I love throwing parties.

ESPECIALLY kids birthday parties.

But brunches, baby/bridal showers, fancy retreat dinners… they all come in a close second!

(Ok I guess the birthday HALLWAYS would likely be the actual second…you can check those out here :))

It’s so funny, because when reading about blogging, talking with experts about photography, or growing on the gram…  people ALWAYS say “niche down. They say to pick a very specific niche and stick to it

And I have always kind of felt at odds with that. It has never sat well with me.

Maybe if I was smart I would just choose one thing and go with that.

So if I was going to pick a niche it would be….

VARIETY.

Officially my niche is “it’s ok to enjoy lots of things” or more formally:

“I am going to share everything I do that I love and makes my daily life awesome.” (Hense… Living Your Awesome Life.)

I hope that this post, and all of my posts, are proof positive that you don’t have to be adventurous OR Pinterest-y. That it’s ok to enjoy cooking and making pretty food and ALSO enjoy Mac and Cheese on a camp stove! So if you love it, if it makes your life closer to the awesome one that you want to be living, then GO FOR IT!

I think that kids birthdays are at the top of the list because:

a. They are fun, bright and easy to theme.

b. They don’t require perfection (it’s going to get ripped apart in about 3.5 milliseconds from guest arrival, so you need to be prepared for that!)

c. They make my kids feel ubbbbberrr special and honestly, whether it should be or not, is one of the biggest highlights of my mamma-ing

So heres how I plan a party errrrryyyy single time!

1. Pick a theme. My kids are pretty “in on this” but I usually use the power of suggestion if there is something that will work well. Some of the themes we’ve had are mermaid/under the sea/pink and gold (who says colours can’t be a theme?) Pirates, star wars and fairies… This year is LEGO !!
2. Pin all the things! Gosh Pinterest is awesome (and I’d you don’t follow me yet over there you totally should!) But what I do is the equivalent of cutting pictures out of magazines (let’s be honest I never cut I was a magazine ripper!) – I search things like: Lego birthday; DIY birthday Lego; Lego birthday cake; Lego birthday balloons etc. And if I like anything in it, I PIN IT. I’m not really fussy at this point, I just pin the things I like to a board. It doesn’t mean that I will use all the ideas (so I try not to let the kids see!) But it’s inspiration!
3. Sketch it out. You might not need to do this but I get so many ideas that I need to put pen to paper (or apple pen to notes plus app ;)) and draw out my primary ideas. I USUALLY try to focus on one or two things and then ease up on the rest. Usually one of the main focal points is the sweet table. There are usually lots of options to make a variety of sweets and baked goods (and candies) in whatever theme you’re going with and it can have a big wow impact. I actually remember Avril over at glow mentioning that if you’re on a budget (which I always am! #frugalmamma) you want to create one or two “show stoppers” that really wow, and then you can keep the rest “simple” I just say that because my husband wouldn’t think anything I do birthday related is simple 😉 but especially in our new house there isn’t as much space for big elaborate set ups anywhere but the dining room (and I still find that small for my set ups!) Of course you’re welcome to do elaborate everywhere!!!! But I find this a reasonable amount. A good wow factor and then I let the rest go (or do what I can and then at the last minute throw what I didn’t finish into the closet. 
4. Start early! Like WAYYYYY earlier than you think you might want to! I don’t like getting stressed (though crunch time I might APPEAR stressed….I just move quickly! and don’t want anyone in my way….) I spend weeks getting ready for the birthday parties, but because I enjoy it, and because I can do a little bit at a time and still make great progress. For example for this party I made little jello gummies in the morning when the kids were eating breakfast, I earned my step badges walking between the Cricut and the TV room while making circles and cutting out lego bricks while watching TV with Alex.  I don’t try to do it all at once, cuz well that wouldn’t be fun for me (or anyone in my house!) 
5. Have Fun! I have things that didn’t work out as planned on every single party I have planned, but I’ve come to learn that it really doesn’t matter!!! I know that can be hard to hear, because when we want things a certain way and that doesn’t work out it can be very discouraging. But the only thing that would really ruin a party is a crummy attitude or letting some crooked marshmallow smiley faces bum me out and take away from me experiencing the joy of the day.

I enlisted the help of my lego loving husband and he graciously created the cake stand, cake topper and spoon holder. I bought these molds on amazon, so that I could make the lego chocolates for on top of the cupcakes and the gummies! The gummies were super fun and easy to make and lasted only a few minutes after the kids started them (Though slightly time consuming, like I said I would make a batch in the morning while the kids were eating breakfast every day for the week before the birthday party) These ones were made from jello, gelatin and water but I do want to give making fruit juice gummies, or vitamin c gummies someday!) Cupcakes are an easy way to fill the table and just using different color icing or cupcake toppers can be a simple way to add variety! 

I also sorted a giant bag of m+m’s by color (ok ok Alex + Meaghan helped….and got to eat all the brown ones!) and bought some licorice, made some yellow chocolate dipped marshmallow pops and then added some other decor (I wrapped small boxes in napkins, because I felt the table needed more layers and didn’t have anything else that would work (and don’t like to buy too many things that won’t be re-used or consumed!) 

I borrowed by brothers Cricut again, to make the lego bricks that decorated the door and table, and then the leftover pieces to make the “Finn” on the wall. It also cut out the blocked lettered “Happy Birthday” and this post reminds me that I want to make some t-shirts again soon 🙂 Lol I love that thing! 

I often make a pretty fancy cake, and I think I will next year, but this year I really liked the white cake against all the colours! 

We love having bouncers at birthday parties because I like to be able to decorate at home, but still invite all the kids 🙂 Its why Finn’s birthday party is usually in May even though is birthday is in March! This year Hyper Amusement Rentals is where we got our bouncers (and our party popcorn….YUMMMMMM) they were great to deal with! They had a spring birthday bouncer special and we ended up also getting part of adrenalin rush! (Apparently the full one is more than twice as big!) If you have ideas on other birthday parties you can do with more people and it not be insane… just lemme know! I love new ideas! 

I floated between checking things out inside and watching/photographing the beautiful busy that was outside…and a huge special thanks to Meaghan and Nick who got put on bouncer bouncer (ahhhhhaaaa see what I did there??) duty without delay. They stayed at their safety spots the entire time….and lol some of the moms who hadn’t met us before thought that Meaghan was Finn’s mom…which lets be honest, wasn’t the first time! 

And no kids party of mine is complete without balloons! This year I bought an electric air pump (I had used one before as a rental from Glow, but balloons are such a regular thing for me, that it seemed like a good investment for me, and Alex said that I should have bought one years ago (Do you know how many HUNDRED Balloons have been blown up in our homes?) 

Thanks again to Hyper Amusements! This post contains affiliate links, when you use them I get a small amount of compensation at no additional cost to you! Happy party planning!