Celebrating the Love

This past weekend I was part of a trio that hosted an engagement party for our friend's Carrie and RJ. It was a wonderful night where friends and family of the happy couple got to come together to formally congratulate the two on their upcoming nuptials.. while eating delicious food and drinking wine, of course!

I loved this party because it was a great combination of what a few people can do together, and how just adding a few special details can really make the event even more special.

Pink and Orange are always such bright, fun colors to use for happy celebrations. The paper circles and circle labels used on the banner both came from Paper Source, as did the butterflies. The sticks in the vase in the middle of the table were on clearance at Michael's and with the bright butterflies, made the perfect center piece for the large table in the high-ceiling dining room. The popcorn cones are made from twisted scrapbooking paper, and all the flowers are just from Trader Joe's. 

While we were tempted to fill the large table with a gazillion desserts, we really didn't need to. I made Bakerella's cake balls again (once again, a HUGE HIT) and those a few bright cupcakes made the table. (side note - Bakerella has a whole book coming out this fall on Cake pops!)

Of course, the most important detail of the night was that Carrie and RJ were happy... which I think they were!

Party Hangover

First let me say that everyone should throw themselves a birthday party every few years. I'm an Aries and ramming my birthday into other people's lives is something that I do very, very well. I love celebrating birthdays - mine, the kids, Jason's.. but the problem with organizing a going out night these days is getting groups on the same page. Some people like nice dinners and early nights, others like to meet at a bar. There always seems to be that point in the evening where you lose people in the transition and you feel bad because you are forcing others to pay money to do something that they may really not want to do. I wanted to celebrate, have a good time, have good music, good food and good drinks and a general good time with my friends. Plus it doesn't hurt that I totally like to throw parties. A Win-Win situation. 

A few months ago when I was working with It's a Luv Thing on the Leucadia Sends Luv event, I met Marsha. SUPER Sweet and well connected "jane of all trades" that lives just down the street from me. She's an amazing coordinator and bartender all in one. Being that I wanted to also ENJOY my own party, I hired her for the evening. She had the DJ connection, so there we were. Marsha made the party - literally. She made everyone there a martini or a lemon drop - she helped me set up and she helped me clean up. At one point I mentioned that I wish I had the Bliss Lights that they had at the Leucadia Sends Luv event, and she was on the phone arranging them for me in minutes. She rocked. Especially because I ended up a bit crunched for time and jumping in the shower at 6:45!

The night before the party I had my list of things that I needed to get done - Trader Joe's, BevMo, Cake Ball Prep, cleaning and organizing (I'm usually very meticulous, pulling out linens placing things where I know I want them set up) but thanks to a certain 2.5 year old's meltdown and margaritas that were a wensie-bit too strong at dinner, all I managed to do is plop some chocolate on the cake balls and crawl into bed. I also had a slow start on Saturday morning (damn, margaritas) so needless to say I was a little behind schedule. 

But as always, things came together beautifully, ifIdosaysomyself..

 While the cake balls were not the object of perfection like I was envisioning them to be, I saved them by putting them in black and white Zebra striped cupcake wrappers. And let me tell you, they were the HIT of the party. Yes, Pete Schweddy was quoted multiple times throughout the night, because "No one could resist my moist, delicious balls."

While really not photogenic, the Bliss Lights lit up the back like Pandora. And the vodka bar made everything, well, fuzzy and delightful!

A few things didn't go as planned.. the chandelier sticker is actually from Target - the Etsy one had more problems than I care to discuss - and I totally forgot about the pink and black paper poms, which I didn't even think about until I saw them sitting on my desk the next day. LaLaLa!

Snow-ish

While it's no secret that we live where we do because of the weather, for 6 weeks a year we do admit that it would be nice to have a snow flurry outside our window... well, in theory that is. Since we live in a 1950's-era PRE-INSULATION house with a tar and rock roof and north-west (towards the ocean) facing windows, actually having a flurry of any type would translate into frostbite. Alas, we can "dream"...

And make fun "snow flake" decorations!

I got this idea off some craft site that I can't find now in my bookmark maze. But simply, it's various size labels in white, off-white and silver, stuck front to back in random patterns on clear fishing wire.

When hung over glass they move and "sparkle" a bit.. creating a perfect modern snow flurry in your window. I hung ours over the glass of our door - just taped to the top and hanging freely to blow in the breeze. I used labels from The Paper-Source but any round labels would do. You could also use a craft punch for perfect circles.

Fairly simple and I'm loving the look on the front door. 

Oh, and if you head into Paper Source (Heaven!) pick up a pack of the paper doves to put up around the house. Another super simple "hand-made" decoration (in "parentheses" since really all you do is punch them out of the paper) that look adorable but are easy to do.

Thankful

Even if it's only close family and a few good friends, I really do believe in making every holiday a presentation. I love the detail of things and love putting that little extra effort into something to make it special. The day to day grind makes us lazy.. I know we use plastic plates and bowls over our "china" on a regular basis. So why not take those few special days a year and make them special?

This year I was inspired by Hostess With the Mostess - my IDOL. She got me thinking creatively about what I could do and I flat out used her idea for a thanksgiving centerpiece , then took it a step further with a matching hanging banner sign. 

We are lucky enough to be able to eat our turkey outside in San Diego (even tho we all were wearing sweaters and scarves!) so I set up on our patio outside. When I got married 9 years ago, my grandmother gave me a set of gold flatware that, at the time, I had no use for. Over the years I have pulled it out more and more often and found that I really like the gold flatware looks on a simple table. The same type of effect as gold hoop earrings with a t-shirt make. 

Other touches I like to include these days are the use of a proper dessert table and bar. Dessert tables are just fun... even simple desserts are beautiful and make you happy when you look at them. Why keep them stashed away in a paper box or covered in foil when they can be out making people smile? It's also a great place to get creative in a whimsical way. Cookies on a cake plate can be a centerpiece on it's own.

how does that NOT make you smile?

My "bar" area came from a simple thought - I didn't want people rummaging through my cupboards for glasses and openers, etc. Additionally, wine is beautiful and displaying the vintages that you researched and bought for this particular occasion/meal. Lately I've been loving large glass holders filled with drinks, decorations or whatever. Staring at it, trying to figure out what to do with it, I decided to fill it with ice and use it to hold/chill the white wine. Some candles and a garland of leaves (from Michaels) in the back and VOILA! 

Boo! Zoe is TWO!

I couldn't resist the Halloween birthday party. Last year I wanted to make sure that her 1st birthday was a seperate occasion from Halloween. First birthdays are big deal, and being a Nov. 1st baby will mean she will have a lot of celebrations that bleed into each other. Last year was one thing - but this year I just wanted to have FUN.

Personally, I love Halloween. I love the decorations. I love dressing up. I could not wait and started collecting decorations months before. Being a paper addict, I tapped Jess at Polka dots and Pirates to do the invites, banners and cupcake toppers again this year. Jess is amazingly talented and if you can plan far enough in advance - try and get on her 2010 wait list. Yes, she has a wait list - she is THAT good. 

The stamps are from the Martha Stewart line at Michaels and the skull stickers are from my happy place, The Paper Source. 

As always, I went a little overboard with the decorations. Using the "candy theme" that was popular this past year, and inspirations from various magazines and blogs, I chose basic Halloween colors and the Candy Corn as my main starting points. 

I like using cupcake toppers on more than just cupcakes. I use them all over as various decorations. Instead of renting the cupcake stands, I bought black cardboard ones from the Halloween section at Michael's. Since this was a 2 year old girls party, and I was trying to keep the macabre out of it, I added bows the skeleton's heads. I also did the same with Miss Party Bones in the corner...

Cupcakes came from Cupcake Love in Solana Beach. I'm such a sucker for cupcakes.. I always go a little overboard with them!

I made some foaming lemonade concoction for the kids that  I found online (it didn't really work out all that well!) but instead of boring cups, I served it to the kids in "adult" plastic martini glasses. Since they are used to only Mommies and Daddies getting the fancy glasses, they were very excited about them. 

For activities, I rented a bounce-house, had a decorate your own pumpkin craft, read a halloween story, and we played musical chairs to the monster mash. Hint for musical chairs - kids don't want to be out, so I offered a lollipop to each child as they were out, which then prompted the older kids to try and get out since all they wanted a sucker!

Book is "Shake dem Halloween Bones!"

the birthday girl, herself!

Lucas Kai-walker.. ;-)

It really was a wonderful day. 2 things I did differently this time is that I had someone else take pictures (one less thing to worry about during the party!) and I hired one of my babysitters to help. She was great at helping to organize things and also clean up. At the end of the party, all the trash was thrown out, dishes washed, kitchen wiped down.. and my sanity still in-tact! 

*Thank you Patty from Petula Pea Photography for some amazing shots!!