Real Party: Baseball Baby Shower

I have been a bad blogger and blog-reader lately. :( 

Excuses, excuses...but I have been in 3 states in the past 2 days. Anyway, glad to be home and getting caught up in party-land. 

My friend Megan is at it again. 

She threw another adorable baby shower this past weekend (and let me help her with a banner!), and was kind enough to share her photos with me. 

 The cute invite set the stage for the baseball theme. 

Food table...with all baseball appropriate foods: peanuts, cracker jacks, popcorn...

...and of course there were hot dogs...

...and in the back there? Blue cotton candy, naturally!

The highlight of the decor? I die for this retro popcorn machine.  

Baseball cupcakes for dessert. 

My bunting banner hung in the window. "Welcome Baby Winfrey"  Isn't it cute? 

A closer-up view. 

Megan always does a great job with party favors.  These were no exception: Gourmet Rocky Road Popcorn! 

Lucky for us, her friend has a business selling this popcorn here. 

Yum.

Such a fun theme! Thanks Megan for sharing, and Congratulations Lisa!

Real Party: Black Lace Bachelorette

Remember these? 

We had the party last weekend & I've finally gotten all my pictures organized. 

What a fun night!

We started here, for some drinks and a little game. 

 This is my favorite bachelorette game lately. All the guests bring a pair of panties for the bride-to-be.  The panties should represent something about the giver.  The bride-to-be has to guess who each pair is from.  Each wrong guess led to a sip of champagne for Drea. 

Drea was amazing at this game! I can't believe how many she got right! 

The best part is the bride gets tons and tons of new panties, ranging from sexy to cute & comfy. Its definitely a great way to get people laughing! 

Then it was off to dinner here. 

Party favors were "ring pops" with purple tags and black ribbon, which we handed out at dinner.

And we had purple cupcakes, of course!  Remember my shoebox method of taking cupcakes to a restaurant?  We did that again, and covered the box with black lace. We turned it over to make a "platter" & left it at the restaurant when we were done.  I also ordered black lace baking cups from Etsy.  Drea's cupcake had a special glowing ring in it. 

Then it was glow sticks for everyone, and off to dance until our feet wanted to fall off...I believe Drea described it as feeling like she was walking on pins when we finally went home. :) 

My Husband's Birthday Goodies

What a crazy week it has been! I have been busy, busy, busy, and my poor little blog has been neglected. 

Its my husband's birthday week.  I usually like to make him up something yummy for his special day, but this year we were so busy it just didn't happen. 

Luckily the restaurant where we met his family tonight had a yummy chocolate cake! 

With our niece, who shares his birthday week. 

I was looking through pictures of past cakes I've made for him.  

Disclaimer: these were made years before I took a cake decorating class and learned about piping bags and how to smooth icing...please excuse crumbs, lumps etc. :)

27th Birthday: 

The cake for his favorite team: San Francisco Giants! 

30th Birthday: 

The Giant 30 with Blueberry (his favorite) Polka Dots

31st Birthday: 

Jam & Nutella Filled Cupcakes

Happy Birthday Danny! I'll make you the best cake ever next year, promise!

Real Party: San Francisco Retirement Party

Phew, I'm still recovering from the party last night! 

It turned out wonderfully. 

Everyone had a great time-- especially Katy, the honoree. She was absolutely thrilled! 

Here's the details! 

Rather than a standard guest book, we wanted Katy to have something fun to take with her when she moves away from San Francisco.  We found a great San Francisco scrapbook, and lots of vintage post cards with scenes of the city. 

 Guest signed postcards and put placed them in the scrapbook.  It made a nice display as guests entered the party too.  

The postcard idea was inspired by Martha Stewart Weddings.   There are so many fun ways to use this idea ~ its perfect for destination weddings & going away parties!

Katy LOVES Manhattans.   We could not have a party for her without featuring her favorite drink!

One of my coworkers volunteered to be the bartender! (Thanks Jen!)

Katy was given a special glass for her Manhattan. 

Another coworker of mine found this gift at Macy's.  Its a beautiful hand-painted Martini glass with scenes of San Francisco.  Perfect for our theme! They sell designs with many different cities...a perfect going away gift, wouldn't you agree?

And the highlight: the dessert table!

We had such fun putting this together.

The bar included vanilla cupcakes, raspberry gummies, black & red licorice, yogurt covered pretzels, madeline cookies, chocolate chip cookies, brownie bites, and cake balls. 

Guests of all ages loved it! Especially this little guy.  I love this picture of him, digging in with both hands! :)

What a fun party! I had a blast doing my first dessert table and look forward to doing more in the future!
Thanks to all the wonderful blogs out there for their dessert table inspiration!
Especially Amy Atlas, TomKat Studio, Celebrations at Home, and Save the Date for Cupcakes...though I read many more than those religiously!

Inspiration Board: San Francisco Retirement Party

My blog posts have been a little sparse lately because I'm in the midst of some serious party planning. 

A coworker of mine is retiring and moving away and we are sending her out in style. 

I'm finally getting around to sharing the inspiration board we're working from! 

We wanted to do a tribute the the city where she's lived for so many years.   And in addition to a bright red Golden Gate bridge, we decided on black and white. A classy combo, just like the honoree. 

Lots of fun things in the works -- including a dessert table which is coming together quite nicely! -- and I can't wait to show you all the details later this week! 

Photo credits:
Red tablescape, damask runner, red candy vessels, red velvet cupcakes, Golden Gate Bridge, Vintage San Francisco postcard, red & black tablescape, fleur de lis candles, polka dot baking cups.

DIY Idea: Outdoor Light String

I spotted this idea on Rahael Ray's Everyday.  

They used holiday-style white lights and added colorful baking cups.

I love this because you can change out the baking cups for any backyard party you might throw.  

The options for colors and patterns of baking cups are endless!  

Rachael's site suggests shopping here. I love here.

I wish I would have seen this before the 4th of July! These baking cups from Bake it Pretty would have made the perfect light string for our barbeque! Maybe next year...   

Cute Summer Cookies

How adorable are these cookies from Martha Stewart?

They are called Chocolate-Ginger Bathing Beauties...too cute! 

Though they won't help you fit into your bikini, they are perfect for summer! 

They'd be adorable for a pool party, don't you agree? Thanks Martha! 

Real Party: 4th of July Barbeque

We had a nice 4th of July here. We celebrated with a backyard barbeque with friends. 

Here's some scenes from our day: 

I kept my decorations pretty simple, but there was no mistaking what we were celebrating! 

 

The patriotic ice cream sandwiches were a hit, as always!

And my genius of a husband decided to put mint from our garden and cucumber slices in the water. Um, delicious! It was almost like another dessert. 

Our very cooperative dog was a good sport and let me dress him up in some American colors.
And I just have to say that I love Trader Joe's for offering red, white, and blue tortilla chips!

Hope you all had a great weekend and happy 4th of July!

Real Party: Basketball 3rd Birthday!

This little guy turned 3 recently. 

Sadly, I was out of town and missed the party. But my friend Lindsay shared her pictures with me. 

Sammy loves basketball, so he had basketball barbeque at a park near his house. 

Lindsay's cute basketball cupcakes. 

Birthday boy and his pinata.

Happy Birthday Sammy!