Jenni is a blogger and marketing professional in Portland, Oregon. A Well Crafted Party is a blog about all the little things to celebrate in life. Follow Jenni or A Well Crafted Party with BlogLovin, RSS feed, Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest.
Vacations are necessary. I suck at taking them. It never fails that I work some or actually take a vacation from work to work on another project. Well, recently, the husband and/or I had to take some time off to be with our kids as school was out for Parent-Teacher conferences and holidays. We decided that since we had to take time off anyway, we would make the most of it. So, after scouring Air BnB for a few hours we booked a trip to The VIP Lounge at Cave B Ridge. We had so much fun, I just had to share.
Note: This is not a sponsored post. Whether sponsored or not, I always share my real thoughts, but I also value transparency. I just really liked this location, enjoyed my stay, and wanted to share.
My goals for this vacation were three-fold:
Relax somewhere beautiful. I wanted a beautiful space and a beautiful view.
Spend time with the family. There needed to be family-friendly activities nearby.
All me to be creative and get some computer time in. Yep, a vacation for me has to include the opportunity (at least) to do something creative that I love. I wanted to be able to write some on this vacation. I also knew I’d need wifi. Which, you know… isn’t too difficult these days, but it was a requirement none-the-less.
I discovered The VIP Lounge at Cave B Ridge by perusing Air BnB. Cave B Ridge is located near Quincy, Washington which is about 2 hours and 25 minutes from Spokane and about 2 and a half hours from Seattle. It is near the large amphitheater, The Gorge Amphitheater.
The views at this rental were insane. Waking up each morning and pushing the button to raise the shades was my favorite part of the whole thing. Walking from the rental in the middle of vineyards to the tasting room and to gorgeous hiking? Even better!
Favorite Touches in a Vacation Rental
I think that the designer of this particular rental could give lessons on how to create a beautiful, functional, and thoughtful space! Read on to see my favorite touches.
Coffee Station
Okay, okay… I know that nearly every rental has a drip system of some sort. Some of the things I enjoyed about this rental was that they not only had a automatic drip coffee maker but also an espresso maker and french press. They also had a selection of coffees available for use.
At the very basic, I think that it is very much appreciated when I am doing a rental to have a coffee maker and a couple of days worth of supplies. At the very least (pet peeve of mine) have filters for your coffee maker. I’ve been to so many rentals where a coffee maker is listed, I bring my own coffee, but they have no filters for their coffee maker. There are a variety of sizes and kinds of filters so its something you can’t really prep for in advance.
Great Linens
I get why a lot of rentals have crappy linens. Things go missing or get ruined. It happens. This rental had what I believe to be Ikea, but they were of a great quality! The towels were large and thick. The sheets were so comfortable. The comforters and pillows had a great weight. I think there are several places to grab good linens on the cheap including Ikea but also discount stores such as Marshalls, TJ Maxx, and Home Goods. It’s worth it!
Adequate and Beautiful Kitchen Supplies
I love to cook when I do a vacation rental. If my plan is to eat out the entire time then I’ll just rent a hotel room. Part of the experience, for me, of a vacation rental is cooking in another kitchen and eating in another dining space. This kitchen had all of the essentials (pretty sure most of which was picked up at Ikea) but it was also really beautifully put together. I loved their choices in dishware!
Entertainment Options
Sure, make sure there is Wifi and a TV. One of the great parts of this rental was that it also had a record player with records and musical instruments–in which they encouraged us to play! Board games, coloring stuff for kids, beach toys (if near the ocean), or yard games are such fun touches for vacation rentals that sets them apart from what you can get at a hotel.
What do you look for in a vacation rental? Share below!
I’m one of those people who loves quotes. I find them inspiring as cheesy as that may sound. “If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done,” shared by Thomas Jefferson felt like the perfect quote for me right now. It was also the perfect quote to start a new series on the blog! Every Monday stop by the blog (or my Instagram) to grab some free downloadable inspiration!
I’ve had this blog nearly ten years now. It has gone through so many changes as my life has also changed. Over the past couple of years, I’ve really dialed back my sharing because life and my career have certainly taken precedence. However, with the ten year anniversary coming around soon… well, let’s just say that I have been feeling nostalgic. I’ve been feeling grateful. And, I’ve been inspired!
Quote of the Week Downloads: “If you want something you’ve never had, you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.”
These are free downloads for you to enjoy, share, use. These are not meant for resale. You may use them on your social media platforms or your blogs with credit back to me. I would so appreciate you tagging me @JenniBost on Instagram or Twitter and /AWellCraftedParty on Facebook!
To use:
Click on the desired link below to open the image in your browser. Right click and download to your computer (or hold down and click save to save on your device).
To use the desktop organizers open your computer’s system preferences to use as desktop background. (Mac Instructions or PC Instructions)
To use on Instagram, save the images on your device and then upload to share on Instagram. Please tag @JenniBost to provide credit.
If you are analog like me download the printable PDF To Do List to use this week! Print in full color, fit to print. Or, if you use GoodNotes, download the PDF and import it into your GoodNotes app for a fun new digital planner background. (Tips on how to utilize PDFs on GoodNote.)
I hope you enjoy these new downloads and will join me each week as I share more. Happy Monday… may it be the start of something you’ve never done before!
My four year old was very particular about his party theme this year. This was the first year for him to have a “friend” party inviting neighborhood kids and his classmates. He wanted desperately to combine his two loves… superheroes and unicorns. Done…with joy I might add. I loved this theme!
This is a LONG post… if you don’t have time, but want to get the TLDR version, scroll down to the very bottom for the biggest takeaways!
We had so many kids that we had to have two tables set up. The floor table was set for older kids to enjoy a selection of cereals and treats.
His birthday falls into a really busy time for us. I traveled for work at the end of October and followed it with our annual Halloween party. Then my husband traveled for work the week between the Halloween party and his birthday. It was nuts.
Though life felt super crazy at this time, I really didn’t want his birthday to feel like it was an inconvenience or a second thought. Thankfully, we kept decor to a few installations and I was able to get it together with the help of a VERY good friend who was up with me til midnight blowing up balloons and creating a streamer rainbow.
Unicorn Superhero Birthday Party
Unicorns are incredibly popular right now. So are superheroes. Unicorn superheroes? A tad harder to find! I had fun creating the theme design. The decor, while impactful, was pretty simple in concept: streamers, confetti, and a whole lot of balloons!
I chose to do a balloon floor because what would be more fun for a four year old than a room full of balloons! It served as both a party activity AND decor. Because the balloons were on the floor I didn’t have to use any helium and they lasted for nearly two months. We created balloon garlands out of them after this party and used them for a party a full month later at another location and they still looked pretty great.
Rainbows were an easy way to please all who were involved. I loved the unicorn party supplies from Target.
Unicorn Superhero Birthday Party Decor Supplies
Note: All of the below links are affiliate links. Affiliate links give a small portion of a purchase to me if you purchase anything on this list. It is at no extra cost to you, but it does help support this blog. Thank you for supporting our blog.
Unicorn Straws – Target
Enchanted Forest Snack Plate – Target
Coordinating bowls, spoons, and napkins. Target, it is a one-stop shop!
Balloons – These days I make my own balloon garlands and such and have quite the collection of balloons. Amazon is my go to for balloons and I buy multiple sizes and store what I don’t use for later use. Unless you host often or have a ton of storage, I’d suggest getting a multi-color pack of balloons in a single size for the floor and a balloon garland kit in white for the cloud.
See all the Enchanted Forest party items from Target. Many of these would come together to make the sweetest party!
A view of the space before I added the fruit tray to the coffee table. The balloons were the biggest draw, but I also love the backdrop!
Making the rainbow wall backdrop
I knew I wanted a backdrop that would draw the eye when guests walked into the space. A friend came over and helped me get it up the night before the party so I really got to surprise my kiddo with it as well!
Cut streamers in a variety of colors to the same length at the size you want for your backdrop. Ours was about 7.5 feet tall. Attach to wall using painter’s tape. We chose to just make it multicolored the whole way through, but you could also decide to do it in big chunks of color in the colors/order of colors of the rainbow.
Create balloon garland out of white balloons and hang from ceiling. I used bakers twine and pins to attach it. The balloons were light weight enough that it didn’t take much effort. Try to center the balloons over the space where you have your rainbow streamers to cover up the painter’s tape as much as possible.
Choose your own cereal and donuts for the win!
Superhero Unicorn Birthday Party Food
Knowing I’d have a house full of kids and parents… I wanted to keep food pretty kid-friendly and simple to make. I decided to host a breakfast party!
These egg bites were so easy to make. I bought pre-cooked pastry shells and filled them with an egg mixture. One was vegetarian and the other had ham.
We hosted the party in the morning and served a variety of cereals, donuts, and fruit for the kiddos. I had a couple of varieties of milk (both dairy and non) and some allergy-friendly cereals. For the adults I served a big bowl of boiled eggs (many kids liked these too), egg bites, salad, fruit, and donuts. Drinks for the kids were milks and juices. The adults had mimosas and coffee. The donuts served as the birthday cake as well as a fun piece of decor.
Mimosa bar
Superhero Unicorn Birthday Party Activities
In my mind the story of this party was that the kids would come in as the wonderful unicorns they are and then learn how to be unicorn superheroes in our superhero training. Wrangling 16 kids for structured activities in a small space was a bit overwhelming, but the parents (and their kiddos) were SO amazing and game for anything that it really worked out well.
This is one happy 4 year old. 😀
Kids began the party by playing in the balloons until the majority of everyone was in attendance. We then ate breakfast. After breakfast we moved the plates away and used the table space to create our superhero costumes.
Laser obstacle course as part of unicorn superhero training
I found unicorn horns (affiliate link), superhero masks, and capes (affiliate link) affordably on Amazon. The capes and masks came with stickers that the kids were able to use to decorate their costumes. I tell you… there is nothing cuter than a bunch of excited little unicorn superheroes.
After the craft activity we explained the rules of the superhero training course. We got four parent volunteers to help with this process. It made it even more fun for the kids when they saw their parents participate.
Bad guys getting caught!
Two of the adults were our “bad guys” and they dressed up in black masks and had a bag of “stolen” goodies. I bought little bad guy kits (affiliate link) to make it look more authentic and filled the bags with unicorn party favors (affiliate link). The bad guys were instructed to do all of the activities FIRST so the kids could follow them.
Unicorn Superhero Warm Up: The kids followed my husband down the stairs to our family room where they had to do warm ups for the course. My oldest son led them in a series of easy exercises.
Crawling: The kids then had to crawl through a tunnel (affiliate link- I love these things!) to get to their accuracy training.
Accuracy Training: Two of the adult volunteers put on these outrageously funny unicorn hats (affiliate link) and the kids had to ring the unicorn before passing to the next part of the course.
Laser Obstacle Course: Streamers substituted as lasers for this Entrapment-esque challenge. It worked really well in our wide but long mudroom. I could see it also working in a hallway!
Catch the Bad Guys: The final challenge was to catch the bad guys! The bad guys led the way upstairs again where they sat down for a break. The unicorn superheroes then captured them by tying them to their chairs using streamers. Giggles ensued!
It all ended with the kids getting to get a favor from the robber’s bags. In the end, I feel like this was a super fun party!
I threw on this dress at the last minute because it was so colorful… at the end of the party we realized that I matched!
TLDR: Party Highlights
Breakfast time parties make for easy, kid-friendly foods! Keep it simple… cereal, donuts, and fruit were a total hit. Don’t forget the adults with some coffee and more savory items.
Four year olds don’t care about the fancy decor. Balloons, streamers, and confetti doubled as both party activities and decor.
Get the parents involved in the activities. It will make the kids more likely to participate and everyone will have a good time. Keep their participation super simple.
Putting together your own superhero unicorn party? Shop the supplies above (or from the box below) and help this blogger bring more fun ideas.
Cheers to all the unicorn superheroes out there. May your day be as unique and fun as my four-year-old is! If you liked this party please do me the favor of sharing on your favorite social media site. It really helps me create more content like this.
