What Bloomed This Spring

Please remember to vote for me on the circle of moms best party blog contest. Just click here. No logging in or registering just one thumbs up click. YOU CAN VOTE EACH DAY. I REALLY appreciate it!

Sigh!  I have finally wrapped up all of my spring party projects.  I told you last week that I was as busy as a bee and I wasn't kidding.  The past few months, I have been working on 3 new party themes for birthday's of children whom I absolutely adore (including my not so little Luke).  On two of the projects, I got to work with my dear friends who had incredible vision for the parties they were hosting.   All the party photos have been submitted to a slightly bigger ;) party blog- yes bigger than mine- and I am so happy to say that they will be featured there in the weeks ahead.  I am very excited to share the themes and invites which are now available in my Etsy store.

Strikes and 'Staches Party-
My son, Luke insisted on having an all boy bowling party. What better way to highlight the manliness of the day than incorporating a mustache theme into the party!  The little man theme is one of my favorite boy parties and it works great by itself for a shower or any age birthday which is why the invite is available with or without the bowling twist.

 

Love Bug
This party was AH-mazing- so pretty and proper for the sweetest, most feminine, little girl.  There is an endless amount of garden and bugs ideas that would work for this adorable theme.

Baby Bee-
I have seen lots of bee parties but none quite like this!  Totally stunning.  This party was totally modern and classy without  "bee"ing to cutesy or babyish.  LOVED it!

Finally, a sweet follower requested my apple of our eye invites in red and turquoise blue for a party she is hosting this summer (great all american idea).  I absolutely loved the results, so the entire apple of my eye line is available in red/turquoise or the original green/hot pink.  Thanks Jennifer!

I can't wait for you to see the parties for these themes.  I honestly can't choose a favorite.  Banners, cupcake toppers, labels, thank you tags, juice box cover and more are available for each of these theme in my Etsy store.  Email me if you don't see what you want.

A little break with family and friend this weekend, then on to serious party planning for the summer months.  So excited already- 6 parties ahead.  Have a fabulous holiday weekend, my friends, and I really mean that!  Thanks for voting and your support.  Leave a comment below letting me know your favorite new theme!

XO,

Jenny

Apple of Our Eye Party

Finally, it's time to share my daughter, Charlotte's Apple of My Eye Party on my blog!  I was going to wait until the party planning series is over but I have a lot more to say and I can't wait any longer to share these photos with you.  

I created this Apple of Our Eye party for my daughter, Charlotte’s, sixth birthday. I did not want the party to feel like a harvest so I incorporated crisp, modern printables and a preppy bright pink and apple green color scheme.

When the little guests arrived for lunch, they untied their apple baskets from the backs of their chairs and dined on applewiches, harvest chips, mac ‘n cheese, apple sauce and of course a crisp green apple. They sipped on apple juice and lemonade served in glass jars. Each girl had an apple of our eye gumball tube at her place setting. To make the placemats, I simply made a document on word and then had it enlarged on thick glossy cardstock at my local printers

After lunch the girls did apple of my eye make up, made paper mache apples using left over fabric from the bunting and made apple necklaces. They also made their own mini apple pies in mason jars that we called, Charlie Pies- my daughter’s nickname.

The girls treated themselves at the farm stand, which was filled with apple cake pops, apple cupcakes, applejacks, and candy apples. There was also ice cream scooped in candy cup and shaped to look like apples complete with wooden stem or spoon. They also loved the M&M apples done in baking cups as well.

Party favors were apple of my eye t-shirts.

lime sherbet with wooded spoons for stems

favors were apple of our eye tshirts

I made this placement on my compute,r then had the copy store enlarge it on glossy cardstock

The complete line of printables, the chevron sandwich bags, baking cups and straws are available in my etsy store.  HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Party Planning 101- part 5

Presentation
After theme, mood, color, party plan and invitation, the real work begins- repackaging and labeling.  This is where your party goes from good to great.  I start by going down my party checklist.  I look at each individual item and decide how it is going to be packaged or displayed and how it needs to be personalized or labeled to highlight the party theme. I'm sure I take this to the extreme but everything that is out at a party I am hosting is repackaged or relabeled, be it a beverage, food or craft item.  I am obsessive (nutty?) that way.  Try starting simple with just a few items, even that will make a huge difference.

For example, at my Apple Of Our Eye Party, I decided to serve lunch in bushel basket.  They were lined with the green gingham fabric I had found for cheap and then tied with a ribbon to the chairs- adorable decorations.  Then I had to come up with ways to make the food highlight the theme of the party.

Sandwiches were wrapped in gingham favor bags tied with bakers twine and labeled with a sticker calling them "applewiches."  They were simple turkey sandwiches cut in the shape of an apple with a cookie cutter.  Honestly though, the girls liked them much better with the cute name.  Apple sauce was served in mini glass jars tied with ribbons and labeled with a sticker.  "Harvest Chips" were packaged in clear cellophane bags with labels and the macaroni and cheese was served in individual paper ice cream cups, secured with a ribbon and sticker. All cute little presents for my guest to open.

I made very simple covers for the juice boxes and printed them on full label sheets to cover the ugly packaging and served lemonade in reused frappuccino bottles that were relabeled.  None of this was really expensive but it make a huge difference.  I use the same process with crafts.  This extra effort really makes your guest get into the spirit of the party.

If you asked for a party checklist- it is coming.  I am revamping it a bit.  Please remember to vote!
XO

Party Planning 101- part 4

I hope this series is helpful! With the colors picked, mood set and plan in place, the next step is invitations. This is the first impression your guest will have of your party. It's your opportunity to create some excitement. It's really the beginning of your party!

Evites work great for many kinds of gatherings. I use them myself for less formal events like girls' night out and book club. However, for more important gathering, nothing is better than a printed invitation. It a little present or keepsake that arrives in your guest mailbox that will hang in their house and continuously remind them about something wonderful ahead.

For Charlotte's party, I was creating my own invitations. Generally, for my parties I prefer simple layouts, graphic shapes and clean lines. Along with picking colors, I needed to pick the patterns and image I wanted to use in the printables. The image was easy- simple, soft apple with a leaf. Gingham was the obvious choice for an apple of my eye party. I really struggled with it though because I did not want the party to become a harvest or to be predictable.  I tried really hard to incorporate it in a fresh way. I tried with several sizes and colors. I had ribbon and fabric that I was coordinating with as well.  Nothing seemed quite right. In fact some of them were horrible.

I wanted something modern almost preppy. I kept thinking of the shorts they have at J. Crew with the embroidered whales on them. That was what I wanted. So I took the apple images and turned it into my background paper. I need one more pattern to go with it.

I LOVED the stripe but I had found a cheap green gingham fabric that I wanted to use for tablecloths, so I went with that! 

This invitation set the exact mood I wanted for my party and was definitely worth the effort.

XO

Party Planning 101- part 1

So- people always ask me how I go about planning my parties.  I just hosted my daughter, Charlotte's 6th birthday party and I thought it would be fun to share what goes into creating the party before featuring the actual party. She is a twin and has always shared her birthday with her brother.  This year, they both protested and insisted on their own party.  I was happy to oblige- just meant one more party to create!

Party Planning Step 1- Theme

Obviously the first thing that goes into a party is picking a theme.  There is a tremendous amount of resources out there which are great to draw inspiration from.  I usually settle on a theme for the party 6-10 months before the actual event:) Yes, I know crazy long but this gives me a lot of time to create the event in my mind and to be on the look out for ideas and party props.   For Charlotte's birthday, I settled on this theme last July.  I have had the theme for my daughter, Audrey's November birthday since last December.  This extra time also allows me to come up with the party plan and then "sell" it to my each of my children. (I've also thrown parties together in 2 day, like my silver and white one, so don't panic or quit reading.  You don't really need to choose one that far ahead.. I just like to.)

When I was trying to come up with the theme for Charlotte's birthday, I wanted 3 things-

1. It needed to be new and fresh- something I hadn't really seen much.
2.  I wanted the party to be based around a simple object.  I had recently seen a party based on the line drawing of a firetruck.  I loved how simple and graphic it was.  I wanted the same for this party.
3.  Most importantly, it had to be based on something that reminded me of Charlotte.

So I started running objects and themes through my mind (think of alphabet cards)
immediately apple popped up. Perfect for #1 and #2 but how did it relate to Charlotte?  As it conveniently worked out, my husband calls Charlotte "Charlie Pie", which took me to apple pie which lead me to "Apple Of My Eye."

I quickly jumped on the computer and searched for apple of my eye parties and apple parties.  I found one apple of my eye party for a boy in 2009 and one or two baby showers with apple of my eye as a theme.  I was pretty surprised because the theme seemed perfect for a party.  Next, I looked on Etsy.  There were a few invites matching my theme but they were all in red and green and leaned towards harvest.  I wanted neither.  I decided to use pink and green as a color scheme and wanted a feel that was more modern and graphic than a harvest would be.

Apple of My Eye!

Theme picked, and basically, I crossed my fingers for the last 7 months hoping it wouldn't become too popular. I only hit one snag when my dear friend, neighbor and extraordinary party planner, Lauren, whose works I've shared here and here, told me in December that she was having an Apple Of My Eye party for her daughter, who's birthday is six days before Charlotte's.  Lauren graciously came up with a different (amazing) theme, but knowing that Lauren would have had an incredible party, made me step it up!

Come back tomorrow for part 2:)   Hope this helps!
XO