Goodbye 2014… It was a fun year! January 10, 2015

I can’t believe we are almost half way through January! Where does the time go? 2014 was a fabulous year and on a professional level, I was very happy to experience a few firsts. My first styled photo shoot for an e-magazine. A huge thank you Andressa of Twinkle Twinkle Little Party for your faith in me. I also planned and styled a party at a large church hall. That offered a new challenge in that I had a huge area to decorate on a fairly tight budget. I also planned a joint birthday party. I was also fortunate enough to collaborate with some incredible venders from all over the United States. It’s been a busy year but a lot of fun, too.

As always, I teamed up with the amazing Danielle of All Things Great and Small Photography for all my events. She’s a pleasure to work with. I thought to share some photos of the work we’ve done together in 2014. Enjoy!

    

If you are looking for a party stylist in the Pensacola area, then I am around till May 2015. In the summer, I will be moving to Washington D.C. for a year. But, you can still stay in touch via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram!

Surprise 60th Birthday Party September 18, 2011

Shhh…. don’t let the cat out the bag!!!

I had such fun designing this party collection for my client Heather. She was throwing a surprise 60th birthday party for a family friend. The birthday gal loves bling and cats and Heather knew from the get go that the color scheme had to avoid pink. We came up with a black and white classic look with a splash of aqua as an accent color and a sophisticated cat silhouette. The printable collection is both elegant and whimsical.

I was so happy when Heather sent me photos from the party (as well as some great party tips)! You can see how much love and attention to detail went into this celebration and I’m sure that Jann was completely overwhelmed!

Here are photos of the candy buffet! I especially love the rock candy which Heather ordered online from Bulk Foods. She brought the assorted color rock candy on swizzle sticks but the website also has individual colors that you can purchase if you are doing a more monochromatic party. At $13.50 for 80 sticks, these are a real bargain!

Heather also styled a gorgeous dessert buffet table. She made almost all of the food on the dessert table (very talented lady… I am impressed) but her secret weapon is Little Debbie snack cakes. These are the pretty white squares in front of the cake!  They cost one dollar per box so she brought two boxes, unwrapped each treat and set them on a pretty plate. Genius!

Wanna create a decadent dessert table at your next event?

Cake pops– Heather learnt how to make these from Bakerealla. I have made cake balls before (the same thing, just simpler since there’s no lollipop stick) and they are not that easy! Patience and practice goes a long way. One day, I will share the pictures of the cake balls I made along with a tutorial! If you plan on doing these for a party, definitely make a test batch a week or so before hand.

Chocolate covered Oreos– Here’s a simple to follow tutorial. I love these and I bet they taste amazing, too.

Cake– Gloria’s Treats has a great tutorial on technique for the ombre style icing.

Here’s a party tip from Heather that I think is really sweet and special:

One thing that I started doing when my daughter had her first party is purchasing a story book that goes along with the theme of the party.  That becomes the guest book and everyone writes a message in the cover. It’s become tradition in our home…every party gets a story book as the guest book.  My children love it and we have awesome story books that we read all the time, we can remember what theme they had for each birthday (which is fun to look back and remember what they were into that year), and we have really lovely messages written in the inside cover.  We always read the messages before the story and reminisce about their special party and talk about all of the people who love them enough to celebrate with them.  I hope they will be able to pass them on to their own kids one day (I’m sentimental about stuff like that).  We ended up getting a kitty themed book for Jann.  She is a teacher and will love reading it to her class, I’m sure.

I love that on this table (above), Heather also include a framed copy of the party invite. Since it was a surprise party, Jann never got to see the invite so this was another thoughtful idea.  

One of the nice things about keeping a very simple color scheme is that finding paperware to match is a breeze! Heather found the polka dot napkins and the paper plates at Target. She also brought aqua (with white polka dot) wrapping paper and used that as a table runner to contrast against the tablecloth. Notice how she used a black tablecloth for the dessert table and a white one for the candy buffet? This adds a touch of whimsy!

One last mention about this party’s decoration… don’t you just love the pretty flower arrangements and the paper pompoms? The pompoms add drama and are a wonderful way to decorate a large party space. In this case, she used the tissue pompoms both inside and outside, helping the party flows seamlessly from one party space to the next. I couple months back, I posted a tutorial on putting these gems together! 

Thank you so much Heather for sharing these wonderful photos and giving us so many party styling ideas! Wanna see even more party pictures? Take a look at the post on Catch My Party!  

Inexpensive party food… a few ideas March 24, 2011

For children, the best part of any party is playing games with friends, eating cake (or cupcakes!!) and general running around. Food is not high on their priority list. It is almost impossible to get my daughter to eat when we go to parties. She is so excited and is darting around having fun that she doesn’t want to stop for food, even her favorite pizza. This means that you can keep this aspect of your party really simple. And you don’t have to go to a huge expensive either. By keeping this in mind, you can free up your budget a little bit and spend more on party decorations, photo props and party favors.

So, here are a few easy snack ideas and menu choices that should appeal to the little ones and not break the bank!

 

Popcorn is delicious, healthy and kids love it. Be careful though if there are going to be any young toddlers at the party because popcorn is a choking hazard. You can get really cute popcorn bags online. 25 bags for $3.50. That is a great deal!

Popcorn bag

 

And  how about pretty fairy bread? Simply take sliced white bread, cut off the crust and get the slices into perfect squares. Spread with butter then cut diagonally in half so that each slice gives you 2 triangles. Now sprinkle with cupcake topping! The sprinkles stick to the spread. How cute and easy!

Fairy bread

You can also use cookie cutters to make pretty shapes. This is a fun and simple alternative to the basic sugar cookie. Depending on the age of the children at the party, you could set up a station where kids make their own fairy bread! Children love sprinkles.

 

Of course, if you don’t want the kids too hyped up on sugar and want to offer something healthy then fruit  kababs are the way to go! These look beautiful and are so simple- and the adults will loves these, too. Simple cut your fruit into chunks and skewer with a kabab stick. Any of the party picks in my store can be made on bamboo skewers instead of tooth picks! Everyone loves fruit kabobs. You can even offer some sweet dipping sauce to go with these. If fruit isn’t in season then you can skewer marshmallows onto your party sticks!

Fruit-kabob platter

 

 

If you are going to have a lot of adults at your party then grilling burgers and hot dogs is a simple and fun menu. Simply add a bowl of coleslaw or potato salad and you are all set. The men love the grill so this is a good way to get dad involved. Setting up a ‘toppings’ station looks attractive and lets everyone personalize their burger! You can keep the toppings real basic or go all out with gourmet mustard, ketchup, hot sauce, various cheese slices, pickles, relish, sliced onion, lettuce, sliced tomatoes, avocado slices, etc. This also works good if your party is for older kids.

BBQ

 

Hope this gives you some fun ideas. Let me know what your favorite (inexpensive) party menu items include!

4 amazing SWEET party favors

I have been seeing some really fun party snacks recently. In fact, these are so cute that they also double as party favors when individually wrapped and tied with a party tag. When my daughter comes home with a party goody bag full of little plastic toys (aka choking hazards for my 10 month old) made in China, I cringe… and mysteriously, one by one, over a period of a few days, the plastic favors end up in the bin. Take a look at these alternatives and let me know what you think! You can make all these at home- you just need a few basic supplies, some patience and (I imagine) a couple hours undisturbed in the kitchen! If you click on the photos, you’ll be taken to a simple to follow tutorial. But if the thought of melting chocolate freaks you out, there are plenty of places on line where you can order these little gems!

 

1. Chocolate dipped oreo pops:

Chocolate-dipped oreo pops

 

 

2. Chocolate-dipped pretzel rods:

Chocolate-dipped pretzel rods

My son’s first birthday is coming up at the end of April so I’ll try making the chocolate dipped pretzels for that. I’ll let you know how it goes and if it really is as easy as the direction look! I figure that the toddlers and babies love gnawing on the pretzel rods and the other moms are going to love me when their babies come home on a sugar high! Actually, I’m sort of joking there… there’s not THAT MUCH chocolate on these… ha ha ha!

I actually think that the chocolate-dipped pretzel rods could be a fun project to do with my 3-year old daughter.

 

 

3. Cake balls:

Chocolate covered cake balls

Red velvet cake balls

Do you think these taste as good as they look? I love that they look like truffles… but are actually perfect for little boys and girls! So decadent! Again, these make fabulous party favors. Put some in a cute ‘Chinese’ style take away box. I love the  clear take out boxes which can easily be spruced up with a little ribbon and a party tag.

 

 

4. Cake pops:

Cake pops

These make such a cute alternative to traditional lollipops and are basically cake balls on lollipop sticks. I recommend perfecting the cake balls before moving onto this technique. Personally, I’m not that great in the kitchen so I’ll be buying these on the internet! You can buy cake pops on Etsy. A dozen for about $26. With shipping the cake pops cost over $3 each. I imagine this is a great deal considering the supplies you’d go through when trying to perfect making these!!!! Not to mention the time.

 

So, there you have it. Four of the most trendy edible party favors! Hope you enjoy and are inspired to do something a little different. Have you offered something special and unique at a party recently? Or seen something incredible? Leave me a comment. I LOVE comments and I LOVE hearing about people’s parties! Also, I have subscribers in England… I am curious about trends over there!

 

Ribbon wands inspired by Disney’s Tangled March 10, 2011

So, I have been busy creating some party favors for a “Tangled” themed party. This party is for a gorgeous 6-year old girl who LOVED the latest Disney movie and her favorite colors are now purple and gold!

Ribbon Wands for "Tangled" Party

Each wand has 4 strands of ribbon: gold, tropic lilac, French pink, and white. Each strand measures over 2 feet. That’s a total of over 8 feet per wand! Beautiful.

Hope the birthday girl loves her party wands and has a fabulous birthday.

Here’s a little peak at how I used the colors and the ribbons to make her name banner. Notice the glitter?