These are a FEW of My FAVORITE THINGS Theme Party

This last year was a busy one for me. With sharing health and wellness to the multitudes, training, learning and growing my time with dear friends was limited. So, I decided to do something about it by planning a FAVORITE THINGS party. 

Some FAVORITE friends,

some FAVORITE snacks,

some FAVORITE products...

tied up together to create one incredibly fun package of a party! 

Well, if you have been following me long, you know me... time to create some goodness for our gathering. I came up with a couple of games: a favorite things questionnaire and a Celebrity Favorite Foods matching game. I wanted to have a little added fun to keep the theme going throughout the night without the games consuming the evening. After all we needed our time to catch up on all that  2015 brought us. 

Click link to Print

The Favorite Things Questionnaire was fun. We filled them out, shuffled them and passed them back out. The person drawing made sure not to get their own and then one by one we read the questionnaire we had in hand. Then we would guess who it belonged to. As well as we knew each other we did learn a little  about each person. It was fun to ask some of the why's behind the answers. 

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 The celebrity food match was fun to make. Who knew there would be so many options to choose from on celebrity favorite foods? I tried to pick celebrities everyone in our group would at least recognize. Some of the answers are quite surprising. Crickets? Really?

(ANSWERS - Angelina Jolie & kids: Crickets, Seinfeld: Peanut Butter, Betty White: Chips, Red Vines, Fries, out dogs, Taylor Swift - Cinnamon Crunch Cereal, Pop Tarts, Katy Perry: Mushrooms, Mariah Carey: Pizza, Scarlett Johansson: Buffalo Wings, Barack: Obama Chili, Selena Gomez: Pickles, Justin Bieber: Swedish Fish, Tom Hanks: Gyro / Japanese) 

I had some inexpensive craft bags on hand.

Used some cute little packaging for snacks (another favorite)

Favorite plates. Aren't these BEAUTIFUL? 

(these were gifts from our foreign exchange student from Finland in the '80's) 

I made some healthy(ish) treats and some "I am not starting my fitness resolution yet so let's have one last homemade taco dip with Juanita's appetizer" not so healthy snack. Everyone brought one or two of their favorite snacks as well. We had the yummiest danish bleu cheese, marinated shrimp, meat and cheese platters, pb*j cookies, lemon bars....

all DELISH!

Then came the time for the BIG reveal where we shared our FAVORITE thing of 2015 that we were gifting to each person.  There were no rules on this one outside of a price range of $15-20.

Looking for some great gift ideas? Look no further - we SCORED!

My give away was something that showed up in my BIRCHBOX this year. Stila HUGER than HUGE extreme lash duo. You can pick it up at nordstroms for $18 right now (usually$27).

Let me just say this.... this is the BEST MASCARA ever! I have tried a ton, and I mean a TON of different top line brands that claim to create the BIGGEST lash.  Many that extend and build end up flaking or creating black shadows under my eyes. This mascara is the BOMBdiggity. The link above comes with a primer and the mascara. Just try it ladies! 

My "loves everything ENGLISH" friend (who really needs to write a book or fifty...) brought these fun books. One is the Anti Journal which is SO FUN! I can't wait to dig in and start writing. 

My "Super Sweet" friend brought cupcakes from a gourmet bakery. She had picked cupcakes with specific flavors for each one of us. I just loved how she made it extra sweet by thinking of what flavors she would buy for whom.  

...and confession time. I gobbled both of them up before the nights end because you know... I mean really, they would have slightly hardened or crusted over had I waited. Wouldn't you agree that would be quite rude as the receiver? Yes, glad we agree... gobbling was in order. 

Our "Techy Wonder Girl" friend brought us all iTunes cards. I LOVED this. Super creative and useful. Any thoughts on what I should buy with it folks? 

And finally the last gift came from a friend who had an unforeseen health issue come up this year. One of the only things she could drink was tea, so she learned to LOVE tea.  Recently she has gotten hooked on Teavana teas. This one is heavenly - Pineapple Kona Pop. YUM. Even my kiddos are asking for this tea.  I found this gift extremely fitting because the two of us used to have a drinkey-dink club where we would go on a hunt once a week with our kiddos to find fun local non-alcoholic (making the claim because you notice I said with our kiddos)  beverages to try around our community. 

Guys, this was such a blast. I cannot tell you how nice it was to just BE with friends. Have a little theme to it but mainly just plain, good,  friendship time.  If my motto is going to be one thing this year it is to be purposeful. Sometimes we can make things so complicated with details that we lose the purpose. Keep it simple and meaningful.

Cheers to more GATHERINGS & FRIENDSHIP TIME in 2016! 

-Simply Sublime

Family Friendly Glow Party Ideas: Be a Light in the Dark

Oh, the family fun you can create with a few glow products: games, costumes, decor, entertainment and more!  

Over the last five years we have had a rather large GLOW NIGHT event at our Awana Club. (Which is a childrens ministry) Our club typically has 200-400 kids who attend every Wednesday night. This is our BIG outreach event where everyone is encouraged to bring a friend. The kids always have such a GLOWTASTIC blast! It is definitely one of the highlights of the year. 

Whether you are looking to create a simple family fun night, or a large party for the masses, these ideas can be incorporated to bring some serious glow fun! 

Getting GLOW in the atmosphere is easy-peasy. Water bottles (water still in) and glow sticks make a very simple and inexpensive glow light that can be used for decor, or as boundary markers, game pieces, cones, etc. They would also make great bowling pins. The other items in the photo above are upside down glow in the dark dessert bowls. (see below) In addition to decor these could be used for a ball tossing game, with a glow in the dark bouncy ball. 

{source: windy city novelties}

They also have straws, cups and other items available for tableware.

These are probably my VERY MOST favorite glow products that I know of. GLOW CIRCLES. They have a peel n' stick bottom. They come in several colors. They typically run between .50 - 1.00 a piece. Typically the more you purchase the cheaper you can get them. These have a great glow to them, not to mention the endless ways they can be used: name badges,  making glow in the dark words, creating game areas & marking boundaries, establishing a finish line, and so much more.

{source: windy city novelties}

We use these to outline our Awana Game Circles. It is so simple, pop the glow tube in the disk, shake, peel the back off and stick them down on the proper color quadrant. Each quarter of the circle is then glowing in the proper Awana color: Red, Blue, Yellow and Green. 

To create team color pins we use 2 liter soda bottles filled with water and drop in 2 coordinating colored glow sticks. These are then used as their team pin on the circle. We also use a water bottle {smaller bottle than the 2 liter) with one glow stick for the winning team pin in the center square and a 2 liter filled with all four of the teams color in it to replace the orange pin placed in the very center of the circle. For those of you who don't know Awana Games don't even try to wrap your brain around what I just explained. Haha. It is almost a foreign language until you play a game.

Family Glow Game Ideas:

Bowling

Relay Races

{Source: Glow Products}

Glow Golf, Soccer, Badminton, Football, Volleyball 

For relay batons we use Foam LED Lumiton products. They are really inexpensive and are really durable.They have an on / off button. We have used the same ones annually for the last 3 or 4 years. We had a few die last year - so we re-stocked this year.  They run about a $1 a piece now - so super cheap.

{source: windy city novelties}

You can find all sorts of glow costume gear online now- from mohawks to tube wigs, glasses to shoelaces. The list increases daily. It can be a bit shocking what can show up in a glow google search - so if kiddos are looking, you may want to find the safe sites for them first. Eek.

We used EL Wire (see example below) and clear packing tape to create our glow over our black hoodies and pants. We were able to purchase our EL Wire at a pretty low cost - check around before you buy, AND make sure you are comparing the same items, they come in many lengths and color options.

{source: glowsource}

For our glow dance outfits we each used 2- 12' lengths. It ended up being WAY cheaper than buying one 20' long el wire. Like I mentioned earlier, make sure and check around for prices, you just never know.

Watch glow dance video

Our family had so much fun performing this dance video. With more time for planning we could have made it a bit more complicated - although we think it turned out pretty darn cute. Our little guy was  center stage and he will be the first to tell you he has stage fright. As you can imagine this stretched his comfort level a bit. 

My hubby was the guy in all black (you'll see him when those stinkers in the crowd shine their lights on the stage in the middle of the song). The all black outfit kept him hidden most of the time so as he was flipping Nate around in the air it appeared as if he was floating. Now you see why we needed our little guy to be the center stage performer...am I right?

The song we used was a zippy re-make of "This little light of mine" by Rapture Ruckus. We thought it spoke the exact we were trying to encourage share with the kids. SHINE bright out there - be a light in the dark. People are attracted to light - they find it beautifully captivating. 

I know I would love to be found beautifully captivating to others. You know that kind of captivating that isn't prideful, or shallow, but that deep, rich, safe harbor type of captivating. Not me, myself, but Jesus in me shining for others to see. I am also learning I already am beautifully captivating to my Abba Father - no matter how good I am at allowing his light to shine in all the areas of my life. He delights in me. I need to work on living that out and letting it shine. 

"Remember, our Message is not about ourselves; we’re proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you. It started when God said, “Light up the darkness!” and our lives filled up with light as we saw and understood God in the face of Christ, all bright and beautiful." -2 Corinth. 4:5-6

-Simply Sublime

Family Redneck Hootenanny Party Planning: A night of Games, Food & Fun

Hi there - welcum to our dino-mite redneck hootenanny party. Planning this event filled up my gas tank to overflowin'. We had a rootin' tootin' good time and are so happy to share it with u peeps.  Wur so glad ya'll stoped on bye! 

(Aren't these men adorbs? Hand off, they are taken gals)

Okay seriously - my #3 daughter (14 yo) must have had to ask me the following question like 20 times minimum  - "Mom, when are you going to quit talking like that?" I was lovin' me some redneck chatter.  I think she was afraid I was forever stuck in redneck mode. The fact she felt she had to ask that made me giggle every.single.time. 

                          

For a little back story let me explain the why behind this shindig. Our family belongs to a Homeschool Co-op that meets once a week for a day filled with some really dern FUN education with friends. Ya' know we gotta get them there kids around othur lil childr'n to learn how to spit, lern propr fight'n skills and git soshulized, ya know!

In all seriousness I do believe the kids have just about as much fun as the Moms do on our Friday Fun Days. This group of peeps is filled to the brim with amazing Moms who long to deposit all the love they can into their kiddos every second of every day - and actually try to teach them at the same time. Say what??? Wasn't that an oxymoron? Yeah, call us crazy! So you can see why these Moms desperately need time to refresh and be encouraged by others going through some of the same things. Aren't we just  presh? I mean seriously, it isn't every day you see such a large group of women who look so smashing.

Our Co-op typically has some kind of quarter-end family celebration. We have had PJ's & Pancakes Night, Game Nights, Talent Shows, too many family fun nights to cover - (this is already going to be a PRETTY LONG post so I don't have time to list out every awesome event). Well this year it was time for me to step up a bit more and put on my volunteer cap. (I had been in low help mode for quite some time) 

For those of you who know me - you know if I get involved in throwing a PAR-TAY  I need someone holding my hand (to restrain me that is). So my dear friend Jen and I teamed up to throw this thing out. Then we got some added help from one of the other Mom's - TRIPLE BONUS! A trio of party planners - oh yeah. These ladies were SO FUN to work with...and if I do say so myself we are so DERN CUTE!

3 Party Planners Extraordinaire!

{okay - confession time. I have had that mickey sweatshirt since 2003. The wristbands are literally hanging by a string, there is paint spattered on it. AND YET - no other sweatshirt gives me the same comfort that this one does. Not because I love Mickey - I don't. In fact I do not like character ANYTHING, especially clothing... and yet - here I am still with it and I LOVE IT!  I imagine it to be like the long loved college threads people have a hard time purging even when they are beyond recognition of being called clothing...more like rags. Humph... I guess I will just confess my deep down real redneck-ness and move on with the party details. Yeah - I feel better now}

I LOVE to throw me a good party. I mean...I really, really, really love to plan events. From the big must-have's to the smallest of crumb details, getting them wrapped around my brain and down on paper inspires me immensely. Like makes my brain get all lit up - you may even see it spinning and glowing if you look for very long - kind of joy.

I know it most certainly is a part of who I am and what I am created for. How??? {insert humor} Well, of course it is because I wake the morning of the event to the sun rays beaming on my face as the angels sing me a beautiful chorus. This is when it becomes Oh, SO, obviously clear that  the glorious countdown to the event is ticking away. Just hours until my happy tank is full for a spell. (Okay that may be a but dramatic - or extreme - but I seriously get pumped up by this)

First things first... for planning this PARTY we needed to figure out the BIG 5 basics known to be the key elements of every successful event:

1. THEME
2. ACTIVITIES
3. FOOD
4. ENTERTAINMENT
5. DECOR

Once you get the theme wrangled down the rest begins to flow quite easily. We knew we wanted some kind of fall harvesty, hoe down type party. That had already been decided at our Mom's planning meeting the beginning of the year. Yet, I was having a hard time wrapping my brain around that or getting too excited. Somehow I believed we would need a barn to pull this off on a level I would be satisfied with. We instead had a church building with a very large, empty room. Hmmm. Then it hit me REDNECK. Funny for adults and kids - tons of things to get my creative juices flowing with. I was pretty sure I could redeem Redneck to a family friendly event that was fun for all.

So I started scratching out ideas and ran them past my planning buddies. YUP, sounded good. Next stop: INVITATION.

Once we decided it would be a potluck with an award given out for the "Best Dern Grub" we could check off food from the list and begin the next biggest mind boggler... Activities. 

Planning this part was SO.MUCH.FUN.

Red Neck Ring Toss.

A crate, variety of bottles and 2 colors of duct tape is all you need to make this game complete. 

Redneck Shake, Rattle & Roll Game: empty kleenex boxes, belts, duct tape to attach boxes to the belts and 6 ping pong balls per kleenex box. 

I made up a redneck timer using two honey bottles, duct tape and sand. All you have to do is cut off the lids and nubs where the honey squirts out. Add sand and duct tape together. What a simple and a fun way to get them shaking as fast as they can.

How to DIY Redneck Timer

Everyone belt up with 6 ping pong balls in the kleenex box which is placed on your lower back. Flip the timer and YOWZA it is time to jump and shake like crazy.

Player who gets the most ping balls out when the last grain of sand has hit the bottom of the timer...wins.

Redneck Wrestlin'

Okay we started with a station of head wrestlin' but the kids liked the idea of wrestlin' so much they brought a table over and started arm wrestlin' too. The head wrestlin' is simply two pairs of nylon pantyhose with a tennis ball in one foot of each pair. Put the hose on like a hat and start swingin' yur head until you get that there ball wrapped around your partner.

Toilet paper, pop cans and rubber bands. Two people line up and start shooting and their roll of tp with the rubber bands. First person to knock down the tp roll wins.

Redneck Racin'

Swimming noodle sliced in half, marbles, duct tape and shoe box. SIMPLE! Two players with a on your mark, get set, go and first marble at the end wins.

Pin the tail on the Possum - A laminated photo of a 'possum and some tails with tape. Blindfold those little precious peeps and they are off.

Shoot 'em UP

We also had a spinning plywood circle on a stand with holes. The kids lined up with a nerf gun, 6 bullets and shot away. After each kiddo had gone whoever had got the most nerf bullets through the holes won.

and finally.... we had one for all.

What in the  REDNECK's NAME is THAT???

I made up a bunch of redneck items: Redneck Fire Alarm, Red Neck Bubble Bath, Red Neck Toothpick & Flosser, Flashlight, Back Scratcher, Pot Pourri, Wind Chime, Weather Roipe and more. I hung tags ripped from brown bags with a question mark on one side and a description of what it was on the other. All at the table would guess what they thought it was then flip it over to see if anyone was right.

Here are a handful of pics showing the finished items:

Large paint stir stick with a book of matches duct taped on it. I soaked the tips of the matches in water first just in case little hands have some BRIGHT ideas....

Redneck Wind Chime: Regular size paint stir stick duct taped together  in an X shape. Then tie pop cans with twine to each end of the paint sticks. 

Redneck Pot Pourri: Bottle caps, pop tabs, dried beans, twirled garbage twist ties make for some outrageously beautiful redneck pot pourri. 

Get it??? Manmade bubbles in the tub after a night o' eatin' beans. Haha.

Large paint stir stick, bottle caps with two small holes in each (I used a crop-o-dile tool but you could use a nail and hammer to make the holes on a scrap piece of 2x4 so you don't puncture the floor) I used gardage twist ties to attache the bottle caps to the end of the paint stick. Voila!

Redneck Fire Alarm

A tag was duct taped on the bottom of the popcorn saying "Redneck Fire Alarm".

redneck party streamer

You may have noticed in the pics I had a sign for each game posted at each station explaining the setup and the rules. I have included a link with all of the game sheets. Feel free to use the FREE PRINTABLES I have provided.

link to FREE PRINTABLES

Now with all of these fun activities and costumes we KNEW we needed a Photo Booth. So we brought in the BIG guns... to carry the BIG Props. Like a Redneck Couch made from an old vehicle bench, car fenders, rims, tires, pallets, crates, grills, ladders, wheelbarrow, hay bale and more...

Okay - so not everyone may have the ability to just go to your father-in-laws property and gather such redneck awesome-ness - but just be creative. Think old free couch on the side of the road (those are everywhere- right?)

We also tore up ole cardboard boxes and made signs with redneck quotes. "No, I ain't havin' no yard sale"

"you might be a redneck if" "I am the redneck your mother warned you about" then duct taped them up. You may be able to read part of the redneck event sign in the photo - I printed out our party sign in panels on my printer and duct taped it together. Perfectly redneck style signage.

and FINALLY....

DECOR: Food Tables, Beverage Station & More

Soder Pop & Sweet Tea for ALL. Yeah, it's gross but it is redneck.

We used an upside down box for a food riser to get different heights of food on the table. And - nothing says redneck like a coffee pot with silk flowers.

make sure you duct tape the rim of the can lid before using cans - they are like saws. A high chair made the perfect redneck counter for the forks, spoons and scrunched up napkins. You could also just use pieces of paper towels for napkins. 

I don't know if you can see them sitting on top - but I made redneck dish tent cards so people would have the ability to know who made what and vote. You can use this FREE PRINTABLE to print out as many tent cards as you think you will have dishes.

I know I left our event's title on each card design - just write the name of your party over it in Sharpie to make it even that much more REDNECK! 

an old rack and some tires and you got urself an awesome center riser for a large table. And what is more 'peeling then a dead animul skull, huh? Right there that's awesome entertainin'.

Dining Table Decor:

garbage bags and newspaper with duct tape for Redneck Tablecloths.

Bottle caps, pop tabs, greenery, hub caps, and Mason Jar Stemware Candle Holders or Wine Glasses (I made these and have a tutorial coming) I filled these with dried beans and a tealight. 

Now that there is some FINE Dinin'. Mite evun warsh my hands for this meal.

Now for you to see the REDNECK GRUB the peeps came up with for our potluck. It is HILARIOUSLY funny - especially the names they came up with. Check out how well the tent cards worked displaying each families creative genius.

Redneck Calamari n' Beans

Redneck Sushi: Pickles, cream cheese and ham.

Redneck Bacon & Olive Loaf - yep just bacon and olives.

Redneck Easy Squirt Cheese, Velveeta, Slim Jim Beef Sticks & Crackers

Redneck Pigs n' Blankets

Redneck Caviar

Redneck Dilly Worms - Green Beans

 Redneck Spam

Redneck Roadkill n' Rice with fresh killed that day chicken feet. Ugh.

We also had Possum Stew (Chili), Jello Surprise Salad, Fried Chicken, Salmon, amd SO-MUCH-MORE!

This area looks a lot better now with those delishus potater chips in 'em.

Your FAMISHED now aren't you???

That's my Man! Ain't he handsum.

Then for the Talent Show & Line Dancing. We had Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream making, Burping the alphabet, singing the Books of the Bible (not so redneck but adorable) - and even more if you can wrap you cottin' picken brain around it.

..add some fun Redneck Line Dancin"

It was too funny whatchin' those pregger ladies drinkun their soder pops and dancin' at the same time. They almost spilt some of the golden lick-wid on the carput.

Centerpiece doubles as GIVE-AWAY.

See the Mason Jar Stemware in the center? These are what we used for our "Best Dern" Awards at the end of the night.  I made up these little labels, punched a hole in the side and tied them to the stem of the glass with jute twine. 

FREE PRINTABLE

People voted throughout the night by ripping off a piece of brown paper bag and they wrote their vote (one per category per person) with a sharpie - we had three brown lunch sacks labeled and duct taped to a table - they simply dropped their vote into the bags. At the end of the night we tallied up the votes and had an awards ceremony.

Peeps were SO HAPPY with their BIG WIN! My friend here won for Best Drest! Afterall she is drest by a baby pillow bumpkin' in the oven. Ain't she sumpthin?

Well, here is a sure sign of a GREAT Redneck Party.... Overflowin' trash can. 

I would like to thank my dear sweet thing of a Husband for using his Big Guns to transport all of this fabulous redneck-age. He is truly a HUGE blessing in my life with his willingness to step up and help me in my crazy party mode mentality. 

Don't you worry! He got lots-o-redneck LOVIN' for all his hard work!

{Do ya dig my foil wrapped toilet paper roll curlers?}

I have tutorials to print on how to make the mason jar stem ware and the redneck timer. For now - enough is enough. I will add the tutorials at a later date y'all! 

Hope you enjoyed our Redneck Hootenanny. We sure did!

-Simply Sublime