Butterfly Centerpiece

I recently helped to throw a small bridal shower for a coworker.  I was in charge of some of the decorations for this quick little potluck shower.  

I fell in love with these butterfly napkins at a party store. 

I used them as inspiration for the color scheme and the centerpiece.

This centerpiece was oh-so easy and I was really happy with the way it turned out.  I found some wire butterflies at Michael's that worked with the color scheme. I attached them to thin wood dowels with glue dots and added them to a simple flower arrangement.  I used a bronze vase I already owned.  Simple! 

Congratulations Ruby! 

I can't wait for the wedding!

Inspiration: Tying the Knot Bridal Shower

My friend Megan recently asked me for some ideas for putting together a "Tying the Knot" bridal shower. 

I decided I'd share what I came up with for this cute theme with everyone! 

Decorations for this shower all involve yarn!  

I love the yarn balls strung from the ceiling, forming a kind of knotted chandelier (as spotted on Hostess with the Mostess).  I found some great DIY instructions for making these here.

I made these yarn wrapped vases for a baby shower a few months ago.  DIY instructions are here. 

The possibilities are endless for this yarn-wrapped word.  The couple's names or initals or the wedding date are fun options.  Or Love like the one featured here is perfect for a bridal shower.  Great DIY instructions are here, by Family Chic. 

Lastly, a bowl full of yarn balls is the perfect centerpiece.  Hostess with the Mostess has DIY instructions here.  (I've made these before and used a straight pin rather than a glue dot, and it worked great as well.)

A few other ideas: 

Purchase a length of rope from a home improvement store.  

Tie knots in the rope. 

Run it down the center of a table, or a long a fireplace mantle.  

Or

Hang pictures of the couple from a thin knotted rope.

Licorice comes in almost any color you can think of.  Licorice knots would make perfect cupcake toppers for this bridal shower! Thank you Fete Fanatic for this inspiration.

Martha Stewart shares the recipe for these "Wedding Knot" cookies here.

Napkins should be tied into knots, of course.

Pretzels are the perfect knotted food.  Pretzel snack mix served in cute cones is a great appetizer.  Chocolate covered pretzels would make great cupcake toppers.  They also make great favors.  These are packaged from a set of "tying the knot" printables by Nellie Design,  available here. 

Sandwiches make a great main course for this shower, as they can be wrapped in parchment paper and tied with a knot.  (These are from a shower I threw). 

I love this theme! Am I missing anything? 

Real Party: Bridal Shower Photo Booth

I showed you the photo booth we set up at the recent bridal shower that I helped to throw. I just had to share some of our pictures.  The maid of honor, Michelle, had so many fun props for guests to use! It was a BLAST...as you can see:

Real Party: Pink & Gray Cherry Blossom Bridal Shower

Before I could even finish telling you about my crazy 3-parties-in-3-days weekend, I had another shower to throw and went MIA for a little while.  Phew...exhausted. 

But I think my party calendar is empty {for now}, and its time to finish sharing all the details. 

To review...a few weeks ago, I flew up to Seattle and helped to throw a Bachelorette Party for my bride-to-be friend Kelsey, and Sip and See for my friend Shannon, and then a Bridal Shower for Kelsey over the course of 3 days. I am finally able to share the bridal shower with you! 

Kelsey & John have decided to do a cherry blossom theme for their wedding, using the colors pink & gray.  We did the same for her bridal shower luncheon.   

 I was in charge of the centerpieces. I punched about 1 million paper flowers out of different gray & pink papers and packed them in my suitcase. 

The maid of honor, Michelle, had glass vases and several branches, so I attached them when I arrived using glue dots.  They were quite easy and wallet-friendly.  Kelsey liked the look so much that snagged them to use them somewhere at the wedding! 

Michelle made some giant party pom flowers which we hung in the dining area.  They were made from napkins! 

The food was simple, but delicious.  We had a panini bar and several salads for lunch.  We had all the fixin's, and 3 panini grills set up in the kitchen so people could grill their own.  It was a hit! People loved this lunch and it made the set up very easy. 

Per usual I was in charge of desserts...

 I made cake pops and cupcakes. 

The cupcakes were adorable, thanks to the gum paste cherry blossoms that I ordered from an Etsy shop called Tiny Diesel.  Shirley was so easy to work with, and was able to make the center of each flower silver to match our decor.  Guests loved these and they really looked beautiful. 

Michelle created little quizzes about Kelsey and John that we used as a game.  She spoke with each of their moms to get some fun facts about them.  For example: "What was Kelsey's first job?"  Many people were surprised that she had worked as a dishwasher! I still laugh about that. 

Michelle was brilliant and used this cherry blossom invitation set from Target for the quizzes, printing on the back and front of the invitation sheets.  They looked amazing!

We also had a little "wish book" for people to contribute to.  The RSVP cards from the Target invitation set were perfect for this. 

Our one mini guest was kept occupied with cherry blossom coloring sheets, and left over ring pops from the Friday night Bachelorette Party.

The last activity we had was the photo booth, which is always fun. 

I'll show you some of the pictures later this week.  We definitely had a great time posing here.
I got the idea of the tinsel heart from this Valentine's Day post at Hostess with the Mostess.

And last, but not least: party favors! Cherry blossom scented lotion and some pink-wrapped chocolates. 

What a fun party! I've said it before, but I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE WEDDING! The official countdown is on!

I am Loving: Paper Garlands

I am in full shower planning mode & I love it!   

I have a bridal and baby shower in the works for the spring. 

I am loving all the different paper garlands in blog land, and plan to incorporate one or more into these showers. 

Here's some of the inspiration I have gathered:

Image via Style Me Pretty
These simple paper chains are reminiscent of elementary school crafts.  The metallic paper steps the glam up a notch in this picture.  And could it be any simpler to put together?  Paper chains are definitely a front runner for my spring shower decor. 

Image via Project Wedding

Isn't this dainty doily garland sweet?  DIY instructions are here. 

On a related note, have you see the beautiful painted doily garland that Meg from Whatever (one of my favorite new crafty stops on the web) created with her kids.  Its beautiful! Check it out here.  It's definitely not dainty! Amazing what a little color can do! 

Image via Project Wedding

I love these velum mobiles.  Aren't the colors amazing?  DIY details are here.  

Image via Project Nursery

This simple circle garland from Kim at TomKat Studio is too cute.  It allows for fun papers to be mixed and matched.  I love this one so much that I've used it at a party before -- see here! Find Kim's DIY instructions here. 

image via Colour Lovers

This coffee filter garland is stunning.  It was inspired by this wedding featured on Martha Stewart Weddings.  Two great DIY instruction posts can be found here and here.  From what I've read, these are easier to create than the traditional party pom's. 

Hope you are inspired!

Box Lunches!

This weekend I helped to throw a party that involved box lunches. 

I have never done box lunches for an event before and had so much fun putting these together.
We found some adorable boxes and made some great food items to fill them with! 

Some of my favorite party blogs have used box lunches at their parties.  Here's some of my favorite box-lunched parties: 

Party in the Park by Sarah of Jack & Izzy

Pretty in Pink Bridal Shower by Amy of Stem Parties

Woodland Forrest Party by WH Hostess on the The Party Dress

And I'll be back this week with the details on our fun party & cute box lunches. 

Bridal Shower Gift Idea

I've been talking about the great bridal shower I attended all week. 

One more thing to share though!

My friend Leslie is great at coming up with creative gift ideas. 

She gave Drea a gift basket full of wine-related items. 

One of the items included was a product I have never heard of before, a Travel Wine Protector. 

This allows you to safely pack a bottle of wine in your suitcase without fear of it breaking and staining all your clothing. 

Perfect for a couple going on their honeymoon, don't you think? They can bring a bottle with them, or bring one back from the trip as a souvenir! 

I just love this idea! It would be really great if you had a friend going to a wine country for their honeymoon ~ Italy, Spain, California, etc!

I was not compensated to write about this product.

Bridal Shower Games

Earlier I shared pictures from the bridal shower I attended over the weekend. Make sure and check them out here if you haven't already. 

Lindsay and I were in charge of the games for the shower.  Shower games can often be a drag, so we really wanted something fun.  

We settled on two things that all of our friends, including the bride-to-be, love: wine & celebrity gossip. :)

The first game was a wine trivia/tasting game.  

(click to enlarge)

The game was half wine trivia, half wine tasting.
I am not offering a printable because the game is personalized to the couple. This would be easy to recreate though! 

For the questions that required a taste, Lindsay sewed navy bags to go over the wine bottles.

The bottles were lined up along the bar in the corner of the backyard. 

The winner received a bottle of champagne, in another of Lindsay's cute navy bags.

The second game was a quiz regarding celebrity couples. 

The rules are easy: fill in the celebrity's most current significant other.   We said correct spelling wasn't required, unless it was needed to break a tie. 

You can download this game here.
Celebrity Bridal Shower Quiz

And here's the answer key.

Celebrity Quiz Answers

 The winner received 3 gossip magazines.

People seemed to really enjoy these games!  Mission accomplished.

Thanks to Lindsay for the pictures!

Real Party: Something {Navy} Blue Bridal Shower

Remember this bachelorette party that I told you about a few months ago?

Well, this past weekend was the bridal shower. The shower was INCREDIBLE! The host & hostess did an amazing job!

This long table made us stop in our tracks as we approached the house. 

Galvanized pails of babies breath, yellow gerber daisies on the plates, crisp navy tablecloths ~ simple, yet stunning. 

The party started on the back deck. Guests and the bride-to-be lounged on white cushioned furniture with cute navy polka dotted pillows. 

Passed appetizers and drinks were served on the deck.

Then it was time for lunch, which was as beautiful as it was tasty. 

Salad after salad was brought out. We couldn't believe that Drea's good friend Will had made all of these beautiful salads himself. 

 Cobb Salad

 Caprese Salad

 Nicoise Salad

Duck & Raspberry Salad with Walnuts

After lunch, we were all in for a treat (literally)! 

We were told to go to the front of the house -- dessert had arrived! 

The bride-to-be when she saw what was waiting at the curb! 

Our very own ice cream truck!

Sooooooo fun! 

(and so appropriate for every different kind of party: showers, kids party, parties for kids-at-heart, etc!) 

Party favors were adorable as well. 

Canvas bags with navy handles. 

Inside the bag? 

Chocolate chip cookies in a mason jar...courtesy of Drea. A perfect thank you from a bride-to-be who is an amazing baker! 

(the recipe is on the back of the tag) 

I can't wait to make them!

One thing is for sure! I CANNOT wait for this wedding!

My friend Lindsay and I were in charge of the games for the shower.  Come back tomorrow and I'll share the games we played.  (There's a printable game that you can use too!)