A Blissful Wedding Present

My cousin got married last week. He's only about 8 years or so younger than me, but it's still bizarre that he's married! I guess it's pretty bizarre that I'm married - with two children. I just don't know where the time goes? Anyway, his last name is Bliss, hence the title of this blog. They had a lovely reception with lots of desserts and I probably gained a few pounds trying most of those desserts out.

A few days prior to the wedding, (I'm perfecting the art of procrastination), I drove to "town" to run errands and purchase a wedding present. I stopped off at Bed, Bath, and Beyond but the boys had fallen asleep in the car, so I decided to look at the registry on my phone while I waited for the boys to wake up. It's a good thing I looked on my phone because the couple wasn't registered at BB&B! I'm glad that I saved the time and effort of pulling the kiddos out of the car, into the store, fighting the shopping cart, just to find out that there was no Bliss registry. So, I decided I better get a game plan and look around for a store that they were registered at. Target - everyone registers at Target! The other two stores they registered at were nowhere near me, and since I had procrastinated so long, I knew that Target was the place to go. I headed to Target, the boys woke up, and we got out of the car, into the store, and fought the shopping cart. Unfortunately, this was not my lucky day. They hadn't registered for very many things at Target, and most of the items had already been purchased. What was I to do? Well, I could go with the garden hose - nah! I'm too girly to bring a garden hose to a wedding. A trash can?! I got it - I would fill the trash can with odds and ends that a newly married couple might need. Wait a minute? What was I thinking? I can't put a garbage can on a wedding gift table!! Then, it hit me. I wasn't going to get anything on their list, and they would just have to deal with it. Years ago I bought a laundry basket for a friend's wedding and filled it up with various things from her registry. I don't really remember what I put in it, but I know that I used the basket as the gift wrap. I was going to do the same thing, BUT, I had to theme it. I remembered those cute candy cards where you write, "To my Sugar Daddy...Love, your Hot Tamale" with candy bars. (Yes, I totally did one for my high school boyfriend, don't judge!) I decided to use cleaning supplies to fill the basket with, and then I would write up a little note using the cleaning supplies names. I thought I was so clever, but I'm sure it's been done many times...just don't tell me that it has and let me feel special about my light bulb moment.

I walked down the cleaning supplies aisles, one child crying to go home, the other crying to be held, and threw anything in the basket that I thought I could use for a little story. I literally would think through the name in my head and try to use it in a sentence, and if it worked out, the product went into the cart. I added a small ironing board, and after a second trip to the store, some towels, a picture frame, and a sweet ornament to decorate the laundry basket with (Christmas is right around the corner) that said "Mr. Mrs., 2013." Perfect! Now, to put it altogether. I put the children to bed the night before the wedding, and made sure that my husband was snoring so that he wasn't bothered by my absence from the room. Then, I headed downstairs to the office, and started brainstorming some ideas for the little story. I'm pretty proud of what I wrote - it just took me hours to do. I don't know why I had to write and rewrite the little thing so many times, but I'm happy with what I decided to use. I designed the poem from scratch on a scrapbooking program on the computer. Again - hours of arranging and rearranging - for a silly little note!

 

If they don't want to keep the note as a decoration, they can take it out and add it to a scrapbook, or GULP, throw it away, and use the frame as a wedding picture frame.  Just let me think I'm clever, okay?!

Here is how the basket turned out...I added tissue paper around the outside and a little fluff in the front.  The laundry detergent made the basket so stinkin' heavy!  Word to the wise - maybe opt for the small box.  :)

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Bliss - may you find happiness for the rest of your lives.  Have fun cleaning!

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Choo Choo, Riley's Two!

September and October are busy months for this mama - my boy's birthdays are just one month apart.  I think I've decided to combine their parties next year, but I was so excited by the train party idea for Riley's second birthday that I just couldn't combine their birthdays this year!  After Hunter's Peter Pan Extravaganza, I knew that Riley's party was going to be much smaller, but I couldn't just serve cake and punch and call it a day - I still wanted to throw some fun elements into the mix.  Our guest list was cut down to close friends and family (and unfortunately cut down even more when half the guest list had to work, but that made the affair even more intimate). 

I designed the train ticket birthday invitation on a scrapbooking program I have on my computer.  It was fun to play around with some ideas and the invitation became much more personal because I made it myself.

After the invitations were sent, it was time to start crafting some train related signs to place around the house.  This was a great way to include Riley and Hunter - they love to help mommy make things.  One sunny afternoon, while Riley was napping, Hunter and I crafted away in the backyard. 

That stinkin' Railroad Crossing sign was harder than I thought it would be.  I kept printing the wrong dimensions out - but I settled with it not being perfect.  Foam board and construction paper were our best friends that day.

I made a triangle sign to hang in the house using construction paper, ribbon, and pre-made letters from the Dollar Store.

I found cute take out boxes at the Dollar Store that matched the color scheme and decided to add wheels and make them train cars for the favor boxes.  I also added wheels to some little red, rectangular shaped dishes from the Dollar Store (the Dollar store is always my friend during party planning - as well as Oriental Trading) and used them for the box cars on the food table.

A train shaped whistle (oriental trading), some bubbles to "blow some steam," a party horn and candy completed the favor boxes.  I bought the cute food tents from LilFacesPrintables and used them for the steam label too.  LilFacesPrintables is wonderful because they're reasonably priced, and they send you a link to print the décor yourself (you can change the text as needed).  I also bought a printable to iron on a shirt so that Riley's shirt matched the food tents.

The last element of the party that I had to make was a train.  I used two moving boxes from our storage room, a diaper box, an oatmeal container, rolled up brown, packing paper, red wrapping paper, and blue cellophane.  The train seemed so much cuter in my mind - but I found that wrapping an open box proved harder than I anticipated!  The train was cute, and the boys have played in it, but I just wish I could have wrapped the boxes a little cleaner (note to self: get a job wrapping presents during the holidays to perfect this work of art).  :-)



 





I ordered train conductor hats and red bandanas from Oriental Trading and hung them on a clothesline for the guests to wear and take home.

I had a few game ideas in mind (coal car races and train rides outside) but decided that ultimately, the kids just wanted to play around outside.  We did decorate a few foam trains that I purchased at...you guessed it, the Dollar Store! 

The train party was such a fun theme - especially for a two year old birthday.  With fun sayings like, "Choo Choo Riley's Two" and "Chugga, Chugga, Two-Two" it was easy to incorporate the word TWO into the train theme.  I loved using a primary color base because everything was colorful and bright.  Now I just have to store some railroad signs...hope the hubby doesn't mind! ;-)

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My mom had a small character train cake pan, which I decided to base the cake around.  I didn't have an original picture from the cake pan since it's older, so I had to use my imagination and look at a few pictures to get an idea of coloring and outlines.  I found some sugar paper and cut out different size circles to place around the sides of the cake.  Not too shabby for a mommy with no cake decorating classes under her belt!  The train track is a black licorice type candy that I bought.  The "steam" coming out of the train spells RILEY. 

My baby is TWO!  I'm glad that I have a whole year before planning anymore birthday parties.  I sure do love it - but it also happens to be a lot of work (and money) and it will be nice to recuperate before the next birthday.  I guess there is a plus to having their birthdays so close together.  :)

Happy Birthday Riley-Bear!





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