#yes this is another one of the 50 aforementioned photos I took of her sitting here

[willabee]

willabee observing you

[jimblanceusa]

As Suspect Press shuts down, are Colorado’s other free, indie magazines in danger of disappearing?

The final issue of Suspect Press, photographed at City O’ City in Denver. (Beth Rankin, The Denver Post)The website for Suspect Press, a seven-year-old Denver literary and art magazine, confronts readers with a stark yet familiar proclamation.

“PRINT’S NOT DEAD,” it states just under its digital masthead, and in relation to its Summer 2020 issue — the magazine’s 26th overall.

Just beneath that, however, is a letter from editor-in-chief Amanda E.K.

“We all know nothing lasts forever — especially not in 2020 — and we at Suspect Press have made the decision, after 7 years strong, to go another direction,” she wrote. “This is the last issue you’ll hold of this version of the magazine before we go into hiatus. Then, when the time is right, our art director Lonnie MF Allen will introduce you to a new draft of Suspect.”

But it wasn’t just the pandemic that did it in.

“We knew already a year ago that our Meow Wolf contract was running out,” E.K. said over the phone. “We were like, ‘What’s going to come next? We could look for grants and investors, keep talking with Meow Wolf, or become a nonprofit.’ We already knew we were going to be struggling in 2020.”

In fact, the $125,000 grant from Meow Wolf — Santa Fe’s buzzy art-and-entertainment company that’s planning to open a Denver location next year — was originally set to run out this week. But having laid off half its staff earlier this year, Meow Wolf ended that contract two months early, E.K. said.

“We used their money to help build our book-publishing business, pay salaries and make this a full-time gig,” E.K. said. “That was extremely exciting.”

With an average, pre-coronavirus distribution of 5,000 copies at more than 300 metro-area locations, Suspect Press looked like a success story amid Colorado’s boom-and-bust publishing scene. Even with the decline of traditional media and the rise of multiple digital-news startups, the Front Range has always boasted a panoply of free, arts-and-culture-focused print magazines that can be picked up at book stores, coffee shops, dispensaries, liquor stores, music venues, bars and restaurants.

Suspect Press editor-in-chief Amanda E.K., left, and former editor Josiah Hesse in a photo shoot for Out Front Colorado — another free, independent print magazine in the metro area. (Veronica L. Holyfield, provided by Suspect Press)”Cool, free, arty zines and publications like that — they’re always a struggle,” said Patricia Calhoun, founder and editor of Westword, Denver’s alternative newsweekly that often sits near these free, local magazines. “They’re usually labors of love. People do things like Suspect Press because they believe in them, not because they’re going to make money.”

Some independent magazines do, however. While Suspect Press was a black-and-white newsprint publication, Denver’s monthly magazine Birdy is a sturdy, full-color art concern that has recently expanded to Los Angeles. The Rooster, a college-aiming magazine based in Longmont, runs more like a national glossy, with copious ads, happy hour guides and other millennial-targeting content.

Edible, which expanded from Colorado Springs to Boulder, Denver and Fort Collins earlier this year, tells stories of the people behind the food we eat. The Marquee, a free, Boulder-based print magazine distributed to more than 30 locations since 2013, has filled in the gap of major-market publications’ coverage since investments in music journalism have dropped in recent years.

The Rooster, a free monthly magazine that’s delivered at drop spots around the Front Range, bills itself as “a magazine that allows you to relax and fully engross yourself in a humorous and provocative editorial journey that won’t drain, but enlighten and excite.” (Beth Rankin, The Denver Post)All of these magazines have wildly different revenue models, goals and character, their publishers are quick to point out. But what they share goes beyond their free-to-take print models.

Plummeting or nonexistent ad revenue, hobbled distribution and overlapping national crises have forced them to consider what these labors of love are really worth, and how long they can be sustained. Owing to their print focus, most of the aforementioned titles had little to no online presence before the pandemic. They’re now scrambling to beef it up amid the overall trend toward virtual life.

That makes free, local, indie print magazines even more meaningful, publishers say, particularly as otherwise mundane, face-to-face experiences — from school lessons to doctor’s appointments  — are increasingly conducted digitally. Despite the high costs of paper and ink, and the newly complicated business of distribution, there’s no substitute for the sense of community they encourage.

Ashley Kirkovich took over Edible Denver in January and released her first, retooled print issue in March. (Provided by Edible Denver)”Print is also a break from modern life,” said Simon Berger, founder of The Rooster. “It gives you a moment to step back from the overwhelming bombardment of technology and control your pace of information. There’s a novelty and nostalgia to it, but it really is a reprieve from your phone.”

The Rooster, which Berger launched in 2008, was one of Colorado’s first publications to openly accept medical-marijuana dispensary advertising (and, eventually, recreational ads) starting in 2010. While dollars from that green tide have seemingly lifted all publications in Colorado, Berger knew he had to diversify to keep his core print business afloat.

In addition to locking down big sponsors such as Kroenke Sports and AEG Presents, Berger and his staff launched Red Bird Creative Studios, an advertising agency, and are preparing to debut a digital happy-hour guide next month (yes, even during the pandemic).

But print is still a precarious place to be. The Rooster had to take three months off from publishing earlier this year after the pandemic hit as Berger figured out how to pay for it. With a normal complement of 75 to 100 advertisers, and average distribution of 60,000 free copies in 2,000 statewide locations, The Rooster had significant costs to cover.

Berger won’t say by how much his circulation or distribution has dropped since then. But when The Rooster came back in July with its first new print issue since the pandemic arrived, it was with renewed purpose — and austerity.

(Provided by Birdy Magazine)”We’re conserving cash, cutting our budget and not investing too heavily in anything outside the company,” he said. “And, of course, all of our events are on pause.”

As Berger also began to invest in his digital product, he watched subscriptions — which are typically low-to-nonexistent for free, locally distributed print magazines — jump from about 100 to 1,000.

“We’ve always wanted to create something people would pay for, but that they were lucky enough to get for free,” he said. “We want to be taken home, shared with friends, and displayed on your coffee table.”

Or the dinner table. The Colorado-based franchise of Edible, a free, printed food magazine with products in more than 70 U.S. and Canadian markets, had just relaunched in March when the pandemic hit.

“My timing was terrible,” said publisher Ashley Kirkovich, the former marketing director for Niman Ranch who had admired the magazine (formerly known as Edible Front Range) before purchasing it in January. “We’re a quarterly, so I felt like, for the sake of brand consistency, I really needed to be visible in the market.”

Without bars or restaurants for readers to visit (or for Edible to solicit advertising from), Kirkovich estimates the first issue’s distribution was down by about 60% over previous installments — though she admitted she doesn’t have many data points to compare it to. Her summer issue fared better, even considering that she curtailed the print run from 15,000 copies to 12,000 to adjust for decreased demand.

Jonny DeStefano and Krysti Joméi, co-founders and co-editors of Denver’s Birdy Magazine. (Provided by Birdy)For her fall issue, releasing Sept. 28, Kirkovich will bump Edible’s print run back up to 15,000 copies in anticipation of adding another 30 distribution outlets to Edible’s existing 50 or so. That’s impressive, considering she’s often felt too guilty to ask for advertising from her usual supporters.

“It feels so crummy to say, ‘I know you may not be in business when this comes out, but want to take out an ad?’ ” she said. “So I’ve definitely pivoted toward (advertising from) liquor and retail stores.”

Readership and ad dollars in some Edible markets has increased since March, Kirkovich said, based on calls with other publishers. She sees similar opportunity in serving Front Range foodies who have shifted from visiting every new restaurant that opens to baking, gardening and Instagramming their own kitchen experiments.

Kirkovich has also gotten creative, partnering with community-supported agriculture programs to add a free copy of Edible to the boxes of fresh produce delivered to farm-share buyers. But she refuses to go online-only.

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“Call me old school, but at the end of the day, I bought a print magazine,” she said. “When digital fatigue sets in, people need something tangible to engage with when having a glass of wine.”

Also strongly committed to sticking around is Birdy, the monthly Denver art magazine that has benefited greatly from its artistic partnership with Devo founder and film composer Mark Mothersbaugh. Despite the trials of 2020, Birdy recently expanded its distribution to 140 locations in Los Angeles, with about 1,000 copies of each issue (total average monthly print run: 10,000) headed to potential new readers in that city.

Prior to the pandemic, Birdy was distributed to 300 or so locations along the Front Range, not including national and international subscriptions.

“We could not bail out on the most important moment in our lifetimes,” said Krysti Joméi, co-founder and co-editor of Birdy. “It sounds dramatic to say, but as a magazine, we’ve been through times that are just as hard as right now on our (business).”

As a result, Birdy has not skipped a single issue since March, despite ratcheting down its copies from March through May of this year to 3,000, about 70% off from its usual print run. Along with partner and co-founder Jonny DeStefano, Joméi has also seen Birdy’s web traffic skyrocket, despite her lack of past investment in it, even as they build up their print numbers again.

“We never had much of a website before this on purpose,” she said. “We were always, ‘We’re super punk-rock and analog, just like vinyl records!’ But since March, there’s been a real urgency to provide even more accessibility to our readers.”

In that, all of these publications continue a grand tradition of scrappy, DIY entrepreneurship that has defined the Front Range publishing scene for decades, said Westword founder and editor Calhoun, including now-defunct, nationally lauded titles such as Muse and Modern Drunkard.

“The fact that they’re independent means they generally don’t play well with others,” she said. “They often don’t have organizations behind them. Who’s got time for that? But you’ve got to have a patron, or grants, because publishing in print isn’t cheap.”

Whether or not institutions like D.I.N.K. — a.k.a. the Denver Independent Comics & Art Expo — return in the future (they took this year off, for obvious reasons), the scene will continue to exist regardless of economics. The passion inherent in independent publishing is stronger than market trends, publishers say.

“I’m sad that we’re losing this established platform that actually paid contributors,” Suspect Press’ E.K. said. “But I’m hoping that us fading away will inspire other young kids to come up in the scene, take what we did, and make it their own.”

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox.

from Latest Information https://www.denverpost.com/2020/09/14/suspect-press-independent-publications-colorado-coronavirus/

[laurendzim]

As Suspect Press shuts down, are Colorado’s other free, indie magazines in danger of disappearing?

The final issue of Suspect Press, photographed at City O’ City in Denver. (Beth Rankin, The Denver Post)The website for Suspect Press, a seven-year-old Denver literary and art magazine, confronts readers with a stark yet familiar proclamation.

“PRINT’S NOT DEAD,” it states just under its digital masthead, and in relation to its Summer 2020 issue — the magazine’s 26th overall.

Just beneath that, however, is a letter from editor-in-chief Amanda E.K.

“We all know nothing lasts forever — especially not in 2020 — and we at Suspect Press have made the decision, after 7 years strong, to go another direction,” she wrote. “This is the last issue you’ll hold of this version of the magazine before we go into hiatus. Then, when the time is right, our art director Lonnie MF Allen will introduce you to a new draft of Suspect.”

But it wasn’t just the pandemic that did it in.

“We knew already a year ago that our Meow Wolf contract was running out,” E.K. said over the phone. “We were like, ‘What’s going to come next? We could look for grants and investors, keep talking with Meow Wolf, or become a nonprofit.’ We already knew we were going to be struggling in 2020.”

In fact, the $125,000 grant from Meow Wolf — Santa Fe’s buzzy art-and-entertainment company that’s planning to open a Denver location next year — was originally set to run out this week. But having laid off half its staff earlier this year, Meow Wolf ended that contract two months early, E.K. said.

“We used their money to help build our book-publishing business, pay salaries and make this a full-time gig,” E.K. said. “That was extremely exciting.”

With an average, pre-coronavirus distribution of 5,000 copies at more than 300 metro-area locations, Suspect Press looked like a success story amid Colorado’s boom-and-bust publishing scene. Even with the decline of traditional media and the rise of multiple digital-news startups, the Front Range has always boasted a panoply of free, arts-and-culture-focused print magazines that can be picked up at book stores, coffee shops, dispensaries, liquor stores, music venues, bars and restaurants.

Suspect Press editor-in-chief Amanda E.K., left, and former editor Josiah Hesse in a photo shoot for Out Front Colorado — another free, independent print magazine in the metro area. (Veronica L. Holyfield, provided by Suspect Press)”Cool, free, arty zines and publications like that — they’re always a struggle,” said Patricia Calhoun, founder and editor of Westword, Denver’s alternative newsweekly that often sits near these free, local magazines. “They’re usually labors of love. People do things like Suspect Press because they believe in them, not because they’re going to make money.”

Some independent magazines do, however. While Suspect Press was a black-and-white newsprint publication, Denver’s monthly magazine Birdy is a sturdy, full-color art concern that has recently expanded to Los Angeles. The Rooster, a college-aiming magazine based in Longmont, runs more like a national glossy, with copious ads, happy hour guides and other millennial-targeting content.

Edible, which expanded from Colorado Springs to Boulder, Denver and Fort Collins earlier this year, tells stories of the people behind the food we eat. The Marquee, a free, Boulder-based print magazine distributed to more than 30 locations since 2013, has filled in the gap of major-market publications’ coverage since investments in music journalism have dropped in recent years.

The Rooster, a free monthly magazine that’s delivered at drop spots around the Front Range, bills itself as “a magazine that allows you to relax and fully engross yourself in a humorous and provocative editorial journey that won’t drain, but enlighten and excite.” (Beth Rankin, The Denver Post)All of these magazines have wildly different revenue models, goals and character, their publishers are quick to point out. But what they share goes beyond their free-to-take print models.

Plummeting or nonexistent ad revenue, hobbled distribution and overlapping national crises have forced them to consider what these labors of love are really worth, and how long they can be sustained. Owing to their print focus, most of the aforementioned titles had little to no online presence before the pandemic. They’re now scrambling to beef it up amid the overall trend toward virtual life.

That makes free, local, indie print magazines even more meaningful, publishers say, particularly as otherwise mundane, face-to-face experiences — from school lessons to doctor’s appointments  — are increasingly conducted digitally. Despite the high costs of paper and ink, and the newly complicated business of distribution, there’s no substitute for the sense of community they encourage.

Ashley Kirkovich took over Edible Denver in January and released her first, retooled print issue in March. (Provided by Edible Denver)”Print is also a break from modern life,” said Simon Berger, founder of The Rooster. “It gives you a moment to step back from the overwhelming bombardment of technology and control your pace of information. There’s a novelty and nostalgia to it, but it really is a reprieve from your phone.”

The Rooster, which Berger launched in 2008, was one of Colorado’s first publications to openly accept medical-marijuana dispensary advertising (and, eventually, recreational ads) starting in 2010. While dollars from that green tide have seemingly lifted all publications in Colorado, Berger knew he had to diversify to keep his core print business afloat.

In addition to locking down big sponsors such as Kroenke Sports and AEG Presents, Berger and his staff launched Red Bird Creative Studios, an advertising agency, and are preparing to debut a digital happy-hour guide next month (yes, even during the pandemic).

But print is still a precarious place to be. The Rooster had to take three months off from publishing earlier this year after the pandemic hit as Berger figured out how to pay for it. With a normal complement of 75 to 100 advertisers, and average distribution of 60,000 free copies in 2,000 statewide locations, The Rooster had significant costs to cover.

Berger won’t say by how much his circulation or distribution has dropped since then. But when The Rooster came back in July with its first new print issue since the pandemic arrived, it was with renewed purpose — and austerity.

(Provided by Birdy Magazine)”We’re conserving cash, cutting our budget and not investing too heavily in anything outside the company,” he said. “And, of course, all of our events are on pause.”

As Berger also began to invest in his digital product, he watched subscriptions — which are typically low-to-nonexistent for free, locally distributed print magazines — jump from about 100 to 1,000.

“We’ve always wanted to create something people would pay for, but that they were lucky enough to get for free,” he said. “We want to be taken home, shared with friends, and displayed on your coffee table.”

Or the dinner table. The Colorado-based franchise of Edible, a free, printed food magazine with products in more than 70 U.S. and Canadian markets, had just relaunched in March when the pandemic hit.

“My timing was terrible,” said publisher Ashley Kirkovich, the former marketing director for Niman Ranch who had admired the magazine (formerly known as Edible Front Range) before purchasing it in January. “We’re a quarterly, so I felt like, for the sake of brand consistency, I really needed to be visible in the market.”

Without bars or restaurants for readers to visit (or for Edible to solicit advertising from), Kirkovich estimates the first issue’s distribution was down by about 60% over previous installments — though she admitted she doesn’t have many data points to compare it to. Her summer issue fared better, even considering that she curtailed the print run from 15,000 copies to 12,000 to adjust for decreased demand.

Jonny DeStefano and Krysti Joméi, co-founders and co-editors of Denver’s Birdy Magazine. (Provided by Birdy)For her fall issue, releasing Sept. 28, Kirkovich will bump Edible’s print run back up to 15,000 copies in anticipation of adding another 30 distribution outlets to Edible’s existing 50 or so. That’s impressive, considering she’s often felt too guilty to ask for advertising from her usual supporters.

“It feels so crummy to say, ‘I know you may not be in business when this comes out, but want to take out an ad?’ ” she said. “So I’ve definitely pivoted toward (advertising from) liquor and retail stores.”

Readership and ad dollars in some Edible markets has increased since March, Kirkovich said, based on calls with other publishers. She sees similar opportunity in serving Front Range foodies who have shifted from visiting every new restaurant that opens to baking, gardening and Instagramming their own kitchen experiments.

Kirkovich has also gotten creative, partnering with community-supported agriculture programs to add a free copy of Edible to the boxes of fresh produce delivered to farm-share buyers. But she refuses to go online-only.

Related Articles

Coronavirus pandemic takes harsh toll on young adults’ mental health, poll finds

Friednash: Trump triggered an avalanche in Colorado that will wipe out Republicans in 2020

Nuggets rookie Michael Porter Jr. after clutch Game 5: “I stand by what I say”

Madrid: Don’t decry the “language of the unheard” with whistles of law and order

Laura victims may go weeks without power; US deaths reach 14

“Call me old school, but at the end of the day, I bought a print magazine,” she said. “When digital fatigue sets in, people need something tangible to engage with when having a glass of wine.”

Also strongly committed to sticking around is Birdy, the monthly Denver art magazine that has benefited greatly from its artistic partnership with Devo founder and film composer Mark Mothersbaugh. Despite the trials of 2020, Birdy recently expanded its distribution to 140 locations in Los Angeles, with about 1,000 copies of each issue (total average monthly print run: 10,000) headed to potential new readers in that city.

Prior to the pandemic, Birdy was distributed to 300 or so locations along the Front Range, not including national and international subscriptions.

“We could not bail out on the most important moment in our lifetimes,” said Krysti Joméi, co-founder and co-editor of Birdy. “It sounds dramatic to say, but as a magazine, we’ve been through times that are just as hard as right now on our (business).”

As a result, Birdy has not skipped a single issue since March, despite ratcheting down its copies from March through May of this year to 3,000, about 70% off from its usual print run. Along with partner and co-founder Jonny DeStefano, Joméi has also seen Birdy’s web traffic skyrocket, despite her lack of past investment in it, even as they build up their print numbers again.

“We never had much of a website before this on purpose,” she said. “We were always, ‘We’re super punk-rock and analog, just like vinyl records!’ But since March, there’s been a real urgency to provide even more accessibility to our readers.”

In that, all of these publications continue a grand tradition of scrappy, DIY entrepreneurship that has defined the Front Range publishing scene for decades, said Westword founder and editor Calhoun, including now-defunct, nationally lauded titles such as Muse and Modern Drunkard.

“The fact that they’re independent means they generally don’t play well with others,” she said. “They often don’t have organizations behind them. Who’s got time for that? But you’ve got to have a patron, or grants, because publishing in print isn’t cheap.”

Whether or not institutions like D.I.N.K. — a.k.a. the Denver Independent Comics & Art Expo — return in the future (they took this year off, for obvious reasons), the scene will continue to exist regardless of economics. The passion inherent in independent publishing is stronger than market trends, publishers say.

“I’m sad that we’re losing this established platform that actually paid contributors,” Suspect Press’ E.K. said. “But I’m hoping that us fading away will inspire other young kids to come up in the scene, take what we did, and make it their own.”

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox.

from News And Updates https://www.denverpost.com/2020/09/14/suspect-press-independent-publications-colorado-coronavirus/

[ratpresenting]

1-100

Unusual asks! 1. Spotify, SoundCloud, or Pandora? Spotify all the way, I have like, 40 playlists and I use it every day2. Is your room messy or clean?So messy, but I clean it up once it really bugs me3. What color are your eyes?Green-ish?4. Do you like your name? why?Not really, it's a really common name and i don't really feel it fits me, but I'm fine with it. My middle name is Elizabeth and I've always wanted to go by Eli but its too far gone now5. What is your relationship status? I'll stick with complicated6. Describe your personality in 3 words or lessFriendly, obnoxious, anxious7. What color hair do you have?Dirty blond8. What kind of car do you drive? color?I don't have a car, but if I'm saving up for one and its going to be a motorcycle, not a car. 📣(I hate everything about cars!!!)9. Where do you shop?Mostly thrift stores and consignment stores10. How would you describe your style?Like, 80s mom meets 90s grunge meets modern goth witch11. Favorite social media accountProbably twitter at this point12. What size bed do you have? Queen 👑13. Any siblings?A half-sister, shes a little older than me though, and she lives across the country, but i love her and miss her!14. If you can live anywhere in the world where would it be? why?Probably Eastern Canada because my family is super Canadian and i just love it there15. Favorite snapchat filter? Idk any really, I guess that one that makes ur eyes and mouth really big because my friend uses it alot and its so funny!16. Favorite makeup brand(s)Mostly Tarte and Urban Decay; Tarte because I'm allergic to most other shit and Urban Decay because I love the Naked palettes and I will suffer for them17. How many times a week do you shower?I wash my hair every few days but I shower like once a week in the winter and every couple days in the summer18. Favorite tv show?Brooklyn 99 or Game of Thrones19. Shoe size?8-ish20. How tall are you?5'9" if I stand up straight21. Sandals or sneakers? Depends on where I'm going, I like my feet to breathe, but boots and sneakers can be so cool and really put together and outfit22. Do you go to the gym? I have a gym membership that I sometimes use, but not having a vehicle right now is imposing on that23. Describe your dream dateA date that keeps going. Starting with food or drinks or whatever, and having such a good time that you keep it going and you go somewhere else, and another place. Enjoying each others' company so much that you don't want the night to end, even if that means staying up until the sun comes up. It doesn't matter if we're just sitting in a park talking and smoking cigarettes, its that neverending want that matters to me. 24. How much money do you have in your wallet at the moment?Cash, $12. I mostly use my debit card so i don't really carry cash25. What color socks are you wearing? I am not wearing socks right now because I am in bed but usually black26. How many pillows do you sleep with?1 under my head but usually at least 3 in my bed, well as all the shit thats on the left half of my bed27. Do you have a job? what do you do? Yes I work at a restaurant called Tokyo Joe's, I'm the unofficial assistant manager, and I am most often making sushi or taking out food and such.28. How many friends do you have? Including work friends I have 5, not including work I have 3. 29. Whats the worst thing you have ever done? Broke up a couple. Its whole thing.30. Whats your favorite candle scent? This candle I got from Ross, its tobacco leaf and Rose, but I'm more of an incense gal31. 3 favorite boy namesCharlie, Adrian, and Danny32. 3 favorite girl namesEli, Andi, and Dani (These and the last 3 are interchangable because I like genderless names)33. Favorite actor? Idk any off the top of my head, mostly because I kind of hate men, I really like Chadwick Boseman's acting, and I really like Leonardo DiCaprio as a person34. Favorite actress? This is really hard because I love lots of ladies, but acting wise I like Charlize Theron and Natalie Portman I guess? Idk I've seen like 7 movies. I love my gal Kristen Stewart though35. Who is your celebrity crush?I have several, more well known being the aforementioned kstew, and some lesser known names such as Lynn Gunn, Paris Jackson, and Hannah Hart36. Favorite movie? This is so hard, I guess the lotr trilogy because I can always watch that if I want to. I'm really more of a tv show kinda gal37. Do you read a lot? whats your favorite book? I used to when I was younger, I stopped when my depression took over pretty much my whole life, but I've been slowly getting back into it. I used to read a lot of teen fiction and my favorite was always Harry Potter, but now my favorite book is probably Through the Looking Glass, just because I loved it as a kid and its a nice nostalgia read, as well as a unique and creative book.38. Money or brains? Always brains.39. Do you have a nickname? what is it? Not really but I wish I did!40. How many times have you been to the hospital?I myself have had to go to the hospital only once that I can remember, ( I crashed my motorcycle) but other than that a few times for visiting family/ friends41. Top 10 favorite songsIn no particular order-Anyone Else, Pvris-Somebody Else, The 1975-In A Week, Hozier-Cherry Wine, Hozier-Pork Soda, Glass Animals-Interlude 1, Alt-J-Agnes, Glass Animals-If I Believe You, The 1975-Obsidian, Trevor Hall-From The Dining Table, Harry Styles42. Do you take any medications daily? I'm supposed to take allergy medicine but I never do so no43. What is your skin type? (oily, dry, etc)Kind of on the dry side, I'm a lucky shit though because I barely take care of it and its pretty nice and soft44. What is your biggest fear? Everyone hating me45. How many kids do you want? A couple, adopted only46. Whats your go to hair style?I have pretty short hair thats curly. The sides and back are short and the top is curly, parted on the left,so it hangs just above my right eye47. What type of house do you live in? (big, small, etc) Smallish condo with my ma!48. Who is your role model? Hannah Hart!49. What was the last compliment you received?My coworker said I have a very elegant air to me, especially when I tell stories, because I always cross my legs and i talk very extravagantly with my hands50. What was the last text you sent?My coworker Kaylee❤ dropped me off and I let her know I was in my house because you can't see my house from the street and she worries51. How old were you when you found out santa wasn’t real?I don't think I ever believed in him?52. What is your dream car? I'm gonna replace car with motorcycle and its an Zero SR ❤53. Opinion on smoking?Unfortunately, I smoke. I love cigarettes! I smoke Newport 100s. I bought a vape to help me smoke less and it definitely helps!54. Do you go to college? Ya, I'm very slowly getting my associates at MCC55. What is your dream job? I have no idea, but something I enjoy doing, and hopefully something that makes changes for the better56. Would you rather live in rural areas or the suburbs? I truly just want to live in the middle of the woods and be a woodland witch 57. Do you take shampoo and conditioner bottles from hotels? No, I have too expensive of shampoo for that and thats a stupid waste of plastic.58. Do you have freckles? Not like the classic type, but I have some random ones on my body.59. Do you smile for pictures?Almost always60. How many pictures do you have on your phone? Over 200061. Have you ever peed in the woods? Yes, I've been camping several times62. Do you still watch cartoons? Not really63. Do you prefer chicken nuggets from Wendy’s or McDonalds?I don't eat chicken nuggets because they are 1. Chicken and 2. Garbage64. Favorite dipping sauce? Balsamic vinegar or Sriracha, depending on what it is. 65. What do you wear to bed? I sleep nakey 66. Have you ever won a spelling bee?Maybe? I don't know67. What are your hobbies?Sometimes reading, sometimes writing, alot of staring at my wall in the dark while listening to music68. Can you draw? Not well, but thats not gonna stop me!69. Do you play an instrument?Nope70. What was the last concert you saw? I haven't been to a concert in a really long time but i think the 1975? 71. Tea or coffee?TeaStarbucks or Dunkin Donuts?72. Dunkin has better coffee but Starbucks has better literally everything else, and the Starbucks next to my work is literally my sanctuary and all the gals that work there are such sweethearts I love them all so much even though they probably hate me.73. Do you want to get married?Someday far from now, and really only for adoption purposes74. What is your crush’s first and last initial?Denied75. Are you going to change your last name when you get married? Idk it depends if their last name is coer than mine76. What color looks best on you? Probably blue but im partial to black77. Do you miss anyone right now? Yes78. Do you sleep with your door open or closed?Closed79. Do you believe in ghosts?Yes!80. What is your biggest pet peeve? Rudeness just to be rude81. last person you calledMy coworker Kaylee❤82. Favorite ice cream flavor? I'm more of a shaved ice or sorbet gal, but i love the Ben and Jerry's line of almond and coconut milk ice creams!83. Regular oreos or golden oreos? Lemon!84. Chocolate or rainbow sprinkles? I guess chocolate? Rainbow sprinkles are literally flavorless sugar85. What shirt are you wearing? I was wearing an old '92 Hard Rock Cafe shirt from Hawaii that I snatched from my ma and turned into a crop too86. What is your phone background?My home screen is a golden sunset cloud photo I took a while back and my lockscreen is a picture i took in the woods of a tree with mushrooms growing on it87. Are you outgoing or shy?I am usually shy but I work customer service so if I have to be I can be very outgoing, its so draining though88. Do you like it when people play with your hair?Yes! Please do!89. Do you like your neighbors? I mean, I don't know them but 2 of the 3 smoke weed so they're probably pretty cool!90. Do you wash your face? at night? in the morning?Look it gets washed when it gets washed let's not discuss it91. Have you ever been high? I spent ages 17-19 almost exclusively high. I don't really remember a lot of it92. Have you ever been drunk? Yes, several times. I am a lovey drunk and I love to kiss when I'm drunk. Or cry. Just depends who I'm around93. Last thing you ate? Diced cucumbers with lemon and salt and some white rice with peanut sauce and onions94. Favorite lyrics right now"Where does your body go when I leave you alone?Would your heart know if I met you in a brand new set of bones?Cause you may see me in different bodiesHiding below with the same soul"Same Soul, Pvris95. Summer or winter? Winter, but only because I live in Arizona so winter means like, 70 degrees96. Day or night? I like being out and about at night but there's no where to go because everything is closed97. Dark, milk, or white chocolate? Only dark. Like, at least 80% dark98. Favorite month? I like October, the weather is nice and it has a fun atmosphere, plus Halloween!99. What is your zodiac sign?My Sun sign is Capricorn, but I have an Aquarius Stellium and I kind of identify with that more100. Who was the last person you cried in front of? Technically my cat this morning. I don't do alot of public crying. Lots of private crying though! I'm a big baby of emotions

[truereviewpage]

Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea

We’ve had so much fun putting together kids birthday parties with random themes like worms and dragons (complete with a fire-breathing kid photo session). Shortly after our last party post back in 2014 (remember the “Pink & Gold Everything Party“?), we took a step back from the blog for a full year, and in that time we were both curious: would our enthusiasm for going “all out” wane in the absence of an active blog? I mean, “all out” is probably a relative term. It wasn’t My Super Sweet Sixteen and there wasn’t a petting zoo, but we did our fair share of decorating and having fun with a theme and cupcake toppers and favors and all that stuff.

The answer ended up being – sorta yes, and sorta no. When our kids requested a joint party in 2015 (their birthdays are just 4 weeks apart) we thought it would be an interesting test. We definitely went easier on ourselves and worried less about busting out the camera and taking ten million photos, but we had just as much fun taking a quirky theme and running with it.

Since this was our first time hosting a joint birthday party, we looked for the intersection of our kids interests (does a 12-month old have interests?) to guide the decorations. Our little lady was going through a big fairy phase (hence the fairy garden we made for her that year) and bears are always a safe bet for our boy, so the theme mash-up landed somewhere in the “Woodland/Forest” zone – complete with toadstool & bear cupcakes, faux butterflies sitting on various items, and even some fairy poop, but we’ll get there in a minute.

The gist of the party was the same as all of our previous ones: just a low-key outdoor hangout with friends and family, much like our pink and gold party the year before. We ordered pizza, set out some sprinklers for the kids, and even busted out a piñata at one point. The whole woodland/forest theme mostly came to life in the food… or at least our interpretation of the food, which we set out on a couple of floral tablecloths that we got at HomeGoods years ago (gotta love that they’re colorful and washable – here’s something similar for anyone looking).

From chips that got labeled “fairy wings” to pretzels turned “twigs” we basically took party standards and gave them woodsy names (written on folded card stock right before guests arrived). Was it a stretch? Maybe a little. Did it keep life simple, make the kids smile, and bypass any the-printer-isn’t-working-and-guests-get-here-in-four-minutes meltdowns? Totally.

And when your guests are primarily preschoolers, anything labeled “poop” – especially when they’re Skittles or brownie bites – is sure to be a big hit. Trust me on this.

I probably had the most fun with the cupcakes, making two sets – one for the fairy crowd, and another set for the bear-lovers. My favorite party trick in general involves already-made food. So it’s not really cooking or baking as much as “hacking” or “tweaking” what you can grab at the store (remember the dragon spikes I made with AirHeads?). The base of both the bear and the fairy toadstool cupcakes were just plain white/vanilla grocery-store cupcakes, and I converted one tray-full into bear faces using some mini Chips Ahoy cookies and a couple of chocolate chips for the eyes. Literally took five minutes and the kids loved ’em.

The fairy toadstools just got dipped top-down into a plateful of red sugar sprinkles (the fine kind that looks like glitter), and then got a few white spots thanks to some candies I found at the store (they were “York Piece’s Peppermint Candies” that came in blue and white – I just picked out the white ones). A wood slice “plate” I already had added some extra flair, along with some fake butterflies and a little plastic fairy.

Fast-forward a year to 2016 and we found ourselves hankering to simplify our annual birthday party even more. The kids both still wanted a joint one and we all thought it would be fun to have it at one of their favorite playgrounds this time around, so we reserved a few tables under their big canopy. It wasn’t a free venue like past years, but at $50 it was still cheaper than a lot of kids birthday party spots. And this year, thanks to the impending release of Finding Dory, both of our kids were going through a big ocean phase, so we brought a singular theme (“Under The Sea”) to life in a few simple ways. Why hello there, dolphin balloon.

Apart from the blue tablecloths and the fish-y balloons (we also grabbed this colorful one), the theme was represented once again mostly in the food. We made it a morning party, so things were a bit more breakfast-y. Think fruit, bagels, croissants, donuts, and coffee for the grown ups. Plus I threw together a few simple sea-inspired snacks that the little ones enjoyed playing with and eventually eating (that’s high praise when it comes to young kids).

Our daughter still talks about the croissant crabs and the banana dolphins. She looked at me like I was a magician when I made these, even thought I just used some tooth picks and eyes cut out of card stock to make the croissants into crustaceans (I didn’t have any googly eyes, but drawing them looking in different directions and adding lashes to some of them was fun). And it just took slicing the top of the banana, slipping a grape in, and adding two pen dots for eyes to make the banana dolphins (despite our bananas getting a little bruised in transport, they were still the biggest hit).

The goodie bags, which you can see there in the background, were also nice and simple (what’s a kids’ birthday party without a little sugar rush on the way out?) and these couldn’t have been easier to make. Just a handful of blue Jelly Bellys and some Goldfish crackers “swimming” on top. The clear plastic party bags are $3 for 20 at Target by the way, and I just used string I had in my craft room to tie them closed.

Now back to the aforementioned donuts. Since it was before noon when our kids blew out their candles, we thought these made more sense than cupcakes. They were just a few plates stacked with always-popular Krispy Kreme donuts that we picked up on the way and adorned with a few plastic sharks. I’m not sure exactly what story we were telling here: are sharks attacking the donuts? Are the donuts life preservers thrown in vain to the swimmers caught in the fray? Whatever it was, the kids were into it.

And that brings us to this year… which we actually didn’t photograph at all except for snapping a few candid shots of the kids running around and spinning so fast they might barf on the tire swing. I said at the start of this post that the last few years have been sort of an experiment in how “all out” we’d go for these parties, and I think we’ve seen a slow deceleration in how much effort and money are needed to ensure that our kids have a good time and feel celebrated (and a huge deceleration in how much time we spend documenting it).

I actually don’t think it has anything to do with whether or not we’re blogging – but as our kids have gotten older (they’re 7 and 3 now) we’ve realized they love a quirky snack or a random theme (we landed on “Bugs” this year) but they could care less about whether the tablecloth is consistent with the favors or whatever. They generally just want to be around their friends, to be sung to, and to stuff some icing in their cake holes.

So this year we sent an Evite out to a bunch of their friends for a meet-up at a neighborhood playground (no table reservation – it was free) and we rolled up with pizzas, drinks, cupcakes, a plethora of gummy worms, and some bright balloons. The weather was great, the kids exhausted themselves playing on every piece of equipment there was, and heck – even us adults had a nice chill time hanging out, not even thinking twice about the fact that the “good camera” stayed at home.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea appeared first on Young House Love.

Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea published first on http://ift.tt/2qCHnUt

[amplepower]

Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea

We’ve had so much fun putting together kids birthday parties with random themes like worms and dragons (complete with a fire-breathing kid photo session). Shortly after our last party post back in 2014 (remember the “Pink & Gold Everything Party“?), we took a step back from the blog for a full year, and in that time we were both curious: would our enthusiasm for going “all out” wane in the absence of an active blog? I mean, “all out” is probably a relative term. It wasn’t My Super Sweet Sixteen and there wasn’t a petting zoo, but we did our fair share of decorating and having fun with a theme and cupcake toppers and favors and all that stuff.

The answer ended up being – sorta yes, and sorta no. When our kids requested a joint party in 2015 (their birthdays are just 4 weeks apart) we thought it would be an interesting test. We definitely went easier on ourselves and worried less about busting out the camera and taking ten million photos, but we had just as much fun taking a quirky theme and running with it.

Since this was our first time hosting a joint birthday party, we looked for the intersection of our kids interests (does a 12-month old have interests?) to guide the decorations. Our little lady was going through a big fairy phase (hence the fairy garden we made for her that year) and bears are always a safe bet for our boy, so the theme mash-up landed somewhere in the “Woodland/Forest” zone – complete with toadstool & bear cupcakes, faux butterflies sitting on various items, and even some fairy poop, but we’ll get there in a minute.

The gist of the party was the same as all of our previous ones: just a low-key outdoor hangout with friends and family, much like our pink and gold party the year before. We ordered pizza, set out some sprinklers for the kids, and even busted out a piñata at one point. The whole woodland/forest theme mostly came to life in the food… or at least our interpretation of the food, which we set out on a couple of floral tablecloths that we got at HomeGoods years ago (gotta love that they’re colorful and washable – here’s something similar for anyone looking).

From chips that got labeled “fairy wings” to pretzels turned “twigs” we basically took party standards and gave them woodsy names (written on folded card stock right before guests arrived). Was it a stretch? Maybe a little. Did it keep life simple, make the kids smile, and bypass any the-printer-isn’t-working-and-guests-get-here-in-four-minutes meltdowns? Totally.

And when your guests are primarily preschoolers, anything labeled “poop” – especially when they’re Skittles or brownie bites – is sure to be a big hit. Trust me on this.

I probably had the most fun with the cupcakes, making two sets – one for the fairy crowd, and another set for the bear-lovers. My favorite party trick in general involves already-made food. So it’s not really cooking or baking as much as “hacking” or “tweaking” what you can grab at the store (remember the dragon spikes I made with AirHeads?). The base of both the bear and the fairy toadstool cupcakes were just plain white/vanilla grocery-store cupcakes, and I converted one tray-full into bear faces using some mini Chips Ahoy cookies and a couple of chocolate chips for the eyes. Literally took five minutes and the kids loved ’em.

The fairy toadstools just got dipped top-down into a plateful of red sugar sprinkles (the fine kind that looks like glitter), and then got a few white spots thanks to some candies I found at the store (they were “York Piece’s Peppermint Candies” that came in blue and white – I just picked out the white ones). A wood slice “plate” I already had added some extra flair, along with some fake butterflies and a little plastic fairy.

Fast-forward a year to 2016 and we found ourselves hankering to simplify our annual birthday party even more. The kids both still wanted a joint one and we all thought it would be fun to have it at one of their favorite playgrounds this time around, so we reserved a few tables under their big canopy. It wasn’t a free venue like past years, but at $50 it was still cheaper than a lot of kids birthday party spots. And this year, thanks to the impending release of Finding Dory, both of our kids were going through a big ocean phase, so we brought a singular theme (“Under The Sea”) to life in a few simple ways. Why hello there, dolphin balloon.

Apart from the blue tablecloths and the fish-y balloons (we also grabbed this colorful one), the theme was represented once again mostly in the food. We made it a morning party, so things were a bit more breakfast-y. Think fruit, bagels, croissants, donuts, and coffee for the grown ups. Plus I threw together a few simple sea-inspired snacks that the little ones enjoyed playing with and eventually eating (that’s high praise when it comes to young kids).

Our daughter still talks about the croissant crabs and the banana dolphins. She looked at me like I was a magician when I made these, even thought I just used some tooth picks and eyes cut out of card stock to make the croissants into crustaceans (I didn’t have any googly eyes, but drawing them looking in different directions and adding lashes to some of them was fun). And it just took slicing the top of the banana, slipping a grape in, and adding two pen dots for eyes to make the banana dolphins (despite our bananas getting a little bruised in transport, they were still the biggest hit).

The goodie bags, which you can see there in the background, were also nice and simple (what’s a kids’ birthday party without a little sugar rush on the way out?) and these couldn’t have been easier to make. Just a handful of blue Jelly Bellys and some Goldfish crackers “swimming” on top. The clear plastic party bags are $3 for 20 at Target by the way, and I just used string I had in my craft room to tie them closed.

Now back to the aforementioned donuts. Since it was before noon when our kids blew out their candles, we thought these made more sense than cupcakes. They were just a few plates stacked with always-popular Krispy Kreme donuts that we picked up on the way and adorned with a few plastic sharks. I’m not sure exactly what story we were telling here: are sharks attacking the donuts? Are the donuts life preservers thrown in vain to the swimmers caught in the fray? Whatever it was, the kids were into it.

And that brings us to this year… which we actually didn’t photograph at all except for snapping a few candid shots of the kids running around and spinning so fast they might barf on the tire swing. I said at the start of this post that the last few years have been sort of an experiment in how “all out” we’d go for these parties, and I think we’ve seen a slow deceleration in how much effort and money are needed to ensure that our kids have a good time and feel celebrated (and a huge deceleration in how much time we spend documenting it).

I actually don’t think it has anything to do with whether or not we’re blogging – but as our kids have gotten older (they’re 7 and 3 now) we’ve realized they love a quirky snack or a random theme (we landed on “Bugs” this year) but they could care less about whether the tablecloth is consistent with the favors or whatever. They generally just want to be around their friends, to be sung to, and to stuff some icing in their cake holes.

So this year we sent an Evite out to a bunch of their friends for a meet-up at a neighborhood playground (no table reservation – it was free) and we rolled up with pizzas, drinks, cupcakes, a plethora of gummy worms, and some bright balloons. The weather was great, the kids exhausted themselves playing on every piece of equipment there was, and heck – even us adults had a nice chill time hanging out, not even thinking twice about the fact that the “good camera” stayed at home.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea appeared first on Young House Love.

Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea posted first on your-t1-blog-url

[statusreview]

Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea

We’ve had so much fun putting together kids birthday parties with random themes like worms and dragons (complete with a fire-breathing kid photo session). Shortly after our last party post back in 2014 (remember the “Pink & Gold Everything Party“?), we took a step back from the blog for a full year, and in that time we were both curious: would our enthusiasm for going “all out” wane in the absence of an active blog? I mean, “all out” is probably a relative term. It wasn’t My Super Sweet Sixteen and there wasn’t a petting zoo, but we did our fair share of decorating and having fun with a theme and cupcake toppers and favors and all that stuff.

The answer ended up being – sorta yes, and sorta no. When our kids requested a joint party in 2015 (their birthdays are just 4 weeks apart) we thought it would be an interesting test. We definitely went easier on ourselves and worried less about busting out the camera and taking ten million photos, but we had just as much fun taking a quirky theme and running with it.

Since this was our first time hosting a joint birthday party, we looked for the intersection of our kids interests (does a 12-month old have interests?) to guide the decorations. Our little lady was going through a big fairy phase (hence the fairy garden we made for her that year) and bears are always a safe bet for our boy, so the theme mash-up landed somewhere in the “Woodland/Forest” zone – complete with toadstool & bear cupcakes, faux butterflies sitting on various items, and even some fairy poop, but we’ll get there in a minute.

The gist of the party was the same as all of our previous ones: just a low-key outdoor hangout with friends and family, much like our pink and gold party the year before. We ordered pizza, set out some sprinklers for the kids, and even busted out a piñata at one point. The whole woodland/forest theme mostly came to life in the food… or at least our interpretation of the food, which we set out on a couple of floral tablecloths that we got at HomeGoods years ago (gotta love that they’re colorful and washable – here’s something similar for anyone looking).

From chips that got labeled “fairy wings” to pretzels turned “twigs” we basically took party standards and gave them woodsy names (written on folded card stock right before guests arrived). Was it a stretch? Maybe a little. Did it keep life simple, make the kids smile, and bypass any the-printer-isn’t-working-and-guests-get-here-in-four-minutes meltdowns? Totally.

And when your guests are primarily preschoolers, anything labeled “poop” – especially when they’re Skittles or brownie bites – is sure to be a big hit. Trust me on this.

I probably had the most fun with the cupcakes, making two sets – one for the fairy crowd, and another set for the bear-lovers. My favorite party trick in general involves already-made food. So it’s not really cooking or baking as much as “hacking” or “tweaking” what you can grab at the store (remember the dragon spikes I made with AirHeads?). The base of both the bear and the fairy toadstool cupcakes were just plain white/vanilla grocery-store cupcakes, and I converted one tray-full into bear faces using some mini Chips Ahoy cookies and a couple of chocolate chips for the eyes. Literally took five minutes and the kids loved ’em.

The fairy toadstools just got dipped top-down into a plateful of red sugar sprinkles (the fine kind that looks like glitter), and then got a few white spots thanks to some candies I found at the store (they were “York Piece’s Peppermint Candies” that came in blue and white – I just picked out the white ones). A wood slice “plate” I already had added some extra flair, along with some fake butterflies and a little plastic fairy.

Fast-forward a year to 2016 and we found ourselves hankering to simplify our annual birthday party even more. The kids both still wanted a joint one and we all thought it would be fun to have it at one of their favorite playgrounds this time around, so we reserved a few tables under their big canopy. It wasn’t a free venue like past years, but at $50 it was still cheaper than a lot of kids birthday party spots. And this year, thanks to the impending release of Finding Dory, both of our kids were going through a big ocean phase, so we brought a singular theme (“Under The Sea”) to life in a few simple ways. Why hello there, dolphin balloon.

Apart from the blue tablecloths and the fish-y balloons (we also grabbed this colorful one), the theme was represented once again mostly in the food. We made it a morning party, so things were a bit more breakfast-y. Think fruit, bagels, croissants, donuts, and coffee for the grown ups. Plus I threw together a few simple sea-inspired snacks that the little ones enjoyed playing with and eventually eating (that’s high praise when it comes to young kids).

Our daughter still talks about the croissant crabs and the banana dolphins. She looked at me like I was a magician when I made these, even thought I just used some tooth picks and eyes cut out of card stock to make the croissants into crustaceans (I didn’t have any googly eyes, but drawing them looking in different directions and adding lashes to some of them was fun). And it just took slicing the top of the banana, slipping a grape in, and adding two pen dots for eyes to make the banana dolphins (despite our bananas getting a little bruised in transport, they were still the biggest hit).

The goodie bags, which you can see there in the background, were also nice and simple (what’s a kids’ birthday party without a little sugar rush on the way out?) and these couldn’t have been easier to make. Just a handful of blue Jelly Bellys and some Goldfish crackers “swimming” on top. The clear plastic party bags are $3 for 20 at Target by the way, and I just used string I had in my craft room to tie them closed.

Now back to the aforementioned donuts. Since it was before noon when our kids blew out their candles, we thought these made more sense than cupcakes. They were just a few plates stacked with always-popular Krispy Kreme donuts that we picked up on the way and adorned with a few plastic sharks. I’m not sure exactly what story we were telling here: are sharks attacking the donuts? Are the donuts life preservers thrown in vain to the swimmers caught in the fray? Whatever it was, the kids were into it.

And that brings us to this year… which we actually didn’t photograph at all except for snapping a few candid shots of the kids running around and spinning so fast they might barf on the tire swing. I said at the start of this post that the last few years have been sort of an experiment in how “all out” we’d go for these parties, and I think we’ve seen a slow deceleration in how much effort and money are needed to ensure that our kids have a good time and feel celebrated (and a huge deceleration in how much time we spend documenting it).

I actually don’t think it has anything to do with whether or not we’re blogging – but as our kids have gotten older (they’re 7 and 3 now) we’ve realized they love a quirky snack or a random theme (we landed on “Bugs” this year) but they could care less about whether the tablecloth is consistent with the favors or whatever. They generally just want to be around their friends, to be sung to, and to stuff some icing in their cake holes.

So this year we sent an Evite out to a bunch of their friends for a meet-up at a neighborhood playground (no table reservation – it was free) and we rolled up with pizzas, drinks, cupcakes, a plethora of gummy worms, and some bright balloons. The weather was great, the kids exhausted themselves playing on every piece of equipment there was, and heck – even us adults had a nice chill time hanging out, not even thinking twice about the fact that the “good camera” stayed at home.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea appeared first on Young House Love.

Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea published first on your-t1-blog-url

[vincentbnaughton]

Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea

We’ve had so much fun putting together kids birthday parties with random themes like worms and dragons (complete with a fire-breathing kid photo session). Shortly after our last party post back in 2014 (remember the “Pink & Gold Everything Party“?), we took a step back from the blog for a full year, and in that time we were both curious: would our enthusiasm for going “all out” wane in the absence of an active blog? I mean, “all out” is probably a relative term. It wasn’t My Super Sweet Sixteen and there wasn’t a petting zoo, but we did our fair share of decorating and having fun with a theme and cupcake toppers and favors and all that stuff.

The answer ended up being – sorta yes, and sorta no. When our kids requested a joint party in 2015 (their birthdays are just 4 weeks apart) we thought it would be an interesting test. We definitely went easier on ourselves and worried less about busting out the camera and taking ten million photos, but we had just as much fun taking a quirky theme and running with it.

Since this was our first time hosting a joint birthday party, we looked for the intersection of our kids interests (does a 12-month old have interests?) to guide the decorations. Our little lady was going through a big fairy phase (hence the fairy garden we made for her that year) and bears are always a safe bet for our boy, so the theme mash-up landed somewhere in the “Woodland/Forest” zone – complete with toadstool & bear cupcakes, faux butterflies sitting on various items, and even some fairy poop, but we’ll get there in a minute.

The gist of the party was the same as all of our previous ones: just a low-key outdoor hangout with friends and family, much like our pink and gold party the year before. We ordered pizza, set out some sprinklers for the kids, and even busted out a piñata at one point. The whole woodland/forest theme mostly came to life in the food… or at least our interpretation of the food, which we set out on a couple of floral tablecloths that we got at HomeGoods years ago (gotta love that they’re colorful and washable – here’s something similar for anyone looking).

From chips that got labeled “fairy wings” to pretzels turned “twigs” we basically took party standards and gave them woodsy names (written on folded card stock right before guests arrived). Was it a stretch? Maybe a little. Did it keep life simple, make the kids smile, and bypass any the-printer-isn’t-working-and-guests-get-here-in-four-minutes meltdowns? Totally.

And when your guests are primarily preschoolers, anything labeled “poop” – especially when they’re Skittles or brownie bites – is sure to be a big hit. Trust me on this.

I probably had the most fun with the cupcakes, making two sets – one for the fairy crowd, and another set for the bear-lovers. My favorite party trick in general involves already-made food. So it’s not really cooking or baking as much as “hacking” or “tweaking” what you can grab at the store (remember the dragon spikes I made with AirHeads?). The base of both the bear and the fairy toadstool cupcakes were just plain white/vanilla grocery-store cupcakes, and I converted one tray-full into bear faces using some mini Chips Ahoy cookies and a couple of chocolate chips for the eyes. Literally took five minutes and the kids loved ’em.

The fairy toadstools just got dipped top-down into a plateful of red sugar sprinkles (the fine kind that looks like glitter), and then got a few white spots thanks to some candies I found at the store (they were “York Piece’s Peppermint Candies” that came in blue and white – I just picked out the white ones). A wood slice “plate” I already had added some extra flair, along with some fake butterflies and a little plastic fairy.

Fast-forward a year to 2016 and we found ourselves hankering to simplify our annual birthday party even more. The kids both still wanted a joint one and we all thought it would be fun to have it at one of their favorite playgrounds this time around, so we reserved a few tables under their big canopy. It wasn’t a free venue like past years, but at $50 it was still cheaper than a lot of kids birthday party spots. And this year, thanks to the impending release of Finding Dory, both of our kids were going through a big ocean phase, so we brought a singular theme (“Under The Sea”) to life in a few simple ways. Why hello there, dolphin balloon.

Apart from the blue tablecloths and the fish-y balloons (we also grabbed this colorful one), the theme was represented once again mostly in the food. We made it a morning party, so things were a bit more breakfast-y. Think fruit, bagels, croissants, donuts, and coffee for the grown ups. Plus I threw together a few simple sea-inspired snacks that the little ones enjoyed playing with and eventually eating (that’s high praise when it comes to young kids).

Our daughter still talks about the croissant crabs and the banana dolphins. She looked at me like I was a magician when I made these, even thought I just used some tooth picks and eyes cut out of card stock to make the croissants into crustaceans (I didn’t have any googly eyes, but drawing them looking in different directions and adding lashes to some of them was fun). And it just took slicing the top of the banana, slipping a grape in, and adding two pen dots for eyes to make the banana dolphins (despite our bananas getting a little bruised in transport, they were still the biggest hit).

The goodie bags, which you can see there in the background, were also nice and simple (what’s a kids’ birthday party without a little sugar rush on the way out?) and these couldn’t have been easier to make. Just a handful of blue Jelly Bellys and some Goldfish crackers “swimming” on top. The clear plastic party bags are $3 for 20 at Target by the way, and I just used string I had in my craft room to tie them closed.

Now back to the aforementioned donuts. Since it was before noon when our kids blew out their candles, we thought these made more sense than cupcakes. They were just a few plates stacked with always-popular Krispy Kreme donuts that we picked up on the way and adorned with a few plastic sharks. I’m not sure exactly what story we were telling here: are sharks attacking the donuts? Are the donuts life preservers thrown in vain to the swimmers caught in the fray? Whatever it was, the kids were into it.

And that brings us to this year… which we actually didn’t photograph at all except for snapping a few candid shots of the kids running around and spinning so fast they might barf on the tire swing. I said at the start of this post that the last few years have been sort of an experiment in how “all out” we’d go for these parties, and I think we’ve seen a slow deceleration in how much effort and money are needed to ensure that our kids have a good time and feel celebrated (and a huge deceleration in how much time we spend documenting it).

I actually don’t think it has anything to do with whether or not we’re blogging – but as our kids have gotten older (they’re 7 and 3 now) we’ve realized they love a quirky snack or a random theme (we landed on “Bugs” this year) but they could care less about whether the tablecloth is consistent with the favors or whatever. They generally just want to be around their friends, to be sung to, and to stuff some icing in their cake holes.

So this year we sent an Evite out to a bunch of their friends for a meet-up at a neighborhood playground (no table reservation – it was free) and we rolled up with pizzas, drinks, cupcakes, a plethora of gummy worms, and some bright balloons. The weather was great, the kids exhausted themselves playing on every piece of equipment there was, and heck – even us adults had a nice chill time hanging out, not even thinking twice about the fact that the “good camera” stayed at home.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea appeared first on Young House Love.

[endlessarchite]

Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea

We’ve had so much fun putting together kids birthday parties with random themes like worms and dragons (complete with a fire-breathing kid photo session). Shortly after our last party post back in 2014 (remember the “Pink & Gold Everything Party“?), we took a step back from the blog for a full year, and in that time we were both curious: would our enthusiasm for going “all out” wane in the absence of an active blog? I mean, “all out” is probably a relative term. It wasn’t My Super Sweet Sixteen and there wasn’t a petting zoo, but we did our fair share of decorating and having fun with a theme and cupcake toppers and favors and all that stuff.

The answer ended up being – sorta yes, and sorta no. When our kids requested a joint party in 2015 (their birthdays are just 4 weeks apart) we thought it would be an interesting test. We definitely went easier on ourselves and worried less about busting out the camera and taking ten million photos, but we had just as much fun taking a quirky theme and running with it.

Since this was our first time hosting a joint birthday party, we looked for the intersection of our kids interests (does a 12-month old have interests?) to guide the decorations. Our little lady was going through a big fairy phase (hence the fairy garden we made for her that year) and bears are always a safe bet for our boy, so the theme mash-up landed somewhere in the “Woodland/Forest” zone – complete with toadstool & bear cupcakes, faux butterflies sitting on various items, and even some fairy poop, but we’ll get there in a minute.

The gist of the party was the same as all of our previous ones: just a low-key outdoor hangout with friends and family, much like our pink and gold party the year before. We ordered pizza, set out some sprinklers for the kids, and even busted out a piñata at one point. The whole woodland/forest theme mostly came to life in the food… or at least our interpretation of the food, which we set out on a couple of floral tablecloths that we got at HomeGoods years ago (gotta love that they’re colorful and washable – here’s something similar for anyone looking).

From chips that got labeled “fairy wings” to pretzels turned “twigs” we basically took party standards and gave them woodsy names (written on folded card stock right before guests arrived). Was it a stretch? Maybe a little. Did it keep life simple, make the kids smile, and bypass any the-printer-isn’t-working-and-guests-get-here-in-four-minutes meltdowns? Totally.

And when your guests are primarily preschoolers, anything labeled “poop” – especially when they’re Skittles or brownie bites – is sure to be a big hit. Trust me on this.

I probably had the most fun with the cupcakes, making two sets – one for the fairy crowd, and another set for the bear-lovers. My favorite party trick in general involves already-made food. So it’s not really cooking or baking as much as “hacking” or “tweaking” what you can grab at the store (remember the dragon spikes I made with AirHeads?). The base of both the bear and the fairy toadstool cupcakes were just plain white/vanilla grocery-store cupcakes, and I converted one tray-full into bear faces using some mini Chips Ahoy cookies and a couple of chocolate chips for the eyes. Literally took five minutes and the kids loved ’em.

The fairy toadstools just got dipped top-down into a plateful of red sugar sprinkles (the fine kind that looks like glitter), and then got a few white spots thanks to some candies I found at the store (they were “York Piece’s Peppermint Candies” that came in blue and white – I just picked out the white ones). A wood slice “plate” I already had added some extra flair, along with some fake butterflies and a little plastic fairy.

Fast-forward a year to 2016 and we found ourselves hankering to simplify our annual birthday party even more. The kids both still wanted a joint one and we all thought it would be fun to have it at one of their favorite playgrounds this time around, so we reserved a few tables under their big canopy. It wasn’t a free venue like past years, but at $50 it was still cheaper than a lot of kids birthday party spots. And this year, thanks to the impending release of Finding Dory, both of our kids were going through a big ocean phase, so we brought a singular theme (“Under The Sea”) to life in a few simple ways. Why hello there, dolphin balloon.

Apart from the blue tablecloths and the fish-y balloons (we also grabbed this colorful one), the theme was represented once again mostly in the food. We made it a morning party, so things were a bit more breakfast-y. Think fruit, bagels, croissants, donuts, and coffee for the grown ups. Plus I threw together a few simple sea-inspired snacks that the little ones enjoyed playing with and eventually eating (that’s high praise when it comes to young kids).

Our daughter still talks about the croissant crabs and the banana dolphins. She looked at me like I was a magician when I made these, even thought I just used some tooth picks and eyes cut out of card stock to make the croissants into crustaceans (I didn’t have any googly eyes, but drawing them looking in different directions and adding lashes to some of them was fun). And it just took slicing the top of the banana, slipping a grape in, and adding two pen dots for eyes to make the banana dolphins (despite our bananas getting a little bruised in transport, they were still the biggest hit).

The goodie bags, which you can see there in the background, were also nice and simple (what’s a kids’ birthday party without a little sugar rush on the way out?) and these couldn’t have been easier to make. Just a handful of blue Jelly Bellys and some Goldfish crackers “swimming” on top. The clear plastic party bags are $3 for 20 at Target by the way, and I just used string I had in my craft room to tie them closed.

Now back to the aforementioned donuts. Since it was before noon when our kids blew out their candles, we thought these made more sense than cupcakes. They were just a few plates stacked with always-popular Krispy Kreme donuts that we picked up on the way and adorned with a few plastic sharks. I’m not sure exactly what story we were telling here: are sharks attacking the donuts? Are the donuts life preservers thrown in vain to the swimmers caught in the fray? Whatever it was, the kids were into it.

And that brings us to this year… which we actually didn’t photograph at all except for snapping a few candid shots of the kids running around and spinning so fast they might barf on the tire swing. I said at the start of this post that the last few years have been sort of an experiment in how “all out” we’d go for these parties, and I think we’ve seen a slow deceleration in how much effort and money are needed to ensure that our kids have a good time and feel celebrated (and a huge deceleration in how much time we spend documenting it).

I actually don’t think it has anything to do with whether or not we’re blogging – but as our kids have gotten older (they’re 7 and 3 now) we’ve realized they love a quirky snack or a random theme (we landed on “Bugs” this year) but they could care less about whether the tablecloth is consistent with the favors or whatever. They generally just want to be around their friends, to be sung to, and to stuff some icing in their cake holes.

So this year we sent an Evite out to a bunch of their friends for a meet-up at a neighborhood playground (no table reservation – it was free) and we rolled up with pizzas, drinks, cupcakes, a plethora of gummy worms, and some bright balloons. The weather was great, the kids exhausted themselves playing on every piece of equipment there was, and heck – even us adults had a nice chill time hanging out, not even thinking twice about the fact that the “good camera” stayed at home.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea appeared first on Young House Love.

Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

[truereviewpage]

Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea

We’ve had so much fun putting together kids birthday parties with random themes like worms and dragons (complete with a fire-breathing kid photo session). Shortly after our last party post back in 2014 (remember the “Pink & Gold Everything Party“?), we took a step back from the blog for a full year, and in that time we were both curious: would our enthusiasm for going “all out” wane in the absence of an active blog? I mean, “all out” is probably a relative term. It wasn’t My Super Sweet Sixteen and there wasn’t a petting zoo, but we did our fair share of decorating and having fun with a theme and cupcake toppers and favors and all that stuff.

The answer ended up being – sorta yes, and sorta no. When our kids requested a joint party in 2015 (their birthdays are just 4 weeks apart) we thought it would be an interesting test. We definitely went easier on ourselves and worried less about busting out the camera and taking ten million photos, but we had just as much fun taking a quirky theme and running with it.

Since this was our first time hosting a joint birthday party, we looked for the intersection of our kids interests (does a 12-month old have interests?) to guide the decorations. Our little lady was going through a big fairy phase (hence the fairy garden we made for her that year) and bears are always a safe bet for our boy, so the theme mash-up landed somewhere in the “Woodland/Forest” zone – complete with toadstool & bear cupcakes, faux butterflies sitting on various items, and even some fairy poop, but we’ll get there in a minute.

The gist of the party was the same as all of our previous ones: just a low-key outdoor hangout with friends and family, much like our pink and gold party the year before. We ordered pizza, set out some sprinklers for the kids, and even busted out a piñata at one point. The whole woodland/forest theme mostly came to life in the food… or at least our interpretation of the food, which we set out on a couple of floral tablecloths that we got at HomeGoods years ago (gotta love that they’re colorful and washable – here’s something similar for anyone looking).

From chips that got labeled “fairy wings” to pretzels turned “twigs” we basically took party standards and gave them woodsy names (written on folded card stock right before guests arrived). Was it a stretch? Maybe a little. Did it keep life simple, make the kids smile, and bypass any the-printer-isn’t-working-and-guests-get-here-in-four-minutes meltdowns? Totally.

And when your guests are primarily preschoolers, anything labeled “poop” – especially when they’re Skittles or brownie bites – is sure to be a big hit. Trust me on this.

I probably had the most fun with the cupcakes, making two sets – one for the fairy crowd, and another set for the bear-lovers. My favorite party trick in general involves already-made food. So it’s not really cooking or baking as much as “hacking” or “tweaking” what you can grab at the store (remember the dragon spikes I made with AirHeads?). The base of both the bear and the fairy toadstool cupcakes were just plain white/vanilla grocery-store cupcakes, and I converted one tray-full into bear faces using some mini Chips Ahoy cookies and a couple of chocolate chips for the eyes. Literally took five minutes and the kids loved ’em.

The fairy toadstools just got dipped top-down into a plateful of red sugar sprinkles (the fine kind that looks like glitter), and then got a few white spots thanks to some candies I found at the store (they were “York Piece’s Peppermint Candies” that came in blue and white – I just picked out the white ones). A wood slice “plate” I already had added some extra flair, along with some fake butterflies and a little plastic fairy.

Fast-forward a year to 2016 and we found ourselves hankering to simplify our annual birthday party even more. The kids both still wanted a joint one and we all thought it would be fun to have it at one of their favorite playgrounds this time around, so we reserved a few tables under their big canopy. It wasn’t a free venue like past years, but at $50 it was still cheaper than a lot of kids birthday party spots. And this year, thanks to the impending release of Finding Dory, both of our kids were going through a big ocean phase, so we brought a singular theme (“Under The Sea”) to life in a few simple ways. Why hello there, dolphin balloon.

Apart from the blue tablecloths and the fish-y balloons (we also grabbed this colorful one), the theme was represented once again mostly in the food. We made it a morning party, so things were a bit more breakfast-y. Think fruit, bagels, croissants, donuts, and coffee for the grown ups. Plus I threw together a few simple sea-inspired snacks that the little ones enjoyed playing with and eventually eating (that’s high praise when it comes to young kids).

Our daughter still talks about the croissant crabs and the banana dolphins. She looked at me like I was a magician when I made these, even thought I just used some tooth picks and eyes cut out of card stock to make the croissants into crustaceans (I didn’t have any googly eyes, but drawing them looking in different directions and adding lashes to some of them was fun). And it just took slicing the top of the banana, slipping a grape in, and adding two pen dots for eyes to make the banana dolphins (despite our bananas getting a little bruised in transport, they were still the biggest hit).

The goodie bags, which you can see there in the background, were also nice and simple (what’s a kids’ birthday party without a little sugar rush on the way out?) and these couldn’t have been easier to make. Just a handful of blue Jelly Bellys and some Goldfish crackers “swimming” on top. The clear plastic party bags are $3 for 20 at Target by the way, and I just used string I had in my craft room to tie them closed.

Now back to the aforementioned donuts. Since it was before noon when our kids blew out their candles, we thought these made more sense than cupcakes. They were just a few plates stacked with always-popular Krispy Kreme donuts that we picked up on the way and adorned with a few plastic sharks. I’m not sure exactly what story we were telling here: are sharks attacking the donuts? Are the donuts life preservers thrown in vain to the swimmers caught in the fray? Whatever it was, the kids were into it.

And that brings us to this year… which we actually didn’t photograph at all except for snapping a few candid shots of the kids running around and spinning so fast they might barf on the tire swing. I said at the start of this post that the last few years have been sort of an experiment in how “all out” we’d go for these parties, and I think we’ve seen a slow deceleration in how much effort and money are needed to ensure that our kids have a good time and feel celebrated (and a huge deceleration in how much time we spend documenting it).

I actually don’t think it has anything to do with whether or not we’re blogging – but as our kids have gotten older (they’re 7 and 3 now) we’ve realized they love a quirky snack or a random theme (we landed on “Bugs” this year) but they could care less about whether the tablecloth is consistent with the favors or whatever. They generally just want to be around their friends, to be sung to, and to stuff some icing in their cake holes.

So this year we sent an Evite out to a bunch of their friends for a meet-up at a neighborhood playground (no table reservation – it was free) and we rolled up with pizzas, drinks, cupcakes, a plethora of gummy worms, and some bright balloons. The weather was great, the kids exhausted themselves playing on every piece of equipment there was, and heck – even us adults had a nice chill time hanging out, not even thinking twice about the fact that the “good camera” stayed at home.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea appeared first on Young House Love.

Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea published first on http://ift.tt/2qCHnUt

[vincentbnaughton]

Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea

We’ve had so much fun putting together kids birthday parties with random themes like worms and dragons (complete with a fire-breathing kid photo session). Shortly after our last party post back in 2014 (remember the “Pink & Gold Everything Party“?), we took a step back from the blog for a full year, and in that time we were both curious: would our enthusiasm for going “all out” wane in the absence of an active blog? I mean, “all out” is probably a relative term. It wasn’t My Super Sweet Sixteen and there wasn’t a petting zoo, but we did our fair share of decorating and having fun with a theme and cupcake toppers and favors and all that stuff.

The answer ended up being – sorta yes, and sorta no. When our kids requested a joint party in 2015 (their birthdays are just 4 weeks apart) we thought it would be an interesting test. We definitely went easier on ourselves and worried less about busting out the camera and taking ten million photos, but we had just as much fun taking a quirky theme and running with it.

Since this was our first time hosting a joint birthday party, we looked for the intersection of our kids interests (does a 12-month old have interests?) to guide the decorations. Our little lady was going through a big fairy phase (hence the fairy garden we made for her that year) and bears are always a safe bet for our boy, so the theme mash-up landed somewhere in the “Woodland/Forest” zone – complete with toadstool & bear cupcakes, faux butterflies sitting on various items, and even some fairy poop, but we’ll get there in a minute.

The gist of the party was the same as all of our previous ones: just a low-key outdoor hangout with friends and family, much like our pink and gold party the year before. We ordered pizza, set out some sprinklers for the kids, and even busted out a piñata at one point. The whole woodland/forest theme mostly came to life in the food… or at least our interpretation of the food, which we set out on a couple of floral tablecloths that we got at HomeGoods years ago (gotta love that they’re colorful and washable – here’s something similar for anyone looking).

From chips that got labeled “fairy wings” to pretzels turned “twigs” we basically took party standards and gave them woodsy names (written on folded card stock right before guests arrived). Was it a stretch? Maybe a little. Did it keep life simple, make the kids smile, and bypass any the-printer-isn’t-working-and-guests-get-here-in-four-minutes meltdowns? Totally.

And when your guests are primarily preschoolers, anything labeled “poop” – especially when they’re Skittles or brownie bites – is sure to be a big hit. Trust me on this.

I probably had the most fun with the cupcakes, making two sets – one for the fairy crowd, and another set for the bear-lovers. My favorite party trick in general involves already-made food. So it’s not really cooking or baking as much as “hacking” or “tweaking” what you can grab at the store (remember the dragon spikes I made with AirHeads?). The base of both the bear and the fairy toadstool cupcakes were just plain white/vanilla grocery-store cupcakes, and I converted one tray-full into bear faces using some mini Chips Ahoy cookies and a couple of chocolate chips for the eyes. Literally took five minutes and the kids loved ’em.

The fairy toadstools just got dipped top-down into a plateful of red sugar sprinkles (the fine kind that looks like glitter), and then got a few white spots thanks to some candies I found at the store (they were “York Piece’s Peppermint Candies” that came in blue and white – I just picked out the white ones). A wood slice “plate” I already had added some extra flair, along with some fake butterflies and a little plastic fairy.

Fast-forward a year to 2016 and we found ourselves hankering to simplify our annual birthday party even more. The kids both still wanted a joint one and we all thought it would be fun to have it at one of their favorite playgrounds this time around, so we reserved a few tables under their big canopy. It wasn’t a free venue like past years, but at $50 it was still cheaper than a lot of kids birthday party spots. And this year, thanks to the impending release of Finding Dory, both of our kids were going through a big ocean phase, so we brought a singular theme (“Under The Sea”) to life in a few simple ways. Why hello there, dolphin balloon.

Apart from the blue tablecloths and the fish-y balloons (we also grabbed this colorful one), the theme was represented once again mostly in the food. We made it a morning party, so things were a bit more breakfast-y. Think fruit, bagels, croissants, donuts, and coffee for the grown ups. Plus I threw together a few simple sea-inspired snacks that the little ones enjoyed playing with and eventually eating (that’s high praise when it comes to young kids).

Our daughter still talks about the croissant crabs and the banana dolphins. She looked at me like I was a magician when I made these, even thought I just used some tooth picks and eyes cut out of card stock to make the croissants into crustaceans (I didn’t have any googly eyes, but drawing them looking in different directions and adding lashes to some of them was fun). And it just took slicing the top of the banana, slipping a grape in, and adding two pen dots for eyes to make the banana dolphins (despite our bananas getting a little bruised in transport, they were still the biggest hit).

The goodie bags, which you can see there in the background, were also nice and simple (what’s a kids’ birthday party without a little sugar rush on the way out?) and these couldn’t have been easier to make. Just a handful of blue Jelly Bellys and some Goldfish crackers “swimming” on top. The clear plastic party bags are $3 for 20 at Target by the way, and I just used string I had in my craft room to tie them closed.

Now back to the aforementioned donuts. Since it was before noon when our kids blew out their candles, we thought these made more sense than cupcakes. They were just a few plates stacked with always-popular Krispy Kreme donuts that we picked up on the way and adorned with a few plastic sharks. I’m not sure exactly what story we were telling here: are sharks attacking the donuts? Are the donuts life preservers thrown in vain to the swimmers caught in the fray? Whatever it was, the kids were into it.

And that brings us to this year… which we actually didn’t photograph at all except for snapping a few candid shots of the kids running around and spinning so fast they might barf on the tire swing. I said at the start of this post that the last few years have been sort of an experiment in how “all out” we’d go for these parties, and I think we’ve seen a slow deceleration in how much effort and money are needed to ensure that our kids have a good time and feel celebrated (and a huge deceleration in how much time we spend documenting it).

I actually don’t think it has anything to do with whether or not we’re blogging – but as our kids have gotten older (they’re 7 and 3 now) we’ve realized they love a quirky snack or a random theme (we landed on “Bugs” this year) but they could care less about whether the tablecloth is consistent with the favors or whatever. They generally just want to be around their friends, to be sung to, and to stuff some icing in their cake holes.

So this year we sent an Evite out to a bunch of their friends for a meet-up at a neighborhood playground (no table reservation – it was free) and we rolled up with pizzas, drinks, cupcakes, a plethora of gummy worms, and some bright balloons. The weather was great, the kids exhausted themselves playing on every piece of equipment there was, and heck – even us adults had a nice chill time hanging out, not even thinking twice about the fact that the “good camera” stayed at home.

*This post contains affiliate links*

The post Two Easy Kids Birthday Parties: Into The Woods & Under The Sea appeared first on Young House Love.