Birthday Party: Strawberries!

There is not much cuter than a one year old on her birthday!  For this little one's birthday, we focused on strawberries and expanded with colors.  Pinks, reds and bright greens are fabulous together and really helped make this party pop.

How do you choose your party times?  It can be tricky when you're trying to avoid nap time as well as mealtimes - but the best option is to choose a time that works best for the birthday girl or boy and hope family and friends can make it.  Having a fussy birthday baby only adds stress!  For this sweet birthday girl, the party was timed just right - not around a meal and not around nap time - and everyone was happy from start to finish.

Keeping with the theme, we planned a Strawberry Shortcake Bar for the treats and it was yummy!  The homemade shortcakes fit perfectly into the cups - topped with berries and whip cream - and they were delicious!

Cupcakes are often the easiest way to serve the masses and not have a lot of prep during the party (cutting the cake, plating the cake, serving the cake).  It's super easy to place a candle on a cupcake for the birthday boy or girl, sing Happy Birthday and allow guests to choose a cupcake at their own pace.  AND there are so many fun cupcake toppers out there to choose from!  Mom ordered these fun strawberry toppers on Etsy and they were perfect!  Perfect colors, yummy taste and adorable!

For drinks, we served pink lemonade (a small touch to stick with the color scheme)!  Covering these mason jars with cupcake tins was a perfect way to keep our drinks spill proof and the green straw added a fun pop of color.

For activities, we kept it simple - one year olds can't communicate their favorite things yet, so it's sometimes refreshing to keep it simple.  A few themed coloring sheets and playing with the new toys did the trick.

Two of my favorite small touches from the party were the polka dot balloons and little pink boxes placed throughout the house to add pops of color and theme.  The other small touch were the real strawberries planted in red containers and placed throughout the party space. These small touches not only added pops of color, carrying the theme beyond the food table, but also contributed to the overall theme of the party.

Check out those awesome wall puffs!  This unique spin off the traditional hanging puffs allows the party planner to add texture and depth to a tablescape without a ladder!  They were simple to make (1/2 the work of hanging puffs) and they are so much fun!

Handmade by mommy and friends, these personalized bracelets were a fun, final touch for kids to take home.  The strawberry beads were purchased off Etsy and the beads and string were purchased at a local craft store - together, they were adorable!  We printed custom bag toppers and ta-da!  A beautiful and fun favor for the kids to take home.

This was such a fun party to attend!  What's the next party on your calendar?

Birthday Party: Star Wars

Trying to plan a fun party for your boyfriend or husband?  Let's be honest, most guys don't like big parties... to celebrate or not to celebrate - that is the question.  I say CELEBRATE!  Not many people out there (male or female) will get angry or upset when it's all about them.

One of our great friends recently turned 30... the big 3-0.  He's generally a quiet guy who doesn't like a lot of attention - but he loves Star Wars.  This isn't just a watch the movies Star Wars fan, but a read the books fan.  So, we decided to plan a Star Wars birthday party... and make it a surprise.  Shh!!!

Because it was a surprise, it was much easier to choose a neutral location for the party - and what better than a movie theater?  Our local theater has a birthday party option and it turned out to be pretty cost effective!  Not only could we bring in any movie to watch (which worked out with our theme), but they also provided drinks and popcorn to all the guests.  What kind of deals can you work at your local theater?  Choose a favorite movie and you instantly have your party theme.

Star Wars is a long movie - and because all of the guests had to work the next day, we had to start the party around dinner time.  We served all sorts of delicious and themed food!  It's amazing all the different Star Wars themed food ideas out there.

These fun cupcake toppers were handmade by a shop on Etsy and turned our adorable.  Keeping with the pops of green for color, we chose mostly Yoda toppers, but added a Darth Vader for character.  Although big cakes can be fun, cupcakes are a simple way to serve many and add to the theme.

Candy bars are a fun, tasty and inexpensive favor - especially because you can make your own label and call it good!  However, Birthday Guy is vegan - which means inexpensive milk chocolate was out of the question.  But instead of bagging the idea, we decided to make his favorite treat (peanut butter chocolate bark), wrap it in aluminum foil (which only added to the theme) and wrap with our label.  It wasn't as easy as buying store bought, but it was more cost effective - and it still turned out super fun!

Are you looking to plan a party for a special someone?  I'd love to hear your ideas!

Birthday Party: Dirt Bike Dolls (& Guys)

This summer, we attended a super fun party for a fun little girl!  Miss M loves dirt, dirt bikes and playing outside - but she also loves pink, purple and everything girly!  This party mom did a great job combining the two - and pulling off a super creative party in the process.  Miss M only wanted girls at her party... at least until two days before the party... a little bit of improvising and Dirt Bike Dolls became a party for Guys AND Dolls.  I love that this party was truly about the birthday girl - it would have been super easy for mom to say invites already went out, too many kids already, etc... but she rolled with it and made it a perfect party for her little girl.

This was definitely an outside party - and we did just that, say outside!  Check out these fun party games: Unicorn Squirt involved using a squirt gun to squirt mud off a picture - first team to fully reveal and guess their animal won!  Mud Masks were just that - masks made of tasty, chocolate mud - some kids were braver than others.  The final game was an obstacle course called the Dirty Dash - there were all sorts of dirty, muddy obstacles for the kids to run through.  How fun!

Because it was a late afternoon party, there was no need to serve more than dessert - and this dessert looked the theme!  Mud pie pudding (with worms and everything) was the perfect themed dessert.

And it wouldn't be a Dirt Bike Guys & Dolls party without dirt bikes.  This little guy was taking kids for rides every chance he got!  And these bikes parked next to the party banner was a fun touch!

What a creative party!  Pick a theme for your next party and go with it - be creative!

Baby Shower: Strawberries & Sunflowers

This weekend, I had the opportunity to help set-up for a strawberry-themed baby shower.  One of my good friends asked if she could borrow some of my party gear - of course, I obliged.  But I asked if I could take some pictures and feature the shower.  Win-win!

Although this was baby #3, there were lots of bumps along the road for Mommy and she deserved to be sprinkled!  The hostesses provided such a beautiful set-up.  Notice the dangle-bop ribbon they used - it's a small thing that's classy and eye catching.

 

The food was simple - drinks (delicious strawberry basil lemonade) and cracker-topped snacks.  For a fun touch, a chocolate fondue fountain was available to dip strawberries.  Yum!

The cupcakes themselves were a piece of art!  They were so adorable and I'm sure delicious!  The provided the extra pops of color on the shower activity/game table.

I loved the shower games - not over the top (as so many are) but also fun and creative.  They asked the guests to guess Baby Helena's birthday and weight.  An idea like this can extend the party beyond the party itself!  As a host, it's fun to follow-up on a game like this.

The second activity was so cute!  I asked the hostess where she found the idea and she said it's originally a bridal shower idea.  It's perfect for a girl baby shower, too!

The favors were not only perfectly themed, but perfectly packaged and yummy!  This homemade strawberry freezer jelly was the perfect gift to send guests home with.

I loved so many small things about this shower.   The ribbon on the table and the striped red straws added pops of color.  Using mason jars for cups and catching them with the favors.  The pops of green on the cupcakes and jelly jars.  This was such a sweet shower!

Graduation Party: Cove High School

My cousin, Taylor, graduated from high school this past weekend and his family planned a fun open house to celebrate.  There were so many fun pieces to this party!  The inspiration was, of course, graduation, but Lisa (Taylor's mom) chose to stick with the school colors and focus on a walk through Taylor's life up to that moment.

In blue and yellow, the decorations popped and there were small touches throughout the party that added to the fun.  I loved the "centerpiece" above the table.  This was no "small thing" but it sure was fun!

  I also loved the ribbon and labels on the silverware jars.  Silverware can be left as boring or made to pop with just a few pieces of ribbon!

 

And, of course, the food was fabulous with pops of color brought in throughout.

One of the highlights were these fabulous cupcakes!  They were made by one of Taylor's cousins, so it was not only a fun touch, but special, too!

Because this was an open house, there weren't any organized party games or activities.  However, I loved this "Advice & Memories" jar.  Guests were encouraged to give advice for the journey ahead as well as share a memory of Taylor from the journey behind.  How sweet is that?

Another special piece to the party was the use of pictures throughout the house.  Pictures frames were filled with pictures of Taylor from baby to graduate.  This is an easy way to personalize the party as well as put the focus on the graduate's life rather than a theme.

There was also a fabulous picture wall created by Taylor's sister, Reilley.  This was a guest favorite but also a hostess favorite.  When asked about it, Lisa replied, "I loved the picture wall and I loved that Reilley created it for Taylor.  All those years of sibling rivalry and she still loves her brother."  Special indeed!

There were so many things I loved about this party!  But I think the best part was celebrating Taylor and his life to this point.  I loved that the focus was on how much we love him.  I asked Lisa what her favorite part was and she responded, "The best part of the whole party was seeing all of the people who came to help us celebrate Taylor's graduation.  It was awesome to see how many people love Taylor and also to watch him with all of those people.  We are pretty proud of that boy!" 

What a great party!