Everything Was Awesome! Jack's 6th Birthday Celebration

Everything was awesome! Jack’s 6th birthday party featured LEGOs, robotics, good food, family and friends, and custom crayon creations to top it all off. The best part of the day was seeing Jack and his friends get creative with LEGO robotics. While it took a lot of time and effort to pull the whole thing together, I did want to try and keep it as simple as possible. It took a lot of help from friends and family and was a wonderful celebration in our home. I wanted to go ahead and share my top takeaways from planning the event in case you have your own little person who’s growing up way too fast. It didn’t seem like too long ago when we were celebrating Jack’s 5th birthday!

Per usual I commissioned A Pretty Little Party to do the invitation. Natalie always nails it and one of these days I will print it out for his scrapbook.

The Theme

Jack absolutely loves everything and anything to do with LEGO - Legoland, LEGO Movie 2, etc, so the theme came together very quickly. Custom LEGO figures made from recycled crayons by Art 2 the Extreme in his favorite color – teal – along with a metallic blue balloon and a blue, green and yellow balloon garland provided the vibrant color backdrop for the party.

The Food

When it comes to creativity in the Kitchen, my mom is a master. She spent four hours whipping up homemade egg rolls, potstickers, and fried rice. I commissioned one of the moms from Jack’s last school to make the incredible rainbow LEGO shaped JELLO cake and tasted incredible.

The Fun

While the adults chatted and caught up with each other, the kids had the time of their lives assembling awesome LEGO creations.

The key for pulling something like this off is to assemble a team of amazing experts who can help execute the party of your kids’ wildest dreams.

Art2theExtreme (crayon creations)

Rockets of Awesome (matching T-shirts; use code AMY25 for 25% off your first order)

Ooly (mini highlighters, cactus erasers, and other cute stuff)

Paper Afternoon (custom rubber stamps)

Photography by Ographr

Lula Flora Designs (LEGO piñatas)

Invitation by A Pretty Little Party

Play Well (LEGO Party)

Here’s the little video so you can see even more of the fun:

Art Opening: Jack's 5th Birthday Party!

Jack’s 5th birthday bash was a total hit! I was so excited to celebrate the occasion in style and was thrilled to collaborate with so many amazing people and companies to make the big day come together. About a month before Jack’s birthday (it really snuck up on us!) we decided on a theme since Jack is really into art. He loves going to museums and tagging along for gallery openings, so it seems fitting that we would celebrate his birthday in a similar fashion. This summer he spent a lot of time attending Art Camp LA, so I really wanted them to be a big part of the party and to handle the hands on activities. The space at Runway Playa Vista is basically empty, so everything had to be brought in. Party prep for decorations went late into the night before and set-up started bright and early at 7 am the morning of the party. Of course, it all turned out to be worth it. After all, we had amazing decorations, food, and friends to help us celebrate. There are so many amazing photos from the party taken by ographr. I also wanted to share my top tips for making a party come together.

We had so many great companies come together to make Jack’s party incredible. This Modern Art Gallery-themed Birthday party is now an Amy Tangerine #partyblueprint at Black Twine! Please follow @blacktwine for the best party inspiration and check out their website (www.blacktwine.co) for easy to follow, step-by-step guides to help you throw your next amazing party! Here’s a special thanks to everyone who helped the event come together so beautifully:

ooly - art supplies + party favors

Black Twine - collaborator for decor

Art Camp LA - kids crafts and instruction

Bashery Co. - event design

Geese & Ganders - party goods

Teak & Lace - furniture

Pipsticks - party favors

Amy Cakes and Sweet Treats - cupcakes

ographr - Photography

I was so happy with the way the party turned out, especially because we only had one morning to do the actual party set-up. The pace was a little hectic, but everything came together thanks to the amazing vendors who contributed their expertise along the way.

1. Choose a color palette and stick with it. Save it on your phone and reference it when you are buying anything. Often, you don’t have access to a space until a few days or hours before your event. Having items that fit within the color palette provides a cohesive feel.

2. Designate spaces so that your guests know where to go— especially if you’re offering multiple types of activities for various age groups. This also helps limit messes!

3. Offer finger foods! Because your guests will be mingling and talking and (in our case) watching their children all at once, you want to make sure the food you serve is easy to eat and carry on a party plate.

4. Keep the space cool. It might make party set-up a little chilly, but once guests start to filter in, it will be worth it. A vibrant even full of people will heat a room quickly. If it’s a little cold before party-goers arrive, it will easily become the right temperature and people will feel more at ease.

5. Have plenty of baby wipes handy. These are great for wiping hands and cleaning up minor messes.

6. Give yourself grace and take the help from others when it’s offered. It’s impossible to pull off something of this scale all on your own, so collaborate and have fun!

Such a wonderful day!!

Our friends at ooly provided the most epic goodie bags ever so the kids would continue crafting and making art in their very own Carry-Along Sketchbook when they got home. The Zippered pouches included: Comic Attack Pencil (single) | Sweet Things Pencil (single) | Write In Style Pencil (single) | Heart To Heart Crayon (single) | Forest Friends Pocket Pals Mini Journal (single) | Comic Attack Click-it Eraser (single) | 2 Petite Sweet Ice Cream Erasers (singles) | 2 Macaron Erasers (singles) | Mighty Sharpener (single) | 2 BFF Bracelets (1 set)

Here’s a video of all of the fun on my YouTube channel as well!

My Party at Urbanic!

Last month I teamed up with Urbanic (one of my favorite local shops!) to celebrate spring and all of my favorite things. Everything from the DIY decor to the creative stations the lovely guests turned out perfectly. In the days (and hours!) leading up to the party, Ann-Marie and I inflated so many balloons to use for the decor. I also took inspiration from the party invitation to freehand the floral design the photobooth backdrop. It was a lot of work but all worth it once the party begun! 

Truth be told, the original intent of the party was to celebrate the launch of my book but -- spoiler alert -- Craft A Life You Love was picked up by a large publishing house! I've been keeping this secret under wraps for awhile and am so thrilled that I can finally share the exciting news with you! Because my book will eventually be sold under a different publisher (I self-published which is a whole different story), there may be a few changes to the title and cover, so I wanted to hold off on promoting the launch of my story until it is officially completed. Since we already had the date and venue picked out, I decided it became a good excuse to have a party. Plus I have always wanted to get a bunch of my friends and fellow creatives together to celebrate some of my favorite things at one of my favorite places.

We had fun getting everything set up before the guests arrived! I painted a floral photo backdrop and added some balloons that I stitched into a cluster using fishing line. I will have a video of the whole process up soon!

Once guests started arriving, I was excited to share the various activities and treats I’d chosen for the party. There was an ORLY cart mixing up custom nail polish colors for each person. I’ve been loving their nail polish lately so it was exciting to offer this super cool service to my guests!

I set up a table with a few Minc foil applicators and some cute prints for people to run through the machines. That way, they could take home an adorable custom foil craft! The flamingo lights by Sunny Life Australia hung around the crafty table.

There was also a hand-lettering artist! The talented Lindsay Shannon (@lshannondesigns on Instagram) was writing out personalized custom calligraphy.

During the party, we enjoyed cocktails from Our Los Angeles and Owl’s brew, food from Cava, and Jeni’s ice cream for dessert.

At the end of the night, everyone got to take home a goodie bag filled with some of my products, Pipsticks, a Doodlebug pin, a Tombow discount card, and a pack of Tombow adhesive.

I really wanted to take the flowers from Hello Honey, but she was planning on picking them up the next day. Because I knew I would be too busy, I recruited Amanda to shoot video while at the party. So grateful to have her as part of the team, as she rocked the editing on this video too!

It was such a wonderful time! Huge thank you to all the sponsors who helped make this event a success. Thank you so much to everyone who attended too! Check #amylovesurbanic on Instagram for more photos of the event!

This post is not sponsored, but some of the links above are affiliate links. I receive a small percentage of sales at no cost to you. My creative partners and I really appreciate your continued support and every little bit helps me to bring you consistent content!

Jack's 3rd Birthday Party + Cheeky DIY

A couple months ago when I asked Jack what he wanted his birthday cake to be, he enthusiastically exclaimed, "FIRE TRUCK!" Since he seemed pretty set on the idea, I started keeping it in the back of my mind as a loose theme for his birthday party. My cousin makes his cake every year, so she had plenty of time to prepare and figure out the details to make his wish come true. I got the invitations designed and ordered about three weeks out, but it wasn't enough time to have them printed and mailed. Plus, let's be honest, I didn't have enough time to hand address every one of them like I wanted to. We got custom invites made by A Pretty Little Party (she also designed the ones for Jack's first birthday party) and sent them through Paperless Post. We collaborated with our friends at Cheeky and made a simple DIY out of their awesome plates, which you can see how to make near the end of this post. There's also a giveaway and chance to win your own party pack!

Our set up was fairly simple, we borrowed an awesome ride on firetruck and banner from Rachel since she threw two firetruck themed birthday parties for Grayson. We put one of Jack's firetrucks on the napkins because it was super windy that day and we didn't want them to blow away. JC roasted a pig and my mom made awesome potstickers, fried rice, crab rangoon, and egg rolls. I didn't get a photo of the spread of the food, but I did get it on video, which will hopefully be edited in the next month or so. Love that it's truly a family affair when it comes to putting these parties together. We used the same buckets for utensils as last year and you can check out his 2nd birthday video on YouTube.

The celebration was lots of fun. We booked Pump and Splash, which was super fun for the kids and even some adults. Since we are in a drought and on a water restriction, our grass is completely dead. One of the awesome things about Pump and Splash is that it recirculates the water. It was the perfect addition to go along with our theme. We also had The Beat Buds perform, which was super fun and entertaining. I first saw them when I scrapbooked Willow's (Pink's daughter's) 2nd birthday party. Since then we have seen them at tons of events and Jack is in love with both of their CD's. The kids were so engaged, playing the musical instruments and dancing along.

Last but not least, the cake! The cake Cindy made was a HUGE hit. Not only did it look amazing, but it tasted so good. And Jack for the first time blew out his candles on his own!

We used Cheeky plates, utensils and napkins, which are available in the party department, exclusively at Target. Here's the simple DIY you can create with just a few items.

Thanks for checking out some of the fun from Jack's party - wish you all could have been there! We had over 80 people, and I can't wait to get the video edited to share more of the fun. And extra special thanks to Cheeky for collaborating with me. Love working with awesome people at amazing companies making a positive impact. The best part is for every Cheeky pack you purchase, they give a meal through their partnership with Feeding America. Cheeky has now helped generate over 9 million meals since launching in November 2014! We also have some pieces from their modern and whimsical Cheeky Home collection we love using on a daily basis. I also shared some tips and my party playlist over on the Party Series on their blog.

GIVEAWAY:

• Cheeky Party prize pack of our fall assortment:
  • Cheeky Party beverage napkins
  • Cheeky Party lunch napkins
  • Cheeky Party 7" snack plates
  • Cheeky Party 9" lunch plates
  • Cheeky Party cutlery
  • Cheeky Party table covers
• Cheeky will also donate a meal for every person who enters on 9/22!

GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED - Congrats Thelma! You are the winner! TO ENTER: Leave a comment below with anything party related! Comments closed on September 26 at noon Pacific. Thanks to all who entered!

Cheeky Party	Big Gold 3 Balloon	Cheeky Home	Fiskars Soft Grip Scissors
Tombow Glue Dots	Sticky Thumb Glue Dots	Custom Invite by Pretty Little Party	Cutter Bee Scissors

InLinkz.com

Jack's 1st birthday party photos

We celebrated Jack's 1st birthday on September 21st. It was a luau theme, as I shared in this post with the invitations and Jones Sodas. We spent a lot of time getting the backyard ready for the festivities. Thank goodness for having lots of help from friends and family - we seriously couldn't have pulled it off without them. Highlights included:

• Jack napping for the first 45 minutes of his own party
• JC's whole roast pig was a total success (he got one of these boxes and ordered the pig from a local butcher)
• catering of the other food was done by Rutt's Cafe
• Cindy making both a large beach scene cake that was incredibly delicious and a small smash cake that Jack barely put his finger in
• having 2 sets of twins and 1 set of triplets in attendance
• the mini bounce house and water table were a big hit
• having over 60 friends and family in our own backyard celebrating with us

Considering I barely took any photos myself, seeing these pics on Instagram under the hashtag #jackarchibald1 was so fun: So glad the little guy only turns 1 once because it took about a week for his parents to recover from all the festivities!