I’ve gathered up some of my favorite Cinco de Mayo party ideas on a pinboard. There are some really cute ideas out there to help you create a fabulous party of your own. My favorite has to be the Taco shell garland and the ping pong light tutorial, you can’t get much cuter than that!
There has also been a lot of other great ideas all over the party blogesphere this week. Here is my roundup of links I love!
PARTIES
Precious woodland party featuring a spunky raccoon and owl for a first birthday.
And if you need a fun little craft for your kids to show their teacher how much you appreciate them, my Teacher Tulip Thank You is what you need. Just make sure your kids don’t eat the supplies, mine did!
Teachers are so important! I have many friends and family that are teachers and I adore my children’s teachers. With the end of the school year quickly approaching I came up with a fun little craft that you can create with your child to help them say, thank you!
First cut out the leaves on the printable and wrap them around your straw. Use a little glue to attach them.
Next cut your tissue paper in half, the smaller piece is easier to work with. Place your florist foam in your container and place a piece of tissue over the foam. Then tuck some more tissue around the sides of the foam so about one inch is visible above the edge of the container.
No use your fringe scissors to cut the tissue to give a grass effect. If you don’t have the fringe scissors use regular scissors and make small slits in the tissue. Ruffle the tissue paper a little using your hands to break up the pieces.
Most paper straws are not strong enough to puncture the florist foam so you may need to prepunch it using a plastic straw, pencil or ice pic. Now comes the fun part your child can help you with. Unwrap the snack cakes and place them on the straws. Place the straws in the prepunched holes and admire your work. If you make this the night before you can place small clear favor bags on the tulips and tie at the bottom using some thin ribbon or baker’s twine. The printable also includes a small thank you card and some 2″ party circles you can also use to embellish your flowers.
I hope you enjoy this little project. It’s a sweet treat any teacher would love to receive!
Well it’s been a busy week around here and the same goes for the party blogesphere. Here are some of my favorites from this week.
For parties Looking for some nautical party ideas? Check out this post on the top 12.
Lilly Pulitzer will always be a favorite for many and she will be missed. This adorable party celebrates that and a first birthday. Click here for Lily Pulitzer party ideas you can do yourself.
My daughter is very into all things space and I know she’d have a blast making this Retro Space Helmet candy dishes for a space party.
I adore this star party for a preteen! The twinkle lights are amazing!!!
And for a new twist on an old favorite, check out this Rock Star party!
Need an easy and effective decor for your parties, ruffled paper streamers are a must! You can learn to make your own fancy ruffled lovelies!
Another way to spruce up your party is by watching this video tassel tutorial perfect for an upcoming Earth Day party!
For the DIYers and chefs I love this DIY sunscreen station. With pool time quickly approaching I know I can use this!
With the sadness from the events in Boston and West on everyone’s minds it’s hard not to mention it. Hold your family close, count your blessings, be humble, thankful and most importantly keep those that are suffering in your prayers. I hope you all have safe and happy weekends and I look forward to sharing more fun with you next week. I plan to spend the weekend getting a mani/pedi with Audrey and taking Jackson to a local favorite toy store. I also plan to paint some fun new products and LOAD the shop with all new designs. I feel a giveaway coming on…..until next week!
Easter has passed, the weather has warmed up (for some of us) and it’s time to start sporting our stripes. Seersucker is everywhere, I’ve even heard it referred to as the new chevron! My husband and I hosted a party last year we named Seersucker and Sazeracs. For those of you that don’t know the Sazerac is the official state cocktail of Louisiana, yes we have an official drink, are you surprised? You can find the traditional Sazerac recipe here. We invited a few friends over for some afternoon cocktails and some light hors d’ourves and we had a great time! Our afternoon party stretched into the night and is now becoming an annual event. Pictured below is last year’s invitation.
I created die cut invitations with real seersucker tie embellishments. The invitation stated that guests must wear seersucker and everyone happily agreed. I created a special logo inspired by the Sazerac logo. I wanted to create my own “bar sign” so I took a plain piece of glass and hand cut vinyl to use as a stencil, it took forever! I used the frosted glass spray paint to mask it out and the result was awesome! I placed the glass in my planter stand sign and added some hydrangeas from my yard and placed on our bar. It looked awesome at night with the tent lights behind it!
On each table I placed a white table cloth topped with a seersucker runner, fresh flowers in glass vases and mint julep cups and a silver frame with prints of the Sazerac recipe, the history of the drink and several other beloved cocktails such as the Pimm’s cup.The logo was also printed on cocktail napkins. The food was kept simple and very Southern. I served marinated cheese (you can find the recipe here), mini muffalettas, shrimp pasta and creme brûlée cups. I will post the recipe for the mimi muffalettas next week, it’s always a crowd favorite and SO EASY to make!
If you’re interestsed in throwing your own Seersucker and Sazeracs party you can view some other ideas on my Southern Traditions pin board.
I hope y’all had a great week, it’s been a busy one around here. We’re packing up to head to Baton Rouge for my brother’s birthday and the Blues Festival. It’s going to be a lot of fun and my super awesome sister in law is going to have a booth selling her wonderful jewelry. I hope to pick up a new piece or two.
I’ve also been behind the scenes working on a TON of new designs and products to add to the shop. I’m shooting for a late May release so stay tuned, you’ll going to love the new look – promise!
In case you missed it I put out some new printables, free set of gift tags for every occasion. You can download them here.
And now for the weekly wrap up, there have been so many cute parties this week including this Jaws inspired shark partyand this this sweet You Are My Sunshine party. The divas will love this Vintage Glam Birthday Party. If you’re looking for party ideas for boys don’t miss this post about 24 first birthday party ideas. Know anyone moving, celebrate this milestone with a modern moving party. I’d love this party for myself, a fun night under that stars movie party!
There’s been some fun food too including a new cookbook all about macarons. I’d love to bake these treats and with this macaron cookbook I just might be able too! This recipe for curry chicken salad would be perfect for any springtime event and so easy to make!
Everyone can understand this, you’re racing around on Saturday mornings prepping for a full day of whatever and you think you’ve got everything you need…but you don’t. This was the case for me the other morning. I was hosting a baby shower that day and getting the kids packed for a day full of birthday parties. My husband is a great dad but sometimes with both kids at a wild birthday party he gets a little, flustered, so I try to have a whole emergency bag packed for him with the presents ready and everything.
As I was rushing around I realized I was out of Audrey’s gift tags. I own a stationery company! How can I be out of her tags and not know it until it’s too late. Well creativity and washi tape to the rescue! I simply attached a piece of washi tape to the gift and wrote her name on that. It looked so cute and the birthday girl’s mom could easily pull it off and attach it to the gift so she’ll know who it was from later. Cute right?
Well to help you out so you’re not rushing around like me I created a FREE set of gift tags for any event. You can download them here and print as many as you need.
Many of them match new invitation designs coming soon to the shop hint, hint!
If you follow me on Instagram you know my son’s tag is #wildmanjack and it fits him. Today is his second birthday and I cannot believe how time has flown by and the little personality that has developed with it. He has become the polar opposite of his sister, he’s silly all the time while Audrey is serious, he eats ANYTHING, his favorite is blue cheese! ! We struggle to get Audrey to eat plain chicken nuggets or rice. It’s just so funny to me how different siblings can be and to watch a little personality develop. Jackson picks me flowers every morning and I keep the little dried up weeds and blades of grass on my desk to remind me everyday of the innocence and sweetness.
We held his “Go Jack Go!” party at our house this weekend and it was a blast! The kids had a ball racing their “cars” and eating hot dogs, cake and ice cream. I cannot wait to share this party soon.
Above is Jackson’s very un-traditional birth announcement. You can read about it below and why we went this way. Seeing him now and how much he loves to dance and “rock out”, it’s very appropriate and fits him to a t!
Pictured above is my son Jackson’s birth announcement. I know it’s not what many people would picture as a birth announcement. Jackson is named after my husband’s father (Jackson aka Jack) and John Bonham, the drummer from Led Zeppelin. My husband is a HUGE Zeppelin fan and a drummer himself. Since his name is a little unique we wanted to have some fun with his announcement and so the mini Led Zeppelin album concept was born.
Johnny chose the “Physical Graffiti” cover because of the name in the windows and it’s one of his favorite albums. The announcement is a 5.75″ square and was mailed in a white square envelope. I did the scrapbook look on the inside and the back as a way to showcase pictures of our new bundle of joy and his birth information which is listed on the “concert ticket”. Guitar picks, drumsticks and old polaroids along with a backstage pass completed the look. Now this kind of announcement is not for everyone but sometimes it’s fun to think outside the box and have some fun with things that are usually thought of as traditional like birth announcements and wedding invitations. I know that many designers such as myself welcome this kind of opportunity to have some fun and make something very creative.
It’s weekly wrap up time! I hope everyone had a great week. Ours was very busy getting the house ready for Jackson’s 2nd birthday and preparing all the fun party pretties I’ll have to show you next week. You can view his party invitation here. The theme is Go, Jack! Go! and that we will!
Speaking of boy parties, if you’re looking for dinosaur party ideas Spaceships and Laser Beams has it covered for you with 30 IDEAS!
To help you plan that dinosaur party be sure and turn to Soriee Event Design. She’s got 6 steps to planning an event that will surely help you out and well as a giveaway you don’t want to miss!
D&P Celebrations also has a really cute Little Friends, Squinkies Inspired Party. Audrey received some of these for her birthday and this party totally does them justice!
This next party is one after my own heart since I’m about to embark on this journey – a Potty Training Party! This is a precious event and definitely something worth celebrating as I’m sure all parents will agree!
BellaGrey Designs has a Baseball Party that you are not going to want to miss and My Paper Pinwheel is wrapping thing sup with a Easter Egg Hunt for BabyLifestyles magazine!
There has been a lot of yummy recipes floating around this week including my Sweet Potato Recipe and a S’Mores Cupcakes Recipe from Three Little Monkeys Studio that is to die for! To finish off those yummy cupcakes torn to Hello My Sweet because they have made cupcake decorating easy with a free wrapper template. And while it’s not exactly food, Cupcake Wishes & Birthday Dreams has a post on Soaps that look like desserts that will keep you guessing.
If you need some fun DIYs for your weekend check out the DIY Nautical String Art from Sweet Song Bird or this DIY Mason Jar Chandelier from This Little Mama that I LOVE and can’t wait to make myself.
Hello! In an effort to expand my blog a little bit I’m creating a new series called Louisiana Love. Here in Louisiana we love a festival, a parade, a reason to throw beads, eat moon pies and celebrate with good food and plenty of drinks. With this series I will highlight a celebration or festival going on in our great state and provide a fun recipe, free printable or a DIY tutorial. I’ve already created the schedule for the year and let’s just say…it’s going to be fun!
So to start off I’m celebrating the Sweet Potato. The North Louisiana Sweet Potato Festival is this weekend in Oak Grove, Louisiana. This festival features a carnival, arts and crafts vendors, food and much more.We won’t be attending because my family will be celebrating Jackson’s 2nd birthday, more on that in another post. I created a fun little recipe to share with you.
Sweet Potato Pockets Pockets and filling: 2 Packages of refrigerated crescent rolls 3 – 4 Sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed 1 Bag of mini marshmallows (you won’t use the whole bag)
Icing: 2 Tbs. cream cheese (softened) 2 Cups of powdered sugar 2 Tbs. of milk 1 tsp. vanilla 2 Tbs. butter (softened) 2 Tbs. water Pecans (optional)
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Unroll your crescent rolls and lay flat on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Place a little bit of the mashed sweet potatoes in the thickest part of the triangle. Place 1 – 2 mini marshmallows on top of the filling. *Note – some people are anti-marshmellow so you can omit this step. It just adds a touch of extra sweetness.
Place another crescent triangle on top of the base triangle and pinch the edges together, sealing the mixture inside. After all the pockets have been assembled place in the oven and bake for 12 to 17 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
While your pockets are baking prepare your icing. Combine all your icing ingredients together and vigorously whisk. Once mixed you can pour the icing in a squeeze bottle to make it easier to dispense or you can use a spoon to drizzle it over the pockets.
Once you remove your pockets from the oven take them off the cookie sheet and allow to cool slightly. Drizzle the glaze over the pocket. Sprinkle the tops with chopped pecans (again, optional). Serve warm.
Photo: Beth Dreiling Hontzas
My go to source for recipes, Southern Living, has a wonderful article called 16 Ways with Sweet Potatoes. Check it out for some very yummy treats for your dining table.
Audrey has been obsessed with Super Heros for quite some time now so when she decided to be Super Girl for Halloween, we knew the theme for “Audie Gras 2013” would be the same. We decided to do a video invitation this year and it was so much fun! Audrey got to have her own photo shoot and pose for pictures. They even set her up to “fly” by using a stool and a fan. She had a BLAST!
The video invitation was burned onto plain CD’s and mailed with a simple card instructing all Super Heros to play the video to learn their mission. Everyone loved the invitation and all the children thought Audrey was so awesome because she could “fly”! You can view the invitation below.
I wanted to do a candy bar buffet this year that would also serve as the favor. Since people are at our house for so long with the party and then the parade that follows I figured it would be fun to have the candy bar buffet people could snack on all day. I had originally planned to hand paint the boxes myself and make them into buildings but I was lucky enough to find these Super Hero building boxes on clearance from from Pottery Barn Kids back in October and couldn’t wait to convert them.
I used an exacto blade to cut the tops of the buildings to create an opening for the candy. i left one side attached so it would act like a door and used some baker’s twine as a pull. I purchased some small white gift boxes from a local paper store and taped and hot glued them to the underside of the box to hold the candy.
Note – If you ever do this yourself make sure you reinforce the bottoms of the gift boxes with some packing tape. I (and a bag of Skittles) learned this the hard way haha!
I also cut out a few of the windows and replaced them with yellow vellum and placed a battery operated light on the inside. The effect was awesome at night and the buildings looked like they actually were lighted. Each building also was given a name so people would know what candy was inside such as M&M State Building, Bubble Gum Building, etc. Each building each had it’s on gold chevron wooden scoop from the Sucre Shop.
In front of the buildings I placed custom designed vehicle favor boxes by Piggy Bank Parties. These were such a hit and totally completed the table! Kids had fun filling them with candy and then the loved racing them as well.
The centerpiece of the table was the two tiered cake designed to match the building by Aly B’s Bakery of Shreveport and it was amazing. People didn’t believe it was cake, it matched perfectly. Proudly standing atop the cake was Super Audrey herself created by Frog Prince Cake and Cookie Design. Her little cape and skirt fluttered in the wind and she was even decorated with edible gold glitter.
Behind the sweets table I hung two metallic curtains, one gold, one red along with some die cute super hero phrases that matched the design. I created a custom super hero logo sign (now available in the shop) with Audrey’s masked A on it and covered in gold glitter.
Across from the sweets table we placed the drinks and other treats including cupcakes from Sam’s topped with adorable Super A cupcake toppers by Two Sugar Babies and cookies from Silly Gilly. Ice cream was served in adorable little containers from Shop Sweet Lulu. Lemonade, soft drinks and bottled water with custom logos were also served. A metallic tassel banner from The Flair Exchange brought in some of the metallic look from the sweets table across the tent.
In the middle of the tent were seating tables with super hero coloring sheets and centerpieces with the same super hero phrases as the backdrop and brightly colored suckers for the children to enjoy.
The children had a wonderful time with their parade as well as the parents and onlookers. And live every year the floats gets better and better.
The party was a HUGE success, we had good weather and there was not much candy left at all which all moms know is great! I’ve added a new Super Hero Collection to the shop and you can purchase it here in Primary or Pink. A printable collection will be available in the Magnolia Creative Co. etsy shop soon as well.
