Gearhead Mom

Table For One, Personalized Just For Your Kid

My friend AJ got Sy this totally cute personalized placemat for her birthday from the Stationery Studio.

Sy loves that it has different designs on either side and that it has her name on it. When we received it, the company had forgotten the gift card, so I called to see who it was from. The customer service gal couldn’t have been nicer and read the message to me right away.

I’ve bookmarked this for future gift ideas!

For The Kid Who Has Everything

You know, I really thought I’d have a baby by now, but no. Stubborn kid. Regardless, I lined up some wonderful women in the blog-o-sphere to write some guests posts for me this month. I hope you enjoy them. Today is the first one!

Big, huge thanks to Dawn from Pink With Sparkles for writing today’s post.

The number of kiddie birthday parties that my girls attend is ridiculous. We have two this weekend…and it’s mid-August, which is usually not birthday party season since school is out and people may be away.

I pride myself on the fabulous original gifts my girls bring to a party. I am not the type who runs out to a big box store on the way to an event, purchasing whatever is on the end cap and shoving it into a gift bag. I put some thought into our gifts!

The gift we are bringing today is for a five year old girl who has EVERYTHING. She’s an only child and only grandchild with well-to-do grandparents, so, you can imagine. This girl is jaded.

I had to be creative, find a gift that would appeal to a five year old girl, yet not another Hannah doll or princess wand. The best place to start? Etsy!

Spray Bottle Fun

When Micky threw Kara’s third birthday party, she set up a few different easy things set up for the kids to do outside. One of her little outposts was a big white sheet hung on their back fence. She left out a bunch of squirt bottles filled with (mostly) water and washable paint and let the kids go hog wild squirting paint, Jackson Pollack style all over the sheet. Since it was washable paint, the sheet was easily cleaned as were the children. Micky soaked the sheet first, I’m not sure if she soaked her daughter. Of course by the end of the party all the kids were squirting each other instead of the sheet, but that’s all part of the fun.

She got the squirt bottles at Michael’s and just used Crayola washable paint.

WS Princess Cookie Cutters

I am terrible at taking a vacation, so I’ll make this quick and then go back to lazing about with my family.

I saw these yesterday and they made me giggle.

If you have a prince or princess at home, check out these princess cookie cutters from Williams-Sonoma. Packaged in a diary-shaped box with its own magnetic “lock,” the set includes a princess, prince, castle, crown, magic wand, slipper, horse and carriage.

And for your sports enthusiast, they also have a set of All Star cookie cutters. The set includes everything you need to bring your favorite team to life: ball, bat, helmet, football, pennant, baseball player, football player and basketball player.

While a little over the top, they’d be fun for a thematic birthday party. I’m partial to the bug cakelet pan. My cakes would never come out looking like the ones in the picture, but we can all dare to dream.

Your Very Own House of Bounce

It’s birthday season around here and boy, was Saturday’s soiree off the hook. Micky outdid herself on Kara’s Pinwheel Party.* There were pinwheels galore, including pinwheel sandwiches, pinwheel decorations, pinwheel party favors - pinwheel barrettes for the girls and hats for the boys. It was all just too fabulous. But the item that most wowed the kids was that Kara got her very own bounce house. I’m not referring to the kind you rent, I’m talking to the super cool Jump N Slide Bouncer made by the folks at Little Tikes.

I was very sad that I was not 3 to 8 years old (not to mention about twenty months pregnant) because dang, did I want to go bounce in there! Micky had it filled with inflatable beach balls and the kids went bananas for it.

Party Favor Madness

I’m working on Sy’s “Purple Party” theme for her 3rd birthday (it’s what she wanted) and came across these great build-your-own party favors over at Melissa and Doug. They don’t have anything to do with purple, but how cute are they? At $5.99 a pop, it’d add up if you have a lot of kids coming, but I think they’re great little presents regardless of use. I just love Melissa and Doug packaging, how fun to open that up.

I really like the wooden box, pictured above. How fun would that be?! Make your own pirate chest - perfect for a pirate themed party!
Suggested age: 4+

(I checked on Amazon to see if they were any cheaper there, but no dice. They have a few two packs, but that’s about it.)

Pinwheel Party

My pal Micky is throwing her daughter a pinwheel-themed party for her third birthday. She got this pinwheel making kit from Chinaberry for the party favors. She was debating whether or not to make them or send the pieces in a bag for the kids to make (with help) when they got home. I took one look at all the little pieces in the kit and told her that if she actually likes her friends, she’d assemble them first.

I’ll have her review how easy/hard it was to make them once she gets around to it. They looked really cute.