I'm on my way to Paris!

I am leaving today for my long weekend getaway to Paris! Thank you to all of you who left comments on my post seeking your input for my trip...I'll be using your recommendations! A huge thank you to my dear blogging buddies Pretty Pink Tulips, The Buzz/Diane James and The Zhush for the Paris package they gave me with maps and books! I'm ready to explore the city of romance on my first vacation with my husband since having my two wonderful children!

http://www.world-city-photos.org/Paris/photos/Eiffel_Tower/Eiffel_Tower_orange/

Have a wonderful weekend and I'll be back next week with lots of Paris and client posts!

a Royal Wedding celebration playdate

When the Royal Wedding was announced my daughter (who has been a flower girl twice) asked me if we were going to the wedding and if she was going to be a flower girl. Since it appears our invitation was lost in the mail we won't be attending the wedding of the century, so instead we are having a Royal Wedding celebration playdate at home! 

I devoured this magazine last week. It's a good one! 

On the afternoon of April 29th (after preschool) I will be hostesssing a playdate for my daughter and a few little friends. We will watch the nuptials while having fun! I will be wearing this tiara that I wore for my daughter's "3rd" birthday.  

My daughter loves playing dress-up (guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!), so she will be thrilled when I give her this little bridal gown for the playdate! All the little girls will be wearing a princess or bridal costume.

We'll be noshing on fruit, along with homemade cookies and I'll be making a "bride" wedding cake! I ordered these adorable carrriage treat boxes to put on the table to add to the festivities.  I'm setting the table with the "crown" plates from my daughter's "3rd," along with using the turquoise checkered placemats (which were never used as placemats, but rather as a table runner!) from her "4th" party.

We'll be decorating crowns with crayons, markers and stick on jewels!

And, finally a Royal Wedding celebration playdate would not be a party unless the Royal Family was joining us...so I took care of that too! My gal pals and I will be sipping hot tea.

Does the Royal Wedding interests you? Will you be watching? Are you hosting or attending a party? Aren't you glad that there is Tivo and DVR to capture the wedding, so you can watch in the evening?

Behind the scenes

Yesterday I posted my daughter's "5th" birthday party. I wanted to share with you how I pulled together this Barbie party...perhaps you'll find a tip or borrow an idea?

The Barbie toppers for the cakes can be used over and over. Only the top portion is Barbie, the bottom half is a stick to put into the cake. For my daughter's "3rd" we used the Barbies as princesses for her princess party...

(My daughter's party posted at http://swanky-chic-fete.blogspot.com/2011/02/little-girls-birthday-party-hamptontoes.html)

And, for her "4th" as ballerinas for her tiaras and tutus party...  

(My daughter 4th's party posted at http://swanky-chic-fete.blogspot.com/2011/02/little-girls-birthday-party-hamptontoes.html)

*Sidenote, because I think it's important to think out of the box...for the above party I used Ella's polka dot bed sheet for the table cloth! Under the sheet I used a thick white vinyl table protector to make the sheet look heavier! And, the table runner isn't a table runner, it's placemats that I slightly layered to create a table runner. Once I added all the goodies to the table, no one could tell that it wasn't a runner.

And, this year the toppers were used as Barbies...

 

Some of you asked if I truly made the cakes...I did! I made 18 Barbie cakes (17 little ones and a large one for Ella) along with 48 cupcakes for the adults. I whipped up 10 cakes and decorated them Thursday night while watching American Idol (loving James Durbin!), Friday night I made the remaining 8 cakes while my children were having a special bedtime routine with the grandparents (who were in town for the party.) The cupcakes I tossed into the oven while baking the cakes. Yes, it was all homemade! I was in bed Friday night by 10pm. Truly, it did not take me long...cupcake pan holds 24 and small Barbie cake pans holds 4!

When it comes to pinatas at parties I don't care for the ones that you need to beat with a stick...it seems dangerous to me. I prefer the ones with pull-strings. I converted this pink crown pinata to a pull string...so easy to do! It's safer and the pinata can be used over. This pinata was used for Ella's "4th" party too! I took off the princess sticker from last year and hot glue gunned the Barbie details.

(The above princess pinata from her 4th birthday, below it was reused for ther 5th.)

I filled the pinata with jewels, bouncing balls and hair accessories. 

The red carpet is really a red runner that I purchased on-line from a party store 3 years ago. I paid $10 bucks for it and I've used it for three parties already! This year I added the star stickers. Every single girl was on the floor pointing to her star and giggling...it was very sweet!

The dresses I used as place settings. They were packaged with bubble gum, but I chose to not give it to the girls, instead chewing it myself!

The feather boa's were draped over the back of the bamboo chairs, one for each girl!

I ordered the lollipops/custom stickers and switched out the presentation using treat bags and $2.00 worth of ribbon! I have used the styrofoam blocks for many things, this time I wrapped them with striped wrapping paper and inserted the lollis!

 

The hanging lanterns were new for this party, but have already been put away for future use.

I purchased little water bottles and applied this label over the old one...it took no time at all.

I used my hot glue gun to apply the silhouettes to the straws and to the plates. The silverware is really plastic!

Traci, a professional photographer and a dear friend, called me on Super Bowl Sunday from a little textile shop in California where she lives. She told me she had something perfect for Ella's party, and that the quality was excellent and it would cost me a song to score enough textile to cover four tables. Thanks Traci for your great eye, not only behind the camera. I took the textile and cut it on site without having it sewn.

The Barbie photo box was old cardboard taped together and wrapped in pink wrapping paper. The was a huge hit! The girls loved standing inside the box and having their photo taken, so that they could be their own version of Barbie!

You may be wondering what I served the girls to eat? I bought individual yogurts, so they got to pick which one they wanted and I sliced up a huge bowl of fresh fruit...nothing was left over!

I hope this gives you a little idea how I pulled together her party! Any other questions?

Barbie cake toppers (http://www.michaels.com/)

Black Barbie silhouettes from Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/Lauri57)

Cupcake toppers & water bottle labels from Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/PartyPeople)

Pink polka dot straws (http://www.bakeitpretty.com/)

Star stickers for the red carpet (http://www.christmastreeshops.com/ - they were in a pack 12 for $.59!)

Doll dresses as place settings (http://www.christmastreeshops.com/ - 10 dresses for $1.00!)

Feather boas (http://www.haloheaven.com/featherboas.html $12 per dozen!)

Pink hanging lanterns (http://www.orientaltrading.com/)

Pink swirl lollipops (http://www.orientaltrading.com/)

Treat bags and ribbon for lollipops (http://www.michaels.com/)

My daughter's 5th birthday

This past weekend we celebrated my daughter's "5th" birthday! Once she gave her request for a Barbie party I went to work designing every detail so that her party would be fun and memorable.  

Here  and here I gave little previews for what was to come. The party was held at the historical Lyndhurst Castle. The girls started off with a tour of the castle guided by Barbie and Ken's butler (wink, wink!) Each of the 18 little girls were given a clipboard containing a page of images for their castle scavenger hunt...fun!

Following the castle tour, everyone darted a few steps away to the carriage house. As the little girls entered the party room they walked the "red carpet" and were thrilled to see their name on a star!  

The Barbie doll box was a huge hit! The girls loved standing inside the box and having their photo taken, so that they could be their own version of Barbie!

I made this large Barbie cake for my daughter and seventeen little ones, so that each little girl had her own cake!

Each little girl got a Barbie and Ken doll set. The boxes were quickly torn open!

Behind the Barbie play area, I set up Barbie's Beauty Boutique. The girls were able to adorn themselves with gold necklaces, jeweled rings, floral rings with lipstick inside, bracelets and pretend earrings (jeweled gems with little stickers on the back.) Using the gem stickers they were also able to have their nails done minus the nail polish.

 

Each lolli in the background is actually 33 ouchless hairbands in one lolli!

"Pin the sunglasses on Barbie" provided a little challenge for the girls. The activity tables allowed the girls to gather around and color Barbie books, play with Barbie stickers, decorate their own septors and even make their own necklaces!

The pinata was filled with jewels, hair accessories and bouncing balls.

When the party was over my daughter looked at me and said, "Thank you mommy for designing a pretty and fun party for me, you are the best mommy in the world!" With that said, I smiled and cried (can't believe how fast the first five years went.) Tomorrow I'll give sources and how to-do's for all the details to this party. Any questions you'd like me to answer tomorrow?