down the Rabbit Hole...

My insanely creative friend thought we should plan a Valentine's party for the kids with a twist.. introduce them to Wonderland! And, a Mad Hatter's brunch it was, in Wonderland. Complete with magic potions and mimosas, tea and teapots, playing cards and clocks, it was a treat to put together this event.

the madhatter

the kids were lead down the rabbit hole by the Mad Hatter, they had to follow paw prints and directions to find the rabbit hole and a short maze later they found li'l potions that shrunk them.

for the kids' valentines..

for the mommas..!

rip this heart!

made hearts that cannot wait to be torn and ripped this V-day.

sweethearts..

m&ms in wax paper hearts held together by a running stitch

and, healthy hearts!!

cherry tomatoes and cheese held together by a toothpick

entering truffle town!!

my newest learning. truffle making. Isn't perfect just yet.. but spreading the chocolatey love with all the trail batches!

star wars heralds the big six!

Our brand new 6yo has been sucked in by the Force.. and for his b'day, I planned on surprising him by redoing his room with a few Starwars elements and we planned a Star Wars themed party with 9 of his best boy buddies.

We got him and his li'l bro a new bunk bed. He was treated to an Anakin sheet set, and I made these accent pillows out of felt.

Made some felt wall art as well...

A Yoda message board and a Vader pin board.

We made these cupcakes for the celebration at school. The toppers are from Williams and Sonoma.

On to party prep.. we tuned our teeny space into a galaxy! Complete with all the planets, space ships, et al!

I'm not sure if it was the boys or their dads that were crazier about the decor!

Once everyone trickled in, hung out and warmed up, I introduced them to the Agenda. I'd created a "Yoda Box" where Yoda had messages for the 10 Padawans. And this was the first.. the Agenda.

At the end of each task, the padawans were given a treat. "Give Yoda his light saber" was pinning the light saber on Yoda. As each padawan was blindfolded, his friends guided him to stick the li'l strip of green masking tape in the right spot. When they tried their best to get the light saber to Yoda, they were given treat bags! I made these out of felt and fleece. And they had Star Wars stickers and band aid in there.

At the end of each task, they get a treat that they get to add to the bag. After "Saving Anakin" they got Yoda rings. "Following Yoda's secret instructions" was a treasure hunt. After solving 5 not so easy clues, they found their treasure. A note from Yoda that said that they were now Jedi and would be robed!

Each Padawan received a personalized rode. Boy! were they excited!!

Now that they were Jedi, they were ready to attack Death Star. I used a baseball pinata. Covered it with metallic grey tissue paper. And use a green color pencil for the laser.

Death Star was filled with li'l Lego Anakins, Star wars confetti and a few sweet treats. The Jedi were thrilled to find mini Anakins in Death Star. Quite appropriate uh?! And, more treats int he treat bag.

A battered death Star is now part of N's room decor!

This was the menu:

these were the biggest hit! They were gone even before I could get a quick picture!

The b'day cake was Tatooine - made from chocolate cake, buttercream frosting with brown food coloring, fondant, marzipan, icing and Legos!

After many hours for fighting, running, eating, chatting, dancing, competing, deciphering, drinking and all else, we settled into watching a New Hope for a little while.. and as the young Jedi's left the galaxy, they picked up their last treat..

zen zzzzzz...s

Baseball b'day!

Ho ho ho.. holidays!

I was really active during these Holidays - Played Santa, Spun the dreidel, decorated X'mas cupcakes, made ornaments, hosted gift exchanges, brunches and dinners.. and stayed up till 2012 made it in!

cheese reindeer + marshmellow snowmen!

my anthropologie inspired centerpiece

where's rudi?

home grown santa.