Party – Small Fry

father’s day 2019

Father’s Day and Russ’ birthday have become huge deals over the years because Russ just doesn’t buy himself things. He very rarely spoils himself, so we take it upon ourselves to spoil him when we have the excuse! We got him a Traeger grill this year and I know it’s not going to be a purchase for everyone but, this is the one we got from them! It’s a smart smoker meaning that you can control most things right from your phone. Check temperature, timers, recipes, all right from the app. SO rad and I couldn’t wait til June to give it to him so we’ve been smoking every week and he’s in heaven. This DIY from years ago still reigns supreme on Pinterest, so a DIY idea that your kids can do for him, too!

Here are some other gift ideas that he’d be so excited about as well!

VINTAGE SPORTS GEAR

If your man has a team he loves, chances are he has for awhile and takes a lot of pride in being their fan. Vintage sports tees, hats and memorabilia prove he’s no fair weather fan! I always start a search on Etsy and eBay simply typing in the team + vintage!

This store Vintage Sports has a curated collection of vintage, replicas and remakes. Their baseball hat section is huge and would be rad to wear or display in their office. We got him this hat! Love their gym bag collection and their black sports balls, too.

I’ve shared my love of Le Labo colognes before but I’ll say it again. They also have perfume oils, grooming kits, candles and more so you can try out a scent without committing to the price. We love Noir 29 or Santal!

Quip – We love these toothbrushes, not only do they clean better but their brush replacements are automated so it’s one less thing to have to remember at the store (or lets be honest, forget completely and use a less than effective brush head.)

Iniki’s are an Adidas classic and I think one of the most versatile sneakers. We have friends from all walks of life, with different styles, and the Iniki is a common denominator for all of them!

Airpods – If you haven’t yet, do it. This is Russ’ most used gift I’ve ever given him! Its supposedly coming soon in black, so keep your eye out for that.

Mother’s Day DIY

Is it just me or do you love getting spoiled by your significant other AND then something handmade from your kids? I think it’s the perfect combination for a lovely Mother’s Day. Rounded up some pretty DIY ideas your kids could pull off!

My very favorite thing to get and super easy to print off and send to grandma’s (Grandma version here!) far away — SURVEYS! This one is the cleanest style but you can find a million options on Pinterest that fit your aesthetic! Like this pretty floral one.

This one would get some funny responses, too!

A raw, assembled bath soak! Have bowls of ingredients out and let the kids concoct away!

Bath Soak //

Bath bombs — with the correct molds these are actually pretty easy to make!

Bath Bomb //

Isn’t this gorgeous? I’d love to have this out on my desk!

Pressed Flower Art //

My kids love a good craft and this is super easy! Paper towel rolls cute and folded down and then painted!

Paper Bouquet //

Got really little kids? Any age can participate in this! Fingerpainted stems and leaves, too!

Handprint Flower //

As much as I love a cold waffle soaked in syrup, I wouldn’t say no to açaí! Have kids cut up the fruit to help and then bring an ingredient list to choose from and mama can order her own!

Acai Bowl Bar //

dinosaur party ROARRR!

Zurchers Party Store (one of three stores that Small Fry basically runs on) is working with us this Summer on bringing some of their beloved party themes to life! First up, a ROARRR party fit for all your dinosaur lovers! Zurchers has made it super easy to recreate this theme or find products and elements you love from today’s party by housing them all in one place — find them all here!
They have this incredible cardboard line of brightly colored dinosaur party accessories from Meri Meri that instantly adds that festive flair. The Dinosaur Cardboard Centerpiece is so rad and looks great even as nursery room decor post-party. They come with Dino Party Hats seen below:And then of course we whipped some up with their standard party hat, too. We like the idea of the birthday boy or girl getting a special hat and these razor sharp party toppers are super easy to make!The food is always super important and for this party we decided to go healthy as can be. All in the name of those veggie-sauruses!A party activity that the we and the boys died laughing over was “Eat like a T-Rex!” Slip their arms into the shirt sleeves and watch as they eat their party food with their stubby T-Rex arms.Once they were convinced that dinosaurs eat all manner of leafy greens they didn’t even ask where the donuts were. We also had green smoothies (dino juice), easy sandwiches and more veggies! (Milk Jars + Straws // Plastic Dinos + Plates) We didn’t skip ALL sweets though, we had a cake and cupcakes, too!These toppers from the Cupcake Kit match the hats and we love the origami folded paper look! We love that Zurchers carries these mini balloon letters. They have them in several colors and even though they’re crazy inexpensive they’re reusable so you can get quiet a collection going!This line also has a ton of wall decals which are great for more color and interest at the party, we turned them into a Feed the Dino (Pin the Tail on the Donkey) game.Another easy party game is to make your own Dino paleontologist style.They have a million party favors so sending each guest home with something ferocious like these Dino Grabbers was a breeze and so fun to pick out!We’re so happy to be recreating these themes with Zurchers and if you have any parties you want to see brought to life Small Fry style, let us know!

SOURCES

Dinosaur Cardboard Centerpiece // Silver Letter Balloons (find all available colors right here) // Plastic Dinosaurs // Dino Party Hats + Basic Party Hat // Party Favor Bags // Dino Cupcake Kit // Dinosaur Piñata // Glass Milk Bottles + Orange Striped Straws // Dinosaur Tablecloth // Roarrr Invitations // Dino Grabbers // Dino Plates

halloween class party ideas

Who’s signed up for class Halloween party volunteering? I signed up for the “book/treat”, not sure what that means, but I am bringing both just to be sure! I asked Cal what treat would be fun and he requested Spaghetti. Can you imagine a worse snack for 25 kids?

Here are the MOST checked out Halloween books according to an Elementary Librarian! There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat // Clifford’s Halloween // Room on the Braaoom // Little Old Lady Not Afraid of Anything // In a Dark Dark Room (scary stories) // All the Lovely Bad asOnes (scary stories)

Chocolate Covered Pumpkin Pretzels

Monster Bark – there are 1,000 versions of this online but I love that this one used multi colored chocolate! Such messy fun.Pudding Cup Bats – I’ve seen this with juice boxes (covered in white cheese cloth for a ghost), apple sauce pouches (wrapped in crepe paper like a mummy), String Cheese with eyes and a mouth for a ghost, faces on Clementine Oranges like jack-o-lanterns. I like these ideas because it doubles as a craft and isn’t opened so it’s less germy as they handle their food.Scary Donut Ideas And a few cute treat ideas to add to these 8 we found a couple years ago! Also still stand so hard behind this Healthy Halloween Lunch I posted 6 years ago, ha!

And if you’re in charge of activities here’s a few easy ideas! ALL of My Mind’s Eye Halloween Decor is on sale! For smaller groups, rotations or maybe a fun price to win this Monster Magic book would be awesome to have them each do a drawing.

Print off one of these nine Ad-libs! // Sheets of stickers to make faces on small pumpkins! // Spider Ring Toss

buy or diy: easter

BUY OR DIY? THE EASTER EDITION! Where I scan the web and filter out the nonsensee to give you the best in DIYs and what you should probably just BUY.

First, NOTEWORTHY DIYS!

MODERN BRUSHSTROKE EGG

POTTED EGG PLANTS (I can’t link to this site because the ads displaying are freaking sketchy. But it’s called Godfather Style)MODERN DECORATED COOKIES SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMERS BUNNY EGGS SCANDI EASTER TREE RICE KRISPY NESTS (swap those eggs out for Cadbury stat!)POM POM WALL HANGING / WREATH – Spring Wreaths are rough for me. It’s hard to find something youthful but still sophisticated. It’s either great grandma style or too juvenile. Ya feel? BUNNY BUM GARLAND Target sells this banner (in the carousel below) but if you’re color palette picky or want a fun craft to do together this post is awesome!

BUNNY CUP DIY

And now for the BUYS!

Easter Themed Dessert Sprinkles (on sale today!) // Egg Molds // Easter Color Palette Fans // Speckled Egg Wreath // Olive Leaf Wreath

And a few more options!

SaveSave

letters to santa party

modern kid party ideas

Such good party ideas from around the web lately! I’ve got parties on the brain with my soon to be 6 year olds birthday tomorrow! You can catch all Small Fry’s original party ideas in our Party tab but here are some of my favorites: Dinosaur Party // Big Hero 6 // Cal’s Favorite Foods.

This Party Animal party is perfection. Layered to perfection and graphic pops galore! Via Project Nursery. From the hand lettered banner, to the animal balloons, the “tails” on the chairs… This random mix of sprinkles is such an easy hack to make it feel extra special. You can buy these sprinkle mixes on Etsy or at local party stores! Dead over this Modern Super Hero slash David Bowie vibes party via 100 Layer Cakelet.My favorite detail are these acrylic cake and cupcake toppers! Its got my head spinning with ideas. You can buy them at Creative Muster on Etsy Another amazing layering job. If you can get the table scape right you’re basically there for a beautiful party. Via Catch My Party

Modern Lego Party – I love all the details and shapes! Via Style Me Pretty

City Kid Party

Our girl Mari Spiker (@marispiker) is living the NYC dream with her husband and two kids on the Upper West Side – follow her and be prepared to drool! She threw THE most darling party for her 4 year old Will (hi Nora and Will!!) and we begged her to let us post it. It’s our lucky day!! Ready to check it out?

Invitations:Mari is a stylist and made this incredible cardboard city scape with boxes and spray paint, so you’re on your own for that amazingness, but she’s sharing all her purchasable sources with us too, which is so kind!The backdrop banner and poster design are by @laurenashleyclementsThis custom Piñata by @tinipinatas:They had such a quintessential City Kid Party with pretzels and graphic lettering everywhere you turn. Face Painting which always reminds me of You’ve Got Mail. 😉 She did such a good job creating a theme simply by compounding elements of ABCs throughout! Details like the most mini ABC Sprinkles for the cake found here:The cutest Letter Sandwiches using these cookie cutters:This ABC Chalk she bagged up as favors from Etsy Shop LSCreationStation:ABC cookies found at Trader Joe’sThiBe sure and follow her on Instagram @marispiker and check out her site here. If you have any questions for her she can be reached at hello@marispiker.com She has even more info and images from the party from her blog post here as well.

gift guide: first birthday

Raleigh’s first birthday is on SAT-UR-DAY! Just wipe me up off the floor cause I can’t get up. It hurts, but it is also such a freaking pleasure to celebrate him so I’ll be alright. He has been nothing but joy the last 12 months and I will give him all the things to help lessen my heartache at how fast he’s grown. Time is a thief! But here are some amazing options for a first birthday gift! Something to help develop those fine and gross motor skills. Music and bath time fun. Next steps in feeding time. And books galore! TOUCH & FEEL BOOKS

TouchThinkLearn series is incredible! Grab Opposites // Shapes // Animals // Numbers // This Touch and Feel ABC book by Petit Collage is a must! // I have yet to find a milestone book that I can keep up on, its so challneging for me! But a letter? I can write a letter! This is so cute and I had to show it close-up so you can see just howwww cute. It comes with stickers and everything. // If you’re gonna teach colors do it with the Pantone pros! Comes with six board books and their epic graphic talents. // This unfolding counting book via Petit Collage is so darling and they gradually get bigger as you go along! // Paris via Shapes. We’ll never get over you, Paris.

FEEDING

Training Cup from Skip Hop that is no spill, easy to use and of course transitions right to a regular cup. // We met the EZPZ team a few years ago at the ABC Expo and they had so much freaking energy and passion for this mat. So happy to see it doing so well and well-loved and reviewed. It doesn’t budge and its all one piece so they can’t throw it when they’re “all done.”

BATH

Pull and Go Monkey Submarine // Skip Hop’s Waterfall Rinser has a forehead flap to keep water out of their eyes. GENIUS! // Make it rain with this pretty cloud! // Another fountain option in a darling bee form.

MUSIC

Three melody makers that are perfect for those 1 year old hands to grip. // I love that this is a music activity center with a few options. No need to pull out the box o’ instruments!

FINE MOTOR

This modern little shape sorting house is so cute! // Kid O kills it in the modern toy arena. Love this three size stacker. // These Alphabet blocks are some of the prettiest blocks Ive seen and I’ve seen my fair share! // Trains are a must for boys or girls and this circus set just happens to be the most darling. // A modern bunny stacker that has so many cute possibilities! // This fox stacker has such a refreshing color palette. If you’re over primary colors or need a more muted tone for your nursery, try this one! // Looping stacker set but again in that awesome color palette! // Cute woodland creature animals that wobble to help with that hand eye coordination!

GROSS MOTOR

I like that this Fox ride-on turns to give them a little bit more to work on then a standard straight line ride-on // This Vespa look alike ride-on kills me. // Pull toys are pretty much the cutest for new toddlers. Theres a million cute options but we love this doggy and this elephant. // We’re always digging Nutcase Helmets for boys of course but how amazing is this floral?! // A bike seat for all your adventures together and of course for that floral helmet! This one is top rated, light weight and grows as tall as you need it to!

Modern Pokemon Birthday

By Emily.

Hayes is going strong with his love for Pokemon! To put it nicely, it’s not my favorite thing. So this theme was a stretch but thanks to Zurchers Party Store I was able to find so many great options to make it a little bit more minimal and graphically pleasing. It was a beautiful day so we did Pokemon Training outside. It was basically teams and relay races. We did one legged races like Spoink, crab walks like Kraby, Running sumo squats like Jigglypuff and they learned to trap their Pokemon by running with a balloon and then sitting on it to pop. We got creative, and as I said, I don’t know much about Pokemon so I got a lot of looks from these kids. They were onto my ignorance.So after the relays we had them come in for pizza and Pika-Juice. This free printable kills me and you can find it here.After eating we had them make their own favor bags. I have found that I can never fully plan for favor bags. I either have way too much or not enough and it stresses me out! So this year I had enough of these favor kits from Zurchers on hand to ensure every kid got plenty, but then once everyone arrived I did quick math and figured out just how many items they could pick. Then they walked the table and picked their very favorite 5 items!I had enough of these paper bags as well but they were in colors and prints that I like every day so I can reuse the extras! Red, red stripe, yellow. I loved the look of these Pokeball honeycomb decor! We just strung them to the ceiling and alternated lengths and depths. Super easy!They also have great Mylar Pokeballs and Pikachu, which we used to show the guests where to come and now are constant sources of entertainment for baby Raleigh!