PREHISTORIC but not EXTINCT: A 50th Birthday Party

My dad celebrated his 50th birthday last Friday. Here are some of the party details:

Theme: Prehistoric but not extinct was the slogan we used, black and white color scheme for decorating, animal print decorations but with a masculine twist.

The centerpiece for the dining room table: The white candles in the middle are surrounded with black river rocks and tied with zebra print ribbon and jute. On the left is a glass jar of white mints and one of black licorice in keeping with the black and white theme. A black tablecloth was used with 1-1/2 yards of animal print fabric bunched in the middle.

The small candy/snack buffet on the entry way table. We used black and white food: Oreos, white marshmallows drizzled with chocolate to look like zebra print, more white mints, and white chocolate dipped pretzels. And of course to pay homage to my love for ribbon, each glass jar is tied with coordinating ribbon. Some zebra print candle holders were used for mood lighting.

The only semi-decent picture of my dad with his birthday cake... And me looking nervous that he was going to drop the cake by the way he was holding it!

You can see the gift we gave my dad on the floor next to him: A big frame with pictures of all the houses he has lived in here in Lubbock. My dad has a hobby of building new houses and moving every couple of years. In the 19 years we have lived in Lubbock my parents' have owned 6 different houses. It was nice to see him get a little nostalgic about each house and reminice about the memories made at each house.

It was a great party with lots of yummy food! We had a chicken fajita buffet with all the fixin's, shaved ice from Bahama Bucks (courtesy of my sister who works there), and a delicious chocolate cake with rasberry filling. I would say my dad's 50th was a good one!

A Peter Pan/Pirate Birthday Party

For my son's 3rd birthday he requested a Peter Pan party. Well if you have tried throwing a Peter Pan party lately you know it is nearly impossible to find Peter Pan party stuff anywhere! Tinker Bell, yes. Peter Pan, no. I guess Peter Pan is not the "in" thing right now. So we combined Peter Pan with a Pirate party in honor of Captain Hook and his gang of pirates. Here's a look at some of the party details:


Spencer requested strawberry cake for his birthday cake. Strawberry cake is pink and in an effort to make it more boyish/pirateish I tinted it with red food coloring, baked it in pirate cupcake papers and garnished them with these cute toothpick signs that say "Pirate's Life For Me."

The candy buffet table. For those of you who know me really well you know I love me a good candy buffet! (To see some of my past candy buffets: http://thetxdavisthree.blogspot.com/2010/02/natalies-baby-shower.html and http://thetxdavisthree.blogspot.com/2010/06/mocktails-good-food-roxannes-graduation.html)

You can click on the picture above to see things in better detail. I gave each candy a name based on pirate life or Peter Pan. I borrowed a decorative trunk from my parents' to serve as a treasure chest for the pirate loot and nestled in several glass jars and vases along with some Dollar Tree hurricanes to hold the candy.

Buried Treasure: Rolos

Pirate Loot: Fruit Cream Candies in pirate wrappers

"Second Star to the Right" Bursts: Starbursts (Remember? Neverland was the second star to the right.)

Cod Fish: Swedish Fish (Peter Pan calls Captain Hook a Cod Fish alot in the movie)

Cannonballs: Whoppers

Pixie Dust: Pixie Sticks

Don't be afraid to think outside the box (or inside the box as the case may be!) for different candy buffet ideas.

* Most of the pirate party goods I found at Dollar Tree or Hobby Lobby, two of my favorite stores!