Real Party: Baby Blue Baby Shower

I helped to host a very sweet baby shower for a friend's first baby boy this last spring. 

We held the shower at a restaurant that had a private room available.  It made for low stress hostessing.  We brought in our own dessert, but everything else was taken care of by the staff at the restaurant. 

Here's the invitation I made.  

 

The diaper was made out of felt, with little baby blue stitches holding the sides together.  

I made fabric squares for the center of the long table. 

One of the other hostesses found little baby blue buckets to use as centerpieces.  The restaurant provided custom menus for the day, which served as a nice keepsake for the mom-to-be. 

I made a party banner with felt diapers to match the invitation. 

I made another fabric square for the gift table... 

...and for the dessert table.  We avoided a cake-cutting fee by bringing in cupcakes and our own plates.  

My first attempt at cake pops! They served as party favors, and they were definitely a hit! 

Real Party: Tropical Bridal Shower

You may remember this wedding I attended last summer.

I wanted to share with you some of the details from her fabulous bridal shower. 

Katie's bridemaids did a great job with her spring shower.  They captured the essence of the couple's tropical honeymoon in many of the details. 

 

The cute invitations were ordered from Wedding Paper Divas. 

There was a threat of some rain the day of the shower.  Katie's bridesmaids were able to get tents, and the planned backyard luncheon continued without any problem.  

Impressive centerpieces, huh? 

Love this idea! I will definitely steal this at some point.  Salads were served in these brightly colored Chinese take-out style containers.  Not only were they colorful, but it made serving the large number of guests simpler.  And, vegetarian options could be color coded as needed. 

Festive lanterns and a grass skirt adorned the beverage station. 

 

The highlight? These incredible cupcakes.  Fondant beach towels, with the bride's new last initial "monogrammed" on, topped with little beach umbrellas.  Aren't they adorable? The "sand" was graham cracker crumbs mixed with sugars.  The bride's cousin is quite talented! 

Real Party: Hawaii Bridal Shower

You may remember this wedding from this past summer.  I'm finally getting around to sharing highlights of her shower that I helped to throw. 

The shower was held at Purple Wine Bar, which has several locations in the Seattle area.   It was a great place to hold a shower.  The food & wine are excellent, and they let us bring in our own desserts.

We kept the invitations pretty simple.  We used the bride's color scheme for her wedding, and stamped a few Hawaiian flowers.  

 

The party was in the private loft area.  We made fabric squares for each table and brought in flower bouquets. 

We loved Hostess with the Mostess bridal shower Love in Paradise.  This post inspired our low white dishes with sand, shells, and candles that were placed around the party. 

We put the mother of the bride and mother of the groom's names on flower arrangements, and sent them each home with one.  We thought this was a nice way to honor these important guests.  

The wine and water station also held some goodies we had made. 

My Hawaiian flip flop cake was a hit! The tag says "Janelle & Darren ~ The perfect pair".

For party favors, we baked up some Hawaiian cookies and packaged them up with the recipe and a little spoon. 

Real Party: Rubber Ducky Baby Shower

This is a shower that I helped to throw before I started this blog.  I thought it was about time that I shared some details! 

The invitation was a paper diaper.  The diaper pins held blue beads for a little color.

 

And the inside with all the details, and a little ducky to hint at the theme. 

The inspiration for our theme came from Hostess with the Mostess.  I fell in love with their Bubbly Ducky Baby Shower, and thought it would be perfect for our mom-to-be.  Her favorite colors are blue and yellow, and the theme went nicely with the blue gingham I was already planning to use.

 

Here was our centerpiece, inspired by those on Hostess with the Mostess.  

Brunch was served at the party.  I am a proponent of brunch showers.  Everyone loves breakfast foods, and its nice for guests that the party is over by the early afternoon.  These were definitely a hit - yum!
One of my fellow hostesses made the fruit salad.  Notice how it is made with only yellow & blue fruit and berries?  Now that is dedication to the theme! :)

I made the mom-to-be a sash to wear...pretty cute, huh?

We had a "Welcome Baby" banner hanging near where the mom-to-be opened her gifts.  A few small bunches of balloons, and some yellow flowers also adorned the fireplace.
We used some baby washcloths in our colors (that were on the registry) as balloon weights, to go with our rubber ducky theme.  A blue gingham runner was on the coffee table.

 

A basket with party favors sat by the door. 

I thought our favors were creative.  The mom- & dad-to-be are a very earth-conscious couple. So we gave out energy efficient CFL lightbulbs.  The tag read:
"Here's to a bright future for Laim! Change out a traditional bulb in your home for this CFL and help make the world a better place for baby Liam."
And a little ducky to match the invitation. 

Tata for Now!

image via the talented Katy Elliot

I've got lots of "real party" action in the works... hope you'll stop by! 

Easter Tablescape

Did you hear about the Easter and Spring tablescapes contest that Maddycakes Muse is hosting? 

I can't wait to see all the submissions! It is definitely time for a dose of spring colors around here. 

I won't have time to put anything extra special together for this contest (more about that later), but I'm going to submit the pictures of brunch we hosted last year. 

 

My Grandma's blue tablecloth...such a fun color! 

Yellow daisies! 

My spring butterfly napkins, and green glass salad plates...topped with a cake pop. :) 

 

And brunch is served! 

Valentine's Dinner

We hosted a dinner last night with my husband's family. 

I wanted to use the runner I made a few weeks ago, so that became my starting point for the tabletop. 

I used red apples for place card holders. 

And I finally got to use the red chargers that I got for Christmas.   

(When I explained to my nephew which plate to use he asked "What does it charge?" haha)

Even my cupcakes were decked out for Valentine's. 

Not a big surprise, I used my favorite recipe to make these cupcakes.  (My husband won't let me use a box mix after having this recipe so many times lately...There's no going back now!)  I added some chocolate chips, because what is Valentine's Day without chocolate?!

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am Loving: Chocolate Party Favors

A friend shared a great resource for party favors with me, and I couldn't wait to share with you all!

A trio of beautiful chocolates, packaged in a sweet box, tied with ribbon.  I am partial to food-based party favors, and these look extra special. 

Perfect for baby showers...

...weddings or bridal showers...

...and even birthday parties! 

 

Aren't they precious?  

According the the website you can customize the color of the ribbon too.  

(And we all know how important that is!)

These beauties can be found here.

PS The movie was great! I absolutely loved it. 

Anyone else...

...seeing this movie tonight? 

How could you not? :) I hope its as good as it looks!

Happy Friday!

Cupcake 1st Birthday Decor

Another friend's baby is about to turn 1.  Unfortunately they live in another state.  

Since I can't be there for the big day, I decided to send some decor items to help them celebrate.  

They are having a cupcake decorating party.  

I thought some cupcake confetti would be a nice addition: 

I had to make the little guy a banner: 

And, a party hat! 

I love the idea of a cupcake decorating party.  I think guests of all ages will enjoy putting together their perfect creation with lots of fun topping choices. And bright toppings make great decor.
Here's a little inspiration for the day:

1. Multi-colored sprinkles, like these from Bake it Pretty, are a must.
2. TomKat Studio's Cupcake Collection for boys is perfection!
3. Bright icing choices like this red, add to the fun.
4. My favorite Cupcake book is a great place to get recipes and ideas.
5. Personalized aprons for kids, like this one from Williams Sonoma, make cute party favors for pint-sized guests.
6. Cupcake papers in different patterns and colors are available all over. Bake it Pretty has some of my favorites. 
7. Squeeze bottles for icing are perfect for little fingers.

Happy Birthday Liam! Wish I could be there to help you celebrate!

Car Cake

Today I attempted my first car-shaped cake.  It didn't turn out like I had planned, but it was still pretty cute. Someone pointed out that it looked like a Prius.  So we'll just pretend that was always the goal. ;)

 

I made two separate cakes, using this recipe: one in a bowl, one in a square pan.  I trimmed both of them to form a fancy sports car economical Prius. 

A little frosting, and some donut tires turned it into a car. 

 

Happy Birthday little guy!