Smile Party.............Just Because

Have I mentioned in previous blog posts that I miss my friend, Sarah B.?  Let me recap....I knew her vaguely when our husbands worked together at Fort Bragg, NC, and then her family moved here, Florida, a month after we did.  We became great friends and bonded over kids, crafts, deployments, drinks, food and shenanigans.  Our husbands were stationed at MacDill Air Force Base (Go Army ;)), well, mine still is, but after three years, Sarah B.'s hubby was shipped to Korea, so Sarah B. took her babies back to her hometown in Iowa to be near family for the deployment.  I don't blame her, she has three little ones under 5 years old...although I am pissed she left me behind!  Just kidding, it's the military life and we deal with it, but damn, I miss her and the kids!

So, one day I decided I would send her and the kiddos a little happiness in a box.  I got lots of ideas off Pinterest (not gonna lie about that), but I put my own twist on the contents and made it so that it was a family activity for any occassion!

 

 

I bought a cake mix, frosting, candy (for toppings), sprinkles and popcorn.

I made cupcake wrappers, cupcake toppers, cones (for the popcorn), straw flags, bag toppers and labels with fun, colorful cardstock.

Since I wanted it to be used for any occassion, I kept everything generic, but cute!

I made two banners...Smile! and Party!  Simple but fun!

I had a leftover tablecloth from a party, so I used that to cushion the box and it would also be useable to protect the table while the little ones decorated cupcakes!

Not rocket science to pack a box, but I wanted the banner on the bottom to keep its shape.

Then just filled it in with the rest of the items....

....leaving the cones for last so they wouldn't get smushed :)

Cheesy, right?!?!  Writing poems are HARD!  I knew I needed to add something to explain the box...this is what I came up with:

Hahahaha!

Sarah B. loved recieving the party in a box and immediately texted me after they opened it.  It turned out she was having another friend from North Carolina visit that weekend.  Her name is Bonnie and she has three little ones too.  The party in a box was a perfect activity for six kids!

She hung up the banners....

baked the cupcakes....

and the kids went to it!  This is Evan...he loves the frosting!

Bonnie's daughter...concentrating on getting the candies on just right!

Bonnie and two of her kiddos!  Looks like they had a lot of fun!

Cupcake creation....

Mmmmm, chocolate sprinkles with M&M's?  Looks delish!

The only thing that could have been better?  Well....duh...if I was there!!!  It made me feel good to do something unexpected for a friend and happy that she was able to share it with her friends and enjoy a party...JUST BECAUSE!