a sweet "homemade" birthday party

A little over a week ago, my sweet redhead turned 3!  Can you believe it?  I'm still trying to process it.  And of course every three year old deserves a birthday party; however, we decided to do a "family-only" get together for his birthday.  For his 1st and 2nd birthday parties, I had huge parties with tons of guests and tons of food, but it was a little overwhelming for Jude and A LOT of work for me.

So I decided we would only do hotdogs, cake, and ice cream.  No goody bags, no decorations, no big production.  Just family, cake and ice cream. Right?

For anyone who really knows me you are probably shaking your head.  It is literally IMPOSSIBLE for me not decorate for a party.  I'm the gal who pulls out the good dishes when my brother-in-law and sister-in-law come across the yard to eat pizza with us.

I've been so inspired by all my new blog friends lately, that I decided I would use some of their ideas and some of my own.  So off to the ultimate craft store (Hobby Lobby) I went.

My first goal was to take advantage of the 50% off punch sets sale.  I wanted to make Jude a cupcake birthday cake embellished with toppers that said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JUDE" and a few 3's.  I was inspired by Embellishing Life and her cupcake toppers.  But when I saw that an alphabet punch set was $50 and a numerical punch set was $20, I realized this might not be the most budget friendly idea.  

So I headed over to the party section and got some great ideas..  I decided to not really have a theme but just to decorate with bright colors.

I saw these hats and LOVED them, but not for $3.99 a piece.  

So I decided I would try to make my own.  I already had some crafting goodies and party hats from Jude's LSU party last year, so all I needed was a few sheets of felt and a bag of pompoms.

I took a hat and unfolded it to use it as a pattern for my felt. 

Then I used craft glue (found out later that hot glue was quicker, easier, and cleaner)..

 and glued the felt to the old hats.

Then I printed a "3" and some circles to use as patterns.  I hot glued the cut outs to the hats.  Then I added the pompoms and whatever trim I already had in my sewing box.

I thought they came out SUPER CUTE for homemade party hats!

All together I spent $3.00 plus tax on 8 hats

8 pieces of felt @ $0.25 each

1 bag of pompoms @ $1.99 then 50% off

The pre-manufactured cupcake toppers were also cute... maybe not as cute as homemade ones would have been, but.. maybe next year if I get a punch set before then.

And the marshmallow pops were a HUGE success.  

Then I hung punch balloons all around the porch and deck for decorations.  

It was nowhere near as precious as This Blessed Nest's Cute As A Bug birthday party, but I didn't think it was bad with only three days of planning.

The Birthday Boy really enjoyed his day!

And the sweetest moment of all

was watching my sweet Judey Jude

blow out his birthday candles all by himself!

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

—John 15:11

*Edited to add the video Jude blowing out his birthday candles.

Jude's Candles from The Mustard Seed on Vimeo.

We are so excited when we take a moment to realize just how far our Judey Jude has come!