Black & White 50th Double Birthday

Over the weekend my family came together to celebrate the 50th birthday of my twin aunts, Nel & Lulu. For as long as I can remember, these two aunts of mine, with their wit, humor and mischief, have always been the life of any party. So under the leadership of my cousin Carla, our family members worked together to throw a party fitting for these two.

I was asked to make cupcakes and help set up the cake table. I made chocolate Oreo cupcakes with Oreo cream cheese frosting. I designed personalized toppers for the cupcakes and they were on my favorite cake stand from a Broadway Glam party I did earlier this year.

Carla made these beautiful cake pops and marshmallow pops

The tablescape carried out the black and white theme with a touch of hot pink. I first used these tree centerpieces for a Minnie Mouse party last month. For this party, I used black tissue poms. Carla wrapped the base with hot pink ribbon and added pillar candles on the table. She also hung white poms across the lawn.

My cousin Karren gave these personalized for our aunts. The glasses are inscribed with " Cheers to 50 years" and each of their names.

My aunt Beth ( in the background) bought the delicious cake which was also black and white on the inside. She also made the birthday banner below.





More photos from the party can be viewed on the Facebook page.

Bee themed baby shower + FREE PRINTABLES

I don't get to attend many baby showers where the parents-to-be choose to not know the sex of the baby. With ultrasounds getting more detailed and home gender test kits being so readily available, most parents are so excited to find out what the sex of their new addition. This is precisely what made this shower exciting to plan because everyone has been waiting to know, "What will it bee?"

Several months ago, my friend Sheila co-hosted a baby shower for a good friend of hers and asked me to make some lollipops, cupcake picks and poms ( which we lovingly refer to as fluffy balls). After looking through photos and other inspiration for a gender neutral shower theme, she decided on a bee theme, specifically, "Baby number three, what will it bee?"

She chose to go with a bright yellow and black color scheme instead of sticking to pastels which some people do for baby showers. I think the brighter yellow gave the party a more modern feel.

I wish I had more photos from the shower to share but my dear friend to this day, has not given me any photos!

Yesterday, another friend asked me if I had any gender neutral baby shower themed printables available and I remembered the bee shower. I figured, heck, if I'm sending her the party set, I might as well share it with everyone else.


So here they are- party circles which can be used as cupcake toppers, favor tags, napkin rings, etc. I used my scalloped edge punch which I think has a 1.5 inch diameter but I think a 2 inch circle punch would also work well. I am also giving you a bunting banner that spells out " What will it bee?" that can be hung above a dessert table, doorway, mantle or anywhere for that matter.

Download the party circles here

Download the banner here

If you do use these, please give credit to Lollipops and Paper, do not resell them and please please please, come back and share pictures!

Thanks!

Minnie Mouse Inspired 3rd Birthday

My goddaughter Analene celebrated her 3rd birthday with a Minnie Mouse inspired party. I use "inspired" because while her mom Ana and I wanted to include her love of Minnie in the celebration, we didn't want it to competely take over the party.

Instead of using Minnie's image in everything, as most character themed parties tend to do, we used the the red and white polka dot pattern in the party and just added touches of Minnie throughout.

Ana expressed to me that they she wanted to use the classic Minnie colors of black, red and white. We encountered some difficulty in finding character items like the pinata in this color scheme as Disney has shifted to using the newer pink Minnie design.

We started with these invitations

The sweets table included a tower of red velvet cupcakes and cupcake brownies, dipped pretzels, caramel popcorn, Swedish fish, sour bites, Reese's dark chocolate, licorice, cotton candy flavored hard candy, mini marshmallows and dipped giant marshmallows.

One thing I did not originally plan on doing but I think worked well were the manzanita arrangements on the sweets table. I had bought the manzanitas for my daughter's party next month but I spoke with Ana we decided that since we had them anyway, we might as well use them instead of having them collect dust for a month. I attached small tissue poms to the branches and a couple leftover tags I had from the cupcake toppers.

The table centerpieces were simple potted plants wrapped in red paper.

Ana's mom and sister covered an orange drink dispenser

with polkadot fabric and added ears on top.

Happy birthday sweet Analene! You are growing up so fast.

More photos from the party can be viewed on the facebook page