gram's party: the 'cake'

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Another element of the party that I could control (since it was not at my house) was the cake. Instead of attempting to bake a cake (as I did last year), I pressed the easy button and ordered up some wonderful cupcakes from my favorite local bakery, in a variety of chocolate, red velvet and 'blackout' flavors. I gave them red cupcake liners and sprinkles to work with, since they are a pretty bare-bones operation and don't do much embellishment.

I decided to work with a stand I had long ago purchased from Martha by Mail (R.I.P.). I wanted to figure out a way to put a 'topper' on it, since the decorative white wood piece that came with the stand wasn't going to work with the look I was going for. I found a circular chipboard box in the 'wood crafts' section of Michaels, that I used to modify the top (see detailed photos above). I then covered the box with wrapping paper and grosgrain ribbon, and adhered a '2' that I glittered in silver. I was quite happy with the results!

I finished off the stand by using grosgrain ribbon along the edges, adding flags to the cupcakes (tutorial will be included in tomorrow's post) and a wooden monkey was thrown in to tie back to the invitation.

sources:
cupcake liners and red sprinkles...layer cake shop
chipboard box, '2', glitter and ribbon...michaels

gram's party: favors

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As I've said before, this year we decided not to have my son's birthday party at home. With a 3-week old in the house, I thought it would be too overwhelming. However, I didn't want to use that as an excuse to not create anything special for his big day, so I decided to put together a few key items that could be transported to the party site (a kid's gym).

Using the invitation color palette as a springboard, I created favors that reflected the loose theme of the party... 'playing.' The favor bags contained items that Gram loves to play with- Play Doh, a whistle, and a ball (all in the color palette, of course!).

I was appalled at the price of shred fill ($3+ for a small bag of crinkled colored paper!), so I decided to create my own, using scraps of leftover wrapping paper and my shredder (photos 3 & 4). A much cheaper (and more chic, I think) alternative. Then I created a 'cuff' for some store-bought gift bags that folded over the top. If you are not computer savvy, some pretty scrapbooking paper would look great as well. I used a bone folder to get a crisp fold, and a mini stapler to put the cuff in place.

Lastly, I inserted a thank you card into each bag that was designed to look like it was on school ruled paper- again, an element that fit in with the color palette of red, white and turquoise blue.

sources:
red gift bags...michaels
classic colors play doh...hasbro
shredder...amazon
invitations...hicks paper goods
location...my gym

reader question of the week #3

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reader question of the week #3:

"I was wondering if you or any readers had any suggestions on a virtual baby shower? My friend lives in San Francisco and most of her friends are all over the States, including her mother and sister who live in Chicago. Not only do we want to shower her with some presents, we want to shower her with love! Please help! Thanks! -Cindy"

reader question of the week #2

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reader question of the week #2:

"I'm throwing a Sugar Plum Fairy Tea for my daughter's 5th birthday in December. For starters, I'm recreating a snow-like scene in the kids playroom (hanging lots of chiffon, paper snowflakes, etc.) but am stumped on accessorizing the table and floor (perhaps?). Also, I was thinking of having one simple activity before eating cake and little sandwiches. Thanks! -Lizelle"

reader question of the week #1

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I've got a long list of questions in my inbox, so we are going to tackle a couple this week!

reader question of the week #1:

"I am planning a 1st birthday party for my son with a Winter ONEderland theme. Colors are white, light blue and silver. It will be from 2-4 pm. What ideas do you have for a "finger food" menu? Thank you! - Heidi"