S’mores bar, root beer float station and more

I wanted to make my husbands 75th birthday party very special, especially since he has never had a party in his whole life..{what?? that is crazy right?}  So in between all the chaos of getting our property ready for the guests and The Mavericks concert, I got cre8tive. I am happy to report he was over whelmed and very touched when he saw the all the details I did for the party. That was the reaction I was hoping for and made it worth it.

For the pre-concert party we rented the tables, chairs, and linens and hired a catering company for the food. It’s always a mad dash to put everything out right before the party starts, so in the rush of things I didn’t get any pictures taken with a real camera, only my iPhone. I also wish I would of had more time to finish off the look of what I was trying to achieve, but it is what it is.  No one noticed but me.  This is a jammed packed post of  all the DIY projects I did.

For the dessert table, I bought mini mason jars and had a pastry chef fill them with my husband’s favorite desserts.  Bread pudding, cherry pie and pecan pie.  I used the cut and print tool on my Silhouette machine to make the lid labels and the tags

Aren’t those spoons I bought from a shop on Etsy  really cute?  I love shopping on Etsy for parties.  Everyone is always so accommodating and give such great service and products.  I also bought these chocolate record lollipops from Sparklesbaby on Etsy.  Cher, the shop owner was a peach to work with, she even custom made the tags!  I used a plain piece of wood and drilled holes in it to hold the lollipops. {copied that from Starbucks when I saw how they display their cake pops}

Then I finished off the dessert table with filled jars of my husband’s favorite candy bars, Butterfingers, Paydays and Peppermint patties

In hind sight I realized I made a major mistake the way I displayed the mason jars.  When the party was over, I only ended up with about 40 of the 96 jars I started with.  I think a lot of the guests thought they were made to be taken home, because half of us {including my husband} didn’t get to try a single one.  Once everyone started leaving, the jars were gone.  So next time, I am going to put a basket next to the jars that says “place empty jars here”.  Oh well, live and learn.

I set up a s’mores bar around our fire pit.  I again used my Silhouette machine to make the labels for the jars.  I purchased the flavored marshmallows from SweetAddict on Etsy.  I have ordered marshmallows from her for the past 2 years for my hot chocolate station at Christmas, they are that good.  Then I gave the guests choices of white, dark or milk chocolate bars {man this set up could of been so much cuter!  I just ran out of time…sigh}I added these tags to the skewers and put them in a bucket next to the fire pit.  This whole idea was a HUGE hit with the guests.  I would definitely do a s’mores bar again.

I hung the sign from a shepherds hook to direct the guest to the s’mores barMy husband’s favorite drink is root beer.  So I decided to make a root beer float station.  Mainly because I had seen a canopy on Pinterest that I loved and wanted to incorporate one into the party.  But there were no instructions and it was a dead end link, so I decided to figure it out on my own. That didn’t go so well..in the process I realized I am not a carpenter.  I had all the wood pieces cut at HomeDepot, but putting it together was challenging.  So I had to ask my husband to step in.  He didn’t know what it was exactly for, but knew it was for the party.  He put it together effortlessly, thank goodness. I used white canvas cloth and painted blue stripes with acrylic paint from Michaels, then rounded the edges using a bowl as my template.  When the wood structure was done, I just stapled it on to the wood.  Here it is all done waiting to for the party.  What’s nice about this canopy, is that it just sits on top of any 6 foot table.

And in it’s place at the party before getting it all set up
I made a root beer float sign using my Silhouette machine and adhesive back vinylThis was one of my most proudest DIY.  I love when you have a vision of how something is going to turn out and it actually does!  The only thing I wasn’t able to do in my canopy design was  to make the canopy collapsable.  Luckily we have the room to store it, so I can use it again for another party.  I can’t decide if I should do a tutorial on how I made it, anyone want me to?  This is the only decent picture I have of the root beer float station all set up.  {sorry about the random lady in the picture lol}  **Edited**  Click this link for the instructions on how I made the tabletop canopy.

For the centerpieces on the tables I kept it simple.  He is a guy, and I didn’t want it to be all frilly with flowers. I used “money tree” plants and containers from Ikea.  Simple but nice.  The balloon situation was a bust.  Evidently there is a shortage of helium and so I wasn’t able to get already filled balloons.  So my daughter Tiffany and her friend spent 2 hours using a store bought helium tank filling balloons.  Yeah, they lasted about a 1/2 hour!  Such a waste of time and money.  I really wanted those balloons to add height to the tables, but in the end we just yanked them off because they were totally dead.  Bummer.Luckily I had made I chargers for the tables using old LP records I got from the thrift shop. Having those made it less noticeable that the balloons were flat.  I made the custom center label with of course my Silhouette machine.  Man I love that machine!  It’s addicting I tell ya!  My daughter Tiffany did a fun crossword puzzle with questions about her Dad that we put under the LP’s

I never do a party without making water bottle labels and this was no exception.  I use white conact paper and run it through my printer and then cut them out with what else but my Silhouette machine!I think I ended up doing like 200 of them…thank goodness for my DVR and multitaskingI put them in a big tin and with a banner hanging on the outsideThe one thing my husband liked the best out of everything I did, was this “75”  photo collage made from pictures of his life.  He actually got teary eyed when he first saw it.I have to thank my sister and brother-n-law for helping me with the “75” photo collage.  I didn’t want my husband to see it, so I took the frame and all the black and white pictures over to their house and they put the pictures on for me. My sister put a lot of effort in to making sure it started with his youth and ended in the current year.  She took her job seriously and it was very much appreciated!

To make the party memorable, I rented a photo booth from The Traveling Photo Booth.  I didn’t get a picture of it in place, but I set it up on the putting green like this

I designed and printed out signs in Power Point and hung them from the flag holders that catch the balls.  

Each guest gets a copy of their picture and they put another copy in a guest book for us to keep.  The whole party was a spectacular, fun and memorable event for my husband, something he will never forget.  But I am glad it is over and we can now get back to regular life.