Lemonade, Cake, Mason Jars, and Birthday Fun

Yesterday was my mom's 50th birthday!  And of course, we had a party!!  If you look back to last fall, we threw my dad a 50th birthday party with a fall theme- chili, campfire, cake, etc.  It was a lot of fun so I was really looking forward to throwing my mom a party too!  I don't know how excited she was about turning 50, but hey, she's becoming a grandma this year, so that has to make it a bit better I think. :)  I was excited because I love summer parties.  I think there are so many cute ideas out there.  I started planning this party in May after getting an issue of Better Homes and Gardens with all sorts of ideas.  Here are just some of the festivities from the day...

Due to the medicine my mom takes for her migraines, she cannot drink pop.  It tastes metallic (yuck!).  So I had seen a couple of different lemonade recipes and ideas on pinterest and in my lovely issue of Better Homes and Gardens.  I decided to have a lemonade bar.  We had regular lemonade, strawberry lemonade, and blueberry lemonade.  We also had sweet tea.  (I'll include the recipes for the lemonades at the bottom of the post).  I used some doilies we had received from our wedding, along with daises and floating candles in Mason jars to create our table.  Here was the finished product....

I loved the little pennant border along the table as well-  thanks to My Mind's Eye paper and my Cricut :)

I also adore Mason Jars.  I think they are so cute and classic.  So, I wanted to tie them into the party somehow.  I bought two cases of pint sized jars (thank you to canning season almost being over and Walmart having them on sale!).  My hubby actually was really good at stamping tags, so we cut and stamped tags for everyone to write their name on, and we cut ribbon to tie the tags onto the jars.  When our guests came up to get lemonade, they had to grab a tag, write their name, tie it onto the jar, and voila!  No mixed up Mason jars! Here's a pic...

Lemonade was not the only thing we served though!  We had some yummy snacks as well.  We had veggies and dip, buffalo chicken dip, fruit slush, chips and salsa, and cheeseball & crackers (thank you to my brother's girlfriend Raeanne for bringing this yumminess!!)  Here's the food table.  I just couldn't resist!

And of course, we had cake!!  Funny story there... my whole family loves Marsh cakes, mostly because of the icing.  We are buttercream icing freaks.  None of that whipped stuff for us.  Well, I ordered the cake on Thursday and said specifically, we want buttercream icing.  No problem.  On Saturday, Coop, Raeanne, and I went to Marsh to pick it up, along with daisies and the seemingly hard to find blueberries.  I got a glimpse of the cake and all looked great.  However, when we got home and opened the box to put it out, I thought the icing looked awfully soft and shiny.  Yup, whipped icing.  So at this point, it's 1:15, the party starts at 2, and I have a cake that I know people will eat but not love.  I quickly called the bakery department and asked if there was anything they could do.  Amazingly, they said give us 20 minutes and we'll have a correct one ready.  Colby went to get it (along with the ice cream that I had completely spaced- thank you baby brain!) and all was well.
Behind the cake table, I ran ribbons across the window and used clothespins to hang pictures of Mom growing up along with recent ones too.

Oh, and those pretty flowers?!  Present from my dad for Mom that matched the theme and the colors perfectly- way to go Dad!!

As for the lemonade recipes... I made "homemade" lemonade using this recipe:
First, I made a simple syrup.  Heat 1 cup of water and bring it to a boil.  Whisk 2 cups of sugar in and heat until dissolved.  Let it cool.  (This can be stored in the refrigerator for quick lemonade).  I tripled this recipe.

Then, I poured 5 cups of water, 3/4 cup of lemon juice, 1 cup of the simple syrup, and ice cubes into a pitcher and stirred well!  To make the strawberry/blueberry/whatever berry you like lemonade, we mashed the berries (whole package) in a bowl, mixed it in with a small cup of lemonade, and then added it to the pitcher.  Yum!!!

All in all, it was a beautiful day!  We had a great time seeing Mom enjoy her day and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.  We ended the night having a little fire and enjoying some more family time.  Happy 50th Birthday Momma!