Pink Poodle in Paris Birthday Party

I spent months planning my daughter's Pink Poodle in Paris themed 3rd birthday party and it finally happened a few days ago. It went perfectly and I thought I'd share some pictures and how-to tips for anyone else looking to have a party like this!

First, let's start off with the cake. I found a picture of a cake that I really loved when I googled "pink poodle in paris birthday cakes" I gave the picture to the baker at the place we had the party, and she made a cake that looked very similar..and even better!

I didn't make the cake, so I can't say for certain how she did everything she did to make it this amazing looking and taste even better. I can say that the balls were some type of bubble gum, and the 3 was made of white chocolate. The icing was fondant on top. We picked vanilla for the flavor, and had hot pink butter cream icing inside as well.

We didn't just have the cake for a sweet treat though, we also had strawberry macaroons that we picked up from a french cafe.

I left the macaroons in their box. I thought they were the perfect touch to a Pink Poodle in Paris themed party and my daughter loves macaroons anyways!

You can see the small pink cups next to the macaroons, those were all filled with Skinny Pop and sat on silver platters from Dollar Tree for people to grab and munch on. I can't find a picture of that right now, but if I do I will add it to this post.

Now, while we're on the topic of food I guess I'll discuss the drinks.

So, my daughters favorite pink drink is Sparkling French Berry Lemonade from Trader Joe's so we had a few bottles of that out, along with pink plastic cups. We had a bucket of ice next to it as well. Then as you can see we can had water bottles. To make them Pink Poodle in Paris perfect I took off their original wrappers and put some Duck Tape I had found with Eiffel Towers on it on them instead.

Now, for the birthday outfit!

Have you ever seen a more perfect birthday outfit? I haven't! I ordered one last year very similar to this style for my daughter's bug themed birthday party and my mom told me she could make one herself. So, this year she did. I know she found the plain white shirt with the bow on it at Target, and then added iron on Eiffel Tower and pink poodle. She also added the iron on letters of my daughter's name, and iron on rhinestones to make a 3 for her age. I'm not sure where all the iron ons ended up being from, but I know she shopped at Michael's and Joanne Fabrics.

For the tutu she used a tutorial she found on Pinterest and used hot/dark pink and lighter pink tulle (as I requested), and a pink satin ribbon to tie a bow in the front. With the left over tulle she did quite a few other things. She made the bow with the left over tulle, then sewed an iron on pink poodle onto it and added a bunch of stick on rhinestone gems (they come in a pack from Party City for $1, I love them!!!!) The bow was perfect! She attached it to a regular hair clip to put it on and off.

The tulle was also used on this number 3 that you can barely see that's sitting on my daughter's present table.

It was a number 3 cut out of cardboard, and then wrapped with the tulle, and a strand of fake pearls that I found at Hobby Lobby. We also got those balloons from Party City. I chose black and a pink that was a bit metallic looking before it was blown up. Made them shiny! You can't see them in any of these pictures I don't think, but I also had a big silver number 3 balloon, and there were 6 of each color balloons.

But for the present table in general it was just a black table with a pink table cloth on it. She got to sit in an adorable pink chair to open her presents.

For entertainment I hired a mime. It was so worth every penny! I don't know what we would have done without him. The entertainment was great. The kids were amused, and the adults really got a kick out of him too.

For games we had people guess whose birthday is the same as the Eiffel Tower. (It's me). We gave out pink Paris hand sanitizers. We also had a dollar store jar that was really pretty, with a piece of pink tulle wrapped around it, filled with silver Hershey's kisses. Another dollar store jar was filled with pink slips of paper that people all wrote their guesses on for how many Hershey's kisses were in the jar. The winner got to keep the jar of kisses.

For favors we gave out these Eiffel Tower cookies.

They came from the same french cafe that the strawberry macaroons came from. I had them individually wrapped in little bags with pink and black ribbon so they'd match the decor.

Speaking of decor, my favorite thing we had was this banner.

So, the banner itself was purchased from Party City, but the sparkly silver letters were purchased from Michael's. You can't see it put there was also silver Eiffel Towers at the ends that had suction cups on them that we used to attach the banner to the window with. We had it say "OOH-LA-LA CHARLIE'S 3" obviously. 

As far as other decor, there wasn't a whole lot we needed to bring since the place was kind of already themed like what we were looking for. They had the walls painted pink and black with Eiffel Towers painted on them, they had black metal Eiffel Towers on all the tables, we used them to tie the balloons we brought to. 

I'd say if you're having your own Pink Poodle in Paris party at home though buying some metal Eiffel Towers for decor is a must. They have some pink ones and some black ones at Hobby Lobby.

It was such a great party!

Christmas Bath

This bath is really, really simple to put together and gets kids in the Christmas spirit. It really is very simple, but still makes for a fun surprise at bath time.

You'll need:
- green food coloring
- red food coloring
- Christmas rubber duckies
- plastic bowls
- paint brush
- shaving cream

All you have to do is fill up the tub with water, and add in some green food coloring to color the water. While the tub is filling up you can squirt some shaving cream into some plastic bowls, and add green food coloring to one and red food coloring to the other. You mix the food coloring in with the paint brush.
I used the red bath paint to write "HO HO HO!" on the wall of the tub.

Snowman Sandwich

With the cold weather and snow falling down I thought I'd make my daughter a super cute winter themed lunch. It was very simple to make and made her so happy! 

To make this you'll need:
- 4 slices of bread
- a sharp knife
- sandwich spread (I used three different spreads, one for each layer of the snowman. Peanut butter, sunflower seed butter, and chocolate almond spread).
- a carrot
- mini chocolate chips (I used gluten free, dairy free)

I just used the sharp knife to cut out two parts of the snowman with the first two pieces of bread. The other two pieces of bread for the bottom of the snowman. Using a sharp knife you can get some pretty good circles, but they're not perfect you have to take your time and be careful. Then spread the butters/spreads on each part of the snowman. Spread some on the outside for a scarf, then add the mini chocolate chips for a face and buttons, and a sliced piece of carrot for a carrot nose.

Apple Picking

One of our favorite things to do in the Fall is go apple picking. I consider it a home school field trip. This year we went with a play group that we're in. That made it all the more fun for my daughter since there was other kids for her to see and play with afterwards. But, even without the addition of a play date apple picking itself is super duper fun and educational!

Children love eating apples, and see you buy them from the store, but it's a different experience to see them on a tree like that. You can use this opportunity to explain how our food grows.

When you're done apple picking, be sure to let them enjoy eating the apples they picked! My favorite apple dip recipe is here 

Fall Painting: Scarecrow

Need a fun painting idea for this Fall? Why not have your kiddo try to paint something that they are used to seeing in Fall? I put one of our scarecrows out for my daughter to paint. It was actually her idea, so you know it was a child approved one! 

Healthy Candy Corn Parfaits

With all the candy and treats floating around the month of October, it's nice to have a healhty snack that is still tasty and Halloween themed! Look no further, than the Healthy Candy Corn Parfaits recipe below. 

    (I got those little serving tumblers in a pack from Party City)

Ingredients:
- Banana
- Butternut squash
- Organic maple syrup
- Dairy free vanilla yogurt, or plain if your kids like that. (Trader Joe's has cultured cocont milk, soy yogurt, and goat's milk yogurt.)

Step 1:
- Bake your butternut squash in the oven. There's some different ways to do this. I put the oven at 350 degrees, slice the butternut squash in half, scoop the seeds out, and then put both halves open side down in about an inch of water in a baking dish. Bake it for about an hour, until it's tender.

In the meantime, you can puree your bananas in the blender or food processor.

Step 2:
- Rinse out/wash the blender or food processor so you can also puree your butternut squash. Mix in some maple syrup to the butternut squash puree to give it some extra sweetness. You don't need to use a lot.

Step 3:
- Put the ingredients in the tumblers or whatever cups you have in candy corn order. Yogurt, butternut squash, then banana puree. Cover and refrigerate for a little while before serving.

Monster Eyes Playdough

I've shared sensory plays, crafts, themed baths, etc. for Halloween. Now I'm going to share a Halloween idea for play dough! Monster Eye's Play Dough!

I suppose you could use any color of play dough, but I chose green and I also had it be our eucalyptus play dough. Eucalyptus play dough is great for the season where colds are going around, it can relieve congestion while the child plays with it. To make Monster Eye's Play Dough you just stick googly eyes on/in the play dough.