Small Fry | Page 17

drive-in birthday party

Birthday parties can quickly become a real money pit, so when we see awesome themes and activities that don’t break the bank we just have to share! Our friend Andi, of Idaho-based Andi Marshall Photography pulled off the most darling Drive-In party for less than $50! Here’s how she did it:

Upon each guests arrival, they each got a box with all of their car’s sticker decals and tickets for buying treats at the concession stand. You can buy the printable PDF file here. They spent time decorating their cars and exchanging tickets for movie theater style confections.

kids, birthday, drive in, car, diy

They had five tickets each to spend on a variety of delights like: lemonade, popcorn, licorice, smarties and animal crackers. And Bonus! Pretty much mess-free.
Guest then took their filled snack boxes back to their cars and watched the show (a 20 minute episode of Curious George.) Then after the screening, Olive opened presents and they sang and ate cake and ice cream. At just about one and a half hours long, the party was just long enough for kids to enjoy themselves and short enough to avoid those party melt-downs.
kids, birthday, drive in, car, diy
Here’s Olive the birthday girl!

While the party required some preparation time in advance for cutting out the cardboard for the cars and the sticker decals, Andi loved how simple and smooth the party went from start to finish. Doesn’t it look so sweet! We’re sure it was a huge hit.

Head here for Andi’s photography, and darling Instagram account (those darling kids!) @andimarshall

Photo credit: Cindy Worwood

Sticker Decals designed by Spencer Marshall of Marshall Brand Advertising + Design

Need more birthday ideas? Here’ a Peach Picking First Birthday and Super Hero Training!

from head to toe: Tea

Welcome to the world of Tea Collection! We love Tea’s slogan: “Globally inspired children’s clothes for little citizens of the world.” You can definitely see that international inspiration in their new Spring 2013 line, which sites South Africa as their muse. We love it, it has so much spunk and is perfect for the warm months ahead!

tea title

Scarlett in the Ostrich Smocked Mini Dress, Peppercorn Necklace and Terrific Tank: tea collection, girl, fashion, kids, trends Dash in the Vilakazi Henley and Gypsy Cargo Pants
tea collection, boy, fashion, kids, trends Scarlett in the Ribbed Purity Tee, Peppercorn Necklace and Limpopo Bandana Skirt
Quinn in the Elephant Sunruse Tee and Sharp Sharp Beach Shorts Quinn in the Zebra Tee, African Sunrise Plaid Shirt, and Sharp Sharp Beach Shorts

Isla in the Pin Print Leggings, Purity Tee and Layette line.
kids, fashion, tea collection Scarlett in the Peppercorn Scarf and Terrific Tank // Isla in the Desert Beauties Romper

Check out Tea on Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook (they have awesome exclusive deals for their fans, don’t you love that?) Shop their new line right here.

THIS WEEK ON SPOONFUL:

A round-up of the most amazing playhouses we’ve seen for every style of home (can you guess which one is going in our Small Fry studio a.k.a. Emily’s basement)?

10 of the easiest cake decorating tips we could track down. If you’re like us and avoid words like piping bags, offset spatulas and star tips, then you’ll love these fresh and easy ideas for your next celebratory cake!

Have a great weekend everyone! We are still a little bit shocked at the response to our Newborn Essentials Giveaway, we want everyone who entered to know that we believe you all deserved to win, motherhood is the hardest, best job in the world!

Small Fry Films: Tide Pools

One of our stops on our tour of Calfornia was to a beautiful beach filled with tide pools in Huntington Beach. We had the pleasure of meeting Kristen of Rage Against the Mini Van and her beautiful family. As always Jenner of Lumineux Films captured that innate sense of curiosity that kids emit, their zest for life and their combustible energy.

We knew we wanted to feature Kristen for many reasons, but the most pressing is that we feel the series she created for her blog, “What I Want You to Know” is such a game changer. One thing we remember feeling so strongly as kids is that we just wanted to be understood. And it’s funny, because as adults that desire hasn’t changed much.

We want our feelings validated. To know that someone sees, hears, and values us. To be acknowledged for our unique abilities and talents, while at the same time to feel like in a sea of strangers we are the same. Isn’t it so interesting that at the core, whether age four or forty, it doesn’t change?

Kristen features guest essays on huge spread of topics from the heavy: loss of a child, rape, adoption, divorce. To the topical: stepmothers aren’t evil, being a red head, calling off a wedding. Each entry is so different, but so informative, and reading each one has helped us develop a deeper sense of compassion and understanding. Basically, we highly reccommend it, read them all here.

More of Kristen:

Read her family adoption story here.

Follow her on Instagram and Twitter (@kristenhowerton), Pinterest, and Facebook.

Mommy & Me at Xtend Barre

We had such a blast at a Mommy and Me class we hosted with Xtend Barre Provo a few weeks ago! We brought our boys in to do a class geared toward 1-4 year olds with Miss Allison and you couldn’t wipe the smiles from their faces all morning! We know lots of gyms offer these types of classes (there’s a whole heap of Zumba for kids videos on YouTube as well) and we totally recommend it as a way to stay active during the cold months. Happily, after our Mommy & Me class sold-out in only a day or so, Xtend has created a monthly Mommy & Me class and you can read up all about it here. Also, keep reading for an awesome Xtend discount for Small Fry readers!

The highlight for the moms was the dance-off circle, when each kid (and their moms too) could go to the center of the circle, bust some moves and get wild applause from the crowd. Is it just us, or are our kids dance moves always a little suprising? Like, where did you learn to Dougie?!

Ultimately it was so nice to connect with each of our big boys and spend some quality time one on one, to make them feel extra special, and sweat a little bit, too!

Huge thank you to Nicole, the owner of Xtend for having us, we had such a great time, and absolutely adore Xtend and all of its awesome teachers!

And now some info for you locals! Xtend is offering Small Fry readers an awesome discount for their 20 punch pass! It is regularly $275 but if you mention Small Fry you’ll get it for $200, which is 50% off the drop-in class price! Call (805) 657-9529, stop by at 4801 N University Avenue #401 in Provo, or go online to sign up!

fitness, kids, family, dance

To wrap up we need to thank a couple sponsors for making the class happen!

Albion Fitness for the awesome work out gear. Albion Fitness is opening a store at City Creek Center in Salt Lake City this March and we’re so excited for them! We’re wearing the Yoga Capris and Go Long Crews found here. Their material is wonderfully breathable, but strong and reliable in the sense that it sort of sucks you in everywhere. Perfect for those hard work outs, or traipsing grocery store aisles.

We also love all our funky footwear options from Barre Socks! They are the sister company to Richer Poorer who makes the most incredible socks for men, we’re glad they decided to branch out so we could benefit, too! Since Barre is all about balance and movement, barre socks have little grippers all over the underside to help with that, definitely a must for anyone trying Barre out!

And of course Xtend Barre Provo for putting the whole class together and treating us to classes. If you’ve been following along on Instagram you know we’ve been loving their studio, and for those of you who have asked our thoughts on the class we wanted to share the results and benefits we’ve seen from doing barre after the jump! Read more

spring fever, we got it bad.

It’s right about this time where get the itch for some warm sunshine. Utah is fickle in the sense that for the next few months it will range from high sixties and blue skies, to blizzarding snow and everything in between. Gale force winds, hail, thunderstorms, fog, the whole spectrum will be experienced in any given week. Here’s our must haves to get us through the elemental roller coaster.

1. This darling dress dress perfect rain or shine // Baby Gap $22

2. We couldn’t be more obsessed with Bugaboo’s Summer 2013 collection. The new colors “Sunny Gold” and “Jewel Blue” with those striped undersides couldn’t be cuter!

3. The iconic bubble umbrella // Target $16

4. What is more quintessential for Spring than a Kite? // Amazon $12

5. Canvas Overnight Bag perfect for skipping town or packing toys for the park // JCrew $36

6. Perfect rainboots // Polarn O. Pyret $39

7. The Eivor throw blanket for an impromptu picnic // Ikea $19

8. A Radio Flyer Wagonfor carting kids and snacks // Amazon $114

9. Terry Popover // JCrew $58

10. Totally nostalgic Salt Water sandals // Zappos starting at $32

11. Binoculars for when weather allows for some adventuring // Land of Nod $13

and one more thing before you go!

We also wanted to extend our gratitude first to Babble for naming Small Fry one of their Top 50 Best Craft Blogs, we’re really just thrilled to be among the other blogs they’ve named, it’s an awesome group and if you’re looking for good reads, check out the list here.

And finally, to Honest Co. for naming us one of their Top 10 Instagrammers You Should Follow! Another line-up we couldn’t be more stoked to be in company with. Follow us on Instagram @smallfryblog.