American Girl Spa Birthday Party

The invitation.

Party Table.

Centerpiece.

Food and Favors.

Lunch.

Doll Table.

Play.

Spa Time.

Dessert.

American Girl Doll Cabinet

I saw this project on Pinterest as a dress-up cabinet and had to copy the idea. I bought the dresser for $20 at a thrift store. My husband removed the top three drawers and cut off the wood molding that held the drawers in. He also had to add some small wood pieces using wood glue and a piece of plywood to the bottom. The dresser had some water damage on the bottom so we bought, cut and attached some crown molding to cover it up. He also added a dowel at the top to hang the doll hangers on. You may want to add a bigger dowel if you are making this a dress-up cabinet. After primer, two coats of white paint and new drawer pulls it was done.

Sponge Bob Birthday Party

My son had been watching Sponge Bob exclusively for months so I figured a Sponge Bob party would be a good choice for his 3rd birthday party. There is a ton of Sponge Bob party stuff out there but sometimes I just can't find the right thing. I ended up using some pre-made stuff and making some using a Cricut Sponge Bob cartridge.

First, I made an invitation using the Sponge Bob cartridge. I welded two images together using the Cricut software, DesignStudio. I made them small so they would fit into a normal-sized invitation envelope. The inside has the party information.

My brother-in-law cut these wooden Sponge Bob and Patrick out for me and then my sister-in-law and I painted them to use as a photo op. We used the open space in their mouth for a bean bag toss game.

They also were a great addition to the outside decor.

Inside, I hung crepe paper and added some die cuts. We kept the food simple with pizza and appetizers.

Cake and Party Favor Table. I made each of our little party guests a drawstring backpack. Inside I had SpongeBob books, coloring books, fruit snacks and other Sponge Bob related things.

The topper cake was from Stater Bros.

For entertainment, we had a clown, who made balloon animals (actually mostly swords) and painted faces.

Juice Bag Purse and Lunchbox

I finally got around to using some of those hundreds of juice bags that we have been saving and rinsing out. I made a juice bag purse first and then a lunchbox. The handles took the longest so I decided that if I really want to crank them out I'll have to switch to nylon straps. What do you think?

Room Makeover

I've been wanting to paint my daughter's room pink since we moved her in 2008 and finally got around to doing it a few weeks ago. Here are the before and after shots. We painted the room light pink first (Disney by Behr "Fairest of Them All"). I cut out the castle, trees and silhouette in vinyl using my Cricut and used it as a template for painting the darker pink (Disney by Behr "Pretty in Pink"). It was quite a challenge but I really like the results. We also did some massive de-cluttering, bought new sheets and a new bedspread at Target and repainted of her nightstand and book cabinet.

Before

After

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After

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Additional Pictures

Tinkerbell Baby Shower

This shower theme was so much fun. My niece has always loved Tinkerbell so when we found out she was having a girl, a Tinkerbell Shower seemed like the thing to do. I found the bed canopy at a thrift store and attached flowers from a flower bunch that I bought at Joann's. I framed three of her favorite sonogram pictures for all the guests to see. For a party favor, we had flower clips for all the guests to wear. We played two baby shower games. For the first game, I covered baby food jars with paper and guests had to guess what each jar contained. During the second game, guests had to remember 31 baby-related-items that were in the Tinkerbell diaper bag. These are my favorite games because at the end the mom-to-be gets a starter collection of baby food and a stocked diaper bag!

For diaper cake directions, click HERE.

Party Favors

I couldn't find flower hair clips within my budget so I decided to make them. I bought flower bunches at Joann's for less than $1. First, I covered metal clips with ribbon using hot glue. I cut the flowers off the wire stems and attached them to the covered metal clips using hot glue. It was fairly easy and a lot less expensive than purchasing them already made.

Materials: Ceramic Mushrooms and Fairy Wings (99 cent store), Green Stones (Michaels), Tutu and Flower Headband (Handmade by Sarah Nesbit), Cricut Storybook cartridge, Cricut Tinkerbell and Friends cartridge, Pampers Swaddlers Diapers, Tinkerbell Diaper Bag (Big Lots)