40th My Favorite Things Party

Happy Friday!! Been meaning to share my birthday party so here I am!

This year was a milestone for me...the big 40! And I'm still having a hard time believing that's my age!  I wanted to celebrate how I wanted to and gave myself a party.  Since I'm a big girl now that is most definitely allowed!! I'd been wanting to have a My Favorite Things party and this was the perfect time for the maiden voyage! And let me just tell ya....it was so much fun!

Decorations

I went gold!!

I made an invitation that I just texted out, some signs, and a tag and coordinated them all.  I then found a Printable Gold Banner by Somewhat Simple and printed out the letters to spell FORTY for my mantle. I found the "40 can kiss it" with Hershey's kisses idea on Pinterest.

Invite

8x10 Sign

4x6 Sign

Gift Tag

The sequin graphic I found on Canva. And then I used PicMonkey to add text, etc. 

Feel free to use the signs and tag but for personal use only please. 

Food

I made all of my favorite party foods! Even the cake!

Savory

Fav Veggie Dip & veggies

Herbed Tomato & Mozzarella with Crackers

Bacon Wrapped Dates

Red Onion Chutney with Goat Cheese Crostini

Sweet

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

Carrot Cake

Drink

Cranberry and Ginger Ale Punch

I found some gold chipboard letters at Hobby Lobby to use as a cake topper. My friend frosted the cake and added gold icing dots for me! Used only gold and white dishes and sprinkled the table with gold and silver big confetti. Oh and fresh hydrangeas! 

My Favorite Things

I took inspiration from a few parties....one by Java Cupcake and one by Shannon Finds Joy.

After eating we played a 'my favorite.....' game (printable here).

I guess it's like Scattergories ( I've never played!), you have everyone answer what their fav food, fav vacation spot, fav websites, etc and then go over answers and the person with the most unique answers is the winner.  I prepared 2 prizes and had 2 winners!  Then it was time to exchange our favorite things! I had everyone bring 5 of one item no more than $5 of value.  I had everyone write their name 5 times and put them in a bowl. Then each lady chose 5 different names, making sure not to get their own name or duplicate any name. We had a total of 9 ladies so at the end of drawing names we had to do some rearranging of names to get it just right.  Next, one by one we told why our item was our favorite and then gave them to the ladies who we had drawn names. Prior to the party I asked everyone to give my their favorite nickname.  I then made everyone a tote with that name in glitter so they'd have something to tote their goodies home in!

I gave a $3 gold striped plastic tumbler perfect for iced coffee! 

The items above are what I got...makeup brush, lip gloss, frame & seashell, makeup wipes, and a visor scent clip.  Others items were post it notes, chap stick, & orange slices.

Everyone loved their bags and what they got! And it was so much fun hearing why the item was a favorite!

I attached the tag that said 'you are my favorite' to every bag....I wanted my friends to know they were my favorites too!

I really think this is the way to celebrate a birthday!! I mean yes, you can totally do this any time but for someone who talks the love language of giving, I loved seeing my friends receive! That was the best gift ever!!

So if you've been thinking about having a My Favorite Things party then just

doooo it!!!

Have a Happy Day!

Soiree Day-Vintage Nurse Hat RN Party

You know completing nurse school is quite the accomplishment! And one to be, for sure, without a doubt, celebrated. Come snow or high water! Yep that's right, we had my sister's nurse party in the snow! Unfortunately, we couldn't reschedule it and had to carry on and I'm so pleased with how everything turned out!  I went with a vintagey, vintage nurse hat theme.  The first thing I did was create a logo (in PicMonkey of course!) and went from there!

It is actually a circle, below is the Facebook event photo I made and also made an invitation similar to this. I found the nurse hat on Google and then did the rest in PicMonkey.  I also used the logo to customize a tumbler from Starbucks so my sister would have it for her new job!

I used a local baker for the cake, cookies, and cupcakes and absolutely love how all three turned out! I made the thermometer pretzels and then found some licorice candy in red and blue that looked like 'happy pills'. We also had finger foods for our come and go guests. 

For the logo centerpiece, I simply uploaded the logo to Walmart and made a poster! I did have to trim it as it wasn't centered but that was ok since I was having to mount it to a red foam board from Hobby Lobby. Great, easy, inexpensive way to enhance a sweet table!

For table decor, I used the infamous Ikea Tolsby frame and framed the logo, added my sister's favorite flowers and some more happy pills and done! 

I recreated this congrats eye chart I saw on Pinterest in PicMonkey and used it near our snacks. 

Finally, instead of gifts we asked guests to use the Johnson & Johnson Donate A Photo app and upload a photo and choose the Help A Student Start A Healthcare Career cause in honor of my sister's accomplishment. Johnson and Johnson then donated a $1 to the cause. I created a 'photo op' display using some of my sister's school books, our mom's nurse hat, and some Polaroids of when my sister (and cousin) candy-striped.  

I won't lie...I was pretty excited coming up with this idea! And you can use the app once a day and choose from several causes.  So if you can remember to do it daily, you can give $365 to causes in a year without spending a dime! (I do believe you can set a reminder in the app! How about that?)

We're so proud of Erica! She's already started a new job and is loving it!

Happy Tuesday lovelies!

{Freebie} Back To School Printable

Can you believe it's Back to School time? I'm joining the ranks this year!! Lil' Hunkie is starting PreK next Wednesday!! I'm so excited and so nervous for him at the same time! 

What an adventure we're about to have!!

Of course I had to make a fun printable for this time of year!

(Gold and blue are our school colors!!)

I made this printable in PicMonkey. Surely you're not surprised! And I found that cute school house box at Design Mom via Pinterest.  This one is just paper but I printed a few on card stock to fill for teachers. There is also a house that I plan on incorporating into my brother's wedding reception and into a bridal shower!!

Just right click and save!

*This printable is for personal use only.

Hope your Back to School start was or will be a smooth one!

Happy Thursday!

{See my Link Parties Page for the shares!}

Soiree Day-Valentine's Day Tea Party Round Up

I have something really fun to share on Thursday and it has to do with tea. 

 So I thought I'd round up some pretty Valentine's Day Tea parties!

Vintage & Feminine Valentine's Day Tea Party 

at Domestic Fashionista 

image found on Pinterest, courtesy of Domestic Fashionista

Old Fashioned Love-Valentine's Day Tea Party at 

In Awe Of Your Grace

image found on Pinterest, courtesy of In Awe Of Your Grace

Valentine Tea Party at The Frosted Petticoat

image found on Pinterest, courtesy of The Frosted Petticoat

And there's two things that are tea party staples...sugar cubes and scones, right?

Found some dressed up for Valentine's day!

DIY Sugar Hearts at JoJo and Deloise

image found on Pinterest, courtesy of JoJo and Deloise

White Chocolate, Raspberry & Macadamia Scones 

at Redpath Sugar

image found on Pinterest, courtesy of Redpath Sugar

Man those scones look so yummy! 

Make sure and check back on Thursday!

Happy Tuesday!

Soiree Day-North Pole Breakfast with Buddy

And we are in full Christmas mode at our house! Just finished putting out the rest of the decor.  

Our Elf on the Shelf, Buddy showed up this morning with breakfast! 

Nothing fancy at all, just pure fun!

I quickly snapped a ton of pictures before we ate and then made a Flipagram.  It just recently became available for Android so I'm still new to it that's why some of the pics are not centered and the lighting was horrible as it was overcast and extremely foggy this morning! None the less, it still turned out fun!

Do you have an Elf?

Lil' Hunkie loves it!!

Happy Tuesday!

Soiree Day-Pancake Party Roundup

About 3 weeks ago I came across the cutest little girl birthday party with the theme of Pancakes & Pearls. How fun to have a pancake themed party! And with pearls! So it got me curious to see how popular this theme may or may not be. Much to my delight there were other parties and they must be shared!  Since I don't have a little girl I may just have to throw one of these for myself!! Ha!!

(To pin, please click on title and pin from original source, thanks!)

Pancakes & Pearls by Sweeter Than Cupcakes

1

Pajamas + Pancakes First Birthday Party by Kojo Designs

Pancakes & PJs 3rd Party via Kara's Party Ideas

Hot Pink Pancakes & Pajamas Party via Project Nursery

Preppy Pancakes & Pajamas Party via Hosetess with the Mostess

House of Pancakes Birthday Party by Beautiful Mess

Loving the pancake stand, so fun!! Weren't they all fun actual?

Hmmmm...Lil' Hunkie likes pancakes....... 

Happy Tuesday!!

PS. check out my latest giveaway HERE!

Soiree Day-My 20 Year High School Reunion!

Happy Tuesday!

I think I might have finally recouped from vacation. I had one heck of a week! Within 7 days I had my 20 year High School Reunion, went on vacation for 3 days, enjoyed the 4th with family, helped with a baby shower, and attended my dad's family reunion.  Yeah! I think that's the busiest I have ever been in a week's time. But I think I'm back in my routine and getting things started with sharing my High School Reunion!

I had a very small class, 36 grads so it wasn't too big of a shindig to plan. The way our class does it the class officers do the planning. So the president and myself planned a Family Picnic at a local park and then an Adult Only event at a local party place called Soiree! They had all the decorations although I did my own thing for table centerpieces. But I kept it simple and it all turned out nice!

Most of my classmates are on Facebook and we used that to our advantage! I made the invitation in PicMonkey and used it in our Facebook Events. 

I found some invites on Pinterest and used them as inspiration...

....yes it took me a long time to do that!

For centerpieces I used flowers, random trophies and yearbook photo candle holders. All I did was color copied our senior pics and cut 3 to a page and mod podged them onto to jars I had saved.  (Found this idea at A Beautiful Mess via Pinterest.)  Then I really wanted a favor and at 'the last minute' I decided to do my first ever diy coaster. Once again I went to PicMonkey and made a graphic. Bought tiles for I think $.16 each at Lowe's and then found some cork squares at Hobby Lobby. We hot glued those onto the back but had trouble with them staying on. Any suggestions on how to fix that?

They helped with some of the centerpiece decor too!  I really love how they turned out! 

Tied it all together I think!

Closer look thanks to Instagram!

I had my sister make sugar cookies that I took to the park mainly for the kids and then the leftovers we added to some cupcakes. 

Love how they turned out too!!

We did do some activities. I typed up some trivia questions that included the cost of things in 1993, what were famous music/movies in 1993 and even added some 'who said it' using our Senior mottos.  Then we had some Awards.  The typical fun ones....who lost the most hair, who changed the most, etc. We did have a slide show but had some technical difficulties and it had no music. We had no music at all. But that didn't stop us from having a fun night of visiting with each other.  We kept the food light with some hor devoures.   For having such a small class we had a good turn out...17 classmates came with a total of about 23 after spouses/guests.  

I think it was a great time especially since no one wanted to leave!  We all agreed to do it again in 5 years.  And just like this one it will be here before I know it!

How was your 20 year reunion?

Do tell!

Happy Soiree Day!

(See my Link Parties Page for the shares!)