My Right Brain

Happy Bday KL

Dear KL,
In addition to the other goodies that are coming your way, please take your pick from the shirts below.

Lots of love,
The Birthday T-shirt Fairy

4 Years As A Leonard

After 10 years together, KL and I are celebrating our fourth wedding anniversary today.  YAY to happiness, love, and TMNT - even the trees are screaming it :) 

I'm Back (but did you even miss me)

After posting 683 blog entries without missing a single day (wow), this past weekend marked a change.  I didn't have anything for ya on Saturday or Sunday - but did you even notice? 

I know Aunt Jo noticed (she emailed me asking if everything was OK) - so sweet!

Honestly, KL and I just a lot going on right now - we were traveling and celebrating and I just couldn't make it all happen (sad but true).  I will say that we had a wonderful week away with family, friends, beach, sunshine, an extra plane ride, baseball, and a new tradition :) 

HOW TO: Make Favors for a 30th Birthday Party

As a follow up to last week's post, I got a few questions about the t-shirt/favors I made for AZ's 30th bday party in the park, and since we live in a democracy - your wish is my command!

The decision to make t-shirts was easy, AZ collects silly ones, so we thought he would enjoy something over the top (and the goal from the beginning was to make something that he would actually wear) did we accomplish that, I am still not so sure. 

STEP 1: Search for the right print house (things to consider: price/quality/turn around time) .  There was NO way I was printing these baby's myself, so after a little online research I found a company that fit my needs perfectly.  T-Shirt Pros ended up being in my neighborhood, but I would have been happy with their service if they across the country.  They had an online system which was very easy to work with, and for any questions I had, I just called them up directly.  They were quick, reliable, and the quality of the final product was fabulous.

STEP 2: The artwork.  I knew I wanted to include of picture of AZ (since that's way more embarrassing) but I wasn't 100% sure what to put on the shirt with his picture.  Without too much direction, using Photoshop, I transformed the original photo into a workable image that would only require one color for printing (a single color print is less costly than a multi-colored print) and figured that was a good place to start.  Once I was happy with the photo modification, I explored different ways to incorporate text.  Once I settled into a style I liked, I created some options, and then left the decision up to everyone else.  The majority went for the design on the bottom right (which is what we ending up using) but sadly that was not my favorite. 

In the end, I think the design we went with was the best choice (everyone seemed happy with it).  Which do you think was my favorite?  I'll give you a hint, it's probably the one you like least ;)

 

HOW TO: Throw a 30th Birthday

Now that we have sufficiently celebrated AZ's birthday, I can divulge to you the details about his party.  Although the party itself was not a surprise, the specifics were top secret.  We wanted the guests and AZ to feel like they were being taken for a ride, so we did everything we could to make it extra special.

STEP 1: Decide on a theme
Since AZs birthday is in the summer, it's only natural for us to do something outdoors to celebrate.  This year he talked about doing it at a park (which can be a money saver) and maybe playing softball (but since he is in a softball league, it didn't sound so exciting).  He liked the idea of some friendly competition so we shaped the day around that and ended up with a day at the park playing absurd games :).

STEP 2: Create guest list and send the invites
AZ generated his list, and we decided to send via evite because we didn't want it to be an additional expense, and other than it being a great service, it's environmentally friendly!  Paperless Post is a higher end version of digital invites (that look GREAT) but it is for a small fee.  Depending on your event, Paperless Post might be more appropriate.

STEP 3: The Details
As people started RSVPing (we invited about 110 people - gasp) we guessed that about 80 would show, so we started shaping/modifying the details around that number.

    Lunch - Because of the outside/park vibe we thought taco's would be appropriate, so we hired a great company (who I have used before) to feed all of our hungry party goers.  Hiring someone else to deal with food, was a no brainier.  Knowing that I didn't have to worry about the food/set up/clean up was the biggest relief of all, and the price was reasonable, so in the end it was yummy and very, very worth it. 

    Games - Since guests were coming to play games, it was important that we put most of our effort into making these varied and interesting for all - players and spectators.  We aimed to find a balance between skill, luck, and creativity, and came up with 8 games that we felt were well rounded. 

While guests arrived and ate lunch, we provided sign up sheets (which also explained the rules) so everyone understood what they were getting themselves into.  It allowed for people to (hopefully) get excited about the absurdity, form teams if needed, and talk strategy.  After lunch, KL (who was the master of ceremonies and could probably do it professionally if he wanted - he was over the top hilarious) put on his referee jersey (literally), gathered up the troops, kicked out the guests who failed the drug test's (there were only two :) and officially let the games begin. 

I made the sign up sheets using Pages (which is a simple layout program) but you could make these by hand, or do it in any word processing program.

    Dessert - Because of the outside/park vibe we opted for Drumsticks and Otter Pops instead of traditional birthday cake (but don't worry, we put a candle in a Drumstick).  Drumsticks are AZ's favorites, and as NZ always points out, I am an absolute sucker for Otter Pops.  Neither required additional plates or silverware, and both were yummy and refreshing - a smart choice for an outdoor day at the park!   It should be noted that to keep the dessert cold, we used dry ice which was both surprisingly effective and totally less scary than you think.

    Favors - While eating dessert, KL began the awards ceremony (he had music and everything).  A to the Zizzle Fo Shizzle t-shirts were distributed to about 20 fierce competitors, which included top performers and those who were just deserving - like AW for being the wettest competitor (water balloon toss victim), and IT for being the youngest. 

---
Overall our celebration was fun and relatively easy to pull off.  Of course we had a few bells and whistles that you don't need, but I hope these tips can help you throw a 30th birthday celebration of your own!  Everyone likes games - so what are you waiting for - are you in it to win it?