Favorite Things / Hot Hula Baby Shower

This is well over due. There is this thing called Hot Hula Fitness. It's a work out routine, it involves dance, and movements of the Polynesian islands. If you haven't heard of it or tried it I suggest you DO. IT. NOW! haha (see video here). Anyways, I am instructor and one of my friends, Crystal, is as well. Actually all of us instructors here are really tight and came together to throw Crystal a baby shower.
The theme was "These are a few of my favorite things". We came up with a list of Crystal's top 10 food cravings (which have been chocolate and sweets), and ate them all with her (along with some other healthy stuff).

Some of her cravings... rice krispie treats, cocoa rice, nutella, candy, banana bread, cake, hot chocolate, chocolate chip cookes.... basically anything that has chocolate in it or any baked good. Oh, and sushi. ha!

The adorable cupcakes with a little hot hula baby!

 

They day also involved an impromptu Hot Hula session in the back yard. See those golfers in the distance..?.. upper left hand corner? 

Yeah, they are from Japan and gave us a round of applause afterward. haha!!

I'm happy to say that Crystal had a healthy baby girl (in her van on the way to the hospital!) and she is adorable. 

Flower-letts // table confetti

This just in!
Available in pretty much any color!
They are called 'flower-letts' and they make me happy.
It's a perfect touch of detail that will make your next party/event extra special.

Favor Pouches

I've been making these for a little while now, but only now decided to list them up to sell in the shop. They are the perfect size for a little treat for any party guest. AND perfect for Valentine treats. I just may be making them for my little 3 year old and her preschool friends.

I'll be adding different patterns soon- for baby showers, birthday favors, etc. So stay tuned. :)

Cotton Candy Lemonade

I saw this on the Today Show (with Kathy Lee and Hoda) this morning and loved it!

Basically, you put a handful of cotton candy in a glass and add unsweetened lemonade to it. YUM!

I tried looking it up but didn't have much success... errrr ran out of time....

But here is Sweet Paul Magazine's edition.

Coral, aqua and gray

 These three colors are in my head lately. 

I love the combo they make.

So fresh and happy.

via pins.

Cake Decorating Party

This would be a great party for a young teen... or even a grown adult 

(like me. I'd love this)

Make mini cakes for everyone and have plenty of piping and decorating ideas on hand. 

 

The Sweetest Occasion via Strawberry Chic

Paper straw garland

I love garlands. I love paper straws. So its fitting that I love this easy paper straw garland from Crossing the Bugger-Dixon Line.

Baby Rain Shower

These baby shower details are making me rethink if any of my friends are pregnant. I'd love to throw a baby shower with this theme. So simple and adorable.

 

images from Lisa Storms

Happy St. Patricks Day too!

We're celebrating with everything GREEN- especially the food.

Bunting inpired party

Bunting and garlands make any day a special day. Just try it- hang up some pennant garlands around your house and it brings instant happiness. That's why I love this party featured on Amy Atlas blog via Eye Candy Events.  It was originally made for a Sip and See party.

 

Baseball baby shower

A friend of mine had a baby shower recently. Being the die-hard Red Sox fan that she is, it was fitting to have the theme of the shower 'everything baseball'.

My favorite was the sign-in "Rookie of the Year" baseball, the coordinating food, and the invitations made to look like a ticket.

This would work great for a 1st birthday party too!

Thanks Marci.

10 ways to reuse baby food jars as party favors

After raising a 1 year old, you quickly notice how many jars of baby food you go through (up to 3 a day for me). So why not save those cute little jars and reuse them for a party!!

We did it with my 2 year old for her 1st birthday and we are now. again, collecting jars to figure out something fun for my 7 month old on his birthday.

Here are a few neat examples:

1. Hot chocolate in a jar-. Turns out to be a perfect size for a fun serving of hot cocoa.

2. Candle holders- I'm not sure where I got this photo but I love the fabric used here to dress up each candle/jar.

 

 3. Fill it with a coordinating food/snack with your party for guests to take home.
These are "caterpillar food" jars I made for my daughters 1st birthday with the theme The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I pained the tops, filled them with cereal, then placed personalized stickers on the tops and sides.

4. Plant starter seeds/plants and hand them out to take home.
A friend of mine made these with her son's owl themed birthday party.

5. You can't go wrong handing jars out filled with candy at a baby shower. It's a perfect combo.
Clever idea from Katherine Marie Photography

6.  Halloween party? ... dress them up as mummies or tea light holders to hold candy.

credit

7. With Valentines Day coming up these are perfect!

8.  Terrariums and tea kits 

 

 9. Advent Calendar. I know this isn't really a party favor, but it was good of an idea not to post up. You could adjust the holiday from "25 days of Christmas" to "25 days of Birthday" (an activity or treat count down to your child's birthday???). Possibilities are endless. 

 10. Tangerine Vanilla Bean Marmalade

At prudent baby, Jaime shows how to sterilized the jars, sealed them, and make your own tangerine marmalade. Yum! Makes me wish I had a Tangerine tree in my back yard. 

POP baby shower invitations

A comment left by a reader made me realize that I never had posted about my friends POP baby shower invitations. They were really simple. I designed a tag to be attached to a small bag of gumballs. It was great because it gave the guests an idea of what they were in for [a lot of fun].

POP themed baby shower

We threw one of my friends a "POP" themed baby shower
- as in, she's about to POP!

We tried to incorporate everything with "pop", right down to the games. 

This is what we came up with:

{For invitations click here}

table centerpieces with balloons

[The main food had nothing to do with "POP", but we had to have some good food in there- Chinese chicken salad, meatballs, taco soup, rice, and beans]

GAMES: we played
-pop the balloon pictionary
-baby playdough
[form a baby behind your back in 2 minutes-mom to be chooses the best looking one]
-Nursery Rhyme Jeopardy
-Popcorn Kernel game [guess how many in a jar]

Here is the mom to be and her pictionary drawing
Can you guess what it is?
... "stretchmarks"

 The favors-
Cracker jacks covered with a personalized sticker label

Invitations are here.
It was a lot of fun.

And who knew there are so many things out there that go well with the POP theme.
We could have incorporated a lot more items... otter pops, ring pops, popcorn balls, popsicles, etc.