Limo Christmas Caroling Party

I love finding unique ways to celebrate my birthday which falls at Christmas. A few years ago we started a two year tradition of caroling around St. Louis in a limo.

How it worked...
We met at a designated location and then moved through St. Louis to our parents houses, siblings houses, family Christmas parties, where ever the group wanted to go - all planned in advance. Our families looked forward to it and it was such a fun and unique way to celebrate the holidays.

 We also did it for charity and collected money for the St Louis Christmas Carols Association.

The planning...

About a month out I sent an evite to see who all was interested or available that year. Everyone was welcome - we were not all the best singers (I can say that because I'm one that's not). Then I would find a limo - we used Party Time Limo year one and JED Transportation year two.

After we knew who was going I would find out if they had a place they wanted us to carol at - then I took all the addresses and made a logical Google Map for the bus driver with a time schedule so we were sure to get to our final destination on time - we ended at a bar or house party where other friends would meet up with us following caroling.

I made the song books by looking up the most common carols from Google. This is a great site for finding the lyrics to common Christmas Carols. Keep in mind you can only sing about 3 sometimes 4 (ending with "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"). As the group progressed through the night we had our favorites - that we were "good" at and then we were mostly singing the same tunes. We always chose our songs before we left the bus so we ready to sing when we are all on the porch. Make sure to choose familiar songs.

 

An Umbrella Themed Sprinkle

My friend Teryn is having her second baby and this time it's a girl! So I thought it would be fun to have a mini shower, a sprinkle, for her where people just bring her girly/pink gifts and we have light dessert on a Sunday afternoon. She didn't register or anything - we were simply celebrating her little girl with her 10 closest friends and family.

I love to have a theme even if it's something smaller with a small crowd. So I thought why not umbrellas! It was a sprinkle after all. I kept the budget under $100.

Here are some pictures of what I did to pull the umbrella theme in...

Umbrella banner - Dollar Store, straws, cups, plates, confetti, drink umbrellas - Party City

Heart shaped Rice Crispie Treats

Shower punch

• 7up or Sprite
• Raspberry sherbet (you can use any color/flavor sherbet).  For a boy you could use the blue raspberry or the orange or green

Sorry about the next two pictures - I couldn't get them to turn correctly :( I did in editing software but when uploaded into blogger they continued to be sideways.

The small candy bar for a party favor - everything pink!

Candy mostly found at Party City bulk and the candy bags - Hobby Lobby.

AND beautiful Caroline Lila...

A Birthday Party for the Dog...

So because I love to throw a party... I had a 1st birthday party for my puppy. Although it may sound crazy - I had lost my job earlier in the month and had lots of time on my hands :) I did a doggy birthday brunch (didn't want to take too much time out of people's day for a dog party).

I didn't spend much on this since really the dog wasn't going to appreciate it much - ha! But we had a great time! I tried to focus everything about the dog and make the humans feel "connected" to the pooch. Originally her dog friends were invited as well but we got snow before the party and it was just too sloppy outside so it was just Maya and her favorite humans.

The food...

We had "milk bones" - a Hershey kiss melted in the center of a round pretzel (only available at Christmas) with an M&M smashed into the top (do while warm before the chocolate hardens).

"Ruffins" - blueberry and banana nut muffins...

Also featuring - "Heartguard" - fruit salad, "Raw Hydes" - donuts, and "Pup-cake" - pancakes 

I also made take home goodies for the humans - cookies and for the dog friends - homemade dog biscuits - in the shapes of dog bones (mini and large), little "Maya"'s, fire hydrants and dog paws.

For decorations I found the cutest little treat bags with beagles on them (Maya is beagle/lab mix) - the cute boxes I gave to the dog friends and I had little plastic goodie bags to match for the human friends.

On the party hats I attached dog ears so we could all be a dog for the day.

 

A group wearing the dog ears - everyone took my silliness with such a good spirit :)

Maya eating her birthday "pup-cake"

Happy Birthday Maya! It was such a fun party to plan!

Party hats, treat boxes and treat bags - Party City. Table cloth, plates, napkins and utensils - The Dollar Store. Recipes for cookies (secret), recipe for homemade dog biscuits.

A Pink and Green Monkey Party!

My friend, Niki's baby turned one this week and last weekend they had a great party for her! I wanted to blog it for you because they did some really cute things.

First of she knew she wanted to do pink polka-dots so I encouraged her to pick an object of some sort to be the focus - so she found these great monkey plates and the theme had been chosen! Check out the plates and other matching things at Birthday Express.

Since the plates were pink and green she chose both colors to accent with. Most of the decorations were bought at Party City.

And of course for the one year birthday party you have to decorate the high chair for the "smash cake" - Niki did a great job with the ribbon we attached it to the high chair with glue dots.

The kept with the monkey theme on the "smash cake", cookies and pretzel (from a local bakery).

For the tables she bought the table clothes at Party City but found green polka-dot wrapping paper and used that to spread as a runner. They carried the ribbon theme over from the high chair onto the centerpiece vases.

It was a very colorful, well themed party and I'm glad I was able to share it with all of you. Thank you Niki and Happy Birthday Harper!

Breast Cancer Survivor Party

On June 23, my friend Kim celebrated 5 years breast cancer free with the Susan B. Komen Race and a party to follow. Her party ideas were so cute - I had to share them with you! She is REALLY creative so lots of the pink, crafty things she did herself and Pinterest was her best friend.

After the race she gave each of her friends a water bottle, to personalize them she made labels using packing tape. She googled how to make waterproof waterbottle labels. Such a fun touch after a hot walk! 

Here are some pictures of her party...

All of her beverages were even pink!! Pink Seagrams, Old Fashioned Lemonade and Pretty in Pink Sangria recipes found on Allrecipes.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the sandwich whole :) but she had the "ribbon" made into a sandwich at a local sandwich shop...such a great touch!

Banners, pom poms, and balloon ideas from Pinterest.

She found these fun napkins at Walmart. These type of items are easily found during October (Breast Cancer awareness month).

Suckers were found at Party City.

She did a pink candy/dessert bar...it was so fun! Starburst, Good & Plenty, rock candy, pink marshmallows, personalized wrapped mini Hershey bars, cake pops, cookies, mini cupcakes, pretzel chocolates with pink M&M's and cotton candy.

a special note... she found a great idea on Pinterest to put pink cotton candy in these homemade cones and then place them in a cupcake tower but as it turns out - when cotton candy hits paper it disintegrates - almost immediately. So keep that in mind if you want to do something fun with cotton candy. 

She added fabric to her dining room ceiling to pull in more pink and add a really neat elegance to the room. Pink and white polka dot tablecloths from Oriental Trading.

Thank you Kim for having me feature all your hard work! Glad I could share this special day with you!