Bounce Splash Slide: DIY at Home 3rd Birthday Party

How to plan a summer birthday party? Add a giant bounce house water slide, shade, outdoor fans, and colors!

Super simple party decorations using ribbon & balloons!
All signs & stickers I made on powerpoint & printed at home with my HP inkjet printer!

*photos captured by Mark L. Simmons Photography

I ordered a few packs of balloon garland kits that looked similar to the invitation colors. Then blew some up to figure out which colors looked the best. Using double balloons helps achieve the matte opaque expensive look, while also making it possible to create the custom colors I needed. Plus, the daisy balloons for an extra touch!
(above + below: left)

CAKE

I ordered a plain 4″ cake from a local bakery, Becca Cakes, & provided the Pantone Color preference for the icing. Then on the day of the party I applied wafer paper flowers & candles that I bought online. The wafers stuck right on the icing! (above: right)

We have a life size cut out of my husband from my bachelorette party, so a life-size cut out of our daughter for her 3rd birthday was a must! For the “gift table”, I used the staircase landing & placed “cardboard Winnie” there with a “thank you” sign & 3 balloon! (above: left)

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FAVORS

My toddler loves icepacks. Most bumps or hurts can be fixed by offering her an icepack. Knowing we were having a bounce house & waterslide, I figured there may be some bumps, so I bought plain round gel packs + inkjet compatible waterproof vinyl sticker paper to create the labels. I froze them & put them in the favor box right before guests arrived. (above: right)

I also used the same waterproof vinyl paper to make name labels for each water gun. I simply removed the branded sticker that came on it & replaced it with each kids name. (above: right)

The sunglasses were a Target Dollar Spot find for $1 each, so I had to add those in! It is hard to find sunglasses that fit toddlers, but these do! (above: right)

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A friend used her Cricut to make names for freezer pop doozies for her son’s class. I saw it and loved it so I bought some white freezer pop koozies + some inkjet compatible iron-on heat transfer paper to iron on the names. (above)

I saw several companies making custom snack bags, but they were all bags that you would have to transfer the snack into and seal, or the actual snack bag was inside the custom bag. I didn’t like the idea of either.

So I used inkjet compatible sticker paper, Powerpoint & Word to create my own labels and just stuck them directly on the snack bags
(above: left & middle)

Since my daughter only drinks water or milk, I wanted to make the water for her party more fun! So I bought clear drink pouches + Clear Brew Glitter to sparkle up the water for the kids!
(above: right)

“GET YA PLAY FACE ON” + “DRY YA SELF” Stations

Custom bug spray labels with the vinyl sticker paper! Sunscreen! Temporary tattoos + mirror + baby wipes! yessssss!

Towels from around our house rolled up & put into a blanket basket! Plus, there was an empty basket on other side of door for used towels!

All the signs I printed at home using bright white cardstock paper 110lb 297g/m2.

It is always more comfortable for guests to see a note on the door saying it’s ok to just walk in! Most parties are a walk in type of event, however, it is still awkward to assume that is ok. Plus, with a party going on, might be that no one can hear if someone knocks on the door or rings the doorbell. So just add a “come on in!” sign so guests feel comfortable! (above: left)

Back-to-Back Parties

So we actually had two parties in one weekend!
A party Saturday afternoon for family & our friends with kids the same age.
Then Sunday afternoon was just her school classmates & their parents.

It was nice to separate the groups so everyone felt comfortable amongst the crowd at each party. BUT I didn’t want to buy 2 cakes. So I used her real cake twice & bought mini Crave cupcakes for both parties.

She blew out candles on Saturday, then I put the cake in the refrigerator. Then Sunday she blew out candles & we served the cake along with the cupcakes.
(above: right)

Double Sided 7/8″ Satin Ribbon, lots of ribbon makes for the easiest DIY decorations! Plus, its totally reusable! I store each color in gallon size ziplock bags & reuse year around for holidays, parties, etc.

Beat the Heat: Summer Party Essentials

100% recommend a water slide bounce house combo! The website said 6-8 kids, but we could have easily had double that since they were only 3 years old. They actually didn’t bounce too much, but it was nice big covered area to play & wait for their turn to go on the slide! — and yes, parents did go down the slide too!

We blocked the sun from the patio by adding a simple shade canopy, created a strong breeze by adding outdoor fans attached from TV mounts & moved both patio umbrellas to the yard for extra shade…VIOLA! Comfortable as can be outside in the Texas summer heat! (fringe umbrella)

We also had a mini pool in the yard & filled it with water balloons during the party!

The bar high tables were so nice for parents to enjoy conversation while still watching their little one play!

FLOWERS

The flowers were from wholesale shop & vases from my friend Events in Bloom (as well as the bar high tables, linens, green chairs, cake table & favor shelf).

I processed & arranged the flowers all by myself! It was tougher than I thought, but my tip is to style the flowers the same for each type of vase.

So pull each type of vase you are using, then style the flowers in each vase differently. Then just copy what you did for each in the remaining vases.

Example: I used 3 types of vases, so I only had to “design” 3 flower arrangements styles. (below)

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view the Entire image gallery in this Facebook Album

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To see what I captured during set up
including tips, tricks for DIY,
view my Instagram Highlight titled: 3rd Bday

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