Party Guest} Too Cute – Two Years Old

My good friend and amazing photographer Meg is also a great party planner!

Her darling daughter Addy recently turned two and Meg created a fun and magical family celebration for her daughter.

Balloons always add a fun and colorful touch to any party and are the quickest and easy way to establish a color theme.

Meg used her creative abilities to create this easy and inexpensive but darling banner to celebrate Addy’s big day!

 

The banner is made out of pink paper plates from Target- how cute is that!
 

Meg added some letters to spell Addy’s name and the number 2 which she cut out of paper along with some other cute embellishments and ribbon. Meg’s creativity didn’t stop there, she made a darling little apron for Addy too. (Simplicity Pattern 3802)

 

 

Addy looks so cute in her cupcake apron and is perfectly attired to serve tea with this darling tea set  her mother made out of felt for her.

 

Since little Addy is definitely the princess at her house who better to grace the top of her birthday cake then  Cinderella! (cake from Safeway)

 

Here’s what Meg had to say about the special day she created for her daughter:

For my daughter’s second birthday I wanted to keep things relatively low key and thought a tea party day with mom would be a memorable way to celebrate her special day. I spent the weeks prior crafting her a little felt tea set and sewing a darling hostess apron out of her favorite fabric! We spent most of her birthday morning picking up the cake and prepping for our little party. She chose a Cinderella cake and a variety of pink and green balloons. Then we dressed up and played with our treasures. It was a wonderful day, filled with meaningful make believe and a magic that we both enjoyed.

What a lucky little two year old.  Thanks to Meg and Addy for sharing their special party with us here at Your Homebased Parties!

Party Planning with Albertsons

Last week I was invited to attend a blogger event put on by Albertsons.   The purpose of the event was to give people a better idea of how the store can be a resource  during the holiday season and for your party planning needs.  The focus was on showcasing fun, creative ideas that don’t require a lot of time or extra effort that Albertsons could help you with.

It was a fun evening as they shared with us how all your party planning needs can be taken care of all in one place – Albertsons!

The evening started out in the wine section.  Since I am not a wine drinker I didn’t really pay a whole lot of attention to the wine talk but I did enjoy tasting several of the “mocktails” they served us. 

 

From there we moved into the meat department and then into the floral department.

They showed some great quick and easy ways to put together a floral arrangement for your holiday table. 

 

The first one used a clear dish, fresh cranberries and a candle.

 

One great tip I learned was you can turn a tea light candle into a floating candle just by removing it from the little metal case it comes in!

The second arrangement idea they shared uses a margarita glass, chocolate kisses and a candle.  How easy is that!
 

The next station was appetizers.  We tasted some yummy things and then they showed us how to make pumpkin hummus.  I am not a fan of pumpkin but this hummus was yummy and it has half the calories of regular hummus!

 

Pumpkin Hummus

1 15 oz. can of pumpkin

2 Tbsp tahini

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Combine ingredients until smooth and creamy.  If hummus is too thick, you can add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until desired consistency.

Spoon into serving bowl, and sprinkle with desired topping like cinnamon, red pepper or more parsley.

Next they share some quick and easy dinner ideas to make using their rotisserie chicken – chicken noodle soup, BBQ chicken pizza, and chicken lettuce wraps – yum!!

I had to leave early to go hear the high school choir sing at the Grotto so I missed the last few stations.  We were each given a fun goodie bag which included a gift card and all the things neede to make our own cranberry/candle arrangement.  Thanks Albertsons for a fun evening.

Next time you have a party to plan be sure and visit Albertsons!

Breakfast with Santa

For many years one of our family’s favorite traditions was having Breakfast with Santa in the beautiful Georgian Room of Meier & Frank in downtown Portland. We would get dressed up in our holiday finery, Beaverton High School would put on a wonderful musical show, Santa would visit each table and we drank lots of yummy hot chocolate!

Several years ago Meier & Frank became Macy’s and the Georgian Room and Breakfast with Santa was no more.  A sad day.  Since our kids had gotten too old for this event any way I decided that it was time to reinvent Breakfast with Santa!

So we decided to host our own Breakfast with Santa.  We invited 3 of our neighbor families, two of which had young children.  We usually hold it the Saturday before Christmas so that my college kids are home and can join us.  Everyone is invited to attend in their pajamas!

The menu is the same as we enjoyed in the Georgian Room – pancakes, little sausages, fruit, juice and hot chocolate.  This year we are throwing an egg dish in for the adults!

Jim is always in charge of cooking the pancakes.  Yummy, fluffy, sour cream pancakes.

 

The kids line up for them!
 

There is plenty of hot chocolate and whip cream – the rule is you can have as much whip cream as you want, no limits!

 

 

This year we will be having a hot chocolate bar with lots of fun toppings and mix ins!

After breakfast all of the kids work together to create gingerbread house masterpieces.

 

 

Usually, just as they ae finishing up their decorating there’s a knock at the door.  Guess who it is? Santa of course!
 

Santa brings a gift for each of the kids – big and small and they all get a turn on his lap!

 

Last year we were in the middle of Arctic Blast 2008 and Santa had to make his way through the snow, good thing he has those reindeer to help him!!

 

Our Breakfast with Santa usually lasts most of the morning as we enjoy lingering, spending time together and just hanging out.  It is our Christmas gift to our neighbors and we get as much enjoyment out of it as they do!

Some of the neighborhood girls.

 

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Table Decor

A few weeks ago I hosted my annual Holiday Breakfast.  It is something I do every year for my first line team members who work with me in my direct sales business.

I’ve got the menu pretty well down for that event.  You can check it out here.  Because I can do that breakfast almost on auto pilot it gives me time to think about my table decor.

I always serve the breakfast buffet style so I like to do something to decorate the table or counter from which I serve the food.  Usually I serve off my large kitchen island but this year I decided to do it from the kitchen table.

I pushed the table up against the wall to give people a little more room to move around the table.

I love magazines and have quite a collection at my house.  My favorite thing to do is tear pictures of pretty things out of them and file them away.  I use the photos for ideas or inspiration. In this year’s December issue of Better Homes & Gardens I found a photo that inspired my table decor for my holiday breakfast.

They had used an old wooden sled on the table with a grouping of glass cloches with ornaments underneath.  When I saw the photo I remembered that up in my attic I had an old vintage wooden sled I had picked up several years ago at an antique store.  It was one of those purchases that my husband had said “What are you going to do with that?”  Actually he says that quite often.  My reply of course was “I don’t know, but I’ll find something!”  I knew I loved it and sometime I would need it!

So my nice, kind husband crawled up into the attic to retrieve the sled for me.

Very rarely do I ever purchase something specifically for a table decoration, except for fresh flowers but a lot of times those just come out of my garden.

I love the challenge of looking around my house to see what I have and what I can re purpose as table decor!

 

For this decor I used a glass cloche that I have.  I placed it on top of a small green cake stand I had previously purchased at Home Goods and filled it with some ornaments I hadn’t used on my tree.  A few of them I actually removed from the tree to use!  The other little cake stand I also had.  My little addiction to cake stands comes in handy sometimes!

 If you don’t have any glass cloches you can also use glass vases and just turn them upside down!

 
 
I added a few pieces of artificial greens around the base of the cake plates or if you have cut down a fresh tree use a few of the branches you cut off to get it into the tree stand.

I then just scattered a few more ornaments in the greens.  I think it looks great and I love the height that the sled gave the centerpiece!

Next up was the dining room table where we would be eating.  Again I looked around the house to see what I could use – re purpose!

I decided my little collection of glittery vintage santas would look great as part of the centerpiece.

I used a piece of green chiffon fabric as the base for the centerpiece.  I have a collection of different colors of chiffon squares to use as an anchor for centerpieces.

Here’s an example from my Little Princess Tea Party.

 

Just purchase a yard of fabric and then serge the edges or do a small folded hem.  I have even been known to leave the edges raw and tuck them under.

 
 
I grabbed another one of those cake stands I am so fond of and a few more ornaments off the tree (my tree has lots of ornaments so these weren’t missed!), another sprig of greens and a few more candles that usually sit in my kitchen windowsill.

I positioned the santas so they were facing different ways so that no matter what side of the table you were on you had a nice view of Santa!

 

What fun things have you found around your house to use as table decorations?

Holiday Banner and Party Bag Giveaway Winner!

A big congratulations to #32 Laurie who is the winner of our first ever giveaway here at Your Homebased Parties.

Watch your inbox Laurie for your FREE download of Elle’s Studio’s darling holiday banner and party bags!

A big thank you to all who entered the giveaway and for your support of Your Homebased Parties.

Also a GREAT BIG thank you to Elle’s Studio for sponsoring our first giveaway and for creating some fun and festive things!!

Have fun creating your banner and bags.

Tween Birthday Party

Today’s featured party is one I consulted on.  It was the 12th birthday party for my sweet next door neighbor Molly.  When her mom, Katie, contacted me about helping with the party she told me the party theme was “blue and peace signs.”  Not your everyday birthday party theme but we can work with that! 

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!

Holiday Banner and Party Bags- Elle’s Studio Giveaway

I’ve been having fun decking the halls at our house this week. It is quite a job with 25 boxes of Christmas decorations!

Each year I always like to add a few new things to my decor. This year I created a quick and easy holiday banner!
All I did was download the file from Elle’s Studio, print it on card stock paper on my home printer, did a little cutting and taping and I have a new darling holiday decoration.

 

Banners are an easy way to add a festive touch to any party or holiday!

They can be hung lots of places – a fireplace mantel works.

or a stairway…

 

If you don’t have either of those a window will work or a plain old wall!

I strung the banner on some ribbon and then tied on some additional pieces of ribbon in between each word to add a little extra touch!.

 

Elle’s Studio has several different holiday banners to choose from and is sponsoring our first ever giveaway here at Your Homebased Parties!  Thank you Elle’s Studio! 

Just leave a comment below and you may win two FREE downloads!  The giveaway will be open until Tuesday, Dec. 8th, 12 midnight PST.

You will want to check out their darling holiday party bags too.  I am using them this year for the holiday candy I give away to friends and neighbors!   Check out Your Homebased Mom for the recipe for the lemon bark I put in these bags!

 

I used their cute Halloween party bags for the candy corn bar at my Halloween party this fall.

So leave a comment and then click on over to Elle’s Studio and check out all the other great things she has!

Party Guest} Up!

What better excuse to throw a party than a new movie!

One of the latest hit movies for the younger crowd is Up!  A 3-D Pixar movie.  Although I haven’t seen the movie myself I am told it is about a grumpy old man named Carl Fredricksen and an overeager Wilderness Explorer named Russell who fly to South America in a floating house suspended from helium balloons.

Rachelle  and her five children saw the movie in the theaters this summer and loved it (except for those scary dogs!) so when the DVD was recently released they figured it was the perfect time for a party!  Thanks to Rachelle for sharing her party with us.

Each of Rachelle’s five children were able to choose a few friends to invite and then the invitations were personally delivered.

 

Of course they were delivered with a balloon!
 

They served the perfect food for a movie watching party – pizza, popcorn and treat bags!

The movie was watched with their pillows and with every light in the house out!

 

After the movie dessert was served – an UP Cake!

 

Rachelle  had water balloons filled with helium at Party City and constructed a cute little house from a template she found in Family Fun magazine.

But the best part was when she cut into the cake – wow!

 

What a fun party – thanks for sharing Rachelle and for being a Party Guest here at Your Homebased Parties!