I decided to create a board on Pinterest with cool Mother’s Day gift ideas for trendy, hip moms. You know, Justin Timberlake CD’s and Beats by Dre. So, I sat down at my computer and…TWO HOURS LATER…I was still pinning (and drooling a little.) Click here to see what I found!

I personally want everything on this list. But there are 37 items and I only have two kids. Plus, I know they have already made me cards in school. Why don’t they teach kids how to make Tory Burch bracelets?

***Every week I send out my Pop Kids Report newsletter. It has all the latest information on kids movies, music, DVDs, TV shows, apps, and more. If you haven’t already, sign-up here.

Happy Easter!  I love this joyful time of year.  It finally feels like Spring around here and we were blessed with beautiful weekend weather.  It was perfect for egg hunting and bunny petting.  And, of course, every day is perfect for eating chocolate and drinking wine.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful day together.  This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad.

Annabel celebrated her 5th birthday with a Hello Kitty Tea Party – girls only!

It was the first year she only invited her little girl friends and she was so excited to have her very first tea party. Of course we had to include Hello Kitty – her absolute favorite.  I was excited to plan the details because I love Hello Kitty and tea parties too!

Our plan was to have the affair outside in our backyard.  But as the big day approached, our Florida weather was not cooperating.  I didn’t want to stress and make changes the night before the party, so we decided about a week out to change our plans and have everything indoors.  It was a bit challenging because our house has a bunch of tiny spaces rather than large rooms, but we made it work by creating separate party centers.  The only thing we had to eliminate was my pretend tea party play area with PINK sand (which was a tough find!), but I got over it.  We were able to create a really cute tea party space which we kept off limits and very “VIP” until it was tea time.  That was super fun.

Here’s the tea party set up in our dining room.  We had to move all the furniture out and we ordered a long kids table and small chairs from a local party rental company.  We kept the piano in place because 1. It was impossible to move and 2. It added a cute background feel and was the perfect spot for Annabel to display her three favorite Hello Kitty dolls.  I ordered the adorable banner from Etsy.  I love supporting home-based businesses and they have the best custom banners around.

My new favorite flower arrangements are colorful carnations in mason jars, so I put those on the lace table runner.  I also placed tumblers filled with baby’s breath flowers all around to add to the tea party “lace” feel. The party colors were light pink, bright pink, yellow, and splashes of turquoise.  I picked up the paper party supplies at Party City.  I usually shy away from the “themed” paper products and instead buy everything in the party colors and just use the theme (Hello Kitty, Tea Party) as accent decor.

The side room was set up for all the moms to watch the tea party while they enjoyed a special “Moms buffet” of pasta salad, green salad, cheeses, and raw veggies.  The girls’ tea party menu included: Peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwiches cut into mini hearts, turkey and cheese sandwiches cut into mini triangles, mini chocolate chip and blueberry muffins, fruit cups, apple slices, mini sugar cookies with pink sprinkles, white chocolate covered strawberries with pink sprinkles, and strawberry cupcakes as the birthday finale.

We also had colorful cups of pretzels and pink popcorn (bubblegum and watermelon flavored from our local gourmet popcorn shop) as snacks before the tea party.   The drinks were pink lemonade and water for the girls and iced tea for the moms.

Our four party centers were Hello Kitty face painting where the girls could choose a Hello Kitty design on their face or a glitter tattoo for their arm, a craft table with Hello Kitty bead necklaces and wooden picture frames, an “Annabel’s Dance Party” karaoke space with dress-up, and a Hello Kitty coloring table.  I recruited my two babysitters to help with the centers which was key for me to enjoy the party and socialize with the moms and girls.  Annabel was so excited when her friends arrived.  They were greeted by a special Hello Kitty wreath on the front door and then they jumped right into the fun.

We then played “Pin the Bow on Hello Kitty,” “Musical Chairs,” and “Freeze Dance” before we lined up the girls for the tea party.

The girls found their seats by looking for the pink Hello Kitty with their name tag.  Each place setting had a tea party tiara, a napkin with a tea party ring, and a real china tea cup for the blueberry tea – Annabel’s favorite.

At the end of the tea party, I gave the girls cupcake sticker sheets to play with while we wrapped up their Hello Kitty dolls and tea cups to take home in personalized white craft paper goody bags.  The goody bags also had a Hello Kitty sticker sheet, pink lollipop, and any other sweet treats they wanted to take home from the party.

Annabel had a blast.  It was a little strange not to have her big brother at the party, but he was upstairs with his good buddy having a fabulous “boys time” in our playroom.  Daniel was thrilled to help Annabel open up all her presents and play with all her cool art gifts after everyone had left.  It was an awesome day.

You can see Annabel’s 4th Birthday Shabby Chic Pony Party HERE.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!  May God bless us all.  Enjoy every moment.

– Pam

Happy Halloween from our silly family to yours.  I hope you’re sitting down with a glass of wine and a Milky Way bar.  Just like me.  (Okay.  Maybe two Milky Way bars. YUM.)