BD's 1st Birthday!

We just celebrated Bailey Drew's 1st Birthday this past weekend!  Some time ago I shared how we planned to do this birthday on a budget… under $100 to be exact.   And guess what… we did her birthday for under $100… for over 60 people!   We are so blessed with great family and friends!  And we had SOOOOOO much fun! Here are some of the things we did.  The 2 biggest pieces of advise if you are trying to do a birthday on a budget.

1) Use what you already have.  We matched our color scheme and theme to BD's nursery (yellow and gray "You are My Sunshine :)")… so we already had almost all the decor supplies.  I also used some food items we already had.   2)Keep it simple.  As you go through the process to will see a million + 1 things you need to add… you don't actually need them… don't go overboard!

So here is a synopsis of our party budget break down… like I said it was such a fun day!

Gifts: So we intended to ask guests to donate to Samaritan's Purse or World Vision in lieu of gifts.  We ended up putting Word Vision on the invites, but accepted donations in lieu of gifts to any charity. 

On your gift table make a scannable code so people can give right there at your party.  

 It is exciting to say that we raised over $300 for those in need through various charities!

When it comes to the gifts we were going to give BD… I got a coupon to make the album and didn't even get around to getting the supplies to make the map of missionaries… oh well.  Maybe by her next birthday;)

Spent $14 + giving

Outfit:  Soooooo… Andrew's mom bought us this sweet dress off of ETSY… so we didn't have to. 

Let's talk about how this is the cutest outfit ever.  

 I also got this sweet shirt from the IttyBitPress (also on ETSY). A sweet friend of ours makes heat pressed shirts and you should support her business too!  Any ways, I also made BD a tutu.  It was super cute, but more expensive than I thought.  I actually had to go back to Hobby Lobby and buy more tulle, so I definitely spent more than expected in this category! 

Simply take a piece of elastic and and tie pieces of tulle on it at the length you want… That simple.  For he high chair we hot glued it on and it came right off!

Spent $25

Food:

My mama and I made chocolate, vanilla and lemon cupcakes… and they were really good if I do say so myself! We also made a smash cake for Bails. We had tea, water and coffee to drink.  Simple and sweet.  We put the cupcakes in the shape of a sun :).  This was probably the biggest surprise.  It is AMAZING how cheap and delisious homemade cupcakes are!

Spent $20

Invites:

Loved the invites.  I used my ittbitpress design and put it on a simple picture invite!  Ordered and sent them out.  We also posted on Facebook.

Spent $20 

Decor: We used a lot of what we already had, since the theme of her party is the theme of the nursery.  Below you can see all of our decor with descriptions!

These are the easiest centerpieces ever.  Take simple mason jars (that you can reuse for any and very even you ever have).  Cut pieces of colored card stalk and fold accordion style and stack in jars.  Use a cake pop stick and mount pictures on it (I did a newborn pic and an older picture on the other side so you could see the contrast).  Put the stick in the jar and viola! :)

Our "memory wall"

Great and easy alternative to those chalkboard memory boards.  Back a window with colored card-stalk.  Write directly on the window using dry erase.  We just used  window we already had in our house for decoration!

month by month display

Decor taken right out of the nursery...

More decor taken right out of the nursery...

Easy month by month display… I late put these pics in the baby book!

Ou "giving table."

Easy welcome to the party sign.  This is now hanging in the nursery repurposed as a bow holder!

Spent $20
All in all… it was a FANTASTIC celebration! :)

How do you throw a party on a budget without going overboard???

Quinoa Stuffed Roasted Red Peppers

Sooooo... as many of you know I don't really cook. We simply survive on a stockpile of freezer meals and eggs (seriously we probably eat more eggs than any family I know).

I thought this year, I thought I would begin my adventure of learning to love to cook... but it just didn't happen.

I did however cook this real meal last week and a tray of kale chips (and two trays of burnt kale chips... but we aren't going to talk about that:)).

Anyways... This is my recipe for Quinoa Stuffed Roasted Red Peppers.

I will be honest, even though I don't cook much, I didn't use a recipe (this might be why my cooking is so hit or miss).  I just remember my mom make stuffed green peppers with rice as a kid and I thought… I could do that with red peppers and Quinoa:)

one

So first I browned a little ground beef and drained it.  Then I mixed it in a bowl with a can of stewed tomatoes.  I mixed in some spices (seriously, don't ask me how much… I don't even know… maybe I will measure next time ::).  I added Italian seasoning, garlic powder and ground cayenne pepper (we like everything spicy in our house, even BD).

two

While doing step one I put about a cup and a half of Quinoa on the stove (water to quinoa ration is 2:1 just so you know) and let it simmer for about 20 minutes… basically until it was done.  I also cleaned and cut the red peppers.  As you can see I did mine "boat" style.  This was not culinary genius, but rather my peppers were really long and skinny and they fit better in the pan this way.  And hindsight I also like how they provided more roasted red pepper per bite… and the look!

Three

One the quinoa was cooked I added it to the mixture.

four

Stuffed my peppers and threw them in the oven for about an hour at 350 (for me it was a little longer than an hour… I had some crispy quinoa edges if you look closely).

five

When they were about done I threw some cheese on top and let them broil for a minute while the cheese melted (watch very closely and don't le go to long or you ail have a burnt mess in your oven… sad but true!).

six

Enjoy! 

Linking up with meal plan monday at the organizing junkie!!!

Clear the Pantry Challenge!

I don't think that I have really mentioned it here yet, but our word for the year around the Skelton household is   S I M P L I F Y.

I promise I will be writing about where our hearts are soon… and I am a little out of order, because I am going to go ahead and tell you about an action having to do with this word.  That's just the way it is!
Anyways… one thing that I notice is that we have tons of food in our pantry… it got me thinking, I bet we could go a whole month just using the stuff we have for meals.  Save the money, clear the pantry, simplify… thus our

This is what I did…

1.  Made a list of everything in the pantry, fridge and freezer

2. Planned a month's worth of meals using what we have.

3.  Got the bare essentials at the grocery store (seriously just the bare essentials… I spent $17 and some change).

Here's the Plan

1. Follow the plan. 2.  Only buy produce and milk as needed.

Have you ever done this?  You want to join me?