Tuesday, May 25, 2010

{Featured Parties} 40 and Fabulous - How to throw a party while traveling



"How to throw a party while traveling"

Cocktails in Charleston!

I dedicate this entry to my dear… dear friend….well best friend, Cindy G.
Cindy (a.k.a. Spendy), recently turned the big 4-0! My other girlfriends and I brainstormed together for months on what to get the person who truly has everything!

So we decided that presenting her with a “Memory” was ever-lasting…. verses a traditional store purchased gift.

Being that I live in the south now, what better place to wine & dine our fabulous friend, but in Charleston, SC. (the second best city in the country… NYC being the first!)

My girlfriend Jaci, found the most incredible hotel: Restoration on King
A charming little boutique hotel, that was essentially a furnished apartment, hand-picked and delivered, straight out of Manhattan.
{If any of you readers ever have a chance to splurge on a hotel… this is the one!}
http://www.restorationonking.com/

It was perfect. Cindy was turning “40 AND FABULOUS”… and our trip itinerary went a little something like this:

Day 1 – A night of surprises

1. Surprise Cindy by not telling her the hotel
2. Send Cindy for a drink at a local bar upon arrival so we could set up before she entered the room
3. Set up Decorations, Music, Italian Tapas & Spirits
4. Invite her back for an intimate dinner party in our Charleston Apartment
5. Eat, Drink & Be Merry… then onto the Charleston nightlife!
6. Transportation: RICKSHAWS … seriously fun!
(That night, our favorite spot we randomly found… Halls Chophouse – both owners were there, they were so much fun and their customer service was impeccable!)
http://hallschophouse.com/

The night was perfect… but we had a Day 2 since that was Cindy’s actual birthday.

Day 2 – A day of Cindy

1. We woke up to the hotel’s continental breakfast (custom ordered by us), delivered in a picnic basket at our door.
2. We told Cindy that our actual present was to wine & dine her ALL DAY…. We would do whatever SHE WANTED and pay for all meals & drinks.
3. Shopping on King Street prevailed
4. Stopping for lunch at a rooftop bar drinking margaritas in the sun was next
5. Going back to the apartment for showers came later
6. Arriving at our last surprise (Cypress) for an elegant dinner was at 8pm (best oysters EVER)
http://www.magnolias-blossom-cypress.com/
7. Eat, Drink & Be Merry
8. And onto more Charleston nightlife!

Day 3 – checkout day
(included: packing, going to lunch, walking along Bay Street/Battery park and our farewells)

I hope all of you have a chance in life to experience love, laughter & friendships the way I did for Cindy’s 40 AND FABULOUS birthday celebration.
Here’s a glimpse of our great memories… Enjoy!



Inside our apartment (hotel)... I made a personalized banner that said "40 & Fabulous" with funny photos of Cindy wearing "40 glasses" from my husband's 40th birthday last year... (I knew those photos would come in handy)


I cut out patterned cardstock squares, and then printed the letters/photos separately, (cut them into circles) and taped them to the squares. I punched holes through the squares and strung them together with twine.

Next we set up the "Goody Bar" that included the following:

Lollipop plants; Popcorn Cones; Organic Chocolate Cookies; Organice Chocolate Truffles & Chocolate Pearls; Organic Cupcakes (our only travel casualty... the cupcakes got crushed in the car, so the icing was a wreck!); Wine, wine & more wine; Champagne Toast (we even brought in our own champagne glasses that Cindy had given us as New Year's Eve presents)


Last - we set up the Italian Tapas which included:

Various meats & specialty cheeses; fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries, blackberries); grapes; fresh carrot & celery sticks; olives; nuts; crackers; flat breads; fresh pesto sauces (classic basil, red pepper, calamata olive); fresh guacomole; various pasta noodles (gnocci, ravioli, spiral) and freshly baked mini-lasagnas


I made food labels to stick in all the "important" food items...


The guest of honor arrived:


In the following order: Jaci, Erin G, Me (Adria), Cindy (and this was the best one out of several shots... someone is always doing something crazy!)

What we do best: Drinking... talking.... laughing


So here are some close-ups of the party details:

I packaged cookies in clear bags, cut out printed cardstock, stapled it on, printed out party logos and attached them with ribbon & tape


This was the Lollipop Plant: In lieu of fresh flowers, I stuck lollipops in a small pot (put lolliwrappers on the lollipops), and wrapped the pot in vintage McCall's pattern paper with a ribbon - Cindy is an amazing seamstress... that's why I used pattern paper instead of tissue paper.





Popcorn Cones adorned with custom party logos:


This entailed making cones out of patterned cardstock paper (hot-gluing them sealed shut), printing out the party logos and sticking them on with ribbon and tape. Then I took a green foam rectangle (what florists use), wrapped it in the McCall's pattern paper and stuck little holes in the foam to hold the cones.

Packaged Chocolate Truffles & Chocolate Pearls adorned with party logos


Since these bags were smaller, I just used pattern cardstock and a logo to package them... I didn't want to take aways from the scrumptious yummies inside!

Party Logos used for finger food toothpicks:

Cupcake toppers put on toothpicks


Want to throw a fabulous party for someone special?
Contact us for:
cutomized party logos, cupcake toppers, toothpick logos, popcorn cone logos and banners...
Make your party a night to remember!

Share/Bookmark

Thursday, May 20, 2010

{Straight From The Studio} New DIY party packages on our site!





We have had a great response to our "Do it yourself party packages" that we introduced to our shop.

We have the two train packages, a circus/carnival package, sports package, bee day package and now, Alice in Wonderland package.

Check them out! A very economical way to do a fully coordinating party!

A fully customized Train Package includes everything you need to coordinate a fabulous choo-choo party. That includes fully customized items -invitation, thank you note, water bottle wrap, napkin/partyware wrap, party logo, 4 cupcake toppers, address label and favor tag!




On an even tighter budget? We have a DIY Train Package without customization. Still a great option!


Then, we have the sports themed package:



This one has my heart bee-cause I spent hours planning "Pierson's First Bee Day" last year. This fully custom "bee" day package was inspired by that party:



My favorite set, the circus set (I am bound and determined to have a circus party for my boys one year!) We had an amazing client send us her photos from her event. She did everything custom, though!


and the awesome new Alice and Wonderland DIY package!


We hope you enjoy!

I would LOVE to hear from you about what packages you would like see us offer!

Share/Bookmark

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

{Press on Anders Ruff} Featured on Lady and The Blog!


We are so excited to be featured on Lady and The Blog!
She shared some of our designs that she liked with her blog readers and featured us as the "Etsy Product of the Week"!

Check out her blog! She has some fun posts!

Thanks, Lady and the Blog! I love your site!




Share/Bookmark

Monday, May 10, 2010

{Featured Clients} Under The Big Top Circus Party - The real deal

I did a preview for this post a couple days ago. Here is the full post / the real deal. So excited to share!

Tricia, a fabulous wedding planner from California, has been wonderful to work with on her daughter's circus themed 3rd birthday party! She sent us a few pictures to share as a preview. Many more to come! She did an outstanding job with her daughter's party.

Tricia started with the new circus invitation that we have our our etsy site. Then, her ideas just kept coming for more coordinating items!




She even had us create custom personalized address labels for her invitation envelopes.

I am so excited to share her photos!
This is her invitation (names, etc smudged out):

Here is how she displayed it at the party - so cute!


Here is the entrance to her party. We designed a party logo which she used for signage in lots of places. We did several versions of the logo and used them for signs for "petting farm", "arts and crafts" and "photo booth".


And look at the decorations!! It looks like you are under the big top with the streamers!

Adorable tables and I am in love with the party hats!





Her banner looked adorable! We just added custom banner products to our etsy shop - we can create pennant (seen below) or circular or any shape you prefer!


Check out how the adorable water bottle wraps turned out!
We designed so many logos for Tricia - one of them being for the popcorn boxes (HOW ADORABLE are those boxes?!)
I love these!

Everyone LOVES cotton candy and what is a circus party w/o some of the yummy confection!? Check out how cute she displayed them! Another party logo sticker on the front, of course, designed from our etsy shop!




Here was her arts and crafts station at the party.

Look how adorable her cake was!

How cute are her favors!? She added a label around the bubbles (similar to the water bottle wrap) - it said "got bubbles" and we put a photo of her daughter on it) She then wrapped it with a cello bag and tied it all cute with coordinating red/white striped ribbon. Of course her party logo sticker is on the outside too - it said "Thank you for coming to sophia's 3rd birthday circus!"

Now you can see why Tricia is a wedding/party planner!? All the details were fantastic!

Share/Bookmark

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails