Retirement Party- Snowbirding Here We Come

 Exciting news! My mom retired!! It's a snowbirding life for my parents now. They're off to spend their winters in sunny, warm, blue sky Arizona. No more damp, chilly, grey sky Oregon winters. So I threw a party, of course! 

Guests were greeted with a cactus garland I cut out of scrapbook paper and "When I Retire I'll..." cards by Small Moments. 

The burnt red wall of our dining room is the perfect colour for this party. I made the garlands by cutting shapes out of scrapbook paper and attaching them to teal  jute. Small Moments created this great backdrop for me along with more "When I Retire I will..." cards.  
If you know someone moving away for retirement or work, this backdrop can be customized to any location in the U.S. It was super simple too. I received a PDF, emailed that to my local copy center and done. 

A nod to Arizona. I covered paper mache letters in craft paper and scored this great cactus pinata from Handcrafted Parties. I saw it on her Instagram feed and snatched it up before anyone else could. 

My guests could not stop talking about these jars from Always the Occasion.  Especially the cactus one.  The glitter gives the cactus a prickly look. Too fun!

The mason jars were the perfect platform for showcasing the cupcakes. 

My parents enjoy golfing so I created greens on red velvet cupcakes and topped them with a chocolate golf ball. I fooled several of my guests with these golf balls. They had to ask if they were real. :D hee hee

Chocolate hazelnut cupcakes from scratch to represent Oregon. 

I love these cactus cookies from Delectable Baked Goods.  They've got swagger :D 

Cactus embellished straws. 

hi!!!! That's what I feel like this cute little cactus pinata is saying. I scored this one too from Handcrafted Parties. oooh, look at those jars sparkle!

Happy Retirement to my mom! 

Oh and if you didn't notice, I'm using a fancy pants new to me camera. Disregard the darkish look to the photo's, the lighting in my dining room suuuucks. Seriously.  But other then that, what do you think?  Better picture quality eh?

Shop the party:
Backdrop and retirement cards: Small Moments 
Cactus Pinatas- Handcrafted Parties
Jars- Always the Occasion
Cookies- Delectable Baked Goods
Straws- Queen and Company 
Scrapbook paper, paper mache letters, cupcake holder- Craft Warehouse
Cupcake liners- Wilton
Golf Ball Mold- Blake's Decorette Shop 

Retirement Party

The first of my aunts and uncles just retired. My uncles kids threw him a retirement party this weekend and they did a good job. They didn't even ask for my help! I know, right. I kept waiting for the email or phone call ha ha

When we arrived the Bucket List awaited us. My uncle use to fish so this bucket list fishing theme was perfect.

Bait buckets of Oreos with gummy worms were a hit with the kids.

My uncle loves to golf now so his kids set up a small putting green for us to try our hand at the sport. 

Golf cupcakes frosted by one of my uncles granddaughters. 

Wine glasses with names of golf courses my uncle has played at. I'm not sure if my cousin did this on purpose or not, but you have the greens and the blue tablecloth looks like it represents the water to me. 

Nice fruit presentation. 

For the BBQ I made my Peanut Butter Chocolates. Since my uncle likes golf, I made sure to use my golf ball mold. 

Yes, I have a lot of molds

I made sure my uncle got some by packaging some up just for him.

I think my cousins did a good job with this party. With a little help from Pinterest :)