Showing posts with label party planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label party planning. Show all posts

Monday, November 21, 2011

Pretty in Pink

Today is L's birthday!  Can't believe a year has gone by!  She is turning into this little person right before our eyes!  Here are some pictures from her Pretty in Pink Birthday Party yesterday.

Pretty in Pink Invitation

View from the front door

Party Table

I added more pictures after this was taken of L throughout her first year

Tutu table for gifts

Birthday Girl

Blowing out her cupcake cake candle

WAY to into her cupcake to pose for a pic

L with her cool older cousin

L is lucky enough to share her birthday with her Grandmother, future aunt, and my cousin!  Happy Birthday to all of you! 

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Doodle

I love hosting showers for my friends, but I dread being on the initial email chains.  The reply alls get a little cumbersome.  Trying to select a date is overwhelming especially when there are lots of host-i (my plural version of hostess, just seems easier to say) .  Plus, the lead hostess ends up in an awkward position having to pick a date someone is unable to attend. 

I am about to give you a fabulous gift freeing you from said email chains and allowing the lead hostess to use the simple majority rules philosophy when selecting the date.  I was introduced to it a few weeks ago and it is my new love!  I give you DOODLE...




Doodle lets you easily set up polls to send to your fellow host-i to check the dates that work best for them.   I use it for all sorts of things...girls night out, trips, showers, meetings, etc...The administrator of the poll enters their own email address and Doodle sends them a link to share with the fellow host-i.  It takes at most two minutes to setup.  Everyone selects the dates they are available without having to open a Doodle account.  Best of all, it is a FREE service!  Here is an example of what your poll will end up looking like:



Free your inbox from the flooding of reply alls and use doodle!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Let them Eat Cake

I got curious about the origin of the phrase "Let them eat cake" attributed to Marie Antoinette when I was working on this post.



It was reported to Marie that the people of France were so starving there was not even bread to eat...She said "Then, let them eat cake" not fully grasping the severity of the situation.  Well, according to multiple sources (phrases.org and wikipedia.org to name a couple), there is zero proof that she ever uttered those words.  Consider this your daily history lesson.

When planning a baby shower a few weeks back, we decided that we would let our guests eat cake.  Sandy's Unique Imprint in Fort Worth makes exquisite cakes, so another host suggested we use her.  We agreed that we would use a majority of our budget (about one fifth) toward the cake since it would be both a center piece and dessert. It was a HUGE hit!  My friend took Sandy the shower invitation and this is what she created...


I thought my friend's idea to match the invitation (invitation printed by Prints and Paper) to the cake was fabulous (I know it sounds so simple, but this kind of thing would have never occured to me)!  It made such a statement.  The cake was expensive, but it served as a conversation piece, a decoration, and tasted delicious! 

After the shower, I was thinking how cakes are normally passed over in the planning process since they are quickly cut into and eaten.  But if a cake is done right, it really adds to the atmosphere of a party.  

My memory temporarily escaped me, but when I was writing this post it dawned on me that this happened at my wedding.  When we designed our cakes, I had not clue how much they would add to the atmosphere of the reception.  Here are pictures of our wedding cake and groom's cake (made by Frosted Art in Dallas).  Unexpectedly, the cakes ended up being my favorite part of our wedding...take that back, top 5 favorite things!



Apologies!  I took a picture of a picture of the groom's cake from my wedding album because I didn't have the individual pictures.  A quick shout out:  The WONDERFUL Summer Carlin took my wedding photos (not the one on the left...that was an amateur shot ;) ) and created my album.  She also does baby photos, so if you are in the Fort Worth area definitely check her out.  She is the best!

Man, this post made me hungry...I may need to stop by the bakery on the way home today!

Don't forget to enter the 10,000 hits giveaway!

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Shout Out to the Type A

For all you Type A personalities, here is a GREAT baby shower (or any party for that matter) budget planning tool. We used it recently and it worked so perfectly!  Here is a broken up version of it.  If you would like the excel spreadsheet with all the formulas, please email me and I can send it to you.  It can be easily adjusted to fit your needs. 

Date: 
Time: 
Location: 
Baby Name:
HostessesTasksCan/Can't Attend$ Spent
Name?
Name?
Name?
Name?
Name?
Gift Registry: 
Approx Invited Guests: 
Overall Budget
If $50/hostess
If $75/hostess
If $100/hostess
If $125/hostess
If $150/hostess



Task:% value
gift30%
invitations12%
stamps4%
flowers6%
food/cake15%
alcohol15%
water/drinks4%
napkins4%
cups5%
plates3%
silverware2%
rsvp email/phone 0%
100%


 
if $50/hostess,
$ to spend
if $75/hostess,
$ to spend
if $100/hostess,
$ to spend
if $125/hostess,
$ to spend
if $150/hostess,
$ to spend
$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00
$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00$0.00


Actual $ spent
$0.00
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