The Presents

Did I mention there will soon be a teenager (GASP!) in the house? Well, since we have had a rough year (worst ever) we decided to do something a little different in the present department this year. We are doing countdown to Birthday presents. One gift, some small & some not, each day until THE day. Here is what she saw on November 1st.

The Loot Pile

Most of the gifts are from us, but a couple are not. We recruited the family if they wanted to participate.

Here is the list so far:

1. Purple Glitter Nail Polish

2. Journal Boxes for her Smashbook

3. Purple Tank Top (thank you Aero clearance!)

4. Movie Passes 

5. A Light in the Attic - She got so excited opening this one that she ripped the dust jacket a little and I thought she might cry. 

6. An empty box to fill at the old fashioned candy store.

7. Hand painted shell ornaments from Gummy with the Mad Hatter & Red Queen (Johnny and Helena style)

8. Archeological museum tickets

9. Zero candy bar

10. Phase 10 card game 

11. Socks with cats on them 

12. Brady jersey - he is number 12 after all 

13. Year subscription to Seventeen magazine 

14. Alice in Wonderland- of course! It was slumber party time!

15. Family secret.... Sorry ;)

16. Passes to the Phoenix Art Museum

To be continued.......

The Invitation

In our family, Birthday Parties went away at about age 8. Instead we have spent the past few years going out to nice dinners and shows or activities. This year is different. This year kiddo will be a (GASP!!!!!!) teenager. Yup, lucky number 13 has arrived my friends. And in honor of this (still gasping!) milestone year, we agreed to a party. Heck, we even said she could invite as many people as she wanted. She came up with a whopping 8. (whew!!)

Step one to any good party - the invitation. Our theme is the Mad Hatter's tea party - but more Johnny Depp and less Disney. I wanted to come up with a fabulous invite, and I think I did pretty well.....

These have screw on bottoms

She liked the vintage feel of these.

First we got these at our local Hobby Lobby. She liked that they were all different (mom liked that they weren't expensive). 

The Burlap has a paper backing

Jewelry Boxes were the perfect size. 

After cutting the burlap in to strips that were small enough to fit in the boxes, I wrote out the invite information on the paper backing. 

I tried to keep the language in theme. 

Rolling up the burlap was pretty easy and it gave me enough space to write all the information and still fit in the box. 

The "high tech" tool (rubber band) kept it rolled while I tied my fabulous little twine around it to keep it from unraveling in the box. Now it's time for assembly. Remember those cute little trinkets from the first photo? Well.......

Turns out, they look just like little door knobs. Don't forget those keys either.....

Ready to Deliver!

This key was one of the bigger ones. I like the smaller ones better, but all in all I think these were some great little invites. She was most pleased that they didn't look like the whimsy ones that she saw on the net while browsing. She wanted something more Victorian. I also think these would be great, maybe without the key, for a Monsters Inc party. 

Ready to Deliver!

As a side note, the two that I did have to mail, I used a padded envelope just in case. It cost me $1.10 to mail each of them.