Past Party: Decorating a Graduation Party

This spring my cousin graduated from the University of Utah and I wanted to throw a party with all things red.  (Go Utes!)  Without much time to prepare, I kept this party pretty simple.

I spiced up the beverage container with just a little ribbon and a description of the graduate’s degree – atmospheric sciences.

I turned these dollar-store vases upside down, shoved glittery garland inside, and topped with candles.  I wrapped each candle in University of Utah paper I found at the local scrapbook store.  It was a great centerpiece for the food table.

I used more University of Utah paper and diecuts from the scrapbook store to spruce up this beer bucket.

I also spruced up the beer bottles with a little ode to the graduate.

I used red and white carnations – perfect for the University of Utah.  And ya’ll know how much love I have for single bud vases.  A little graduation cap diecut and graduation confetti tops off the table.

This wood U was easy to paint and a cheap way to incorporate the traditional cap letter logo.

This was a pretty simple party and I think the graduate enjoyed it.  How else can you incorporate collegiate elements?

Past Party: Thing 1 Thing 2 First Birthday Party

My sister has beautiful twin girls who just turned one.  Props to her for surviving their first year! The girls have oodles of loving family and friends, all of whom my sister wanted around to celebrate their big day.  I gave her suggestion boards of all the ideas I’d put together and she whittled it down to one:   Thing 1 and Thing 2 from Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss.

Now, in all fairness, I’m not the first person to use this theme.  Several party planners had rocked it and showed off their images.  But I was so excited she picked this theme because I am loving the combination of light blue and red in all contexts – parties, weddings, clothing, etc.

My sister tackled the invites all on her own.  Using Mama Judd’s scrapbook tools, she created the invitation.

Pardon the poor quality of this iPhone photo.

The girls, of course, had to be dressed to kill.  I used iron-on fabric paper to create a Thing 1 and Thing 2 logo for the front of basic white onesies.  My sister decided that Thing 1 would be the first baby out – so as to prevent any arguing when they were older.  (Thinking ahead, that one!)  I ordered iron-on appliques of the Cat in the Hat for a little flair on the buttocks.  The tutus I made during a long road trip.  They weren’t as pretty as they could have been – oh, if I could only sew! – but they definitely had an impact.  Those stinkin’ kids are adorable.

Sewing would have also helped me create those crowns.  I can embroider, which was sufficient for this project, but I can see how a sewing machine could really go above and beyond.  I created the crowns using two pieces of felt, ironed together with fusible backing, and stitched around the edges.  I also used that fusible backing for the letters on the front. You can find a template here.

Apparently the girls didn’t think the crowns were as fabulous as I did.  We couldn’t keep them on their heads.

I wanted to make an impact from the moment the guests arrived so I created pinwheels for the entrance to the party.  There are several tutorials out there but I chose the easy way out.  I didn’t drill a hole through a dowel or anything fancy like that.  I just wrapped the pin around the dowel. Voila.  The pinwheels didn’t spin but I was more concerned that they were pretty. It wasn’t windy that day anyway, so it must have been meant to be.

In the foyer we displayed a memory board of pictures of the girls’ first year.  I bought an old cork board at the thrift store for $4 and covered it with fabric.  Around the board we displayed photos of the girls’ first birthday professional photo shoot.

I covered the tables in aqua blue cloths and adorned them with red spots of all different sizes.  Mama Judd really comes in handy with her scrapbook tools for anything using paper.

I did different centerpieces for each table. One used ostrich feathers and another used fake Gerber daisies.

I found some unique inspiration for the third centerpiece. These hip-looking orbs are actually Christmas tree ornaments that were 75 percent off at a closing Roberts’ store.  I balanced them (poorly) on Ikea candle holders.

Sprinkled throughout the ceiling were clumps of tissue paper pom poms.  We also had a banner we made using Mama Judd’s Cricut.  It said: “We are 1!”

On the fireplace we displayed a hat I created from poster board and wooden letters of the girls’ initials from the craft store that we painted to match our color scheme.

In the corner we played the original movie version of Cat in the Hat. (Doug’s technological brilliance is also key to my party planning success.)  If you haven’t watched the original film before, sit down and enjoy.  It’s 20 minutes of pure hilarity.

Each of the cousins received party favors.  I wrapped kites in aqua blue paper with red initials for their names.  The kites were inspired by the part of the book where Thing 1 and Thing 2 fly their kites throughout the house and make a big mess.

I placed a lollipop display near the food spread.  This cool red vase was also a Christmas section discount item.  Score!

Guests ate pretty cookies, but the birthday girls needed cake! Each got her very own cupcake, which was topped with cotton candy to resemble the crazy blue hair of Thing 1 and Thing 2.

To date, this is the party I’m most pleased with.  It is also, however, the party on which I’ve had the most time to plan.

Which is better: the original or Mike Myers Cat in the Hat film?

Past Party: “Wild About Cole” Baby Shower

Another in my “Past Party” series, this is the party that started it all…

My best friend just had her first baby, a son named Cole.  (Such a handsome lil’ bugger, I might add!)  When she found out she was pregnant,  I could hardly contain my excitement.   I knew I needed to throw her a baby shower special enough for such a special little man.

I had never thrown a baby shower before. Actually, I hadn’t really thrown any party before.  So I set out to Google.  I had no idea how vast the word of party planning is!  This is what started my love affair with Hostess with the Mostess and pretty much every other party planning blog written in English.

We settled on a jungle/safari theme and I came up with a catchphrase: Wild About Cole.

I was dead set on creating a passport invitation.  Without Photoshop skills, however, it took me a very long time to create a look I was pleased with.   (In fact, learning how to use Photoshop is one of the items on my 30 Before 30 list, which I’ll reveal soon.)  But after much tinkering, the invite was complete.

It pains me so to have to block out the personal information! Just trust me – it was so lovely!

Guests were greeted with safari balloons:

The tables were anchored with vases full of sand with feathers and straw.

In hindsight, I wish I would have planned initially on three tables.  I would have incorporated burnt orange runners on each of the white round tables.

I used basic ole’ scrapbook paper as placemats.  Fantastic zebra plates were topped with orange giraffes and rafia strings. I was very impressed with the strength of those plates! Doug made sure I knew that wimpy plates are, well, wimpy.

I used burlap and scrapbook paper to create a banner that said “Wild About Cole.”

My apologies for the dark photo.

Our nearby bakery made a beautiful and tasty cake. Genius!

Guests left with “souvenirs” – cookie cutters in the shapes of jungle animals.

The BFF and I both agreed to keep games to a minimum.  She is a huge celebrity gossip nut, so she prepared a matching game with celebrities and their baby names.  I told her not to do a game for her own party but she insisted.  That is how much the nut loves celebrity trivia.

We also played Price is Right with bidding exclusively focused on baby care products. (Credit due to my brilliant aunt on this one.)   It was such a hit! I MCed the event in my best Price is Right voice. Each guest wrote down her estimate and the one with the closest value, without going over, won a prize. The baby item went to Lori.

I’m pretty sure the ladies had a good time and I think the BFF was pleased. I know I was p.u.m.p.e.d to plan another party when all was said and done.

I even started a trend with this shower! Well, maybe I didn’t start it but I was sure there when it happened.  The Hostess Blog posted about a jungle theme baby shower just a few weeks after mine.  You can read it here.

This party officially gave me the party planning bug! Now I can hardly wait for that little man to turn one so I can throw him a huge extravaganza!

Do you enjoy or dread baby showers? How can I plan future showers that make people want to come?

 

P.S. Want to see Cole’s “Wild Wild One” cowboy first birthday party? Click here.

Past Parties: Party Like a Rock Star

I’m going to feature several parties I’ve planned in the past to show ya’ll what sparked my party-planning bug.  Look for these under the “Past Party” tags.

My nephew recently turned 8 and is fascinated by Rock Band.  In fact, he got an electric guitar for his birthday.  How my brother and his wife are going to survive that sound, I don’t know. My mom, who we will call “Mama Judd” just in case she wants to retain some anonymity,  wanted to surprise the birthday boy with a rock star party.

We asked all partiers to wear rocker outfits.  The rest of us followed suit – even my one-year-old twin nieces.

You go girls.

Before those hip rockers were allowed into the party they had to get their mandatory wrist bands. (Props to Doug for being such a good bouncer.)

Then it was a star studded trip down the red carpet….. (All-a-dollar table cloths have so many uses!)

Each of us had a star with our name on it and the birthday boy had an extra big star.

(The banner said: “One Night Only: Introducing C-Man!”)

At the door, each of the three kids got swag bags full of pop rocks and glow sticks.  The birthday boy also got tattoo sleeves.

I used Mama Judd’s old school vinyl records and record covers for place mats.  For one of the centerpieces I painted a black glittery “C” in honor of the birthday boy and displayed it on an overly-glamorous IKEA candle stick holder.

Okay, okay. In the name of full disclosure, I had to have Papa Judd paint the wood C.  Spray paint is trickier than it looks!

We ate a fantastic dinner and Mama Judd made a saw-weeeet guitar cupcake cake. As a rocker might say, it was “sick.”

Although the Wii wouldn’t properly play Rock Band for us, the birthday boy gave us a great show on his new electric guitar:

This party wasn’t my first – stay tuned for more in my new ‘past party’ series – but it definitely spurred my party planning bug.  Party on, dudes.

Anyone with suggestions on creating an even spray-paint job?