Party Unicorns

Children party stationary and decorations inspired by their favourite storybook!

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Animal Crossing Birthday Party Ideas: A guide to organising your own party Animal Crossing Style!

Animal Crossing New Horizons officially sold over 35.8 million copies worldwide as of March 31, 2021 (one year since launch)!!  This virtual life simulation game has become so popular that ‘islanders’ near and far want to bring the island vibes to life and celebrate their birthdays in Animal Crossing style!  

Virtual Animal Crossing Birthday Party! 🎉 🎈 

In-game Animal Crossing villagers throw a special birthday party for you (the island resident) on your actual birthday! Check out this link for what happens in-game on your special day!  We have incorporated this in-game feature with our virtual celebration this year, allowing even friends who are unfamiliar with the game to enjoy the party! 

1. Stream your Animal Crossing in-game birthday party online! 

I am not tech savvy at all, but after some research on google, I’ve found an easy way to connect our Nintendo Switch to the laptop, enabling sharing of the Switch screen over Zoom or Google Meets! I’ve purchased a video capture card through Amazon (like this one) and connected the Switch dock to my laptop through an HDMI cable. 

I found Google meets an easier platform to use to stream your external source as the software automatically detects the external video source without the need of another third party software! 

Once you are all set up, the participants of your virtual party can join in and follow along as you celebrate your birthday with your virtual villagers! 

2. Play a game of BINGO! 

To engage friends to participate in a virtual birthday party requires some creativity and pre-planning!  By utilising the in game spinning wheels, I’ve designed a game of bingo where the host can ‘draw’ the numbers real time and others can download the game board to play along! 

There are a few different style of spinning wheels in Animal Crossing New Horizons but I’ve chosen to use these two to create my bingo cards:

Get your copy of printable Animal Crossing Birthday Bingo cards here!! ACNH Birthday Bingo Cards

3. Animal Crossing Flight Pass!!! 

Create a one-of-a-kind birthday invitation and incorporate your virtual party details on a special boarding pass with Dodo airlines!  We’ve personalised each invite by hand writing the guests’ names on them. These boarding passes created so much hype ! They don’t only look amazing, but are functional as well because they contain the log-in link for the virtual party! 

You can design your own here: DAL Boarding Pass- Animal Crossing Party Invite

4. Animal Crossing Party MUST - Balloon Gift! 🎁 🎈

Every day on your island, secret presents carried by balloons drift across your land and you stop whatever you are doing to grab a sling shot to shoot it down in hopes to get a rare DIY recipe you don’t already have! Your Animal Crossing themed party is not complete without a Balloon Gift!  There are so many different methods to re-create the balloon gifts and we’ve decided to deliver balloon gifts to every guest of our virtual party! 

Why did we send party favors to guests of a virtual party? Because its FUN! Sending loot bags to your guests creates anticipation for the party and a little bit of excitement for what’s to come! Here’s a peek into what we have included in our balloon party gift topped with a red helium balloon! 

Dodo Airline Boarding Pass Party Invite 

Personalised chip bag

Themed stickers

'Bell bag” of candy

Mini decorative magnets

DIY Bottle Hand Sanitizer 

BINGO game card

Balloon Gift filled with themed goodies! 

Hand Lettering X Animal Crossing Stickers! 

Custom mini decorative magnets!

Custom Chip Bag Designed by @partyunicornstudio 

The hand made “Bell Bags” filled with candies are made from burlap roll and decorated with a gold foil star! @partyunicornstudio

5. Party Decorations! 

We love a more contemporary look so we kept it simple with a ‘moss’ like backdrop which was simply a green throw blanket from Ikea hung on the wall with 3M removable / paint safe hooks! A custom modern banner was all that was needed to complete the look!  

Large cardboard cutouts are always great as they can be moved around easily to decorate the space and they are also great for taking photos! We have created our own life size Tom Nook cutout and he is absolutely adorable! It was a last minute decision to bring in Tom Nook so we utilised the “Same Day Printing” service from Staples and were able to DIY this life size Tom Nook with glue tape and foam board from the dollar store! 

6. Cake Cake Cake!

The birthday girl DEMANDED an ice cream cake (and specifically a cookies and cream ice-cream cake from Baskin-Robins!). This really limited my cake option 🙈Nevertheless, we found this “GIANT” cupcake ice-cream cake which fits nicely to the Animal Crossing theme because....guess what?? The birthday boy/girl gets “Birthday Cupcakes” from their virtual party in the game!! 

We had so much fun planning for this party and were able to connect with other island owners through this virtual gathering! This “virtual-virtual” birthday party took a while to prepare for but it’s all worth the sweat seeing how everything tied in so well! Hope this inspired you to plan your own Animal Crossing birthday party and leave me a comment if you like the inspo! 

PartyUnicorns

[partyunicornstudio]

Easter Bunny Catcher Kids Activity

Snow is melting and the weather is finally getting warmer (maybe?).  I know my bunny has home has been extra active this week so it must be indication that Spring is around the corner! 

For my fellow craft loving DIY moms, I’ve created a cute Easter bunny catcher printable AND a follow along video so you can spend an afternoon crafting with your little one and maybe even create your own little puppet show! 

Download FREE template here.

Each sheet is setup to make two catcher! Create a blue and pink bunny or mix and match their ears and feet for a different look!

Simple to make and a good little activity for little ones to work on their cutting and fine motor skills! Follow along this step by step instruction and create your own bunny catcher! 

https://youtu.be/St3p50A4x9s

Step 1: Download Free Template Here

Step 2: Cut out the two squares, ears and feet

Step 3: Pick which color bunny you want to make and fold the paper in half. It doesn’t matter which way at this point as we are only making a crease for later use.

Step 4: Unfold the paper, turn it and fold in half the other way.

Step 5: Open up the paper and you should see creases like this:

Step 6: Turn the paper with color side facing down. Pick one corner and fold it towards the center point of the crease.

Step 6: Do the same for the rest of the three corners.

Step 7: Once all four corners are folded in, turn the paper upside down and take a corner and fold it towards the center again.

Step 8: Fold all four corners towards the center again and you should end up with an even smaller square. 

Step 9: Fold the square in half to make a crease

Step 10: The crease you’ve just made help you ‘pop’ up the catcher! Put two fingers on the same hand into the flap and push gently towards center to pop it up.

Step 11: Glue the ears on above the eyes. I like to glue it behind the paper but you can pick where you’d like the ears to go.

Step 12: Glue to feet on! I like to put one on each side!

Ta-Da! That was easy! 

These are fun and easy to make and can be great little puppets for story time! Easter is around the corner so pair these with your favorite Easter themed books for little bed time story fun!

Party Unicorn Studio specialises in themed party decorations and activities. There is always something free to share with fellow crafter moms + dads. Subscribe to the page for monthly DIY ideas and special activities. Check out our social accounts for daily inspiration!  

https://www.instagram.com/partyunicorns/

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How to Draw Cute Holiday Tree (Mommy + Baby Series)

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It’s Time to Write to Santa!🎅🏼

We are well into November and the holiday spirits are everywhere! From Christmas tunes on the radio to the seasonal aisles in Costco, Christmas will be here before we know it! 

Every year I help my daughter write to Santa. This family tradition started before she was able to write on her own! From her first ‘scribbles’, to her SK years learning to spell...it is a tradition that brings much joy and hope to one of happiest celebration in the year!  Over the years her letters to Santa looks more like a “Wish list” from the toy store 🤦🏻‍♀️! 

Here is her learning to spell out words for her letter to Santa with the Montessori letter box I’ve made for her. 

Year 2020 is a different year. It is a year full of challenges and uncertainties, a year where it may be difficult for some to find joy. The concept of “Giving” is more important than ever before, and it is time my daughter understands that “giving” does not mean “gifting to her”. Getting into the Christmas spirit is easy, understanding the true meaning of Christmas requires us (parents) to deliver the proper message. This year, as we continue our family tradition of writing to Santa, we are talking about true spirits of Christmas:

"to give up one's very self – to think only of others – how to bring the greatest happiness to others – that is the true meaning of Christmas."

PartyUnicorn is happy to share the letter template we use this year to write to Santa🎁 I’ve made a version for younger children as well! Feel free to download it from the 100% free section of my site. 

🎅🏼👉🏻 https://partyunicorn.ecwid.com/100-Free-c64207169

Template is pre-addressed to Santa's mail box in the North Pole as per Canada Post! Make sure to mail it in before December 10 to receive a reply from Santa (through Canada Post) before Christmas!

Looking for a deluxe reply from Santa? Check out our Personalised Santa Letter complete with gold foil letterhead, wax seal and special designed envelope from: https://partyunicorn.ecwid.com/Personalised-Letter...

Happy Holidays!

[partyunicornstudio]

How to Draw Cute Mommy + Baby Lollies

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Halloween during the year of COVID

One of the most asked questions on local parents’ facebook groups in the past week is: What are you doing for Halloween? Are you going out for Trick or Treating? The question is usually followed by comments such as “Not looking for a debate on the topic...” or “No judgement please” 🤪 

Every halloween weekend for the past 8 years our family has been gathering with a group of friends with young children to go trick or treating from house to house in a neighbourhood full of small children and known to give out the good candies and chips~ yum Lays~~  Halloween will look a lot different this year as our local officials are discouraging traditional trick or treating, but Halloween is NOT cancelled! We just have to think about creative ways to have fun with our little ones 🎃.

🌈👉🏻  Decoration around the house kicking in the spirit of Halloween!

Trick or Treating from door to door (At Home👻)

The best part about trick or treating at home is that you only get the treats you really like! For us is Smarties, Twix, and mini Oreo’s! There will be no leftover candies this year (another plus) 😆

To add a little fun to the game, I created these double sided tags to stick on the door of each room.  The task listed must be complete before they are rewarded with a treat! 

FREE download available:

Claim your Free Trick or Treat game! 

https://partyunicorn.ecwid.com/Trick-or-Treat-at-Home-Game-p250599490

This super cute at home Trick or Treat is super easy to put together! Just print double sided and cut out the 6 ‘tasks’! I use a hole puncher and ribbon to hang each tag outside the room door and keep the door close for a little added suspense🎃 You can even go the extra mile to decorate the last room with spooky music and lights and an EXTRA LARGE TREAT! 

FREE download available:

Claim your Free Trick or Treat game!

https://partyunicorn.ecwid.com/Trick-or-Treat-at-Home-Game-p250599490

Have a fun and safe Halloween!! 🎃 👻 

[partyunicornstudio]

How to Draw Strawberry Pocky

[partyunicornstudio]

To Sticker or not to Sticker

If you follow my motherhood and party planning journey on instagram PartyUnicorns , you'd know that I love to doodle, and love all things cute and colorful.  Life has been kind of hectic and chaotic as we are trying to work through another year of virtual schooling 🤪. Although not always possible, I like to carve out time to doddle on my ipad, as a quick escape of reality.  I’ve always wanted to built up my clip art library and find a way to incorporate my doddles with Party Unicorn Studio ❤️ 

Why not start a sticker business? 

It seem so easy and straight forward, doesn’t it? There are so many successful sticker businesses out there! Logistic and mailing issues are at a minimum since packages are small and light weight. Applications are endless and who doesn’t love stickers? Right? 

So I thought....

Turns out it is not as easy as it seems and a WHOLE LOT of preparation and planning are needed before the first prototype comes to life! 

The Creative Process 

Do you have something you are passionate about? A video game? A cartoon? or perhaps a book? Do you already have your owns style of design? Or perhaps you are an expert hand lettering artist. Something that speaks “you” and sparks “joy” is often a good starting point. For me, I am no expert in any of the above mentioned so I am still in search of my own style...while my work will change from time to time, I always try to stick to the same feeling and theme of Party Unicorns : Colorful, Cute, and Motherhood. 

Sales Channel - the easy way

The million dollar question😃 Where do people shop for stickers? Other than instagram and Etsy, is there another go-to place for unique stickers? I came across @redbubble​ and they offer a super easy to use and simple platform for graphic designers and artists to upload their designs! The site offers a good variety of product options and a super user friendly interface to adjust your design layout to fit the product. Since my focus is on stickers, it was great to see that they offer three options for sticker paper: Matte, Glossy, & Transparent! Pricing determined by the site is reasonable and offers a headache free experience for those looking to take a dabble into the on-line sticker business. 

Check out my store here! https://www.redbubble.com/people/PartyUnicorn/

The Serious Seller

While the ‘pre-fab’ options offer a simple solution, if you are looking to provide your clients with a more customised option, then more leg work is required...and this is the stage I am currently in 🤪. How to print? Where to print? What sticker paper to use? Should they be waterproof? Is there a standard size? So many questions with very few answers!  Like everything else in life, there is no ‘one size fit all’ option and the method you choose to develop your business will depend very much on the resources you have access to, and the limitations you face.  

If you are planning to offer many different designs, then perhaps it would make more economical sense to utilise your existing printer (unless you don’t mind holding onto an excessive amount of stock).  Many at home printers offers excellent printing quality and can be adapted to various different printing needs. 

Which cutting machine do you use? Whether it is the  Sillioute cutting machine or the Cricut machine, you’ll need to know that there will be a size limitation on the paper size the machine will take - this will have a direct impact on your sticker sizing and layout options. 

Paper sourcing is the BIG question. Sticker paper bought from conventional stationary stores like the Avery labels are of good quality but very expensive. They also have a branded backing (of the paper’s own brand) which is not the most professional way to showcase your work. Amazon has many sticker paper options but very often receive mixed reviews, making it very difficult to narrow down your options. Furthermore, even if you find the perfect sticker paper, there really is no guarantee that they will offer a constant supply of the same type of paper. 

After hours of research I came across www.onlinelabels.com  which seems promising as a good supplier of quality sticker paper!  A link on their homepage takes you directly to the variety of blank 8.5x11 sticker paper ordering page with 37 different options ranging from standard white matte to gold foil! I’ve placed an order through them and can’t wait to show you the results of my own creations! 

[partyunicornstudio]

Birthday Party ZOOM style!

Just because we can’t be together in person doesn’t mean the celebration has to stop! Like many other families, we have been celebrating birthdays over Zoom, FaceTime, Google Meet....and a million other apps that have made our ‘lock down’ life more ‘lively’ 🥳  

We have chosen @home​ learning this semester and even though our class sizes has reduced drastically  (Thanks to the tremendous work done by the school), we have already had 3 birthdays in the last week! If you love to celebrate birthdays like us, then you may like these large #hashtag signs we use to spark up the celebrations! Even if you are over a tiny screen, you can still send LARGE and BOLD birthday wishes digitally! 

These BOLD Hashtag signs comes as a set of 5: #PARTY #CELEBRATE #BIRTHDAY #AIRHUGS and most importantly #CAKE!!! They are vibrantly colorful, and made to last! Each sign is approximately 9 inches long and reinforced two times with 67lb heavy cardstock! 

Got a creative mind? They can also be use as photo props or even as a cake topper! The possibilities are endless! 

@partyunicornstudio​ provides extraordinary designs and customisation options to spice up your party! Visit https://partyunicorn.ecwid.com to see their newest designs or hit “Ask me anything” button on top to get in touch! 

[lifeofmother]

Virtual Learning Success.  Back-to-School Desk Organisation

With back to school plans in full swing and days away from the new school term, there are still so many questions unanswered and details unknown. Schools and teachers are working so so hard to get ready for a safe return for those who are attending in person, and make plans for those who are continuing their learning at home. 

Our family have the luxury to work from home so we have decided to enrol our daughter to the school’s learn @home​ program. After making some serious (and not so serious) mistakes made back in March when we were all thrown into this ‘virtual learning’ model, I want to have a good fresh start in September! Last week Muji Canada offered a free virtual workshop on workspace organization, hosted by certified KonMari consultant: Randeep St.Jacques @cutterlessliving. I’m sure most of you have heard of the KonMari method in decluttering and home organization - by asking yourself the question: Does this spark JOY in your life? Randeep has expanded on the strategy to desk organization and give us some good tips on how to setup a learning space for our children that sparks JOY!  You can still view the workshop here:

Virtual Desk Organization Workshop- Muji Canada 

Learning from my own experience from March and making notes of some useful tips from the workshop, I’ve put together a list of things we’ve setup at our home to make virtual learning more successful!

1. Dedicated learning space 

We all know how easily children can get distracted. This is especially true when everyone in the house is trying to get their own sets of work done. Between pots and pans banging in the kitchen, daddy on a conference call, mommy trying to get some quite work done and little one getting their synchronous learning with 30 other kids online…there are A LOT OF NOISE around the house! Setting up a designated learning space will help little ones know that they are expected to be ‘working’/’learning’ when sitting at that space. Since mine is younger, her “JOY” space is one that is to right next to mine, that way I can help with any questions that may arise in the mids of her lessons. 

2. Stationary and supply organization

We love pretty stationary! Just looking at them sparks JOY! Take a trip to your local dollar store (The Japanese ones are the best if there is one around your area) and grab pens, sticky notes, pencil crayons and anything else your child will need for the new school year. Then make them assessable within reach by using a desktop orgasnizer like this:

We got our Poppin Desk Organizer from Staples and loves how it has big compartments at the back for large papers, and smaller compartments in the front for all the knick knacks younger children likes to keep. Most importantly, its PINK!! 

Let the child pick out their stationary! We found these triangle shaped glue sticks from a Japanese dollar store! Honestly didn’t even know this stuff existed! 

3. Divider for each subject 

This is So So SO important to help the younger ones keep their work organize at home and to avoid missing homework and deadlines. You can get a multi-subject organization from amazon: Smead Poly 10-Pocket Organizer  , or an expandable file folder depending on how much paper work your child will receive. I’ve opt for the expandable file folder and work for each subject is organized under a different tap. This allows even very young children to take responsibility over organizing their own school work, giving them more control!

4. In / Out tray 

Going back to my days working an office job, I found having an In/Out tray on the desk is the easiest way to know what needs to be done, and what has been completed. Virtual learning means A-LOT of work will have to be submitted by scanning and emailing. If your child is still learning how to scan/email, this is a good way to collect everything in one spot so you can get to them when you finally have time (it’s usually very very late in the night for me) and get them all done at once.  My little one quite like this system as it makes her feel like a ‘big girl’ working in a real office. 

5. Ergonomics 

This one is big. If they are not comfortable with the setup, they will fidget. Nevermind…they will fidget regardless!! But having a proper setup will make sure they are at the right distance from the screen, and avoid neck strains. In Ontario, Education Minister Stephen Lecce has announced that Grade 1-8 students will receive a minimum of 225 minutes of daily synchronous (”zoom style”) learning. 5 days a week will put us at 1125 minutes (18.75 hours)a week! That’s a heck lot of screen time! 

Desktop computers with a large adjustable display would be ideal. But if your child works from a laptop like mine, then I strongly suggest getting an adjustable laptop stand for them. The benefits are three-folds: 

1. It allows the monitor to be raise to their eye-level.  2. It allows you to position the screen further away (when paired with an external keyboard) and  3. It allows for airflow under the machine which means your laptop will not overheat! 

There are lots of options on Amazon but I fell in love with this collapsable version because it has a clean look and can easily be tugged away when not in use! 

6. Highlight Special Moments and Memories!

Randeep’s Workspace Orgaization workshop demonstrated the use of a clear acrylic board to post pictures and artwork that sparks JOY in the desk space. It would also be a good place to write out the week’s calendar or incorporate a to-do list! This board should be elevated or off the desk so it doesn’t take away from desk space needed to get work done.

Our space looks nothing like the above picture (Oh I wish I have the tall ceiling height and a large blank wall) but we do what we can to make our space work for us. With a little pre-planing and a whole lot of LOVE and patience, virtural learning 2020 will be #missionsuccess! 

[partyunicornstudio]

Party Season in Full Swing! 

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On my desk.

I’ve always wanted to expand my Party store to include more party favors and gift items!  Marble + Gold is such a timeless combination and I thought they would be a great addition to my store! 

These are not only gorgeous but also functional! Each 2 inch hexagon is personalize with your name or a short word of your choice (I say ‘short” because they look best with for a 6-8 letter word). The word is cut out on high shine gold foil vinyl then hand weeded + apply to surface. 

They will look great as place card for a fancy whimsical styled party when displayed with matching party utensils!  Check out these darling Gold and Marble plates from @weddingstarinc​ Check it out here!

To make them a functional keepsake for your guests, I’ve added a magnet on the back so your guest can treasure this gift for years to come! 

Check out how they are made!

Check them out @Partyunicornstudio ! 

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