Creating a Last Minute Stranger Things Birthday Party!

My kids were recently introduced to Stranger Things. As such, my daughter wanted her party theme to be Stranger Things. However, I knew I might not be able to do too much as time was short when she told me what she wanted. But you know I was going to do some searching anyhow. And yes, I'm showing you what I was able to put together!

First things first!

I did my research. Season 4 has been out for a while now. So popularity has fallen. Which means you can't find much in stores and have to design your own things if you are low on time or order online if you can wait.  

My daughter designed her cake herself at Walmart. And we simply had her two figures in epic battle poses on top.

My best resource was HERE. This blogger put together a great list of things you can do yourself that will really look cute.  

So what did I make?

Glad you asked! I printed out the letters that have the Christmas lights along the top. This was an iconic moment in the first season. So how can I not incorporate it?! I printed out only the letters that would allow me to spell two words: Finally Eleven.

I had seen this picture someone posted of doing something similar. And since Eleven is the main character, or one of them, she had to have a part in the decorations. My daughter is turning eleven, so yeah. I had some string that I could put through the words and use to hang it all up. 

Funny note... So I was attempting to keep it somewhat a secret while having to put it together with my daughter coming into the room where I was working on it. I thought I was being smart by doing it with the letters turned down. Turns out... well, I'll show you how it came out. And let you laugh. 

My daughter thought it was supposed to be like that because of the Upside Down. I just couldn't leave it like that because of my OCD. No matter what the rest of the family came up with.

Next up!

I couldn't resist trying my hand at these cute little milk cartons. From what I'm seeing, they may be popular in the latest season at the High School. But they have Eleven on one of them and a Demogorgon on the other.  These were to be used on the table as decorations. So instead of making them from cardboard to actually hold things, I printed them on regular paper. You can find these at that link above. 

Who is missing?

I printed out two missing persons posters. One was for Barb and the other was for Will. These were hung up for decorations. I even singed the edges of Will's poster for a more dramatic effect. 

Creating a sign with a special font?

Did you know that there is a Stranger Things font logo generator that you can use for free? Online? Yep! So I made this little sign to hang up in her honor. Probably should have said 'strange' instead of 'stranger'. I thought I was being clever at the time. You can use that generator HERE. 

We had a fantastic time! I'm not just saying that. That's what she told me. Being 11 is one of those years between little girl and teen. Gonna be a fun year ahead of us! But we can take it one day at time. Starting with this epic birthday. 

Putting it All Together!

My Party Pack arrived from House Party! Super happy to finally have all the fun gear together for the Sweetest Game Day party.

Tying that in with my sons parties. Time to get it all together and ready. They sent me a Snickers football, a mini Foosball table game and some bottle cozies!

I decorated the cozies and picked up some cream soda...I also got some Skittles and made little Rainbow Seed packs to send home with the kids.

It turned into so much fun! 

I also had fun piecing together my table decoration - the Pea Shooter. What do you think of it? 

I had to add beans inside the bottom of the cup as it would fall over otherwise. 

And then I made little candy goodie bags for him to take to class and give away, using mini Snickers, Milky Way and Musketeers bars. I think he will have a great birthday this year. There is more than one way to celebrate with such great snacks as Snickers, Skittles and M&M's! 
I also used some on his cake. Had trouble getting it out the pans. Lesson learned - white chocolate chips in a strawberry cake taste great, but stick to non-stick, greased pans like white on rice... So I went from this: 

To this:

Then this:

And finished with this!

Woo! I feel quite accomplished.

Prepping for the Party!

First part of getting ready for a party, always has to be the invitations and guest list. We will be having a party for his friends to come to at our house and then head up to his Nona's for a family party. The first thing I did was write up a list of the people I thought he might want to invite and then ask for his input on them and any others he might want to ask over. I'm keeping it small since it will be on a Wednesday night (school night!). Then I went looking for some cool, free printables to turn into invitations that will follow his choice theme. I came across these on Family Shopping Bag. The picture was too small and I wanted to print multiple at once, so I copied the picture and put it into a Word document and made some tweaks. After my adjustments were made, they were card-sized and ready for envelopes.

I had to make envelopes. Since I didn't have small ones that fit these, I took regular big letter envelopes and cut them in half.

Then these cards fit into them and I taped up the sides and back. Looks cheap, but it works. Thankfully, I did not have many to send. Next task is to try and make at least one game and possibly some decorations. Can't believe that we are past the halfway mark in January already!

Where has the time gone?

My oldest just turned 7 years old this past weekend. Seven years old... Where has the time gone?! Its as if yesterday I was wheeled into the delivery room and now he's a walking, talking, little question-filled boy. Its been amazing, trying, tiring... a long journey that seems to have passed in the blink of an eye.

This year he wanted a Star Wars themed party. He loves watching the Star Wars Clone Wars cartoons on Netflix or the Rebels on cable. And with the new movie coming out soon, its a family thing all around. I didn't have the time or resources to do too much this year, but thanks to Pinterest, I was able to find ideas to decorate and make it fun with. 

I printed out this cool little certificate. 

Then came decorating cups and water bottles with R2-D2 labels. 

The cake was awesome though. HEB had this one with the Vader mask that makes that breathing sound we love so well. 

I hung Star Wars dangle decorations, had a table cover, and a few other things I had picked up on clearance at Target. While most of the people invited weren't able to join us as the weather wasn't cooperating, some of my ex's adult friends stopped by.

The kids enjoyed just having visitors for a change. 

The birthday boy got some fun gifts too. 

The following Monday, my ex in laws asked to take the boys out to Chuckee Cheese.

They had pizza and played games. 

So much fun! I treasure these moments I have with them. They are fleeting and pass me by so quickly. 

Turketarians Unite Butterball party via House Party

Tonight was a huge success! Why? I hosted my very first House Party. It was from Butterball and all about Turketarians Uniting!

They sent a huge party pack filled with reusable bags, coupons,

magnet sets,

footballs, a recipe book, a turkey hat,

an apron, cards about the new app Butterball has, a timer that is magnetic so I can hang it on the refrigerator, a Frisbee, plates, cups, and even napkins.

And then of course there was the $40 gift card to buy Butterball products to prepare for my guests.

We planned everything out to maximize the fun and food experiences.

I used the reusable bags as goodie bags to put all the things for my guests in. My husband wore the apron and hat while cooking,

until the kids came and wanted to wear the hat (Mr. Gobbles). There are some amazing recipes both in the book and the app. I downloaded the app, which if you haven't checked it out - you should! You can pick recipes, save them, then it will create a shopping list for you so you know what to get next time you go to the store. I LOVE it!

The night before the party, we set up everything. We bought a blue table cloth and some yellow and blue streamers.

I printed out some of the Butterball logos and the Turketarians Unite logo to hang and post around as well.

The day of the party, we cooked everything we had made a menu for: spaghetti with turkey

(my meatballs came out poorly since I can't make meatballs to save my life), turkey bacon covered nachos

 turkey tacos

(one of the favorites), and cheesy turkey and rice casserole

(tied for first place with the tacos in the favorites).

Snacks for those waiting were crackers stacked with either deep fried deli turkey slices or garlic and herb chicken slices and cheese.

We had two families come with kids everywhere.

Everyone ate to their fullness and had a wonderful time.

We discussed recipes, tastes and surprise at some of the products they didn't know existed from Butterball.

When everyone was ready to head home (well after the planned 2 hours),

I handed out goodie bags to the adults and the footballs to the kids.

The food was great. The bacon looks strange but tastes pretty good still. The turkey breast cooks juicier than the chicken and tastes so good. Ground turkey is nothing new here. We actually prefer using it since it isn't as greasy as beef.

Don't forget to leave me a comment on what you think as I love to hear from you! Thanks for reading.