Sock Hop Outfits

For our Sock Hop party (covered in posts here and here) I made outfits for myself and the girls (Mark is not exactly a "dress up in a costume for a party" kind of guy so I didn't bother making something for him.

Before the party started we got some pictures of us girls together. I've discussed before how difficult it is to get everyone looking in the same direction and smiling. This is made worse by a slow shutter on the camera. It was during this photo shoot that Mark was convinced along with me that we need to upgrade our camera!

can you totally tell Madelyn is my daughter? We have the same smile!

The girls each got a poodle skirt and then I made dog-bone appliques which I put onto felt and glued on a pin for their shirts (I didn't make the shirts, that's still above my skills!). For Mady I made a number 3 as well. I decided to pin them on so that: When they outgrow the shirt before the skirt, they can still match. Should something happen to the shirt (Kate is amazing at filling diapers up the back and only getting the shirt) I could easily switch the applique to a different shirt no problem. And if the shirt/skirt still fits Mady when she's 4, she can still wear it, without it having a weird 3 on it (and when Kate gets to that size at age 2 it won't be weird either). Is that too much over-thinking? Probably.

The hair bows I made for them worked quite well. Except Kate has decided she no longer wants her hair done. Which sucks because now she actually has enough hair to do something with. And she doesn't forget that clips and bows are there. She'll pull at them until she gets them out. Which is pretty much what she was doing in this picture...

 For me I wore my 50's apron which also means I can check number 1 off the list! Whoot!

Sock Hop Party Part 2

Part 2 of the Sock Hop coverage is all about the fun stuff! As I said in yesterday's post that covered all the food and decorations, this one is going to feature all the stuff we did. Be warned, there are a lot of pictures as this is documenting for my brain (and the grandparents and other extended family) more than anything!

I always like to have something to do while waiting for the other kids to arrive. I made a version of Don't Eat Pete in 1950's cartoon characters (not that the kids knew who they were, but for the sake of a theme...). Let the record show that Don't Eat Pete is lost of 3 year olds! I wasn't sure if they would understand it or not. Sometimes kids totally surprise you. Epic fail. They had fun eating the smarties instead.

Kate had her own version of the limbo

Of course you can't have a sock hop without dancing. This is Mady's favourite thing to do. I knew they would entertain themselves just with dancing, but I didn't want them to be too bored either. I started out with the limbo. I thought it would be a good starter. Uh, no. Again, 3 year olds don't get it. I didn't really expect them to, I just thought it would be funny. Maybe it was because I started with it, or maybe it was because they're 3 (and technically 2.5), but it didn't really work. Good thing they're forgiving!

But there's one activity that I knew would rescue us... BOWLING! The kids loved it. We let them play for a while....

I think we (uh, I mean Jeff) set up those pins about 20 times.

Then we ate some food and had floats. Is there anything better than Root beer and Cream Soda Floats? I love them!

Next we played pin the tail on the poodle. After a failed first attempt where we learned that the blindfold could be seen through, we doubled it up and tried again.

Someone still got it perfect. Hmmm... Good job Claire!

Everyone played except the birthday girl. She would have none of it. I even tried to demonstrate as a way to convince her. Nope.

(after everyone left, I managed to get her blindfolded and spun, but then once I instructed her on the "pinning" part she proclaimed that she "couldn't see!" So we took off the blindfold and she just placed her tail. Which, judging by the placement, tells me she didn't understand the game!

From left to right: the one I placed, Makenna, Madelyn and Claire. I made tags for the babies, but didn't really expect them to play.

We lined up the girls in front of the juke box. I had originally planned on getting each family in this style and then forgot until everyone left. So we just have the oldest girls representing each family. Claire was determined not to smile. Ha!

This picture totally looks like Mady and Makenna are sharing a secret and Claire feels left out. Aw!

And, except for Claire not smiling (which I'm convinced is only because I asked...) Is this not so cute?

(In case you're wondering, that's a 3 and a dog bone applique that I pinned to Mady's shirt (so I can reuse the bone on a bigger shirt since i know that will be grown out of before the skirt. The three was just for her birthday, but they got a little wonky in this picture)

Finally it was time for the real dance party. I taught the girls the hand jive:

We started at half speed and they kept up pretty good

Full speed was a little too much for one of our contestants!

(The Hand Jive is Mady's new favourite thing to do. I catch her sitting doing it all the time now. Hehe!)

And then we let them loose to DANCE!

Though it clearly looks like Mark is busting out the moves in this picture, I guarantee you that is not what was happening. He was simply standing up. And look! So is Kate! And then she fell over.

Cake was next. Happy Birthday to You...

She blew out one candle at a time. Ha!

Afterwards we went back for more dancing and the balloon release. Let's talk about this for a minute.

This is how I envisioned it:
Music playing, kids dancing and the balloons released, cascading on their heads, little girls giggling with glee.

This is more how it played out:
Music playing. Mady unsure what I was about to do when I said I was going to open up the balloon drop (I think she thought the whole thing would fall on her head) so she followed me up out of the living room to the kitchen where the pull cord was anchored. This caused Makenna to follow. Leaving Claire alone in the living room. The pull cord was not exactly easy-release, but the balloons did fall. And once they did THEN they were fun to go play in!

Here it is on video (which looks funny while I'm editing this post and it won't let me watch, let me know if it shows it okay):

Last we opened presents.

Reading the card that has her picture on the front. Photoshopped from pictures off my blog so she's actually in her poodle skirt and bow. Very clever, Katie!

A slinky!

A Princess Sticker book. She's in love!

Thank you hugs

And since one of the presents included that slinky, we had to all figure it out. Such fun!

A spring, a spring, a marvellous thing!

Don't worry Kate, your party is next!

Sock Hop Party Part 1

Today is this little girl's birthday.

3! I can't believe it.

We had a "hoppin" weekend. On Saturday we had her 50's Sock Hop dance party. She was so excited! I think my favourite moment was when she saw her friend, Makenna, get out of the car and she broke out in giggles.

We've learned that the best time for having a preschooler's party is 10am-Noon on a Saturday. Most people are free and the kids are happiest. However, when it's raining and cloudy, it's not the best light for pictures. So if "flash" pictures annoy you. I'm so sorry. I took as many as I could without, but some were impossible otherwise.

Since there is so much to say I'm going to break this into two posts. I'll cover the decor and food today and then tomorrow we'll talk about the fun stuff we did.

As you all know, I'm in love with my Silhouette. I gave it a workout for this party! I used it to design the invitations, which I showed you in this post. Using that same template I carried the theme throughout the rest of the decor.

I used names from 50's songs to name all the food. Just a side note, if you're planning a party, look at the top 100 songs from each year of the 50's. There are some fantastic food names in the titles that would create a fabulous menu. I had already chosen my food and was looking for things that could go with it, but if you're wondering what to serve, check out the songs for inspiration. The names of all the foods we served are below with the pictures of the food.

“Happy Happy Birthday Baby” cake by Tuneweavers

What goes better with a sock hop/soda shop than a burger? Really, I just didn't want to make a record (she doesn't know what they are!) and deal with all that black icing! Yuck!

You can't see my dyed-coconut lettuce, but it was there. I used brownie for the middle layer coated in a light icing and crushed up oreos for the "meat" look. The mustard, ketchup and mayo are icing. The onions and pickles are gum drops that I rolled out and then cut with a circle cutter. The sesame seeds are rice krispies.

  “At the Hop” Fries Cookies by Danny and the Jr's

And you can't have a burger without fries! I cut out sugar cookies with a crinkle cutter. I made "ketchup" with dyed corn syrup (I didn't expect anyone to eat it, it was just decor)

 “Around and Around” Potato Chips by Chuck Berry

“The Twist” Popcorn Twists by Hank Ballard & the Midnighters

I served potato chips and popcorn twists in my record bowls that I was telling you about. But apparently I forgot to take a picture of them in the bowl. Whoops.

 “Tutti Fruitti” Jell-O by Little Richard

I cut Jell-O into notes (I used the recipe I talked about here). I have a distinct memory from my 6th birthday eating Jell-O that was in the shape of notes. It's a very fond memory so I had to recreate it!

“I Like My Baby's Pudding” Pudding by Wynonie Harris

Pudding cups (kind of looking like rootbeer floats. I saw that idea somewhere, but I forgot to put in the straws and then by the time I remembered the party was already going).

Then some candy, which was called “Sweet Nothings” (Smarties, the Canadian ones) by Brenda Lee and “Candy”  (gum drops) by Big Maybelle

And to drink we had “Juiced” (juice) by Jackie Brenston and “Soda Pop, Pop” Rootbeer and Cream Soda Floats by Tommy Sands (and the boys drank coffee, but I didn't name that anything special). I didn't get pictures of the beverages, but I'm pretty sure you can imagine.

Truth by told, the reason I hung balloons here was to hide the picture hook from the one I took down to make room for the banner. Shhh, don't tell.

I used the 45's template from the invites to make a Happy Birthday Banner as well as a few extras to hang around the house.

I wanted to give the feeling of a dance area and a diner. So I bought scene setters (since they're larger and cheaper than anything I could make with paper).

The music ones I hung in the living room and the diner ones I put in our dining room. If you've never used them (I hadn't) know that the colours are best on white or light walls, our walls are a darker brown so it wasn't the best pop of colour, but it did the trick for 3 year olds. I just wish there was a way to get the creases out. Anyone know a trick??

And of course, no sock hop would be complete without a Juke Box! I added musical notes that I made on my silhouette.

Those same musical notes appeared on the food table in mini, sprinkled around. The "mobile" hanging from the light was all stuff made on my silhouette. I made a checkered table runner with paper and another jukebox was the centre piece.

This was another one I made on my silhouette and then I just attached it to a gift bag. Worked great! I put candy sticks and sticks with notes coming out the centre. I had plans to fill it with candy sticks, but it was too top heavy and I was too tired at that point to come up with an alternative, so there are only 5 skewers, which I forgot to send home with the kids.

I even designed menus based on the food we were eating. I don't really know how authentic the prices are. Some I found online. Others I just guessed/made up. :)

And lastly I designed a sign pointing the way to the dining room. Ignore the creases, please. Mady stepped on it when it was rolled up in the bag!

For favours the kids took home bubbles (shaped like guitars and microphones) and lollipops and a hula hoop. I hung the hoops along the banister for added decor.

The ceiling housed a big bag of balloons for a balloon drop that we had during the dance party, but that's getting into tomorrow's post... ;)

So that's the decor and the food. Tomorrow I'll show you the party in action. My girl had quite the smile plastered on her face!


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