Willow's Rainbow Elmo Birthday Party!

My daughter, Willow, turned three yesterday and we celebrated at an indoor water park. We rented out a big room with a rainbow play gym and decorated with fun, colorful Elmo decor and food. She had a blast! I can't believe my baby girl is three.

I found these cute number buckets at Michael's!

The cake had a fun rainbow center!!

Happy 3rd birthday, Willow Abigail! You are my heart.

This party was cheap, easy, and super fun to put together! A lot of the items are from The Dollar Tree, including the rainbow candy buckets, the candy, soda pop, coloring books, crayons, and juice boxes. The Elmo party favors/decor were from Party City when I had a 20% off coupon. The wooden letters, rainbow picture frame, lollipops, silverware, crayon cups, and dishes were all items I had on hand already. And the name/food cards were from pieces of scrapbook paper that were on sale at Michael's. I made sure the food was simple, yet creative. I probably only spent $125 total, and that's including the food and original invitations! The only thing I forgot was a tablecloth, as I thought the venue was providing one. Oops! Otherwise, not too shabby.

Credits:
Photography by Jennifer Dawn Photography
Cake pops by Sweet Treats by Angie
Elmo cake and cupcakes by Elisabetta

Wall Art

I was feeling crafty today so I decided to make some wall art for Willow's bedroom. I was inspired by these two ideas:

http://www.theidearoom.net/2010/07/butterfly-wall-collage.html

http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/lollyandboo/product/personalised-paper-butterflies-picture

The finished product:





I have to say, I'm quite pleased by how it turned out! All it took was a quick shopping trip (since I have literally no craft items... it will be cheaper for those who scrapbook), and about an hour's worth of my time.

This is what you need:

1 large matted picture frame or shadow box

Scrapbook paper

Glue

Butterfly punch

Alphabet letters



I originally wanted to use a shadow box, but I couldn't find one that I liked, or one that came in white. Instead, I used a matted picture frame and removed the glass so the butterflies had a 3D effect. I also bought a large piece of white, cardboard construction paper and cut it to size so you couldn't see the picture frame's cardboard.

This is a project you can really get creative with and tweak to your liking! I bought some adhesive gems to use as well, but decided it would be too busy and I liked the simple, elegant look that it had. In the future, I might purchase some large butterflies to put on the frame's corners.
But for now, I love the finished product!

Time spent: 1 hour
Money spent: $40 (I had none of the items which is why the price is so high. Most people have glue, scrapbook paper, and picture frames already in their home. You can probably get this done for less than $20.)