Leap Year Birthday Celebration

I just finished a party for a lady who is truly one of my favorite clients.  She is wonderful in every way!  She is stylish and loves pretty things but she is also decisive and makes quick decisions which makes my job so much easier!

The calligraphy on the place cards was done in the mitty script by Nicole Black, otherwise known as The Left Handed Calligrapher.  She is wonderful!  She also wrote out a few facts about leap years that we put in a frame by the front door.

One clever guest brought her a hula hoop as a gift!  Perfect for a "13" year old!

Her birthday celebration was so special.  She was born on Feb 29th and only has a birthday every four years so we helped her pull together a 13th birthday celebration on this leap year!  She requested a leaping animal so we commissioned the amazing Bernard Maisner to create a beautiful frog for her.  Bernard put the frog on place cards and on guest cards that each guest filled out and placed in a beautiful mercury glass dish.  The tops of the cards had "My wish for Paula's next big leap is..." and the guests filled out the rest!  Bernard printed the cards in grey and we had purple pens for the guests to write in. 

We took simple white hemstitch napkins to the monogram shop and had both the number 13 and the birthday girl's monogram, designed by Rhonda Warren of Color Box Designs, embroidered on them in a light silvery grey.  They were so pretty and she can use them for years to come....well, maybe not the 13!

The dinner was held at Lucia, an intimate restaurant that is very special to the birthday girl and her charming husband.  The tables and chairs are all a bit different and they space is tight so we had to be a bit careful not to overwhelm with flowers!  We chose various shades of purples as the birthday girl's birthday stone is amethyst.  Debby Jewesson of Branching Out did an amazing job of adding just the perfect touch of sparkle with mercury glass containers and votive holders.

Gorgeous red velvet cakes were brought in from RUSH Patisserie.  Debby provided the flowers and RUSH added them to the top the delicious cakes!  The birthday girl had 13 candles in hers!

 

The wonderful photographer, Jason Wynn, snapped photos of each of the guests with the birthday girl as they arrived and then ran out and had them printed while the guests were eating.  By the time they were ready to leave, Jason and I had them framed and ready for them to take home.  The frames were engraved with Leap Year 2012 on the bottom right.

All photos by Jason Wynn.

Special thanks to Mary Wright-Shah!

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. 

Astrtonaut Party

I didn't anticipate that I would enjoy planning children's parties so much.  It is such a fun extension of the  event planning that I had been doing for so long.  You can not imagine how discouraged I felt after JR cried throughout his first birthday party!  We skipped the second birthday party but I was thrilled when he requested a third birthday party!  He originally wanted a Horse-Frog-Firetruck theme for his celebration.  I wasn't quite sure how I was going to pull that off with style so I took advantage of a moment when he was dressed in his favorite astronaut costume and suggested that we use that theme.  He was thrilled and the party was fun.  I hope you enjoy the photos!

Stickers from Anders Ruff were put at the door for the kids to wear.  I was originally going to use them on toothpicks to stick into cupcakes but we ended up doing solar system cakes instead.  Every kid loves a sticker so it was fun to greet them with these!

Pizzas from SuperFly Pies were a hit!  Owner Nathan Burke created nine fantastic flavors each based on a planet!  Anders Ruff created these fantastic tent cards so that our guests would know what they about to dine on.

Here is Nathan at his amazing portable wood burning Pizza Oven!

JR's sweet friend Sophia enjoying a sip from her space shuttle sippy cup.

Nine Cakes from Society Bakery represented each planet in the solar system.

Junior from the Garden Gate made three fantastic alien head centerpieces from flowers!  Isn't that amazing!  We framed them with a circle of "Moon Rocks" which are just marble chips from Pavestone!

I got a kick out of serving (and attempting to explain) Astronaut Ice Cream!

Personalized Napkins are a simple way to make a big impact.  We sell them at RSVP!  To order please call Carolyn at 972-404-7146.

Buzz Aldrin sent our little JR this autographed photograph when he was born.  It says  "Welcome to This World."  Isn't is neat to have grandparents with such a cool friend!

This is JR dressed up in an exact replica of the suits worn by Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong when they landed on the moon.  

These personalized cups had a spacey neon glow.

Our space station was made up of tents and inflatables

Luggage tags (for their future trips to the moon) from Anders Ruff and bags of orange and blue popcorn from I Love Popcorn were the party favors.