I've spent snippets of evenings and weekends during the last few weeks getting ready for Soren's 4th birthday party, held last Sunday, and in my mind, a successful fete!
While most of our friends and relatives probably think I'm nuts putting so much time and effort into a kids' birthday party, I assure you all that I really really just enjoy creating these kinds of events. More than one person has said that I should go into business as a party planner, and I've definitely given it some thought. Maybe once Jude is a little older and I have more time to devote to such employment.
Rather than having our small house destroyed by a stampede of kids, we opted to have our party at a local community space. This gave the kiddos plenty of room to spread out and run around, and also came with both and art room and a bounce house that we set up in the larger room.
Bouncing and painting certainly occupied the kids for the majority of the time. Hopefully parents appreciated the opportunity for their children to burn off all that sugar via jumping.
My mother-in-law made this fabulous robot cake and cupcakes for the party. It turned out so cool, and you can find out how to make it Betty Crocker (it even includes an instructional video).
Though it was a little tricky finding robot-themed items, I managed to pull it off by making some homemade stuff like the banner (which is a little hard to read here, since it kept saggin in the middle). You can find my tutorial for a similar banner here.
Using decorative paper and cardstock, I made some cutesy signs like "battery cells" for drinks
"Cheese Ball Bearings", "Nuts and Bolts" and "Computer Chips."
I served the snacks in aluminum tins to give it more of a metal robot look.
I found the treat bags in the dollar section of either Walmart or Target way back during the back-to-school shopping season. They're actually reusable (the orange ones) and paper lunch bags.
It's great to have a theme way ahead of time so you can scout out supplies months before the event rather than scrambling to find them at the last minute.
I stuffed the goodie bags with some snacks and robot t-shirts that I had screen printed for the kids.
I like that it was something non-junky to include in the bags and that they'd definitely use instead of ending in the trash. You can find my screen printing tutorial for them HERE.
Another fun thing I made was a cardboard robot with a cutout in the head for the kids to pose in. I used boxes, electrical tape, and other stuff we had around the house. Soren enjoyed helping me with this.
I downloaded the Pocketbooth app for the iPhone and had the kids pose, photobooth-style. Fun stuff!
I wanted to take advantage of the art room in the space, as well as my art teacher skills, so for the creative part, I found these cool paint-able ceramic robot banks online (cheap too, under 20 bucks for a dozen) and had the kids paint them. They loved it!
Soren said painting the robot was his favorite part of the party. That melts my heart.
I bought some special paints for glass and ceramic, which should hold up well on these ceramic banks.
We had the usual birthday fare, pizza, cake and ice cream, and FOUR candles this year.
What a happy happy birthday for my robot boy!
If you'd like to use make your own banner and tags, I used the free Tombots and Homemade Robot fonts.
Here are the images I designed for the food tags, which you can right click and save, then mount onto colored paper or cardstock:
Showing posts with label SoJo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SoJo. Show all posts
March 28, 2023
March 15, 2024
My Crowning Achievement
My weekend project--made during naps and even on a long car ride to visit Sojo's cousin's house yesterday.
I've been wanting to make him a birthday crown for a while now, having not gotten around to sewing one for his first birthday last year. But I did it! And I love how it turned out.
I had an old wool sweater that I had knitted and felted, naively for a baby (this was pre-Sojo), thinking at the time that it would actually fit over a baby's head. Defeated yet hopeful it could be used for something else like a teddy bear, I was stashed it away to be repurposed one day.
I cut the bottom of the sweater into a crown, which was actually a perfect fit for Sojo's head and didn't even require a seam (the sweater was knitted in the round).
For the "S" panel on the front, I cut out a circle from a piece of scrap felt that I had made
and needle felted a red "S" onto it.
For instructions on needle felting, see my posts here or here. For wet felting (like the scrap piece above), check out my tutorial here.
I then needle felted colorful circles around the crown
Finally, I wet felted little balls to sew onto the tips of the crown.
I love how jester-ish it is, and I hope that Sojo will look forward to wearing this on birthdays to come.
On a related note, I finally finished the Ministry Shawl.
I'm pleased with the result, but I should have budgeted my yarn better. I made the shawl too wide, and therefore it's a tad too short (I should have made a longer, narrower shawl). I added fringe along the edges to make up for it, and I like that it brings more pastel color into what could be a funeral-esque shawl.
I'm off to drop it off today, so hopefully the recipient like it. What have you been creating lately? Inquiring minds want to know (and would love to see links!).
I've been wanting to make him a birthday crown for a while now, having not gotten around to sewing one for his first birthday last year. But I did it! And I love how it turned out.
I had an old wool sweater that I had knitted and felted, naively for a baby (this was pre-Sojo), thinking at the time that it would actually fit over a baby's head. Defeated yet hopeful it could be used for something else like a teddy bear, I was stashed it away to be repurposed one day.
I cut the bottom of the sweater into a crown, which was actually a perfect fit for Sojo's head and didn't even require a seam (the sweater was knitted in the round).
For the "S" panel on the front, I cut out a circle from a piece of scrap felt that I had made
and needle felted a red "S" onto it.
For instructions on needle felting, see my posts here or here. For wet felting (like the scrap piece above), check out my tutorial here.
I then needle felted colorful circles around the crown
Finally, I wet felted little balls to sew onto the tips of the crown.
I love how jester-ish it is, and I hope that Sojo will look forward to wearing this on birthdays to come.
On a related note, I finally finished the Ministry Shawl.
I'm pleased with the result, but I should have budgeted my yarn better. I made the shawl too wide, and therefore it's a tad too short (I should have made a longer, narrower shawl). I added fringe along the edges to make up for it, and I like that it brings more pastel color into what could be a funeral-esque shawl.
I'm off to drop it off today, so hopefully the recipient like it. What have you been creating lately? Inquiring minds want to know (and would love to see links!).
June 17, 2023
Wordful Wednesday: Trampoline Time
We saw it behind the tent and amplifiers of the middle-aged rock duo, playing oldies at the graduation party--the trampoline!
With La Bamba playing loudly in the background, SoJo took his first steps onto a trampoline at my aunt and uncle's house.
With my dad helping him keep his balance, he ran in circles and bounced to the music.
When the trampoline+kids proved to be too much, he hitched a ride in a land-locked fishing boat. No sea legs required.
With La Bamba playing loudly in the background, SoJo took his first steps onto a trampoline at my aunt and uncle's house.
With my dad helping him keep his balance, he ran in circles and bounced to the music.
When the trampoline+kids proved to be too much, he hitched a ride in a land-locked fishing boat. No sea legs required.
June 10, 2023
Wordful Wednesday: Impending Summer
Why does it go from 50 degrees and long-sleeve wearing weatherto pull-it-all-off-bare-your-chest-if-you're-a-boy hot weather in the matter of a day in PA?
I'm thinking I may just have to go topless too. Wait, even I don't want to glimpse these saggy nursing boobs in a mirror.
It would be a laugh, SoJo, yes it would.
For more Wordful Wednesday, head to 7 Clown Circus.
I'm thinking I may just have to go topless too. Wait, even I don't want to glimpse these saggy nursing boobs in a mirror.
It would be a laugh, SoJo, yes it would.
For more Wordful Wednesday, head to 7 Clown Circus.
June 3, 2023
Wordful Wednesday: Church Business
As I mentioned in a post from earlier this week, we were at a dedication ceremony this weekend. It was at a really interesting Unitarian Universalist Church, which I really liked because of its message of inclusiveness for all peoples and religions.
Having been raised as a strict church-every-Sunday Catholic, I was pretty turned off to churches by the time I was, like 7. Something about the old priest going on and on in the sermon, and that awful church singing made me not want to go to church. I spent time looking at the backs of ladies' hairstyles (and not very good ones, mind you) and reimagining what the alter would look like with a painting of Three Mile Island rather than the crucifixion.
At the time, I thought I was just lazy, but now I realize that that sort of church service just didn't have a connection to a curious child (no offense to my Catholic readers!). Maybe I would have felt differently had I been raised Lutheran or Quaker.
After the dedication ceremony, we spent some time outside the church, keeping SoJo occupied until the accompanying luncheon.
Mr. Geek made a poignant observation: "We'll have to tell SoJo's future girlfriend that he was the kind of little boy who liked to hit flowers." I've written it here for posterity.
So true. He was doing that in the above photo.
The best part for SoJo...bicycles! Taking third place behind motorcycles and buses, the bicycle is one of SoJo's favorite things. Fortunately for him, our region is a hotspot for professional bicycling and to his delight, we were able to see an Italian bicycle team whiz by our stroller just last week.
Such a weird post. Churches to bicycles. It has to be Wordful Wednesday. For more less weird Wednesday posts, visit
Having been raised as a strict church-every-Sunday Catholic, I was pretty turned off to churches by the time I was, like 7. Something about the old priest going on and on in the sermon, and that awful church singing made me not want to go to church. I spent time looking at the backs of ladies' hairstyles (and not very good ones, mind you) and reimagining what the alter would look like with a painting of Three Mile Island rather than the crucifixion.
At the time, I thought I was just lazy, but now I realize that that sort of church service just didn't have a connection to a curious child (no offense to my Catholic readers!). Maybe I would have felt differently had I been raised Lutheran or Quaker.
After the dedication ceremony, we spent some time outside the church, keeping SoJo occupied until the accompanying luncheon.
Mr. Geek made a poignant observation: "We'll have to tell SoJo's future girlfriend that he was the kind of little boy who liked to hit flowers." I've written it here for posterity.
So true. He was doing that in the above photo.
The best part for SoJo...bicycles! Taking third place behind motorcycles and buses, the bicycle is one of SoJo's favorite things. Fortunately for him, our region is a hotspot for professional bicycling and to his delight, we were able to see an Italian bicycle team whiz by our stroller just last week.
Such a weird post. Churches to bicycles. It has to be Wordful Wednesday. For more less weird Wednesday posts, visit
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