Cherry on Top Ice Cream Float Party

Cherry on Top Ice Cream Float Birthday Party is quite a mouthful! What fun it was to plan, execute, and enjoy a party centered around coke floats and cherries! Let's dig in to oodles of photos and party details for Tandy's 7th birthday party.

Since making floats was Tandy's key component, the ice cream float station was the main event. Our chalkboard advertised the soda flavors.

The retro New York Seltzer soda bottles in varied flavors perfectly fit the style we aimed to acheive. This clear soda was a uniquely new experience for most of us. Have you tried it?

Our giant ice-filled galvanized tub housed the chilled soda and mason jars filled with pre-scooped ice cream.

At the dessert table, guests piled on float toppings and grabbed a colorful straw and spoon.

 

Speaking of dessert table, let's get right to it! A gingham backdrop and cherry oilcloth tablecloth really identified the space. Vintage decor helped add layers for display.

Root Beer Float Cupcakes where dressed up with paper straws and cherry sours.

Cherry on top cookies made their mark in keeping with my tradition to include themed sugar cookies at every party.

Everything looks better on a stick! I created jello push pops featuring root beer, ice cream, and cherry layers of jello. The push pop stand contained cherry sours for additional treats.

Filling in with decor added to the party details. The tall glass jar mimicked a float with shredding paper "soda", tissue paper "ice cream", and yarn pom pom "cherry". Honeycomb tissue balls and faux cherries continued the theme.

We held the party at a community park with a playground, but we had to include some festive activities as well. We were thankful for the covered pavilion with plenty of tables to spread out the crafts.

We provided stationary cards to decorate using wine cork stamps, paint, markers and sequins.

While the kids took another spin at the playground, we reset the craft station for soda jerk hats. Letter and cherry stickers along with crayons were available for creative fun. 

Covering a sports themed cornhole set my husband created with brown paper, allowed me to create an ice cream float bean bag game. The contestants could win cherry tootsie roll pops for a hole in one.

 Just in case there still wasn't enough sugar involved, we sent guests home with a little bag filled with soda and cherry gummies decked with tags that read, "Soda-lighted you came to my party!"

Be sure to learn all about Tandy's cherry dress here.

Tandy's 7th birthday party was a success despite major threats of rain and flooding. She loved the idea of a Cherry on Top party. When I suggested milk shakes, she quickly turned to coke floats. I loved bringing this unique concept to life for her!

** This post contains affiliate links.  By purchasing through my links, I receive a small compensation 

which I will in turn use to share more inspiration with you.**

Summer Painting with Kids

It's officially summer, and one of the best ways to entertain my kids is with creativity. Making sure we have the necessary kid's painting supplies on hand makes painting activities that much easier. I also have a fun activity to spark your imagination with ways to use these supplies.

Let's start with decent paper. These may not be fully artist quality, but they will hold up to wet paint better than your typical copy paper or construction paper and they won't break the bank. The Paint Pad and Watercolor Pad are great options. Assorted paint brushes are a must as well. The bigger the variety the better!

Paints and more paints!! Again, keep a variety of styles and colors on hand. Liquid watercolors are amazing in intensity and flexibility. A little goes a long way, and diluting them with a few drops of water can stretch them even further. Have your child experiment with the effect diluting the paint has on the intensity of the color. Creatology Metallic and Glitter Paint are great for kids who like a little sparkle and shine. Anything neon is a hit around here too, so these paint palettes left over from Avery's 7th Neon Watercolor Painting Party come in handy. 

Paint pallets make a great avenue for painting, diluting, and mixing.   

Interested in exploring watercolors with a bit less mess? Try watercolor pencils. Color your image, then add water to blend and create watercolor effects. 

I shared this pineapple activity the other day on Instagram. By restricting the color palette and subject matter, we explored creating unique textures and patterns. A few supplies we used in addition to the paints above included dot markers and gel sticks. 

Need a story to stimulate creative conversation? Try Beautiful Oops by Barney Saltzberg. These words encourage flexibility and how to handle the inevitable smudges and smears that occur while playing with paint. 

So, how will you encourage creativity with your kids this summer? Share your favorite ideas!!

** This post contains affiliate links.  By purchasing through my links, I receive a small compensation 

which I will in turn use to share more inspiration with you.**

Playful Designs Blog Tour and Giveaway

As soon as I held Patty Young's new coloring book, Playful Designs, in my hands, I was instantly transported to my childhood. My absolute favorite activity when I would have babysitters was to pull out a design book and color. Not your average coloring books mind you, but single sided, bright white sturdy paper with prints and patterns. I loved coloring in them as much as I loved watching an older kid and discovering their style. The first time someone showed me outlining a space with marker and filling in with crayon, mind blown I tell you!! 

Playful Designs is just such a book! Single sided, white cardstock sheets fit for framing if need be. It even gives you a color education in the back of the book. It was hard, but the book was intended for my girl, so I reluctantly gave it to her. Well, she was pretty crazy about it too! The hardest part was selecting what page to color first. As you can probably tell by the various outfits, we've had several days of fun with this coloring book.

I love this look of concentration!

Who wouldn't be happy with some colorful play time!?! 

So, I literally begged and pleaded for a chance to color just one page. After some delay, Avery gave in and tore out the building print as a nod to my former structural engineering career. Word of caution, grab the book before your child tears or your pretty picture may have a slightly ugly tear in it! In the end, Avery was so thrilled to color together, that she sharped all of my old watercolor pencils from high school!

Who knew a coloring book could revive old memories and create new ones at the same time!! Thank you Patty for the adventure!!

If you purchase Playful Designs through the Modkid website, Patty will send you an autographed copy! You also have a chance to win a copy right here!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway



I'm the last stop on the blog tour, but we've has some great post from creative bloggers and their kiddos. Be sure to give them a visit!!

Monday, November 10th

Patty Young @ Modkid

Tuesday, November 11th

Susan Yates @ Crafterhours

Wednesday, November 12th

Melissa Mora @ Melly Sews

Thursday, November 13th

Heather Valentine @ The Sewing Loft

Friday, November 14th

Teresa Behr @ Dandelion Drift

Saturday, November 15th

Elizabeth Evans @ Simple Simon and Co

Monday, November 17th

Jenny Fish @ Sew Pretty Dresses

Tuesday, November 18th

Courtney Davis @ Sweeter Than Cupcakes

Painting Parasols

I’m busy prepping for Tandy’s Mary Poppins Party, and a Mary Poppins Party would certainly be incomplete without a few black umbrellas. I’ve got a fun idea for these cocktail umbrellas, so I wanted to pop in to show you how easy it is to customize their colors.

Basically, I stuck the umbrella sticks in pre-punched holes in a box much like my tutorial for painting shower curtain hooks. This way I’ve prevented painting the umbrella stick, so I can still use the umbrellas for food or drinks.

If it’s a little quiet on the blog next week, you know I’m a busy bee behind the scenes. I’m hoping to have plenty of party details to come!

These little black umbrellas made the perfect addition to the Mary Poppins Jello Cloud Desserts! Be sure to check out the Jello Cloud Recipe.

DIY Washi Tape Beads

I came across these photos from Avery’s Pancakes and Pearls birthday party, and I realized I had meant to post a little tutorial on how to make the washi tape beads we used in our candy necklaces. Better late than never.

I had wanted to try to color coordinate all of the candy for the necklaces with the color scheme of the party, but soon realized that would be too complicated and probably less fun for the kiddos. The least I could do was provide a little color coordinated filler and hang a little sample necklace. It would satisfy my OCD anyway! You can certainly use these beads for any necklace. They are not reserved for candy alone!

The supplies needed for the washi tape beads are washi tape and straws. So simple! Try to use a light colored straw, so nothing will show through the tape. Mine are from Ikea, and they are also a bit skinnier than a typical straw.

Start at the end of your straw, and wrap the tape around the straw. I wrapped the tape around twice to double it up for a less transparent look.

Trim your straw at the edge of the tape. If your tape has an uneven edge, just trim the tape and straw together.

Repeat about 50+ times in various colors, and you have some pretty beads to thread on your fancy necklace.

Just be sure to note that they are not edible if you include them with other candy necklace supplies!

Handy Sewing Desk Tool

I was at Walmart the other day picking up some thread when I spotted a little display of washi tape. I started snatching up a few rolls at 97 cents each. Can you believe it? You just can’t beat that! My favorite way to use washi tape is for party décor. This particular measuring tape-tape is perfect for sewing parties, construction parties, and Mary Poppins parties (hint-hint). Yep, it’s practically perfect in every way!

I checked to make sure it was actually an accurate measure, then decided it would make a handy tool attached to the edge of my sewing table. Now, I won’t have to dig through my drawer for a ruler when I need a quick measure. I also don’t have to worry about it hurting the table if I decide I need to remove it. Sometimes it’s the small things that make me so happy.

See that stack of pretties on my desk? Can’t wait to play with those cuts of Field Day fabrics!

St. Paddy’s Day Shirt to Skirt + Necklace

Since St. Patrick’s day is around the corner and emerald is the color of the year, I went in search for some of it in my stash. I couldn’t find emerald exactly until I dug through my giveaway pile. I really like this shirt, but the fit was just wrong.

Gaining a sweet skirt and matching necklace out of it made me glad I could extend it’s life with us.

In case you have any similar shirts with detailed necklines, I’ve put together a few instructions on how I accomplished this necklace. First,  cut around the embroidery detail leaving about 1/2” of fabric. Cut the straps away from the back of the shirt.

Next, roughly cut a piece of felt to match the outline of the embroidery.

Working in sections, hot glue the felt to the back of the embroidered piece. I folded the excess fabric under as I went. Just make sure any raw fabric edges get tucked under.

Continue folding and gluing around the entire piece.

Then, trim away any felt that shows from the front.

Here is a picture of the finished back.

Determine the length you want for the necklace and trim the straps. Fold under one end 1/4” then 1/4” again as you would a hem. Stitch near the fold. Attach a button.

At the other end, fold under 1/4” then fold again leaving a loop large enough to fit over your button. Stitch near the fold.

Enjoy your new accessory!!

Linking up to girl.inspired.