so cool

Wishing there was a 'coop' in Nashville (but it's in L.A., of course!).

take me out to the ballgame

Another stellar blue and red birthday- this time with a baseball theme! From Swanky Tables.

cowboy birthday

Looks like a lot of backyard fun was had at this cowboy's 3rd birthday party!

family olympics

Get in the Olympic spirit and check out this family olympics from princess and the frog.

fairy garden party (!)

Oh my. I am so into girly parties these days with the recent arrival of my little one, and I am beyond smitten with this one! (Yet another brilliant party set-up from scissors paper cake). I think the piece de resistence is the graphic mushroom cake, surrounded by the cutest toffee apples I've ever seen. I'm dreaming of sugar plums (and fairy garden parties) in my head!

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That super cute flower garland (above) reminds me about our pretty swell giveaway! You have until Sunday at midnight to enter...you won't want to miss the opportunity to win.

little red car party

Another brilliant, beautiful party from the dynamic duo at scissors paper cake. Perfect for that little speedster in your life! (I'm already inspired for Gram's birthday next year, if his current obsession with vehicles continues). I love how they took the checkered race car flag pattern and used it throughout the party. It feels so cohesive without being too 'theme-y.' And of course I think the red and blue color combo is great- a chic take on 'boy' colors without being too primary. Love, love, love!

gram's party: the wrap-up

Oftentimes while planning a party, I will ask myself...why am I doing this?...putting the time, effort and expense into a party sometimes doesn't seem like the best use of resources. But just about every time I am so happy with the end result, that I forget about the hassles of party planning.

Gram's birthday was no exception. We were so thrilled with how the party went. Gram and his friends had a wonderful time ...we figured out he is one of those children that enjoys being the center of attention! I am slowly being won over to the 'rented-out' parties...we loved walking away from the messy clean-up after all was said and done. But I loved that I was still able to inject some personalized touches to the party to make it feel special. It was a perfect day and we made some fabulous memories that we will always look back at fondly!

for sources, look at the bottom of this post

gram's party: the 'cake'

Another element of the party that I could control (since it was not at my house) was the cake. Instead of attempting to bake a cake (as I did last year), I pressed the easy button and ordered up some wonderful cupcakes from my favorite local bakery, in a variety of chocolate, red velvet and 'blackout' flavors. I gave them red cupcake liners and sprinkles to work with, since they are a pretty bare-bones operation and don't do much embellishment.

I decided to work with a stand I had long ago purchased from Martha by Mail (R.I.P.). I wanted to figure out a way to put a 'topper' on it, since the decorative white wood piece that came with the stand wasn't going to work with the look I was going for. I found a circular chipboard box in the 'wood crafts' section of Michaels, that I used to modify the top (see detailed photos above). I then covered the box with wrapping paper and grosgrain ribbon, and adhered a '2' that I glittered in silver. I was quite happy with the results!

I finished off the stand by using grosgrain ribbon along the edges, adding flags to the cupcakes (tutorial will be included in tomorrow's post) and a wooden monkey was thrown in to tie back to the invitation.

sources:

cupcake liners and red sprinkles...layer cake shop

chipboard box, '2', glitter and ribbon...michaels

cupcakes...the cupcake collection

gram's party: favors

As I've said before, this year we decided not to have my son's birthday party at home. With a 3-week old in the house, I thought it would be too overwhelming. However, I didn't want to use that as an excuse to not create anything special for his big day, so I decided to put together a few key items that could be transported to the party site (a kid's gym).

Using the invitation color palette as a springboard, I created favors that reflected the loose theme of the party... 'playing.' The favor bags contained items that Gram loves to play with- Play Doh, a whistle, and a ball (all in the color palette, of course!).

I was appalled at the price of shred fill ($3+ for a small bag of crinkled colored paper!), so I decided to create my own, using scraps of leftover wrapping paper and my shredder (photos 3 & 4). A much cheaper (and more chic, I think) alternative. Then I created a 'cuff' for some store-bought gift bags that folded over the top. If you are not computer savvy, some pretty scrapbooking paper would look great as well. I used a bone folder to get a crisp fold, and a mini stapler to put the cuff in place.

Lastly, I inserted a thank you card into each bag that was designed to look like it was on school ruled paper- again, an element that fit in with the color palette of red, white and turquoise blue.

sources:

red gift bags...michaels

classic colors play doh...hasbro

balls and whistle...oriental trading company

shredder...amazon

invitations...hicks paper goods

location...my gym

what's black, pink and white all over?

A zebra-themed party for Ashley's 4th birthday! Check out all of the girly details right here.

ice cream centerpiece

These yarn 'ice cream' cone centerpieces for an ice cream-themed birthday party are quite clever! More of this party right here.

this one's for the girls...

Cute fairy princess party right here! From Laura.

dig in the dirt...a construction party!

So many thought-out details in this awesome construction-themed birthday party for Theo. Much more eye candy here and here! (from juicy bits)