Ballerina Birthday Party – Step 2

If you haven’t been invited to the Ballerina party yet, go check out the invitations here.

Once you’ve seen those….welcome to the party! I had so much fun with this one. A couple of things i’ve learned. Tulle and elastic are my friends; and 3 year old finger foods are a piece of cake to prepare. The only thing I cooked the day of the party was the Mac n Cheese – and even that was prepared the night before and just baked off in the oven. I love to cook, but when you can easily cook…why, that’s even better!

The Menu:

Gingerbread Strawberry Cream Cookie Tarts <—- I was inspired by this cute little recipe!

Make-your-own Cracker Sandwiches

Salted Coconut Oil Popcorn <—— Here’s the printables for the super cute little boxes!

Carrots with Homemade Ranch <— my little ballerina’s favorite “begetable snack”

Pink Marshmallow Lollipops (Thanks, Mom!)

Pigs in a Blanket – made by her super sweet 5 year old sister!

Red Apples with Strawberry Cream

Homemade Mac n Cheese <——- the birthday girl’s all time favorite meal ever.

Angelina Ballerina’s Pink Rose Cake

The Favors:

Yay for my Cricut! I made little Ballerina paper dolls for each little girl to take home. (Along with their own tutus they all got in their invitations. Each ballerina came with three different colored tutus. Little velcro circles (bought at Walmart!) made the outfits easy to take off and stick on – especially for the chubby little 2 and 3 year old fingers.

The Decorations:

The table cloths on all the tables was some discount pink fabric I got for $1.50/yard. The pink tulle was $.59/yard and the elastic was $.39/yard. What can I say? I’m cheap. I sewed the pink tulle onto the elastic to fit around the bottom edge of the dining room table – which made a little “tutu tableskirt” – it was super cute. And super easy!

Each of the girls tables were small tables I pulled from our school room (and a friend’s house!). I used my grandmother’s china. And my starbucks glasses. (At this point, those things are a tradition for every party at our house….)

And balloons. I love balloons. My girls love balloons. And again, they’re super cheap. BTW – interesting note. Did you know that Walmart will fill your balloons for a quarter a piece? If you buy them in their store – which they’re only $1 for a pack of 12. Head on back with your balloons to the bakery section and they’ll get you all set. (Just call ahead to check first!) I’m actually not a huge Walmart shopper. But I’ll go anywhere for helium balloons.

The Games:

Find Angelina’s Lucky Penny (in the sand box)

A Ballerina Class (with a (free!) library Ballerina DVD)

And just because this post doesn’t have enough photos yet…how about one of the birthday girl?!

$100 worth of food for $6?? Only in Greenville, SC! :)

So, I went to the Sav-Mor food yardsale again today.  And I had a great time!  Check out what all I got for just $6!! 

For those of you who don’t know what the food yardsale is, it’s a sale put on by Sav-Mor on Wade Hampton.  They line all this food up in big boxes in aisles.  Everyone stands around the boxes until the big guy says “Go!”   Then there’s a mad rush for all the food!  What’s awesome about it all is that most of the food seems to come from places like Whole Foods and the Fresh Market.  Most of what I get is organic, which I love, but I”d never be able to afford it at full price (or even with coupons!).   So, each box is worth $6 – for as much as you can stuff in it!

Here’s a picture of what I got – and then some close ups so you can see what awesome deals we’re going to be “eating” off of for the next month or so!

 

My favorites in this picture?  The Toll House chocolate chips (2 bags), the Zatarains jambalaya (my husband will LOVE this!), the Emeril’s horseradish (we love ANYTHING by Emeril Lagasse!)  and the 2 cans of Bush’s baked beans – they were great!

So, there’s a little overlap in this picture, but I like the Rubbermaid container, the Taco Bell queso with beans dipping sauce, perfect for our Old El Paso taco night, 3 boxes of organic chicken broth, cereal bars, chow mien noodles, Wilton’s mini baking cups, and some Kraft Pasta Salad mix?  Yeah, we’re set for a while!

My favorites in this picture?  The Crystal Light, three boxes of Stove Top Stuffing, Two boxes of Organic cereal for Chloe, and 3 boxes of. . . get this. . . ORGANIC FRUIT ROLL-UPS!  Who ever knew they made that stuff organically?!?!