SpongeBob Bikini Bottom Birthday Package Giveaway

I love parties & planning for them. So be it if I get happily & mildly obsessed as I plan. It's fun, something to focus my energy on, plus I know my son appreciates it. And while I may not be the biggest fan of Spongebob it does lend to some pretty fantastic party ideas.

I am not a year round crafty gal but when I have a goal in mind, my crafty side comes out. So, I spent a lot of time making things & coming up with ideas for this party. After much time, money, love & sweat, I thought it would be nice to pass on a lot of the goodies that made this SpongeBob Bikini Bottom Pool Party a wonderful one for my sweet boy. He had a great time, as did the adults. We had Tristan's swimming teacher come act as lifeguard so the kids could play in the pool while the adults enjoyed themselves too.

Below are some pics (make sure to doubleclick for details) I wanted to share as I normally would but there is also a description & then details on what exactly I am giving away as part of the:


SpongeBob Bikini Bottom Birthday Package ~ Valued at $130-$150


Deets: I came up with this invite idea within 5 seconds of Tristan saying he wanted a SB party. Simple & easy but creatively effective. And people will be surprised getting a sponge in the mail. Address & number have been scratched off. Giveaway: The electronic template for winner to attach to sponge. I'll even make you the little red ties.



Deets: The sweet birthday boy just moments before his friends arrive. Giveaway: That SB birthday banner hanging from the mantle & the SB centerpiece right behind sweet birthday boy.

Deets: Take note of the real Krusty Krab sign from the SpongeBob show. I knew I had to duplicate it somehow for the food table.

After I was lucky enough to come across a half-clamshell dish I decided to make the top from white cardstock, making it look like one big clam.


Then I propped it up just right behind the clamshell dish with a placecard holder. Giveaway: Clamshell dish, white cardstock Krusty Krab sign with placecard holder & the net too!

Deets: Let's look at this picture again. 'Cuz I made the menu too. I bought this nautical tray on sale at Michael's, turned it on its side. Then made up a menu of what we were actually serving, cut it out with weird scissors then colored the edges.

I had my supermarket make me 45 mini burger patties. My Dad was wonderful enough to grill them all. I also served mini chicken patties that I had catered in from a nearby restaurant. I served cut up fruit in pineapple boats & chips & dip. I also didn't take a picture of some apple juice that I added blue dye to in order to look like ocean water.

Giveaway: The tray and the secret formula bottle with sand.

Deets: A proud craft moment for me was making this sign for the front yard. I wanted the ambience to begin before guests even came to the door. I was going to hammer it into the ground in the yard but rain stopped me from doing that. If you click on the picture, the brown is real sand. Yes, I glued sand to the picture. The rest I just drew & colored in. Giveaway: The sign, large net & starfish & seashells.

Deets: I think my best idea for this party or ever was the pineapple entrance. By this time I knew I was out of my mind. But it was easy & made for an awesome photo op. I glued large orange cardstock together. The top was cut from a palm tree cut out bought from the party store. I also made the life preserver/buoys from that foam stuff at the craft store & painted red stripes & draped rope through them. Giveaway: Pineapple top, a tutorial on making the pineapple & the life preserver/buoys.

Deets: This 2 piece sign never made its way up on the wall but it's cute. Giveaway: 2 piece birthday sign.

Deets: SpongeBob loves to catch jellyfish. I crafted most of the 14 here but had some visiting family make one to represent themselves since they couldn't be at the party (my sis made the NY Yankees one). The plan was to have a sign out back by the tent that said Jellyfish Fields & hang all the jellyfish from the tent. The rain foiled that plan so I brought it all inside, except for the sign. The jellyfish were all hung from jewelry making cord.

My SpongeBob jellyfish.

I got lucky enough to get this sign out of a Spongebob Jellyfish game so I glued it to dowels & put it in the ground while it was still raining. Ideally, I wanted the sign with all the jellyfish together. Giveaway: All the jellyfish & the sign along with the original stickers that came with the game. You put each child's name on a sticker & they have to stick it to the sign, sort of like pin the tail on the donkey.


Deets: I hung 24 feet worth of streamers in 2 shades of blue from the patio frame, to appear like the ocean. I don't have those anymore but I do have.......Giveaway: This rectangle tablecloth that wasn't dirtied at all. I folded it to fit this round table.

Deets: I bought this custom made banner off of Etsy. I had planned to hang it from the pool fence but again, the rain. Giveaway: Bikini Bottom banner.



Deets: I made SpongeBob labels on the computer to wrap around the bottles of bubbles for the beach pail favors below. Giveway: Already made labels.




Deets: My son found this little craft, Captain's Wheel perhaps, at the store & said it looked like SpongeBob's front door. Light bulb came on so I attached it to a real pineapple which served as part of the centerpiece. Giveaway: Captain's Wheel craft.

Deets: I am not a huge fan of all the plastic tablecloths so I thought it would be cute to display all of Tristan's SpongeBob artwork by arranging it on top of a blue tablecloth & placing a clear one over it. Giveaway: Both tablecloths, clean!

Other items in giveaway: Not pictured is a roll of blue cellophane that you can put up on a window to make your guests feel like they're under water as well as a pinata stick & mask. One highlight of the party was watching all the kids try to bash in the SpongeBob pinata before I realized it was a pullstring pinata.

Alrighty, that concludes all the items for the

Spongebob Bikini Bottom Birthday Package.

Below are some other pictures from the party.
The cake:

One of Tristan's best friends, Angel.



One of the other highlights of the party ~ After most had gone home, Tristan & his two girlfriends were running around the yard kissing each other. They didn't know we were spying. Just about one of the cutest things I ever saw.

Photo ops by the pineapple.



Tristan & his girlfriends.


Ok folks:

• For 1 entry, leave me a comment telling me why you, or someone you know, would benefit from this package.
• For 2 entries, in same comment above tell me what your favorite giveaway item is.
• For 3 entries, post about this on your blog & let me know that you did.

Easy! Winner will be chosen randomly on Monday, September 21.

The End of a Birthday - A Wordful Wednesday

A card labeled “Mom,” sitting there on the shelf

With his beautiful little handwriting, a present in itself





Flowers from a lover, husband & dear friend
All the beautiful colors of a love that’ll never end



A dinner celebration at a quaint & charming spot
A gourmet paradise, no other place could top


A hidden treasure nestled in a beautiful little town
A boy taking after his momma, exploring what’s around



To add more sweetness to a most lovely night
Shared among family, a confectioner’s delight


So all in all a happy birthday indeed
It feels so good to be only 23!!
37

Brought to you by Angie & Wordful Wednesdays from:

Crab Cakes & Celebrations

Thank you to everyone for your birthday wishes yesterday. I knew celebrating with you all day was going to be fun!

 

Getting back to recipes, I made these crab cakes a couple of weeks ago as a little appetizer to our meal. We really enjoyed them. Just like other recipes of its kind, there are SO many variations but I liked all the ingredients in this one, especially the Old Bay. I also used fresh crab meat, the $17.99/lb GASPin the little container, which I thought was worth it.

My Thoughts:

In the past I've used canned crabmeat for other crab recipes & have had success while another time I had to throw away what was usually an amazing crabdip in a bread basket, because it was too fishy. And that time I used the fresh!!! Maybe I just got a bad batch. So, I am curious to know about your experiences. I served these with a seafood dipping sauce I picked up at a seafood market. It had a little kick which really complemented the crab cakes.

Click Here for Printable Recipe

We had a few leftover so Tammy came by to snag up the rest. A restaurant had these as their leftover boxes so I asked for a few extra. I just love 'em!!!!!

Speaking of Tammy, our birthdays are on the same day although I am a few years older, so for the last 9 years we have a tradition of exchanging our gifts over a cocktail as well as doing something special together. Some of our bday adventures include swimming with the dolphins at Sea World, a day at the spa, a trip to Busch Gardens & a girls weekend at a beautiful B&B. This year, we plan to visit Aquatica, Sea World's new water park, & enjoying one of those dinner prepping places where you put together fresh meals to have in your freezer, all the while sipping a glass of wine & celebrating friendship & birthdays!

Here we are the night before our birthdays. I had fun putting together a hodge podge of things for Tammy, neatly tucked in a beautiful box. Organic pumpkin spice coffee, tissues with her initial, thank you cards, pinch bowls for spices & some holiday stickers. Not shown is a red mini colander because don't we all need one of those! Tammy gave me one of my favorite Pinot Grigios as well as a beautiful candle & green tea cookies. Yes, our gifts are usually culinarily inspired. There've been waffle makers, sushi making kits, you name it!

Happy Birthday to all the October babies!!!!!

Recipe for Party Fun

You start with a beautiful Ben 10-lovin' 4 year old going on 14, patiently awaiting all his friends & family to come over for his 5th birthday party.

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

Then you throw in some family & friends.


Add in a bunch of fun.

This wet slide was amazing!!! Once the party ended I was on it like white on rice, since we had it for the whole day. Some kids went into the pool as well with close supervision but this was the main draw of the party & kept everyone cool!

Then sprinkle on lotsa sugar.

For the favors, I printed some Ben 10 labels & affixed them to the party favor bags. Inside was a little notebook with pen for the kids to doodle as well as some fishies, raisins & M&M's.

My biggest creative contribution to the party was the fruit kebabs. They were so much fun to put together & instead of just putting them on a platter I thought the kids would get a kick out of them hanging vertical through pieces of cut fruit, ahem, planets. I picked up some crystals at the crafts store which acted as meteor pieces from another galaxy & matched the green color scheme of the party. 

As for the cake, since the market didn't carry any Ben 10 designs I drew up something very simple & had them decorate accordingly. I also bought some Ben 10 cake toppers online. For food, I kept it easy for myself as I usually do for Tristan's parties & made a pasta salad as well a spinach dip. I also had platters of Cubanitos, sandwiches & chicken tenders brought in from Publix. 

This was one super fantastic party. We had a blast, kids & adults alike. While it ended at 2 for most, the party went on until 7! Tristan got some beautiful gifts & really enjoyed his day. 

For some other fun birthday celebration pics please also visit Chronicles of a Mommy who had a big bash going on as well this weekend. I know you'll find a lot of good ideas her way if you have a party coming up.