White Christmas Party Invitations

I can't wait to throw this wintery white party in a few weeks! Christmas really is the best time of the year!

Here are the invites!

Shopping Party Details

Mailee's shopping party was a blast! This is a great alternative to having the party at home while still avoiding the chuck-e-cheese route!! My best advice is to keep this type of party to a smaller number of kids. Here are a few of the fun details!

Spending Money "Goody Bag"- as opposed to filling a goody bag with "stuff", I gave each girl an empty goody bag and some spending money for the mall. I gave my daughter the choice, 8 kids with $7.50 each, 6 kids with $10 each or 4 kids with $15 each. This particular daughter is a quality over quantity kind of girl so she went with inviting her 3 favorite people and having a little more spending money. For what it's worth, I think the party would be equally as enjoyable for the kids even if they had a smaller amount of money.


Scavenger Hunt- I made two lists, one was labeled "take a photo of these..." the other was labeled "complete these tasks...". Each item listed had a box next to it and they all enjoyed checking off the boxes as they completed the tasks. This kept the party moving around the mall as the girls were shopping with their spending money. The even bigger bonus to the scavenger hunt? GREAT PICTURES!!! The kids were happy to strike a pose as long as there was a little box to check off!

completing a task- "play hopscotch".

Clearly this takes a bit of planning. I went to the mall a few days prior to the party armed with my camera and a pen and paper. I scoured the mall for fun little free activities. interesting items to look for, and counted up the number of bank machines and exits. Don't go too far in advance, the mall is constantly rotating stock.

completing a task-find a card at the Hallmark store and "give" it to Mailee.

The girls loved this activity. They took their time and picked out great cards! I don't know about you but with 3 kids in school and at least one friend party a weekend, I do not allow my kids the extravagance of purchasing cards from the store. It's all about the make-at-home cards! They all enjoyed pretending to pick a "real card"!

This is the card my older daughter picked out for her sister! I thought it was a perfect choice coming from a first born!

Stick with the theme- make the gifts match!!!

After 3 hours at the mall, we moved the festivities to the house for cake and gifts. I invite the whole family, aunties and grandparents for this hour of the party. I enjoy doing all celebrating on one day!

Lazy Lanterns- Sometimes hanging lanterns is just a lot of work! I tied beautiful bows on the top of each lantern and plopped them on top of varying sized vases and candle holders. They looked fantastic and they were quick and easy!

Purse Cake- A shopping party must have a purse cake, yes?

This is my version.

Here are my favorite photos from the scavenger hunt...

"take a photo in front of a blue tiled wall"





"take a photo at the front desk of (fill in name of store in your mall with swanky front desk) and strike a pose!"

"Put on a ring, a hat and some glasses and get them all in the photo"


The family photo!

Thanks for looking, I hope you feel inspired to go out and plan a shopping party of your own! I did this theme with my own friends when I was a teenager and again as a bachlorette party in college. It's a winner every time and with any age!

Shopping Party Invitiations!

My daughter Mailee is having a "shopping party" next weekend. This will include lunch at the mall, a scavenger hunt, and spending money for each of the girls to shop with. She has 3 friends coming. The invitations for this party were so fun to make. I made each girl a wallet invitation with all the information on little cards in the inside pocket!

The pretty rhinestone "clasp" was a fancy brad from the scrapbook store.

The little wallet with everything tucked inside...

I laminated a little card for each girl with their own picture on it.
These were a big hit! The back side was zebra print...too cute!

Thanksgiving Inspiration

I live in Canada and in Canada they celebrate Thanksgiving in October. The harvest is earlier up here I guess.. Anyways, We celebrated Thanksgiving this weekend so I thought I'd share a few of my favorite details to get my American readers in the mood for turkey!!

The kids and I noticed a stunning tree in our neighborhood. We plucked a few leaves off and hot glued them to simple white candles. Cute, yes?

I bought 3 pieces of felt; brown, rust and green. I cut out the letters and the kids hot glued them along with little pumpkins that they made onto card stock. We couldn't find the hole punch so we used a kitchen knife and the cutting board to make slits in the paper for the ribbon to weave through.

The grown up table...

Cream card stock and gold puff paint...two easy ingredients for simple and pretty place cards.

This china was given to me by my Grandma. I have avoided using it in the past because it "isn't my style". My new philosophy is "embrace it". I built the whole table around the china. I only have 6 place setting so I mixed it with my simple white every day dishes (men got those, women got the fancy ones :).

The kid table...

The kid table does not have to match the grown up one...it can be a mini party! This table was fun and colorful and they loved it. I used puff paint to write the kids' names on their pumpkins. The kids enjoyed picking it off. Ha!

Have fun with your food! Here is my rainbow veggie plate. Nobody touched the cabbage but it sure looked pretty!

Tea time! I set up the tea service on my fanciest cake plate. It looked so pretty and gave some height to the counter.

A spot of tea, anyone? Canadians do tea like the English. If there is dessert involved, tea is essential. if tea is not a regular part of your thanksgiving tradition, why not start something new this year? When the pies come out, break out the tea as well!

Cheers for now!

Golden Birthday Bash

We celebrated my sister's golden birthday in a blinged out affair to remember. What's a golden birthday? You don't know? Everyone has one. It's the year that you turn the age of your birth date...whew, was that confusing? Let me break it down... My golden birthday happened this year when I turned 31. (that thing about a girl never telling her age, pish! whatever!) My birthday is the 31st of May. Get it? Here's another example in case it's still not sinking in: my daughter Maddie's birthday is March 4th so she celebrated her golden birthday when she turned 4. Are you with me?

So this sister turned 21 on the 21st of September and here is how we marked the occasion.

A fab banner in various sized rectangles and squares made out of stiff felt. Silver glitter puff paint and some rhinestones completed the look. Gee, look close, this is a horrible photo!

The lights to the right are lumieres. We folded down the tops of brown paper lunch bags, added sand and lit white candles. They looked great! They lined the walkway in the front of the house and the entire deck in the back. This is an easy and affordable way to add ambiance to any outdoor event.

We placed these cylinder vases on the tables. They were filled with pearls and chunky clear jewels. Once we poured in the water and added a floating candle, they were pure bling!

Here's one of those lovely vases at night! Pretty!

My favorite decoration at this party was the lantern poles. I put three bamboo poles into the ground. (large pots would work as well) I strung twinkled lights up and down each of the poles and then slipped white paper lanterns on to each pole.

These were a dramatic backdrop for this golden affair!

Now you know I am all about the cake. I love to make a cake perfect for each event. What do you do when the guest of honor does not like cake? Turn her favorite dessert into something fabulous! This sister loves cheesecake so I bought a bunch of inexpensive wine glasses, filled them with a no bake cheesecake and put out tons of topping options.

The desserts looked great displayed together stacked on cake plates. I purchased gold plastic spoons and glued a rhinestone to the tip of each one, added a spoon to each glass and wa-la...a non-cake "cake" to blow candles out with!

Oh- and the best part? We washed the glasses and sent those home with the guests as favors.

Golden candles of course!

If you are 31 or younger, you may still have a golden birthday to celebrate! If you missed your golden birthday, find someone who still has one coming and start planning!!

I forgot to mention one final detail...all of the guests were asked to "wear white with touches of gold and bling!" Fantabulous!

Show me your most sparkly, golden, blinged-out events!!!

Where to find THE Cake Plate!!

I have a favorite cake plate. It is so pretty and simple. I love it's shape and the pretty filigree edge. I really like that I can weave a ribbon into it as well. Here she is in some of her finest moments...

This cake plate was a gift from one of my best friends, Jen. Whenever anyone has asked me where to get it, I have had no answer for them...until now!! My Dad found a link to the exact cake plate for sale here!! Get there fast if you want it, looks like they are only selling one. I will keep searching for more. This would be a perfect addition to your serving collection!

Ladybug Shower

This weekend we celebrated the arrival of our friend Kim's daughter Miah whom they adopted from China. Ladybugs are a sign of good luck in China so a ladybug theme was a natural choice for this party!  This is not my first ladybug party,the last ladybug party I did for a little girl's birthday.  It was a blast to create so I couldn't wait to do it again with a little bit different twist.?

Here are some of the highlights:

The whole table.

This was my first attempt at a paper banner. It was really fun to make! I have been adoring Jess' amazing banners over at Polkadots & Pirates for a few months now. Her blog is so enjoyable you've got to check it out, It's simply adorable!

Here are the cupcakes and homemade scones. I love this cupcake stand. I have used it lots of times but this time it is lined with cute coordinating papers. This is a little trick I learned over at The Tomkat Studio. Kim has gobs of great ideas and all her parties turn out adorable and classic. Her blog is another awesome spot for inspiration and one of my personal favorites!!!



Muffins in a cute tray.

I saw these rubber boots and had to get them for little Miah.

Adding the flowers just made them that much cuter!!

Little tip: each boot has a plastic cup inside to hold the water:)

A fun sign

The cute favors that Cheryl made.


Too cute! Inside the tulle was a lindt chocolate with a daisy wrapper.

Look at these pretzel buns! Aren't they cute?

Gabriele made these and they were as delicious as they were cute!

The pretzel spread.

Just one more shot of a pretzel bun!

Check out this adorable diaper cake. Isn't it sooo cute?? You can order these from Bitsybird online or go see Leigh and her creations in person at the Farmer's Market on Saturdays. This "cake" was a huge hit and I have a feeling that it will be a while before Miah's Mommy dismantles it. What a cute decoration this will make in her ladybug room!



And last but not least, the ladybug cake! It is very similar to the one I did for Teghan because the mommy of honor had once hinted that she loved that cake and I say hey- don't fix what ain't broken!.  I love the polka dot ribbon in the cake stand!

Thanks for looking:)
Have you done a ladybug party?
Can I see??

Please feel free to ask me any questions. I want this blog to be a resource for all you party planning crafty ladies out there!