Category Archives: Party
Purple and Green Floral Surprise Birthday Party
How We Celebrate 26
Pie Bridal Shower
So far 2016 has been the year of showers: bridal, baby and spring! 🙂
This past weekend my friend Carrie and I helped with a shower for our friend Jen. Jen’s friend Trish was in charge, but she was sadly not able to make it to the shower from New York due to school conflicts, so she did what she could from afar, and we all collaborated on ideas together through text and a shared Pinterest board. I love Pinterest! Jen’s main wedding color is Kelly green, so we started with that and then added some touches of pink because we thought they were really pretty together. Jen does not love pink… so we tried to keep it minimal… 🙂
Also Jen’s wedding theme is sort of outdoorsy-farmy-backyard picnic so we tried to stay close to that. I made a quilt-like board for the mantle by cutting 2 inch squares of paper and taping them to a piece of square bead board that I had.
And since every backyard/outdoor reception has strung lights we had to have some hanging over the living room. Since we had the shower in the evening, these were really pretty as it got darker. I still haven’t taken them down…
Storybook Baby Shower
This past weekend I threw another shower, this time a baby shower, with Jeanette (again 🙂 ) and our friend Wendy. It was for our friend Megan, who Jeanette and I knew from our days in the singles ward, and she and her husband just moved into our ward a few months ago. Jeanette, Wendy and I decided to do a children’s book theme because we all love books. We wanted lots and lots of books to use to decorate with… but I have very few children’s books… it was a good thing Jeanette and Wendy had so many! 🙂 Megan’s nursery colors are blue, green and yellow, so we used those colors where possible, but it was all pretty colorful with the different books. I loved all of the different colors with the white. We threw in a bunch of toys and sort of book themed items in with the books, along with some colorful flowers.
Wendy made these adorable story book themed painted onesies. I was amazed how detailed they were. I especially loved the cow jumping over the moon. And the apple with the worm. And the Once Upon a Time. Ok they were all really cute.
Mount Everest Bridal Shower
Last weekend a couple of friends, Monica and Jeanette, and I threw a bridal shower for our friend Amanda. She met her fiancé when hiking Mount Everest Base Camp…
…which is about as cool as the “how we met story” can get! 🙂
So we had a Mount Everest Themed bridal shower for her. I painted a foam board to look like the sign to point you in right direction… which is as close as I will ever get to it.
Witches Girls Night Party
I have been wanting to host a girls night witch party for years, and I finally got around to doing it last Saturday. In my opinion it was the perfect day for it, super rainy and windy and stormy all day! I loved it! I had a lot of plans that I didn’t get around to because for some reason after I got back from Hawaii and finished all the Halloween decorations, I just didn’t feel like doing any party prep. Fortunately though, I was planning on keeping up the Halloween decorations for the party, so there were a lot less party decorations I had planned. It was a really fun night!
I found these tiny felt witch hats at Hobby Lobby and placed them around the house.
And I got some orange and black balloons as well.
The table was what I worked on the most, and I was really happy with the results. I pulled out the white branches and put them in a vase with some mini pumpkins and then had a couple crows and an owl perched in the branches. Then I added some pumpkins, some black netting, a black lantern and the candelabra and table runner from the October décor.
Vu’s Star Wars Graduation Party
This past weekend I threw a graduation party for Vu and of course any celebration for Vu must require at least something Star Wars related. So the whole party was Star Wars themed. Even though we were celebrating his graduation with his MBA and not his 5th birthday party. Because if you look up Star Wars parties on Pinterest they are all 5 year old birthday parties. (Same thing goes for Star Wars sheets, to Vu’s disappointment).
I made a paper banner to hang over the mantle. Vu informed me after I hung it up that I made a spelling mistake. Apparently it is Padawan. I have a Star Wars font that I used as a template and drew the letters on yellow paper, cut them out and stuck them on some black and white squares and then strung them on some baker’s twine. I also pulled some artwork from Vu’s man cave for the mantle. I painted these water color pictures for Vu and they were the only framed art that Vu didn’t have hung in the man cave and I really hate hanging pictures, so I didn’t want to take any off of the walls that I would have to rehang. I am super proud of the Yoda, it is my favorite.
I also stole all of his stuffed animals to decorate the piano with.
I created a Star Wars “ceiling” over the living room and I really liked how it changed the feel of the room. I strung black crepe paper streamers across it and made some star garlands by punching out stars from white cardstock and sewing them together. We of course had the music from all the movies playing throughout the whole house. Continue reading
Rachel’s Going Away Party-Seattle vs Boston
For Rachel’s last night here I had a little going away party for her. I decided to do a Boston vs Seattle theme, since she was leaving Seattle and moving to Boston. To continue my little imagined rivalry for the party I used colors from each city’s baseball teams, the Mariner’s and the Red Sox, blue representing Seattle and Red representing Boston. I had the intention of doing something else with the Red Sox and Mariners, but never quite got around to it. So just the colors it is.
By far my very favorite idea was the Seattle and Boston skylines. I found some 4′ tall butcher paper and then using some skyline pictures I found on the internet as a reference point I drew each skyline on the paper and then painted them in with black paint (I used 2 different black paints because I ran out of the first one and obviously the one I used for the Boston skyline was a better quality… they looked the same until I hung them up over the window and then it was too late to redo it). And I have to say that as much as I love Boston, the Seattle skyline is prettier. There is just something about a large unique structure that adds so much beauty to a skyline. (Hello Eiffel Tower I am talking to you!) Also something to note. Both Rachel and I currently reside in cities on the water. Coincidence? I don’t think so. Even though neither of us actually live in the city. But in the suburbs of the city. Or more precisely in the suburbs of the suburbs.
I used air mail envelops to make a garland, just hanging the flap over some string. They fit perfectly with the color scheme, with the red and blue edges.
Using the butcher paper I also drew a map of the US in pencil and then traced over it with a black sharpie and then hung it over the mirror with hearts over Seattle and Boston. Many people asked if she had a layover in Nebraska because of the little loop in the dotted lines… She did actually have quite a bit of turbulence right in the middle of her flight, in about that area… Also I noticed that I squished the map a bit, it’s a little bit too short. Vu couldn’t tell, but I could see it as soon as I stood back and looked at it. But I like looking at maps a lot. I did free hand it though, so I am still pretty proud of myself that it actually looks like the US, squatty Louisiana and all. Continue reading
Bow Tie Baby Shower
A couple of weekends ago I threw a baby shower for my friend Carrie and her baby boy due in October. Her nursery colors are orange, royal blue and grey and she wanted a bow tie theme. I had so much fun doing this and I am so excited to meet Benson in a few weeks.
For the decorations I made paper dot garlands, fabric banners, and a tissue paper tassel garland. I had a bunch of cobalt bottles and vases that I used for the our wedding so I pulled a bunch of them out and added a few orange flowers. The “It’s A Boy” banner was from another shower Carrie had earlier that she let me use too.
When the guests arrived I had them fill out little “Wishes For Benson” cards that I made.
For lunch we had chicken salad sandwiches, bow tie pasta salad, orange and blueberry fruit bow ties and crunchy Cheetos, with orange creamsicle punch to drink. I made the napkins and silverware into little bow ties, and made bow tie ribbons around the mason jars for the drinks, both of which I saw on Pinterest, but I was really happy with how they turned out.
Becky Jael 