SCHOOL'S OUT BLOCK PARTY!

Summer Fall is here!

So perfect timing for me to dust of the old blog and tell you all about the party we had to kick off summer! A block party is something i've dreamt about since we bought our first house and four years later I finally felt confident enough to make it happen with a little "school's out twist" for the kids and their friends.

Tiny Prints to the rescue with the most perfect selection of invitations as usual. In fact their summer event options were so unbelievable it took me so long to even narrow it down to the Prismatic Party time invite. I was kind of struggling with the direction the decorations would take until I saw this invite and then it was all clear - i'd just decorate with color! Hello Dollar Store!This might be my new favorite party i've thrown! It was outside so almost zero mess inside, food was easy grab n' go snacks, decorations were inexpensive, and everyone had the best stress free time! I may have even actually given myself a pat on the back for my wagon ice bucket idea.

We invited all our friends and neighbors and to keep our costs down did BYO-Meat and favorite drink. I sewed up some cute crepe paper garlands and filled $5 Target buckets with these amazing water balloons and different water toys. The Target dollar bins and summer aisles were a gold mine for this party - spray sidewalk chalk? Yes please! $1 bubbles? give me 10!

Water balloon hint: Buy the original Bunch O'Balloons and wait to fill them up till right when you'll use them.

We all had so much fun and made lots of end of the school year memories - I can't wait for this to become our yearly tradition. 

EASTER 2015

I couldn't resist one more post - my favorite Easter to date!

Tim's parents were in town and we got the chance to host! The food part is so out of my comfort zone so I left that up to Tim and I was in charge of decor and activities! We make a good team like that.

To start off I found some printables on Pinterest - Most were free but the kids table cloth cost me about $10 between purchasing it and having it printed at Staples, well worth it! Target was on point as usual and I picked up an inexpensive table cloth, little fabric chick to stand next to the tulips, and hit up the dollar spot for the bunny crayon bin, grass, eggs, and wind mobile. The bunny masks I found for free as a printable and just had to cut them out and add bakers twine. I added place settings to candy filled eggs with a gold paint pen and all the kids loved the whole set up. For the strawberry display I got a Godiva bunny from Target (I picked a more pricey one because I knew it would have a better shape and detail) and using bread to add height to it, I stacked chocolate dipped strawberries around to make it look like he was a visitor to the strawberry patch. The kids really got a kick out of it!

I can't even get over what a ham Robin was while we snapped some cute pictures of the kids in their Easter duds. Love that guy! Later we made our way to the Tulip fields, something we are a little famous for here in Western Washington! It was the perfect weekend!

A FROZEN PARTY FOR STELLA

Two months late but worth the wait!

If you know me then you know i'm fairly anti-character themed parties but I learned it's hard to resist that Frozen charm! Especially when one of your best friends happens to have a Elsa costume (that she made herself!) just hanging around home. In the end i'm pretty proud of myself for making the whole event happen with very little licensed decor - a little fuchsia, light blue and a snowflake here and there did the job just fine! Tiny prints in always our go to for invitations and while they had an adorable Elsa & Anna option, I wanted to just set a snowy wonderland tone and went with The Twilight Sky invite. Everyone was invited to dress up as their favorite character or disney princess.

The jumping off point for my entire set up was Oh Happy Day's "big fringe garlands". Super easy to do and I would just go with the cheaper option for paper! I hand cut the Let it Go sign and scoped Target clearance after christmas for the bottle brush trees. Since our wedding I add to my apothecary collection when I can and it always comes in handy when there is a candy bar involved! The crowns were $1 at Joann's (although I had to hunt them over several days because I needed quite a few). For the cookies we used our favorite local shop Flour de lis, the same shop that made Rowan's amazing hospital thank you cookies. Our water color cake was made by our sweet friend Denise as usual - I can't believe she has made every one of Stella's cakes for five years! We topped off the cake with peg people from the Sweet Whimsy Designs shop on Etsy. I loved going this route because the girls now have two new figures for their princess castle instead of a tossable topper.

We held the party between meals and treated our guests to cookies, candy, frozen Elsa hearts (aka chocolate dipped strawberries), and blue punch. Don't worry, there was a veggie platter off to the side.

For games I filled cute paper bags with crumple white computer paper and all the guests and Elsa had a snowball fight. Then Elsa read the Frozen story and we finished off with a game of pin the nose on Olaf. It was the perfect day with our favorite people and I now may or may not be trying to convince one of the girls to have a Tangled party next. Lindsay would make a great Rapunzel, don't you think?

Enjoy looking through the photos and feel free to ask any source questions!

A WINTER THEMED BABY SHOWER

Back around Christmas my sister enlisted my help to plan a shower for their expecting friends at the end of January. After lots of pinning and guessing what this couple would like I finally found inspiration in the after Christmas clearance aisle at Target. How could I pass up all these glitter bottle brush tress at half off? The idea for a "winter" themed shower was hatched.

My budget was exactly $200 and believe it or not stayed with in that up to the dollar - It was a mix of stuff I had on hand (the buffet wire baskets from Hobby Lobby and mini lighted tree), Target clearance, and Cort Rentals (pumps and cups). The main attraction was the hot cocoa bar which funny story...it ended up being a 70 degree day which is crazy for a Seattle January.

The "snow" is just cotton balls strung and glued on fishing line and attached to the ceiling with transparent tape. To stay with-in budget and not overwhelm guests I kept the cocoa bar simple with packaged marshmallows (stick up after Christmas!), candies, and of course Pirouline cookies. For the actual cocoa I went with classic and salted carmel. So good!

As i've thrown parties over the years i've learned to grab fun white serving dishes at Tjmaxx when I spot them and hold onto things like wood rounds and a good cake lady! I also love that these days Target has really beefed up their craft aisle and you can now find anything from bakers twine to mini chalkboards there!

What do you think of my Winter Baby shower? I think it's my most favorite party yet!