You want what kind of party?

We are in the throws of birthdays around our house. One in April, and the other in May. For the past two years I've gotten away with King for the Day parties, or Yes Day parties. Those are always fun, involve only one or two buddies, and are always done away from the house. This year, however, both my boys decided they wanted to have parties at home. Usually, I love a good theme and love a good party, but every now and then one of my kids will throw out the type of party they want and I think, "How are we going to do that?".
It's a bummer when my creatively thinking child comes up with a theme that Party City and Birthday Express haven't come up with yet. This years theme of choice...Wild Kratts. It's based on the PBS show with the Kratt brothers. Thankfully my creative child also has ideas of what he wants to do. The two of us are plotting and scheming, and I'll post everything we did when the party is over. So far, the invitations were store bought jungle themed!
Wish me luck!!

"About to Pop" Baby Shower

I guess I should start posting about various party/party ideas that randomly float thru my mind...

This past weekend I had the pleasure of hosting a baby shower for a friend/co-worker. When I told her I wanted to host a baby shower in her honor, I didn't know her nursery theme was owls, or I would have gone in a whole different direction! But I thought it would be fun to have an "About to Pop" themed shower. Because my friend is having a girl, we decorated in pink with white polka dots (could be replicated for a boy in blues).

The decorations included a super cute banner made by my crafty friend, Michelle that read "About to Pop", balloons with polka dots, "pop" confetti, and popcorn boxes adorned with the words POP.

The food was all "pop" related (or we figured out how to make it that way). We had two different types of popcorn, soda pop to drink, marshmellow pops (Michelle's yummy creations), "pops" of chocolate (brownies & cookies), mini pop-tarts, etc (I think you get the picture). All the food as labeled with the same pink and white polka dot paper as the banner.

For the games, we had a "pop quiz" with all the answers including the word pop. We also played pictionary with all the words having pop in them (tootsie pop, popsicle, blow pop, etc). Prizes for the winners were bags filled with pop rocks, pop tarts, and a ring pop.

Our party favors were individually wrapped pop tarts with a note on them, "When it "pops" into your mind, say a prayer for friend and baby".

I also had a sign-up sheet at the buffet table to sign-up to "pop something in the oven" and provide dinner for the family after baby was born.

Such a fun party and theme! The more I thought about it, the more ideas I came up with. A huge thank you to my super crafty friend, Michelle, for her help!

I do hate repeating parties, as I tend to plan parties around the one being celebrated, but I must admit, I think I'd do this one again!!

Would You Use this Service?

I love, love, love planning parties! A friend of mine suggested I should try a little party planning business on the side; now my question is, would you use a party planner, and if so how much would you pay? Does it depend on if you just get ideas and then implement them, or would you want the person to actually come to your house and run the show? These are the questions I have right now.
So, what I figured I'd do, is post some of my favorite party ideas and as imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, you can "borrow" my ideas.
Let me know what your thoughts.