Angry Birds, The Party

I cannot remember a busier time in my life than the last three or four weeks, not even the weeks leading up to my wedding.  I, quite literally, have not had a "day off" for a very long time.  Things look only slightly better over the next three weeks though I do have a few blank days on my calendar.  When I complain, my husband just says, "you must like it like this".  He has a point; I do tend to overbook.  I have been snatching small bits of time in my sewing room but mostly doing so in the afternoons or late at night, not my favorite time to do work.  I'm sure I won't see a true break in this pattern till after the Christmas holidays.  Then there's January:  I have always found the bleak days of winter the best time to hibernate and really get to work on projects.

One of the things that has had me so busy recently is planning and executing birthday parties for both of my boys; one turned four and the other six within the last two weeks.  My oldest son wanted a party based on the game Angry Birds which he has been enjoying recently.  This actually turned out to be a very fun and easy party to plan.  The hard part was deciding which of the hundreds of ideas out there on the internet to actually do.  If you Google "Angry Birds party ideas" you will be amazed at the ideas.  Pinterest is also a great source for additional ones.  This website contains a list of links for lots of Angry Birds party ideas.  Here are some of the ones I adapted for our party.

I began with this fabulous free printable graphics package which contained an invitation I easily personalized in PhotoShop.  Even the Angry Birds font is included in this download. 

For decorations I used some paper lanterns (ordered from Oriental Trading Company) and a set of free printable templates to create some birds (and a pig) to hang. 

During the party we had several activites for the kids to do:  two games, a craft and a tattoo station.  Here's my husband working on a "pin the tail on the donkey"-like game (pin the bird on the pig?).  Here's a shot of the finished work of art:

The table where he is working also shows all of the eyes I cut out of foam to make Angry Bird visors:

I pre-cut the various foam pieces, and the kids applied them to the visors with glue dots.

The other game was a simple ball-toss style game.  I purchased three green sand pails at the Dollar Tree and my husband added foam pig features to each one.  The kids took turns launching (throwing) stuffed Angry Birds at the pigs.  We kept score and the winner received a prize.

We also had an egg hunt and used these pig bags to collect the eggs.  The pig faces were a smaller version of the printable templates that I used for the paper lantern decorations.  I made goody bags in a similar fashion:

I had the good fortune to find "sling shots" at the Dollar Tree for the bags.  I also made zipper pulls from Angry Bird graphics and dog tag supplies I found on Etsy.

I also included some Angry Birds tattoos and a candy bar with a custom cover that I ordered online, printed and wrapped around the candy.

We also had an ice cream truck come to the party, which was a big hit with the kids (and grown ups, too).

OK, so this is not the typical stuff that fills the pages of my blog, but at least you can see what has been keeping me busy recently.  I am almost finished sewing a new dress which I hope to have completely done in time to wear for a hot date I have on Thursday.  I'll be sure to get some pictures so I can share that with you.  I'm also working on some beading for an otherwise-finished project, and I'm still plugging away at my blue dress (I am cutting the reverse applique on the final panel now).  Till next time.