Eight is Great - the favors

Graham's fabulous party continues with the favors... Everyone received their favor bags when they arrived because I wanted them to enjoy the fun at the party. They contained mini custom buttons, finger lights, flashing flower rings, glow bracelets and little lip balms. Funny story: Graham was so excited the morning of the party that he activated all 150 glow bracelets at 6:00am. I didn’t think they would make through the party, so I sent my husband to run out and buy more. Well, they had much longer staying power than I anticipated, so we A LOT glow sticks! Oh well – no one was complaining! I also made confetti poppers inspired by Sharon of Cupcakes & Cutlery. They were so much fun and yes, I will be vacuuming confetti for the rest of my life! It has become a tradition to create a CD of Graham’s favorite music as a parting gift at his parties, so everyone went home as that as well.

I'll wrap it up tomorrow with fun pics from the party!

Credits:

Concept, styling and baked goods: Cakewalk Baking

Photography: Sherry Heck Photography

Invitations, CD labels, custom buttons, heart stickers: Merry Happy by Cake.

Sugar cookies: Bird Treats

DJ: Chip “Mancub” Corwin
Custom pins: Pinback Attack

Eight is Great - a Modern Disco Party

I am so thrilled to be sharing my son, Graham’s eighth birthday party photos. When we started planning his party the one thing he wanted do “dance, dance, dance!!!”.  I liked the idea of a disco party, but I didn’t want to go with the traditional 70’s look. I was really inspired by this party by Bash Please and hoped to create a fun, but sophisticated and modern look. Working with a small budget, this was definitely a DIY affair. I considered renting a space for the party, but decided to keep it at home to save money & also give me more time to decorate and personalize the space. I purchased silver fringe curtains for a backdrop for the dessert table and also to transform our deck into a dance floor. I used silver fringe, handmade tassel garlands and honeycomb balls to decorate both our dining room (where the dessert table was) & deck. I. I also created a lighted marquee letter “G” for the dance floor. Giant clear balloons filled with metallic glitter – some filled with helium, some not – and a silver eight balloon rounded out the decorations. A helpful note: Command strips & hooks saved the day for this party. They held up all the decorations inside & without damaging any surfaces. They were amazing!

I asked my dear friend, Becca of Cake. to create the invitation and was absolutely thrilled with the results. I knew I wanted the basic color scheme to be hot pink (Graham’s favorite color), mint and silver.  When Becca added the midnight blue background it really gave design the sophisticated look I was going for. We added the caveat “No one over 21 allowed” because with 20 kids coming, there wasn’t going to be room for all the parents on the dance floor.

Come back tomorrow for the sweets & treats!

Credits:

Concept, styling and baked goods: Cakewalk Baking

Photography: Sherry Heck Photography

Invitations, CD labels, custom buttons, heart stickers: Merry Happy by Cake.

Sugar cookies: Bird Treats

DJ: Chip “Mancub” Corwin

Silver curtains, fringe, confetti: Shindigz 

Pumpkin, how I love thee

With the abundance of amazing summer fruit, I find it easy to avoid the cans of pumpkin puree in the pantry. But as peaches and plums start disappearing and the first chilly mornings arrive, I'm ready to make just about anything with pumpkin. Facing a serious craving, but with limited time and a sick kiddo in need of cheering, I needed a quick fix. These muffins are simple to make (no machinery needed!), super delicious and definitely pack a pumpkin punch.

Note: I use half whole wheat flour to give them a little more nutritional value, but you could easily use all AP. Also feel free to swap the chocolate chips with nuts or dried fruit.

Pumpkin chocolate chip muffins
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
2 1/2 cups sugar 
2 cups pumpkin puree (1lb 3 oz)
4 large eggs
2/3 cup canola oil
2 cup mini chocolate chips

Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Combine the sugar, puree, eggs and oil together and mix until well combined (either with a mixer or by hand). Add the dry ingredients and then the chocolate chips. Scoop into muffin tins, about 3/4 full. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes

The Theatre of Dreams

This post is long, long overdue, but here it goes anyway...

If you've spent anytime reading this blog, it will come as no surprise that I have a little obsession with all things glittery. Before the holidays, I had distinct pleasure of meeting Wendy Addison, the queen of sparkle, and visiting her charming studio, Theatre of Dreams. If you don't know Wendy by name, I'm sure that you have seen her beautiful work at BHLDN, West Elm, Tinsel Trading and countless other stores. I have been collecting her Christmas ornaments for years and in fact my husband & I picked out one of her silver stars for the top of our Christmas tree the first year we were married. Wendy is as charming and lovely as the art she creates and it was truly an honor to meet her. If you happen to be in the tiny, tiny town of Port Costa, you should definitely pay a visit to her studio. 

Learn more about Wendy from this wonderful Martha Stewart video.

Pink & Black Halloween birthday bash - fun & games!

Graham's Pink & Black Halloween birthday bash

I’m so excited to sharing pictures from my son, Graham’s 7^th birthday bash – A pink & black Halloween party. We had so much fun at G&M farms last year that we decided to go back again, but give it a completely different look. I asked Becca of Cake. to design a sophisticated and modern invitation with a skeleton holding an orange balloon. I loved what she designed – and so did Graham, but he requested the balloon be hot pink instead. Graham is a quirky kid and I loved how this choice reflected his personality, so I ran with it.

Rather than do a bunch of desserts for the table this year, I chose to make seven different cupcakes to represent him turning seven. I found the little skeletons at the Dollar Store and spray painted them black and crafted tiny party hats for them. They held signs to identify all the different flavors - vanilla/vanilla, chocolate fudge/vanilla, strawberry, lemon meringue, triple chocolate, pumpkin, peanut butter cup and triple chocolate. I used a variety of cake stands from my collection to show them off.

For the kid’s table, each child had a lunch box with bone name tag, a juice bottle with striped straw (for strawberry lemonade) and a handcrafted party hat and horn. I spray painted larger skeletons for the table with the intention of them holding balloons, but it was so windy at the farm it didn’t go as planned.

For favors, the kids received a cd of Graham’s favorite dance music (Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, etc - sorry parents!) a skeleton bracelet, a homemade skull lollipop.

Next up: Pictures of the party fun!

Vendor credits:

Michele Wimborough – Cakewalk Baking

design, styling, cupcakes

Becca – Cake.

Invitation, CD label

Robert Knowles

www.webrobert.com

Photography

G&M Farms

www.gmfarms.com

Venue

Shop Sweet Lulu

www.shopsweetlulu.com

favor bags, plastic bottles, stripey straws