Inspiration: Chili Cook Off Centerpieces

This year's Superbowl Party with my friends is going to be a Chili Cook-Off. 

My friends Katie and Casey are hosting.  

I am going to be helping Katie with some of the decor this week. 

I've been brainstorming for styling ideas and I think it would be really fun to incorporate peppers since its a chili cook-off. 

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I love the bright colors and the fact that they tie in the chili theme.  

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These centerpieces with pepper mixed in are too cute. 

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Even just a cluster of different kinds and colors of pepper could be cute.  Clustered around a hurricane, or in a large footed bowl perhaps. 

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Bell pepper votives are an easy addition to the decor! 

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This topiary doesn't actually have any peppers on it, but it definitely inspires me to think about making a similar one out of chili peppers. 

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Dried chili peppers make a nice flower substitute. 

Off to research my chili recipe... :)

DIY Idea: Baby Shoe Centerpiece

My friend Kelly recently helped to throw a baby shower for a friend who is having a little girl. 

I just had to share the cute centerpiece they used at the shower. 

Isn't this adorable?  There aren't many things cuter than baby shoes.  

The centerpiece was done by the Safeway floral department.  The hostesses brought in the shoes and Safeway added them onto the flower arrangement for them. 

I'm definitely tucking this idea away for future use! 

Thanks Kelly!

Real Party: 3 Sweet Peas Baby Shower

Back in November I told you that a friend of mine had asked for some inspiration for a triplets baby shower she was throwing.  My ideas are here. 

I finally get to share her pictures. Everything looks so cute! Its fun to see some of my ideas come to life, and also to see what other ideas my friend Marci added. 

The table held the cute centerpiece, pink & green cupcakes, favors, drink glasses, and lunch items.  

I was so glad that Marci loved the centerpiece idea of using peas as vase filler.  I have been in love with this idea ever since I saw it here. 

Marci gave Sweet Pea scented hand sanitizer to all the guests as a party favor. I love this idea! It was inspired by another friend of mine Samantha's Sweet Pea baby shower. 

The other favor was mason jars with the makings of "Triple Chip Cookies" (for triplets- get it?).  White chocolate, milk chocolate, and green mint chips were included in these cookies.  The jars were topped with fabric and labeled with the recipe card. 

I contributed a banner to the occasion: "Welcome 3 Sweet Peas"
You can see closer pictures of the banner here.

Congratulations Mama Heather and great job Hostess Marci!

DIY Idea: Homemade Cake Stands

I am seriously dying over these! Dying!

If you haven't seen them already, you must check out these DIY cakestands from Bee in our Bonnet. 

The colors and possibilities are endless! Aren't they adorable? 

Check out the full post for directions and to see how gorgeous they look at the wedding they were created for. 

I just sent this link to my girlfriend who's getting married this spring and recommended she and her architect fiance get on it! :)

Teddy Bear Cupcakes

I have seen several cute teddy bear parties for children's birthdays.  

(Love this Teddy Bear Picnic by With Joy. And this Teddy Bear party by Lemon Tree Creations has lots of cute DIY ideas.) 

My friend Drea shared some pictures with me of the cupcakes another friend made for a recent first birthday party.  The 1 year old is called "Leina bear" by some family, so naturally the cupcakes had to have teddy grahams on them! 

I love these pictures and had to share! So simple, yet so cute...

Real Party: Fiesta Owl Baby Shower

I helped a few of my friends throw a co-ed baby shower last weekend. It turned out really well, and we really lucked out on the weather that day!

Let me explain this wacky theme...The parents-to-be decorated the nursery with an owl theme.We decided to get a morjority of the food catered by one of the couple's favorite Mexican restaurants.  Putting these two things together and we had our Fiesta Owl Baby Shower.  Woodland touches, bright colors, and a few sombreros set the scene for this bash.  

Lindsay found these cute invitations on Etsy.  The invite helped us define our color scheme: aqua, lime, brown, and orange. 

Guests went straight to the backyard to enjoy the rare warm January weather. We had simple appetizers (veggies, tortilla chips, tater tots, and lots of dipping sauces) and drinks (margaritas, lemonade, assorted sodas, and beers) set up on the patio. 

Burrito fixin's and salad comprised the meal. 

You may recognize the centerpiece from my New Year's Eve party.  With the addition of some aqua and orange ties, it was transformed for this party. 

We used stump risers for the main dishes. And if you look closely you can see a few little yarn owls in the tree.  

My friend Lindsay made these little cuties following this tutorial, and then added felt features. 

Dessert was owl cupcakes, inspired by this.  We used cashews for the beaks, chocolate chips for the eye, and oreo cookies for the ears & eyes.  People went crazy for these!  If I made them again, I would put them together the day of the party rather than the night before to keep the cookies more crisp.  

Yarn owls wearing sombreros, perched by the cupcakes.  I loved the way the embroidery hoops and lanterns hung above the desserts looked. 

Since we had such a diverse crowd of invitees we decided to skip the traditional shower games, and have a few activities to keep people occupied. 

First, we tried to capture each guest in the photo booth and have them write some wishes and advice for the parents-to-be.  These things will be put together into a book as a keepsake for the parents-to-be to remember the day. 

First, the photo booth: 

We strung a sheet and one of my owl bunting banners in the backyard.  We had a few sombreros on hand for guests to pose with.

We had a little station set up near the photo booth for people to write their notes to the parents-to-be. 

The sign says "Be a Wise Old Owl and Share Some Advice with Bernadette & Kelley".  And of course, the wise old yarn owl was wearing glasses.  We found a cute little photo album at Michael's and cut papers to fit inside.  Later we'll add photo booth pictures. 

The other activity was a S'more station.

We had all the fixin's and guests roasted their s'mores over the fire pit. 

The sign reads: "Bernadette & Kelley are adding S'more to their family" 

After dark we served Mexican hot chocolate, a perfect end to the evening. 

Congratulations Bernadette & Kelley!

Kendra's Party Party!

It's that time again! Kendra of My Insanity is hosting her 3rd Annual Party Party to celebrate her Blogiversary!

I've spent too much time already going through tons of cute parties linked up over there! And there's still so many more!

I linked up 4 of my own parties: 

New Year's Eve Party

Holiday Housewarming

Six Tea 6oth Birthday

San Francisco Retirement Party

I hope you'll check them out if you haven't already! 

You can see the parties I linked up last year here.  

Sneak Peak: Fiesta Owl Baby Shower

Sorry I've been MIA...I helped to throw a baby shower this weekend and it has taken up every spare minute I've had for the past week. 

I'm in the process of organizing my pictures to share all the fun details, but for now...a peak at the sweet bunting banner that hung in the backyard: 

I'll be back soon with more!

Funny Party Video

One of my friends who works in advertising shared this video with me.  Its an ad agency's take on planning a kid's birthday party. I thought some of my party girls would enjoy it...and some of you could do an even better job with details I'm sure. ;)

I am Loving: Reese's Minis

I have a few friends who are currently attending the CES conference in Vegas.  

So I have second-hand knowledge about an exciting product that was launched there...

Reese's Minis

Unwrapped and the smallest size ever made.  I read they were the size of a dime. 

I think these are crying out to be put in a chocolate chip cookie, don't you? Yum!

You can read the press release about the launch here. 

I was not compensated to write about this product...I just really love chocolate & peanut butter. :)

Inspiration: Bamboo Baby Shower

A friend recently asked me to help her brainstorm ideas for a baby shower she will be throwing.  My friend told me a few things about the mom-to-be's style: she likes Asian-inspired patterns, loves the color gold, appreciates fine paper goods, and she isn't a girly-girl who loves pink. 

I've done some searching, and I hope I've come up with a theme she will like.  

I told my friend she should start her planning by browsing a few fabric and paper stores to come up with a beautiful Asian pattern that she loves.  

I am suggesting a gold & green bamboo theme, but these ideas can be adjusted to match any color scheme that fabric and paper shopping might lead to. 

Details of my ideas and photo credits: 

1.  Brown or gold napkins would be lovely tied with a green shoot of some sort.  Serve the food on eco-friendly bamboo plates (available for purchase here).  They sell silverware also!

2.  These inexpensive bamboo coasters make a cute party favor for guests. 

3. Purchase a few of these inexpensive frames to place baby pictures of the mom- and dad-to-be around the party. 

4.  There are numerous options for bamboo-inspired invitations around the web. This set of letter press ones from Etsy would be perfect for a girl who loves fine paper goods.  This set is for a wedding, but often Etsy sellers are willing to work with you to customize. 

5.  Adorable bamboo cupcakes would be an easy DIY project.  

6. A perfect gift for the mom-to-be: anything from the Baby Bambu line, including this onesie.  

7. Cute little centerpiece of bamboo tied with ribbon.  Luckily, you find bamboo at your local Ikea. 

8. I have said many times on this blog how much I love a children's book as a guest book.  Just have guests sign the inside cover.  This book would be perfect. 

9.  With an Asian-inspired theme, lanterns of some sort are a must.  These gold ones are gorgeous. 

All of these items pulled together over DIY runners of the fabric inspiration she finds would make for a beautiful shower to honor the mom-to-be! Anything you would add?

Real Party: New Year's Eve

Our New Year's Eve Party this year was a blast.  I did not want it to end! Lots of fun details to share...

I love the way the table looked! The centerpiece was really fun & easy to make and definitely had that 'wow' factor! 
The food was quite simply amazing.  My girlfriends and I decided on the theme -- mini comfort foods -- quite awhile ago and divided up the work. 

 My beef & cheddar sliders and Katie's mini pizzas

 Drea's mac & cheese cups and Lindsay's mashed potato bar

Lindsay's mini corn dogs and Leslie's poutine and grilled cheese sandwiches

 For desserts, we stuck with the mini theme. 

I made some cake pops, and Drea made mini cupcakes -- champagne and red velvet flavored. 

I made some little signs for the two bars. 

We had some glowsticks, which made for really fun dancing pictures. 

I finally got to make a photo booth, which I have been wanting to incorporate into a party for a long long time.  Ours was simple, just a sheet, NYE banner, and some props.  Our best prop was the little white board.  The writing on the white board became sassier and sassier as midnight approached. ;) The photo booth was definitely a hit!  

Thank you Drea for donating your old NYE hats!

And lastly, my party favors...

Blueberry muffins for people to eat for breakfast the next morning, with a little tag on the bottom. 

Inspiration for the party came from lots of places...including some of my favorite blogs: 

My tags, signs, and labels are from TomKat Studio. 

My centerpiece was inspired by this post by Kelly of WH Hostess and The Party Dress. 

The food theme was inspired by this post by of Stephanie of Couture Parties. 

Drea's champagne cupcakes were inspired by this post by Shauna Younge of Shauna Younge Dessert Tables. 

The muffin favors were inspired by this post by Chris at Celebrations at Home.  

Sneak Peak: New Year's Eve Party

I am still recovering from our New Year's Eve party...still vacuuming confetti, washing dishes, and trying to catch up on sleep.  You'll have to wait a little longer until I organize all my pictures so I can share all the details of this fun party with you all. 

Until then, a sneak peak of our food table...specifically my centerpiece -- which was cheap, easy, and beautiful -- 3 of my favorite things!

Check back for more details this week!

I am loving 2011 so far...Hope you are too. :)