{Whatever Wednesday} Featured: Humpty Dumpty Inspired Party on Hostess with the Mostess Blog

Earlier this year Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams collaborated with Stefanie Nieves of The Petite Soiree on a Humpty Dumpty inspired party.  I was excited to see that Stefani's party was featured on Hostess with the Mostess today!

I created a fun yarn pom pom garland and handmade hats (can't wait to add these to the shop) especially for the party.

Stefani did such an amazing job and I just love how everything came together.  Please head over to HWTM for more details!

{Party Recap - Part 2} Rock Star Party

So, when my husband forced me (kicking & screaming) to plan a double party this year for my kids' birthdays I almost had a coronary. I know their birthdays are just 26 days apart, but the thought of sharing a party was something I never wanted for them. I mean, it does kinda suck to have to share your party with your little brother or big sister, right??? (I don't know these things, I am an only child) Well, as it turns out, they could care less! They both got guitars this past Christmas and quickly decided they would have a Rock Star party and began constantly shooting off suggestions and recommendations for their party.

Being the party planning momma extraordinaire that I am, I pulled all their ideas together and with my super creative knowledge and expertise, came up with a full out rocking plan for the party.....and that is as far as the plans went. Ya see, not everything I planned to do actually got executed. Let's chalk it up to last minute printer issues, high winds, and someone's booty.....I'll explain more later.

On Monday, I shared a few photos from the party, but here is a full party recap!

 As guests came in they were greeted with this fun door sign. I so do love a welcome door sign for my parties.....it's just a sneak peek at what's in store!

(Ooooh, my son is four....not three...mommy brain strikes again)

They were presented with these hip VIP lanyard badges that I designed and had laminated (thanks, hubby).

 In the invitation, I asked guests to come dressed as a rock star. Knowing that most of the party guests were girls and a few boys I purchased a few feather boas on sale at the fabric store and $1 rock star gloves for them to dress up with to accessories their outfits. Inflatable guitars and microphones were purchased at Party City for about $8! These items also were used in our photo booth. I had the cutest signs and props that I created but because my printer decided to have a Diva moment, I wasn't able to print them up (plan fail #1) I knew I wanted to hang the backdrop against our shed and found a twin size sheet set from Walmart for about $12!!!!!

 While waiting for other guests to arrive, most of the kids played on our swing set and the boys beat each other up with the inflatable guitars (plan fail #2a) - major fun. After a few minutes of free-play, with the help of a crafty friend leading the activity, each of the guests received a rock star headband to bling out. In the house, my teenage cousin was hosting a few good rounds of Rock Band with some of the adults and boys!

 There was an awesome plan for both party tables, but because of high winds (plain fail #2b). I did manage to get a picture of a centerpiece just for show. I'm bummed out about the table, cause I had lots of cute stuff to share, but at the end of the day, the kids just wanted the darn pizza and could care less what the table looked like.

 After the food and activities, all the kids got together and took a few snapshots in the photo booth while me and my awesome helpers set up the sweets table and the birthday cakes. They're so darn cute!

This sweets table was the pièce de résistance (in my head) for the party. My kids looooove having a sweets table for their parties and I looooove setting them up.

 I enlisted the help of my good friend to pull it together while the photos were being taken. I'll share with you later why we set up the table late in the party. After all the photos were taken, the kids gathered rushed in for cake and other goodies......and then it happened!!!! Let me preface the 'it happened' by saying that it dawned on me the night before the party that I'd forgotten all about the cakes. The cupcakes were done, but my kids were very clear in their demand for rock star cakes. So, I whipped up two personal cakes, one chocolate and one vanilla, frosted them, and decorated them with sugar sheets and cake toppers. It took me about six hours to do both cakes and left me with one hour of sleep.......I digress....... 

As the kiddies rushed in to sing Happy Birthday, somehow, someway, someone bumped into someone, who bumped into something, that bumped into the sweets table that sent my son's cake tumbling to the floor (plan fail #3). Poor guy was really bummed out.....luckily his oldest sister had a backup cake in the fridge!

 Here is a little tip; sweets tables are great for parties, however, if you set it up midway through the party it helps to keep the kids from getting too high off of all that sugar! If you're setting up for an adult gathering, having the sweets table set up in advance is perfect.

I created fry box treat boxes for guests to take with them that were filled with candy, bubbles, guitar shaped crayons by Red Elm Designs, party blowers, tattoos, fun paper shades, rubber bracelets.  I placed each box in a cellophane bag and tied a favor bag tag to each for a cool presentation.

All in all - a success, if I hadn't blabbered on and on about everything that didn't happen no one would EVER know. The kids had a great time, my babies celebrated another year of growth and everyone got to rock out!



I want to thank the Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams Party dream team for all their help, assistance & support (Hubby, April, my Mama, Donna & Naleli)



Party Shopping Guide:

Party Styling & Decor: Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams
Cakes & Cupcakes: Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams
Tracey's Tutu: Atutudes
Adam's 'Little Brother' Rock Star Tee: Children's Place
Crayon Party Favor: Red Elm Designs
Inflatable Instruments & Candy: Party City
Fabric Backdrop: Walmart
Feather Boas: Hancock Fabrics 
Rocker Bracelets: Family Dollar

{MG Party Impressions} Choo-Choo Train Party

As a party planner sometimes I really find out how much I love what I do.  This fun train party  I styled for MG Party Impressions is a reflection of that!

 

{Rewind} A Little Catching Up to Do!

I must say that I have been one busy girl lately!

 There was a period of time about 6 months ago when my business was super slow and even though I had lots of other things to push me along, I wasn't turning as much of a profit as I'd like to. So, I sent a little prayer to God and the Universe and now, I can barely keep up!

 My Etsy shop is doing very well, I've got parties booked, a holiday show in the works and I'm writing for two other blogs! WHO KNEW????  So, that being said, my own blog kinda took a back burner and I haven't been sharing all these moments with you all - shame on me :(. So, I'd like to share a few moments with you that I haven't as of yet!

 Back in mid-November I participated in a local Holiday Fair in Alexandria, VA - hardly made a dime, but it was a great experience and I showed a few new items! Here you can see my yarn pom-pom garlands and my new premiere line of party hats from my Celebration line. The Celebration line is a gender neutral set that will be available in my shop this month. The hats are more decorative and stylized and the other party items are die cut products opposed to printed.

Here is another item soon to be available in my shop - POOF! Yarn Pom-Pom Wands!  These wands are perfect for fairy parties or princess parties.  I even have a set designed to look like Abby Cadabby's wand.

Here are some items I created for this Holiday season.  I have a story behind the light blue and red color choices.  Back in September I was contacted by an editor from Real Simple magazine about my holiday poms and sent a few samples OVERNIGHT to the city (New York, that is) for them to use in a photo shoot.  I found out they didn't make the cut :(  but WHATEVAH!  they're still cute and the ones I saw in the final photo in the magazine were not the colors they requested from me.  My best guess is that they changed direction with what they were doing for the holiday shoot.

I even made a cute yarn pom pom cone tree!!!! Check out the cute pom gift tags too!

I was also busy working on a LOT of custom orders.  About 25% of my business on Etsy is custom work.  It always makes me happy to come up with something new for a client.  A lot of times, I have designs that I created in my files that I have not added to my store.  Well, a repeat client came to me requesting a pea in the pod set.  I did have something similar but changed the peas to little girls with hair bows! SO CUTE - the client loved it and all was well in the world.  Here is a sneak peek at a set I created for her.

I also get clients who like my design, but want to change the colors, and I'm always happy to oblige.  Here is  an example of that.  I changed the color of my Whale of a Time party kit from pink and blue to pink, yellow and grey.  The client was nice enough to share a photo of the birthday girl in a special hat I made for her along with the invitation and wish cards I custom designed for the party.

If all that Etsy shop work wasn't enough, I done went and started writing for ANOTHER blog.  This time, I focus more on family & kids activities.  Here is a post I wrote around Thanksgiving on kids table ideas.  You can find me writing on there once or twice a month and don't forget to check out my latest post on  MG Party Impressions.

I have a lot more to share, like my contribution to Operation Shower and another darling Princess Party - but I don't have the actual photos to share just yet but you can check out my yarn pom cupcake toppers and garlands directly at the blogs.

I'll be posting more soon about some other fun items new to my Etsy shop and more holiday entertaining and   hosting tips.....I might even slip in a gift guide!!!

{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