Celebrations – The Creative Salad

Solar System Birthday Party

In the past our daughter has insisted her birthday party be about dress-up and princesses and tea parties, which is all well and good, but frankly it’s not really my thing. Each year I’d hope for a literary or science theme (cause that’s how I roll), then gracefully support our daughter’s desire for pink and pouf and finery, with tricycles.

Imagine my surprise and delight when our kid announced that this year she wanted a “solar system tea party” theme. It quickly became just a solar system party when I pointed out, gently, that our little girl doesn’t particularly like drinking tea. Ahem.

Now a space, galaxy, astronomy, planet, solar system themed birthday party sounds like a whole lot of fun to me! Throw 20 kids, plus their mamas, in the mix and we’re talking about a whole lot of crazy fun (in our little house!)…

We made solar system lollipops (using these stickers) to go with glow-in-the-dark sun, moon, and stars temporary tattoos, glow sticks, and chocolate earth balls for the goody bags:

Our homemade cake featured our daughter’s favorite constellations Orion, Sirius, and the Little Dipper (with Polaris):

Our banner, made using NASA photographs of moons, planets, stars, and nebulae, hung proudly above historical photos of the birthday girl:

We displayed some of our homeschooling projects, which I’ll blog about in more depth soon:

The kids colored constellations of the night sky (photocopied from this coloring book) and made spiral galaxy mobiles:

The sunny, warm weather allowed for outdoor scooter and bike fun for this sweet group of kids:

The most perfect day!

Six, Say What?!

Our ~~little girl~~ young lady turns six years old today!

She’s full of sass and fire, keeps us on our toes, and brings such tremendous joy and love to our lives.

She’s a passionate reader…

Kind, loving big sister and friend…

Brilliant, endlessly curious, and dedicated student…

Talented cook and able helper…

And fun, strong girl…

We love you, sweetheart.

Three cheers for the birthday girl!

xoxo,
Mama

Patriotic French Toast Flag Decorating

We started off Independence Day with a quick red, white, and blue project, decorating French Toast with strawberries, vanilla ice cream, and blueberries.

Then we made our daughter eat it.
Cause we’re mean like that.
It tasted so disgusting.

(“Mom, it was good, not disgusting!”)

You heard it here first, folks.

Enjoy your day!

Simple and Tasty Independence Day Eats

I’ve been eyeing these tasty red, white, and blue themed snacks for our Independence Day celebration. In addition to July Fourth, this week we celebrate our seventh wedding anniversary and David’s birthday! Should be a busy and fun Fourth of July.

Featured above:
1. A healthful Fourth of July breakfast of toast with berry jam, blueberries and bananas (link/pin)
2. Flag fruit kabobs (link/pin)
3. Red, white, and blue donut hole breakfast skewers (link/pin)
4. Red, white, and blue berry trifle (link/pin)
5. Red, White and Blueberry Parfait for the 4th of July (link/pin)
6. Rice Krispy Treat Sparklers (link/pin)
7. 4th of July ice cream cone topped with blueberries and red sprinkles (pin)

View these and many other July Fourth pins, including several fantastic Independence Day kids craft activities, on my Summer Holiday Inspiration Pinterest board.

(images obtained via Pinterest)

DIY Photo Decoupage Platter

The round-up of decorations from this year’s birthday extravaganza continues. To see all the birthday party posts, please click here.

Growing up, the Spritzer family had a special glass platter (with etched hearts!) that came out for birthday celebrations. My daughter and I thought it would be fun to recreate this tradition, while adding a Creative Salad twist to make it our own.

First we cut out some of our favorite family photos that we had printed on plain white paper:

We played with the layout of the photos until our daughter found an arrangement she fancied:

We adhered the photos with Mod Podge on to the underside of a circular, glass Pyrex platter that we found at our local thrift store:

Then we glued small pieces of brightly colored tissue paper on top of the photo layer:

As we placed the pieces of tissue paper, we brushed glue on top to smooth and adhere the paper:

We added glitter glue before adding another layer of colored tissue paper:

Then we sealed the paper side of the platter with several more coats of Mod Podge, being careful not to get any glue on the front side of the platter. Here’s how our birthday platter turned out:

Festive, personalized, and very fun!

A special birthday treat.