BIRTHDAY LETTER to my middle son on his 9th birthday

Today my middle son turns 9, and in keeping with family tradition, I wrote him a birthday letter as a way of preserving a "snap shot" of the little details that make him so special. Here is my birthday letter to my middle son on his 9th birthday.

My Sweet Boy,

You have a sparkle in your eye and a spring in your step. You have a carefree and adventurous spirit, and people are drawn to you.

You have a ton of friends, get invited to countless birthday parties, and have people shouting your name everywhere we go.

You love to play sports (ALL sports), and dad and I love to watch you play.

You love music, but you are shy to let anyone hear you sing.

You have a wonderful mind for figuring things out. You love fixing things, building with LEGO, and coding on the computer.

You are a master negotiator. You're always asking for "one more" or "just another five minutes".

You are very kind, and you love being helpful.

You love to cuddle, and you give wonderful hugs and kisses.

You are confident, strong, and stubborn... and I wouldn't change a thing about you.

I love you to the moon and back, my darling boy!

Love,

Mom

xoxo

DIY Pool Party Ideas

Earlier this week, I hosted a simple pool party to celebrate my boys' birthdays (as they turned 7 and 9). It's a simple theme that is perfect for birthdays. It's also a wonderful summer party idea. Today, I am sharing all the cute and fun DIY details of our simple pool party.

We spent the first hour of the party swimming at a local pool.

Then, we moved to a room for pizza and treats. 

The food table had things like: gummy sharks, pool water (blue juice), fish and chips (gold fish mixed with salt & vinegar chips), sea creature crackers, pool noodles (liquorice), and chips served in (clean) buckets.

To use the labels I designed: right-click on the picture below, save it to your computer, and print it like a regular 8X10 photo. I printed mine at my local copy store for $0.39.

We also had some festive tropical decor. I made an adorable pool noodle garland by slicing pool noodles and stringing the pieces together with yarn.

I also carved a shark from dollar store foam core (with an X-acto knife). I embellished it with blue paint and a black sharpie. The shark was cute decor, and it also functioned as a fun photo booth.

I also had a few summer themed games to entertain the 21 party guests. We started with chocolate bar bingo. I purchased some bingo games at Walmart for $1 each and a bunch of chocolate bars for prizes. The kids loved it!

To download the "chocolate bar bingo" sign I designed: right-click on the picture below, save it to your computer, and print it like a regular 8X10 photo. I sent my sign to my local copy store and had it printed for $0.39.

We also had a "guess the number of fish" game. I filled a summer drinking glass (from the dollar store) with candy fish. Each party guest had a chance to guess the number of fish in the glass, and the child that was closest won the cup and the candy.

To print the sign I designed: right-click on the picture below, save it to your computer, and print it like a regular 8X10 photo. 

The final party game was a "prize punch" made from dollar store foam core, plastic glasses, and tissue paper. Each child was given the opportunity to punch through the tissue paper to claim a prize. Prize punches have become staples at my boys' birthday parties. You can find the full tutorial here.

Of course, every party needs a fun cake, and my boys wanted something "swimming" related with gummy sharks. You can read all about the cakes I made here. 

Finally, at the end of the party, all the guests left with a "cool" gift/ party favor. My boys gave their friends Gatorade bottles filled with freezies, but I have other options for pool party loot bags (and free downloadable tags) here.

It was a really fun party, and my boys had a great time.

We had a wonderful afternoon with a terrific group of kids. I love a good DIY party with lots of fun details, and I think a pool party theme is a lot of fun, don't you?

♥ 
Gina Bell (aka East Coast Mommy)

BIRTHDAY LETTER for my youngest son on his 7th birthday

Today, my "baby" boy turns seven, so in keeping with family tradition, I wrote him a letter as a way of remembering all the little details that make him special. Here is my letter to my youngest son on his 7th birthday.

My dearest, sweet "baby" boy,

This was another big year for you as you continued to work hard at conquering your anxiety in new social situations. Though you continue to be a cautious boy, you are willing to try new things, and you are getting more confident with each passing year. 

On your 7th birthday, I want you to know that I am very proud to be your mom, and I want to share some of the reasons you are such a special little boy:

• You have a sweet smile, an awesome giggle, a gentle spirit, and adorable freckles on your nose and cheeks.
• You love to cuddle... especially if I am reading you one of your favorite stories.
• You have a love for reading, and you are getting really good at reading on your own. You are pretty proud of your ability to read "chapter books".
• You took part in a multi-sport program this year (12 sports in 10 months), and you learned a lot of new skills. Hockey and Tai Kwon Do were your favourites!
• You get pretty cranky when you get tired and/or hungry... but most of the time you are a sweet boy. ;-)
• You love riding your bike and playing sports with your brothers, and you want to be a hockey player when you grow up.
• You ask me for crackers a hundred times a day. I actually think you are happiest when you are sitting on the couch with a bowl of crackers watching a TV show.
• You are getting very grown up... but I still catch you saying "bees" instead of "because". It's pretty cute!
• You had a great year in Grade One. You loved your teacher, the new "month" song you learned each month, and the baby ducks you hatched in your class.
• Your favorite color is green... especially sea-foam green.
• You love white cake with white icing, and you often order vanilla ice cream when we go to an ice cream stand.
• You are a bit of a clown with a wonderful sense of humour. Dad, your brothers, and I are always laughing at your silly antics and your crazy dance moves.

I love you to the moon and back my darling angel, and I hope you will always know how grateful I am to be your mother.

Lots of Love,

Mom xoxox

Party Planning (DIY parties, decor, games, food, cakes, and favours)

Below, you will find a collection of my party planning posts. There are lots of ideas for DIY parties, decor, games, food, cakes, and favours. Scroll down and click on the links for additional info.

As a mom (and an amateur party planner), I've also had a lot of fun making my boys' parties special. I don't spend a lot of money, but I work hard to personalize their festivities with easy and inexpensive DIY details. Click on the links below to check out more than 100 of my favourite ideas.

18 awesome DIY party themes

Party favor ideas

Tips for displaying party treats (like a pro)

DIY NERF Party

Alternative to gifts

Birthday letter tradition

Tips for party planning

DIY LEGO Party

DIY Circus Party

DIY Carnival Party

DIY Super Hero Party

DIY Race Car Party

DIY Star Wars Party

DIY Harry Potter Party

DIY Monkey-Themed 1st Birthday Party

DIY Music Party

DIY SPY Party

Cowboy Party

DIY Pirate Party

DIY Jake and the Neverland Pirates Party

DIY Hockey Party

DIY Movie Party

DIY Pool Party

"ice cream for supper" party

Birthday Traditions

DIY Bowling Party

DIY Olympics Party

DIY Cakes

The Ultimate DIY Carnival Party

A carnival is perfect party theme for all ages. Everyone loves carnival games and treats. Today I am sharing the details of the simple and fabulous DIY Carnival party I threw for my boys on their 6th and 8th birthdays.

I set the mood by creating a simple carnival themed invite. I used a picture of my boys and added some info using Picmonkey.com. I printed the 4X6 photo invites for just $0.19 each at my local photo developer.

We also thought it would be fun for my boys to make their own carnival t-shirts to wear to the party. They used fabric markers and white t-shirts. I think the shirts turned out really cute, and my boys were really proud of their creations.

Cute, right?

On the day of the party, we had the party guest decorate bags as they arrived. The bags were used to collect tickets and prizes.

Of course, we also had some fantastic carnival food at our "concession stand". We ordered pizza, but we also had lots of popcorn, chips, cotton candy, and treats. 

And the cakes were colourful and cute too. You can read all about our Skittles cakes here.

I also put together a bunch of simple carnival games and activities. I used Picmonkey.com to make some signs and purchased a lot of my supplies from the dollar store. You can read about all our carnival games and activities here.

The kids won tickets when they played the games, and at the end of the party, they were able to trade their tickets in for inexpensive carnival prizes.

In order to save money, I crafted some prizes, purchased things at the dollar store, and repackaged items that I purchased in bulk. You can read about all our carnival prizes here.

The kids put all their prizes into the bags they had decorated and we added clown noses to create seriously cute loot bags/ party favours.

I think a carnival party is a perfect party theme. It is fantastic for a birthday, but you could adapt my ideas for a carnival fundraiser too. Have you ever thrown a carnival party? I'd love to hear about it.

♥ 
Gina Bell (aka East Coast Mommy)