New Year's Eve and a Shout-Out!

There was an amazing competition between some West Coast and East Coast party planners. They each came up with black and white, kid friendly New Year's Eve celebration. Above is the East coast entry and below is the West Coast. I'm sorry to say that the East coast won. They did an amazing job putting together a comic strip inspired party.

Kristy from the Purple Pug was the leader of the East coast team and was sweet enough to interview me as her "Crush of the Day". Kristy makes some adorable printables for parties...go check out her site. Hope all of you have an amazing 2011!!! See ya next year!

Cookie Exchange

 I attented a cookie exchange last week hosted by one of our tea group members. It was a rainy morning but her home was filled with warmth and candlelight. I made Rolo cookies and the retro cookie jars were from the Container Store. The cute labels are from Living Locurto.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Breakfast with Santa

I am in LOVE with this Breakfast with Santa from interior designer Tobi Fairley She even includes a video on her post on how she put together this Parisian themed breakfast tablescape.

Spelling Bee Dinner

Amidst a season of gift giving, picking the perfect tree and decking the halls, it is so refreshing to see a family celebrating the academic accomplishments of their child.
Melisa Lester of A Little Loveliness put together an amazing and frugal celebration dinner for her son on being chosen his class representative in the school Spelling Bee. She served homemade Alphabet soup and rolls with honey butter -too cute!
Melisa puts so much love in the details when expressing herself to her family and friends. Here is one of her quotes: One of my goals as a mother is to celebrate the talents and passions of each child -- cultivating a family dynamic of support and encouragement.
Something I strive for as a parent as well.

Green Wrapping

I found this great wrapping idea over at How Does She.com and it is the best present wrapping advice--EVER! Make reusable fabric bags! Great for Santa gifts, family, teacher, odd shaped gifts, really anything. It could be wonderful for wedding or birthday gifts as well!

Candy Coated Christmas...for Kids

 Chris at Celebrations at Home always has the most amazing party ideas posted on her blog-everyday!

 This is an amazing party she hosted for her kids and their friends.

Please go a check out all of the details here.

A Lost Art: Making Candy Canes at Disneyland

Custom Mini Christmas Trees

I am loving these custom mini trees that are sprouting up everywhere. At Tatertots and Jello, she made her trees with fabric and wooden finials.

Karin at Creative Chaos made these gorgeous crepe paper and glittered trees.
You can really get creative with these and have them match any decor. Of course, they would make  lovely gifts.

Sound of Music Birthday Party

I can hardly stand how adorable this Sound of Music 3rd birthday party is! Find more info about it here

Let it Snow!

I found an adorable snowman party on Catch My Party!

Grinch Advent Calender

I am in love with this Grinch Advent calender! Everyday includes a gift and a page of the story and the Grinch doll keeps track of the day. Find instructions to make your own here.

Vintage-inspired Ice Skating Party

This last weekend, I hosted an ice skating party for my daughter's 10th birthday at a local ice rink. We had the party room for only 45 minutes before it was time to lace up our skates.

I hung snowflakes from the ceiling and had pink carnations in vintage milk glass vases. At each placesetting each girl received a new pair of gloves and some lip balm. On the chairs themselves were earmuffs I had made and the chair sashes doubles as scarves for the girls to wear.

I cut out the snowflakes with my Cricut machine after using Ultra Heat n Bond on the fabric. I then ironed the snowflake onto the scarf and added sequins for a vintage touch.

The cupcakes are from Kupcake Kitchen and I placed them in Instant Snow which was another favor for the guests.

I bought the crown on Etsy from Tattered Tique.

Here is the birthday girl applying her lip balm.

I bought pink milk glass mugs on ebay to have our hot chocolate in. The snowflake lollipops are from the Dollar Tree.

I made a carnation wreath to hang on the party room door with 8 dozen pink carnations. I really wish the door wasn't painted bright gold!

After the guests stuffed polar bears with skating outfits and had lunch, we headed downstairs to our own private ice rink to have a lesson. Everyone skated for an hour and then we were able to enjoy our hot chocolate.

I really love the way the earmuffs turned out :)

Happy Birthday sweet Sheridan!

BTW- she already decided on her next 3 birthday party themes the other day.

I love that she is such a planner!

More Mad Hatter Pictures- Client Party

Here are a few more pictures from the Mad Hatter party that I hosted in October.

Thanks again Jennifer! I hope to work with you again soon!

Mad Hatter party-Client Spotlight

Here are some images from a client's party that I did last month. I love when a client expands on my decor. Such an amazing party!

All of the printables were from Anders Ruff. You can see more pictures of the party on her blog here.
Please visit my party website, Party Wishes, for more party information.

Science Party

I found this adorable science party over at Sara's Party Perfect.

Wizard of Oz Chic

I found this amazing Wizard of Oz party on the Amy Atlas blog.

It was hosted my the amazing Kate Landers with help from talented Kim at TomKat Studios.

Check out more pictures here.

Marathon (Wo)man

On Sunday, our city hosted it's 6th annual marathon/half marathon and 5K. My daughter's elementary school was chosen to participate in a program which allowed them to run 25 miles on their own for 5 weeks and then run the last 1.2 miles of the marathon on race day.

I thought this would be a great oppotunity for Sheridan and I to do some training together. I went on Weight Watchers (online) and lost 10 lbs. in 3 weeks so I was off to a great start but then we had Fall break at Disneyland and then it rained most of October and...well, I didn't train much is what I am getting at.

Thank goodness for daylight savings ending so I could have that extra hour of non-existent sleep I had the night before. I arrived at the start of the marathon and 5K at 6:30 am and slowly warmed up. It was a beautiful day- sun was shining and the morning was cool but not cold. I loved walking through my city that I have lived in for the past 43 years. My hubby took Sheridan later because her part of the race didn't start until 8:00. I told my hubby that I would be done before her and would meet everyone at the finish line.

For some reason, my dear husband of 16 years didn't believe I could finish in under an hour. Well, I showed him! My official time was 49.39 and I was at the finish before Sheridan and hubby. HA!

I didn't run any of it, just walked. I thought it was a pretty good time for no training. Our family is signing up for the Disneyland 5K in September. I have even inspired my hubby to join us. The picture above is of Sheridan and her teacher. It was so great to see so many teachers and students participating together. Sheridan's school even sponsors Fit Team on Fridays where teachers and students are encouraged to run at lunch time. Dana at The Stone Rabbit was the one who inspired me to do this and I hope I have inspired you as well.