chalkboard signs

I painted this chalkboard last summer. It's been a good investment, let me tell you.

When I run out of time to make signs for parties, I just whip this out and write a message.

To make your own, all you need is chalkboard spray paint and a frame.

1/2 birthday party

I threw my husband a surprise half birthday party. 

He got 1/2 a cake, 1/2 a birthday card, 1/2 the presents and 1/2 working party hats.
Just another reason to celebrate! 

Birthday in a Bag

My little sister is out of the state serving a mission for our church.  Since we won't be able to celebrate her birthday with her, I decided to send a party her way. Last Fall I made a "Birthday in a Bag" for a friend and I had so much fun putting it together, I decided to make another one.

Since I knew I was going to mail it, I decided to keep things relatively flat.

I made some balloon confetti with a punch I have.

Then I stuffed the confetti, a dissembled party hat, some birthday quarters (why here), a little present, a candle, a balloon, and "instructions" inside a large, zip-lock plastic bag (as to keep the contents safe en route)

I hope she likes it! I know I would!

Skor cake

My husband's favorite birthday cake is Skor cake. It is so delicious. I am glad that he chooses it every year so I have an excuse to eat it! I love how perfectly the flavors come together.

Skor Cake
1 German chocolate cake mix
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 jar caramel sauce
2 cups cool whip or whipped cream
4-5 crushed Skor bars or 1 cup hershey's chocolate covered toffee bits

Bake cake according the the directions on the package (a 9x13 pan or cookie sheet work best). Let cool for 2 minutes and then take a fork and poke lots of holes in the cake. The more the merrier. Pour the entire can of sweetened condensed milk on the cake, letting it seep into the holes. Then pour the caramel sauce over the cake. Let the cake cool and set up in the fridge. Right before serving, top with cool whip and chocolate covered toffee pieces.

Birthday Traditions

For my husband's birthday last week, we celebrated by doing some of our favorite traditions.

He found quarters in his shoe from the birthday fairy.
He got his favorite breakfast.
He got his favorite dinner. (I like that I was in the kitchen all day :)
He got his favorite cake. Post on that tomorrow.

I kept the decorations simple. My husband LOVED the giant 26 that was hanging from the ceiling and kept talking about it for days. In fact, it is still hanging. I sprinkled balloon confetti on the table and had birthday hats on our plates. I also used the birthday plate to serve breakfast and dinner on.

I took one of our favorite birthday traditions from the family I nannied for. Each birthday, they would watch a slideshow of the birthday person. It was a montage of pictures from birth to present. It was so fun to watch the pictures and see how much the person had changed.

Unfortunately I didn't have pictures from my husband's entire life, so I just used pictures from when we were dating. I included some pictures of him with other people and me, but I tried to keep it to pictures of him. It was a fun way to reminisce!

What are some of your favorite birthday traditions?

Birthday Cake

A couple weeks ago we celebrated my little boy's 2nd birthday. We did a "Monkey" theme this year which was topped off with a "Monkey" cake. I found a great tutorial online for how to make it. There's a bunch of other great ideas there as well, so check it out! By the way, I am NOT a cake decorator by any means. I'm definitely an amateur so this simple cake was perfect for me to tackle. I think the trick with cake decorating is just having the guts to try it. You'll probably be surprised at what you can pull off. Anyway, it turned out cute, it was easy, and most importantly he LOVED it!

Birthday Dinner

Doesn't that look good? This, my friends, is a grilled hamburger. And that is what I would always choose to have for my birthday dinner.

On the other hand, my little brother would choose Fettucine Alfredo.


2 Reasons why you should let your children or spouse choose their Birthday dinner:

1. It will make their birthday that much more special.

2. It gives you a break from deciding what to make for dinner.
That is always a challenge for me :)

Use the birthday plate to serve the birthday person their choice dinner. Tutorial here.

Birthday Sticky Buns

We always got to choose what we wanted for our birthday breakfast, but we always chose Sticky Buns. I'm sure my Mom loved it too because they are so simple to make. You can prepare them the night before and just bake them in the morning so you can enjoy the birthday festivities! :)

Birthday Sticky Buns

1/2 cup margarine
3.5 oz butterscotch cook and serve pudding mix
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
1/2 cup nuts (optional)
15-18 Rhodes frozen rolls

Spray a bundt pan and place frozen rolls inside. Set aside. Melt margarine completely and add in pudding mix, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Place this mixture over the frozen rolls. Let rise overnight. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°. Cool for 10 minutes. Then turn the pan upside down onto a birthday plate or serving dish. Eat warm!

For the Birthday Plate tutorial click here.

Birthday Doors

A fun birthday tradition in my family growing up was the "Birthday Door". Every year for our birthday my Mom would decorate a door covered in pictures of us. There's always a birthday sign as well that usually coordinated with our birthday card and cake. It's always fun to see old pictures of yourself, remember all the great memories, and see how much you had changed since the year before. We would usually leave it up for a few weeks after your birthday as well. Since I've been married it's been fun carrying on this tradition for my hubby and now our little boy. He just turned two and he already loves his "Happy Birthday Door!"

My birthday door as a 4 and 5 year old (I had a Teddy Bear Cake and Party for my 4th birthday - hence the "Bear" sign on my door) Oh and I totally LOVE that I'm holding my little brother's hand. Cute!

Birthday Doors for my husband since we've been married

I can't even believe we've already celebrated TWO birthday's for this little guy! It's so much fun carrying on traditions for my own little family! The first year was "Tool" themed with a Hammer shaped cake. Then we had a "Monkey" birthday with a monkey cake this year.

Birthday Fairy [tradition]

You have heard of the tooth fairy, I'm sure. You know, the little fairy that leaves you money under your pillow for your tooth? In our family, it wasn't the tooth fairy that we looked forward to.

It was the Birthday Fairy.

I'm not sure where this tradition came from, but we didn't care. All we knew was that the Birthday Fairy would visit us in the night before our birthday. It reminds me a bit of St. Nicholas Day.

Anyways, the night before your birthday, you get to choose your favorite shoe to put out by your door. I remember I planning out which shoe I would put out months before my birthday. My husband chose his slipper last year.

You leave your shoe by the door and then the Birthday Fairy comes and leaves a quarter for every year old you are, plus one for good luck. So, if you are turning 15, you would get 16 quarters.

I like this tradition because the older you are, the more quarters you get. So it actually pays to get old :)

The fun thing about Birthday Fairy money is you get to do whatever you want with it! If you didn't want to do quarters, you could do something else more specific to the birthday person.

How to make a Birthday Plate

Birthdays were a huge deal when I was growing up. I plan on sharing lots of the birthday traditions we had that made our birthdays special. But for today, I will share one tradition that is easy to make and will help make birthday meals that much more special. I remember my Mom making a birthday plate for us and I wanted to make one for my own family. So here is the how-to. I had lots of fun making this and am so excited to use it for my husband's birthday in March.

What you will need:

• a clear glass plate (I got one for $.50 at a thrift store)
• a paint brush
• mod podge
• birthday tissue paper. Now, good luck finding tissue paper. Our birthday plate was made out of very vibrant tissue paper that had presents all over it. I looked ALL over for birthday tissue paper and the only place I found it was Wal-Mart. It was $1 for more than you will need. If you find any other more festive tissue paper, leave a comment so we know where we can find it!

Lay out your plate over the design to make sure you have what you want showing.

Cut out a piece of tissue paper that is a few inches larger than your plate.

Lay your plate with the eating side face down on top of a canister or oatmeal container. This will make it easier to spread mod podge and keep from getting the edges messy. Then spread a generous amount of mod podge on the bottom side of your plate like this: (make sure you get it all the way to the edge of the plate)

Then lay your piece of tissue paper on top of the mod podge. Be sure to smooth out all wrinkles.

Let the plate dry completely. Then cut off the excess tissue paper.

Cover the bottom of the plate at least one more time with mod podge. Then viola~you have a festive birthday plate!

Remember--the plate is no longer dishwasher safe. After you use it, just use a damp rag to wipe off the top of the plate. Getting the bottom of your plate wet will ruin it.

You could make a generic one for all members of your family to use or make a personalized one. Seriously, this whole project cost me $1.50 and I have enough tissue paper to make at least 5 more! This could also be a fun way to take a birthday treat to someone.

Let us know if you find any cute birthday tissue paper anywhere!