Charlie Brown Birthday Party

July is a busy month for our family - Jaxon's and Aidyn's birthdays are in August and September, respectively. And, if you've been reading the blog for any length of time, it shouldn't surprise you to hear that July is generally when we start planning our family Halloween costumes. So, with this year's festivities well under way, it occurred to me that I hadn't posted anything about Jaxon's party last year. (What with our blog not having been launched until nearly a month after his party.)

But it was such a doozy of a party, I thought I would still share.

THE INVITATION (addresses have been removed to protect - well - me)

THE MENU

Well, it was a bit of a task to come up with themed food for this particular party, but I think I managed to pull it off with a bit of searching around on the Interwebs (and of course, watching Charlie Brown cartoons for every holiday didn't hurt either)!

Treats

• Jelly Beans (from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving)
• Popcorn (from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving)
• Pretzels (from A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving)
• Hershey's Kisses with Snoopy Stickers AKA "Kisses for Lucy/Dog Germs" - Avery Label 5472
• Oreo Dirt Cake AKA "Pigpen Pudding"
• Oreo Truffles surrounded by candy AKA "Rocks from Charlie Brown's Halloween Bag" (from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown)
• Cupcakes with Snoopy Rings (rings purchased from Ebay seller)

Beverages

For the Kids:

Linus and Lucy Libations

• Linus Red - Kool Aid Tropical Punch
• Lucy Blue - Kool Aid Berry Blue

Woodstock Water

For the Adults:

• Charlie Brown Cocktail - Mt. Dew
• Schroeder Soda - Wild Cherry Pepsi
• Snoopy Slurper - Sierra Mist
• Sally Sipper - Cherry 7Up

DECORATIONS

Be prepared that if your child chooses a Charlie Brown themed party, that the pickins will be slim in terms of decorations you can purchase. In fact, you will probably search high and low (I recommend search terms Charlie Brown, Snoopy, AND Peanuts) and still not find very much. I found a few Peanuts mylar balloons online that I added on to my Peanuts plates, cups, and napkins order, but I printed, cut, and stapled Peanuts cartoons to create party streamers. I used the extra comic strip print outs to make paper cones for the popcorn (shown above).

ACTIVITIES, PRIZES, and GOODIE BAGS

For the party activities and prizes, I also had to dig deep for anything that was Charlie Brown/Peanuts adjacent.

Activities

Snoopy Shuffle (musical chairs to Linus and Lucy by Vince Guaraldi)

The Great Pumpkin Toss (water balloon toss with orange water balloons)

Water Baseball (baseball with water balloons)

Take Away the Football (football shaped pinata)

Prizes

Peppermint Patties

Snoopy Toothbrushes (Dollar Store purchase)

Snoopy Stickers (eBay)

Goodie Bags

I purchased bright yellow gift bags and black rick rack. I cut the rick rack to size and hot glued it to the bottom section of the bag. Then, I used Microsoft Word to create an oval callout with each child's name with Comic Sans font to mimic the font used in comic strip text. I cut out and glued each oval callout to the upper right corner of a bag.

Hope these ideas inspire you to give a Charlie Brown/Peanuts party a try should your child request one.

This post contains affiliate links.

What's in a Name?

As we all anxiously await the birth of the newest heir to the throne, here's a fun little way to get in on some royal action.  USA Today has posted a Royal Name Generator on their website. 

I will have you know that after a few clicks of the old mouse it has been determined that yours truely is none other than Princess Adelle Von Hasselhoff, while my hubbie would be Emperor Fauntleroy Von Hasselhoff.  Not too shabby!  

Carry on. 

One Man's Trash - Shawnee Pitchers

I feel that I must preface this entry by saying I'm not sure how anyone could regard these Shawnee pitchers as "trash", but fortunately for me, someone saw fit to let them go, and I am happy to report that they now reside with me. 

If you aren't familiar with Shawnee, let me give you a little background.  The Shawnee Pottery Company was  a US manufacturer that actively produced pottery from 1937 to 1961.  Shawnee Pottery's products are "much in demand" and are thought to be "extremely desirable" by pottery collectors.  Perhaps the most well-known pieces of Shawnee are the Corn King pottery, produced between 1937 and 1942.  In fact, I think there may be a few of these pieces still lurking in Daddy's cabinets.  :)

But back to my sweet little pitchers...  As I have mentioned before, we seem to spend a fair amount of time in antique shops, and over the years, I have seen the occasional Shawnee piece here and there- usually with a hefty price tag attached.  But nonetheless, I know the pieces pretty well.  So when I saw the Shawnee "Smiley" Pig pitcher for sale a few months ago in a little thrift shop, I knew exactly what it was.  You must keep in mind that many of the Shawnee pieces are not marked as such.  They usually are marked with the name of the piece (in this case "Smiley") and "USA".  Sure enough, that's just how this was marked.  Even the shop owner didn't know it was a Shawnee piece, and we walked out with a good deal and my precious piggy pitcher.  

And if that weren't enough, we made our way back to the same shop a month or so later, and wouldn't you know- there sat the Shawnee Dumbo pitcher.  Again, it was only marked "Dumbo" and "USA", but I knew exactly what he was.  That said, Dumbo came home with us for a mere $10.  

It is helpful to have your smart phone handy when you are antiquing because you can pretty quickly search for your pieces online to see if you are indeed getting a good deal (or if you need to negotiate a lower price), and confirm that your piece is in fact what you think it is.  

Of course, if you love, love, love whatever you are looking at, it may not matter how much your item is worth.  To me, it wouldn't have mattered if these pitchers were worth a fortune or worth nothing.  I love them, and it's not as though I plan to resell them for a profit, so even though we got lucky with a really good deal on these, they are priceless to me.