Digital Bespoke from bell'Invito - Discount Code for Ya!

What a treat!  If you follow me on Instagram, you saw a sneak peek at a charming breakfast event I attended last week for the launch of bell'Invito's Digital Bespoke Line.  It was gorgeous - gold and pink everywhere!  

 Here is where you luck out!  The fabulous team at bell'Invito wants you to order from their new site so they are offering a discount code for my readers.  yay!  I'm always thrilled to pass on a discount!

Here ya go - Use PromoCode  KIMBERLYWHITMANDB for 10% off any personalized Digital Bespoke Item until 10/31/2014. Enjoy!

Today Show Tailgate Recipes

Did you catch me on The Today Show this morning?  I had a great time with Hoda, Kathie Lee and, our surprise football legend, Frank Gifford!  It was a blast!

Click here for the recipes we shared on the show.

Click here for details on the tailgating fashions.

Click here for a link to the Astroturf invitations.

 Happy Tailgating everyone!

Party: Leather and Lace Lingerie Shower

I had more fun planning my sister's lingerie shower!  It was such a blast!  I hosted it with our younger sister, Krystal, and two other close friends.  It was a girly Leather and Lace party that was so much fun!

Leather and Lace Invitations from HBDesigns set the tone for our pink and black evening. 

The Bride has always resembled a Barbie Doll so I couldn't resist having these Leather and Lace Barbie Cakes made!

Lycheetinis, the Bride to be's favorite drink, were served.

The napkins and flatware were tied up with black leather and pink satin ribbons.

Of course, we had to serve whoopie pies!

This outdoor seating area in our hostesses home was a popular spot!

Clear acrylic frames were lined with lace and used as serving trays for the passed food. 

invitation etiquette

I am crazy about this Guide to Baby Invitations by Tiny Prints !  Check it out for etiquette and advice on any Baby event invitation from a baptism to a baby shower.

Postage with the Mostage!

You put a lot of thought in to the invitations and notes that you send out so why not put a personalized spin on your postage too! Check out Zazzle and order some personalized stamps of your own. You can add an image of your guest of honor, your pet, your children or maybe even give your guests a sneak peek at the flowers that they might enjoy at your special event. You could also add a logo or monogram! Simply go on line and follow the three simple steps.

Holiday Party Etiquette

Chances are you mail box will be filling up with invitations to holiday festivities and office parties soon! Here are a few of the things I learned from Etiquette and Protocol Expert Colleen Rickenbacher at our Feather Your Nest Luncheon last week!

-Always reply to an invitation with in three days of receiving it!

-Arriving fashionably late has gone out of fashion!  Never arrive right on time but try to enter a party about five to fifteen minutes after the starting time.

-Obey the 45 minute rule for cocktail parties.  Be sure that you appear for at least 45 minutes at a two hour party.  It is perfectly fine to "party hop" but make sure you spend enough time at each event.

-It is a known fact that most guests at a party first hit the bar, then the buffet, then their own friends.  Make a rule that you will always greet your host before you go anywhere else.

-Always carry your glass in your left hand so that you can shake hands with the new people you meet!

On line invitations has gone to a new level!

I am often asked how I feel about emailing invitations.  I actually have such a passion for paper that I prefer snail mail but I completely understand that email is often the way to go these days!  One of the things that makes me happy about on-line invitations are the great design elements that can be found from websites like PaperlessPost.com and CoCoDot.com.    I love the new Halloween designs at CoCoDot!  They are so adorable and you will have plenty of time to get something sent out for a trick or treat night!
CoCoDot is a lot like Evite but it is ad-free and has 1000's of fantastic designs.  You can add your own music, edit fonts and colors, upload photos and logos and track and manage your replies.  You can even send it out via Facebook!  The monthly memberships start at $4.95.
But if you are like me and you still want to send something via the postman, CoCoDot's chic designs can be printed on eco-friendly papers with non-toxic inks!

Inspiration Board: Chickadee Sip and See

I love nothing more than when a friend has a new baby.  Is there any greater joy in the world?  I always want to rush to meet the baby and welcome it to the world but I also worry that I will be intruding on a very tired new mother!  Although we loved having well wishing visitors when our son was born, I often felt like we had a revolving door.  It wasn't easy for me to recover or to get our new born on a healthy sleep schedule.  That is why the Sip & See party is so clever!  Ladies in the south have been doing them for generations but my friends from up north seem to latch on to the idea when they hear about it!

Here are my ideas for the perfect Sip & See:

I think this chubby chick invitation is perfect for our party.  It even has corresponding Thank You Note cards that you can order at the same time!  If you are hosting for a friend, order her the Thank you Note suite when you order the invitations as a gift.

Of course, no Chickadee Sip & See would be complete with out a few Chenille Easter Chickies!  Set them on orange cupcakes or arrange them across your mantle!

Use yellow and orange Gerbera Daisies simply by cutting off the stems and placing them face up in small round dishes.  So simple and so dramatic! Check out FiftyFlowers.com to order!

A Sip & See Party should last for two to four hours and be scheduled around the baby's sleep schedule.  Typically, afternoon Champagne Teas are the best format. Setting up a small buffet of tea sandwiches and cupcakes is the perfect!   Check out What's New Cupcake? by Karen Tack and Alan Richardson for fun and fantastic recipies and ideas!

Also set up a drink station so that your guests may help themselves to Coffee, Tea, Champagne, Lemonade, Iced Tea and all of the condiments.  I love this Colin Cowie Flavor-Infusing 20-Cup Glass Beverage Server from HSN!  It holds enough of your drink of choice for 20 guests!  

A few more simple tips:

Set up a handwashing station or keep a bottle of anti-bacterial lotion near the baby.

Have a photographer take photos of your guests with your bambino.

Leave a guest book or small squares of paper out for the guests to write messages to the baby on the way out the door, after they have Sipped and Seen!

Fabritations!

I love invitations and stationery! I am actually a little bit obsessed with it!  When I saw what my dear friend from my SMU days had created in her invitation and stationery line, I thought I had died and gone to heaven!  Heather Centurioni has truly come up with something unique and that is not an easy thing to do anymore!

Her amazing creations for HBDesigns are a fantastic combination of fashion and paper trends!  They are sure to get the attention of their recipients with their fabric covered backs and clever printing on the front.  

Here are a few of my favorites:

LET'S TEE OFF was created for a wedding weekend Golf Tournament.  It is covered in Astroturf and has a golf ball (well....half of a golf ball!) on it.  The white card attached is printed in green ink and a yellow tee is attached.  It was mailed out in a clear top box.

DOT DOT DOT is a fantastic and fun polka dot fabric covered card that could be used for so many things!  It is perfect for social stationery or thank you notes, birth announcements, holiday cards and invitations!  

All of the cards can be personalized too!  I love how Heather personalized her daughter, Sophia's, Thank You Note Cards with "S is for Sophia, T is for Thanks."  Adorable!

Check out HBDesigns website and sign up and she will send you a coupon!  

RSVP

I received a "plea" from a Facebook comment after I posted my segment from last week about Thank You Notes that I discuss the issue of replying for a party. I will say that we have all lost sight of how important a reply to a party is! It helps the host or hostess know how many guests to expect and therefore, how much they should spend on their event! If they don't know how many people are attending, they can not guess at how much food and drink they need to buy.

RSVP is an acronym for the French phrase "respondez s'il vous plait." That translates to please reply.

If you receive an invitation you should reply as soon as possible. This could mean the day you get the invitation or a few days later. I always try to reply right away but sometimes it takes me a few days to co-ordinate with my husband, Justin's, schedule.

Some invitations provide a phone number or email to reply to. Others include a card that should be filled out and mailed back in. If you are sending out an invitation and you are using a reply card, you should provide a pre-addressed stamped envelope for your guests convenience.

Many evite and Paperless Post invitations can be replied to simply by clicking the appropriate box! Many of our hosts have made it as easy as possible to reply and we still don't want to commit.

When you reply to a party you must follow through. In other words, don't reply no and then show up and don't reply yes and then skip out. Justin and I accidentally did this one time for a seated dinner and I am still so embarrassed! (Sorry Kristi and Tom!!!) All of the sudden we got a flood of emails from friends asking if we were alright and where we were! It was awful! I called the hostess as soon as I realized what I had done and tried to make a dinner date with her and her hubby so that we could celebrate the occasion with them. I still owe them that dinner!

If you get a formal wedding invitation in the mail and it does not have a reply card in it then you are expected to send a note to the return address on the invitation accepting or declining the invitation.

The Paperless Post

I am often asked how I feel about email invitations, notes, etc. I wish I had a clear answer! I still have a great passion for paper and love snail mail but I also understand that, in today's world, email rules! I do insist that Thank You Notes should be written by hand on pretty stationery or cards but I often send out invitations via email.

I discovered a fantastic way to combine traditional beautiful papers and email with the Paperless Post! It is so great! You can choose your paper and envelope, lay out your invitation and even select an envelope liner. The designs are so elegant and draw their inspiration from some of my favorite stationeirs such as Smythson and Wren Press. When your guests receive the email, they click on a link that takes them to a page with an envelope on it! They click on the envelope to open their mail and an invitation comes out. It is the closest thing I can think of to that fantastic experience of opening an actual piece of mail! I love it! It is about $5 for 60 letters and you are charged in "stamps." Check it out today!

Halloween Invitation Ideas

Can you believe that it is time to start planning for your Halloween party! Here are a few ideas that will scare the costumes off of your pals:

1. Evite has adorable options for Trick or Treating parties this year. Evite is a simple and quick alternative to a printed invitation. It is more festive than sending a regular email and but less exciting than an invitation sent by snail mail.

2. For the "digital-do-it-yourselfers" out there, check out Martha Stewart's Pumpkin-top invitations. I love how professional the invitations look but they do take a bit of time to print out and assemble.

Another elegant alternative it the Light up the Night invitation from Michaels.

3. For my crafty friends, I recommend putting together something a bit more daunting. A simple black or white gift box with black filler is the perfect container to deliver these gruesome fake fingers to your friends. I found these on Amazon.com and think that they are perfectly gross! Affix a label with all of the event details to the inside of the lid of the box and another label to the outside with the recipients name on it. This invitation will really work best if you can hand deliver it. I know it sounds like a lot of effort but it will certainly make an impact and set the tone for a bewitching evening.

Don't forget to spell out the invitation in a spooky style. Try to incorporate words like haunting, bewitching, goulish, spook-tacular, and harrowing. Here are few examples of verbiage ideas for your invitation:

Calling all Ghosts and Goblins and Witches

Please join the Whitmans for some Halloween mishief.

Are you looking forward to an evening of fright?

Then please come and join us on Halloween Night.

and instead of asking for a simple RSVP, you should write:

We are dying to hear from you....please reply.

Do You Know Where You Are Going?

I ask my husband this question every single time we get in the car to go to a party.  Of course this is after he has pulled out of the driveway and started heading down any street he feels like going down.  His answer is usually "no!"  Needless to say, a map would really be helpful!  Of course we all have access to great driving directions on the Internet but I love the idea of including something charming and informative in an invitation.  Check out these adorable maps by Merry Maps!  They are the perfect solution for your parties.  You could go ahead and have some designed for your home and include them in all of your invitations or you could wait for a special occasion and have them designed specifically for your locations.  They would also make a great Save The Date card for a destination wedding.  If you have a second home that you often invite guests to, you should have Merry Maps make up a card for you that you can send out to all of your visitors.  All of the maps are hand drawn and are created based on your personal details and favorite places to dine, shop, and visit.  They can be drawn for any city or location around the world!  To order yours, contact Daley Harris at 214-202-0822 or daley@merrymaps.com

Superbowl Party Shuffle...

It is that time of year again!  Time to put away the fine china and pull out the popcorn bowls for your Superbowl party.  This is one occasion where an invitation by email is absolutely acceptable.   But if you must skip out on the snail mail for this one, at least make it cute!  Check out these options from Evite.