Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Planning a Mother’s Day lunch for the moms in your life? After you’ve arranged your flowers, give them some extra zest by adding some fresh cut fruit. Include oranges, lemons or limes in your arrangement by simply cutting the fruit in half, sticking the uncut end into a floral pick, then gently poking the floral pick into the oasis inside the vase. Make sure to add any fruit on the day of the party so that they will stay fresh.
We were so honored to be asked by HGTV.com to create this Mother’s Day Alfresco Lunch for their site–click over to see more of this party. And we’d like to thank Robin Mathis from Twigg Botanical for creating our floral arrangements. Her awesome talent doesn’t end here, she’s amazing at creating wedding arrangements too.
Photos by Nicole Hill Gerulat.
Friday, April 29, 2011
We’ve got the Cinco de Mayo fever around here so we’re taking this party south of the border. Here is a simple mini pinata that you can make with your kids (or as a party favor). Whip it up in minutes. No paper mache required!
1. Take two white paper cone cups and cut off the tips. For the top cone: loop a piece of ribbon over and tie a knot with the ends. Push through the hole. For the bottom cone: knot two ribbons together and push the loose ends through the hole.
2. Fill the cones with candies, party poppers, and a mustache. Carefully hot glue the cones together.
3. Decorate the pinata with some tissue garland from Sweet Lulu in festive colors and attach with hot glue (or make this yourself by fringing crepe paper streamers). We added a scrapbooking embellishment from American Crafts to the front. (The adorable background papers are also from American Crafts, generously donated.)
Photos ©One Charming Party.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Our Butterfly Lunch was recently included in the darling Styled. magazine, created by Victoria Hudgins at A Subtle Revelry. We wanted to share it with you as well, as a fun springtime activity or birthday party idea.
If you’re heading to the park or just having a picnic in your back yard, this hobo style lunch with an extra surprise will make an ordinary day special. So simple to make, all you need is a butterfly net, a magnetic butterfly, and a bandanna or 21” square piece of fabric. You can buy magnetic butterflies or make your own by gluing a small magnet to the back of a faux butterfly. Pack up a lunch into the netting of the butterfly net and tie opposite corners of fabric together to help support the weight of the lunch. Secure the knot with a clothespin and stick the butterfly to it. Once you arrive at your destination, your child can untie the fabric from their net and use it as a place mat while they eat their lunch. This will reveal the surprise, a butterfly net for post lunch play time. In case the butterflies aren’t out, attach the magnetic butterfly to the metal rim of the net. Your child will have fun catching (or pretending to catch) butterflies while you enjoy the sun and a good book.
Sources: butterfly net, taipantrading.com; butterflies, www.paper-source.com; sandwich bag, surlatable.com; red and white box liner sheets, So Delish. ©One Charming Party.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
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Whether you call it a Water Party, an Under the Sea Party, or a Splash Party, we’ve got you covered. This party is now available for purchase in our shop. Photos by Nicole Hill Gerulat. ©One Charming Party.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Magnetic Strawberry Plant Party Favors
Supplies: a large piece of wood or sheet metal, magnetic primer, paint brush, empty tin cans, twine, tags, stamp (this one is from Olive Manna), strong magnets, strawberry plants, soil, mini flag (made with a skewer and ribbon)
Directions: Paint the sheet metal or piece of wood with two coats of magnetic primer and let dry. Remove labels from tin cans and wash thoroughly and let dry. Stamp the tags and attach to the tin cans by knotting a piece of twine. Fill each can with soil and top with the strawberry plants. Stick the end of the skewer into the soil with the flag hanging over top. Attach two magnets to the back of the can and display in rows on the magnetized board for your guests to grab as the party ends.
We’re so excited to have one of our fave event planners Melanie Blodgett as a guest contributor this week. Visit her on her own blog, You Are My Fave. Photos by Leslie Tippets.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Here’s a sweet treat for the birthday girl.
Ice Cream Cone Party Hat
1. Prepare the ice cream cone first. Glue large sprinkles onto the base of the cone with white Elmer’s glue. Make a hole into the top of the cone and insert a foil cake topper (ours is from ABC Cake Decorating in Orange, CA). If you don’t have a foil topper you can use your own home made streamers.
2. Using crepe paper, make 2 rosettes. This cute polka dot streamer is from Party City. With a hot glue gun, glue the cone onto the first rosette. Then glue the rosette/cone onto a plain headband. This simple headband is from H&M.
3. Using hot glue, glue the second rosette to the bottom so the headband is sandwiched between the two rosettes. See photo below. Voila! An ice cream cone party hat.
Images ©One Charming Party.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
This is the excavation tools “how to,” one of the step-by-step tutorials included in our Dinosaur Party pdf. Happy fossil hunting!
Photos by Nicole Hill Gerulat. You can purchase the Dinosaur Party in our shop.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Here’s another last minute valentine treat for you. We posted this recipe at Halloween. But peanut butter hearts are just as yummy in February.
Ingredients:
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/3 cup softened butter (My mom says the butter must be softened–not melted and not hard–so your dough turns out right. She said, “No one wants lumps of butter in their dough.”)
1 lb powdered sugar–you might not use all of this
chocolate for melting–you can use chocolate chips, Hershey bars, or whatever you’d like
white candy melts
white nonpareils
coarse salt, such as kosher or sea salt
Directions:
Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, mix the butter & peanut butter until smooth. Slowly add the powdered sugar until it forms a soft dough. Adding too much powdered sugar will cause the dough to crumble, adding not enough will cause the dough to be too soft to dip in the chocolate. You should end up with a stiff, but moldable dough. On your counter top, roll out the peanut butter dough with a rolling pin to a 1/2 inch thickness. Use powdered sugar on the counter and rolling pin if needed to keep the dough from sticking. We used mini cookie cutters in heart shapes for our treats. According to my mom, it’s best if you can let the cut out shapes sit out overnight to let them dry out a little bit. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler on the stove top or in a glass dish in the microwave. Dip the shapes into the white or regular chocolate with a fork and place onto wax paper or parchment to cool. Sprinkle nonpareils or a pinch of coarse salt onto the uncooled chocolate hearts. Place your finished treats into the refrigerator to help them set. Use a thin metal spatula to remove them from the parchment and to avoid getting finger prints on your valentine treats.
Photos by Nicole Hill Gerulat.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Chocolate dipped strawberries are the perfect dessert. They’re gorgeous enough to impress your sweetie and easy enough to make for your kids. I have even given these to my kids’ teachers for special occasions. And since Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, it’s the perfect time to give these yummy little treats a try. You can whip these up in less than an hour and look like a superstar!
Supplies: fresh strawberries with their stems on; chocolate candy melts or chocolate chips; optional garnishes such as white chocolate, dark chocolate, chopped nuts; a disposable frosting bag or quart size zipper bag
Directions: Carefully wash and thoroughly dry the strawberries. Melted chocolate won’t stick to wet strawberries. Melt a bag of chocolate chips or chocolate candy melts in the microwave in a glass bowl. Stir the chocolate every 30 seconds to keep from burning. Hold on tightly to the top of a strawberry and dip it into the chocolate. If you are using chopped nuts, roll the dipped strawberry in a small bowl of chopped nuts. Place the dipped strawberry onto a Silpat or piece parchment paper on top of a tray. If you are using white or dark chocolate for contrast, melt that chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave. Transfer the melted white or dark chocolate to a disposable frosting bag or a quart size zipper bag. Snip a tiny hole at the bottom of the bag and gently squeeze the bag of chocolate to drizzle thin lines over the strawberries. Refrigerate the strawberries until you are ready to serve, at least 30 minutes.
Photos by Nicole Hill Gerulat.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Two of my daughters have already told me that they need to bring a decorated container to school to hold their valentine cards. Sara came up with this flower pot valentine card holder made from an ice cream container. It’s just big enough to hold your valentines and small enough to transport to school.
Supplies: an empty and clean ice cream container with lid, an exacto knife, pink and brown spray paint or acrylic paint, some sucker flowers (tutorial here)
1. Using an exacto knife, cut half of the lid away and carefully punch out 3-5 holes on the other side.
2. Paint the ice cream container pink or red and the lid brown. Let dry.
3. Place the lid back onto the container and poke sucker flowers in the holes.
Photos by Nicole Hill Gerulat.
