.jpg "This Little Miggy || Hamilton Themed Birthday Party")
Hi guys! I’ve been taking a very purposeful break as I’m striving to really live and be in the moment with my kids this summer. I know some of you have been missing the spotlight and other regular content (thanks for caring!) that being said it has been such a refreshing and wonderful change of pace for me let go of the blog for a bit. I’m still trying to get it cleaned up (some of you may have noticed some of the links and pages are looking a little janky these days) and I’m hoping to be a bit more regular around here in the fall, but for right now the occasional when-I-really-feel-like-it post feels great. You can always keep up with me on Instagram! XO Miggy
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Lamp turned 9 earlier this month and she decided that she wanted a roller skating party. She also wanted a Hamilton themed party. Now rollerskating and Hamilton don’t really seem to go together, but if you think about it, they still do not go together… like, at all. Not even a little bit. But nevertheless, she persisted.
The good news is the activity was all taken care of–roller skating. We had actually thought about having the party at our housed and discussed such amazing ideas as having nerf gun duels (definitely not something we felt comfortable doing at a kids’ party), having a red coat vs blue coats water balloon fight (technically still war themed, but felt a little less gun violence-y), and a lip sync contest which might have been amazing. But for a variety of reasons (mommy tired) we quickly supported the mixed-medium of a Hamilton themed roller skating party. Which meant the only things we really had to do were come up with some decorations and a fun party favor..jpg "This Little Miggy || Hamilton Themed Birthday Party")
I must take a minute to talk about the fact that if you had told me years ago that A) Lamp would not be walking by the time she was 9 years old and B) but she was going to have a rollerskating birthday party I would have been hella confused. But a few years back she went to her friends rollerskating party using the walker she uses at school and it was a hit! She had the best time ever. Once again we borrowed the walker from school and it was so fun to see Lamp rolling around the rink with her friends (surpassing them mostly because the kids don’t skate these days. Apparently it’s no longer a thing to drop off your 3rd grader at the roller skating rink on a Friday night and pick them up hours later like our parents did in the days of yore. Just me?) And after the initial fall of one young girl that resulted in tears I was worried that we might actually end up with someone getting stitches or breaking a wrist. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. And I’m not gonna lie, it was fun to see Lamp out there excelling at a physical activity on par (and in many ways above) the rest of her friends.
I showed some of the party decor on Instagram and thought it would be fun to share what I did here, as well as the sources and even a downloadable PDF file of the Hamilton bookmarks I made! It was actually pretty easy and with the trifecta of my Silhouette cutting machine, Amazon and PicMonkey I was able to bring these elements together rather quickly. Oh and lets not forget the ACLU. They helped too.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, but having a Silhouette has been a game changer for birthday parties. I’ve been able to customize party decor and favors with ease. I’m really not well versed with all my silhouette can do–I seriously only use 3 or 4 of the edit buttons in the program–but even with my limited knowledge it works wonders. I’ve used it for our Harry Potter party, a Moana themed party, and I made a pretty great cake topper for this safari party when Lamp was 5! (tears!).jpg "This Little Miggy || Hamilton Themed Birthday Party")
This time I took it even easier by ordering a lot of decor on-line like this glitter gold star banner, this black and gold party set and even these Hamilton stickers. Then I went to Party City and grabbed some gold plates, black cups, black napkins. some stripey straws and a couple of black tablecloths. Using my Silhouette and some gold contact paper I already had on hand I made little Hamilton stickers to put on all the cups. Done and done. (Also, I wrote the kids names on the stickers so that they could keep track of their cups.).jpg "This Little Miggy || Hamilton Themed Birthday Party")
.jpg "This Little Miggy || Hamilton Themed Birthday Party")
Next the party favors: I got the kids pocket Constitutions from the ACLU. POCKET CONSTITUTIONS that I decorated with either a Hamilton or Schuyler Sisters sticker and that included a Hamilton bookmark inside. I’m not gonna lie, I was pretty proud of myself for this one. Personally I hate giving + receiving cheap party crap. It’s like this ritual where we all understand we’re going to do this exchange of goods that is 100% destined for the trash, but you have to do it. And I realize that these could also end up in the trash, but I feel like parents are at least going to pause a second before doing it…. like a good, healthy “Is it OK to throw a copy of the US Constitution in the trash?” kind of pause. And hey, maybe some kids will actually keep them and read it. I certainly could use a brush up.
Several people asked me about the bookmarks and I designed them myself on PicMonkey, a free web-based design tool. (I actually pay the yearly fee to use the upgraded version.) Again, super easy. And I’ve got the downloadable PDF file for you right here! Enjoy! Hamilton Bookmarks
It was a super fun, low key (to plan) party and I love that I get to celebrate this girl year after year. She is a gift of pure joy. We certainly are the lucky ones.
XO,
Miggy
This sounds like a great birthday party! And love, love, love the idea of giving kids a pocket constitution. I hope this doesn’t sound too treacly, but Lamp is a gift for all of us. I’ve certainly had my eyes opened to the world of limb differences. A few months ago my son was playing in a soccer tournament where one of the side officials was a young man with limb differences. My 10 year old daughter later commented that she felt so bad for him, how sad. It was a good opportunity for me to have a discussion with her. I pointed out that he was very clearly doing just fine, nothing to feel bad about. He was out there doing just what the side judge is supposed to do, with his flag indicating if the ball had gone out, who had possession, etc. And I’m sure when he’s not on the field he’s a student, and on weekends is running around with his friends having fun. The same was as she does.
My son obviously didn’t notice any differences, he complained about this official, as he did (and does) ALL the officials, not knowing what they’re doing. 😉
This is a pure gem. She is a gift of pure joy – love this sentence. Its always inspiring and entertaining to read your articles. Waiting for your next post of 2020.
What is your Instagram? I have tried to find you there! (@thislittlemiggy does not seem to work…or the link in your sidebar?)