parties Archives - Page 2 of 4

Fiesta Birthday Party!

June 30, 2015 By Taylor 24 Comments

This past weekend I threw my favorite party yet! Well, besides my wedding :) My daughter and I share a birthday and since I was a little busy last year on my 30th birthday having her we decided to go all out this year! She is our last baby and I’ve never done a big 1st birthday party for any of my kiddos so I was excited. One of my favorite things are margaritas so last year in the hospital I told my family “next year I want a big fiesta birthday party with Mexican food and margaritas and a Mexican dress”! I called it Bee’s Birthday party but aren’t all one year old parties really for the parents anyway? It’s like YAY, WE SURVIVED!!

I loved how everything turned out, but my house is kind of dark and I was having so much fun I didn’t take many pictures. So, some of these pictures aren’t great and some aren’t even mine… (thanks friends for your cell phone pics). I wanted to post about it anyway so I can remember it forever! That and I’ve had a bunch of questions about where I got everything.

My favorite fiesta item that I bought was the Mexican Cutout Banners which I love and don’t ever want to take down!! I bought them from Amazon HERE. I bought 8 sets and hung them everywhere!! I actually hung them up weeks ago because I was so excited about them haha! My poor husband.

We invited a lot of people so for the first time ever I actually catered food, fancy right? We had fajitas, quesadillas and my personal favorite… chips with red sauce, pico, guacamole and queso! I also rented a margarita machine which was so fun! My sister came over early and helped me cut all of the fruit for the margarita bar. We made regular margaritas in the machine then everyone could add their own fruit to the top. My sister also broke our her cute calligraphy handwriting for some of the cups :)

I made two “Aguas Frescas”. One was just pineapple muddled in water and one was Lime, Mint and Kiwi.

The hit of the backyard was the water slide we rented! If you guys are in the Houston Area you have to check out City Wide Part Rentals! We rented the Tropical Water Slide. They were awesome to work with and the slide was super fun! (If you use them, mention TaylorMade and they will give you a discount!!) They came and set it up early which was a life saver because then I was able to set up the entire party while the boys played on the slide. I even went down it before the party started haha!

I borrowed Mexican Blankets from my friend Michelle and I just folded them and used them as table runners. I saw this cute centerpiece idea on Pinterest. I emptied out Mexican looking cans for vases and filled them with fake flowers.

I used this recipe and made some Churro Puppy Chow. It was so good and people couldn’t stop raving! I got all of the plates, napkins, straws, toothpicks and this blow up cactus from Oriental Trading Co.

I got our dresses from Amazon HERE and HERE. Can’t have a fiesta without a good Mexican Dress right? My mom, the family baker, made both of us a cake! She made me Tres Leches with fresh whipped cream and strawberries and she made Bee a butter cake with chocolate frosting.

She got to eat her cake and then she got a sink bath :)

I used all of Bee’s monthly pics to make a little collage on a chalkboard.

It was basically the best fiesta I’ve been to :) Thanks so much to all my family and friends for making it so special! I leave you with a million party pics! Let me know if I left any sources out!

DIY Ornament Party

December 16, 2013 By Taylor Leave a Comment

Remember last year when I hosted the first DIY Ornament Party? Well, my friends (the coyotes) had so much fun they insisted on round two ;)

I kept it simple like last year. I made an appetizer and I asked each girl to bring one too. I also made a dessert and had wine. We meet once a month and we usually have a meal but for this, it’s easier to just have snacks since there is crafting to be done!

For the ornaments I got a pack of clear glass bulbs. Then I set out a bunch of different paint colors and some paint brushes and sponges. At each spot I placed a few paper towels, some water and I used a plastic Tupperware lid for our paint palettes.

Some of us painted on the outside and some on the inside. I did the “squeeze paint into the ornament” method.

They all turned out so pretty and obviously we had fun too!

After they dried overnight I wrote the year on the outside with sharpie. This is what I ended up with…

So, has anyone hosted a make your own ornament party? I am going to need some more ideas as I see this is becoming an annual thing :)

a Vintage Superhero Birthday

August 29, 2013 By Taylor 2 Comments

A few weeks ago my oldest baby turned 4. I do NOT know how this happened and I didn’t authorize it, but it happened. It’s weird to think I am the Mom to a 4 year old. Sounds pretty official though :)

We decided to keep his party low key this year. But when Minted contacted me about trying out some of their new Party Decor, how could I say no?! If you don’t know Minted, you need to! They are an online paper store that carries products from Independent designers from all over. They have invitations, art prints, journals, calendars, stationary… I could go on and on. I am a long time Minted lover but have never tried their decor section. I was super surprised with the amount they had to choose from. I even had a hard time narrowing it down, But then my husband reminded me that my son is a boy. They have so many really cute themes that aren’t over done!

I went with the Super Hero Theme, an instant winner for my boys! The cool thing is they customize your order and you can get everything you need right there in the box! All the decor, stickers, banner etc. even the plates and serving wear!

I ordered the scalloped stickers for the cups and the flag stickers for our Ice Cream Sundae Bar :) I picked up some paper straws too.

The custom bunting was HUGE! And I loved it because we have a long spot to fill over our bar.

We served hot hogs and chips so I used the “eats” signs for the food table. And I used the “sweets” sign for our Ice Cream Bar after dinner. These were custom, you could enter any word to match your party.

I put this smaller banner and the chalkboard behind the food table.

I used kabob sticks and marshmallows to hold up the flags for the ice cream toppings. I love these little flags, it’s just one long sticker that folds in half to make a flag.

Everyone loved all the decor and for a busy family it is so convenient to have everything delivered all in one box! Everyone also loved the ice cream :)

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy XOXO.

*party decor was supplied by Minted but all opinions are 100% my own*

an “April Showers” Baby Shower

May 22, 2013 By Taylor 5 Comments

Remember this quilt I made my cousin last month? My mom, sister and I also hosted a little family shower for the new Mommy-to-be. Jamie is our only girl cousin and even though she lives 3 hours away, she has a lot of family here in Houston. My sister hosted at her condo in the Heights because it is centrally located.

We decided on an “April Shower” theme. We kept it casual with our decor and food. I made a cute scalloped bunting and some rain garland. My mom and sister did a lot of the decor too (and mom thought of the cute poufs) and we all pitched in on the food. My sister also made the best punch!

I loved the invitations too- I found them online and they were so perfect for the theme. The invitation shop emailed a PDF in our custom colors and I had them printed at a local copy center.

I used my Cameo to cut out pages and pages of raindrops from cardstock, then I sewed them together.

We hung them over the gift table in my sisters sitting room. Also, isn’t her map chair the cutest!?

I also used my Cameo to cut out the clouds for the “straw name tags” – which might have been the cutest things ever. We hit every trend possible with punch in mason jars and paper striped straws :)

My mom found pretty M&M’s and pinwheel toothpicks at the party store. We served Crave Cupcakes, in chocolate and red velvet. We also had tea sandwiches, fruit kabobs, cheese and pigs in a blanket. My sisters punch was another big hit! She juiced fresh oranges and lemons in her juicer, added grenadine and ginger ale then floated pineapples and strawberries on top.

I’m so glad we got to celebrate “baby E” before he gets here this summer :)