Her costume came from a large authentic-looking Native American shirt I bought at an estate sale for $3.  The shirt hung down to the ground on her like a dress, and I simply had to cut the sleeves down.  I bought mocassins on ebay for $8.  The headdress came from a yard sale for $1 that I found 2 weeks before the party.  I love those racoon tails hanging down around her ears!

My husband constructed a teepee from things he had in his workshop:  scrap wood, an old paint dropcloth, and rope.  That’s it.  Simple, but it made for the coolest centerpoint for the party.  My husband has had these fake fireplace logs since he was a bachelor, and they made for a perfect American Indian cookfire.  This other little squaw is my older daughter.

Here’s the retro-cool invitation.  I used a free font that looked like wood logs.  Then I individually burned the edges with a lighter.  Aren’t they darling???

The kids “roasted” marshmellows over the fake fire.  It was so hilarious – they couldn’t understand why their marshmellows weren’t turning brown!  Anyway, they “roasted” while I read them a Native American story about a little brave who ran away from home.

I served up a teepee cake made from a Pampered Chef Batter Bowl.  I used regular homemade buttercream icing, but fondant would work great, too.  This cake was such a hit! 

The tablescape started with a couple of Indian-look blankets draped across the dining room table.  Vintage American Indian books were set upright toward the back of the table, along with a few metal collectable tins with Indian motifs filled with turkey feathers from Michael’s.  I had a small collection of Cherokee Indian artifacts that my father had gathered as a boy, which I scattered about the tabletop.   The Indian dolls came from a yard sale and a gas station in Alabama (I found that on the way back from the beach!)

Besides the cake, I served brown horse cookies, popcorn, jiffy cornbread, chocolate sugarcone teepees, and edible Indian corn.

Click here for Jane’s Shortbread Cookie recipe.

For the Chocolate Teepees, simply ice inverted sugar cones with pre-made chocolate icing.  Insert 3 half-toothpicks in top and add candies for decoration.

Edible Indian Corn Recipe

4 tbsp butter

4 cups mini marshmellows

5 cups puffed corn cereal (corn puffs)

1 1/3 cups diced dried fruit (raisins, papayas, cranberries, apricots)

popsicle sticks

tye-dye fruit roll-ups

Melt butter and marshmellows over low heat in a large pot for about 5 minutes.  Remove mixture from stove and use wooden spoon to stir in puffed corn cereal and diced dried fruit.  Allow mixture to cool for about 15 minutes.  Using buttered hands, shape each treat by pressing 1/3 cup of mixture around a popsicle stick.  Add piece of fruit roll-up to make a husk for the bottom of the ear, slightly moistening them to help them stick if needed.  Makes 15 treats.

We made  Native American vests with left-overs from the paint dropcloth.  We gave the kids ideas for Indian symbols to write on their vests.  I pre-cut headbands and let the kids choose the color feather they wanted from Michaels.  We also made beaded necklaces by threading beads on leather laces, again from Michael’s.

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Everyone got American Indian names from  http://www.apples4theteacher.com/native-american/names/for-girls.html.  All the kids had their own special Indian names like “Princess Ottertail,” “Princess White Feather,” “Princess Sunflower,” “Princess Wind Maiden,” etc.  The moms wrote their Indian names on the backs of their vests.

We also played an Indian Trading Game.  I took scraps of the leftover teepee dropcloth fabric and cut it into  5 inch squares.  I gathered all kinds of “treasures” like pretty rocks, seashells, jewels (pulled out of old costume jewelry), bit-o-honey candy, feathers, etc. and tied them up in the squares with cord.  Each child got a “pouch of treasures” and took turns trading their things with the other squaws (and one brave).

Our trusty tinman got to dress up, too.  Kinda like my version of a cigarette store Indian.  He held the goody bags – small brown bags with an embossed bird I found last year in Target’s dollar aisle.  Goody bags were filled with plastic Indians, a dreamcatcher, and a 6″ horse, all from Dollar Tree.  The vest is vintage boy scout borrowed from my sweet neighbor.

Photo Credits:  The Decorologist.

Ok, my daughter loves reading like you would not believe, so I had to find a way to take that love of books and create a birthday party to suit her perfectly.  The main theme was books, supported by owls – wise old cartoon owls are always reading a book, right?   If you preferred, you could do books with worms (bookworms, of course).

The party colors were green/blue/brown.  I used light and dark blue balloons for decor.  I found a green owl shirt at Target for Audrey to wear, and I dressed up like a nerdy librarian .

Invitations were little folded books I printed on cream cardstock stationery from Michaels.  I got the cover pic from an old children’s book. You can download the Word documents at the end of this post to customize your own invitations.

I made an owl cake with a cake pan I found on ebay for $8 (I think it was a discontinued Wilton pan)You could also use that cake pan that is an open book, or a cake with a bespeckled bookworm.  I found an owl cookie cutter on ebay for a few bucks and made owl cookies.  I also served sliced green apples in a glass trifle pedestal bowl, strawberry blossoms (see recipe below), grapes, and a Nashville Junior League ham and biscuit recipe that rocks (see below).

I used lots of books as props, as well as owls of all kinds.  You can always find owl stuff at yard sales and estate sales in 1970’s ranch neighborhoods!  I had a lot of owls anyway, since I use them in my Halloween decorating (you’ll see that in October!)  Cups and plates were a kinda mid-century mod pattern in green and blue that I found at Publix grocery store.

Activities included making slam books (see details below).  We also made a beaded bookmark with blue and green glass beads from Michael’s thread on medium gage wire,  played “Who Am I” book characters (I gave some hints for them to guess some pretty major literary characters), and went on a book treasure hunt (see details below).   All the kids took home their bookmark, slam book, and a canvas bag from Oriental Trading Company with a classic paperback for a $1.50 from Dover Publications.   Great fun for 8-year-olds!

Download the Birthday Book Bash Invitation Files 

Book Treasure Hunt:

Simply choose 20 or so books, display them on a table or ledge, and make up questions that relate to the books you have chosen.  Give each child a copy of the questions and pencil, and the race is on!  Here are some sample questions, based on the books I used, of course:

This Book . . .

1.        contains many animal stories

2.        has 152 pages

3.        has the same author as Alice in Wonderland

4.        has a boat in it called “The Red Dolphin”

5.        includes an interesting map containing Deerlick River 

6.        takes place in a boarding school

7.        contains a picture of an eagle

8.        has a character named Veruca Salt

9.        is part of the “Dana Girls” series

10.     takes place on Prince Edward Island in Nova Scotia, Canada 

Slam Books:

In case you never made those in jr. high, a slam book is a small notebook, usually the spiral-bound type which is passed among school students.  I found some simple fabric-covered ones from Oriental Trading Company and let the girls decorate them with stickers and sticker tape from Martha Stewart’s collection at Michaels.

The first page is numbered 1-10 (or however many children are attending the party).   Just write a question at the top of each page, and then number below it (1-10 for 10 children).  Each child picks a number, puts their name next to that number on the first page of the slam book, then fills in their answer on each page beside that numbered line.   Questions for SlamBooks:  What’s your favorite color?  What’s your favorite food?  What’s your favorite school subject?  What would be your one wish? What do you want to be when you grow up?  What’s your favorite book?  What’s your favorite movie/TV show?  What 3 words/adjectives best describe you?  What’s the most special thing about you?  A sample page looks like this:

What 3 words best describe you?

1.   ______________________________________

2.  ______________________________________

3. ______________________________________

4. ______________________________________

Hope that makes sense.  If you don’t get it, go ask a 7th grade girl.

Strawberry Blossoms:

 12 large fresh strawberries

3 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 tbs powdered sugar

1 tbs sour cream

Slice off strawberry tops.  Place strawberries on cutting board, point up.  Cut each half into 3 wedges to form 6 petals.  Pull slightly apart.  Beat other ingredients and put in pastry bag with star tip.  Fill strawberries.

Junior League Ham and Biscuits:

1 lb. sliced ham

2 sticks butter

3 tsp poppy seeds

1 med onion, diced

3 tsp mustard

1 tsp worcestershire

12 oz Swiss cheese

2 rounds of Sister Schubert rolls (or) 3 pkgs small brown/serve dinner rolls

Melt butter, add mustard, poppy seeds, Worcestershire, onion.  Split rolls  (I recommend using a bread knife on slightly frozen rolls), spread mixture on both sides of rolls, then layer ham and cheese.  Wrap in foil.  350 degrees for 10 minutes.

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I went through my seasonal ornaments and pulled out doves, owls, bird’s nests, bird’s eggs.  I chose a blue and white color palette, found recipes with bird-related names and ingredients, and had each guest draw a paper fortune with surprising results (everyone truly felt that the quotation they chose suited them perfectly!).  The pink paper balls hanging from the ceiling are Martha Stewart from Michaels.   I really love those and her tissue paper ones – more interesting than balloons and infinitely reusable!  I have also included the menu, recipes, and bird quotations/fortunes at the end of the post.

Birds of a Feather recipes  – Use these delicious recipes for your own bird-themed dinner party.

Bird Quotations  -  Print out these bird-related fortunes, cut them into strips, curl with scissor-blade, and place in small bowl for your guests to choose.

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