The Good Life: Parties

Brox's 2nd Birthday Party
November 16th 2013

The theme of Brox's 2nd birthday party with Breakfast with Brox. We held it a local park that has an adorable pavilion overlooking a pond. We served delicious breakfast goodies then played at the playground. Everyone had a blast! More details about the party can be found on Project Nursery.

Brox's 1st Birthday Party
November 10th 2012

Brox's 1st Birthday party is the largest party I have hosted to date. We had around 70 guests and I put about 6 months of planning into the event. Everyone wanted to know the theme but just like Brox's nursery I didn't really have one. Once he is bigger I have all sorts of theme party ideas but for his 1st birthday I wanted to keep it very traditional. I am borderline obsessed with fabric bunting so I started collecting primary color fabrics when Brox was 6 months old and starting coming up with ideas of how to tie the party together with the fabric.

I had a wonderful photographer from my hometown Jina Armstrong shoot the party. Best idea ever so I could actually enjoy the party and spend time with the guest of honor.

Invitations from seven one three

Guests were greeted with 3 foot balloons tied to a chair from my kitchen. I made the sign from an old pallet and stenciled on the letters in craft paint.

I fell in love with this handmade sign on Etsy from Moulage Collection. We used it for the party table and for one year pictures of Brox. Such a great keepsake.

The fabric bunting was made by tying hundreds of strips of fabric around jute. My mom did all the cutting, I did all the tying then used a staple gun to attach it to the wood fence.

Chocolate dipped honey grahams were served on craft paper cut with pinking shears.

My mother-in-law made the pressed cookies and I thought it would be fun to turn the jar over and have them spilling out onto the table.

I rolled rice crispy treats in a ball and put them on colored popsicle sticks. To make the holders I cut lids off of cardboard boxes, inserted foam, wrapped the box in craft paper and accented it with a strip of fabric. Then I pushed the popsicle sticks through the paper into the foam.

Chalkboard labels from CCN designs added a cute factor to the candy jars.

The cake balls were outsourced to Dallas Affairs. Flavors were chocolate decadence and birthday cake.

M&Ms are way more expensive then I thought they would be. Especially if you want to order specific colors. To be more cost efficient I ordered a regular bag and sorted the colors by hand. Fun stuff!

Sorting in progress

Mini popcorn boxes were filled with candied popcorn. Super addictive!

I saw an idea on Pinterest to thread yarn through paper plates. Great idea and even greater that my mother-in-law took over this tedious task.

Centerpieces consisted of fabric cut outs, framed pictures of Brox, mason jars filled with fabric scraps and foam to hold the suckers and paper mache B's and 1's. I intended on standing the pictures up but the wind required a change of plans so we went with the flat look.

More fabric bunting. Made by cutting fabric into squares folding them in half then tying the ends together.

Large inflatable swimming pool filled with ball pit balls for the kiddos to play in. This was great entertainment!

Bins filled with punching balloons.

My high chair from when I was a baby was such a cute addition to the party. Love that it has sentimental value too. I added some fabric bunting around the tray to tie it into the decor.

1 month to 11 month photos were hung with mini clothespins on jute above the gift table

Cake was funfetti with homemade buttercream icing. I made mini fabric bunting and attached it to vintage inspired straws to use for the cake decoration.

My little helper watching me bake his cake. So sweet.

Birthday boy was sporting a custom hat from Dainty Couture and a denim diaper cover from All Things for Baby.

Added some fabric bunting to the wagon to give it some pizazz

TLC Event Rentals provided the tables, garden chairs and navy linens.

Some behind the scenes set up shots

Party in full swing.

As guests exited the party we packed to-go bags from the sweets table and sent them a homemade chocolate chip cookie made by my mom. They were packaged in brown lunch sacks wrapped in two strips of fabric and tied with yarn.

Brox helping mom put the cookies into zippies

Everyone enjoyed themselves, especially Brox so I am considering this one a huge success. Heading over to Pinterest to start my 2nd Birthday party idea board:)

Brox's Baptism

March 18th 2012

Brox was baptized at St. Thomas Aquinas which is directly behind our house. We love the fact that we can walk to church and thought it would be great to have everyone walk to our house after baptism for a reception. The weather was great so people helped themselves to the sweets table and sat throughout the house and in the front yard. We had very little left over food so that is always a sign of a successful party!

I wanted to keep the table setting very bright and neutral. We used all white dishes and white linen napkins and all the food was white except for the fruit on the mini pizza's. I hung cream and gray tissue poms re-used from Hadlin's sip and see to add some height to the table.

individual bottles of lemonade (makes for very easy serving and clean up)

French vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese icing and custom toppers

Custom banner from Etsy

St. Thomas Aquinas Church

Day in Review

Sip & See for Miss Hadlin

I planned was a sip and see for my dear friend Katie and her new baby girl Hadlin. Katie wanted the gender to be a surprise so during all the planning I was trying to keep everything gender neutral. I also wanted to stay away from typical baby shower decor.

I knew I wanted to use poms for the centerpiece decor and decided to incorporate them in custom invites as well.

fruit salad served out of vintage mismatched punch glasses

fun banner from Etsy

We had a champagne bar with mixers like pomegranate juice, blood orange and berry juice. I poured the mixers into glass jugs and added chalkboard labels to them. We also had sparkling lemonade for the pregnant people (me).