I have quite a few customers that I’m always thrilled to hear from, and Maggie is always one of them! She wanted to do a vintage-inspired circus party for her son’s 2nd birthday, and we were able to provide her with a few printables to help the party along. The beautiful photos are by Anna Pociask Photography.
Maggie has such great style! And I love the way our banner looks on that big yellow backdrop with the pops of red and aqua. This set is available in the shop.
It was kind of fun to let the frog prince put down his crown and celebrate something near and dear to his heart–Leap Year! Brittany at Grey Grey Designs threw this cute froggy party to commemorate this once every four years event for Baby Lifestyles Magazine. There was all manner of frog-filled fun at her little party for her kids!
Be sure to hop over to Brittany’s blog to see the rest of this lovely styled shoot!
Last week, I posted over at Project Nursery about some healthier alternatives to the overwhelming number of sweets Valentines Day seems to bring on. And the kids won’t miss the sugar–my two were more excited about hitting this particular dessert table than any I can think of recently. And they see a LOT of dessert tables.
Maybe it was that I told them they could have as much as they want, and that they weren’t limited to one or two things? And their pure amazement at something as simple as a heart in the side of an apple made it really fun for me…and the fact that they were thrilled to bits to be eating apples and watermelon and greek yogurt has made me want to try more of these style tables!
Want to read the hearty-healthy article? Pop over to Project Nursery to check it out!
It is officially baby shower season! Next to birthdays, showers are my favorite kind of parties to throw. And I was lucky enough to get some great pictures from Missy who had this firetruck set designed just for the baby shower she was holding! I love all the little details she was able to incorporate.
The spotted plates she found are so perfect for the party. And instead of buying pre-printed cups, she chose a solid color and used the 2 inch circles to make stickers to personalize them.
And I am a huge fan of wrapped vases! How perfect for a feminine touch to a boyish party. Thank you again, Missy, for sharing your photos!
You can find the printables seen here in the shop!
Recently I worked with Natalie at Southern Belle’s Charm to help create what turned out to be an incredibly unique and fun party. The little guest of honor’s favorite book was “I Stink” – a book by Kate McMullan all about GARBAGE.
And Natalie had a hay day coming up with all sorts of garbage-related party goodies, from book invitations to trashy wreaths, to fly shaped cake pops and trash can favors. Here are a few pictures from the party, but be sure to pop by her site to see the rest!
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This was such a cute idea for a baby shower, and I was thrilled to work with Yarah Designs on completing the printables and stationery for the event. The shower was held at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the beach. I love (love!) all the florals at this party and how the theme was woven throughout. It’s also always fun to work with clients who have a bit of a sense of humor and that little bit of wit is my favorite part of any party. For Yara, we rocked the bowtie on milk bottles against aqua/turquoise and an orangy-coral.
What a view! Yarah Designs is out of Palm Beach, Florida, and you can visit her at her blog or on Facebook!
It’s one of my very favorite things to get pictures from cool client parties, and it’s even more incredible when those clients are colleagues that I admire! Melissa at Buckets of Grace thought on the Gingerbread Christmas Cookie printables for an entire year before she hosted her family gingerbread house party. And I just love all the details she came up with!
My daughter begged for a Christmas party this year—lucky for her it doesn’t take much excuse for me to start designing an event! It was a fun experience planning this party; Maddie was there every step giving her input on what games to play, what food we should eat and what we should drink and give out as favors.
The front rooms of the house were decked out for the party in red and green with a “Chilly & Cheery” penguin theme. I handmade virtually everything in this party from the paper ornaments (tutorial here), ribbon rosettes on the aprons, paper trees on the tables, chair backs and wreaths (see the how to here). These were all great touches that anyone can pull off with a little effort.
We had a table full of fruits and vegetables for the kids, and a small sweets table. Edible Details sent the cutest little fondant penguin toppers for our cupcakes that the girls later put in front of their gingerbread houses. Renee of Bees Knees Creative sent some adorable (and delicious!) sugar cookies that perfectly matched our little penguin graphics. Both these penguin-shaped sweets were huge crowd pleasers!
And all those red stands? I’ve said it before–there isn’t anything a can of spray paint can’t fix. I picked up some footed bowls and a candle stick at Goodwill and painted the outside (not the inside where the food goes!) The striped plate came from Wal-Mart.
Other items on the table were peppermint fudge covered oreos, divinity (a favorite southern candy), white chocolate drizzled popcorn with m&ms (“snow crunch”), and chocolate cookie dough truffles. The favorite on the table were the “snow cones.” I dipped a large marshmallow in candy melt, rolled it in coconut and then placed it on a tiny ice cream cone and topped it off with a red m&m. Easy and fabulously fun! I’ll put up a pictorial tutorial soon to show you just how it was done.
On the main table, I created a little forest of trees. I made them using party hats and dowel rods! They were the perfect whimsical touch to our handmade party. Each table setting had a place card (kids love to see their names!), a plate full of candy decorations, a bag full of royal icing tied with a red bow, a glass of milk rimmed with chocolate and sprinkles, a snack box full of marshmallows and a cup full of m&ms. It was everything every girl needed to make a perfect gingerbread house.
Decorations are great to look at at a party, but the party guests have to have something to DO while they are there. As our little guests arrived, we had them sit and do a craft to give them something to do while we waited for everyone to show up. Using some fine glitter from Martha Stewart, glass bulbs and special glue, we made some tree-worthy glittery ornaments.
Maddie just couldn’t wait for the schedule of events to unfold, so as soon as her little ornament was done, she was off to play in the snow. This activity was such a crowd pleaser at Halloween, there was a request (demand) for a repeat! I filled a box full of Styrofoam peanuts and hid small toys and hair things in the bottom of the box. The kids had to dive mostly in the box to find them!
The next activity was meant to be sort of an ice breaker, but fortunately, the girls were all so excited by the snow bit I didn’t have to worry about that needing to happen. We played “wrap a gift”—two teams of three, all armed with a roll of toilet paper, raced to wrap up a precious gift, a mommy. I’m glad I was holding the camera, but our two mommies were really great sports about it.
Gingerbread house decorating. Each girl got their own apron embellished with a ribbon rosette before we started. We used the tutorial by Nicole at Tradewind Tiaras. This gingerbread recipe was really fantastic, and making the houses as a-frames made them go together in a snap. Each girl had her own frosting bag full of royal icing as she decorated her masterpiece.
We did a “yankee” gift exchange where you pick a present or steal a present as your number is called. Every single girl was thrilled with what she got in the end! I picked up some nice less than $3 piece gifts on Black Friday for this — so they weren’t that expensive in the end, but worth the glee this activity brought ten times over.
One last party trick I played…from another tutorial from Nicole at Tradewind Tiaras (she’s so full of good ideas!!) In some clear plastic cups I put a drop of food coloring and let it dry overnight. I brought the cups to the table filled with ice, then filled them with Sprite or water for the girls…and they were all thrilled to bits when their drinks changed color to red and green. Why? They asked. I just told them it was a bit of Christmas magic (wink!)
The party ran late because the girls were having so much fun. Which I took as a huge compliment!
The penguin printables we used in our party are now available in our Etsy shop. (http://frogprincepaperie.etsy.com)
Photography and Styling | Paula Biggs at Frog Prince Paperie
Paperie | Renee Adler for Frog Prince Paperie
Fondant Cupcake Toppers | Edible Details
Sugar Cookies | Bees Knees Creative
I’m thrilled to be able to announce that I’ve joined the Project Nursery team as a Design Expert. This means I will be blogging more–at least every two weeks, that is! It will be fun; they’ve set me up with a professional looking page of my own on their site with a little about me and some of the things I love (Buck is even in there!) I’ll be passing on party tips and anything else that may cross my mind over there.
And I’ve put up my first post at Project Nursery! It’s a little bit about the shortcuts you can take on your dessert table using store-bought sweets. I use these shortcuts when styling all the time–especially when I’m the only one baking! You can click here to see the article.
Yesterday there was a little Halloween party at my house for the kids in the Mom’s club I belong to. 25 of them showed up all under the age of 5. And did I mention they only gave me $50 to spend? I spent that on hot dogs, 2 activities, water, and a few prizes. Everything was decorated from what I had on hand. But the really great thing about the under 5 set is that they are easily entertained by the very smallest things. None a single bit of this party was set up for photo ops, and I’m learning to use a new camera, so the pictures are still a little off!
I didn’t try to limit the amount of sugar at this party–shame on me, maybe, but it’s Halloween. I did limit the size of the dessert spread…kept it small with a limited selection. The moms were more the ones popping hands into the candy jars throughout the party! I shot this picture before the marshmallow dipped pumpkins showed up (from my friend Courtney), but they were mighty cute there in the middle of the table!
That handsome fella there is Buck. My husband hates him. I think he’s funny. He is my giant metal chicken, if you have ever seen that blog post. He’s incognito right now — taunting hiding from DH. But I digress, this is about the kid’s party! Buck was festive for the occasion, along with glittered skulls from last year, pumpkins hung in the windows and a few other props I had laying around out for spooked up decor.
The only way I could figure to feed 40 or people for $50 was to make the party pot-luck. I provided a cheap main course (hot dogs) and the attendees brought the rest. There was no reason the pot-luck table couldn’t look great, so I used a cake stand, some floral picks I had and a pumpkin for all the food to sit around.
There were lots of activities for the kids–ring toss, bean bag toss, cookie decorating, coloring sheets, diving for prizes, chalk, scratch off bats and ghosts and a play castle to climb in. Looking back, I think I’d skip the games in favor of crafts for the kids next time.
The hit of the activities was the diving for treats. I filled a big box with packing peanuts, then scattered prizes in them so they’d have to hunt around blindly for prizes. More than one child was pulled out giggling by his or her feet. The “decorating cookies” was wildly popular as well. To a 3 year old, store bought cookies, a can of frosting and sprinkles is all the “decorating” they need!
There was a costume contest, karaoke (you haven’t lived until you’ve heard the 3 year old version of this), and scary vampire teeth.
But what I think the kids are going to remember most from the party is the bed/table. It made it’s first appearance a the Goldilocks and the Three Bears party. I pulled it out of the garage, spray painted it black and added a friendly looking skull and crossbones because I needed a rather large seating area for all the kids that were coming. The kids’ little eyes lit up and they all ran for a seat to have their meal sitting at a bed once I started pulling the chairs out.
So while not an overly styled event, the kids had a ball, which in the end was the most important part!
