ROBOT BIRTHDAY PARTY!

Head on over to chicabug today to see this awesome Robot Birthday Party put on by Domenica of Proudest Monkey Photography. This is the same incredible Mom and beautiful photographer who put on this Rockin' Party, so it's sure to be amazing!

I LOVE A GIFT THAT GIVES TWICE!

(Full disclosure: I work for this company but do not profit from the sale of these bracelets. My commission goes directly back to the foundation.)

Have you noticed that back to school time also means birthday time? My kids have been back to school for less than a month and the birthday party invitations have been rolling in like crazy. After several moments of panic over gifts for all of these parties (some of these invites come last minute, have you noticed?), I decided to take control of the situation and plan ahead.


My daughter has this adorable foundation bracelet from Stella & Dot and wanted to give one to a good friend who had admired hers. So I decided to order a bunch and save them for all of the birthday parties that are sure to arise throughout the year. The best part? 100% of the net proceeds from the sale of the foundation bracelets go to support three charities that focus on creating positive change for women and girls. (buildOn, Girls, Inc. and ACCION USA) In only the first month of sales, enough money was raised to build an entire school through the buildOn organization! I think that's pretty amazing and something that I definitely want to be a part of.


The foundation bracelets are available for women, as well. (I have the pink with gold charms and it such a beautiful, warm combination of colors.) I may or may not have stocked up on a few of these as well, planning ahead for some holiday gift-giving. I wouldn't want to ruin any surprises, of course...

Along with the bracelet, which comes beautifully packaged in an adorable tin for girls or a chic and stylish box for women, I include a little note letting the recipient know that their beautiful bracelet represents a donation to the foundation that supports these three incredible charities. Like I said - I love a gift that gives twice!

Oh, and if you do get a last minute invitation - not to worry. Shipping is lightening quick; you will receive your order via priority mail in 3-4 business days. Love that!

LILLY PULITZER INSPIRED PINK & GREEN PARTY

Finally a chance to write up Peanut's Lilly Pulitzer inspired party! I absolutely loved the pink and green palette for this party, inspired by the Desert Tortoise party invitation that caught Peanut's eye one day while I was shopping our local Lilly store. You can see the desert tortoise design featured on these awesome oversized pinwheels that were a must-have for party decor. They also served as the perfect favor for the birthday girl and her best friend and cousin of the same age.

You know that no party is complete without a Happy Birthday banner or two!

Special edition Lilly Pulitzer animal crackers found at the local grocer along with Izze soda, pink lemonade and fruit punch and apple juice boxes (chosen for the color or the cartons, of course!) made for a fun and delicious display at the dessert table.

(I apologize for this poorly-lit shot. I obviously have yet to master backlit photos!)

Here is a wider shot of the dessert area. This shot is taken before the actual desserts were added, which is sad because they looked delicious! Above the dessert area, I used wrapping paper in the dessert tortoise pattern to make a pennant banner. (note: after I measured and cut the wrapping paper into triangles, I reinforced them with cardstock to make them sturdy enough to hang properly without rolling.)



After running around like a crazy person getting ready for the party, I realized that I had forgotten to pick up the pink flowers that I had planned for these cute white vases (vases courtesy of a Martha Stewart flower surprise delivery from my "boss"). With no time left to run another errand, I went out to my garden and cut bunches of bright green autumn sedum just before they turned color for fall. Add some pink ribbon and I saved myself the cost of flowers. (sure, they weren't the pretty pink bouquets that I envisioned, but they worked in a pinch!)

Like the Happy Birthday banner, no party is complete without tissue poms and the birthday girl insisted on balloons!

After the enormous Paris print that we had for Petunia's party, I felt the need to have a party-themed wall hanging for Peanut's party as well. Although I have to admit, I wasn't willing to be as extravagant this time around. So for this wall hanging, I simply wrapped a lightweight piece of foam core with wrapping paper and decorated it with a printout honoring the party girl and a couple of tissue flowers that Petunia and I whipped up last minute. Then I glued a long length of ribbon to each end for hanging.



Unfortunately, I did not get many shots of the food all wrapped up pretty and labeled in pink and green (was I too busy serving or eating?), but luckily I did get a shot of these delicious cheese balls from Tastefully Simple. Chosen for their colors (green key lime dip and pink strawberry), I had never tried them before. They were amazing and were gobbled up in a flash!!! A definite must for all future parties no matter the color scheme (although I wonder if food coloring could help "adjust" the colors...).


And of course, the food and the decorations are lovely, but isn't this huge grin what these parties are all about?


Happy Birthday to my little Peanut. Thank you for choosing such a cute little theme so Mommy could have soooooo much fun putting it all together for you.

I'm pretty sure she thoroughly enjoyed it!

MITETEES PERSONALIZED PRINCESS SHIRTS

Check out these adorable, personalized princess shirts from Mitetees. They are on sale for $14 (reg. $22) through Sunday, August 22nd! I absolutely adore all of Mitetees products, (cute, clever and impeccable quality), but I especially love this crown. A perfect gift.




For older princesses, I adore this sweet little sterling silver crown charm from Stella & Dot. Add it to one of their fashionable silk bases and you have yourself the perfect gift for princesses of all ages!

Speaking of gifts, I am sorting through photos of Peanut's Lilly Pulitzer-inspired party. I promise to share all the deets later this week!

SWING ON OVER FOR A GREAT BIRTHDAY!

Swing over to Penguin's Gift to see the most adorable birthday party! The birthday girl, Anna, loves to swing on her swingset - this may be the sweetest little birthday theme yet!


Kat from Penguin's Gift went all out with cups from Garnish that she personalized with stickers so that no one lost their drink. (love garnish!)

Here are the invites. I designed these in several colors before the birthday girl decided on pink and orange and I think she was absolutely right. This color combo is perfect! LOVE a girl that knows what she wants!!

The best part of this party (for me, anyway) is that I designed these all as printables and Kat printed and assembled everything at home. So keep an eye out for more printables here and a big announcement very soon....

GIRL, YOU ROCK!

I am so excited to share this amazingly fabulous Rocker Girl party with you! I worked on this party for the beautiful and talented Domenica of Proudest Monkey Photography and her adorable daughter Isabella and have been waiting on the edge of my seat to see photos of the big event! (I'm gushing, aren't I? Well, you're about to see why!)

invite front

invite back

The tone for every party is set with the invitation and these concert ticket invites hit the perfect note. Of course, having amazing photos of the birthday girl makes the design job a piece of cake!

Here is the beautiful Isabella - ready to rock the house!

Upon arrival, each guest was given VIP status with their backstage pass. We don't let just anyone into fab parties like this!

The awesome cake and cupcakes were made by Sugar Shack Cakes who never disappoint with their incredible creations.

Custom water bottles for the party guests because Rock Stars stay hydrated in style!

The birthday girl went eco-friendly and chose a custom, aluminum water bottle to match her party theme!

Dom thought of absolutely everything, including hanging concert posters of her little Rock Star all around the party scene (seen here in the background, printed at posterjack.ca.). Everyone needs a cool mom like Domenica, don't you think?

Each guest left with a rockin' cool gift bag stuffed to the brim with rockstar essentials...

...like a cd of the birthday girl's fave tunes, a pocket mirror to remind them that they ROCK not just on party day, but every day!

... and this super cool, super hero Rock Star cape (from Custom Kids etsy shop).

I think Isabella had a good day, don't you?!

For more of Domenica's beautiful photography, be sure to check out Proudest Monkey Photography. Prepare to be inspired!

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TOO, YEAH!

Hey everyone, today is my birthday! And as you may have heard, I had a fabulous birthday cake. Have you guessed who made it yet?

Here it is, the most fantastically beautiful and delicious birthday cake I have ever had. (actually, it's a three-way tie between this, the carousel cake my aunt and I shared when I was four and the mickey mouse cake my mother stayed up all night decorating). But this is hands-down the most exciting cake of my adult life!

That's right folks! It was made by none other than the Cake Boss! Buddy and his family at Carlos Bakery in Hoboken, NJ are the most gracious and wonderful family and their cakes - to die for! The best birthday gift ever.

Congratulations dayzero (who commented here) and Amy (who commented on Facebook), you correctly guessed who made my cake. Please email me to claim your prize!

A BIRTHDAY GUESSING GAME (WITH A PRIZE!)

So tomorrow's my birthday. Exciting, I know! But even more exciting than my birthday is my birthday cake. And you'll never guess who made it. I mean it. Go ahead and try to guess. I'll give you a hint: None of my children made it. No family members either. But it is AWESOME! I don't mean to brag, but the person is kind of famous.

OK, here's where the prize comes in. The first person to guess who made my birthday cake will win a set of custom cupcake picks in the design of your choosing. The cake (and creator) will be revealed tomorrow; you know, for my birthday.

And here we go: ready, set, guess!

A "Pretty Dress" Party

I think I may still be in a bit of denial, but it's official, my baby is three. And in true Peanut form, we celebrated in style! Having watched and listened to me plan countless parties, Peanut was not short on opinions when it came time for her big day. As much as I tried to sway her with my suggestions, Peanut knew just what she wanted for her birthday party - A Pretty Dress Party! Huh? In the middle of August? No pool party? How about mermaids? A luau?

Pretty Dress it was! Peanut was also sure that she wanted a picture of herself on the invitation, wearing a pretty dress, of course. Not wanting to use a photograph on the invite (I like to save that for the thank you notes), I decided to draw and digitally color an image of Peanut instead. Once that was approved by the birthday girl ("that's me mama! thank you, thank you!"), we decided on a color scheme of pink and yellow. Peanut wanted pink and I added the yellow because it's a fresh and pretty combination for summer. See, you can successfully collaborate with a soon-to-be three year old!

In our house, the decor for any party starts with tissue poms. At this point, I think my kids would be offended if these were not included in the party plan.

Another mainstay in party decor is a banner (or two!). We hang banners in this spot so often that my husband added nails painted the color of the wall permanently affixed on either side of this entry because he was tired of the little tack holes. 

Banner close-up.

The party was planned for outdoors, but the day was so oppressively hot that we brought all food and drink inside so that it all stayed cool. The beverage bar was a great way to highlight the pink and yellow color scheme!

Tags were made to coordinate with the invites and attached with ribbon.

The tags also served to distinguish the adult beverages from the children.

Target Dollar Spot straws were embellished with polka dot flags.

The birthday girl used a personalized aluminum water bottle that coordinated perfectly with her party, of course.

Even the sandwich platter wore a pretty dress! I attached long bath poufs (another dollar spot item!) that looked just like skirt ruffles to cardboard platter rounds and stacked them to form a leveled platter.

Party favors were displayed in cardstock boxes. I had planned to design boxes to coordinate with the invites, but when I saw these from Style Me Pretty, I thought that the varied designs would be even better! I downloaded them here, then just adjusted the colors slightly to match.

Inside the boxes, these adorable rings for the girls made from beautiful cabachons that I found (score!) and saltwater taffy for the boys.

Here is the birthday girl modeling her rings.

She how hot it was outside? Empty chairs!

The cake got all dressed up for the occasion as well!

At the end of the day, the birthday girl could not have been happier.

But all this excitement can be exhausting!

This party was so much fun to put together because it was a true collaboration with my little birthday girl who truly loved and appreciated every last detail. The pink and yellow color scheme is absolutely one of my favorite combinations. It is fresh and pretty, making the elements of the party easily adaptable for a bridal shower, baby shower, adult birthday or wedding.