party theme

Pinterest with Friends: How To Contribute & Curate Boards Together! {& a Feather Your Nest Bridal Shower!}

by oh amanda on July 17, 2011

I use Pinterest on a daily basis. It’s a bookmarking site, an easy way to embed photos in your blog and a fun way to find ideas for any event, post, recipe or gift idea!

But now my new favorite way to use it is WITH FRIENDS! You can start a board of ideas and have other people contribute to it!

For example, my sister-in-law is getting married in THREE WEEKS. As the sister-in-law-of-the-bride-who-likes-to-throw-parties (and who gets to be a bridesmaid, too), I got to help plan the bridal shower! Well, one of the other crafty-bridesmaids, Jennifer is on Pinterest so we started a bridal shower board! Every time we ran across a good idea for the shower, we pinned it so the other could see!

You can see our board above. Her name is listed as the CURATOR because she started the board. But you can see my adorable mug below that is labeled CONTRIBUTOR.

It’s really easy to do. When you start a new board (or EDIT an existing board), just scroll down to WHO CAN PIN? and click ME + CONTRIBUTORS. Then you start typing in someone’s name and it pops right up! You can even invite someone who is not on Pinterest to be a contributor to join Pinterest and that board!

Just think of all you could do with this! Anytime you have to collaborate on an event, a presentation or anything it would cut down on emails or “what do you think about this?” and you’d have everything in one spot!

So, here’s some stuff we collected and executed from our joint Pinterest board! Ready?

It was a fun “feather your nest” theme so we used lots of birds and nests. Which, as a sisterchick, is some of my favorite stuff! One of the first ideas pinned were these cute yarn balls…

Source: shopruche.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

She figured if we made them more oblong than circle, they’d look like nests and we could put a little birdie inside. Cute, right? Well, we tried it and were not too hopeful. They looked like a crazy mess of twine. But once the balloon popped inside? They turned out great!

We hung up a few around the room along with some tissue paper puff balls and some lantern-thingies I found at Target for $2. Jennifer made that cute little bird, too. From a tutorial on Pinterest…

Source: lavendersbluedesign.blogspot.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

For the cake, I found this adorable nest-y goodness on the e-mealz blog:

Source: blog.e-mealz.com via ohAmanda {impress your kids} on Pinterest

A friend of the family made one similar and look how darling it turned out!

Another sweet idea was a little flock of paper birds.

Source: remodelista.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

We (and by we, I mean SHE) copied it and then added a little GIFT sign to hang above the gift table. Isn’t that a great idea?

And did you notice the white curtain in the back? That was our backdrop for the gift-opening! We were in a church’s fellowship hall so we didn’t want to have all the pictures of opening presents with a drum set in the back!

I used our puppet stage and then added (are you ready for this?) Lydia’s shower curtain! We hung it up with twine and added a few more felt birds. Isn’t that smart? (You can go ahead and pin that if you want!)

Jennifer also found these great printable vintage looking index cards…

Source: freeprintablesonline.com via Jennifer on Pinterest

So in lieu of a guest book, we did recipe cards. We asked everyone to write down their go-to recipe to fill up my sister-in-law’s recipe box! Isn’t that a sweet gift?

And a few more fun things from the shower. Some we even made up all by ourselves!

blue star garlands, framed invitation, birdies and candles, handstamped napkins,
golden punch with fresh blackberries, flower cupcakes, birds nesting in blue m&ms and lots of yummy food!

But my favorite part of the shower was the wrapping paper assistant. My little Lydia sat right next to her Aunt Micah and stuffed all the wrapping paper into trash bags. She was so serious about her job and was such a helper!

Pretty fun, huh? How could you use Pinterest with friends?

pinterest love source: thedailydigi.com via KindredAdventures on Pinterest

{ 29 comments }

Cars 2: A Review and a Birthday Party Wish

by oh amanda on July 6, 2011

in movies

holley shiftwell

We got to see an advanced screening of Cars 2 last week. (Or was it the week before that? Time flies.) Anywhoo. It was a 10:00 show. And I don’t know if you’ve ever been to the movies at 10am, but it’s weird. Kinda like being at school at night. Just strange.

I thought it would be the best Asa-movie-experience ever. He loves Lightning and has one of those talking-moving cars from the movie (I don’t know the character because I don’t think I ever saw the first movie all the way through. But it says, “Show some respect, Holmes!” Which makes me laugh.). So, we grabbed some popcorn and booster seats. We sat next to Mandi and her family. We had on our 3D glasses and Asa was loving every second of it.

Until about 4 minutes into the movie. He slides out of his chair (with NO glasses on) and says, “Can we get out of here?” This continued for the next 30 minutes until he remembered, “Oh! I have to go potty!”. That got him out of the movie theatre for a little bit. But basically it was an up and down, lift and lower of Asa between my husband and me.

Of course, when we finally left, he said, “I love that movie. I want to see Cars again.” REALLY?! Well, not until I start lifting weights again! Ow!

It was a pretty fun movie. Really, it was like a for real 007 flick only with computer animated cars. It had some super funny parts with Mater (of course). And I loved the whole car-world stuff, like Holley Shiftwell’s computer and all the cool spy gadgets.

That being said, I don’t know how age-appropriate it was. I know Lydia did not remotely understand the plot (which was about international espionage and oil) . She just liked Mater and the the purple girl car. And she liked sitting next to Mandi‘s 5 year old Evan. (I told them they better get used to supervised dates to the movies!) If your kids are Cars fans or like car chases, gadgets, explosions and funny accents then you need to see this! If you’re looking for something that will make your heart ache like UP or stick with you like Wall-e, then…well, break out your blu-rays and start watching!

However, ever since we saw the movie, Lydia has been saying, “I wish we were having a Cars party for Asa!” There is so much cute stuff at the Disney Store and (of course) on Pinterest that I’m kinda wishing for one, too!

Just look at this:

Source: yvonnebyattsfamilyfun.blogspot.com via ohAmanda {impress your kids} on Pinterest

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Source: creativeworksforchildren.com via ohAmanda {impress your kids} on Pinterest

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Source: flickr.com via ohAmanda {impress your kids} on Pinterest

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Yup. I need to do a Cars party.

So, did you see the movie? What did you think?

{Disclosure: I was invited to see the screening for free because I am considered media. I don’t think I was asked to blog about it, I just did because that’s what media do. Does? Hmm..maybe I’m not really a great representation of media!}

{ 14 comments }

Toy Story Party Ideas: Discount Party Supplies {Partner Post!}

by oh amanda on May 25, 2011

in party theme

Asa’s 3rd birthday is in less than four months! FOUR MONTHS! I have lots to do before then! <insert rubbing hands> I had planned Asa’s first 4 years of parties…I know. It’s a sickness. But listen to how cute:

1st Birthday: Vintage ACE Party for our 1 year old Asa Ace. {check! It was awesome!}

2nd Birthday: Pirate Party {He’s been “the pirate” since before he was born!}

3rd Birthday: Handy Manny/Ace Hardware Party {I so wanted to use the “Ace is the Place” slogan from Ace Hardware and set up plywood tables and activities like they do at the Home Depot Kids workshops!}

4th Birthday: Flying Ace Party {It could lean on Snoopy’s Red Baron and all the kids could make one of these!}

Don’t you LOVE IT? I do. I love the play on his name. I love the boy-ish-ness of it all. Alas, Asa wants a Woody Party. It was bound to happen. He has the boots. The pajamas. The horse. The hat. So, we’re going Woody for the 3rd birthday!

Asa examining "my birt-day party box"

I was thinking about doing just a straight Woody’s Round Up kinda party. But honestly, I wasn’t very excited about a cowboy party. Then, I discovered Discount Party Supplies! They are my newest partner (see the great stuff my partners and I do together!) and they sent me a HUGE box of Toy Story party supplies.

AND OH MY GOODNESS!

Now I have decided I am doing a Woody & Buzz Party! Ready for my great ideas? Well, first of all, let me say, you may have noticed that I don’t usually use pre-printed themed supplies for my kids’ parties. I like to do it all myself. But after I got this box of goodies, it gave me so many great ideas and gave me some things I could never recreate on my own! PLUS, it came with everything you need–right down to tablecloths, forks and candles!

"This is for my Woody party!"

So, here’s what I was thinking. I want to do a half/half party–half Wild West and half Outer Space. For example, half the food on the table might be Campfire Smores on a Stick and the other side might be Aliens on a Stick. So for every Wild West snack, there will be an Outer Space snack. For every Outer Space craft, there will be a Wild West craft! Same with games, etc. I don’t know if I can make them obvious mirrors, but we’ll see what we can do!

Decor? The Toy Story Deluxe Set came with these crazy dangler signs–it’s got these crinkly silver streamers hanging down. I was thinking it would be cool to hang these up and then hang some slinkies from the ceiling, too. It could be a whole Outer Space area–we could put a blacklight up and let the kids draw all over the {covered with paper} walls with flourescent markers!

Blue and brown basic crepe paper streamers came in my pack–and I am SO going to do one of these cute ideas with them: fringed streamers or stitched streamers! Also, balloons are included. And I love these ice cream balloons but want to figure out a cowboy or spaceship twist to it.

Games? The Deluxe Set also came with a Pin-the-Badge-On-Sheriff-Woody. But what if we extended the game and had the kids dress up like Woody, pin his badge on and then find someone else to pin a real badge on, too? Or we could make our own badges. Or we could do a relay where you had to put on all Woody’s costume (hat, boots, vest & badge) then run to the Pin-The-Badge poster, pin on the badge, run back, de-costume and let the next person go?

I also want to do stick horse versus spaceship races, “No Toy Gets Left Behind” scavenger hunt (there are some centerpieces in the Deluxe Kit that would be perfect as the prize or the thing to be hunted!) and “There’s a Snake In My Boot” beanbag toss! Oh, and don’t you think we should get Toy Story Maniafor the wii?

And for crafts? I’m thinking Monster Hats, rubber band guns and cowboy vests!

Seriously. How much do you love this?

There are even more birthday party supplies in this kit—like all the goody bag stuff {slinkies, stickers, a game, etc}. I was thinking about putting them inside a brown paper bag. (Wow. I’m so creative, I know.) Or maybe tie it up in a red bandana! That would be cute!

EEEK! Now I am so excited about this party! I started a Pinterest Board on the party–feel free to follow it as I add fun ideas! And if you find anything that would fit, let me know!

Hey, Howdy Hey! This post isn’t over yet, Discount Party Supplies is giving away a FREE Deluxe Party Pack of your choice! All you have to do is leave me a comment about the next party you’d like to throw for your kids. Click over to Discount Party Supplies if you need any ideas–they have birthday party supplies for over 400 unique themes!

just some of the deluxe party pack!

If you’d like an additional entry, just do one of the following and leave a comment for each entry:

1. Tweet: It’s a par-tay at @oohamanda today! @discountparty is giving away FREE party supplies for your next shindig! http://bit.ly/ohToyStory
2. LIKE this post on Facebook–it’s easy, just click the LIKE button below, you can even add a status update with it!
3. LIKE ohAmanda on facebook!

And I’ll even throw in an email consultation on your party! How’s that?! {OK, that’s really for me! I love thinking about parties!}

Disclosure: Discount Party Supplies is one of my partners. Learn more or partner with ohAmanda yourself!

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Nursing School Graduation Party: Top Ten {Tuesday}

May 9, 2011 party

Catie & me at her Pinning Ceremony (she isn’t really a giantess, she was wearing like 8 inch heels!) My sister-in-law, Catie graduated from Nursing School this week. So, she had a little red and white, candy striped, slightly vintage party to celebrate. And I may have helped just a little bit! Here we go… [...]

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Rapunzel’s Golden Hair Birthday Party

January 11, 2011 birthday

If you remember, I saw Tangled as a pre-release. And loved it. Loved it. At Thanksgiving we ended up seeing it again with family. That night I must have dreamed about Rapunzel and her golden hair because I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about how it would be a perfect theme [...]

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Christmas Party Theme Ideas {giveaway}

December 13, 2010 christmas

If you’ve been around here long you know I love me a good party. In fact, Lydia’s birthday party is less than a month away and I’ve got it all figured out. In fact, I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about it and had to get it up to write all [...]

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The Pirate Party: Top Ten {Tuesday}

October 11, 2010 birthday

Birthday party posts are my fave. And I also dread them. Because I like to give every detail of the party. (I know, you’re shocked by that statement). I want to tell you about each and every decoration, game and food. But I realize that can make for some dull blogging. So, instead, I’ll try [...]

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