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!

Ladybug Ladybug...

There's a party in the works! How exciting!!

Creative Juices Where Art Thou?

The other day I reorganized my icing colors. I didn't make anything with them, I just reorganized them! Yikes, I really need to get those creative Juices flowing again!! (They do look pretty though, dontcha think??)

Office Luau

Once a month I throw a little party at my husband's office. Here is the office Luau. On the menu were fruit skewers, celery boats, curried couscous and pina coladas. The little umbrella adds so much personality to the table. I always like to label the dishes. People like to know what they are eating and the tags help continue the theme!

Baking Party

I finally figured out how to make a collage of photos. What a thrill to have that skill under my belt! Now allow me to overload you with photo collages!!



Last November I threw my oldest daughter a baking party for her 9th birthday. Here are the details...



The Invitations: My favorite feature? The envelopes were clear plastic and I threw in some adorable cake sprinkles as confetti. What a delicious way to be invited to a party!!


The Decor: Some of my favorite details that saved me money and looked fabulous...Perfectly matching wrapping paper rolled out on the table to serve as a table cloth...Oatmeal, hot chocolate and peanut canisters covered with coordinating fabrics and papers to hold baking utensils... felt flags with bits of leftover fabric from the aprons...last but not least, a party is not a party in my world without lanterns tied with ribbons!

The Party: The girls made cookies and decorated their own mini cakes. I made each girl an apron and a chef's hat. The chef's hats were easy to make and oh so cute! You can make them by going HERE.

Tips: I made all the sugar and gingerbread cookie dough in advance, rolled it out onto wax paper and piled them up in the freezer so the dough was ready to go when the girls were. For next time, I would borrow cookie sheets so that each girl has her own place to plop cookies when ready for the oven to avoid cookie mix ups!

I glued white cups to white plates and provided paint and crepe paper in the party colors (I'm a bit of a nut case when it comes to party colors...MUST STICK WITH THE THEME!!). While the cookies were baking the girls decorated their own cake stands.

The girls each got to decorate a 6 inch cake. Next time, I would provide smaller cakes. this felt like way too much sugar by the end of the party!! Again, wanting to stick with the theme at all costs, I pre-mixed the icing and even pre-matched a base color and a piping color so each cake would turn out looking cute-ish. This was my plan but by the time the kids were done piling their cakes with candy and sprinkles, I'm not sure my careful calculation mattered much!!

Once the cookies were cooled, the girls iced and candy-fied their cookies as well. I packed the cookies neatly into the adorable pink cake boxes and tied them up with teeny baking utensils. The box of cookies, aprons and cakes on stands were their "goody bags".

I had two sisters at the house helping me. This is crucial when running this type of hands on party with this age!!!

The Cookies: Here are the cookies I made for her to take to school on her "real day". After going to great lengths to make the tray look just right, She informed me that it was "way too much" and "super embarrassing" and asked me if she could please just bring the cookies in a grocery bag. WOW...words can't describe the mental toughness it took for me to allow this display to be dismantled and to throw the cookies in a bag. Perhaps next year we'll just buy cupcakes at Safeway like all the other kids. Ha- let's not get carried away!