at home birthday party Archives - Darling Darleen

Gingerbread House Decorating Party + FREE printables

Gingerbread House Decorating Party–the perfect holiday birthday party

Gingerbread House Decorating Party + FREE Printables

I am so excited to finally be sharing details from Chloe’s birthday party! She is a December baby, so this year we decided to celebrate her 8th birthday with a Gingerbread House Decorating Party. It turned out so cute, and it’s the perfect party for the perfect age. Chloe and her friends spent so much time enjoying decorating (and eating) their gingerbread house. They only needed minimal help, so there wasn’t too much hands-on help needed from me which was great! My house was already decorated for the holidays so the party decorations were mostly decorations from our Christmas supply.

The main party activity was decorating gingerbread houses! So, to have a unified look I bought pre-built gingerbread houses that came with candy and frosting. It saved me a ton of time and less stress! I was thinking originally of buying the ginger house kits and then assembling it, but to make 13 gingerbread houses made me cringe and also I was concerned that many of the houses would break and fall apart. Which they always do! The pre-built gingerbread houses were worth the extra dollars, and they were sturdy and easy for the girls to transport. If you plan to host a gingerbread house decorating party, make sure you have plenty of Saran Wrap so you can wrap the houses up with a bow and the kids can take them home without getting damage.

I made sure to supply printables and the link to download is at the end of the Gingerbread House Decorating Party post!

I placed the gingerbread houses on glitter 12×12 paper and then I bought a few more bags of candy but most of the candy came from the kit. For the departing bags, we just gave the girls bath bombs and then the little thank you bag served as a place for the girls to put their left over candy.

We also had a dessert table, of course! The best part of a birthday party. I had the bakery match the cookies and cupcakes to the printables. They all came out so cute! We also had milk and snowflake marshmallows.

Aren’t the printables so sweet? They are my favorite and just make the gingerbread house decorating party. I linked all the resources below and a Pinterest pin photo. Don’t forget to share this party idea with others!

Gingerbread House Decorating Party Resources:

Gingerbread Party Printables–design by Masha Studios and Melissa Designs for DarlingDarleen.com
Pre-built Gingerbread Houses—Palmer’s Darien (which was much cheaper than the link I provided!)
Birthday Cake–Whole Foods
Custom cookies and cupcakes–Palmer’s Darien
Large Nutcrackers–Target

If you see something else I am missing, please ask below!

DOWNLOAD GINGERBREAD House Decorating PRINTABLES

Mall Scavenger Hunt Birthday Party

Mall Scavenger Hunt Birthday Party

Another year. Another birthday. My baby is now a teenager! We recently celebrated Stella’s 13th birthday with a Mall Scavenger Hunt Birthday party. Stella came up with the idea to head to the mall with 12 of her girlfriends and do a mall scavenger hunt birthday party. So teenager-ish! But really it sounded like a great plan to me! The girls had such a fun fun time running around the mall and completing the list of the scavenger hunt. They are begging to do it again. We ended up having the party guests come to our house and then we transported the girls to the mall and then afterward came back here for a night of chocolate fondue and silly girl talk. The fondue was a hit because many of the girls had never done fondue and they just thought it was so fun and sophisticated dipping different desserts in chocolate.

The mall scavenger hunt birthday party was held in the evening. When the girl arrived they were put on a team and given a personalized sling tote to hold their scavenger hunt goodies. When we arrived at the mall, they broke up into teams and we told them the rules so the hunt didn’t get out of control. Right before the clock started, we then gave them the mall scavenger hunt birthday list. They had one hour to complete the list. I included the FREE printable of the mall scavenger hunt list at the end of the post. The party ended up being really easy to plan to put together. The girls had such a great time running around the mall and captured many silly memories. Free Printable link below!

DOWNLOAD: Scavenger Hunt Birthday Party Free Printable List

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Boho Birthday Outdoor Movie Night

Boho Birthday Outdoor Movie Night

We just celebrated my Stella’s 12th birthday this past weekend with a boho birthday outdoor movie night. I can’t believe how quickly she is growing up! She has gone from the cutest toddler to a beautiful young woman overnight. Seriously! I secretly always get a little sad when it is my children’s birthday. I just want to keep them little and with me forever! So Stella is now in middle school and wanted to spend the evening just hanging out with her girlfriends. We decided to do another birthday party at our house to keep it simple. The weather is so perfect right now in Georgia! The perfect fall weather with cool evenings. We decided to host the party outdoor with a movie and a fire in our fire pit. I wanted to make the patio cozy so the girls can hang out and lounge, so we brought down rugs, poufs and throw pillows.

Her and her friend’s favourite food to have whenever they are all together is Pizza. And as it is her birthday, I thought I would treat her. There’s nothing better than seeing the look on her face when the pizza delivery guy knocks on the door. She loves Pizza that much! As well as this, there were other snacks and treats to occupy them with throughout the night. Stella and all her girlfriends loved the outdoor setting for the boho birthday outdoor movie night.

For the boho birthday outdoor movie night we borrowed a friend’s projector she’d got at RM Projectors and makeshift outdoor movie screen, which is made from pvc pipes and a canvas fabric. A simple white sheet would of done the deal, but we don’t really have a tall fence in our backyard to cover. The cute wooden stand that displayed the cake and sugar cookies was also borrowed from a sweet friend who built it for her daughter as a lemonade stand. Isn’t so cute? She is so kind to let many of our friends borrow it for our kids birthday party!

Stella’s invitations for her boho birthday outdoor movie night was focused around dreamcatchers. So I made a few for party decorations. Once the party began, I taught the girls how to make their own dream catcher. I made gold-dipped feathers prior to the party to add a little glitter to the dreamcatchers. The girls loved the project. And they loved it even more that they got to take home something they could display in their bedroom.

When night came, we started a fire in our fire pit and the girls made s’mores and watched the movie. For the candy table, I bought fun marshmallows that coordinated with the party colors but also could be used for the s’mores. I’ve listed the resources below. And how beautiful are the dreamcatcher sugar cookies?? They were so gorgeous in person and yummy of course. My friend popped some popcorn with his Popcorn Maker and brought them over. As far as the naked cake with fresh flowers, I made it! I usually I order my cakes because I’m a horrible baker. But this one I decided to tackle and was pleased with the results.

I would say Stella’s boho birthday outdoor movie night was a success!

Boho Birthday Outdoor Movie Night Resources

Ombre Plates, Small plates, Napkins, Cups

Dreamcatcher Sugar Cookies– The Bakesmith

Marshmallow Candy and Gummy Candy

Tee Pee–I made it here, but a similar one is below to buy

Personalized Glitter Garland

Rug (sold out) similar below

White Pouf and Pink Pouf

Shop Similar Boho Birthday Outdoor Movie Night

Laser Tag Birthday Party

Laser Tag Birthday Party: We recently celebrated my son Lucas’s 9th birthday with a laser-tag theme. This party was similar to the last birthday party I put together–last minute and a lot of rummaging through my party supply closet. So most of everything I had on hand. This was also one of the cheapest birthday party I put together! I planned the party on a day that had a deep summer discount at our local laser-tag play zone. And then instead of eating there, I had all the kids come back to my house for pizza and cake. The printables are from Lulu Cole, who also did the video game party I did last year. I’m glad I didn’t have to do a lot of planning because the next day we flew out of town for three weeks!

laser tag, birthday party, boy birthday party, video game birthday, lulu cole printables

laser tag birthday party, boy birthday, video game birthday

The party favors were a huge hit for the Laser Tag Birthday Party! I just found dollar buckets and filled with silly string, sparklers, gum balls, laser ring, 3-D paper glasses, light-up bouncy ball, pop rocks candy, Kre-O surprise toy.

You can see more of Lucas’s Birthday Parties:

Monster Truck Birthday

Super Hero Birthday

Lego Birthday Party

Star Wars Birthday Party

Chloe’s Frozen Hot Chocolate Birthday Party

Frozen Hot Chocolate Birthday Party: Never late to post a really cute Frozen birthday party even if it’s a few months behind! My baby Chloe turned 4 in December, but because of the holiday rush we didn’t celebrate her birthday party until January. It was kind-of a last minute party. My kids were getting bored during the last couple days of the holiday break, and I was getting tired of all the holiday decorations. I knew I wanted to have her Frozen party while we had our white Christmas tree and all the white tabletop trees out. So, I called her friends’ parents and everyone was free to attend her party the day before school started back up. It turned out really cute! The Christmas decorations came in handy.

Her birthday party was focused around a Frozen hot chocolate birthday party. When the little Elsas and Annas arrived, they decorated fairy wands and played pin the carrot on Olaf. Then a real-life Elsa and Anna arrived and sang songs and danced with the girls. Then after they all sat down for popcorn and hot chocolate. There was a lot of anticipation and build up for the Frozen hot chocolate party. The girls did not want to leave when their parents arrived. I’d say it was a success. All the resources are listed below.