Real Parties: A Vintage Circus Birthday

I ADORE this red & aqua vintage circus party that Aly put together for her son's 2nd birthday! All of the details are precious and so easy to recreate for any theme!

The red and white "table runner" was actually wrapping paper which is a fantastic idea...simple, chic and easy to clean up!

Peanuts and animal crackers were available to munch on

Aren't the elephant sandwiches cute?! Cutting sandwiches with cookie cutters in a shape that coordinates with your party theme is such an easy way to add an inexpensive, special touch. I do this often!

How great is it that Aly found popcorn bags with a touch of aqua?!

Aly created this fantastic 3 tiered lucite cake stand!

Homemade cookie favors

Of course a circus party would not be complete without pictures of people wearing clown noses. I'm sure this certainly provided lots of laughter!

Thank you for sharing this party with me, Aly!

All photography was taken by Aly, as she is a professional wedding and portrait photographer

www.laluzphotography.com

A few party details you might be interested in...

* The red and aqua poms came from Etsy seller, Prost to the Host.

* The gorgeous cake came from Seatle-area pastry chef, Liz Slye of Crimson Cane Cakes.

* Cupcake Royale made the cupcakes.

* The straws were purchased from HEY YoYo on Etsy

* The plastic popcorn containers came from Target and the paper popcorn sacks came from HEY YoYo (same vendor for the straws).

* Aly served gourmet popcorn from Popcorn Pavillion.

* Polka dot wrapping paper was found at Paper Source

Real Parties: A Marie Antoinette Party by Kate Landers Events!

Decadence is the word that comes to mind when I see these pictures! Boston-based childrens' event planner, Kate Landers, orchestrated this amazing Marie Antoinette tea party for a group of young girls. But the party can easily be turned into an event for the young-at-heart as well!

The color of these jewels portray the color scheme perfectly - pale peach, soft blush, ice pink, candy pink, fuchsia, raspberry and a splash of light aqua.

These stunning "rococo" hats were HANDMADE by Kate!

Original party activities included making necklaces with gorgeous faux jewels and creating masks to be worn at their "Masquerade Ball". They also played croquette and had their hair and makeup done...corn starch was put in their hair (if they wanted it) to resemble the white wigs of the time!

I adore all of the feminine details of this party! Be sure to read Kate's original post for MANY more beautiful pictures and to learn about more party details.

Great Girlie Party Favors!

Melanie from Scout, A Mom's Guide to Stylish Living (whose blog I LOVE & read daily!) is now designing the cutest bows...and you can buy them as party favor packs to match your party theme! This is such a great idea and a very special treat for the young ladies!

The pink and red bows above were made for an Olivia themed birthday and the following bows were created for the ever-so-popular cupcake theme.

Melanie is one stylish and talented momma and I know her bows will sell well! The prices are great and if you order 10 or more, she will throw in a special bow for the birthday girl at no charge!

Visit Melanie HERE or contact her at melbellesbows@gmail.com

{Recipes} Chocolate Pistachio Cake ~ Perfect for St. Patrick's Day!

I apologize for the lack of posts this week! We have been busy, busy over here and the weekend is just beginning. We're headed to our ranch and good friends are coming along. But I did not want to leave you with just one post for the week! Here is one of my favorite cakes that my mom used to make for me and her mom made for her. It is perfect for St. Patrick's Day AND it's simple too! Enjoy!

Chocolate Pistachio Cake

Ingredients:

* 1 package yellow cake mix

* 1 small package pistachio instant pudding

* 4 eggs

* 1 cup water

* 1/2 cup oil

* 1/2 tsp almond extract

* 1/4 cup chocolate syrup...sometimes I add a little more

* 1/4 cup powder sugar

Directions:

* Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour a Bundt pan (Pam will work just fine).

* In a large mixing bowl, combine yellow cake mix with pistachio pudding. Add eggs, water, oil and extract and beat at medium speed for 2 minutes.

* Put 1/3 of the batter in a small mixing bowl and mix with 1/4 cup of chocolate syrup.

* Pour the two batters into the pan, alternating the yellow and chocolate. Swirl a little of the chocolate into the yellow with a spatula.

* Bake 50-55 minutes; be sure not to undercook. Cool 15 minutes before removing from pan and cool on a wire rack.

* Cool completely and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

{cake images via Bakerella}

This cake is DELICIOUS and moist and stays that way for longer than usual! I would love to know if you decide to bake this!

Have a wonderful weekend and I will be back next week with lots of great real parties!

Real Parties: ROYGBIV

This has got to be one of the most creative parties that I have ever seen! This party is brought to you by Lullaby Lubbock, a blog written by 2 friends of mine who happen to throw VERY unique parties.

Allison's dream is to one day own a candy store and call it roy.g.biv...which would be a candy store by colors. In her words, "If you don't want to eat around the yellows and greens in a bag of sour patch kids, then my store would be the place to come!". So, you can start to see why this surprise party theme was near and dear to her.

Allison's day started with a scavenger hunt. Each clue given to her came with a balloon that in the end made up all of the colors of the rainbow...ROY.G.BIV!!! At the end of the hunt, she was given a tie dye shirt with all of the roy.g.biv colors. I just love all of those details!

The party took place at a skating rink for all of the party guests who are still young at heart.

See their "party heart-y" party which was recently featured on Party Perfect!