A Spooky 8th Birthday Party!

Don't be fooled, this is not a Halloween party.

This is...

.

 If you know my daughter you know she's interested in all kinds of different things.  As her birthday neared we began to discuss her birthday party themes.  Every couple of days her ideas changed.  At one point we had an "art party", then "a craft party", and maybe "an animal party".  Her ideas often changed, finally, I told her we needed to get serious and make a last and final plan.  As Halloween is getting a little closer, I think she was inspired to chose "A Spooky Things" party.

When I showed her this post by Dana Made it. I think that's what really sealed the deal.  

She wanted to make a cute rock ghost town. 

So, we got to work planning the rest of the party.

Once the 7 guests arrived, we began by playing Ball-ooooon ball.  By keeping the balloons up in the air.

I found these awesome balloons at Target that you could pull a string and they would glow on their own.  The kids loved them!  Afterwards they all wanted to take their balloon home.

Next we played "Feed the Monster". 

I made "Mr. Monster' out of three boxes.  The base and head are made from large diaper boxes.  I hot glued left over green Yoda fabric onto the monster for the head.  The glued lots of white felt for the teeth and eyes.  Lastly, I safety pinned black fabric I had on hand, for the clothes.

I got the idea for Mr. Monster from this site. 

We gathered up eight balls we had on hand and put them in a Halloween bucket.  Luckily, we just happened to have crazy balls like brains and eyeballs, which the kids threw into the monster's mouth.

Our last game was Pin the nose on the witch.  This was a $1 Target find.
A Classic game, can't beat it!  We play some variation of this game at every party I've ever thrown, but usually I draw something.

And lastly, we did two crafts.  This $7 set was perfect from Target.  

I passed out each child two foam characters and we shared the pieces to decorate. 

As you can remember, my daughter really wanted to make a Ghost Town for little rocks.  I brainstormed how to use our recycled boxed to spray paint, cut out, and help 9 little kids decorate....and my brain began to hurt.  I decided to see what Hobby Lobby had and I found this set of Haunted Houses...it was Perfect!

We spray painted some rocks found in the yard and let the kids have at it. 

After our games and crafts were done, it was dinner time.

Dinner was watermelon and pizza!

For dessert I made these fun monster cookies.

These sugar cookies are so simple and delicious 

and you can't beat this awesome, fun Glace icing.

We cut out egg shaped cookies and went around with different tinted glace icing all crazy like (you can't go wrong). 

Then we topped them off with some Wilton candy eyeballs.

Not surprisingly, this girl wanted creepy Strawberry Monster cupcakes.
They were pretty simple to make and very creepy to eat. 

What a fun party!  We sure love our spooky-loving girl!

Nightgowns using The Building Block Dress.

This year for Christmas I had dreams of flannel matching PJs for my children. 

I had decided early on I'd like to try my hand at designing my own nightgown pattern for the girl's using The Building Block Dress book and PJ bottoms for the boys using Sunny Day Shorts, extended down to pants.  I found great Luxe Flannel from JoAnns that would be similar, but not perfectly matchy.

On Christmas Eve we passed out everyone's new PJs and they looked adorable!

Here's a look at how I made the nightgowns.  

I followed the directions in the book to make the following alterations to the pattern to make these nightgowns.

My girls are really close in size, so I made one size 7 and one size 6 and measured how long the nightgowns should be.

 I wanted the buttons to be in the front so the girl's could get dressed each night by themselves.  

It works great!

Sweet girls in their matching nightgowns. 

The gathered skirt makes the twirl factor on point!

These turned out so cute, it will be fun this summer making some summer nightgowns with butterfly sleeves.

Star Wars Family Costumes

The idea for these costumes actually began last year.  We had a cute little baby and I thought, wouldn't it be so cute to dress him up as an Ewok?  

We almost did, but then my husband said, "Why don't we go crazy next year and dress the family up as Star Wars characters.  By then he can walk on his own.  I think it will work better."  

Well, it didn't take much convincing.  It was a plan!

So, one year later.  I got busy.  I started drawing out designs and gathering clothes from Goodwill and fabric from JoAnns in late August.  I didn't want to be rushed and going crazy, like I usually do, so I figured if I got an early start-- that would help with the sewing mayhem.  I finished exactly one week ago, so I guess there is something to this "don't procrastinate thing"!

Now, as if you can't tell, let me introduce the characters.

Up First,

Chewbacca! 

I was really worried about this costume.  And really, this was the last one I completed.  I think because I was so worried about it, I thought it over for months and actually when it came to execution, it all came together rather quickly.

The body is made from 2 1/2 yards of brown fur from JoAnns. It's basically a hooded bodysuit, which Velcros in the front.  Plus I made little foot covers, that go over the shoes.

 I made the sash/bag thing from (fake)leather, and decided last minute (thanks to husband's suggestion) to make the bag actually functional so he can get his loot right in there. My son helped me pick out wood scraps and paint them silver and I hot glued them to the shoulder strap.

We ended up buying him an early birthday present, the Wookie Mask, which is super fun, with all the crazy growls it makes.  Then we picked up some cheap black knit gloves.

When he has his mask off he feels all snuggly like a little bear. 

 Maybe next year he can be Big Foot! 

Up Next, the reason for all the costumes-- 

Wicket!!

This Ewok costume was super simple.  I just took our little monkey costume, which has been worn by four different kids now, pinned up the tail, pinch in the ears, and added a flannel orange hood, with some leather/button details. 

I also last minute, decided to make a spear out of a stick, which served a great purpose, distracting him from how much he hates having that hood on!

Wicket and  Princess Leia. 

Wicket and Han.

 Han Solo and Princess Leia

Han is wearing blue pants, which he owned with red electrical tape down the side, a white Henley from Goodwill, and a Black Vest, which I sewed.  He was kind of sad I didn't make a cool holster-- sorry, dear -- next time.

All I did for myself, Princess Leia from Endor, was sew a green hooded poncho/shirt thing out of comfy fleece, which I pretended was more camo than it actually is.  I put a yellow electrical tape strip down my pants and I tried hard to fancy braid my hair, but this is as good as it gets. 

Obi Wan Kenobi

 is next!

I took some really good ideas from Delia Creates for this outfit. I used her tutorial to make the cloak and the white vest. Under everything else he's wearing a white shirt and some khaki pants. 

This boy had to have a blue light saber, so he used his own money to buy one, because "everyone knows Obi Wan uses a blue light saber."  Apparently the green or red one we had would not cut it.

 I used a little editing magic to make it glow.

 Now we've got this cutie, 

Rey!

She's so cute.  

Her outfit was simply made with a white T-shirt, brown pants from Goodwill, a long strap of brown cotton fabric, which I tore into long strips, gathered in a few places, safety pinned to the shoulders, and tied a belt around.  

I had some issues with the arm straps.  First, I started with cotton straps, but those wouldn't stay.  Eventually I tried an ace bandage, which worked much better, and was comfortable for her-- except when they slipped down.

She was a bit worried that her hair was blond, and not brown, but I somehow convinced her, that it would still work.  Her hair style really makes the outfit!

And last, but certainly, not least:

Yoda!

And, no, ha, I didn't tell her what faces to make.  This is Alllll her!

For Yoda's hat I sewed up the Cozy Winter Hood from the Little Things to Sew book by Oliver + S. 

I added Yoda ears to the side. I ended up filling them with a little cotton on bottom, and a one pipe cleaner, folded in half, on top.  That gave the ears great shape.  She can even bend them to "hear better".  The idea of "white hairs sticking out" was her idea.

She's also wearing brown clothes from Goodwill and a brown cloak that I sewed in the same manner as the Obi Wan cloak. Last minute, we also added some green, knit gloves.

And that's everyone!

Now on to some fun pictures of everyone playing around.

Wow, Chewy, you're so tall!

Guys, don't fight, you're on the same team!

Bad, chewy!

This year was so much fun to sew!  Lots of work, but really a blast.  

For inquiring minds, I did all our costumes for just under $90.  Not bad!

The Force is Strong with these ones.