusing our attention on updating and stocking The Market with new designs. We’re still a bit behind but hoping to tackle a few more things in the weeks to come!

Let’s get to the {free} stuff! Today I wanted to share some Mother’s Day {free downloads} I found while hanging out on Pinterest.

photo courtesy of Hazel & Agnes

Cat-Eye Glasses Notecards and Envelopes via Hazel & Agnes

photo courtesy of i love 2 cut paper and Lettering Delights

Mother’s Day Printables (Matchbox Album shown) via i love 2 cut paper and Lettering Delights

photo courtesy of Lovely Living

Subway Art for Mum via Lovely Living

photo courtesy of Oh The Lovely Things

Pillow Gift Boxes via Oh The Lovely Things

photo courtesy of No Biggie

Best Mom Ever! Paper Medallion via No Biggie

photo courtesy of Our Best Bites

Frozen Lemonade Pie in a Jar Recipe and Tag via Our Best Bites

photo courtesy of Piggy Bank Parties

Lil’ Purse Favor Box Template via Piggy Bank Parties

{Print on the Lots-O-Dots or Spring Graphs Papers available on our Free Downloads page!}

Make sure you check out the {free downloads} and current {giveaways} linked up below. {UPDATE}: Our link party host’s website is currently down. We’ll add in the Link Party as soon as it’s up and running again. Sorry!

I hope you’re inspired to celebrate the special “mothers” in your life!

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I start to giggle when I think about how many of us celebrate Cinco de Mayo and we don’t even know what we are celebrating. It’s just an excuse to have a party and eat Mexican-inspired goodies! I decided to look up why we celebrate Cinco de Mayo and what is the meaning behind the celebration.

Wikipedia said, “The date is observed in the United States as a celebration of Mexican heritage and pride, and to commemorate the cause of freedom and democracy during the first years of the American Civil War. In the state of Puebla (Mexico), the date is observed to commemorate the Mexican army’s unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.”

Now that you know what we are celebrating, are you inspired to throw a last minute Fiesta? Here a few last minute Mexican-inspired goodies to serve…

Chips & Salsa:

What can be easier than opening a bag of chips and a jar of salsa? Make it extra special by purchasing fresh pico de gallo from your grocer’s deli department.

{photo courtesy of Jewel Osco}

Fiesta Dip:

One of my go-to dips is Fiesta Dip. Mix equal amounts of sour cream and salsa until the mixture is a slightly pinky peachy color. It’s a cool and zesty treat great with tortilla chips or fresh veggies. Substitute tangy plain Greek yogurt for the sour cream and it’s oh so yummy!

Quick Taco-n-Nacho Fillin’:

Instead of using a high sodium taco seasoning packet to season my taco or nacho meat, I grab a jar of salsa, chili powder and hot sauce. After you’ve browned your ground meat, mix in salsa, chili powder and hot sauce to taste and simmer for 5 minutes.

Hank’s Hint: If you’re using ground chicken or turkey, make sure you really brown the meat not just take it off the heat after it’s turned white (non-pink). Let it get a lil’ char on it ‘cuz the meat will be so much tastier that way!

Fiesta Beans:

Open a can of black beans, rinse and drain. Mix the beans with a half jar of salsa and hot sauce to taste (optional) in a bowl. Mash with a potato masher or fork. Squeeze a lil’ lime juice over before serving. This one is perfect on tacos and nachos, served with tortilla chips or as a lil’ side dish!

Faux Churros:

If you saw our lil’ Fiesta we had when my family was visiting, you read about my take on Faux Churros. Click here for the recipe!

I hope you’re inspired to celebrate!

Art inspires creativity, imagination and lots of colorful fun. That is why I decided to host an art play date with some of our dear friends and let the creativity flow.

One of my favorite play dates was an art activity we did a few years ago with an old sheet, paint and spray bottles. I decided to make an ordinary play date extraordinary with the free Lots-O-Dots printables from Piggy Bank Parties.

To create a memorable afternoon with your kiddos all you need are a few supplies and some yummy treats.

Hang an old white sheet outside and fill spray bottles with 2-3 drops of tempura paint. Next, add water until you have a thin, watery consistency. Make sure you use washable paint, it gets messy!

Let the kids create a colorful masterpiece with their spray bottles.

The kids worked up an appetite after lots of spray painting on the canvas and each other. I kept the snacks simple, yet colorful, to keep in theme with our “art party.” I served rainbow fruit kabobs, rainbow sprinkle marshmallows, Rice Krispie paint brushes, paint mix Chex Mix and rainbow water. I used the masterpiece the kids created last year as the colorful backdrop behind the food table.

  

 

We had a fun afternoon playing with our friends and, most of all, using our imaginations to create a beautiful masterpiece! Turn an ordinary afternoon into an extraordinary and memorable art play date sure to inspire your little ones.

You don’t have to spend a lot to create this fun Art Play Date, here is the breakdown on what I spent:

• Spray Bottles: $6
• Food: $4 (Chex Mix, gumballs and rainbow sprinkles–everything else I already had)
• Decorations: $3 (white painters palette and paint brushes)
• Printables: FREE
• I already had the paint and white sheet

Total Cost: $13 for 6 kids

Probably my favorite aspect of every party is the treat and favor table. I love them…I might even be obsessed with them. For this party, my treat table didn’t have one treat on it…none! WHO KNEW? This is my No-Treats Treat Table.

Cupcakes are a must for every treat table right? But I promised this table would have no actual treats…these cuties are bath fizzes. I LOVE them…and frankly kids love bath fizzes probably more than adults. My girls do anyway.

Fluffy white hand towels were a must. Every spa goer needs a fresh towel to dry off their hands and faces. Pink satin ribbon with glittery polka dots were the perfect compliment to the bright white towels.

Along with hand towels, each girl needed a washcloth and a bucket for soaking hands for manicures. These little galvanized buckets with gingham handles were perfect for this job.

While we were doing some shopping a few weeks ago, I saw the most beautiful gourmet soaps. They were wrapped in pretty paper and tied with a bow. When I started the non-treat treat table, I knew I wanted to add some pretty soaps. However, we were working with a budget, so I had to be more creative that shopping at a high end soap shop. The solution was very budget friendly and turned out sweet. These were yummy smelling boxes of soap that I bought for less than $1 each in a large multi-pack. Then I wrapped them with 12 x 12 sheets of paper cut to size and wrapped like a gift. Each soap was finished with a simple white ribbon.

The last treat on the Beauty bar were mani/pedi kits for each of the girls.

For this Spa Party we took everyday items and turned them into fabulous with just a few extra touches. Most of the party supplies came from national chain stores.

Shopping Guide:

• Fluffy White Hand Towels: Sam’s Club ($16.88/12 or $1.41 each) + Michael’s Pink & White Polka Dot Ribbon ($3.99)
• White Wash Cloths: Target ($3.50/8 or $.43 each) + Michael’s Pink & White Polka Dot Paper (5/$1 or $.20/sheet)
• Metal Pails: Target Dollar Spot ($1 each)
• Cupcake Bath Fizzes: Michael’s ($.50 each on clearance)
• Manicure Sets: Michael’s ($1 each)
• Dial Grapeseed Oil & Lemongrass Soap: Target (10/$4.49  or $.49 each) + Michael’s Polka Dot Paper (5/$1 or $.20 each)

We had lots of homemade fun to keep them more than busy for 2 hours! We made glittery hand lotion, lip gloss, brown sugar body scrub and decorated flip flops! It was a jam packed party and the girls went home with a lot of fun beauty products custom created by them!

Well, that’s my spin on a beauty bar. Don’t forget to pamper yourself every now and again!