{Real Parties} About to Pop Shower with The Petite Soiree

Today I'm sharing a hip and modern baby shower that I recently had the privilege to help with.

I was so honored when Stefanie Nieves of the Petite Soiree asked me to design some graphics for a Trident Gum inspired gender reveal baby shower she was styling.  When she shared her vision of the shower with me and how she wanted everything to look, I instantly had this idea of bubbles, bright colors and things that pop!  As I started designing the graphics, I instantly knew that I was working towards a Pop Art theme.  I came up with a few designs and Stefanie chose the ones she liked best and styled a super cool shower that is perfect for the trendiest of couples!

To get more details about the shower and access free printables head over to Stefanie's Blog!

{Party Recap} Part 2: Bubble-Riffic Birthday Party

As promised here are more pictures and details about the Bubble-Riffic Blowout Bash I threw for my daughter’s 6th birthday.  While it was ultimately a good time to be had by all, the day started off rough and caused us to change course a bit because…

It rained.


Our plan was to have the party outdoors, with lots of fun games and activities but, with the wet weather and the chill in the air, we brought the fun inside!



We waited up until the last moment (about 30 minutes till the party)  to accept that Mother Nature was not having it.  Once we realized that we would have to nix setting up the party outside, we quickly moved out our dining room set and coffee table and created a space in both rooms for the party.   Once everything was set up, we decorated the room with lots of balloons, and bright, colorful linens.

The tablescape was a steady line of bubble gum fun!  For a pop of color, mini pom balls were strewn across the table to resemble gum balls.  Literally the day before the party, I found the most adorable tabletop gum ball machines at Dollar Tree.

For the main centerpieces, I  filled empty glass jars with Double Bubble and used them as double-duty by serving as anchors for swirl pops from Oriental Trading. I also added crazy straws to the display.  A variety of jars and vases were also filled with an assortment of bubble gum candies and Blow-Pops.




Part favors were festive blowers and glow stick bracelets that were displayed in a simple white tin bucket.



I designed the party hats, tags and bags myself and used a stamp kit to create the gumball machine favor tags that included actual gumballs.  The birthday girl wanted her party hat to stand out.  So, I embellished it with a paper rosette and glitter paper to create a fancy medallion and then added pretty satin ribbon to tie it off!




When Mother Nature would ease up on us, we let the kids play with bubbles, in between the rain showers.  This allowed us to set up for other activities, games and lunch.  I had different bubble sets displayed in a bucket and each guest got to choose their favorite.



Since we didn’t have the space indoors to do a balloon pop relay, we just let them go crazy and  pop lots of balloons!


Bubble-Gum themed prizes were given out for the games and the person who could guess the number of gumballs in the jar.




There was also a contest to see who could blow the biggest bubble and the birthday girl won!


After chowing down on hot dogs, tri-color pasta salad and melon balls, we sang Happy Birthday and the guests enjoyed a delicious slice of bubble gum cake from a ‘gumball machine’ and sugary sweet  gumball topped cupcakes!  I also made gumball machine cake pops! (btw, these were a bit of a chore to make, but they final result turned out great - I might do a tutorial on them at a later date).




Guests left with goodie bags filled with bubble gum and bubbles!

Even though it may have rained, my Mini Diva had a blast!  Check out my yarn poms hanging from the ceiling! 


Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!


If you are planning your own BUBBLE GUM THEMED party, you can now purchase this party collection in my Etsy shop!

See more on this party here.

Where to Find:

Table Top Gumball Machines - Dollar Tree
Bubble Sets - Dollar Tree, Oriental Trading & Target
Gumball Tutu - Atutudes
Limb Warmers - 3plcouture
Candy - Target, Oriental Trading, Dollar Tree
Party Hats, Party Tags, Favor Bags, Favor Bag Tags, Bubble Gum Machine Cake, Cupcakes, Birthday Girl Shirt - Created by Yours Truly

{Party Recap} Part One: Nikki's Bubble-Riffic Birthday

Heeeeey!

This party mama is pooped!  We had so much fun over the (CRAZY) weekend celebrating and eating lots of gum, and blowing LOTS of bubbles.  I have so many photos to go through but I did want to post a few pics from the party.  I'll post more later in the week with details to boot!

{Friday Freebie} I Heart Ikea and The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle

The Mini Diva's party is next weekend and although she might be thwarted with my threats of cancelling it due to her 'divattude', I know that there is no way I've invested all my God-given energy into this fête to let it fall by the wayside. That being said - look at all the cool stuff I've gotten (or still have to get) from Ikea for the party:

I love all the bright bold colors - just like colorful gumballs!

Ain't that chalkboard frame cute? I made one using Peel and Stick Slate Chalkboard Sheets but you may remember it from this Big Game event or this lovable and sweet party  . It's pretty versatile.  Hey, if you like it enough, why not leave a comment about this post, cause this here party mama is giving away three today! Just leave a comment below to win. Winners will be chosen at random and will be announced on April 1st! NO JOKE! (Get it???? April Fool's Day is that day and.........alrighty then.)

On another note, I'm considering making decorated sugar cookies for the party. Now, I have a serious aversion to making cookies period, don't ask me why, I have no clear explanation for it. Doesn't mean I don't like them, in fact, I love cookies. I guess making them is just not my thing - but cupcakes are. Now, Imagine if you combine the two - what do ya get???? Cupcake Cookies, of course.

Look at these babies I found over at The Adventures of Sweet Sugar Belle. Ya'll, Miss Sweet Sugar Belle, certainly knows a thing or two about making and decorating sugar cookies. I found her blog last week and fell in heart with her eye candy cookies - LOVES IT!!!

Cute right? Check out her blog when you get a chance - Girlfriend's got mad skills, yo! LOL

{Sweet Treats} Bubble Gum Candied Popcorn

The Mini Diva loves popcorn and she loves bubblegum so it would only make sense to combine the two and come up with a delicious treat to have as a snack at her party. So, I made Bubble Gum Popcorn Balls!

First, I found the recipe here.

Then I ordered some Bubble Gum Flavoring and went home and started on my masterpiece.

I did make a minor adjustment to the recipe (mine is below) but the steps are easy recipe to follow.

Here's the final product:

I thought the popcorn was absolutely delicious......then, I gave a popcorn ball to Miss Thing for her snack and she hated it! She thought they were gross and really only likes popcorn with the brown (caramel) candy on it......WHATEVER!!!! Honestly, I was so darn ticked off that I didn't even package them up for presentation. I guess I should have expected that as she's in a picky phase at the moment. On the plus side, I'll have one less thing to make for the party!

If you think you'd like to make some you can try your hands at it. You don't have to make bubble gum flavored popcorn balls you can substitute the bubble gum flavor for cherry, cinnamon or vanilla!

Here's the recipe with my minor adjustments:

Bubble Gum Candied Popcorn
Using 1-dram (.125oz) bottles

4 quarts popped corn
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp 1 dram LorAnn Bubble Gum Gourmet Flavoring
Wilton Rose Icing Color

Directions

Keep freshly-popped corn warm in large baking pan in 200°F oven.

Combine sugar, corn syrup, butter, salt and cream of tartar in medium saucepan. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Cook to 250°F or about another 5 minutes without stirring.

Remove from heat. After boiling action ceases, add flavoring and color. Add soda and stir in quickly but thoroughly. Pour at once while foamy over warm popcorn; mix gently to coat corn. Shape into balls or spread onto cookie sheet and break into pieces when cool. (Handle hot popcorn with care - this is a job for an adult to do if you're doing this with kids).

{Keepin' It Crafty} Festive Pom Garland

Inspired by this post, I spent the better part of my weekend making a handful of these babies!  I plan on using them for The Mini Diva's Bubble-Riffic birthday party in April.


Determined to get them done I got up early Saturday morning (unheard of) and I headed out to my local Joann's Craft store and got me one a' deez and some yarn.  After hitting up a few other stores, I got home,  grilled some burgers, ate dinner, put Thing 1 and Thing 2 to bed, and me and my Mister ordered two movies On Demand then I got to pomming.  Four hours later, I'd made about forty poms!  The gals over at HonestlyWTF were right, making the poms are quite addicting, by 5 pm on Sunday, I'd made enough to make a pretty long garland.....

 Likey?  Me too.


I think they look like gumballs and will look just peachy with the other party decor.

{Party Starters} Bubble-Riffic Invitations

The invites are in the mail!!!!

The Mini Diva already passed out invites to her classmates, but the other guests will recieve these adorable invitations, that I designed,  in the next day or so. 

I'm so into envelope address wraps lately, I've even included them in my party kits on Etsy.

Each envelope was sprinkled with a little confetti on the inside and some glitter....not so sure how that's going to go over with the USPS or the parents, but hey - it's fun!

We're so excited about this party, I've got tons of bubble gum, bubbles and other things that blow up and pop!  I'm just hoping I can contain myself before I POP!  (get it????  pop????....I know, I know). 

Check back soon for more sneak peeks!