Candy Party

My daughter turned four on March 22nd and we celebrated with a candy-themed birthday party at home. You may remember my first post on this blog - in it I discussed my daughter's request for a candy-themed party. Always up for a creative party, I did my best to give my daughter what she wanted while trying to keep the budget in mind. After turning to Amy Atlas for inspiration, several trips to the craft store and several online orders the party came together quite nicely.

I ordered some great custom invitations, address labels and lollipop stickers from the esty seller LittlebeaneBoutique. They were reasonably priced and really helped personalize the party. The seller customized the colors of the invitations to match our decor and couldn't have been easier to work with.

Here are some pics from the big celebration:

The candy table - filled with cupcakes, lollipops, jellybeans, and old-school penny candy

Close-up of Martha Stewart's paper flowers - bought at Micheal's


The party space (my garage!)


One of the adult tables

One of the kids tables

Close-up of the lollipop display (after my daughter "re-arranged" it - oops!)

A jelly bean jar

Stay Tuned!

I began this blog as an outlet for sharing my event-planning ideas. I love parties of all types, from birthdays to baby showers to weddings. In fact, after a few years as a middle school English teacher I decided to pursue my dream of professional event planning and began a career as wedding and event designer. My head is full of ideas and I often find myself planning "virtual parties" in my head. If I could I would blog all day every day to share my ideas. My original goal for this blog was to post five days a week. As you can see from the infrequent posts lately, I've not quite met my goal.

I am the widowed mom of an almost-four-year old and have tried to find a balance between raising a small child, managing a household and entering the workforce after a long absence. After a couple of very tough years I've found great joy and strength again. In addition to my role as mom to the most amazing little girl on the planet I have also joined the team at an outstanding event planning company here in Atlanta, FAVOR Events. I am finding that I am in the right place in my life, career-wise. I absolutely love creating and coordinating events for our clients and cannot believe the amount of knowledge I gain on a daily basis. I am beyond grateful for the opportunity I have to learn so much about this great industry.

We are about to enter wedding season here in the South. Couple my work-related tasks with a very important birthday party to plan for my little princess and that means this girl's to-do list is growing by the minute. So I'd like to apologize for the infrequent posts on this blog. I start every week with a brilliant plan for blogging on this site and then somehow my posts get pushed to the back-burner. I promise I still have many great posts planned and I will post as often as possible.
In between posts here I would like to invite you to follow FAVOR Events blog. I know you'll love it.

Have a fantastic weekend!

Dreaming of Spring

Snow blanketed the Atlanta area on Sunday and the weather here is still a bit chilly for us Southerners. But I got an early dose of spring today in the form of Pottery Barn's latest catalog. As soon as I flipped it open I saw the most adorable Easter tablescape. The creative PB stylists hung glittered Easter eggs from faux cherry blossom branches gathered in a tall glass vase. With ceramic white bunnies, simple white dishes and an understated Easter table runner, the tablescape is fun without being too cutesy. I want to order those branches right now!

Oscar Love

Last night's Oscar coverage did not disppoint me. I loved the gowns, the jewels and all of the glamour. I could not help but notice how many Oscar dresses would be stunning translated into wedding gowns. While I was impressed by so many of the light colored gowns I saw last night, I fell deeply in love with Evan Rachel Wood's Elie Saab and Taraji P. Henson's Roberto Cavalli. Dreamy, aren't they?

Photo Credits: www.watoday.com.au

Beyond Pink and Blue: A Wild Baby Shower

I work as an event planner. I spend my days studying events of all types - weddings, birthdays, showers, etc. Since I see so many parties on a day to day basis, I am bored by anything expected. I am over weddings in ballrooms. I am over crepe paper and streamers at kids' parties. And I am bored stiff by the traditional baby shower with pink rattles and little petit fors. Give me something different! Well, the fabulous Amy at Stem has done just that. And she does it over and over again. I want to go these parties! Here is a link to Stem's Baby Gone Wild shower. Isn't it amazing?

Photo Collage Credit: Stem

Party Favorite: Paparazzi Play Set

It's Oscar Week and I'm so excited. Oscar Night is one of my favorite nights of the year. I love to gather my girlfriends, make good food, pour some great wine and watch the show. I love the dresses, the jewels, the glamour, and the parties. I love to pour over all of the Oscar details in magazines in the weeks following the big show. In researching ideas for an Oscar party I came across this funny little paparazzi play set at Plum Party- how cute would this be on your coffee or coktail table this weekend?

Semi Homemade and Totally Fabulous

I am so excited! One of my sources of "entertaining inspiration" is Sandra Lee. Her Semi Homemade magazine launched its premeire issue this month. Filled with recipes, tips, and oh so adorable ideas for entertaining, this little baby looks like it will top my list of magazine favorites. I'm subscribing! You?