Russian Space Dog Birthday Party...

Alternately titled  {DOG} ROCKET to RUSSIA party as a nod to the Ramones album.

So the E- cousTWins turned 2.

 In an effort to remain original while having a 'dog' themed birthday party... I combined their mutual love of dogs with an awesome vintage Russian space program ad I found.
Bam.  3 themes for the price of 1.  Be still my heart.

April 14th turned out to be the WINDIEST day in Central Texas history... I'm guessing while I was praying for no rain... someone else was praying for gale force winds.  The party still happened... and no one was sweating but me.

Details (Pictured above) Explained:

Party activities:
Rocket test-launch: using the best. toy. ever. and my new 'go-to' birthday present!
    Pre-flight check up:  Lily's idea.  toy doctor kit and stuffed dogs.  done.
    Moon dig simulation: plastic pool filled with sand and 'moon rocks' (foil balls)
    Space Race: rolling dog toys labeled with Russian and US flags
    Anti-gravity training: bounce house (one of those cheap second hand purchases that keeps paying for itself)

Party Food:
Cocoa Kibble: Cocoa Puffs
Dog Bones: Scooby graham cracker bones
Puppy Chow:  with this recipe but substituted Crispix for Chex... because Kellogg's is good to Mr. Olson.
Potato Rounds:  a nod to the Russians. thank you pinterest for this recipe.
with copycat Chuy's Creamy Jalapeno: (got me through a pregnancy outside the Austin City Limits)
    1 c. mayo
    1 c. buttermilk
    1 HV buttermilk ranch packet
    2 Tbs. diced green chiles from can (more or less for desired heat)
    A few fresh cilantro leaves... if you've got them
    Combine in a blender until smooth.
Fruit with cream cheese fruit dip
Party Punch: listed on Pinterest as the best. punch. EVER!!!... it was good... but not the best.


Cake:
Buttercream frosting: found here with Wilton sky blue icing color and Wilton black spray color and Wilton white sugar sheet cut into stars, planets, and comets.
Moon: Rice Krispie treats molded into a mixing bowl and craters hollowed out with a melon baller. I meant to cover it in grey fondant... but didn't have it in me after the other preparations.... so I sprayed it with the remaining Wilton color spray.
Rocket: paper towel roll with a cone cup top and a pronamel toothpaste top burner
Dog: Schleich toy


Homemade touches:  (all super time consuming... and ruined in seconds by the WINDIEST day in history... but such is life.)
paper banner
cardboard rocket ship
balloons turned planets with cardstock rings wrapped in foil
painted cardboard logo with dog silhouette and giant E^2
cups: each taught you to say a word/phrase in Russian  while making it distinguishable from your neighbor's cup... (theme related cup markers: a Tiffany Ashcraft party idea that I continue to use... just like the next one)

Guest book:
Dogs in Space by Nancy Coffelt


Favors:
AstroRox: freeze dried "Astronaut ice cream"
Party Playlist cd:

LiLYPaLooZa!

 

These two things you should know:

I LOVE my Lily-bug.

I LOVE to plan her birthday parties down to the last minute detail.

 

Lily turned FOUR on July 4th and we turned her favorite thing in the world into a ‘golden birthday’ party theme.  This kid is never without her iPod touch…(I received it for my birthday last year and have been slowly UNCHECKING all my old favorite songs to make room for Lily’s growing playlist and feature length movie collection… but such is motherhood.)

She is always dressing up and performing for us.  In the last few months, she has really broadened her pop-music horizons and found a few favorites outside of the Taylor Swift  catalog.  Therefore, we took a sampling of her newest  favorites made some c.d. invitations and VIP passes…

and thus created a fictitious music festival in our backyard.

 

We transformed our house into ‘backstage’…  our backporch into ‘center stage’… our laundry room into the concession stand.

Lily and I are both big fans of concession stand fare. The concession stand had popcorn, pickles, nachos and drinks.

The VIP snacks were supposed to be what the stars requested: Selena Gomez “Who Says” I can’t eat fruit candy, Lisa Loeb “Jenny Jenkins” juice, Lemonade Mouth “Mel’s Organic Lemonade”, Miley Cyrus “Party (in the USA)” tray, Grace Potter “Tangled” twizzlers, Carrie Underwood “Ever Ever After” Fairytale fruit kebabs, Taylor Swift “Speak Now” soda.

I love how Grace asked, “So did you like email or text them to find out what they wanted?”

 

To combine a little of all of Lily’s favorite things…

All VIPs got to have access to a stocked dressing room… professional hair and makeup (aka my hairdresser friend doling out eyeshadow and glitter spray)… decorate a guitar… bling out their microphone and then sing their little hearts out.

Being Lily’s cousin/BFF,  poor Lukie B. had to come to this uber-girly event as the only boy guest… but I must say he took it like a champ. 

The VIP bags (per Lily’s request) had colored fake braid hair clips, a souvenir t-shirt, lemon slice rings, fake microphone to use, and candy.

 

My lemon slice rainbow cake was the ugliest cake in history… at least the topper was super cute.  Lily (the parrot) referred to it as ‘the rainbow disaster cake’ as she ate my first attempt from a discard pile with a spoon.  If I tell you I am making the cake for the next one… stage an intervention.

I am always so impressed by the generosity of our friends and family toward my kids.   She honestly loved EVERYTHING!

Our big surprise gift was this …

Shout out to Nana and Augie whose gift of the 2nd (overpriced) ticket allows ME to go too and not just drop the 4 year old off at the Erwin Center and say ‘HAVE FUN!’

(I may or may not be JUST as excited as she is.)

This was an EXTRA special birthday because the Minnesotans descended into our territory and braved the desertous heat all for little B-Bug. This was her first time to have her friends, 4 grandparents, 2 aunts, 2 uncles and all 6 cousins at her party! I hardly even saw Eli during the party thanks to these 3. Beankins LOVES his boy cousins… even though they covered his face with microphone jewels that I had to photoshop out of every picture!

I can’t believe our little bug is 4 years old.  She’s my favorite little girl in the entire world.

…On to planning next year’s party!

The Pigeon birthday party…

was a hit… although the birthday boys didn’t even make it through the whole thing.  Both zonked out in their cribs at Nana’s even before present opening time.

Here are some highlights:

        

Of course, the green bus was there.  My kids didn’t even play in it after this photo was taken.  Old hat, I guess.  Oh well,  Ethan made it all worthwhile.

Maow, the Queen of Scrapbooking, made the cutest accordion file keepsake books for both boys.

I  think my pigeon balloons were my favorite part.

      

Lily and I made recycled centerpieces, coloring page placemats and party BEAKS for everyone to wear.

I wonder how long these two cuties will let us get away with the ol’ joint birthday trick.

Of course, we had The Pigeon’s favorite food…  hot dogs.

…  and some beak kisses.

Big Pigeon, as he was named,  found a loving home with Lukie B. (much to the obvious delight of his parents).

Of course, Beankins had to show off his trademarked move.

I may or may not have been the only adult wearing a beak.

A pigeon egg hunt and an impromptu game of ‘duck, duck pigeon’ kept the older kids entertained.

Eli was, and continues to be, terrified of our bounce house.  So much for hours of backyard fun this summer.

Check Suzanne’s blog for more photos  of the other bday boy  and more that ‘my photographer’ might have missed.

 

I used photoshop to make this invitation:

 

and create  this little keepsake book  to match for the boys…. and use as a guestbook at the party.  Of course, it arrived one day  AFTER the party.  Neat.