Jewell's 13th Birthday Party...The Decorations

Yesterday, I shared with you the invitation for Jewell's 13th Birthday Party. You can see all the details here. Her birthday is October 2nd, and she's always wanted a Halloween-themed party. Since we have a big Halloween Party each year, we've never done that, but as 13 is a special birthday, we decided to do it this year. So - the Halloween Party you'll see in a week or so will be similar. But not quite as extravagant!

I told you yesterday that the invitations that we hand made would set the color scheme for the party. Black and orange are traditional Halloween colors, but to make this a little more girly, we chose to use her favorite blue as an accent color. It made it a little less Halloween and a little more "Jewell"!

You can't see it, but I always place a black Sharpie pen with the drinks so people can write their name on their cups. It helps people to keep up with their drinks...some!

The little black owl is from Dollar Tree. If you live in Wetumpka, don't bother looking. We wiped them out!

I am forever buying paper plates. And if you want them to match, they're not going to be very strong. Well, I have solved that problem! I found these great brown craft paper food baskets on Amazon. Here's the link. I got 500 (!!!!!) for $43.48. That's .08 cents a tray! They're big and very sturdy. They're also easier to hold than a plate. I'm pretty excited about these. And the craft paper brown should go with everything. You'll be seeing these a lot at my outdoor parties.

Blue napkins from Party City match the blue plastic cups. The orange polka dot napkins came from Party City as well. I thought the dot would add a little pattern to the table. I put my napkins in a deep Halloween bowl to keep them from blowing away.

I have to pause for a moment and show you something. This is a haul I made last year a few days after Halloween. I got well over a $100 worth of stuff for $25 including tax. It had gone 75%-90 off. I got Halloween napkins for .25 a pack and Halloween cupcake liners for .10 a pack! The black tubs were $1 each.  I got 5!

Here's one of the black tubs above, holding tortilla chips. We had sloppy joes and nachos for supper. I know what you're thinking...but remember, this was a party for kids! I had one crockpot of plain nacho cheese sauce (Velveeta and milk) and one with Rotel tomatoes.

We also had a table set up with popcorn and a chocolate fountain. I had a little time at the last minute (shocker!) and made a garland of Halloween cupcake liners. I have enjoyed the ones I made for my last Miss Manners party. In fact, they're still on the backs of my chairs! It took about 100 liners to make an 8 foot garland.

We entertain outdoors so much, that I decided to invest in a large commercial grade popcorn maker. It was easy to use, and the kids loved it. Brack alone ate several bags! There were a few plastic "severed" hands on the table to help bag the popcorn!

My mother-in-law loves chocolate. I mean she REALLY loves chocolate! So we gave her this chocolate fountain for Christmas a few years ago. She uses it anytime she hosts a crowd, and the ladies from her Sunday school class get downright giddy about it! Well, we borrowed it for the party. She usually serves various fruits with it, but since Jewell's party was so large, I had to be a little more economical. I had a large container of strawberries from Costco, but then I used marshmallows, pretzel rods and Rice Krispy treats! The kids didn't care what they were dipping in chocolate. I could have just pulled bark off a tree, and they'd have eaten it!

I channelled my best Haley Scott and wrote the above little diddy on a chalkboard. It was next to the chocolate fountain.

Finally, we had a candy buffet. I gathered my glass containers and filled them with fun assorted candies. I ordered the gumballs online, but the rest came from Walmart. I bought little plastic scoops online to help the kids "control" their portions!

A couple of years ago, I bought some black fabric tablecloths from Walmart. I had been buying the cheap plastic ones at Dollar tree, only to throw them away. I decided it was worth the investment. It was. I use them often, not just at Halloween.

I picked up a yard of pretty sheer black fabric with a spiderweb design at Hobby Lobby for the center of the table. It's hard to see in pictures, but it was really nice in person.

I bough some small brown paper bags for the candy, and used my Stampin' Up stamps to decorate them. I also let Jewell pick out a few new Halloween decorations at Hobby Lobby one week when they were half off. They're a little more elegant than our usual spooky designs and went well with the "teenage" feel for the party.

Believe it or not, I had some candy left over. This jar of Skittles is still on my dining room table. The kids say they help them focus during school. Right...

The Carpe Noctem sign was a very last minute purchase. It went well with the Dollar Tree owls and the owl on her invites. Plus, kids absolutely love playing outside at night!

Here's a closeup of the Stampin' Up supplies I used to decorate the candy bags.

Finally, we used large spiders (from Dollar Tree of course!) to decorate the garage door.

Well - there you have it! The decorations from Jewell's 13th Birthday Party. Tomorrow I'll share with you the recipe for the sloppy joes. They were delicious! Come on back tomorrow!

I'm so glad you stopped by my neck of the woods!

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