Category Archives: Parties

Kids Birthday Party

28 Monday Mar 2011

Posted by in Celebrations, D.I.Y., Kids, Parties

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, kids birthday parties, kids birthday party themes, monograms, , tissue paper pom-poms, Wilton Cupcake Decorating Set

On Saturday, my daughter Carolina had a joint birthday party with her best friend for their 2nd birthday. They are nine days apart so it was perfect. It was also perfect that her friend’s mother shares my neurosis for details which I knew in advance, but which really came to light when the two of us were testing every pen in Michael’s Craft Store trying to get just the right color ink to match the invitations I had designed (using a free graphic design program called Inkscape). I knew I had found someone I could really work with! We went with a simple theme of pink and purple as my daughter is always in pink and her’s is in purple, and we threw in a little green to tie things together where we needed to.

Of course, I had to make tissue paper pom poms (well actually, the pink and green ones were the same as the ones I used last year that now hang in my daughter’s room when party time is over) to hide my hideous ceiling fans and add a little ambiance. This was the first time I made them with a patterned paper and I think the floral ones actually came out really cute.

The table screamed spring! I love having my daughter’s birthday in the spring. There is so much appropriate decor out there to incorporate into a little girl’s party this time of year. And at the last minute we decided to use some cute mini cupcake wrappers as individual ketchup servings for the kids which really added a great visual element to our serving platters too.

There are few things I love more than a good monogram! I came up with this one using the first initial of each of the girls’ names, and had originally planned to use it on the invite, but at the last minute before going to print realized that we were doing it for us and it didn’t really scream 2 year old so I did a quick change with a cupcake. But we had to get it in somewhere so we made it into cupcake picks…

and put a 2 on the opposite side. Of course we had to have pink and purple cupcake wrappers and pink and purple sprinkles to match. And I am now obsessed with having the proper tools to frost and decorate cakes and cupcakes. The Wilton Cupcake Decorating Set provides four tips, icing bags, and directions (if you are so inclined to read such things) on how to do different styles so you can create more professional looking sweets on your own. Go get one if you ever frost your own baked goods.

Displaying the 5 dozen cupcakes on different serving pieces of various shapes and heights made for a more interesting visual display.

A little garden of Peep pops (lollipop stick inserted into Peep-couldn’t be easier) just for fun.

And for the favors, we found pink and purple tins that we filled with giblets, wrapped in green grosgrain, and sealed with our monogram label. None of these things were particularly difficult to do. In fact on a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the hardest, I’d put them at about a 4. With a little creativity and a few extra dollars (but not many), you can create a truly customized kids birthday party with a big impact without blowing the budget.


Emergency Cocktail Station

20 Thursday Jan 2011

Posted by in Accessories, Celebrations, Furniture, Parties, Tabletop

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emergency cocktail stations, Urbancase

With all the snow we’ve been getting on top of just getting off of holiday break and the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, my kids sure seem to be home a lot more than usual. They are predicting more snow for RI tonight until about noon tomorrow making the morning commute difficult, and I am fearing school will be canceled again. In order to survive another day trapped in my house with two children, I think I had better get one of these emergency cocktail stations from urbancase. All the glassware and bar tools are included. I just need to fill those little bottles up with my poison (I mean pleasure) of choice.

And then it folds up neatly right against the wall. In fact, I believe the general recommendation is to have emergency items on each floor of the house so I should probably get one for upstairs and the basement as well in case I find myself in a dire situation. I suppose it would also be really great for something like a tiny apartment in the city where space is optimal.

Interview with Couture Parties

01 Wednesday Dec 2010

Posted by in Celebrations, Inspiration, Parties

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Couture Parties, Jeff Soderbergh, Middletown Patch

I know I’ve fallen a bit behind once again, and unfortunately I had to take a sick day on Sunday which has had me scrambling on all my work this week. But I didn’t want to leave you totally empty handed. One of the bonuses of my job as a writer for our local Patch.com is that I get to interview some of the amazingly talented super cool people that live here in the Newport area. If you missed my interview with Jeff Soderbergh, be sure to check it out here. Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing event designer Stephanie Frazier Grimm of Couture Parties whose work includes parties for major Hollywood celebs like Jennie Garth and Kelly Rutherford just to name a few. As you can see from the above photo, she does amazingly beautiful and stylish parties and is actually quite an inspiration to me as someone who is making it all happen. Check out the story on Middletown Patch.

Image Source: Stephanie Frazier Grimm

If you like this post, then you might like these:
Glassy Baby Will Light Up Your Life
DIY Decorations for Your New Year’s Party
12 Days of Holiday Decor Ideas:  Use Pink and Green to Make Your Holidays Pop!

Etsy Pick of the Week: Tray Chic

12 Friday Nov 2010

Posted by in Accessories, Celebrations, Etsy Pick of the Week, Parties, Tabletop

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chalkboard paint, , Her Majesty's Pug, magnetic chalkboards, silver trays

I always love to use chalkboard paint in fun ways, but it’s true that while functional it isn’t exactly chic in most cases. That is until now. Etsy seller Her Majesty’s Pug transforms silver plate trays into magnetic chalkboards that are perfect for to use for both entertaining or to hang on a kicthen wall that’s a little more glam.

The trays come in a round, rectangular and oval shapes and are a mere $10.50! I was going to suggest that these wouldn’t be that difficult to make, but really at that price, I’m not sure it would be worth the trouble. I think these are a fabulous way to put the menu up on a buffet. I think I might take a look for some smaller silver plate dishes and make them place card holders, but any way you use them, I love this idea!

Easy Party Decorations

28 Monday Jun 2010

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Buttonwoods Park Zoo, David Haskell

On Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending the Buttonwoods Park Zoo fundraiser, Wild Night at the Zoo. I was going to the event to support this fabulous little zoo in New Bedford, MA that I frequent with my children and also support my very good friend who is the executive director there. I had no intention of doing a story about it, but there were some very simple, fail proof party decor ideas that I thought you would all enjoy. That being said, I apologize that the pictures aren’t as clear as I’d like, but I only I had my iphone on me since I wasn’t planning on taking pictures. The first thing that struck us (me and my highly critical counterparts) was the amazing plants! Famed horticulturalist David Haskell provided brilliant jasmine, butterfly bush, agapanthus and more planted in oversized pots at the entry and along the paths and tent.
This burlap fabric hung with metal clips and wrapped with raffia is so simple it seems like an obvious thing to do, but we often over complicate things and miss the beauty in simplicity. While it was used here for a safari theme, it could easily work for a beach or harvest theme too. And you could add a little more interest by using shells or fruits tied in with the raffia.
It seems that flag banners are all the rage these days, but if you are like me, you hate buying something that you’ll only use once or twice a year, and while I’ve even contemplated sewing one for my daughter’s room for a more permant installation, I just can’t seem to bring myself to do it because it seems like such a big task. I thought this DIY flag banner was brilliant. Simply fold napkins over a string and use clothespins to secure them. Wouldn’t this be adorable with red, white, and blue patterned napkins for your July 4th cookout?

Besides these great ideas, the Wild Night at the Zoo was a great event. I don’t know what other event out there has two asian elephants as their official greeters when you walk in the door. Getting to pet them and get a picture with them was worth the price of admission alone. It was a fabulous night to enjoy great food, drink and music surrounded by the wonderful creatures who call it home. If you love in the area, mark your calendars for next year!

Firetruck Birthday Party

14 Monday Jun 2010

Posted by in Celebrations, D.I.Y., Kids, Parties

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3D firetruck cake, Ace of Cakes, Amy Atlas, birthday party, Cake Graffiti by Duff, firetruck pinta, Michael's

Wow, I can hardly believe it, but this is my 100th post! Thank you all so much for your support in this new venture. And lucky for me, I didn’t have to search endlessly for the perfect topic for this post because my son’s 4th birthday party was yesterday, and as promised last week here are the photos of his firetruck themed party. So clearly, I am no Amy Atlas, but I think my dessert table turned out pretty well. I made the same 3D firetruck cake that I made last year (with some decorating modifications), and despite the fact that I was certain my cake decorating skills had improved, it looked almost identical. Oh well. I did find one thing that made it easier though and that is the new Cake Graffiti by Duff from the Food Network show Ace of Cakes which I found at Michaels. Last year I used red food coloring and it was a mess so this was much easier. However, I used buttercream frosting and it was really humid so next time (if there is one) I might have to try fondant.
Something funny happens when you live on an island (even one with 3 bridges to get off of it) which is that you think it’s a huge deal to leave the island to get something you need. Last week my son requested that we have a pinata for his party, but there isn’t a store on the island that sells them so instead of driving half an hour off island, I decided I would spend hours making one. Luckily, I found some pretty easy directions online to make a firetruck pinata. The only issues I ran into were that it took a long time to dry and even though I tried to make it thin since the kids were young, it would NOT break open so I ended up having to tear it open, but the kids still had a great time with it.
And lastly, the goody bags. I used the personalized firetruck image that I created and showed you last week and just printed them out 10 to a page and cut and pasted them onto the goody bags. Between the cake and the candy, my husband thought we might not have any friends left today with everyone having to get their kids down off the sugar high. Lucky for us, ours crashed at 6:30 last night. And hey, you only turn 4 once, right? Happy Birthday T!

Sneak Peak: Firetruck Birthday Party

10 Thursday Jun 2010

Posted by in Celebrations, D.I.Y., Kids, Parties

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Amy Atlas Events, Couture Parties, , Firetruck, first birthday party, TomKat Studio

This Sunday is my son’s 4th birthday party, and much to my dismay he has requested a repeat of all things fireman, firetruck, firehouse like we did last year. Last year I set the bar a little too high by building a 3D firetruck cake and so it looks like I am going to be tackling the same project again this year. Of course, I actually believe that my cake decorating skills have gotten a lot better (because of the one other cake I baked for my daughter’s first birthday party) so I am now expecting this year’s firetruck cake to be lightyears better than last year’s cake. Oh, and he wants cupcakes too, of course. I’ve also starting following some blogs of event planners and dessert tables seem to be the big thing right now so since we’ve just invited everyone for cake and ice cream, I thought I’d give one a try. So far, I’ve created the little firetruck logo (above) that I’m going to use on the displays and favors. Yup, that’s as far as I’ve gotten and the party is a mere 3 days away….so I thought I’d look for a little more inspiration.

There is little doubt that the queen or master or designer extraordinaire of dessert tables is Manhattan based designer Amy Atlas of Amy Atlas Events. I love the bright colors of her candy shop themed table above. Another event planner who is making waves in the dessert table arena is Kim Stoegbauer of TomKat Studio who also happens to have an Etsy shop where she sells downloadable invitations, cupcake picks, and more. Above is her Fairy Garden Theme table.

And lastly, but certainly not least, is the adorable Pink Tricycle theme party by Stephanie Frazier Grimm of Couture Parties. Stephanie also gives you a head start by selling Get the Party Started Packs in 14 different themes which include plates, cups, silverware, favor bags and cupcake picks in whatever theme you choose.

Since I always insist on making things as difficult as possible for myself, I will be starting from scratch in coming up with a way to make my dessert table presentable. There is a pretty good chance that it won’t hold a candle to any of these ones, but my son will still think it’s pretty cool. Check back Monday to see how it comes out.

Wedding Planning: Fall-ing Fast

16 Friday Apr 2010

Posted by in Celebrations, D.I.Y., Parties, Weddings

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3 Flower Dahlia Pin, bouquets, dresses, emersonmade, , Gardenside Studio, Harvest on Hudson, Kiss corsage, Konditor Meister, Martha Stewart, Moss Covered Monogram Letters, moss monogram cake topper, nest boutonnieres, nholt, Nordstrom, , Pegeen, Pomp and Plumage, ringbearer's nest, Saks, Sayles Livingston, Spotted Leopard

I was so thrilled earlier this week when I received a call from one of my closest friends telling me that she had gotten engaged over the weekend. Yay! I am so excited for her, but I have to admit that every time I hear someone is getting married, I want to jump right in on the wedding planning (whether I’m supposed to be involved in it or not). I am pretty sure my obsession with it is a diagnosible disorder, but there is something about planning a wedding that is so different than just planning any party-perhaps it’s the fact that people have a tendancy to just go all out for weddings. If I had the money to throw a full on sit down dinner party for 200 people once a year, chances are I would do it, but since I don’t, I feel the need to live vicariously through anyone I know that happens to be doing it. And since my friend got engaged on Sunday and had the date and location booked on Tuesday (which is only mildly quicker than me getting engaged on a Friday and my mother having me in New York City at the Saks wedding dress sample sale the following Monday) I decided that it wouldn’t be too soon to throw together my thoughts on a direction she could go in (should she so happen to want my input-not sure she does, but just in case) based on the few things she told me she had already decided or was thinking about 24 hours ago.

The wedding is going to be in late October of this year at Harvest on Hudson in Westchester county overlooking the Hudson River which should be absolutely gorgeous, and it will be a mid-day event. Based on the time of year, the one thing about the decor she has decided is that she wants to use etched pumpkins as the the table numbers. Based on that, I started thinking “rustic” along the lines of moss and twigs, partially because of their natural elements and partially because moss green and brown perfectly complement a beautiful shade of orange so that the pumpkins can be tied in very easily. Pumpkins and gourds are a perfect accent for events for this time of year, but there is always a fine line when you choose a wedding theme to take it just so far that it doesn’t become kitschy. The pumpkin table numbers, some pumpkins scattered about the cocktail tables and monogrammed pumpkins (above) with the new monogram of the couple would be fabulous at the entry or on a stairway or mantle, and would be just enough to make the statement. Moss Covered Monogram Letters (top-and I actually found an image with my friend and her fiance’s inititals!) by Spotted Leopard hung with gorgeous orange ribbon on the entry doors would set the tone.

Since I was thinking rustic and I keep coming across these bird’s nest wedding accessories on Etsy, I thought this would be a perfect event to tie them into. Besides the natural aspect of the bird’s nests, I think the idea of focusing on the love birds is also sweet. This small nest with chocolates (colors can be custom selected-I think green chocolates and orange ribbon) by nholt is the perfect table assignment/favor combination. The tag can read the guest’s name and table number.

The nests could be on a table at the entry under two topiaries (maybe even moss covered ones) with a banner with the couple’s name and date as seen on Martha Stewart. This ringbearer’s nest by Gardenside Studio is just too cute and is so much better than a satin pillow!

And just to make it all tie together, the groom and groomsmen could even wear bird’s nest boutonnieres (but maybe sans feather) by Pomp and Plumage. I strongly encourage anyone planning a wedding to steer away from flower boutonnieres. I have yet to see one that has lasted long enough to still look decent in pictures so go with something that isn’t so prone to wilting if possible. My friend is thinking about wearing the wedding gown that both her mother and grandmother wore, but having it re-made to be a bit more modern. I think the unbelievable Kiss corsage by emersonmade could be a fabulous addition and be that connecting piece between vintage and modern and would bring in just a touch of orange. They have smaller pins and boutonnieres too. The 3 Flower Dahlia Pin(below) would be adorable on a simple white dress for the flower girls and could tie them nicely to the bride with her corsage.

Of course there are lots of adorable flower girl dresses out there and this moss green and champagne one by Pegeen would work very well if she wants something a little more formal for them.

Or this super simple white flower girl dress with a chocolate brown ribbon by Us Angels at Nordstrom would be lovely and perfectly appropriate for a mid-day event.

As for flowers, the options are virtually endless, but for the centerpieces there should be at least a touch of orange to pick up the pumpkins on the table. I think a moss covered container of some sort or something with twigs or vines worked into it would be wonderful.

The combination of oranges, pinks, and greens and the different textures of this bouquet from Martha Stewart is amazing.

Sayles Livingston creates a lighter palette of the same colors here with a larger focus on green which is a bit more refined looking.

Or a deeper shade of roses mixed with berries, also by Sayles Livingston, makes for a truly elegant bouquet or centerpiece.

Last, but certainly not least, the cake! If you took the fondant leaves off of this moss colored ribbon cake by Konditor Meister (best bakery ever!) and replaced them with coordinating fresh flowers or even a moss monogram cake topper, it would be brilliant.

So now that I got that all sorted out for her, all she has to do is pick out the wedding band and the menu.My friend has been so kind as to say that we will be able to follow her wedding planning on Chateau & Bungalow so as the months go on we’ll see if she likes any of my suggestions. She is an incredibly talented and creative person in her own right so she certainly doesn’t need my help, but I’ll still have fun with it…at least in my own mind. Maybe I should start working on bridal shower ideas.

Freshly Picked Flatware

31 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Celebrations, D.I.Y., Kids, Parties, Tabletop

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carrot flatware bundles, Disney Family Fun, kids birthday parties

I have been a busy bee for the past few days crafting away for my daughter’s first birthday party on Saturday. I was going to wait to show you everything on Monday, but I thought this one might be useful to some of you who have events this weekend. It’s very simple and cute. You just have to promise me that you won’t put plastic flatware and napkins on your holiday table and will only save it for more casual gatherings or the kiddie table.
I found the directions to make these carrot flatware bundles at Disney Family Fun. Luckily, I actually had the green flatware from a previous party so the hardest part was finding the orange napkins which I finally found at Walmart. You’ll need at least luncheon size napkins, though I think dinner napkins would be even better. I suppose you could use a different color flatware, but I like the way the flatware kind of disappears into the background. The flatware and plates should at least be the same color so that it doesn’t stand out so much. It took me about 30 minutes to make 30 sets of them so not too bad and since I would have been wrapping the flatware with a ribbon anyway it really wasn’t any extra time spent. Plus, now I have a nice fresh picked basket of carrots for my table.

New Jonathan Adler Stationery Collection

16 Tuesday Mar 2010

Posted by in Accessories, Celebrations, Parties, Shops We Love, Tabletop

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Acapulco Dessert Plates, Acapulco File Folders, Foldover Note Cards, gift wrap, Jonathan Adler, Multi Chevron Paper Lantern, Note Cube, stationary

Ok, I know, I’m a little (well maybe a lot) obsessed with Jonathan Adler, but I just can’t help it. His creations are a perfect mix of bright colors, classic prints and modern lines, and now he’s done it once again with a new collection of stationery and paper party supplies, all of which are under $20 (many are even under $10). Here are a few items to give you an idea of what you can look forward to, starting with the Multi Chevron Paper Lantern. These Acapulco Dessert Plates will make any sweet treats taste even better, and there are coordinating napkins and cups as well.

Never to leave any party detail by the wayside, there is even fabulous gift wrap so your presents look perfect. Gift enclosure cards also available…of course.After all the partying, it’s back to work. Foldover Note Cards will brighten anyone’s mailbox.

Get organized with the Acapulco File Folders.  Suddenly work doesn’t seem so bad.


A desk covered in notes won’t look so messy when they come from this stylish Note Cube.

And lastly, these fabulous sticky notes that will keep you on your toes. There is, of course, much, much more in these collections which you can see here.

If you like this post, then you might like these:
Hit the Nail on the Head
All I Want for Christmas is . . .
Jonathan Adler Nixon Tables