KID PARTY: Butterflies and Dots

My daughter Audrey was obsessed with butterflies. Months before her birthday she was asking me for a butterfly cake for her big day. We both fell in love with this butterfly themed cake from Pink Cake Box.



 Audrey of course wanted pink as the color scheme. I  wanted something bright and festive. Her party was in the summer, at the beach, so I wanted bolder colors. I went with hot pink, orange and lime green.

 I designed the invitations to match the cake.

 We had her party at Pacific Park, an amusement park on the Santa Monica Pier. It was of course the hottest day of the year. The icing on the cake started to melt long before we were ready to sing Happy Birthday but she was so excited with everything going on she didn't even notice.  We were under a yellow tent which gave some of my pictures a yellow hue. None the less, the party was great and my little girl was happy.

In addition to a smaller version of the inspiration cake, I found matching dot sprinkles at my local cake supply store which I used to top some cupcakes. I also made  butterfly and flower lollipops to go with the theme.

I could hardly contain myself when I walked into Gap Kids and they had tops that matched our theme! I could not have custom made a better outfit for my girls.

Audrey loved her party and wants another butterfly cake this year. Now I have to find another look she'll love.

 

KID PARTY: Cassidy's Candy Birthday

My niece Cassidy recently celebrated her 9th birthday. You can imagine how excited I was when her mom Sheila asked me to help out with the candy table. Cassidy didn't want a childish character theme party.She is after all a young lady turning 9! Instead, she chose 3 colors that she loved, pink, turquoise and purple, and we designed the party around those colors.

To me, making lollipops is like therapy-- yummy therapy, so I happily volunteered. For years I've been making my pops and candy with chocolate but I've been wanting to venture out into hard candy but always hesitated. The thing with hard candy is you have to work much quicker and I've heard that sugar burns are one of the worse types of burns you can get. Nonetheless, I saw an opportunity to try making sugar candy and I must say, I find it easier than chocolate making.

For this table we decided to mix things up, using both homemade and store bought goodies. If you've ever done a candy buffet, you know that buying specific colored candy can get expensive, even with bulk pricing. We had to get creative. While we did buy M&M's and Whoppers in pink, we stuck to regular Hershey bars and kisses and wrapped them to match our theme. We did find gum, ring pops and sour belts in our colors at great prices.

Sheila made two kinds of cupcakes, some covered in ganache and some with traditional butter cream. We topped them with sprinkles and cupcake picks.

Some of the homemade treats included dipped pretzel sticks, Rice Krispy treats, Oreos we decorated with icing and sprinkles and butterfly chocolates.

I love love love the paper poms that have been so popular lately. I kind of went crazy and made more than I initially planned.

ADULT PARTY: About to Pop Baby Shower

Several months ago my good friend Anya hosted an intimate baby shower for her friend Susette. Anya asked me to help her with the decor and favors for the shower. I was about 7 months pregnant at the time which was great because my brain was already in "baby mode." I suggested we think outside the rubber ducky & rattle themes typical of baby showers. I had seen an "about to pop" theme online and thought it was fresh, modern and different. I was so happy to give the idea our own twist. I only wish we had better pictures.

A red banner welcomed guests.



For centerpieces, popcorn containers were filled with popcorn and balloons.




Anya rolled with the theme and used popcorn containers to hold utensils.



For favors, we took microwave popcorn packets and packaged them in paper popcorn bags bought at the local party store. We added our own labels and ribbon and voila! They're perfect to celebrate a mom-to-be about to pop.

ADULT PARTY: Baby Blue Shower

For my good friend Jhoanne's baby shower I was in charge of the invitations and cupcakes. I love this woman, and we were pregnant together. Throughout her pregnancy she shared her ultrasound pictures with us and seeing a baby grow through the different stages of pregnancy is always amazing. I figured using those pictures on the invitation would make it more personal than some generic baby clip art. I wanted to again do something different, away from typical baby shower themes but she said she wanted blue! So blue it was!

For the invitations, I fell in love with a timeline invite on Tiny Prints and used it as inspiration to make my own.

This is the Modern Timeline invite from Tiny Prints

   This is what I ended up with

I also made cupcake picks to top chocolate and red velvet cupcakes. I found blue argyle print scrapbook paper at Michael's. I made round labels with the baby's name, initial and "sweet baby boy" that I then glued to the argyle printed paper.





I love making lollipops. I bought an "It's a Boy" lollipop mold during my last pregnancy knowing I'd put it to lots of use. I first made them for my girls to take to school to announce the birth of their brother. Next, I used them for Jhoanne's shower. I added personalized stickers on the back of each pop.

ADULT PARTY: Emma's Garden Party

I love throwing parties. When I'm out of occasions of my own, I love helping friends and family make their parties memorable. Last year I helped my friends throw their mom a surprise birthday luncheon. The birthday celebrant, Emma, has been like a second mother to me so helping throw her party was very important.
This woman does it all, she cooks, gardens, decorates and more. She is our very own Martha Stewart. For the party, her love for gardening and flowers inspired the theme.



The invitations were a simple green and brown floral inspired design

The centerpieces were cymbidium orchids submerged in a tall cylinder vase with curly willow and natural colored stones. We alternated between green and white orchids.






To celebrate her love of gardening, we gave out seed packets as favors. We took already packaged seeds and inserted them in personalized envelopes.



A table filled with photos of Emma with her family, friends, and during her travels around the world made for great conversation.

Hello World!

So I finally did it, I started my blog. I'm new to this. I'm nervous and excited. I want this site to be a place where we can all share tips and ideas not only for parties but to make everyday special for our kids. My 3 kids are growing up way too fast and my goal is to fill their memory banks with as many wonderful memories as possible. From small special moments during ordinary days to big birthday parties, I want to celebrate them all and share them with you.