{pixar's up}

PIN THE HOUSE ON PARADISE FALLS
I have to admit that my husbands an artist and hand drew it to be the correct size. Then he used his shading and coloring techniques to get this beautiful chart.

I printed 4 of these per sheet in black and white on yellow paper and I think they turned out perfectly.

 

I guess you could say that my husband and I were bored the night before because we thought it'd be fun to paint this on the table cloth. It turned out super cute though. My hand needed to be a little bit smaller. Again, my hubby's pretty good with the art.

The table.

I got these and the house from this website. They have a whole bunch of printables that you can print if you want. I thought these were so adorable. LOVED them. Aria liked playing with them too.  That's why Russell's missing an arm. :)

ELLIE BADGE
Bought some old fashioned root beer. My hubby likes it so that's what we bought. Save the caps. Paint them white. Print out these babies in color and glue them onto the top. Bend the safety pin with pliers so that they reach into the bottle caps. Fill the bottle caps with hot glue. stick in safety pin. Allow to dry. This will take several minutes. Voila. These beauties. Aria wants to wear hers every day.

BADGES
These were the badges. I made the black and white ones so that they could earn them for all the games they played. Much beloved part of the party.

Here they are on an actual person. I used the yellow fabric from my scrap pile. The kids loved them.

other things we played include
MUSICAL BALLOONS - just like musical chairs, but instead of sitting down on a chair you pick up a balloon. Nearly impossible for 4 year olds by the way. The temptation is too strong to resist.
PAINTING PARADISE FALLS
PARTY BALLOON FAVORS - helium filled ballons attached to a chocolate bar with a big thanks from Kevin and the birthday girl. They also got to take home all their badges... including the ellie badge. Before we gave them out, I kept them in this play house we had and then they got to take them home when they left. Perfect kind of party decor. Cleans up itself. :)

We had a lot of fun!
Got this idea from a website for the cupcakes. They turned out way cute. Again. the printable is at the website listed above.

p.s. used this frosting It was delicious.

Ingredients

• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 cup shortening
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 tablespoons cake flour
• 1/4 cup low-fat milk
• 2 drops any color food coloring (optional)

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, shortening, egg whites, salt, vanilla, flour and milk. Beat with an electric mixer, gradually increasing to high speed, until light, fluffy and smooth, about 5 minutes. Stir in desired amount of food coloring.

and this cake recipe...
from our best bites

Colorburst Cupcakes
1 white cake mix
2 eggs
1 C yogurt (any smooth textured fruit flavor is fine!) or sour cream
1/2 C milk
1/3 C vegetable oil
Combine all ingredients until incorporated (about 30 seconds). Scrape sides of bowl and then beat on med-high speed for 2 minutes.
Divide batter according to how many colors you are using. I used 5 colors and it worked out to a little over 1 cup for each color, but each cake brand will be slightly different.
Use food coloring to color batter to desired intensity.
To get a layered stripe like I used, you’ll want to put a spoonful of each color in the cupcake one at a time. The batter is thick, so it won’t spread on it’s own. A great tip is to set out a little bowl of water where you’re working. Dip your finger in the water and then gently spread the batter out. The water will make it so the batter doesn’t stick to your fingers.
Another tip is to use a measuring spoon and some water to measure out how many teaspoons/tablespoons are going to fit in your cupcake. Then divide that by how many colors you have so you know how much of each color to use for each cupcake. For my 5 colors, it worked out perfectly with 2 t of each color in each cupcake. So I put in 2 t of blue in the bottom of each cupcake and spread it out with my finger. Then I put in 2 t of green on top of that, then yellow, etc.
Bake them according to the package directions, until a toothpick comes out dry.

I did not add food coloring for these ones, although I have before.