One Charming Party

giveaway: baby bibs and banners

Brittany — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:00:40 +0000

Thanks everyone for your kind words these past few days via email, text, phone, Twitter & Facebook. I loved being on TV (now that it’s all over and my heart has stopped pounding so quickly). I wanted to say “thank you” by offering up this giveaway: my favorite girl bib and my favorite boy bib from Lillybelle Designs. Plus I’ll include the matching banners that I made for the TV segment and they coordinate with the free downloadable cupcake toppers. I know it’s totally a blogging faux pas, but I don’t have any pictures of these. You can see them on the video. I know, I’m totally lame. Think of it as a surprise or a grab bag of sorts or just trust me. I would never giveaway anything that I wouldn’t want myself.

Let me know if you want the girl set or the boy set in your comment, but don’t say “either” or “both.” I’ll pick a winner Friday morning, March 12th–right after I drop off cupcakes at my daughter’s class. That’s her birthday. Oh, and this is the first giveaway that I’ve done with my new Wordpress format, so I’ll still need to moderate some comments. Don’t worry if it takes a few hours for your comment to show up, it’s still there.

I found some pictures:

guest appearance on studio 5: throwing the perfect baby shower

Brittany — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 11:00:18 +0000

I was a guest on Studio 5, a local Utah morning TV show, last Friday and I talked about throwing the perfect baby shower. Full disclosure: the show is live and I totally froze when Brooke, the show’s hostess, asked me the first question. As soon as I looked at the cameras I couldn’t remember what I was going to say. I kind of recovered and finished both segments but I’m sad because I blanked and didn’t say a lot of the cool things that I wanted to talk about. Blogging is so much easier. And yes, it was just as scary being on TV as I thought it would be. TV people definitely have a great skill and I’m even more impressed now when I see them on TV.

Here you go if you want to read a summary of what I said on the show or watch the video clip (I still haven’t watched it because I’m too embarrassed to see myself):

For my appearance on Studio 5, I wanted to give another special thanks to these sweet ladies for helping me out:

Megan at Persimmon Floral for the amazing bouquets.
Kelly at Cakewalk Baking Company for the yummy vegan cupcakes.
Karen at Lillybelle Designs for the adorable bibs.
My mom and Eileen Romney for the cute cookies.
Sara Westbrook for the downloads and party photos.
Nicole Hill for the other party photos.
And to my parents for coming on the set with me to try to keep me calm.

Tomorrow I’ll have a giveaway of the bibs from Lillybelle Designs and the homemade banners that I used on the first segment.

freebies

Brittany — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 11:00:38 +0000

Here are some downloadable pdf files for you to have for free. Just click on the picture. I punched out the girl and boy tags with a 1 3/4 inch circle punch and I punched out a pink or red 2 inch scallop for the background. You can look at my cupcake topper tutorial for instructions. For the vintage book covers I just cut them into squares.

For my appearance on Studio 5 today, I wanted to give a special thanks to these sweet ladies for helping me out:

classic school themed baby shower pics

Brittany — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:00:41 +0000

Love this classic school themed baby shower that Sara did. The vintage details and cute touches are perfect and would be so easy to recreate. I’m going to be on a local TV morning show tomorrow (Studio 5 on KSL for any local Utah folks, at 11:00 am) expanding on this theme and discussing baby showers in general. I’ll have some free PDF downloads for cupcake toppers that I’m using on the show posted here as well. Stay tuned.

the yummy details

Brittany — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:00:46 +0000

This baby shower by Sara has a classic school theme. I love all of the details that cover every inch of this party.

Old fashioned flash cards and a giant letter.

A simple pencil with the word “baby” on it.

Alphabet cookies.

A chalkboard and more vintage school cards.

the food

Brittany — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:00:13 +0000

Here is the food that Sara served at the baby shower:

Fresh berries in cute little cupcake wrappers.

Vegan brownies.

A yummy green salad.

And meatless minestrone.

the invitation

Brittany — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 11:00:15 +0000

This week I’m featuring a baby shower that Sara Westbrook threw for her sister-in-law. Sara is the newest Creative Director here at One Charming Party. (My other Creative Director is Kara Allen from Kara’s Party Ideas.) Anyway, Sara consulted me on a few of the details of this party (including the vegan menu since her sister-in-law is vegan). I think the whole party is adorable–I love Sara’s classic style. Here is the invitation that she designed.

Speaking of Sara & Kara, I’m excited to show you some things that we’ve been working on. But you’ll have to wait a little longer…

Invitation image courtesy of Veer.

an interview with me at created by chicks

Brittany — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:00:47 +0000

Okay, another one. I was interviewed a while ago on Created by Chicks and I never posted the link. Quinn has a great site featuring lots of cool stuff that is, of course, created by chicks.

I know, just when you think I couldn’t possibly have MORE pictures of my feet I post another one.

guest posting at the party dress

Brittany — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 11:00:20 +0000

I’ve started guest posting over at The Party Dress (inspirations from the well-heeled hostess) twice a month. Kelly has such a great site and she comes up with the cutest inspiration boards. This week I did a sneak peek of a baby shower that I’m going to be featuring next week.

hosting a friend birthday party & a family celebration for your child? part 2: plan your invites, decorations & food to stretch through two parties

Brittany — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:00:10 +0000

So you’ve decided to have two birthday parties, one for friends and one for family. To minimize your time, effort, and expense plan for the invitations, decorations, and food to stretch through both parties. And since you’ve already come up with a killer party theme, why not just use it the whole day?

Invitations

A no brainer. Order or make or buy extra invitations so that you’ll have some for both parties. You’re keeping the same theme anyway, right? Easy peasy.

Decorations

Same thing. Once you’ve decked out your house, yard or even just the kitchen table, keep it up so that all of your family can see your cool stuff. You deserve all of the praise that those cute little six year olds didn’t give you. The decorations stay.

Food

The Birthday Cake: I’m a huge fan of having an awesome birthday cake. But sometimes it’s just not worth it when you can serve cupcakes instead and no one will know the difference. But a back-to-back friend and family party is the perfect opportunity to show off your hard work (or the extravagant topsy turvy cake that you had specially made) to a crowd of adoring adults. The kids at the friend party will love cupcakes just as much, so serve them cupcakes–meanwhile keeping the cake in its pristine condition. It can be your table centerpiece or the candleholder for singing “Happy Birthday.” Then your gorgeous cake takes center stage for your family party where everyone will ohh and aww over it. When you’ve had your fill of compliments, feel free to serve the cake.

Party Food: I always use caters for the parties I plan and they require minimum orders of food items. The upside is that you have leftover food to serve at the family party. Places like Costco and Sam’s Club tend to sell food in larger quantities at a lower price, so if you buy some party food there this will give you an ample amount of food for both parties as well. If you make your own party food then it’s just as easy to make a few extra of each item for the second party. You can use the leftover food from the friend party as appetizers or side dishes for your family dinner. It’s hard to see food wasted from picky party kids so this is the perfect opportunity to use the rest of it up. Or you can forgo serving food at the friend party and focus on serving your family a great dinner instead.

I hope these suggestions help. I can’t wait to hear how your parties turn out.