hello lovelies. are you out there? well if you are please go pick up a copy of Marie Claire Magazine and check out the article I wrote for them! It’s in the “Entertaining” section and called “Shake Up Your Next House Party.” My editor (that will never get old) wanted some fun twists on winter parties you can throw at home: Superbowl, Oscars, Mardi Gras and Valentine’s Day. I just might celebrate this accomplishment by throwing one of these little shindigs. You should too! C’est bon!
There are times in life when things line up. When what’s meant to be is. When magic happens. My sisters’ bachelorette party was one of these times. There were times during her planning where I had to put a lot of thought into things: writing a toast for the reception, how was I going to be a maid-of-honor AND wedding coordinator, if I should get chicken or fish, but choosing a theme for her bachelorette party was not one of those times. Hence, Saradashian’s Last Stand was born.
I designed and printed the invites (front to back) complete with photshopping my sister in with the Kardashians, tied them up with ribbon and stuffed each envelope with feathers and sequins. The liners were custom made because really, when other time am I going to get to do something like this? When you’re talking about the Kardashian’s, it’s got to be over the top. Bible.
I didn’t tell her anything about the party other than what the invitation gave away which was to meet at a hotel downtown at 5:30. At 4:30 I had an SUV (just like Kim Kardashian gets driven around in) pick Sarah and her bridesmaid Shannon up at her house and when they got in the car Shannon gave her a card I had had my parents write her (likely ending with, “be safe!”) Then they stopped to pick up two more bridesmaids and she got a card that I had my brother write (surprisingly sentimental). One final stop to pick up the last bridesmaid Molly, and Molly gave her a card I had written her (recounting some of our drunken escapades together to ger her in the mood to party!) I was so happy Shannon send me these pictures as a play-by-play!
So in this case, I had the party in a hotel room. This makes things difficult for a myriad of reasons: no access to your dishes, kitchen utensils or dishwasher, having just a tiny fridge and a microwave etc. Even though we used a lot of things that could be thrown away at the end of the party, I still wanted to make it special. Everyone got two glasses, one for champagne and one for kahlua and creams (my sister’s favorite) adorned with the Kardashian of their choice.
I made the kahlua and creams by freezing the cream in ice cube trays and pouring kahlua over them. A bathtub full of beer, and the party was on! As for food, choose lots of things that are easy to eat on your lap and don’t take a lot of prep. I did sushi, chips and dips, fruit and dip in individual cups and individual popcorn boxes. Mini cheesecakes and cupcakes for desserts, topped with engagement rings, perfect for taking to the bar afterwards to fend off any unwanted advances. Oh and candy. I just filled a bunch of patterened cupcake liners with all of Sarah’s favorite candy. She is ridiculous and eats it for nearly every meal yet still somehow manages to be as thin as a rail and never has any cavities.
You know I splurged and bought a life-size cardboard cutout of Kim, Kourtney and Khloe to greet guests. Much to her fiance’s chagrin, the girls are living in their basement, watching over the laundry pile, naturally.
Goody bags for the girls were in little felt buckets I found at Target and I created tags for each using a heart-shaped punch and ribbon. Easy-peasy. Included in each was a mini can of Sophia champagne (mini, pink straw included!), a mini-bottle of Kim Kardashian’s perfume, individual packs of Advil, a couple of blow-pops and a ring pop, a pack of Starburst and a pack of Skittles (see: candy obsession above) and then a few things to take to the bar: a stick on mustache, glow-stick jewelry, pixie sticks and mardi-gras beads. Sarah got a homemade veil and light up diamond to ensure everyone knew who the star of the party was. Classy, simple and accentuated her outfit. Seriously, how long did your sister/best friend/future-in-law spend picking out an outfit for her bachelorette party? Don’t ruin it!
Timeline wise, for a shower or bachelorette party I like to welcome guests with a drink as they are arriving, let them eat and chat for a bit, play a game, open gifts and call it a day. At a shower, people can stay and mingle, at the bachelorette party we keep drinking and told some hilarious Sarah stories. I really hate forced bachelorette party games, but think they can be a good ice-breaker when people don’t know each other well. I created a “Kardashian Kuiz” full of questions about the infamous family (which my sister promptly won) and then took a bag full of props out to the bar with us. And obviously the penis straws and Scott Disick. Did you think he was going to let us go without him? Not a chance, doll.
Last weekend I headed out on the road again to put together a bridal shower for one of my dear friends, Melissa. We hosted it at Amy’s house and ran with a sugar and spice theme. Melissa’s wedding colors are red and pink so we used those along with some teal to create a lot of sweetness. I made the invites and it’s sort of where the theme began. I drew three kitchen canisters labeled sugar, spice and nice so when you opened the envelope, this is what you saw:
A red envelope lined with pink and white striped vintage wallpaper (which I bought at a thrift store at least a year ago and just KNEW it would come in handy some day. I was right. Also, Melissa hates thrift stores and I love them so HA my friend.)
I printed the details in “empty” canisters on a separate sheet of paper and cut it down to size. I sewed a blank sheet to the canisters and stuck the info in the pocket…and viola! All the necessary info. is tucked inside the canisters for safe keeping.
I even rigged up my sewing machine using a popsicle stick so I would get straight lines, genius! My OCD would not have handled that well otherwise. I was pretty proud that I got all the lines to line up perfectly — small victories my friends.
At the shower we served sweet and spicy foods and I made signage with our little logo on it with teal card stock and more wallpaper.
It was a brunch shower and I just could not resist the cereal bar pun. I cut them into heart shapes and dipped them in white chocolate with pink sprinkles. Why the heck not, I say. I used light pink, dark pink and red ribbon to make a super simple table runner down the middle of the table…
Inspiration comes from my clients all the time! I had recently done a wedding where we hung up paper lanterns in the tent and it inspired me to create a red and teal and pink filly lantern for this shower. Cheap paper lanterns, tissue paper, a circle punch and my trusty glue gun was all it took!
Every shower needs a fabulous cocktail so for brunch drinks I made a “Bride to be-llini” which was a pomegranate bellini garnished with fresh blueberries and watermelon cubes and a “Mis-mosa” (her nickname is Missy and you wouldn’t have been able to resist that either.)
I haven’t done a candy bar in a long time and realize they are sometimes overdone, but when you have a sweet and spicy theme, it just works. I gocco’ed these little bags for guests to fill up on their way out.
The bride got some candy to go for herself and the Mr.!
Amy made an awesome game of the “spice” variety and Melissa even got a few gifts to boot!
Three weeks until the big day and all they have to do is move into a new house in the meantime!
So you’ve already seen the invites and read about the inspiration for the coffee and wine themed shower and bachelorette party. Here’s how it all came together.
I decorated using the brown and pink scheme from the invites and made deceptively simple but pretty stinking awesome coffee filter poofs. Whitney’s sweet mom kept calling them peony’s which just made my crafty heart sing. (When in doubt always bring a mom to the party—they are the best at gushing over the details!) I hung clusters of them over the kitchen table and island where most of the food action was happening.
We served lots of delicious brunch fare: french toast casserole, egg bakes, croissants with apple butter, honey and jam, coffee cake muffins and fresh fruit skewers!
Lots of mimosas to wash it all down and an artsy shot of the glasses by one of the bridesmaids, Megan.
We (of course) put together a hard-core coffee bar that included hot and iced coffee, vanilla and caramel syrup, soy milk, skim milk, half and half and some homemade vanilla whipped cream.
Each guest picked up their own personal coffee cup for the morning which doubled as their favor. Each coffee mug had a picture of the guest with Whitney and Whitney got a special little one with a picture of her and John! I used a special paper to transfer the images to the cups and baked them on so they’d be permanent. (I also made her three extra so she would have a set of four: one of the two of them, one of Whitney, one of John and one of their dog Duke. Awesome.)
We set them up on the kitchen table with bowls of chocolate-covered espresso beans to munch on and extra coasters for people to use during the party.
Whitney hates to be the center of attention so we just played a few games that wouldn’t embarrass her. The ever-popular guessing game, this time using coffee beans and a coffee filter for holding guesses.
And then while she opened her presents guests participated in a homemade BING-O game dubbed “WHIT-O” that really took a lot of the attention off of staring at Whitney opening gifts. Plus, Whitney’s future sister-in-law won and could not have been more ecstatic. Both of the game winners won coffee mugs filled with flavored coffee samples and iced coffee blends.
I’m just getting over my caffeine buzz now. Less than a month to go until their big day. We can’t wait to celebrate your love again in June!
Meet Mr. Mustachio:
Remember Amy of previous blogger fame? Well, she had another baby and this time it was a boy! Anthony Thomas came to greet this great big world in March and I got to help plan a surprise baby shower for the little man. The “sprinkle” (as I found out mini-showers are called in the mommy world) was mustache-themed and once we found out he was a little boy we sent out invites to get everyone excited:
I used wrap-around teal blue labels for the addresses and cut mustaches out of felt to adorn the top. The sprinkle was held at a local Mexican restaurant so I chose a font to complement the venue.
I used a vellum envelope so when guests received them they looked fairly inconspicuous from the outside but once you opened them—-mustaches abound on the envelope liner! I believe in setting the mood.
Wax mustaches anchored white balloons that I adhered felt mustaches to. Why not?
“It’s a boy!” balloons coupled with our Mr. Mustachio balloons were a perfect centerpiece for a restaurant “sprinkle”–quick, easy and good bang for your buck.
More ‘staches topped delicious cupcakes for dessert..