Valentine Table Toppers

I always think they had the neatest ideas back in the 40s and 50s.  I only read about them now since I was a child of the 70s, but I can re-create them using things available for purchase today.  Not only that, but I have a little miss that loves to make things too, and these are just as simple for her to make on her own if I have some chores that need to be done.  And we will continue to share them here! 

Valentine parties are so fun and so darling with all the pink and red, two of my favorite colors.  Here are some simple table toppers you can make with things you find at the discount store! 

Here's your supply line up:  red jelly hearts, red heart suckers, paper hearts and/or glitter hearts (we found ours at WalMart in the Valentine section, but you could also make your own with construction paper, or use a doily like they did in our book).  We also used scrapbook mono-adhesive and glue dots.

Simply attach your paper heart to the back of the sucker, add a glitter heart on the front, if you wish, and then push the sucker stick into the front of the jelly heart.  They will stand on their own and make a heart-stopping center piece for a school party or a little one's February birthday. Line them up or circle them around your cupcakes.  Have fun! 

This ideas was inspired by The Complete Book of Children's Parties by Florence Hamsher, 1949.

Valentines Three Ways

Welcome to my new series, Kid Vintage Craft!  This series will be simple and quick projects that you can create with your children.  All of the projects will be inspired by those published in magazines, books, and articles from the 1940s-early 1970s, including Family Circle, Better Homes and Gardens, and McCall's.  Times were much more simple and schedules much less packed then, and homes, parties, and events often featured handmade invitations, table decor, and simple little crafts to fill time until dinner was served.  Kid Vintage Craft will publish every Friday, just in time for the weekend! Enjoy, and I hope you will be inspired to create the projects with your kids as well! 

Valentine's Day is coming soon, and the stores had their stock of hearts out before the Christmas clearance even started.  Time flies so fast!  Soon, classrooms will be trading Valentine cards and you and your friends will be hosting parties, so today we are sharing instructions from 1949 for handmade Valentines for kids.

For the younger ones, ages 5-7, a red construction paper heart with Cupid's arrow and a simple message was cheerful and fun.  We used patterned card stock and vintage gold Dennison labels.  Cut your heart the old-fashioned way by folding construction paper in half, draw the pattern, and then use it to trace the others and cut.  Then cut a freehand arrow from a coordinating paper and adhere (we used paper from our Studio Calico kits).

For ages 8-10, a lace paper frame from a doily with an image of a pretty girl or cute boy from a catalog made Valentine's Day a little more exciting for the first childhood romance.  We used Project Life cards and an image from a Teen Vogue magazine. We added "Hello" letter stickers and then drew a word bubble.  On the other, we added a puffy heart sticker from Twine + Ink from a Studio Calico kit to the image  from Teen Vogue pages.  Don't the oversized sunglasses make cute wings?  Kids love to cut things out of magazines and catalogs.  Let them pick their favorites, like movie stars or famous musicians, and create your own set of unique Valentines!  Katie is making 22 of these.  Whew!

For ages 10-12, we used an A4 piece of letterpress paper as the main invitation.  Place a Valentine heart seal in the top left corner, and a small red heart seal in the bottom right (we used vintage ones).  Draw a border in the center of the card (or use a rubber stamp border or a sticker or Project Life card) to place the text inside.  Place the sender's name in the lower left corner and the recipient's name near the heart if you are sending an invitation.  You could also let your child doodle on the paper before adding stickers and seals. Katie's favorites are sparkle gel pens.

Remember to always hand deliver your Valentines (if possible) if you are following proper etiquette from yesteryear!  We'd love to see your take on our Kid Vintage Crafts.  Link us up in the comments or tag us on Instagram or Twitter @feedthebirdies.

See you next Friday for simple Valentine table decorations!

*This project is inspired by Valentine party ideas in the book, The Complete Book of Children's Parties by Florence Hamsher, copyright 1949. 

How To: Children's Party Invitations from 1949 and Sprinkles Cupcakes Royal Baby Reveal!

If you remember my post from here, I had mentioned a vintage party series coming soon, and it's finally here!  I shared some party etiquette in this post, and now that I have been able to continue on with my book, I would like to share some simple party invitation instructions that Katie and I followed word for word.  No embellishments were harmed in the making of these invitations; we did just as we were told (aside from a bit of glass glitter).

One note:  Of course you must have cupcakes to photograph birthday party invitations, right?  I stopped at Sprinkles in Dallas today and picked up four.  William stuck his thumb in one before the pictures.  Ha.  Today they offered Royal Baby Gender Reveal cupcakes and Katie and I both had to have one.  I got chocolate, she got vanilla, but you have to scroll down to see what we found out!

Supplies needed:

construction paper in pastel colors
scissors
ruler
pencil to draw shape
glue (we used Martha Stewart's glitter glue; it has a handy brush tip)
glitter (we used glass glitter from Stampin' UP!)
crayons

Fold a piece of construction paper in half and trace the shape of the birthday candle on the fold.  We used a ruler and free-handed the flame.  If you'd like, you could cut the flame in yellow and glue on top of the original shape.  Draw a squiggle line at the bottom of the candle and apply glue with your finger.  Sprinkle with glitter and allow to dry.

On the inside of your invitation, write this message:

Come to my birthday party on Friday; It's at two; There will be cake and candles and lots of things to do;

Katie could have made all of these herself if she didn't fuss about all the writing.  She's thinking we should have just used the printer...

Now, if you were a true friend, you hand-delivered these puppies right to your buddies.  Here is the book I am reading, just in case you want to pick one up for yourself.

Oh, yeah, we have to cut that cupcake, don't we?  Here we go!

It's a....GIRL!  No, wait.

Is she having twins?

Katie's was blue.  Hmmm.

Vintage Party Series: Gift Etiquette

**This is the first post in a new series on my little blog...vintage parties!  You can read about the book that inspired me to write this series here. All of the vintage photos I will use in this series have been hand-picked from families' collections I don't know (unless otherwise specified), but left them behind for us to enjoy. Lots more vintage and modern to come, plus some ideas for your own parties!**

Look at these girls in their pretty dresses and bobby socks.  I love dreaming about the perfectly planned party from the 1950s with children running and playing indoors and out, and I hope that we can enjoy some thoughts and ideas from then and apply them to parties we have today.

For the little ones, gifts at the party are one of the most exciting things about celebrating a birthday, or any occasion for that matter.  Friends are excited to give and the guest of honor is excited to receive, and sometimes it's super hard for everyone to wait to see what's inside all the pretty wrapping.

Simple manners were expected and taught in the mid-century family, including those of how to receive and when to open gifts at a child's party.  When a gift is offered, the child should accept it with a simple "Thank you!" as he welcomes his guest, and place it with the other gifts in the main party room.   If the party is well underway and the child is otherwise occupied with guests that have already arrived, then the mother should accept the gift for him/her and place it with the others.

These days, the adult tends to take care of the greetings and the placement of gifts, and I'm included in that habit for sure.  But, wouldn't it be nice if we taught our children proper greetings like these and expected nothing less of them than to thank their guests for being thoughtful and coming to the party?

Another dilemma that we experience these days is when the gifts should be opened.  In simpler times, the children opened gifts FIRST so that their guests and they could enjoy the surprise of what's inside and then continue on with party games and cake.  Who doesn't want presents first?  Most parties we have attended lately have the parents pack the gifts in a tub and take them home for the child to open and then send a note of thanks.  I tend to lean toward letting my daughter open gifts after cake, but while the guests are still present.  I do understand that this decision could also be determined by where the party is held.  Now, however, I think it would be grand to open the gifts first, as suggested from my reading.  What do you think?   Rude or thoughtful?  Exciting or too much excitement and the rest of the party is chaos?

Last, children should write their own thank you notes. Even if they are only old enough to write one line and sign their first name, the note should come from them, addressed to their guest.  Of course, the smaller the child, the more likely it will be that the adult will write the notes for them.  I remember that even as toddlers, I allowed my boys to scribble with a crayon in notes that we mailed.  Have you done that?

So, what do you think of then vs. now so far?    Join me on this little adventure?

Next up:  a simple party invitation remade for today.  How fun!