Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Birthday Party

My baby is getting ready to turn 5 in a few weeks.  I literally can not wrap my head around FIVE.  I just keep turning it over and over in my head wondering how it has went so fast.  (And then I read this by Katie and this by The Nester and I basically just sob because it never stops.  Parenting is so lovely and strangely hard. #bittersweet)  Anyways, back to the point at hand - Ninja Turtles!  When my nearly-5 baby was nearly-4 he desperately wanted a TMNT birthday party.   Because I take a long time to process my thoughts and am a terrible blogger who doesn't post things anywhere online in a timely fashion this post is a year late.  But somehow it feels ok to share this party in honor of his upcoming birthday, which I know makes no sense to anyone but me.  #thatsok

I love, love, love being a boy mama.  I love the loud, dirty, wrestling around, skinned knees-ness of boys.  But one of the things I struggle with HARD are characters.  Oy, the characters.  And boy characters pretty much all follow the same themes - they fight, they defeat bad guys, they have super powers &/or are weird.  So when TMNT came up I fought it.  I am fighting the good fight for all of us character-disliking mamas out there - and I am epically losing.  Bleh.  So when this came around as the toy/character of choice I decided that I would be ok with the fun-happy-silly turtles of the 80's, not the mean, aggressive, grunting TMNT of 2014.  (I'm hoping that I'm not the only mother out there who has grossly over thought this.)

But I digress.  So, how about if I actually talk about the party?  After over-analyzing if we should do this theme or something else I knew that our kiddo would love it the most and we went for it.  Honestly I had no idea how to make it fun.  I wanted it to be interactive and not just a lot of cutesy decorations. I decided pretty early on that I needed a few basics to do this party.

Pretty simple, right?  This party was very easy to set up.  We created a maze that had Turtle silhouettes on foam core at the entrances.  The maze was made of plastic electrical conduit that was cut in thirds, Dollar Tree pool noodles, and crepe paper streamers.  The whole maze cost around $20.  We had clothes line poles at our last house and we hung balloons at varying heights from the clothes lines.  That was the biggest hit of the whole party with the kids!  At the entrance of the maze we set up a tub with foam swords (also from the Dollar Tree) and DIY TMNT masks.  We didn't have many girls at the party but I can attest that the boys LOVED the swords and fighting the balloons.  Those things didn't stand a chance!  If you are throwing your own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle themed party this is the one thing that you have to do!

I wish that the pictures of the yard weren't so blown out.  But that's what happens when you have to shoot in full sun, you get the harsh sun/shade shadow.  To do the maze take your 10 foot electrical conduit and cut it into 3 pieces with a saw.  Then take a rubber mallet and tap them into the ground.  Slide your pool noodle over the tubing and then wrap the paper around streamers around different sections of the noodles making 'walls'.  Seriously, the possibilities are endless with this idea.  For the turtle silhouettes I picked up the black foam core from the Dollar Tree (#unofficialsponsor) and had my friend from Sprinkle The Kindness make me the turtle silhouettes.  She also cut the letters for the Happy Birthday sign behind the cupcake/gift table.

The rest of the party was just as simple.  I did paint the TMNT peg dolls for the cupcakes, but those were mostly for me because I thought it would be cute (my son declares that he 'hates peg dolls') and I wanted to do them.  For something similar you could look for something on Etsy or just use smaller figurines.  I had grabbed the green 'Pizza' banner after Christmas because I had a sneaking suspicion I would end up doing a turtle party.  I used some striped washi tape to spell 'Pizza'.  I used a scrap piece of wood to make a 'Mutagen' sign for a batch of green punch.  

And that's that!  If you are planning a TMNT themed party what are your plans for the day?  

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Looking for more birthday party inspiration?  You might enjoy these too:

Reading Themed Birthday Party

Little Mister Birthday Party

TMNT Pinterest Inspiration Board

100th Post - Shameless Self Promotion!

HELLO READERS!!!

I was getting ready to post a shameless self promoting post (hence the title) when lo and behold this happens to be my 100th post! So with all the congratulations in order (seeing as I've wasted enough time to post 100 times...) on to the self promoting....

For anyone that has followed this blog for a while you know that I have an Etsy shop. (If you didn't know go there now!} I've been doing a lot of updating to it recently and have come up with a few new designs that are being featured along with some older ones. Here is a taste of what you can find in my shop.

So if you're having a baby or just had a baby or are shopping for a baby check me out on Etsy!

Temporary Decor Ideas for Military Housing

{WARNING: LONG POST TO FOLLOW}

This past weekend I was able to visit a military base for the first time as my sister and brother-in-law, who is in the Air Force, moved onto base housing. I had never been on a base before and really found the whole thing to be very pleasant and quaint. My sisters new home is actually much nicer than I would have imagined as I feel I've always heard adverse things about military housing. The home seemed extremely well kept & up to date. Nothing fancy, but not bad at all.

As the man & I were driving back home I began to brainstorm about how you would decorate a home that didn't belong to you and that had to be kept in essentially the same condition as when you moved in, much like an apartment. My sister says that the official rule is, 'white walls in, white walls out', meaning you can paint, but you do so with the understanding that you will be required to repaint back to white before you move. With this idea in mind I've compiled a list of easy, stylish, & temporary decor ideas for base housing (which also apply to apartment dwellers as well).

In the past several years there has been a major increase in the popularity of vinyl wall decals. To be honest, I'm generally not a huge fan, however, wall decals have really taken on a life of their own and they no longer are just names & phrases. Wall decals come in nearly every shape, size, color, or design imaginable - and the best part is that they are very inexpensive temporary decor. There are tons of companies that offer standard or custom designs, they are even available on Etsy. Here are some that caught my eye:

From Dali Decals:
From Etsy seller byrdigraphic:
Wall decals are a great way to decorate a childs room, this is from Etsy seller studiojk:

Another great alternative with a big impact is temporary wallpaper or wallcoverings. Many of us have had the unfortunate experience of taking down preexisting wallpaper, but with the invention of temporary wallpaper this experience is a thing of the past. There are a few companys that carry this product, namely Sherwin Williams (Easy Change Wallpaper), Paper Apartment, and TemPaper. I wasn't able to find out much about the Sherwin Williams product, but it didn't seem super user friendly. Paper Apartment papers come in a blank paper role (choice of color) and a paint pen for making your own designs. It is attached to the wall with 3M stick tabs (the tabs sounded to me like they were essentially large scrapbook tabs). It seemed as if Paper Apartment papers weren't as user friendly and truthfully were difficult to install and time consuming to decorate. Overall it seems as if TemPaper is the favorite, and with a little research it isn't hard to see why - it is stinkin' easy to put up and take down. There are 5 VERY basic rules of application that I would liken to peeling the back off of a label and sticking it on the wall. It supposedly (from the website & individual reviews) removes as easy as a post-it. Here are some of their designs:


Another great way to cover your walls temporarily is an old method of using fabric and good old liquid starch. This is a pretty simple project and as long as you choose an inexpensive fabric it can also be done for a reasonable amount. For full directions on how to 'fabric' your walls click here.

Photo via Jesseblog:

I hope that these tips find all military and apartment dewellers doing well and feeling inspired!

Etsy Unveil!

It's happened - I've opened a shop on Etsy! Make sure to go and check it out {www.gingerkay.etsy.com}. Right now I've only got 2 items up, but more are sure to come. The shop will have entertaining kits and accessories, especially vintage & estate linen finds.

With help from my good friend Sarah we spent Saturday setting up and shooting photos of the 2 entertaining kits posted. For a sneak peek, here's what's currently being featured:

Here is the Holiday Package:
and here's the fall dinner package:

Election Gear

No one is more excited that this election is going to be over by the end of the day more than I am, but in the truest spirit of democracy and capitalism here are some just plain, too cute, election finds from our friends over at Etsy {www.etsy.com}. In the spirit of bi-partisanship (which I am not really), I'm going to be showcasing both parties.


From Seller: JonahDay


From Seller: misscharlotte



From Seller: ButtonDivas

From Seller: PinkTadPoles


From Seller: thedogcoatlady






{Editor's Note: I am posting this under Holidays & Party theme because there wasn't any better catagory.}

State Pillows

For a while now I've been lusting after vintage state souviner pillows. I don't know why but I love vintage state souviners. They are so cheesy and fun, I just love them! This morning ebay had quite the treasure trove of state jewels - including some of Missouri! Here are some that caught my eye (and a few that caught my bid!):

This pillow isn't vintage and isn't on ebay right now, but I am lusting after it.

Cake toppers

One of my absolute favorite vintage things are old wedding cake toppers. They have so much personality that I can't help but fall in love! These found on Esty by oilpainta are to die for. They are custom creations using vintage materials.


To purchase one of her lovely creations visit her online: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=100442.

Here are some more adorable ones found on Ebay:

This is quite the couple! Her skirt is still so beautiful!

This is a gorgeous topper from the 1920's. Still with most of it's orginal detail in tact and with very little discoloration.

A rare example of an African-American topper. This photo is hard to see, but the figures are really pretty up close.
Another lovely couple, this one from the 1950's.

No wedding would be complete without the wedding party!

This topper is a bit funny to me. First of all it is sad because they aren't in great shape. Secondly I am wondering why the bride is wearing only her veil and a look of horror on her face while the groom is staring at her bottom half. I have a feeling that the bride wasn't the only one at that wedding feeling uncomfortable.

This topper is particularly sweet to me - it's the one I had on my wedding cake!

Royal Accolades!

I was browsing around on Etsy when I stumbled across these custom made pillows from Karen Hilton Designs {http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5251465}. The only bad thing about her pillows is trying to narrow down which ones to buy! I wish that I would have seen these a month ago while I was putting together the London themed baby shower!