I knew that the vintage baby scale would be the perfect thing for the table decor.

It was also the perfect thing to hold a photo of Baby Hope laying in the same scale!  And to hold baby Hope!

I collected other vintage items from around my house and especially Tessa’s room.  I had to dig out the box of baby nursery decor that had been packed away years ago.  There are advantages to saving stuff!  It will come in handy!

The old baby booties with a votive candle holder inside became the perfect thing to put on top of the Peter Rabbit books.

I also covered the table with a lovely old vintage quilt I had picked up in a vintage shop.

And the vintage baby chair I just had to have was perfect!

The pink pom poms from Tessa’s sixteenth birthday party were also a perfect addition hanging from the kitchen nook ceiling.

I also used lots of pictures of pretty Baby Hope on the table.

In frames….

as a collage on a vintage wire rack….

I also hung some little vintage dresses that usually hang as a valance in Tessa’s room on a ribbon clothesline.

Remember that invitation....

I have to say I think this was my favorite part of the decor.  Those old baby shoes came in handy again….

I used my mother’s hostess trays.  I love those things and remember my mother using them at various showers she would hold while I was growing up.

The shower was in the evening so for food I wanted a combination of sweet and savory.

We had fruit salsa and cinnamon chips.

Hummus and Pita Chips

Sundried Tomato Pesto Palmiers (recipe coming soon to Your Homebased Mom)

And this yummy St. Louis Ooey Gooey Berry Cake!  So good!

There were also Lovely Lime Cupcakes.

The food was yummy and the company delightful.  The new mommy and baby got lots of darling things too!    Every new mommy deserves a special party!

Ashley hosted an amazing  baby shower for a dear friend who was expecting a little boy.  Ashley says that this shower  was an extra fun one to plan for because the guest list was for a dozen lovely ladies {rather than 30}, so she was able to spend some extra time on the details–she even used real plates (a girl after my own heart!)

She chose a “spring time” theme in turquoise, lime green, orange and yellow.

So let me introduce Ashley and have her tell you all about her beautiful baby shower.  Almost makes me want to have another baby (not) but I am stealing some of her ideas for a baby shower I am helping host this summer.

Here’s Ashley:

I chose a “spring time” theme in turquoise, lime green, orange and yellow.

I made these Pom Poms using a tutorial from Leanne at Organize and Decorate Everything. I love them so much–I wish I could leave them up all year round {and maybe I will, lol}.

To stay within the “garden/backyard” theme I bought a 12 pack of mason jars at my local grocery store and used them for cups. I used extra large malt straws purchased from Michael’s.

I made this banner using scrapbook paper and pre-cut letters that come in a pack {also available at Michael’s}. I glue gunned each paper flag down on to a long strand of turquoise ribbon.

Here was my nifty little party favor. I made these earrings using this tutorial.

The theme was “Cute as a Button”.

I glue gunned this trim around vases from the dollar store.

I learned how to make these pinwheels from Gillian at All the Small Things.

I threw some of the pinwheels in with my flower arrangements.

Yummy Spring time cupcakes.

Summer salad with strawberries, mandarin oranges, sliced almonds and a sweet honey vinaigrette dressing.

Homemade chicken salad sandwiches on croissants.

Most of my decorations and favors were used with supplies from the Dollar Tree and the sale section at Michael’s {and I’m not just saying that}. If you want to know where I purchased anything specific leave me a comment over at my blog and I will get back to you.

All in all, one rather awesome baby shower!

An amazing amount of thought, time and effort went into this event. Birdie lives in the south of France (yes I said France) ans she had  planned to hold outdoors but as Mother Nature has a tendency to do she decided to do her own thing – instead of sunshine she brought a windy and gray day instead,

Birdie was flexible though and set up indoors instead.

The hubs is not big on desserts and with the Indian theme, we didn’t want any cakes. Instead, we filled the table with Indian-style sweets – Fit for a Maharajah!!

Some of the sweets I made myself, like the blue Indian “truffles” (I made them up..) and the gulab jamun, and shall share the recipes with you in due course. Others more elaborate sweets such as the oriental petit fours below, I bought from our local oriental shop.

In addition to the party favor sweets, I also made some Spicy Mango chutney for the adults – We also had some on the day, so I liked the idea of the guest taking some home to enjoy the party a little longer!

Because we were indoors, I had to display the party food and some of the party décor on small tables which I placed all around the room. By the entrance which leads to our courtyard, I placed a well wishes tree – I say tree…It was a couple of branches I sprayed silver. I then decorated the branches with some small paper flower similar to the coloured paper pom-poms above the desserts table.

The “wishes” were small round cards in the same design of the party theme with a picture of myself and the hubs. Our guests were then encouraged to leave well wishes or “word of wisdom” hehe and hang them on the tree. This makes for nice memento of the day for us…

And more party favors (bangles, papier maché elephant and watercolours for the children, Indian tea personalised with the celebration date, scented candles and soap for the adults) were displayed in clear bags and small kitsch boxes I found at the oriental store for just €1 each! The boxes looked as though they were made for this occasion, in the party colours and even had a blue elephant on them!

These party favors were displayed also by the entrance inside a small wheel-barrow decorated in the colours of the party. A small plaque read “Oriental Delights” to which I attached a silk blue ribbon.

By the wishes tree, I place a “wishing well” with floating candles and rose petals – It looked like an offering to the “gods”….Very Indian!

I also used some inexpensive metal photo holders to clip the food plaques. They tied in really well with the “bling” party décor!

Oh, one thing I used that made all the difference, were pieces of mirrors (I had those at home, but you can get them cut to your specifications at a DIY shop) as trays and plates to hold the food on the table. This allowed more light to be reflected and looked really stunning with candles on them too – And off course I had to have birds everywhere!! hehe

More candles completed the scene. In fact there were candles everywhere and they really helped to set the party mood and looked fab in the evening!

For the candles holders I used empty glass yoghurt pots, and glued a strip of coloured ribbon around with a big, fat rhinestone in the middle for extra Indian bling.

The flowers of choice were bright, pink gerberas in glass carafes filled with coloured sweets. But you could also use coloured sand, pebbles…

Oh, and to complete the party scene I also designed a blue elephant cut-out that I displayed around the tables – It looked so cool and was a talking point with children and adults alike!

My favorite part of any wedding is, no surprise, the food!

The parents of the bride, Andrea and Mark, really wanted the wedding to reflect Nathan & Emily’s tastes so they let them totally choose the menu.

From the start they knew they wanted to have Key Lime pie instead of cake.  After searching around for a place to order pies from, they ended up enlisting some friends and baking 200 individual pies.  It took them about 3 1/2 hours to make them all and they had to raid quite a few stores for all the crusts that they needed.  They were delicious and a fun treat.

For the lunch menu, they wanted Mexican.  They chose a local favorite in the Lansing area called EL AZTECO.  They also decided to let the guest eat upon arrival at the reception rather than have them wait for the wedding party to arrive.  This made for very happy guests with tummies filled with delicious Mexican food when the photos were done.

The food was served buffet style with clear plastic plates from Sam’s Club and plastic silverware that they rolled up into white napkins and tied with twine.  The wedding invitations that Andrea’s daughter,Lauren designed consisted of 5 3×5 cards that were tied together with twine also.

Andrea affectionately calls their wedding style SHABBY CHIC.

They also had a fun candy bar at the reception.

They chose candy that they liked!  They made it the favor for everyone to take home.  Andrea learned that the tricky part of doing a candy bar is that you need 2-3 times the amount of candy that will actually be taken home or consumed in order to make it look FULL.  A great tip they had was to put small bowls overturned inside some of the big punch bowls that they used to take up space and make it look fuller.

Again, Andrea enlisted help and gave one of her friends the list of all the candy and she bought it all at Sam’s Club and Gordon Food Service in bulk.  They bought little plastic gusseted bags that had white lace printed on them and came with silver twist ties.  They were a little bigger than they wanted people to have so they trimmed them down.  I was surprised how many people loved it!  Even the older people still loved the candy!

This was definitely a wedding full of love and attention to what really matters!  Andrea was able to put together an amazing, not to be forgotten, wedding of her dreams for her daughter while staying within their families budget and not going totally crazy!

Thanks Andrea for sharing your photos and all the great information!!

We had a joint party with her best friend Hannah.  They had been friends since they were three.  I highly recommend combining efforts with a friend if you can.  Since they both had many of the same friends it made that crazy Graduation party season calendering easier for people too and it’s always nice to share the party work load.

Here are a few fun ideas we used:

Aren’t these the cutest little graduation caps? They are made from chocolate covered graham crackers and mini Reese’s Peanut Butter cups. For directions visit Sherra’s blog. I used red and blue M & M’s since those are our school colors. I also used red and blue Fruit by the Foot for the tassels.  They were a huge hit at the party and disappeared fast!

Another fun idea was the fruit kabobs.  I cut the school’s initials out of Styrofoam, frosted them and then covered them with coconut.  We then used the letters to hold the fruit kabobs we made.  Caution:  The frosted Styrofoam may be mistaken for actual cake and people may attempt to eat it!

And if you are looking for a great cake recipe that feeds a crowd that doesn’t come from Costco (Costco cake has its place but this one is so much better) give this Almond Sheet Cake recipe a try!

Of course if you would like a personalized party menu I can do that too – just click on Shop up above and let me know how I can help you!!

I have had several email requests lately for ideas for graduation parties so this week I will be sharing a few.

Last week our family attended a graduation party for  a friend who was graduating with their nursing degree from University of Portland – way to go Leslie!  I took my camera along to the party and snapped a few photos.

The easiest way to plan a graduation party is to use the school’s colors as your theme.  The University of Portland’s colors are purple and white so of course that was used in the party planning.

There were some fun tissue paper poms in different shades of purple and some white Chinese lanterns.  They were hung over the kitchen table area and over the kitchen island.

Hannah, one of the party hostess’, also made a fun Happy Graduation banner.

Little purple details were everywhere!  I loved the little purple ribbons tied on the salt and pepper shakes and the cutlery holders!  Little details make all the difference.  Of course there were purple paper goods too!  I loved the square purple plates.

Purple was even integrated into the food.  You’ve heard of Red Velvet Cake well, we had Purple Velvet Cupcakes!

They used a cake mix and just added in some purple food coloring!

But the best part of the whole party, for me, was the purple chocolate fountain!!

Wilton has different colored Melts and they found purple ones!  How clever is that!

Of course there were lots of yummy dippers for the chocolate as well as some purple punch!

Do you have a graduation party coming up?  Would you like a  personalized party guide for your party?  If so, I’d love to help!  Just visit my Shop tab up above to see what I have to offer!

One of the things Lisa does at a party, an idea I have totally fallen in love with, is a Sentiments Cake.

When I asked Lisa what a Sentiments Cake was this is how she explained it to me:

A sentiment cake is a cake I make for sentimental purposes.  It is where
I make cupcakes to be enjoyed by the friends who come to the party and
the sentiment cake is boxed up to be enjoyed by the family members not
invited to the party…  Maybe a hubby or younger siblings.  They LOVE
it!  That way not too much cake is consumed or wasted!  But it helps to
carry the theme.  What is a party without the cake.”

Isn’t that just the best idea – I so love it!

The menu for the baby shower included:

Pea Pod Baby Shower Menu 
 

Lime Punch

Cheese and Assorted Gourmet Crackers

Sweet Snap Peas

Croissants

Pitas

Curry Chicken Salad

Almond Chicken Salad 

Vanilla Cupcakes with Whipped Buttercream

Coffe and Tea

Thanks to Lisa for sharing some of the recipes with us!!

“Sweet Pea” Pecan Tassies

3 eggs

1 cup dark corn syrup

2/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

¼ tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups pecan halves

1 15 oz. package refrigerated piecrust dough or homemade

Place Demarle Boat Tray on Perforated Baking Sheet.

Roll dough out on Roulpat. Use boat dough cutter to cut out little “pods”. Line tray with pastry. Use shaper to press dough into tray. In a mixing bowl beat eggs. Add corn syrup, sugar, butter, vanilla and pecans. Mix well.

Pour filling into prepared “pods”.

Bake @ 350 for 30 minutes or until golden.

Lime Punch

1 carton Lime Sherbet

4 litres 7 UP

Add ingredients to One

Glass Crock – availabe at Target and Costco

Lisa’s Almond Chicken Salad

6 boiled chicken breasts, chopped

1 tsp. garlic salt

1 ¼ cups Best Foods Mayonnaise

1 cup toasted almonds, chopped

1 cup Monterey Jack Cheese

Mix all ingredients together, except for almonds.

May be refrigerated overnight.

Add almonds before serving.

May add more mayo if needed.

Lisa’s Curry Chicken Salad

6 cups chicken, chopped

2 8oz. cans water chestnuts, chopped

1 ¼ cups Best Foods Mayonnaise

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. curry

Mix all ingredients together except water chestnuts.

May be refrigerated overnight.

Add water chestnuts before serving.

Note: If I am boiling chicken breasts, I figure on one chicken breast per cup.

May add a bit more mayo before serving if needed.

Enjoy!

Do I just lay it on the counter? That doesn’t look too good.

What do I put it in?

This weekend we stopped for a beverage at a fun food cart in Portland and I saw this idea  – I loved it.  Could hardly believe it was a foodcart – antique silverware.

I love the idea of putting the silverware in mason jars!  How pretty is that!?

Do you have a fun idea you use for silverware at a party?  Leave a comment and let me know!

The cast party was a great success thanks to the help of a lot of parents!

We had a yummy menu, not the typical pizza or sub sandwich fare!

There were lettuce wraps, curry, El Cafe Cubano beans (if you’ve seen Guys & Dolls, you’ll understand that one).  Both the curry and the beans were vegan as we have several kids in the cast that are vegan.  There was also some sweet pork and rice and three types of pinwheel sandwiches.   In addition we had chips and salsa, 7 layer dip and a very spicy but yummy jalapeno dip, fruit and vegetable trays!  No one went home hungry!!

For those of you unfamiliar with the show Guys & Dolls  – it takes place in the 1930’s in New York and deals with a group of missionaries trying to save a group of gamblers/crapshooters.  Of course at the end everyone falls in love, gets married and lives happily ever after!

It was fun to use the theme of the show in planning the party.

There is a trip down to Havana in the show to El Cafe Cubano  and there is lots of dice throwing  and gambling going on in the show.

For dessert there were lots of fun things!

Thanks to Cindy who hand dipped all these amazing strawberries.  The little tuxedo and wedding veil strawberries were a huge hit (the show ends with a wedding) – aren’t they darling!

Another mom made up a batch of “dice” krispie treats.

I baked up a batch of yummy chocolate/caramel cupcakes with a whip cream frosting.  I couldn’t resist when I found these fun cupcake toppers at the cake decorating shop!  They even had sprinkles shaped like hearts, spades, diamonds etc.!

And then there was this amazing cake made by one of the mom’s – Caryn Ogle.  She used the logo from the poster for the show and created two mini cakes shaped like dice!  Isn’t it great!

Here are the happy couples cutting the cake!

For dessert there was also apple strudel to go along with the reference to cheesecake and strudel in the show!

I love developing a theme for a party.  It was so fun to have the other mom’s join in with me with their amazing creativity to help create a really fun event for the kids that had worked so hard and so long on the show.

Would you like help in developing a theme for your next party? I’d love to help you.  Please check out my services page to see what I have available.

Later this week I’ll share some ideas I came up with for gifts for the performers.

Katie wanted to do cupcakes and a candy bar.  White cupcakes with all kinds of blue toppings looked very festive and made a great centerpiece for the table!
 

Oreos dipped in white chocolate with blue sprinkles were also very popular!  Katie used the peppermint Joe Joes from Trader Joes – so yummy!
 

The candy bar consisted of lots of fun candy.

Since Katie conveniently lives next door to me so we used my collection of white and clear glass containers to give a cohesive look to the table.  We grouped the candy into color themes – there was the blue and white/silver candy…

the blue and yellow candy….

and then the bright, rainbow colored candy….

We almost forgot the red licorice!
 

There were cute little Chinese take out boxes for the girls to fill with their candy and fun little smiley faces and peace signs to decorate the table.

The table looked darling!
Anchored in the center of the table were some balloons to help carry out the Blue/Peace theme.

What would a party be without balloons!
 

Other fun decor included this clothesline full of photos of Molly through her long 12 years!

When the girls returned to the house after a few games of bowling they munched on pizza and treats from the candy/cupcake bar.

The girls answered some questions to see who knew the birthday girl the best….

and played some other fun “tween” girl games like two truths and a lie!
 

Of course music and a little bit of dancing made for a fun party!

The girls each went home with one of these darling party favors.  I’d been looking for an excuse to use these darling Jones Soda labels I had seen over at Karyn’s shop – Pixel Perfect Boutique.  

Katie emailed Karyn some photos of Molly and some words that decribed her and Karyn personalized the labels.  Aren’t they cute!!!  What a fun party favor!

Thanks to Katie and Molly for letting me help with the party and Peace Out Molly – we love you!!

A special thanks to Karyn of Pixel Perfect Boutique for helping us create the perfect party favor!