Ray of Sunshine Baby Shower

So as I posted a couple of weeks ago. I'm working on my next party. It's a baby shower with the theme "A Ray of Sunshine". Below I have posted some of my great finds and ideas thus far. I just love the pregnant dress form that Stem Parties used in her "Pretty in Pink" baby shower and I had to order some. Of course there will be a candy buffet with the sign sweet dreams on the table. As you can see, the colors of the baby shower is purple, green and yellow. I'm trying to keep it very neutral and not to girly since the gender of the baby will be a surprise.

Enchanted Circus Party

Well the Circus party was a great success. Even though we changed the layout due to a 80%possibility of rain, it still turned out as expected. By the way, it never rained and the children got to play outside the entire party.

Here are the Birthday Children, Caitlin and Bradley. They had such a blast at their party!

Decor

We set up a separate room for eating. When the children and the parents entered this room, they were so excited. Fabric draped the ceiling, chair backs with multi colored sashes and balloons were everywhere. They loved the special touch of each child having their own place setting with their names welcoming them. The big balloons, the clown figurines (purchased at the dollar store) and the lollipop and popcorn centerpieces really enhanced the table setting. Additionally, we had Large Yellow Caspari plates and orange runners that both can be found at Polkadotdesign.com. The circus cups were from Oriental trading and the kids loved them.

Entertainers

The entertainers included a clown, stilt walker, who welcomed the party guest as they arrived and our favorite face painter, Amy Tam.

FOOD

There was every type of food you could imagine. There was turkey and beef sliders, turkey and beef hot dogs, fruit buffet with colored chocolate fountains, sundae buffet to be served with the cake, mini chicken wings, chicken nuggets, wraps for the parents, cotton candy, popcorn and I made personalized water bottles. Of course each food had their own special circus sign.

Clown Around Time
For free play, the kids had plenty to do. There was a ball pit and two jump houses. There was also a dress station for the kids to become clowns complete with clown wigs and clown glasses with noses all found at Windy City Novelties. For the smaller kids, we had balls and clown cars for them the ride on. When it got too hot outside, the kids could come inside and relax by Laying with the Lions. This was a book station that was set up with plush animals.

The Cake

The cake and cupcakes came from our favorite bakery, Cakes Plus. The cake was three layers with a popcorn box at the top. The cupcakes were clowns and popcorn. The popcorn cupcakes came from the inspiration from one of my favorite websites, poshtotevents.com. I had a great time making the base for the popcorn cupcakes.

Favors

The favors were large popcorn boxes that I just happened to run across at Nashvillewraps.com . Believe it or not, they were filled with Circus items found at the dollar store. They had everything Circus from games, to gummy food, toys, books and puzzles. For carrying purposes, we laminated large tickets (found at your local Party Store) and stapled them to each side of the boxes. These were a great hit!

Cookie Buffet

Well these cookie buffets are very cute. However, I was surprise that I did not find more. If anyone has any additional pictures or websites where I can find any other inspirational pictures, please please share.

Candy Wedding

Okay, I'm not delusional to know that it is wedding season. While I was searching the web for inspirational cookie buffets, I ran across the most kid friendly wedding I have every seen. Because I am all about kids parties I had to share this.

Check out more pictures at oh nuts blog

Circus Party

The Circus is Coming! The Circus is Coming!

This weekend we will be having the Enchanted Circus Party that I blogged about last month. There has been so much preperation for this party and I hope that it turns out as fantastic as we invisioned. Below I gave you a sneek peek of some of the items that will be used. Trust me, you will want to come back and see the rest!

Happy "Early" Mothers Day

In honor of mother's day, I wanted to honor a great mother. In April, I ran across a fabulous mother on flickr. She is amazing. I strive to be like her when I grow up. Her flickr site and website showcases her incredible talent for sewing, creating and baking. As a child you can't ask for anything more. It was so many things that I wanted to show that I had a very hard time picking them out. So here is just a taste of what you are in for.

These are just everyday snacks that she takes to her children's school for snack time. Can you say PERFECTION! Above are ice cream cone cupcakes and below are flower cookies.

Not only does she make special treats for her 3 soon to be 4 kids, but she also makes party favors. Yes you can buy these items. How Great!

• The green and brown gingham set was for a sleep over which included personalized pillow cases and masks.
• The pink set was a for a slumber party complete with a sleeping cake with faces of all the little girls and fabric trimmed monogrammed pillowcases, matching sleep mask, laminated hang tags and bags filled with body glitter and a picture frame to remember the night.
• The multi-colored set is a sleepover kit. It included a covered tooth brush, tooth paste, body wash with a monogrammed washcloth and cover.
• The spoon is a favor for a little girls tea party.
• The pink, green and blue towel set are monogram beach towels for a pool party. Additionally, she had drinks beautifully dressed in the same colors but as a cool twist added a transfer tile magnet with pictures of the party girls. Awesome!

Not only does she make special treats and favors, but she throws fabulous parties for her kids. This is a party of her son's 4th birthday Shark Party. What a blast! All the makings of a perfect mom. So rush on over and check out her website sugarcoatedlove.com and flickr(mommawants1more)

Centerpieces

Well I'm back from surgery and I have 6 weeks home for recovery. So what better way to do so, but to search the web for fantastic party inspiration.

This is from pottery barn. This is actually bigger than it looks and would be perfect for a nautical theme shower or party. I think I will get it with the hopes of planning something nautical for the summer.

This if also from pottery barn. I thought this was great to, but a tad bit pricey.

This I found while searching flickr. From t23e. She stated that every table had a different dress. How cute. I'm sure this could be done for a boys shower as well. What's so great about it, the mom gets to take home the centerpiece.

Purple Favors

As I head off into the sunset and get ready for my surgery tomorrow, I wanted to leave this last

inspiration picture. Since the shower 's colors are actually green, purple and yellow. I thought I would show these great chocolate truffles in a purple flower pot. It's a very cute idea. Not sure if I'm going to use it as of yet seeing that there will be a candy buffet.

Favors

favors
Originally uploaded by caroline tran

Look at the favors. They double as a centerpiece

Flowers

flowers
Originally uploaded by caroline tran

I love this table setting of Yellow and green. It continues to feed my inspiration for the baby shower in June.

Wish Tree

I'm working on a "Ray of Sunshine" Baby Shower in June. I will be incorporating a Wish Tree in place of a guest sign in book. I found several inspiration pictures, but this is by far my favorite. I can only hope that my tree turns out half as good as this one from Details by Design Events

Nautical Chic Baby Shower

I call this shower Nautical Chic. This was a small baby shower for the parents to be second child. The mother was over the big fluffy baby showers and wanted something sophisticated. We ordered her favorite food from Maggiano's and centered the shower around a nautical theme. The favors were Nautical crystal wine stoppers.

"My Winter Love" First Birthday

First Birthday's are always exciting for new parents. Some parents keep it small and some go very big. I thought about my son's birthday party from the moment he was born. I knew I wanted it to be unique and memorable. So I came up with the theme, "My Winter Love". Since my son was born in February and close to Valentines day, I incorporated these elements into the party. The favors were heart shaped cookie cutters that stated, "Please remember the sweetness and love of Bailey's first Birthday". Also, the guest filled mesh bags with red and blue candy from Bulk Foods and Elegant Sweets(the perfect lollipops). For Entertainment, I got a great Caricature Artist and the parents got to take home great pictures of their children. I wanted it to also be comfortable and fun for my son. This is why I followed these tips;

1) Keep it simple

2) If there are lots of babies...limit the entertainment. Clowns can be scary and a 1 year old won't be interested. Bringing some toys that is familiar to your baby is all they need. You may want some balloons or something for the babies to hold/play with, but remember that you have to be careful with balloons.

3) Cake; you can get a beautiful cake for $500 made-to-order or you can bake your own for about $30. A 1 yr old won't care and older kids LOVE to help out, so if you have an older child they could help out getting the cake ready.

4) Go for things like:dancing (dance & freeze game)pinata pass the parcel musical chairs (if there are lots of adults, get them to play too!). Also craft activities can be fun for the group.

5) Time: Plan the party at your child's best time of day. It's important not to put the party before your child's nap time, during or immediately after. This will cause a cranky birthday baby.

6) Food: if you plan a mid-afternoon party then just snacks are needed. chips, veg & dip, fresh fruit, pretzels etc.

Chocolate Fondue

Chocolate Fondue Fountains are not just for weddings. Over the pass year we have used them at baby showers and kids birthday parties. The guest love them and they taste good too. Through the search for great colored chocolate fondue we found fantastic fondue at Sir Chocolate. They boast " convenient microwaveable pouches that are simple to use, easy to heat and require no added oil! Colored chocolate fountain fondue is the HOTTEST trend to hit the chocolate industry to date. Their custom colored chocolate comes pre-mixed and ready to serve. NO MORE MESSY DYES!" You have to check out the site.

Dr. Seuss First Birthday

Every child loves Dr. Seuss books. I did this party complete with a fishing game, stuffed Dr. Seuss animals as prizes to win and Dr. Seuss who read stories to the kids. The cake was classically shaped as a book and the birthday girl came as Cindy Lou Who. What a fun theme!