Everyday Celebrating

Everyday Events: Girly spa sleepover in zebra and hot pink!

My friend Julie threw a fun spa sleepover for her daughter's 10th birthday last weekend.  Super cute zebra stripes and hot pink were the palette and it turned out adorable!  A few details:

Zebra fabric runner with scattered "diamonds" and beads.  Fabric hot pink bows flanked the cake.

Glasses layered with M&Ms in the color scheme and of course the beautiful cake!

A close up of the cake.

 

Treat cones were draped on the chairs. 

Fun times were had by all and all the work worth it as her daughter told her "thanks, mom! This was the BEST party EVER!"   Can't beat that!   Great job, Jules!

Sidenote:  This theme would also work for a bachelorette party, wedding shower or adult birthday.
Super cute simple invitation that would fit in perfectly:

Button bouquet

I love this button bouquet!
Wouldn't this be cute for a flower girl or to use as a throw bouquet?

Need something blue?

All custom created by Kotton Kandy Creations

Minnie Mouse munchies!

Minnie never looked so good!
Adorable cakes from the folks at A Piece of Cake in Jonesboro, Arkansas!

Cute drink containers

Parents magazine recently featured this cute way to display and serve drinks as part of an outdoor camping type gathering.

Jelly jars filled with a juice or punch and sliced fruit!  These would be great as part of your labor day celebration (add some blue to play off the red/white lids) or with football season coming up, these would be cute for your tailgate!  Make your drinks ahead of time!

Jelly jars are easy to come by.  You can buy them by the case next to the canning supplies.  It's prime canning season right now!  Stock up on jars!

Join me TODAY on Blog Talk Radio!

 

Join me today on Blog Talk Radio as a guest as Celebrations.com's premieres their new radio show!
DIY Network's Jeanne Benedict will be hosting myself and a few other bloggers in discussing end of summer and back to school party ideas. 

The show will air TODAY (Tuesday) at 3pm EST for 20-30 minutes.  Also, there is a chat feature included so drop in and join the conversation with other listeners.  The show will air on Blog Talk Radio.  Just follow the link to the page and turn up your speakers.

Already have plans for this afternoon?  Don't worry.  The show will be archived and available for podcast!

"Talk" to ya later!  :)

Thank you notes for floral gifts.

Have you ever sent someone flowers and given the florist specific instructions as to what you wanted sent and then always wondered what exactly WAS sent?  Or maybe you didn't tell them what you wanted, but just wondered what that $50 got you?  LOL  And who wants to ask the recipient, "hey, what DID those flowers look like, anyway?"

I heard this suggestion on the radio and thought it was a great idea and wanted to pass it along.

If you RECEIVE flowers, enclose a photo of the flowers inside the thank you note.  Sounds so common sense, doesn't it? 

If you received flowers for having a new baby, take a picture with your baby beside the flowers.  A) Everyone wants to see the baby and feel like they got a special first look at him/her and B) they get to see the flowers they purchased and C) you're taking care of a thank you note!

So easy and the receiver will love seeing the flowers that were sent in their name.

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Speaking of hearing suggestions on the radio... Celebrations.com (a member of the 1-800-Flowers family of brands) has invited me to be a guest on their radio show tomorrow. This show is hosted by the TV Host Jeanne Benedict of the DIY Network's Weekend Entertaining. I'll be talking about end of summer party centerpieces! It's a 30 minute show airing at 3pm EST on Blog Talk Radio and we'd love for you to join us.  If you're not familiar with Blog Talk Radio, it includes a chat feature where you can ask questions and meet other listeners.  Note:  you do have to log in to use this feature.

Inspirational sites and vinyl

Even now, that my son is WAY into the toddler phase, I still love perusing Project Nursery.

My friends over there, Melisa and Pam, have a beautiful site and I love looking at what TALENT people have in creating beautiful rooms for children.

And not only that, I find inspiration in these rooms for other events.
Case in point. The room above is one of my absolute faves because of the incredible mural on the wall.
The mural was created on the computer and projected onto the wall and hand painted.  Every time I see this photo, I smile.  I love the contemporary look of it.

Of course, the Dwell Bedding underneath probably has something to do with it too.  LOVE Dwell!  But moving on...  this mural could be created on a smaller scale for a party with the all the rage now.. vinyl letters.  Vinyl letters are coming out now as not just for home decor, but for temporary party decor as well.  Why?  Because they create impact and are EASILY removed.

Like one of these behind the gift table at wedding:

or one of these to tie in with a space theme boy's birthday placed behind the food table:

or one of these for a french champagne party

You get the idea.  Just another reminder to pull inspiration from many places and transform it into something fabulous for your next occasion.

Custom maps

As you probably would've guessed, I was one of those brides that made my own wedding invitations. This was back when that wasn't popular and there wasn't a lot of ideas to go by on the internet.  That was back when Crane's still ruled and you went searching over books and books of "eh" invites. 

One of the hardest tasks of my involved invitation was the map.Luckily, I'm pretty good with publishing software, but still, it was a chore.  Just getting it to some kind of scale, etc, was awkward and difficult.

But today, there are plenty of amazingly talented people that you can hire to just design your map!
Like the ones above from Go Against the Grain.

For $35, they'll create a 2 sided design that you can print yourself.  WELL worth the money, let me tell you!

And you can have one designed for any type of occasion.  Not just weddings.  Believe me, your guests will thank you! 

The ultimate cupcake favor box!

Behold, my friends, the cutest cupcake carrier I've ever seen!
If you're a NYC local, you can purchase these at Billy's Bakery and soon, they'll be available for online purchase. 

Too cute! 

Flip Flop cake

It's August and the summer is beginning to make the decent into fall.  Plan one last fun treat before the kids head back to school with this flip flop and sand cake.

Recipe here.