Dancing the Night Away - Part 3

Ok, so I have shown you all the prep work and setting up for the party and now it's time to eat and get our party on . . . 

Our candy table was the first thing the kids saw after
playing the Candy Land game.
It was great to stand here and hear the kids
cheering and gasping with glee!

We had bags they could write their name on
and then store their goodies!

These cupcakes are from Sam's and we just added the toppers. 

My friend Michelle was in charge of all the food
and decorations and I think it all
looks delicious!

This shot is so blurry but I love the action of it!

Converse were the shoes of choice.
I like those over those high, hoochie heels!

Candy Land game in action!

As a tornado just came on shore blocks from my house, I am logging off and we are hunkering down. I have fun photo booth photos to come, but that is for another post!

Dancing the Night Away - Part 2

Ok, so we left off with my loaded up car -

But before we could leave, I had to get my little one ready . . .

Her sister doing her hair.

Because we had to go early to set-up, Liv put her dress on at her friend's house. I thought they all looked cute (note the shoes!).

My baby is in the polka dot dress.

I have no idea but Liv's pose in this one made
me laugh so hard!!

Pretty girls!

The entrance to the dance -
looks delicious!

My friend B came over and we cut out the Candy Land men. 

Another friend of ours painted them.

After checking in, the kids came across a life-sized game 

of Candy Land. Instead of drawing cards,

the dad who made this game came up with a super-sized

die that the kids rolled to see what color they landed on.

This was a HUGE hit!

At the end of the game, the kids each got a piece of candy from

the Peppermint Forest.

Our party favors. We found these little gems at Sam's.

We added tooth brushes donated from a local dentist. 

Candies on the wall - we had them all over the place
to add color.
They look a little anti-climatic here but trust me,
they looked great! 

We had long garlands between the each of the openings.
We then dropped down large lantern candies
because we had them - SO. MANY. CANDIES! 

The gumdrops were lined up along the edge of the stage -
so cute!
Some A lot of the Epsom salts fell off but there were so
many layers of them, they still looked great.

The beautiful food display and live action shots to come, but that is for another post!

Dance the Night Away . . .

Ok, so I have been away for quite awhile. Life just got way too busy to spend time writing on the computer but now that it is starting to slow down a bit, I thought I would start to play catch up. 

I decided I am not going to catch up chronologically (that would make too much sense!) because I am just way too excited to share with you what has taken up most of my time - the 5th Grade Candy Land End-of-the-Year Party/Dance.

I have been busy making, creating, gluing, wrapping, painting, cutting, you name it so here's the recap -

It all starts with an invite -

Now I did not make these but I sure picked the right person
to do the job!! Thanks Michel! 

Each page unfolds to create a long invite and
each square is a different color,
just like on the Candy Land board.
So clever!

Lollipop bonus!
The kids were so excited to receive these invites and
it sure set the tone for the dance.

Now . . . onto decorations, which my friend B (yes, no other letters, just B, kind of like a rock star!) and I are were in charge of creating and boy, did we get creative.

I took large and small paper plates, put them front to front and
wrapped them with cellophane wrap.
Easy, peasy candy.
The small balls are left over from a Relay for Life event,
they are the balls found in a ball pit.

Some of the red plates candies I added white
swooshes to to make them look (kind of) like peppermints. 

I added pink swirls and painted small dowels to make
lollipops!

Can't honestly tell you the number of hours so
let's just go with lots!

I stuck Dum Dum lollipops (lots of them) in
round styrofoam balls and stuck them on top
of painted vases.
For some reason, I found this one really fun!

Next onto centerpieces -
these I did not love but used them anyway.
These are lanterns wrapped like candies.
They are a tad too big for the vases but I worked
with what I had. I added 6 swirl larger
lollipops and then shredded colored paper to cover the
floral foam.

This was my next attempt at centerpieces -
these are small foam wreaths I already had.
I wrapped them with tissue paper and then cellophane.
They were too wrinkly for me to love . . . 

so I added the round writing which kind of
made them look like a Life Saver.

I also added gemstones to cover the dashes and dot above
the i. I am always good for a little extra bling!

B designed this and I had it printed and added it to our large frame
for the photo booth.

This large frame is made out of some sort of foam insulation sheet
(B knows exactly if you need to know).
It's lightweight and easy to cut.
We added it to a PVC pipe stand and it worked like a charm
(more photos to come!).

First big dilemma, which bucket looked more like a gumdrop?
I went with the one on the left - Dollar Tree $1

I spray painted them with spray adhesive and then stuck
epsom salts all over. They are super messy and you will drop
the salts wherever you take them,
but they still looked cute.
Some of the buckets I had to paint since Dollar Tree
only had them in 3 colors, so I bought plenty
of yellows thinking they would be the easier to spray paint.

I am all loaded up and ready to head out to decorate the club but that is for another post!