Simply Wine Tasting

Along with all the events I did for others in the month of May I also decided to host a wine tasting party for my Wine Club with a Reading Problem (aka book club)

I wanted it to be simple and elegant but not fussy. At first I thought that everyone could fit around my large farm table but quickly realized that it would be just to tight, so I used my 8 ft folding table as well. The only problem was that the table was narrower than my farm table and it doesn’t have a pretty wood top. Then I remembered that I still have burlap left over from the Hobbit’s Party I did early last year.

I wanted it to feel fresh so I used all white plates and had a white dump bucket, which I filled with white flowers.

I set the pairings of meats and cheeses out on long platters and used blue and white placemats for a makeshift table runner.

Every place setting had a plate, napkin, fork and knife, wine glass and water glass.

I had hired someone to come in with a selection of wine and teach us about them and although he fell short on personality and the wines were only “ok” we still had a wonderful time experiencing it together with LOTS of laughter afterwards!

Oh what fun it is to turn 30 and to have a PARTY!

Last week I had the honor of hosting my little sisters 30^th birthday party, along with my mom! The theme was Glam Karaoke and it sure was all that and more!

Balloons with the bottoms painted gold!

This party was the first one I have thrown in my new house and it was fun figuring out the layout that would work best.   I always start by cleaning my house 2 days before, moving the furniture the day before and then just spot cleaning before the decorations go up, this time I moved furniture a few times as I was trying to figure it out. BIG thanks to my son who helped me with the heavy lifting!

Oh wait! I forgot to mention that it was also a COSTUME party!! Everyone had to come dressed up as a musician!

This is (in orderleft to right) my brother-in-law, my dad, my hubby and a dear friend! They were AWESOME!

Here is a breakdown of the party details:

Event theme: Glam Karaoke

Event location: My house : )

Number of Guests: 30

Color scheme: Black, gold and silver

Food: Salsa Bar (YUM!)

Drinks: Water provided and BYOB

Dessert: Cupcakes made by yours truly!

Entertainment: A karaoke machine and a photo booth!

To start, my mom and I decided to have several salsas to choose from. My mom made two, my sisters Mother-In-Law made one (YUM!) and then we bought three more, which were chosen by a FB poll of my friends. My mom also got 10 bags of chips from a local restaurant.

I decorated the table with a black cloth, gold runner, gold napkins, silver plates and then a backdrop made from a giant balloon “30” and “stage” curtains in silver.

The cupcakes were laid out to be a big “30” on my round table draped with a black tablecloth and a “Happy Birthday” banner.

The karaoke room was my living room and I set up my projector and the equipment in front of my entertainment center. My mom had gathered pictures of my sister over the last 30 years and we taped them to the wall in a big “30”

Finally the photo booth was set up in the front room where I moved all the furniture, except for my piano, used metallic door curtains to hang on the wall. My sis and her hubby set up their laptop and camera and used a photo booth app to take the photos with.

For the photo booth props I was having a hard time finding gold and silver ones that I liked that were in our budget so I bought generic colorful ones from the local craft store and used glitter and Mod Podge to glam them up!

The event was BLAST and it was so great seeing everyone dress up!

Me and my hubby, aka Lenny and Katy (Super Bowl 2015)

Happy Birthday Sis!!! We love you!!

Schools out! Graduation Party

This past weekend was a busy one! I had two parties back to back and one I was the host for! This week I was blessed to host my sisters 30^th birthday party and coordinate a high school graduation party.

This recap is going to be of the graduation party : )

When I was first contacted by my client and friend Dani to help her out with her daughters graduation party I was super excited and had a million ideas but , as my company name suggests, I like to keep things simple keeping the theme in the details.

Here is a breakdown of what the event details:

Event theme: Graduation Party

Event location: graduate’s backyard

Number of Guests: 50

Color scheme: Green, black and silver

Food: Chips and sandwiches

Drinks: Water and lemonade

Dessert: The graduate’s favorite, Key Lime Pie!

We wanted to keep the cost as low as possible for this event so we made the sandwiches in house; a little morning assembly cut the cost by about $30. A few bags of chips and condiments were all that we needed to make a meal.

Since we live in AZ we needed to have plenty to drink and decided that lemonade and water would do the trick.

For dessert, I am a cake artist but the graduate does not like cake so she opted for pie instead. I will admit that I have never made a key lime pie and I didn’t want to learn now so I ordered the pies from a local diner.

The decorations were simple, I tied twine over the food table from column to column and used small clothes pins to attached photos of the grad over the years. All the guests enjoyed reminiscing.

I also added green and black balloons through out the party space to designate areas. I added a little silver paint to them to make them stand out ( I was going to say “pop” but we don’t want balloons to pop! Lol!)

The plates, napkins, cups and silverware were all color coordinated to the theme and I tied the napkins with thin black ribbon to resemble diplomas.

For the photo booth I went for a deconstructed look and used kraft paper and a big 2015 on the top framed by a couple of balloons. I was able to reuse photo booth props from my sisters party for it as well!

That’s pretty much it, simple and fun! All that’s left to say is “Congratulations!” to the graduate!

Bubble Guppies 2nd Birthday Party

We had so much fun planning this weekends Bubble Guppies themed 2^nd birthday party and all the guests and party girl seemed to enjoy it to!

Here is a recap of what items we did:

• Cake! We made the Bubble Puppy birthday cake!
• Plates, napkins, forks, cups and paper straws for 50
• Cake & Favor table setting
• Favors – which included bubble (of course) a lollipop and Bubble Guppies stickers for 20
• Balloons
• Beach ball activity
• Bubble Machine activity
• Gift “table” – its actually a blow up frog shaped kiddie pool!
• Set Up & Take Down

Take a look at some photos of the party and let us know what you think!

Octonauts! Simply Party Box

I just recently finished an Octonauts themed Simply Party Box! It was so much fun putting this bright orange and aqua box together!

This party box was for 20 children and 20 adults and included:

Octonauts “Happy Birthday” Banner

Aqua vinyl tablecloth with orange and white chevron table runner

Aqua and Orange plates, cups and paper straws for 40

Napkins and forks with Octonauts napkin rings

Aqua and Orange balloons

Party Favors that included bubbles, Play- Doh and a lollipop for 20

24 aqua and orange frosted cupcakes

Captain Barnacles single layer 8” round cake