A Figment Birthday Party at Port Discovery Children's Museum in Baltimore

It's a big week in our house as both Brody and Caleb celebrate birthdays - Brody is turning 5 and Caleb is turning 2.  Each year when I plan their birthday party, I try to work in a little Disney magic.  This time around, I broke out some creative energy to throw a Figment themed birthday party at Port Discovery Children's Museum in Baltimore.  Port Discovery has three floors of interactive fun for kids of all ages.  It really is a place for imaginations to run wild, which is why I thought Figment would be perfectly suited.  It turned out to be an amazing day with a lot of fun, some creativity, and a little touch of Disney magic.

The Invitations - I designed custom invitations for the birthday party using the HP Card and Invitation Kit that I received as a sample as part of the HP Millennial Influencer Panel.  The HP website made it easy to pull up a template and create the invitations.  I used an image of Figment in the background and a Disney font that I downloaded to my computer to inspire the look.  To draw in an extra piece of nostalgia from Epcot's Journey Into Your Imagination ride, I made Dr. Nigel Channing of The Institute, our special guest host.  This also played well with the mad scientist theming that Port Discovery offers for parties.

The Decorations, Food, and Cake - We were fortunate that Port Discovery is an amazing venue and they were providing balloons and table cloths.  I purchased purple, orange, and yellow paper goods to mimic the colors of our imaginative dragon.  The colors that Port Discovery used just happened to correspond perfectly with our inspiration.  I wasn't sure how much table space we would have in their party room, so outside of a framed invitation, I really didn't bring other Figment decorations.  I did however Disneybound with a Figment look for the day!  We decided to keep food simple - ordered some pizzas, served bags of chips, grapes, GoGo Squeeze applesauce pouches, juice boxes, and bottles of water.  The cake was truly out of this world.  Brody came with me to Starry Night Bakery in our hometown to help pick out what he wanted.  I originally was going to do white icing with a picture of Figment, but Brody wanted purple icing with orange writing and borders.  I think his idea turned out better than what mine!  The cake didn't just look good, but it was delicious too.  Brody is a chocolate lover so the cake was chocolate with Oreo mousse filling.  It was a big hit!




The Venue - If you haven't been to Port Discovery and live around the Baltimore area, you should definitely check it out.  They have a coloring room, water room, pretend Royal Farms store, indoor soccer field, and a whole half of a floor devoted to soft play areas for babies and toddlers just to name a few.  The favorite spot though for my oldest is the three story indoor playground - complete with rope ladders to climb, bridges to cross, and big slides!  They also have some areas of the museum that feature visiting activities.  The current visiting attraction is a Thomas the Tank Engine play area - perfect for my little boys.  Kids can dress up as engineers, load the train, play interactive computer games, and even enjoy a expansive toy train layout.  We bought a family membership to Port Discovery last year after our first visit because we knew we would enjoy coming back time and time again.  As members, we received a discount off of our party package and our membership for the upcoming year was renewed.  The party package featured a make your own slime activity that gave everyone their own bag to take home.  Port Discovery also gave BOGO admission tickets out to party guests as favors.

Overall it was a wonderful day!  We again had the chance to show our Disney side with a Figment inspired party while enjoying all the fun that Port Discovery Children's Museum has to offer.  Can't wait until next year when we can plan another memorable birthday party for the boys.  Happy Birthday Brody and Caleb!      

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There's a Sprocket in my pocket!

I have to say that when I first saw the advertisements come out for the new HP Sprocket, I struggled to think about why anyone would NEED this product.  But, I as much as I questioned the need for one, I was nevertheless excited to find out that I would be able to try this newest piece of technology out with my family.   After setting it up and playing with it for a week, I have to admit that it is easy to use and a fun addition to our house.  If you haven't heard about the Sprocket yet, it's a pocket sized, inkless photo printer generating 2"x3" prints of your favorite pictures.  Think of it as Polaroids for the 21st Century.

So, how does it work?  It's incredibly easy to set up.  Once removed from the package, you want to plug your Sprocket into your laptop via the USB charging cable in order to get the battery ready to go. When you have your battery charged up, pair your Sprocket to your smartphone using Bluetooth and then download the Sprocket app on your phone.  In the app, you can select the picture you want to print from social media sites like Facebook or Instagram, or you can choose from pictures in your photo library.  After selecting your picture, you can edit to add text, stickers, or photo frames and also crop or use a filter on your image.  Make sure you've loaded the Zink paper into the printer, press the green print button, and you have your photo!  It's so easy to use and fun to play with that my four year old continuously asks me when we can make more pictures.

Being able to print pictures on-the-go can be a great way to celebrate even the smallest of moments with family and friends. The Zink photo paper also features a sticky back so you can add the prints to a collage, white board, or binder easily (just to name a few!)  I will say that I've found the coloring to be a bit off with the printer - duller than the images themselves.  I've been able to work around the problem by lightening the image using the editing tools prior to printing, but it's good to know in advance.

In the app

The finished product

As you're completing holiday shopping for your friends and family, the HP Sprocket definitely deserves a look for anyone who enjoys capturing and sharing those special moments.  I can see us using our printer at holiday gatherings and parties throughout the year for instant photo booth fun and to print copies of favorite pictures with those family members that we don't get to see too often.  I'm anxious to continue to learn and play with all of the features of the Sprocket and can't wait to have fun this holiday season with our family and friends.  

Disclosure: I received the HP Sprocket for free as a promotional item for my participation in the HP Millennial Influencer Panel.  Opinions are my own!

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HP Millennials Influencer Panel

I was excited to find out last month that I was selected to be a part of the HP Millennials Influencer Panel through BSM Media.  Over the next year, I'll be hearing about some of the latest and greatest products from HP and will have the opportunity to share this with you here on my blog and throughly social media channels.  As part of the panel, I received several items to get started courtesy of HP.  Check out these amazing items!

HP DeskJet 3755 - The world's smallest all-in-one printer!
HP Roar Mini Wireless Speaker
HP Social Media Snapshots - 4 x 5 inch sticky photo paper
HP Tervis Tumbler Water Tumbler

As part of my welcome package, I also received information on HP Instant Ink.  Instant ink monitors how much ink you have left and will order and ship the ink for you.  This subscription sounds like a great deal.  And right now, HP is offering a promotion where you can get 3 months free of the instant ink subscription with the code SCHOOL3.

I'm excited to share lots of exciting news from HP this year with you!  What HP products have you already tried and loved??

As an HP Millennial Influencer Panel member, I receive products, promotional items, and educational material to use and share as I see fit.  However, any opinions expressed by me are honest and reflect my actual experience.

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