Summer Fun Party

I've been having an itch recently to host a party. We all know how much I love hosting parties. I love the planning, the food, the decorating, and of course the actual event. I love all kinds of parties: birthday parties, showers, adult parties, parties for no reason...I love them all. My kids have birthdays in back to back months, and as much as I love planning their parties, I feel like I get them done at Christmas time, which is the craziest time of the year, and then there's nothing. So, I decided to throw a Summer Party. School's out and what better way to enjoy summer than with a slip-n-slide and some friends, right?
I had so much fun planning this party. I quickly went to one of my favorite websites, http://www.polkadotmarket.com/, and started looking around for inspiration. I came across their cute ice cream cone napkins that had, "take a break....splish splash...kick back" written at the bottom. Perfect. I ordered them. Then I decided on my colors, orange and light blue (great summer colors), and I ordered some of their polkadot balloons - love them.
I started picking things up along the way for the party and settled on a menu. I guess I should rewind a little and tell you that one of my inspirations for having this "themed" party was a friend of mine telling me she made aquarium jell-o cups for her son's end of year party. How clever I thought, and what a great thing to make for a summer party. Yeah, they didn't get made. I ended up making beachy themed cupcakes instead.

There's the beach ones, ones with teddy grahams swimming, and can't forget the shark fins - Fins Up!

I've been working on things the past couple of nights, because if you know me and know my parties, it's all about detail and the presentation. I love to see it all presented so perfectly...yes I'm a bit of a perfectionist...you can't blame me, I get it from my Daddy.
My kids were so excited this morning and really helped set things up. I got the food together and set it on the table. I was going to have everything outside, but with it being so hot I decided to keep it inside. I loved how everything turned out.

 

Lemon-blueberry Crumb bars (From Kraft Magazine)-will post in recipes

BLT Roll-ups (From Kraft Magazine) - will post in recipes

Popcorn - just the regular microwave kind (I just liked the presentation)

I had to show off the cute napkins I got from Polkadotmarket.com.

We set the sprinkler and the kiddie pool up outside along with some bubbles...because every kid loves bubbles. I also had gotten all the kids beach balls and put their names on them. At one point there were about 5 kids and 16 beach balls in the kiddie pool...boy they were having fun! After playing in the sprinkler for a while we set up the new slip-n-slide. The kids were so good. They all formed a line and took turns so nicely. They had a ball.

Then it was time for a popsicle break.

It was an awesome party. I love to feed people and make them happy, and I can happily say that there wasn't a morsel of food left. Everyone ate until it was gone and then we popped pizzas in the oven...now that is a good summer party!

You know it's a good party when you can sleep on your Mama's chest upright!