Confetti Sunshine: September 2012

Friday, September 28, 2012

Gaze at the Stars party : DIY glow stick lanterns

For our Stargazing party, I knew we needed some light. We had the party picnic style, laying out on a blanket with pillows and such, so I didn't want tea lights and run the risk of catching something on fire. But I did want to have the soft glow of candle light, not of a harsh flashlight.

So, that is when I came up with the idea of making little lanterns with glow sticks. They worked great! Each gave off about as much light as a small tea candle would. It wasn't too much, but still enough that we could hold our constellation maps up to the light and read.

Mason jars

4 in glow sticks

Epson salt

Simple fill the mason jars up with salt. Crack your glow stick and insert it into the middle of your jar. Screw on the lid and turn it upside down. The glow of the glow sticks fades with time, so I would suggest putting these together right before you are wanting to use them.

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Gaze at the Stars party : activity

Obviously, the highlight of this party is the star gazing. It was the main activity that we enjoyed, and I didn't think that there was much else needed after treats and light conversation.

There are many different places you can go to get constellation maps. I got mine from NASA, since I was hoping to get something reliable. I was extremely happy with the outcome!

Visit the Star Finder page to find a constellation map for each month of the year. So, no matter when you are going star gazing, you can be sure to have a current map with the constellations to keep an eye open for.

NASA also shows you how to fold up your star constellation map into a fortune teller for a fun star finding game.

You could also pick up this Star Finder. It also coordinates with the months to keep you looking in the right direction. And, if you happen to have a smart phone, I really enjoy star gazing with the Google Sky Map app. It's a quick and easy way to find constellations, which sometimes helps when you have impatient children.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Gaze at the Stars party : Treats

Food is usually the forefront to any social event - is it not? It is no different with a star gazing party. Whether it is a large group of friends, or a few special guests, these tasty treats are easy to prep and great to enjoy.

Like I mentioned before, my husband was having a late night at school, so for stargazing it was just me and my girls.

For starters, we made things easy and picked up some old fashioned doughnuts at a local bakery. I opted for the maple glaze - maple is my favorite! And, I opted for easy - hence the bakery. Doughnuts are always best the first day, but it makes it easy when all you have to do is run in and pick up your order.

I knew I wanted to pack in popcorn. It's one of my favorite treats. I decided to go with a fairly non-traditional route and make white chocolate popcorn.

The white chocolate popcorn super simple to make, and holds well. I made it a few hours before we needed it, but you could make it a day in advance and just keep it in an airtight container. Scroll to the bottom of the post to get the recipe. You'll laugh at me even calling it a recipe - it's that easy.

For a drink I had glamours visions of a slightly warm spiced cider sipped through colorful straws. Then reality hit me. While I would get my wish of colorful straws, my young daughters would have nothing to do with a sweet spicy cider - and I had to settle with plain apple juice instead. But, if I were to do this for anyone other than my two munchkins, I would serve a warm cider.

It's always nice to have your treats arranged in their own portable containers for easy serving and easy clean up. I also really enjoyed using a wooden crate as a makeshift table. It was extremely useful packing in all the food and packing out the garbage.

Here are a few of the items I used to serve my food:

Red Checkered Food Trays

Popcorn Treat Bags

Sunshine Yellow Stripe Paper Straws

WHITE CHOCOLATE POPCORN

8 cups popped plain popcorn

1 cup white chocolate chips

Melt the white chocolate chips by placing them in a bowl and microwaving them for 1 minute at a time. Stir after each minute. My chocolate was melted after 2 minutes.

Place your popped popcorn in a large brown bag. Pour the melted chocolate over the top. Seal the top of the bag. Shake the bag to evening coat the popcorn. Set aside, or in the fridge, to allow the chocolate to cool down.

Enjoy!

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Gaze at the Stars Party : Invitation freebie

So.. vacation was a little more busy than I anticipated. It was a lot of fun, but too busy to keep up with this little blog. But, now we are home and I am excited to show you what we've been up to!

To celebrate the start of autumn, this past weekend my girls and I had a gazing at the stars party.

Since it was just for me and my girls, we didn't need invitations, but I made them anyways. It's always fun to get mail, so sometimes I surprise my daughters with notes and invitations. We each decorated an envelope with our DIY star stamp.

Gaze at the Stars Invitation Freebie Printable (download by clicking here)

new pencil eraser

xacto knife

ink pad

envelope

Use the xacto knife to carefully cut a star shape out of your pencil eraser. (This step is, obviously, for adults only). Then use your star eraser as you would a stamp to decorate your envelopes.

Monday, September 10, 2012

going on vacation..

I'm (finally!) going on vacation! Very excited about seeing my family again. It's been too long (ahem.. 5 months..)

But, while I am gone, it means my shop will be on vacation too.

So get your orders in today and they will ship out tomorrow!

after today, all orders will not ship until September 22nd.

I will be doing a lot of partying while gone, so be sure to follow my Instagram and Twitter posts.

You can find me on Instagram here.

And find me on Twitter here.

I'm new to both, so bear with me. But I promise to post new finds and fun ideas along the way.

And.. I will continue to blog, so be sure to check back here as well!

Friday, September 7, 2012

DIY : personal pinata

I've had this idea for a personal pinata for quite a while. Sometimes my favorite party ideas are the most intimidating because I don't want to mess it up. I want everything to be perfect. While these pictures are far from perfect, I still like how it all turned out.

I think these little pinatas would make adorable party favors, or even great thank yous! Who doesn't like pulling a string want watching confetti or candy fall? It's kind of classic good fun.

DIY small pinata template printable (click to download)

tissue paper

scissors

string

glue stick

Print and cut the pinata template. Glue the box together by only gluing together the flaps that say "glue here". Tie some string around the top before gluing the flaps. Don't glue the other flaps to anything. Your box should be open at the bottom. The extra flaps are to help your confetti and candy stay in place.

Cut some fringe in some tissue paper. My tissue paper was folded over and approximately 3 inches tall, which would make it approximately 1 1/2 inches tall once folded over.

With the glue stick, glue the fringed tissue on your box, covering the entire outside.

Once your box is covered in tissue, fill it with your confetti or candy. Tie some more string on a small piece of pretty tape. Use the tape to tape the bottom of your box together.

Hang your pinatas around your party and let your guests pull the strings to release the confetti! A fun and simple party idea that works great for children's parties as well as showers and weddings.