DIY Balloon Columns

I recently helped host a party for a friend of mine that retired from teaching.  She's really into politics, so we had fun with a patriotic theme (campaign buttons, shirts, and headbands).  One thing I wanted to try out was balloon columns.  It was MUCH easier than I thought.  I'll definitely be doing it again, and I'll go with a video next time, but here are some pictures and lessons I took along the way.  

First, I have a balloon blower.  I got this on Amazon.  It blows up two balloons at a time (I only have talent enough to do one), BUT it's a life safer.  It comes with different nozzle sizes and plugs in.  

I also found a kit on Amazon for less than 15 dollars that came with 100 balloons of different sizes, mylar balloons, string, glue dots, and these strips you can put the balloons into to create an arch.  It ALSO came with this tying divice, which saved my fingers from hurting!  

The other thing I purchased was balloon columns (two), again it was 15 dollars, and reusable.  They have door arches and circles, but I have seen the arches fall over before, and I decided this would be the least stressful way to make displays.  The column came with a bunch of different pieces you can attach.  I wanted a random sampling of balloons (nothing uniform).  I used these little round balloon holders that slip onto the poles.  

When you have four balloons, you slip them into the slots.  

And you slip the circle onto the balloon poles.  

I just kept stacking until I had it as full as I wanted.  The day of the party I went and inserted smaller balloons I had blown up into the gaps using the glue dots.  

One lesson learned, I don't know if I blew them up too big, but randomly during the night I heard balloons popping.  It wasn't a huge deal b/c I had set aside a bunch in case this happened.  BUT I also dropped the columns going to my car.  It was 100 degrees and all the balloons that hit the sidewalk popped.  Whoops.  I would assemble this on sight next time, not fill them QUITE as full, or transport them in trash bags and not fully assembled.  Live and learn.  

I put the mylar balloons at the top and filled the based and random spots with baby balloons.  I lost quite a few of my confetti balloons along the way, but it still was fun.  The plan was to put them outside the doors, but it was just too hot, so I put them in two random places in the house.  

Mermaid Favor Buckets

 The gals in my family headed to the beach a few weeks ago to celebrate my Mom's bday.  Just to make it a little more festive, I brought some decorations for the beach house we rented, and I made a bucket for each gal.

 I personalized the buckets, a water bottle, and a bag (to carry our phones to the beach).  I also put in some favorite snacks, a drink holder, cotton candy ("ocean foam"), everyone's favorite candy, and some mermaid cookies I bought at Cookies By Design.

DIY Decorated Donuts

 Here's something I learned this year, you can DIY your own sprinkled donuts.  I saw it via Heidi Swapp a few months back and decided to give it a go.

I just grabbed some regular ol' glazed donuts, a can of icing, sprinkles and decorations.

 I put the icing in the microwave for 30 seconds (more than enough time).  Stirred.

 I dipped my donut in the bowl so the top was covered.  The first donut had those top bubbles, but the rest were smooth.  One can should easily do a dozen donuts.

 I added sprinkles (I found these on Etsy) and some other decorations to create my mermaid donuts (chocolate shells, and fondant mermaid tails-molds from Hobby Lobby).

It doesn't get much easier than this, and you can do this with any flavor of canned icing, or even add food coloring.  The icing was hard enough to hold the sprinkles in place, but soft enough to be donut- delicious!

Shark Party

 Next to the Olympics, I think I probably look forward to Shark Week more than any other 'TV' time of the year.  So, when I found out my cousin's kiddos were coming this week (the week BEFORE shark week) I decided to put together a Shark Themed picnic for one of our days at the pool.  I found these two packs of blue buckets at the dollar store to pack individual lunches (because tables can be difficult to grab at the pool, so if we ended up on the ground, I thought we'd be able to better eat from these.

 I found little shark cups I personalized online, and shark napkins via Amazon.  To make serving easier, I just made 'tags' for each food.  Bugles=Shark Teeth, Grapes=Fish Eggs, Sandwiches cut like 'fins.'

 I also made some blue jello, I found these lidded cups at a store near me, and gummies at Sprouts (thought they also sell them online).  I put a few in the jello, and some whipped topping and another shark on top.

 I used some ocean washi to attach a spoon.

Sunburns and memories were made.

Donut/Bagel Board

Admittedly, I don't have an 'in use' photo for this board, but I decided not to wait to share, but....I will revisit this and add a picture of it in use soon!  I made this bagel board for something coming up, though I hope to be able to use it for lots of somethings (donuts) etc.  I found the board in the unfinished wood section at Hobby Lobby and, with my coupon, it was about 11 dollars.  I also bought 3 dowel rods.  

 I read that most bagels/donuts are 4 inches wide, so I measured the boards so that each hole can fit a donut that is about 4 1/2 inch from the next hole.  Then I had my brother drill holes into the board and cut down the dowel rod to 4 inch pieces.

 I like it because the dowels can be popped in and out.  If I just want to do 12 donuts or bagels, I'm going to put a sign or word across the top where the four dowels currently live.

I also have extra dowels in case I lose any, and my plan is to get some doilies, create a small x in the middle and push them around the dowel so the bagels aren't touching the board directly and getting it greasy.  Not gluing the dowels into the wood will allow easier storage, but I may eventually make these more permanent!
I could cover this with mineral oil if I wanted to make it more food safe, but for now, I think it'll work for it's next purpose!

Ready to Pop Shower

 Working in an elementary school, we host a lot of showers for the staff, but this year is a new record.  We have teachers pregnant, 4 of whom are due within a month or so of each other.  It's also spring, and testing season, which means a lot of after school meetings, as well as a wedding shower to throw, so we combined some of the mom's in a shower for all with a 'pop' theme.  We've done it many different ways (we each bring a dish, go to a restaurant and order appetizers etc), but this time just a few of us purchased the items and we divided it up.

 We have 3 girls and 1 boy represented at this shower, so we just went with a pastel theme and each mom got her own color assigned in a spot in the room.  We ordered cupcakes from Sams and added some blow pops.

 We also picked up some soda pop.

 I made a little tangle of balloons to go behind the food table, and another gal made a banner for the table, and then one for each mom.

 I bought some white buckets at the Dollar Tree, and a have a friend who owns a popcorn shop who delivered the popcorn.  If you life in the Dallas/Collin/Denton/Fort Worth Area it's called Grandpa's Popcorn.  It was delicious and he delivers/will set up.  I don't get anything for saying that, but.....a good company is a good company is a good company and it made life soooooooo much easier.  I ordered Jalapeno Ranch, Zebra, Caramel, Cheddar, and Regular.

 We put some dots on the staff tables, and balloons attached to our hostess gift for each mom.

 My favorite sign in is always a book.  Each mama got a book that the staff all signed to take home to their baby.

 Sometimes we buy a hostess gift, but this time we got baskets and each hostess brought an item for the basket so we didn't have to worry about splitting the cost (bibs, lotions, shoes, toys etc).

It was a really easy way to host a staff by and for a large group of folks.  And.....another one is in the books.

Emmy Award Party

I headed to GMT today and shared some last minute Emmy Award watching party ideas. The concepts work for any awards party, and most of the things I pulled from around my house.

 I printed off pictures of all the different shows in the running for best Comedy, and I put them on toothpicks, and then tossed them in these little top hats I found at the party store (I saw that idea on pinterest).  You could also make your own top hats with paper.

 I also made some ballots to follow along, and then plates using some dollar store black plates, and striped papers I attached with the brad on the side so it opens and closes like a director's clapper.

Last up I made a little popcorn bar.  I pulled a bunch of seasonings, chocolate chips etc from my pantry.  It's  DIY flavor station using pantry finds.