I shared a few photos in July of my daughters’ JoJo birthday party and ever since I’ve had tons of questions (finally getting around to doing this). They are huge siwanators and there was no talking them out of this one. I’ve been forced into themed birthday parties for awhile now and I always stress out about how to make them cute. Anyone who knows me, know that when I say I’m just going to throw a “small get together” I will never be able to stick to it. I found a couple of ideas on Pinterest, but for the most part we had to make and find everything ourselves. Here’s a few tips.

1. 1. Balloon Arch Kit on Amazon

You can totally just buy balloons and do this yourself, but it’s about the same price and the strip that comes in the kit makes it SO much easier. I got a balloon pumper at 5 below for around $2 and started pumping up balloons a day or two before. Without helium, they will stay blown up for awhile so you’d be okay blowing them up before. There are multiple colors available and the kit was around $15 when I purchased it.

Make sure to alternate sizes. You don’t want all the balloons to be the same size. This will also save you a lot of time since the balloons do not have to be fully inflated.

2. Balloon Clouds and Rainbow Streamers

I purchased most of my streamers at the dollar store. I didn’t spend too much time making sure that each streamer was cut the same length. I just cut strips of each color and taped them over a picture in my kitchen. I would suggest not taping directly to the wall. You could hang a pasteboard on the wall if you don’t already have something in place.

I also purchased white balloons at the dollar store and alternated sizes. Just keep placing balloons until the shape forms like a cloud.

3. Gift Table

I stress myself out a lot thinking that I have to decorate every inch of my house for a party. You don’t. But it’s nice to have a little something when someone first enters the room. I moved the bench from my kitchen table into the living room and propped up floats from five below. If you have a summer birthday party, five below should have floats that go with your theme. For this party, we did a donut and pineapple since they were both featured in a music video. We used them to slide down the water slide too for added fun.

4. Party Favors

I went a little overboard on party favors. I ordered “unicorn poop” which are actually pretty tasty and super cute marshmallows. My cousin found little dogs in purses at Tuesday Morning and she made a sign to place in front of them for “bow bow”.

 

We got twizlers and mini marshmallows to make “rainbow on the go”. CUT THE TWIZLERS IN HALF and do not use every color or they won’t bend properly. This was super frustrating until I figured that out, but after that they didn’t take long to make.

5. Slime

We had a water slide, but I was super nervous about rain. I like to have a back up plan and a back up plan to my back up plan. We got plastic bowls and containers for the guests to make slime and all the colors and sparkles that they might need to add.

You can find many different recipes for slime, and it’s an inexpensive way to keep kids super entertained.

We did this inside because it was sprinkling, but I would suggest doing this outside or putting a tarp down.

6. Food 

We served nachos (one of Jojo’s favs) and they were a huge hit. We just got huge containers of cheese and put it in the crockpot along with nacho trays and tortilla chips.

I am a sucker for homemade ice cream and I have to serve it at every party. Your guests will love it and it’s super easy to make.

I got unicorn cupcakes from Sam’s and arranged them on different cake stands and party platters to make them stand out a little more.

 

Hope this helps! Comment with any questions or anything else I should add! Thanks guys!

 

Recently I went through something that no one had much advice on. Everyone asked for my story and was in tune with the information that I could offer them. With what started as a warning, quickly came the stress of being in the spotlight for something I wished never happened. To be honest, I don’t think that my life will ever go back to “normal” because how do you find “normal” again when you are put through something that makes you face the true evil of this world. Attempting to explain to your eight year old daughter that some people just enjoy tormenting other people is a conversation that wasn’t included in my parenting handbook (if anyone has it in their manual, please feel free to send a copy my way). We are all so very different, yet very much the same in so many ways. I connected with so many people who reassured me that I was doing the right thing, and others who couldn’t see past a minor untrue detail to even read my story. I realized something about myself during this time that has kept me holding on to the faith that one day I will find a new normal. I’m a talker. I don’t see black and white at all. Everything is a bright, sparkly, spinning rainbow. When I believe that something is wrong, I can’t just “let it go”. I don’t have a filter, and I don’t sugar coat things. I’ve been held back for a long time because of my choice to let other people’s opinions silence mine. At the end of the day, I am who I am. Take it or leave it, I’m exactly who God designed me to be and I won’t feel sorry for that.

 1. Not everyone will agree with you. Let’s be real. Most people won’t even take the time to know all the facts before they judge you. But that’s okay. It takes all kinds of kinds. Remain open minded and take the hateful comments as reassurance that there needs to be more awareness. To elaborate on this just a little, you may be surprised to find out that people who you thought were in your corner never really were. It’s sad, but it’s also liberating. When you stop caring about the opinion of those who never really cared about your well being, you can literally change the world.

2. People don’t always know how to respond. Finding your voice can be empowering, but it can also be terrifying. I’ve found that it’s alot easier to respond to someone’s weaknesses than their strengths. We naturally respond best to people we relate to. Sometimes taking a different path inspires others, but before you can inspire anyone you have to realize that being different isn’t always a bad thing. Someone’s negative response doesn’t change the facts, and it shouldn’t change your mind or your heart either. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t tune in to those that are listening to you and make sure that you are wording your message correctly. But don’t let a response stop you from doing something important. Throw glitter all over that negativity, and keep on sparkling.

3. You can’t only be passionate when you’re winning. If you’re going to express who you are, do just that. If you believe in something, believe in it wholeheartedly. No one said that it would be easy all the time. If something is important to you, any time you hit a road block can be disheartening, but that doesn’t make it any less important. Quite the opposite actually. *Insert cheesy quote about how everything in life is worth fighting for here*

4. Sometimes what you don’t say says a lot. Know when to engage and when to ride it out. The moment I realized that not everything deserved commentary, I became a whole lot stronger. I like to talk. A lot. But there’s a time and a place for that and you can learn so much by listening.

5. It’s worth it. Finding my voice was the scariest thing that I’ve ever done, and that says a lot considering I’ve given birth to four girls (ha!). Sometimes I still want to just throw in the towel, go off the grid, and not comment anymore. But at the end of the day I have to remember why I spoke out in the first place and you should too.