$1400 Back to School Cash Giveaway

Who could use $1400? With back to school here and the holidays just around the corner, I know I sure could!

I'm so excited to be part of this giveaway spearheaded by Spaceships and Laser Beams in conjunction with a very long list of fantastic bloggers, small businesses and party peeps!

Just a few of them include: Spaceships and Laser Beams, Vanessa Grant Events, Go Against the Grain, Michelle's Party Plan-It, We Heart Mom, Design Dazzle, One Inspired Party, Just a little Sparkle, Angelina's Dream Parties, Mimi's Dollhouse, PaperCandee, BellaGrey Designs, hello love designs, Samantha Walker Designs, Petite Bebe, I Will Invitations, Inkberry Cards + Design, We Heart Parties, Simply Sweet Parties, Dandelion Avenue, Cakes And Kids, Made by a Princess Parties in Style, paper & cake, Miss Party Mom, Doodlecraft, Adorable Cakes By Elizabeth, Kimberley's Kitchen, Love The Day, Simply Nesting, Mighty Delighty, Swish Printables, Partystock, Simply Brigadeiro, Lemonberry Moon, Modern Moments Designs, Sweet Petite Soirees, Forever Your Prints, Sweet Dahlia, Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams, Party Patisserie, The Family Map and Cupcake Express.

And that's not everyone! Please refer to the Rafflecopter form to see a complete list of all the generous sponsors who made this giveaway possible!

Prize: One winner will receive $1400 USD

Eligibility and Rules: This giveaway runs from 11:59PM ET on August 26, 2013 to 11:59PM ET on September 17, 2013. It is open to individuals over the age of 18. The winner will be chosen randomly through the Rafflecopter form. It is the sole responsibility of the winner to adhere to all laws in their respective country, which includes payments to any governing tax body. This giveaway is void in any country where it is prohibited by law.

Claiming Prize: The prize will be sent via PayPal. The winner must claim their prize within 48 hours of receiving notice. If you do not claim your prize within this time frame, your entry will be void and another winner will be drawn. We don't want to have to do this! Please ensure that the email spaceshipsandlaserbeams [at] gmail [dot] com is on your "safe list."

Disclosure: This giveaway is a blogger-sponsored event that is in no way affiliated with PayPal, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram or any other social media channel. If you have questions about the administration of this giveaway, email Stephanie at Spaceships and Laser Beams at spaceshipsandlaserbeams [at] gmail [dot] com.

Please use the Rafflecopter form below for your entries!

All entries are optional BUT the more you complete the more chances you have to win!

Good luck!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Oriental Trading $500 Spooktacular Giveaway!

Halloween is just around the corner and wouldn't a $500 OTC gift card come in handy for your Halloween bash?  I know I'd love to win!!!!

From 8/25/13 through 10/19/13, enter to win $500 in Halloween products of your choice from Oriental Trading! 

Plus, they're giving away a $25 Oriental Trading gift card every day! 

Click here to find more details and to enter.

GOOD LUCK!


Thanks for visiting,

Knights, Dragons and Swords...Oh My!

My boys love dragons and knights and because we love to party, we had a little Dragons and Knights play date to kick off our latest party theme.

Tidbit:

My oldest son loves to draw and has been drawing dragons since he was 3 years old. I commissioned him to create a dragon emblem for our party. I requested something simple yet bold. He did a great job for his first gig!

Rice Krispie treat "Castles"

My Valiant Warrior, Sir Gavin!

The Dessert Table & Decor:
I started with a black background and some boxes covered in flagstone paper from Shindigz to showcase the Knight my mom found for me at Ross.  I found some flame torches on clearance also from Shindigz that were the perfect accent pieces. I used silver satin fabric for my cake table backdrop and added chess pieces symbolizing the King and Queen of our little kingdom and an Excalibur sword along with a dungeon lock and key for accent.

The Sweeties:
I made chocolate cupcakes with fondant toppers, butterscotch popcorn and regular popcorn. The gold popcorn boxes and knight party cups from Oriental Trading Company were filled with coordinating candy.  I also made cereal treat "castles" and topped them with little flags. I picked up a yummy strawberry shortcake from Sam's Club for $9 and topped it with our dragon.

Paper Stationery:
I made "Royal Snacks" stickers for the popcorn boxes, shield cupcake toppers, favor tags, dragon banners, stickers for the playing cards and candy bar wrappers complete with blinged out crowns.

The Kiddie Table:
I glued glittery crowns and fleur-de-lis from Michael's dollar bins to favor boxes from Oriental Trading Company and used my son's dragon figurine as the table centerpiece.  Since dragon's love jeweled treasure, I scattered plastic jewels from Michael's dollar deals on the cake stand. I found foam shields at Target's Dollar Spot and spray painted them gold to match the inflatable swords from Oriental Trading Company.

Activities:
The kids colored and decorated their own dragon knight banners, flew dragon gliders from Oriental Trading Company and sword fought for over an hour.  

As you can see, my little man had a blast playing dress up!

Thanks for visiting!

Available in the SHOP:

Scalloped Favor Favor Tags

Cupcake Toppers

Small Stickers

Large Stickers

Dragon Banners

VENDORS:
Styling, Party Stationery and Photography: Michelle's Party Plan-It

Red Favor Boxes, Gold Popcorn Boxes, Inflatable Swords, Shield Lollipops, Cupcake Wrappers, Cupcake Flags, Royal Cups, Dragon Gliders: Oriental Trading Company

Disclosure:
I received products from Oriental Trading for this review. All opinions are my own.

Back to School Visa Gift Card Giveaway

It’s Back to School time! What better way to start the school year off than to win a Visa gift card for all your back to school clothing and supplies! 2 winners will each win a $450 Visa gift card to spend as they please!

I've teamed up with some wonderful bloggers and businesses to bring you this awesome Back to School Giveaway!  Pretty My Party Cupcake with Character, Charming Touch Parties, Petits Plaisirs Chocolata Treats, Smart Party Planning, Just Us Four, Mom Spark, Design Dazzle, The Glitter Revival, Miss Momvocate, Bloom Designs, Yumtastics, Petite Bebe, Mommy Octopus, Printable Parties to Go, Party Patisserie, Taradara Made It,MYGRAFICO, Catch My Party, PurpleTrail, Design Dazzle, Daddy Mojo, Invite Shop, Wedding Paperie


Rules: Giveaway is open worldwide to all participants ages 18 and older. Your chances of winning the prize will increase if you like and follow all pages! If the winner resides outside of the U.S. they have the option of taking PayPal cash. Giveaway is open until 11:59 p.m. EST Friday, August 23, 2013. 2 winners will be chosen randomly through Giveaway Tools. The winners will be notified by email by hello@prettymyparty.com. Please make sure that email is on your safe email list and doesn’t end up in your spam folder. The winners will have 48 hours to respond or new winners will be chosen. The winners will be announced on Pretty My Party.

Disclosure: This giveaway is in no way associated with Visa. Michelle's Party Plan-It and those bloggers and businesses participating in the giveaway receive no compensation to promote Visa or its related products

Entry-Form

Monsters Pre-Scare School

My youngest son, Liam has been obsessed with two things this summer, Monsters University and School.  He wants to go to school like his big brothers and can't wait for pre-school. I love that he wants to go to school so soon and we all love Monsters University, so I decided Back-to-School season was the perfect time to combine the two and make our very own "Monsters Pre-Scare School"!

The Dessert Table:
I started with a "blackboard" backdrop featuring our favorite one-eyed monster as a focal point for the dessert table.  I filled jars with color coordinated candy I had in my candy stash and added Sulley and my personal favorite monster, George Sanderson.  (Disneystore.com recently had an awesome clearance on Monsters Inc. toys that I couldn't pass up!)

The Sweeties:
I made Sulley popcorn balls (see my tutorial here), chocolate covered Squishy oreos, chocolate covered Mike oreos and Mike cereal treats.  I also made buttercream frosting for the first time for my key lime Mike and Sulley cupcakes. Using my Cricut, I made small favor boxes and candy boxes in coordinating paper along with the little pennant banner and wrappers for the chocolate bars. My friend Theresa of Cookies by Tree made her amazing Mike and Monsters logo sugar cookies. I picked up the adorable cake at Sam's Club, it was only $17 and delicious!

Paper Stationery:
I made eye ball stickers, straw flags, favor bag toppers for the Monsters University Cheez-Its, favor bag toppers for the goody bags, favor tags, cupcake toppers and tent cards along with the welcome sign and invitation. I also made Mike and Sulley inspired paper hats for the kiddos.

The Kiddie Table:
I found most of the Monsters University items at the Target $1 bin, along with the adorable "lined paper" napkins.  I used little dry erase boards for nameplates.  I found the Monster Fruit Snacks and Juicy Juice at Target as well and just added a paper straw with a coordinating straw flag.  I covered a couple of old textbooks with some book covers I picked up last year on clearance and made a big Mike with my Cricut for the centerpiece.  I filled the muslin favor bags I made (see tutorial here) with gumballs and set them in the monster bowls left over from Liam's 2nd Monster Birthday Bash.

The Goody Bag Table:
I decorated lime green paper bags with the bag toppers I made with my Cricut and tagged them with a Monster ID card. Because it's back-to-school season, I was able to get fantastic deals on party favors. I found the rulers at Walgreens for 19 cents and 6 packs of highlighters for 49 cents. I also bought a Monsters University Jell-o Mold at Walmart for $1 and made Monster crayons. (I stocked up on Crayola crayons when Toys-R-Us was having a sale on the 24 packs for 25 cents. I love a great deal!)

My personal favorite party favor was the Mike and Sulley soaps Angelique of Favors by Angelique sent me. They smell so good and matched perfectly! I see many soap party favors in my party planning future!

The Decor:
You may recognize a few things from past parties.  I try to repurpose decor as much as possible. The paper lanterns I had from my Seinfeld Birthday Party along with the crepe paper runners.  I also used the chevron runner and tulle backdrop I made for this year's Mother's Day Scrapbook Luncheon. I repurposed the turquoise tulle I used for several past parties (Tristan's Adios 8th Grade Pool Party, Liam's Sailing Away with Mickey Party to name a few) as the backdrop of the goody table and also tied some around the chairs for an added flair.  I found some leftover nut cups from my Seinfeld party and added googly eyes for the cupcakes I placed on the kiddie table.

Sulley popcorn balls on a stick.

Mike and Sulley key lime cupcakes. I used rulers to line the serving plates.

Squishy and Mike chocolate covered oreos, sugar cookies by Cookies by Tree and Mike cereal treats.

Sulley guarding the goodies!

You can't see it here, but George even has Boo's sock on his back! I just love him!!!

Mike and Sulley soap party favors by Favors by Angelique.

Door cupcake toppers from "Door Technology" class!

Hi Mom! I'm ready for "Monsters Pre-Scare School"!

My very own Sulley and Mike!

"I wouldn't have nothin if I didn't have you!" - Mike and Sulley

Find your seat!

 

Snack Time!

Art Time!

Craft Time!

Music Time!

After Lunch Snack!

Play time!

We read books, colored pictures and made art with playdough. We also had music and play time! We all had a great time at our Monsters Pre-Scare School!

Thanks for visiting! See you next time!

VENDORS:
Styling, Party Stationery and Photography: Michelle's Party Plan-It
Cookies by Cookies by Tree