A trip to Elise's Market: Grocery store birthday party

I'm not sure how it is possible, but Elise turned five on Saturday, and we celebrated with a grocery store-themed party for my grocery-loving girl.

It was a small affair with a family-only guest list, but that doesn't mean it didn't deserve some DIY decor and special touches.

Thank you for shopping at Elise's Market! Hooray! Birthday season is finally over around here. I do love party projects, but they are beginning to wear me out.

Etta's colorful and polka-dotted first birthday party

Over the weekend, we celebrated Etta's first birthday with family and a few friends. We had a ridiculous amount of food, and the birthday girl refused to nap, but it was still a really fun party! 

I was going for a 'no-theme' theme, and went with black and white polka dots, bright colors, and touches of gold. A couple of Kewpie dolls sneaked in there too. Etta makes that Kewpie doll smirk all the time, and I couldn't resist.

I have a few tutorials planned about some of the details, but if you're curious about anything you see, leave a comment and I'll get back to you!

See more party ideas here >>

It's birthday week in this house! + Etsy shop sale

Today is my 35th birthday! But more unbelievable, my sweet Ettie's first birthday is Saturday. Wowza!

I've been birthday crafting like crazy, and I can't wait to show you everything. More to come soon.

But first... if you've been eyeing something in my Etsy shop, I'm running a special sale today only! Just enter coupon code BIRTHDAY for 20% off anything in the shop! Sale ends March 7, 2014 at 9 a.m. CST!

Quick and easy 'Happy Birthday' banner + printable

I did not do a lot of decorating for Elise's birthday party. I did, however, make a super quick and easy 'Happy Birthday' banner that made us both happy. And today I'm going to show you just how quick and easy it was.

First, I started off with a pre-cut pad of paper (called a mat stack or a mat pad in the scrapbooking world). I picked this one up at Michael's. It's basically just a bunch of sheets pre-cut to a certain size, which eliminates cutting up larger sheets.

I designed my banner, then fed the paper through the printer. After the ink was dry, I trimmed off those white margins.

I used some mini clothespins to hang them up onto a length of string and done! Fastest party decoration ever.

No gluing, no sewing, no tape. I'd be shocked if it took more than ten minutes to put together. A bonus: the whole thing can be disassembled and saved to use again at another birthday party.

Want to make one for your party? You're in luck! I've made a printable!

Download instantly from my Etsy shop >>

Pssst! Get $1 off with coupon code BANNER3 at checkout.

Three different versions available!

• 8.5" x 11" version, containing four letters to a page. Finished size of each letter = 4.25" x 5.5". (This version requires some cutting, but doesn't require special size paper.)


• 8.5" x 11" version in a more modern font.


• Quick 4.5" x 6.5" "Happy Birthday" banner, printable on 4.5" x 6.5" paper

All versions print in black ink on your choice of paper. Bright colors or subtly patterned paper look best!

But it looks great on kraft paper too, if you're going for a more subdued, adult color scheme.

Please e-mail with comments or questions: erin (at) lansdownelife (dot) com. I'd love to hear from you!

Simple and special: Small family birthday party

My little girl turned four last week. FOUR! Can't believe I have a four year old.

With a newborn baby, I knew that this was the perfect time to scale back, pare down and host a super simple family birthday party. But being a newly minted big sister, I didn't want Elise to feel overlooked or unnoticed. Like any kid, she was so so SO excited for her birthday party. I had to deliver something small, but special.

So we ordered pizza from one of our favorite local places and got a cake from the bakery. Elise did not have any special requests besides cake and icing (yes, two separate items), so I kept the decorations simple in bright fun colors.

I sort of love driving myself crazy party planning, but for once it was nice for once not to stress too much.

FREE printable: Disney World postcard party invitation

Remember Elise's birthday party invitations? I've gotten a couple of requests for the design I used on the back of the postcard, so I thought I'd offer it up as a free printable. Pair with a 4"x6" photo print on the front for quick handmade invitations.

I made up two versions of this 4"x6" invitation. If you are handy with design programs, download the JPG file. But if you're not, I also designed an interactive PDF form. Just type in your info and print on a 4"x6" card! Easy!

To save the file to your computer: click on the link below, and select File > Download.

Disney World postcard party invitation (JPG)

Disney World postcard party invitation (interactive PDF form)



This printable is for personal, non-commercial use only. Feel free to link to this blog post, but redistributing or selling the file or a printed version is not OK.

p.s. If you're looking for a Disney-ish font to use... The Walt Disney World retro logo font is called Florida Project and is free for non-commercial use. There are also so many Disney fonts at The Disney Experience.