Ayva's Gymnastics Birthday Party

I love it when clients share their party pics with me. Little Ayva recently celebrated her 4th birthday. And, this was the 3rd time that her mom used Stacey M Design invitations as part of the celebration! Thanks, Tywanda!

This year the theme was gymnastics. I love how she had the image from the invite put on to the cake. Most importantly, little Ayva liked the invitations and identified with the image on the invitation: “Ayva really thought that this was her on the cake and her invitations.” And what does mom think? "I love that she can identify with the pictures on your invites. She thinks the picture on her placemat is her too."

Graduation

For most graduation season has come and gone. However, I was going through some old photographs a few days ago and came across this photo from Isaiah’s preschool graduation a few years ago. So I decided to post it.

When recalling that event I remember being so excited that my little boy was reaching this milestone. He was just 4 years old. My mother and sister flew in from Ne Jersey and California for the event. Harold had a Kente graduation stole made for Isaiah to commemorate the event. This was a BIG deal for us. Just last week I was listening to a radio personality mention that he did not understand the point of celebrating preschool graduation or 8th grade graduation. He stated that finishing preschool is not such a big feat. Well I believe in celebrating in one way or another every accomplishment in life, no matter how big or small.

During Isaiah’s graduation, there were tears in all of our eyes. In all our minds we recalled Isaiah’s early entry into this world. He was born almost 2 ½ months early and weighed only 1 pound 14 ounces. He was in the hospital for 57 days. In our minds, as we listened to Isaiah sing the various songs the kids were taught for the event, we recalled that Isaiah had a severe speech delay. He first was taught to communicate via sign language. After intense speech therapy, he finally learned to speak. Isaiah’s speech therapist, Karen, was at the ceremony with tears in her eyes.

This year, several clients requested invitations that could be used for preschool or kindergarten graduation invitations or graduation party invitations. So I created a Kids Graduation design. I also have invitations for older grads—8th grade, high school, college, graduate school, etc.

Rock Climbing Party

This Spring Isaiah will be 8 years old. It is hard to believe that that scrawny little preemie, who weighed 1 pound 14 ounces at birth, is almost 8 years old! I recall visiting him in the Neo-natal intensive care unit every day for the 57 days that he was there. In the hallways were photographs of children who were once patients in the NICU. The children in the photographs looked as if they were about 2-4 years old. I recall saying to my sister that I could not even imagine Isaiah looking like that. At the time Isaiah had a bunch of wires attached to monitors, a feeding tube and was just so tiny.

Fast forward to 2008. He is now this tall, skinny kid who is constantly running around. He is in 2nd grade, is a Cub Scout, loves to use the computer, wants to be an architect and is currently obsessed with Sponge Bob. He also loves to rock climb!

Sometime in 2007, seemingly out of the blue, Isaiah told me that he wanted a rock climbing birthday party. I thought the idea was kinda cool and agreed to it. His birthday was still over 6 months away, so I figured there was a strong possibility that he would change his mind. Every once in a while when the topic of his birthday would come up, we would mention it to me again, “Mommy, I want a rock climbing party.” Two months before his birthday he was still insisting on a rock climbing party. I gave him other options. He was steadfast in his desire to rock climb. I decided that we would have to at least try it once or twice prior to his party to make sure he really likes it and that he can do it. We signed up at Vertical Endeavors to climb during one of their open climbing sessions. Isaiah was beside himself with excitement. Harold, Isaiah and I all put on the climbing gear. One of the instructors gave us an orientation on climbing and instruction. It really is not that difficult to learn how to do it. the difficulty is to have the strength to push your body up with your legs and/or pull your body up. Now for Isaiah, who barely weights 40 pounds, this is not so much an issue. We attached the safety equipment to him and practically scrambled up the wall!! I was shocked that he showed no fear even when he was all the way up—about 20 feet above the ground. Because Isaiah is so light, we had to attach an extra rope to his climbing belt that we would pull to bring him down. Typically, the climber’s weight would help him quickly descend.

When Isaiah was back on the ground after climbing once, we had a huge smile. He was just beaming. He loved it. We spent about an hour climbing. Isaiah climbed about 5 different areas of the wall. I also attempted to climb—with little success. I just was not strong enough to pull my body up. But I have not given up!

I took Isaiah climbing again the next 2 weekends. Since he loves it so much, we plan to purchase a family membership so that we can climb regularly.

So Isaiah is having a rock climbing party. Now that I have secured the location, my next task: design the invitation! For this invitation I am not sure whether to do my traditional style of invitation with one of my characters wall climbing. The other option I am considering is designing the invitation with a photo of Isaiah climbing. I think that a photo of him would be so cute and compelling that I may just go that route. I would still design a more traditional invitation and I would use my traditional design to make the accessories such as the favor labes, thank you note cards, etc.

Stay tuned!! I will post the invitations in a future post-- as soon as I design it!

Cooking Birthday Party

Last year, for his 7th birthday, Isaiah declared that he wanted his party at A Kid’s Kitchen. We discovered A Kid’s Kitchen in 2006, shortly after it first opened. This wonderful little kid’s culinary institute offers numerous cooking classes for children. Isaiah has attended classes on making ice cream sandwiches featuring fresh baked brownies, pizzas, donuts and several other scrumptious, kid-friendly fare. Harold and I even took a “grown-up” class which doubled as dinner for 2. We made barbecue spare-ribs and salad and brought in a nice bottle of wine!

A couple of months before Isaiah’s party we took him to a class at A Kid’s Kitchen. It has been several months since he had taken a class, but he quickly remembered how much he enjoyed it. A week or so later I gave him several options for his birthday party: another bowling party, ice-skating, baseball game or a party at A Kid’s Kitchen. Without hesitation he selected A Kid’s Kitchen.

After contacting Chef Michelle, owner of A Kid’s Kitchen, the next thing I had to do was design a party invitation and accessories. A few days late my “Chef Guy” invitation design was born!

This party involved very little work. A Kid’s Kitchen’s license provided that no outside food could be brought in. All we provided was the goody bags.

The activity was making pizza. The kids did everything from rolling the dough, to adding the sauce and picking toppings. Some of the adults got involved as well and made personal pizzas. The great thing about his type of party is that kids love to put their hands into gooey, messy things. Add to pizza to that concept and you have a winning recipe for a birthday party. There is also an educational component. Chef Michelle instructs the children on kitchen hygiene. There are hand-washing stations that the kids had to use multiple times throughout the party. Chef Michelle also gave a mini-lesson on measuring ingredients.

After the kids (and a few adults) designed their own pizzas, Chef Michelle popped them in the oven. While they were baking, the kids decorated cupcakes to eat in place of a traditional birthday cake. (We had a traditional birthday cake at home.). We opened gifts and everyone went home with very happy tummies!

I designed the invitation to feature a boy. Soon after I posted it one of my clients requested a girl version. The Chef Girl invitation was born!