Happy Owl-O-Ween

Sweet Owl-O-Ween party for a little girl, Madison. Michelle from Maddy Cakes came up with this darling owl themed Halloween party for her daughter.

Michelle says, "Chocolate dipped pretzels are really easy to do. I found this great basket at Saver's ~local thrift store. I always check out the great deals at local thrift stores. You can find such amazing and inexpensive items you can use for your entertaining and parties.

I simply typed the names of food onto cardstock then used a lighter to burn the edges and completed by stamping owls and branches. I used the pine cones to hold food labels keeping with the whole "woodland" theme." More photos at MaddyCakes

Alice in Wonderland Tea Party Sign

Southern California is a place I love - having lived there for many years. Three years ago we moved to Nor Cal (and we're really liking it). In March, my husband had a business trip to Pasadena and I went with him. You can't visit So Cal and not visit the favorite places you use to shop at. So I called my dear friend Donna - she drove to Pasadena and picked me up and we went to our favorite haunts in LA. These aren't just places I went to and loved, these are stores I shopped and "window shopped" at regularly. Downtown LA is bargain shoppers paradise, but it's also known for being rundown and grimy.
About seven years ago I started a party company - Party Wishes. Donna and I became friends when she was one of my party customers. When we found out we were moving, I sold her my party company - she was the perfect party gal!
So, here we were in one of our favorite stores on the lookout for "Alice in Wonderland” items for a party she was planning. We went up and down the store aisles - I happened to look up and at the very, very top of the shelves were these enormous stacked teacups. Bingo! They were perfect - it made her day and mine as well. I couldn't wait to see what she was going to do with the teacups (originally they were white). As you can see - she is quite the talent.

Donna made this adorable wood tea party sign (purchase thin plywood at any local hardware store - draw your shape and cut out with a jigsaw). Her instructions for getting the lettering just right: "You don't have to be a trained artist to get a custom painted look. I'm making signs for my Mad Hatter Tea party and I thought I would pass along my technique for custom signs.
First, I pick a font on my computer and print it out. Sometimes I have to enlarge it on my copier machine to get the right size I need.
I turn the copy over and hold it on a window (must be done during the day) to see the lettering and I use a #2 pencil and trace the letters and fill them in with a lot of graphite. I do realize that I can use graphite paper or a light box, but this is cheaper.Then, I flip the paper over to the right side and tape it on my already painted sign.
Next, I trace over the lettering again so the pressure from the pencil transfers the markings on the back of the paper onto my wood. Instead of using a paint brush, I use a paint pen. It is a lot easier to control and it's like outlining and coloring when you were a child."


Thanks for being my friend Donna and continuing the stellar tradition of Party Wishes! If you live in So Cal and need to hire a party planner or would like to see some fabulous ideas, check out her Party Wishes blog!

Milk & Cookies Party & Baby Shower

Dianne V. is an event coordinator who created this adorable party for her two-year old daughter. Centerpieces were jars of chocolate, oatmeal, and sugar cookies! Surrounding each jar were photo boxes made of assorted pictures of the birthday girl’s first year of life. The perfect backdrop behind the cake table is of the birthday girl. Dianne made this custom tiled image for the party.
The party colors were brown, yellow and white with polka dot decor. Individual sized milk (whole and chocolate) and brown bags of cookies were given to guests as favors. More photos can be seen on her blog Color Blind Productions.

Here's another adorable Milk & Cookies Party:
Brit from Most Likely Late came up with this clever milk and cookie baby shower. Brit calls it "Milk and Cookies for the Prego" - loving that:) The labels made for the cookie jars were brown with white writing. Assorted brown and white papers were used inside the cookie jars.
Brit's tip: "Make the cookies in advance. Each cookie jar contains about 5-7 dozen cookies, so call in for reinforcements. There were plenty of helpers on this one, I just sent out recipes of the cookies I wanted to display and we each made a couple. We all used the same size ice cream scoop so they were all about the same size."

Milk jugs with various milks...

Favor bags were brown with a cute tag - guests could fill up their bags with cookies!

Invitation made by Elisa York. These gals are all quite the talent:)

Homemade Cookie Buffet image from here.

Anchor Hocking 1-Gallon Heritage Hill Jar with Glass Lid

Ocean "ONE"derland Birthday Party

It's Party Week at Design Dazzle!
Here's todays party:

Ocean "ONE" derland

I linked to Jennifer Gesch's blog through one of her comments posted on my blog and came across this adorable first year birthday party she created for her son. Isn't this ocean party the cutest? A whale or under-the-sea theme is perfect for a one year olds birthday party. Beach pails and shovels with goodies inside were the fun favors the kids took home. Each bucket had a tag that said, "I hope that you had a Whale of a Time!" The pod of blue whale decorations was made using Terra cotta pots, chenille sticks, wiggly eyes, foam, blue paint and a hot glue gun! Clever, clever! Here's the scoop from Jennifer:

"Each "whale cone" held Crunch 'n Munch that guests could carry around and snack on." Everyday Celebrating posted a tutorial on how to make popcorn cones.

"One of my favorite decorations from the party was the time line that I made using ribbon, scrapbook paper and glitter sea creature shapes that I found at JoAnn Fabric back in January. The time line showcases pictures from birth, 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 8 months, 10 months and 1 year."

Jennifer designed the whale invitations - loving the wording of the invite.

Time capsule idea:
Jennifer asked guests to bring items to be placed in a time capsule that represent 2009 (the year of his first birthday). The time capsule will be opened on her sons 18th birthday. Love, love, love it! Thanks so much - Jennifer! Check out her blog for more ocean "ONE"derland party photos.

More under-the-sea party ideas:

Shark favors - photo from here.

Slide N'Splash Whale Pool

Shark Ring Toss

Intex Whale Ride-On

Have a pool? Or do you need a conversation piece (large whale) for your under-the-sea buffet table?

image from here.

Need a cute photo op? How about an under-the-sea submarine?

Under-the-Sea shark cupcakes - photo from here.

Under-the-Sea Cake - photo from here.

It's Party Week at Design Dazzle!

image from here.

image from here.

This week we're having a big party at Design Dazzle and don't worry -- you're all invited!! Everyday we'll be posting darling and fun party ideas to share with all of you! We've got some darn cute kids birthday parties, baby showers and some creative ideas for making celebrations special. It's double duty week - we will still be posting our fabulous design and decorating ideas for babies, kids and teens. Today's Party: Puppy Party A puppy party theme is a perfect party for a combined boy/girl party. Depending on the ages of your child depends a lot on if they want to invite the opposite sex to their birthday party. What I found is in their early years they want all their friends invited. Late elementary school years they decide they don't want the opposite sex at their birthday party; then in the middle school/high school years they decide they want them back again:) Of course, every child is different:) This is a great theme for a first birthday "paw"ty. Check into hiring an agency that will bring puppies to your party (kind of like a petting zoo but with puppies). Most children adore puppies – you'll be sure to hear lots of oohhs and aahhs! Puppy Party Table Decor: I purchased stainless dog bowls from the dollar store - great for serving ice cream and cake! Dog bone cups are a must for a puppy party; when will you ever get to use bone cups at a party? Dog Invitations are very important - they set the mood for a party! We all know that first impressions can make or break you - the same goes with an invitation. It's the first thing someone sees when invited to a party, so it's important to make the invitations as nice as possible. I made this invitation at home with striped card stock and a computer. Use a word program to insert puppy dog clip art onto a blank document. Type the wording and party details into the text box above the graphic and print.

Cake and cupcakes from here.

Puppy Party Theme - Food/Cake: If possible, have your cake or cupcakes match your party decor. Fun food to serve is a "dog bone" sandwich - cutout peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with a dog bone shaped cookie cutter (purchased at wal-mart or craft store).

Dog Party Games: Put the Dog in the Dog House Game: This game is a take-off on "pin the tail on the donkey" and was made with clip art and printed at Kinko's on a 3'x 2' vinyl. I purchased little card stock puppies (scrapbook store) and laminated them with clear contact paper. The kids loved this game! Dog Trainer Says is another party game and is a variation of "Simon Says". Play this game like “Simon Says” and have the kids do dog tricks like: Sit, Stay, Rollover, Jump, Growl, Hide, Back-up, Play Dead, Bark, Turn around, etc.

More puppy party ideas for kids:

Face painting is always fun for little kids. Whimsy-girl constructed a dog house out of a cardboard box - so cute with the roof shingles! She also passed out sugar cookies (dog bone shaped) for the adult guests. More photos here.

Invitation from Design Editor.

Design Editor - "On the invitation: Guests were asked to "Join us for puppy chow and a howlin' good time!" The who, what, when, where turned into Come! Stay! Rollover! and best of all, "ARF" RSVP.

Directions to make easy dalmation dog ears hat.

Print your own puppy origami for free.



 Instructions on how to make these cute puppy cake pops here. 

                                

  Cute dog bones/bowl favors       Party Pups Party Pack Kit        Party Pups Invitation 





                            

  Dog Bone 20" Pinata                   Dog Bone Crayons               Puppy Headband Party Supplies



                                  

  Paw Print Balloons                     Dog Bone Cookie Cutter          THE DOG Empty Favor Boxes