Lobster Birthday Party with Guest Blogger Angela From The Mommy Stories

 

 

Looking for some great party ideas? My sister, Angela, from the Mommy Stories just threw her son (my big guy nephew, Owen) a lobster themed one, in honor of my dad's profession: a Maine lobster man.  Thanks, Angela, for showing us how to put the party all together, while keeping to a budget.

My little guy is FOUR!

We knew early on in the year that he'd have an ocean party fit for a lobsterman's grandson. Yes, that's right, my father is a true Maine lobsterman.

My son is pretty obsessed with his lobster traps, bait, and of course those old bugs, lobsters! He's into the boat the most. We visit several times a year on Frenchboro Island in northern Maine, off the coast of Bar Harbor.

We HAD to have a party like this because of his interest, but also because my son's middle name Joseph is after his Papa (and my stepdad, grandfather and then my brother's middle name, but who's counting?!). It was super fun to honor my father's career as a lobsterman through this party. I told him he was the guest of honor. 

My handsome guy FOUR years old!

We visited the Children's Museum and Theater of Maine in Portland just before Christmas and my son didn't leave the real lobster boat the entire time. He loved it so much! It had a hauler to haul up the traps of lobsters. There is also a touch tank upstairs with star fish and snails, etc. There is a large whale hanging from the ceiling, a pirate ship out back, and another speed boat to ride on. It's a perfect place for an ocean party. He is also very into make believe lately and pretending he's a real worker, so it was an awesome location.

We always have had parties at our house, and with an immediate family of 30+ that doesn't leave room for inviting any other friends. So this year we were excited to do it at a larger place to invite a few extended cousins. We still tried to keep it to just family since it gets expensive with the party packages and paying per person at the Museum, but it was fun for my son to be able to invite a few more people to his party to play with him.

I start all birthday party brainstorming with some good old Pinterest searches.

Here is my board that I created with ideas for this party. I hope you check it out, because there were TONS more ideas that I did not implement. I chose to keep this party slightly simple since the atmosphere of having the party at the Museum was going to be enough. The kids barely were in the party room, they ran around the Museum so much playing and having fun. So check out the board for more ideas, especially if you're having the party at home.

www.pinterest.com/angelaavery78/owens-4th-lobsterman-ocean-party/

I have to say I had a difficult time finding ideas specifically for what I was looking for. I found one lobster party... one. All others were swimming, pool, sea life, pirate, etc. type parties. I had to get a little creative.

I sent an Evite email invitation with this wording:
"Owen's turning FOUR, and he would like to SEA you out on the ocean with him catching lobsters and fish.

Join us at the Portland Children's Museum for some make believe fun, with lobsterman Owen. Check out the live turtles and fish tanks, steer the real lobster boat and haul some traps, even touch a live starfish or sea urchin. Our lobster boy will show you the ropes!

We'll have fishy snacks, lobster cookies, and ocean water to drink. Come have fun - and of course prepare to work a little with Captain Owen!"

I was given by my wonderful friend Jessie Legere some fish and ocean bowls, signs, a table cloth and banner (that I didn't use because the Museum had already put this blue one down and written on the chalkboard), etc. So I went with her colors of blue and greens as ocean colors.

I found those fun polka dot napkins at Wal-Mart. My son decided the day before the party he HAD to have party cone hats, so Jake and the Neverland Pirates hats it was (Wal-Mart, $2.50 for pack of 8).

We did minimal food, just snack type things, because we knew the kids would be so busy in the Museum. The focus was not on the food, but on the activities. So we had the following food:

Tortilla chips and Goldfish crackers = fish and chips

Salsa = seaweed

sea cucumbers = cucumber slices

buoys = cantoloupe balls and grapes 

Pirates Booty

Shamu Whales cheese crackers

However, check out the Pinterest board I made, TONS of cute ideas for food if you were doing this at lunch time or not at a busy Museum like we did (Goldfish cracker shaped bread for sandwiches!)

Ocean water and grape juice

For treats we had confetti vanilla-based cupcakes with aqua blue frosting (that came with little fishies, which I didn't know until I got home from the store! Score!), topped with a Sweedish fish.

The birthday boy requested a chocolate cake, so we used the same aqua blue frosting, along with some gummy lobsters from Yummees candy store in Kittery, Maine.  (Don't worry, they ship, if you are having a Maine-themed party outside of southern Maine!).

For gift bags for our little guests my husband helped me make these lobster bags. Yes, they took about an hour with both of us cutting out those claws, but they were too cute not to make so we did it! I got the red bags, pipe cleaners and googley eyes for $3 at the Dollar Tree, then we found lobster pictures online and my husband copied these and cut them out.

 

Inside the treat bags we put a small bag of Pirates Booty, bag of whale and sea cheese crackers, a gummy candy stick of sea life creatures that my husband randomly found at BJs (so excited!).  I printed some coloring pages off of the computer (boats, sea creatures, lobsters, lighthouse, etc.). I always like to include things like that so if kids wanted to color at the party they could, for some quiet down time, but also as a fun way to really send home the theme of the party.

Then, my favorite part of the party, was the Sea Fish Bar (not sure what else to call this!). I found this idea on Pinterest, of putting out the various types of Goldfish crackers and letting kids fill up a bag of them. I then added in other treats to go with the lobsterman theme. Loved how this turned out!

Although, I'll admit, at a big busy Museum party it wasn't a great idea, only a handful of people actually filled up treat bags, they were too busy running around and playing. I ended up making up little treat bags for the kids to take home.

I got all the little red containers at the Dollar Tree for $2 total. 

I was so excited at Christmas time when I found these Goldfish cracker small plastic bags in New York, totally randomly. They were perfect! 

Herring = Sweedish fish 

We had such a great time! My little lobsterman loved his party, cake, singing happy birthday to himself, and of course all of the make believe at the Museum.

We had the kids go play while we set the party room up (you only get 2 hours in the room, setting up and cleaning up included). They played about 45 minutes, then came to the party room where we had snacks ready for them. We sang happy birthday, blew out birthday candles, served up cake and cupcakes, then moved right into the presents so we could get them back out to play more for the last hour or so of the party. It worked pretty well.

We asked people to sign the L is for Lobster book. It's fun to have books filled with notes from loved ones on our book shelf. I threw that in as a last minute idea, and so glad I did.

The birthday boy with his lobsterman grandfather! 

My husband found these adorable T-shirts at the last minute when he was picking up the lobster gummy treats. It's winter in Maine, not many tourists wanting summer lobster T-shirts, so they let him get one get one free, so 4 shirts for $20! So excited.

(exhausted at the end of the party. Not to self: take family picture BEFORE the festivities next year!)

My husband's says "Got lobstah?" Mine says "Crustacean Nation" and the kids had MAINE lobsters on theirs. 

A very (busy, hard working!) HAPPY birthday boy!

FREE KNITTING PATTERN Basic Knit Infinity Cowl

I've been promising more free patterns, and at last, I'm here to deliver! Consider this my Valentine's gift to you.  I've made a lot of these for my shop and I love the one I made for myself.  This is a very basic pattern and you can customize it really any way you'd like.  Any yarn would work, just be sure to adjust your needles to fit the yarn.  (I used a size 4 yarn).


Like the cowl, but don't knit? No problem! I'd love to make you one.  Head on over to Crooked By Design and check out this listing.  Use code KNAPTIMEKNITTER and you'll get 15% off.


Needles: Size 11 (8mm)
CO: 34 (you can adjust this to any number, depending on how wide/bulky you want it)
Knit every row until it measures the desired length.  This one was 38" long.  Cast off and leave a long tail for seaming.

This knit has a lot of stretch, so it may look a little short when you hold it up, but as long it wraps around your neck twice, its good.  I like mine not too bulky so it fits with a coat nice, but if you want it longer, bulkier, etc. just adjust the number of rows you knit.  Likewise, if you want it to only wrap around once, instead of double wrapped like this one, adjust for that as well by knitting less rows.

After binding off, lay it flat and twist in the middle like this:

And then line up the edges for seaming:

Seam the edges together (if you're unsure of how to seam, check out this hat pattern tutorial for details):

 

You're done!! Congratulations on your new cowl.

*You may sell items made from this pattern, but please refer back to this post on your listing*

Be sure to give a shout if you have any questions at all.  Happy Knitting!

Your Pins Tested! Gluten Free Banana Bread

I love LOVE love banana bread, but they can be tricky with gluten free because they dry out so quick.  Not that they ever last long in my house, but it is very annoying when its dry.  I've tried a bunch of recipes and this one was really yummy.  When I started making it, I was happy find that it actually makes two loaves, which is perfect for my house, where it goes quick.

This recipe comes from the Taste of Home and can be found at this Pin.  As always, I used what I had handy, so I drifted from the recipe a little.
*recipe was taken directly from the original post

What you'll need: 
2 cups gluten-free all-purpose baking flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
1 teaspoon baking soda 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
4 eggs 
2 cups mashed ripe bananas (4-5 medium) 
1 cup sugar 
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (I used Cinnamon)
1/3 cup canola oil (I used vegetable)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I skipped these)

What to do:

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, bananas, sugar, applesauce, oil and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened.
2. Transfer to two 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with walnuts. Bake at 350° for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Yield: 2 loaves (12 slices each). 

The first loaf was gone in a day, but the second one, I let cool, sliced and put it in the freezer in a freezer bag.  When a piece is wanted, just take it out and microwave for 30 seconds or so.  This helps it to not dry out so much and maintain its yumminess.


 

Your Pins Tested! Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins

 I am not a baker.  I never was good at it, and being gluten free makes it that much harder.  But recently, I have invested more time in learning and trying out recipes.  Muffins are a challenge with gluten free because they often don't have the texture we crave from "normal" muffins and dry out very quickly.  I found this recipe from this Pin and decided to give it a go.

*I see a lot of recipes that call for multiple flours, or more pricey ingredients, and though I imagine they are a delight to eat, they aren't in my grocery budget, so I liked that this recipe had ingredients I am likely to already have.

The original recipe can be found here, and I have copied it directly from them.

What you'll need: 

2 cups gluten-free all-purpose flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)

3/4 cup sugar 

2 teaspoons baking powder 

1 teaspoon xanthan gum 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled 

1/2 cup whole milk (I used 2%) 

2 large eggs 

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (I used about a tbsp of lemon juice instead) 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 1/2 cups Driscoll's Blueberries   

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly butter or grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line with paper liners.
2. Stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, xanthan gum and salt in a medium bowl until blended. Whisk together butter, milk, eggs, lemon zest and vanilla in a large bowl until combined. Stir in flour mixture until partially moistened. Fold in blueberries until evenly mixed. Batter will be thick, do not over stir.
3. Divide batter evenly between muffin cups, filling each about three-fourths full.
4. Bake 10 minutes. Rotate pan and continue to bake about 10 minutes longer or until muffins are golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 3 minutes. Serve warm or remove to wire rack to cool completely.

I am on a limited carb diet for gestational diabetes, so I liked that this recipe included nutritional information.  In case you are following a similar diet, there are 31.41g of carbs in a muffin.

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These came out really nice, and they actually looked good which is hard to do with gluten free.  Well, it's a challenge for me, maybe not so much for other people!  One way to keep them from drying out super quick is to let them cool, and put them in freezer bags to toss in the freezer.  When you want one, just pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds or so and they will be delicious and keep better. One thing you don't want to do is waste anything gluten free, because it's just too expensive!