Neverland Party Pics and THANKS to Natalie!

[jtanddolly]

I just threw my 3 year old a Neverland Birthday party and I thought I would post some pictures of things that I made thanks to ideas from this board. Also, I wanted to say thanks to Natalie for the wonderful Name DISigns she made for my son and a few other DISigns that I found in her shared file that I incorporated into the party!

INVITATION:

Inside the wine bottle is a parchment scroll that says:

Come to where pirates plunder and fairies roam
A place that lost boys call home.
It’s Neverland where we'll jump and play
As we celebrate JT’s 3rd birthday.
All you need is faith and trust
And just a little pixie dust!
There will be plenty of cake to feed our faces,
Shadows to catch and Indian races.
Dress like your favorite character from Neverland
Be it Captain Hook or Peter Pan.
Otherwise, wear a nightgown or your fairy best,
Perhaps some pirates gear or an Indian headdress.
If you can make it please give us some warning
Then follow the second star to the right and straight on 'till morning.


TABLE CENTERPIECE. These are super easy to make and very inexpensive!!! If you have children and have to decorate for a banquet, prom, birthday party, etc. and need table decoration ideas and have little to no money for decorations...remember these. All you need per centerpiece is two pieces of cardstock paper folded in half and taped together and 2-4 pieces of tissue paper for the topper. The most money that you will spend is on ink. The list is endless for what you can print on these. It can be school logos, mascots, birthday characters, the child's picture, etc. For the one below...on two of the sides I put all of the wonderful things my son had done during his third year like our trip to Disney and the beach along with pictures, the third side was a "thank you poem for coming to the party" and the fourth was the song lyrics to Neverland with a picture of my son in Neverland:

FAVORS...yes I went a little overboard but as one of my friends said they were all so cute how could you choose. We had lots of games for the kids to play like "Pin the Tail on the Lost Boy", "Pirates Canon Ball Toss", "Walk the Plank", "Musical Stars", "Find the Treasure Chest" and "Feed Tick Tock (the crocodile) a Clock" and the children got a treat at each stop:

Candy Bar Wrapper:

Fun Size M&M Wrapper...with Natalie's name DISign:

Sucker Holder (Another one of Natalie's DISigns that I found a fun use for. I think this is one of her t-shirt DISign but I thought it was so cute I used it as a sucker holder. There are sooo many wonderful things on this board that can be used in lots of ways if you use your imagination!)

Truffle Box:

Travel Games:

Lacing Cards

Sink the Pirate Ship...this is on the game thread

Tinks Tic-Tac-Toe...also on the game thread

CD Holder...Natalie made the "John Thomas" name design with Peter Pan and Captain Hook that I used one one side of the CD holder:

Crayon Box that I made to put with Pirate and Fairy Coloring Books that I found at Dollar Stores:

CUPCAKE TOPPERS:
I had several other toppers as well with Captain Hook and Peter Pan but these were the only two left when I thought to take pictures of them. Also, my cupcakes looked better when I first made them...I took these pictures two days after the celebration with what was left over from the party after they had been transported twice:

GIFT TAGS that I personalized and put on bags for each child to collect their loot in

PICTURES - Everyone dressed like a Neverland character and I took pictures of the kids and inserted them into this picture and mailed as a "thank you" for coming to his party. Every year I try to take special pictures of each child as a thank you. Last year we had a "sports" themed party so I made trading cards with each child's image and gave to them in plastic trading card covers as a thank you.

I hope you find some inspiration in these pictures for your next event. I love to throw parties!!!

 

[Kellybell]

All I can say is WOW I am definately going to hire you for my daughter's next birthday!!!! You my friend have really missed your calling, you should be a professional party planner! I am amazed at your creativity. Very impressive. Great job

 

[jtanddolly]

All I can say is WOW I am definately going to hire you for my daughter's next birthday!!!! You my friend have really missed your calling, you should be a professional party planner! I am amazed at your creativity. Very impressive. Great job

Thanks! Would love to but I live in a little bitty town and I don't think there is a big need for a party planner. But if I do...you will have to join me with all of your graphic design work!

 

[Kellybell]

Deal!

 

[mae5731]

Holy guacamole! Look out Hostess with the Mostess... Great work Dolly! I'm totally snagging your sucker holder idea for Halloween....so cute!!!

 

[bababear_50]

Dolly
Absolutely WONDERFUL!!!
Love all the ideas,,great talent Hon!
Did I mention that Hannah's Birthday is in 3 weeks (grand-daughter)
mind if I pinch your idea for cupcake toppers?
Thanks for taking the time to post all the pics
Hugs Mel

 

[jtanddolly]

Dolly
Absolutely WONDERFUL!!!
Love all the ideas,,great talent Hon!
Did I mention that Hannah's Birthday is in 3 weeks (grand-daughter)
mind if I pinch your idea for cupcake toppers?
Thanks for taking the time to post all the pics
Hugs Mel

Please do! My sister and I made them in the middle of the night right before the party. If you have a cricket or a large flower punch...it makes it so much easier to cut out the flower (or a fun shaped image) for the center. Then use toothpicks to insert in the cupcake and "pop dots" to make the round images stand out from the flower and give it depth. If you have the time and ink...put the round images on both sides of the topper to make it look professional. A good size to make these for cupcakes is 2 1/2 inches.

Helpful Hints: I love to use cupcakes because it is so much easier and quicker to serve than cake. I try to make a small cake for the birthday boy to blow out, but I didn't get to it this year. Also, if you are going to have ice cream. I highly suggest using the small clear plastic cups (or a fun color), pre-scoop the ice cream into the cups and put them in the freezer. Then you can put the cups on a tray and bring them out to serve without having to spend 20-30 minutes scooping ice cream and cutting cake during the party. One other tip...I like to have an "ice cream bar" at parties with all the fixings to go with the cups of ice cream and the guests always seem to enjoy it. I'm always amazed how many adults put sprinkles on their ice cream.

 

[donatalie]

Everything looks Fantastic!!!! Kelly's right........you should be doing this for a living. Everything is so thoughtful and creative. The craftsmanship is top-notch which makes everything look so professional!
A friend of mine did something similar......she did the cake, the favors and face painted at parties and made a mint. This was in a small Maryland town so you never know!!!!

 

[wendypooh]

WOW WOW and WOW Again!!!!!!!!!!! I'm totally blown away!!! How fantastic - I love it all!!! I'm going to "borrow" some of your ideas for DS's 10th b-day in Oct. -- I love the CD idea...........

Quick question.......... on the cd - how did you get the "mirror" image on it?? That is awesome!

I may even make these as gifts for his classmates for x-mas!!!

Thanks for sharing Dolly!!!!

 

[jtanddolly]

Everything looks Fantastic!!!! Kelly's right........you should be doing this for a living. Everything is so thoughtful and creative. The craftsmanship is top-notch which makes everything look so professional!
A friend of mine did something similar......she did the cake, the favors and face painted at parties and made a mint. This was in a small Maryland town so you never know!!!!

Thank you...your Peter Pan designs helped make them look so professional!!!

 

[jtanddolly]

WOW WOW and WOW Again!!!!!!!!!!! I'm totally blown away!!! How fantastic - I love it all!!! I'm going to "borrow" some of your ideas for DS's 10th b-day in Oct. -- I love the CD idea...........

Quick question.......... on the cd - how did you get the "mirror" image on it?? That is awesome!

I may even make these as gifts for his classmates for x-mas!!!

Thanks for sharing Dolly!!!!

Natalie made the John Thomas with the mirror image on it for the CD...you will have to ask her how she does it. The way that I do it (there are always 20 different ways to do everything with computers...and there may be an easier way) is to copy and paste the original word as a new layer and select it using the "move" tool. Then click and drag the top middle dot down to "mirror" the image and move it under the original word. Then if you want...you can distort it by going to the "warp text" option on the tool bar, and you can fade it out. Hope that helps...but ask Natalie how she made hers or go to Youtube and type in photo shop and mirror image as I'm sure that there are several wonderful videos for how to mirror an image.

 

[wendypooh]

Thanks Dolly - I'll ask her.

I just love love love the CD idea........... it's awesome. I may need to call on you as well for more ideas for DS's party!!!

OH, I know, I wanted to ask you, did you make the sleeve for the cd? or did you buy it somewhere?

 

[M_I_C_K_E_Y]

Oh My goodness Dolly - INCREDIBLE!!!! Do your children know how very lucky they are to have you for a mom?! Everything looks fabulous!

 

[jtanddolly]

Thanks Dolly - I'll ask her.

I just love love love the CD idea........... it's awesome. I may need to call on you as well for more ideas for DS's party!!!

OH, I know, I wanted to ask you, did you make the sleeve for the cd? or did you buy it somewhere?

I made the CD Holder with plain white cardstock...you can get one holder per 8.5x11 inch cardstock and you can find a blank CD Holder template to add your images to (and a bunch of other great ones...including a CD label template) at:
http://www.jersgirl.com/temps.html

I made and printed all of the favors at home including the crayon box...you can get the template for it at the website above as well.

 

[Sand]

Dolly! Everything looks amazing!! I too agree with Natalie and Kelly. There are plenty of people who live in itty bitty towns and are very successful starting with my mom who lives in a town you could miss if you blink. Doesn't even have a traffic light! Anyway, having a 1.5 and 3 yo, I will also permanently borrow your ideas!! Very creative, especially the suckers. Great Job!!

 

[thmar]

So cute....

 

[wendypooh]

I made the CD Holder with plain white cardstock...you can get one holder per 8.5x11 inch cardstock and you can find a blank CD Holder template to add your images to (and a bunch of other great ones...including a CD label template) at:
http://www.jersgirl.com/temps.html

I made and printed all of the favors at home including the crayon box...you can get the template for it at the website above as well.

Thanks so much for sharing that site Dolly!!!! I'm def. going to make those for his party and for x-mas gifts!!!

 

[MommaMouse411]

Woooow

 

[acomasdiaz]

Dolly, everything was amazing! I would love to do a crayon box as Christmas presents for my daughter's class. I saw the template but don't even know where to start. Any advice?

 

[jtanddolly]

Dolly, everything was amazing! I would love to do a crayon box as Christmas presents for my daughter's class. I saw the template but don't even know where to start. Any advice?

The easiest way if you don't have photoshop or aren't familiar with how to use it is to open up a word document and:
1. set the margins to .3 in the "page setup" and change the paper orientation to landscape
2. insert or copy and paste the crayon template into the word document
3. Play with the size of the crayon box before you insert the pictures and text to make sure that it will be the correct size to fit all of the crayons. You can change the crayon box size by clicking on the image then go to "format" then click on "picture" in the drop down menu then click on the "size" tab. I took the extra white space off in photoshop before pasting the image so I'm not sure what would be the correct size to make your box as it will still have some white space. Make sure you print, cut out and insert crayons in a blank trial box to determine the correct size before you waste a lot of ink on your final boxes. Try 8.51 x 7.24 inches...I can't guarantee that it will be a perfect match as I made mine in photoshop so please do a trail run with it on a blank template and insert crayons or measure it with a crayon box from the store to determine if it is the right size.
4. Then insert pictures over the crayon box template and add text boxes to write any wording you may want.

If you aren't familiar with how to do step #4:

Text Box

• First copy and paste the image you want to add a name, word or words to.
• Next make sure that your cursor is below the image that you want to insert a text box over by hitting return twice.
• Then look for the tab at the top of word that says "insert", click on it and scroll down and click on "text box".
• Next, a big box will show up on the screen that says text box...ignore this box but look for your mouse that will show up as an +. Move the +/mouse to where you want your text box to go then left click and drag the mouse to make the size box you want for the area you want the wording to go.
• Then go back up to the top of word and click on "format" and click on "text box" in the drop down menu.
• Look for the tab that says "colors and lines". In the fill section make sure the color box says "no color". In the line section make sure the color says "no line". Then the background will show through behind whatever text you type in the box and there won't be a line around the text box.
• Now you can type whatever you want inside the box by clicking inside the box and choosing font and size.
• If the box isn't the right size you can drag the corners and sides to make it the right size.

Picture
Insert the picture you want to have over the crayon template into the word document then:
1. Click on the image that you want to play with so that it is highlighted
2. Once the picture is highlighted you can change the size of the picture by dragging the corners in or out.
3. To move the image around look for the picture toolbar toward the top of your screen just below the regular tool bars. It will only pop up when you click on the picture. Then look for the image on the tool bar that looks like a dog with lines behind it called the "text wrapping" button. Click on that you can select the "square" button to move the image around. Then if you loose the lines for the crayon box play with "in front of text" button.
4. If you plan on using Disney images...a great place to get them is www.disneyclips.com as you can copy the image and the background will already be blank so you won't have to worry with a white box showing up behind the character.

Hope that helps!

If you know you are going to make these as gifts go ahead and buy the crayons at Wal-mart during the back to school sale when you can get boxes of 24 crayons for 30 cents!