Halloween Party 2013

Last weekend we had our first annual "Costumes & Cocktails" Halloween Party.  For years I have said that when the day came when we had enough room to host it, I'd love to have a tradition of hosting such a party. Thankfully that time came this year and we went for it.

We kept out first year on the smaller side (though 40 is still the largest group of people we have entertained.)  We spent days decorating and planning what I would say was a successful event.

Leading up to the party a friend told me she didn't want to be Bridget Jones and show up in a bunny suit as the only person in costume.  That proved to be an unnecessary concern as the spirit was definitely there among our group of friends.

A Duck Dynasty character (I won't pretend to know the name) won Best Costume while two "Non-Essential" government employees took home the Most Creative award.

Per usual most of the projects were DIY so I hope you will enjoy the recap of them this week.

Happy (almost) Halloween!

Message in a Bottle Rehearsal Dinner

For the past few years, I have spent a week in September in Bald Head Island, NC with my family. One of my mom and my greatest pleasures during our time there is hunting for sea shells. Year after year we comment on the abundant supply to choose from and continue to bring buckets full of our beautiful treasures home. The question my dad continually asked us was what exactly we were going to DO with those shells. .

And although we never really had the perfect answer, thankfully my brother eventually provided one for us.

Last summer he proposed to my now sister-in-law by burying a message in a bottle in the sand during their beach vacation. It was such a romantic gesture that my mom and I decided to run with that theme for their rehearsal dinner this past weekend. We knew we had the shells...we just had to determine exactly how to use them.

(The happy couple with the parents of the bride and groom during the celebration.)

Thankfully I had two fabulous helpers on hand Friday, my cousins, who were my decorating assistants.

Our guests were greeted with a sign explaining the proposal and informing them that they could find their table number in their individual glass bottles. We filled each one with sand, a shell from BHI and stamped the corks with the numbers.

Continuing the theme, table numbers were displayed on bottles. Since you rarely find flowers growing on the beach, we decided to grow wheat grass to flank our lanterns on the tables. Each container had a burlap rosette with a shell and I made individual rosettes to top each napkin.

The shell topiaries were my mom's first attempt at "crafting" in a while. She was a natural. :) I will do a mini tutorial on these another time as I was very happy with how they turned out.

One of my favorite parts was the beachy cake we ordered from Simply Cakes by Allison. Ali made a delicious coconut cake (the bride and groom's favorite) and managed to fool everyone with her elegant candy shells. The cake was a big hit and enjoyed by my family for the rest of the weekend.

And of course it should come as no surprise that I made cookie favors for everyone. Sand dollars and sea shells seemed like the perfect compliment to the evening.

Finally a special shout-out to Mr. Preppy Cookie, who took a great deal of time creating a wonderful slideshow documenting the bride and groom's memories to share with us all.

It was a memorable celebration and the best was yet to come. I am coming down off of such a high spending the weekend with family and friends...wish we could do it all again this week! :)

CONGRATULATIONS Mr. and Mrs. C!

Showering My Future SIL

A few weeks ago my mom and I co-hosted a bridal shower for my future sister-in-law. We chose not to have a theme per se but instead followed the colors from the invitation, tiffany blue and hot pink. We wanted the shower to be feminine and fun.

I made a chalkboard out of a frame from a craft store to greet the guests at the door with the countdown to the big day.

And of course I could not resist making carrot cupcakes (the bride's favorite) with wedding dress cookie toppers.

Our menu for the 2 p.m. shower included:

Assorted Pita Sandwiches
Tortellini and Tomato Salad
Cheese Platter
Spinach & Artichoke Cups
Fruit Platter
Carrot Cupcakes
Funfetti Cakepops

However the HIT of the menu was the champagne punch. We could not have served enough of it really! Many thanks to my friends Katy & Merritt for the excellent recipe (and Hillary for the reminder about it!) This is a definite keeper.

Champagne Punch
1 frozen Pink Lemonade
1 frozen Limeade
Add at least 1 bottle of Seltzer
Add Cranberry Juice till it is a pretty pink color
Add more cranberry juice and more seltzer to taste
Garnish with sliced lemons and limes (I froze these in advance)
Serve Champagne on the side

(Note: We tripled this recipe for about 15 people though we could have even served more.)

Decorations included photo garlands, paper poms, framed photos of the soon-to-be newlyweds and flowers we arranged ourselves.

We played a "How Well Do You Know the Bride" game which is always fun...especially when the bride really has to think through her responses. :)

And our bride was generously showered with beautiful gifts by her friends and family.

Would you expect anything other than cookie favors?? I made wedding cakes topped with hearts for the occasion.

It was a wonderful afternoon celebrating someone who I am so very happy to have join our family.

Congratulations Rachel & Jeff!

Shades of Purple Bridal Shower

A few weeks ago I attended a wedding event for a very special friend of mine. It was a small gathering including some of our Alpha Phi sorority sisters and involved a purple-themed cocktail/dessert party and a monogram shower for the deserving bride-to-be.



Tiffany is having her bridesmaids choose their own dresses within a palette of purples so the hostesses ran with that as the theme for the night.

The evening's signature drink was a lavendar martini, orginially discovered at another sorority sister's bridal shower last year.



I was not about to pass up the opportunity to contribute a dessert or two to the shower. I made a few A-Phi and ruffle cookies in shades of purples to add to the table alongside chocolate cupcakes with vanilla cream cheese buttercream frosting.




At the bride's request, we gave the game we played at another friend's shower in February a second go. (This is my new favorite bridal shower game!)



The dessert table was so pretty and no detail was spared.



I love the "Monograms and Martinis" shower theme and always enjoy to see what creative gifts people come up with.



Of course my uber creative friend Kelly came up with the fun idea of personalized mason jars with chalkboard tops (we may need her to do a tutorial on these for us sometime soon!)



It was such a nice celebration in honor of one of my favorite people. Looking forward to TJS becomming TJSR in August!

Here Comes the BRIDE - Bridal Shower

Over the weekend I had the pleasure of attending a beautiful bridal shower in honor of a very deserving bride. Sadly I forgot to bring my camera and had to rely on my phone for photos. So the photography may be lackluster, but the event will certainly shine through.


Of course I walked into the party wearing the EXACT Lilly pattern the guest of honor chose to wear. Ever gracious, she was thrilled by that!

The hostesses put together an elegant white dessert table. I could write an entire post (maybe I will) about the delicious desserts they created. From cake to cookies to candy and more, everything was delicious. I literally had to force myself to walk away from that table.


No detail was spared. They had champagne poured over blueberries, a "blessing tree" for us to share a sentiment with the bride and groom and perfect handmade white decorations. It was such a thoughtful, sophisticated theme and I was impressed as always by my friends' creativity.


The game we played was equally creative. Instead of the typical "questions" game, they took it to the next level by interviewing both the bride and groom. Statements from both were written on a gameboard and we were able to circle the silhouette of who we thought said what.


And of course I was happy to provide the cookie favors. The hostesses only requests were "white" and "glitter" so I went with just that and also incorporated the bride's future monogram.


It was such a fun time with sorority sisters and friends who I do not get to spend enough time with. Thank you Corri, Tiffany and "Sister Linda" for a wonderful afternoon.

And Kara - you know I could not be happier for you!