Drive-In Movie Night: Movie Night Under the Stars

One of my fondest memories growing up was the family piling up in the good ole Ford van and heading to the Drive-In Movies. It was definitely a family affair which made it that much more exciting and fun. Maybe not so much for my parents, but definitely for my sisters and I.

It's a shame few Drive-In Theaters exist for this generation to enjoy and I definitely feel kids are missing out on the experience.  Since they're not easily accessible, I decided to host my own Drive-In Moving Night and bring a little of that nostalgia back for the adults and make it fun for the kiddos.

To recreate the "drive-in' experience", I needed cars so I decided to create them out of cardboard boxes. I thought it was really important to make them all the same so no one would be disappointed if they didn't get the one they wanted.

As you can see from the pictures, each was painted red with wheels (plastic plates), tail lights (yellow construction paper), a bumper (black duct tape), a tail pipe (paper towel rolls covered in silver duct tape) and even headlights (dixie cups covered in alum. foil and yellow construction paper inserted inside to make it look like a light). If I were to do things differently, I would've used brass fasteners on the wheels because the hot glue didn't hold them very well and would pop off. Additionally, I wish I would've cut the box differently to accommodate a windshield, dashboard and a steering wheel.  Next time... = )

Movie night could not be complete without a concession stand so we supplied plenty of candy so the 8 kids could pick out 2 candies and choose from three types of popcorn; caramel corn, kettle corn and regular popcorn for the purists like myself. In addition, I made funnel cake for the kids just to ensure that each child was filled to the brim with sugar.

You can see it in the picture on the right that each car had a box attached to their car that held all their goodies and glow sticks that they were able to put on once it got a little darker.

Make it a craft activity:
I would've loved it if the kids were able to paint their own car, however, time just didn't allow and I thought it would be much easier if we did all the labor. We did however allow each of the kids to customize their box cars by creating and decorating their own license plates. We had a kids table (which happened to be two extra large boxes my husband found at work) covered in the same linen as the grown-ups table and gave them the freedom to create whatever they wanted. It was entertaining to see where each of them chose to place it.

The movie of choice was Frozen and it worked out great. Everyone had a blast and not one child left their box car until the night was over. It's safe to say...Movie Night Under the Stars was a HUGE success!

An Elegant Baptism

To celebrate my niece and Goddaughters Baptism, we planned a luncheon for family and friends in attendance. My sister wanted it to be an elegant luncheon and wanted the decor to match my nieces vintage and beautiful ivory dress.

We ended up selecting white, ivory and gold for the color scheme but we knew we had to be careful not to make the tablescape and decor look too wedding-like. To balance that out, we decided to use blush color flowers and baby pictures of "Ms. O" in small frames sprinkled throughout the tables.

Since we had lots of family in town, we wanted to create a photo wall giving loved ones the opportunity to take family photos throughout the event.

Whenever I can use decor I've purchased or made for previous events, it's such a huge benefit. There is nothing wrong with reusing decorations--in fact, if you can pull it off without guests even knowing...even better!  In case you didn't already notice, I reused the ivory, gold and white flowers that were made for my Flower Wall during the holidays last year. It's a completely different look from my holiday decor but you wouldn't know unless I mentioned it.

Party Supplies / Decor Suppliers:
Rustic / Ivory Chargers
De Paris Hammered Glass Drink Dispenser 
Glass Milk Bottles at Drink Table

Casino Night Birthday Party

For my husbands birthday, he had several friends coming into town to celebrate his special day so he wanted to do something fun at home rather than spending a night out on the town.

We've done many casino nights in the past and they're always such a huge success so we thought we'd just invite his closest friends near and far and make it a night. We worked with Casino Magic who we've booked at least a half a dozen times and brought in a Craps table as well as a Black Jack table. If you live in the San Diego, I would HIGHLY recommend them. They provide top notch service and make your event a ton of fun!

I was doing all the cooking for the 30 guests so I wanted to keep the decor simple. And since Casino Magic was entertaining our guest, it would be a relatively simple to pull off.

DECORATIONS:
 I wanted to make our guest feel like they were V.I.P as they were arriving so at the entrance, I placed a red curtain that I made to fit the space. Holding this up is actually a bathroom shower curtain rod that extends 8'. It worked out perfectly and held the curtain securely. In addition, I purchased the two Poker Chip Columns you see on the left. They are made of cardboard and are kind of a pain to put together but made the entrance pretty festive. If I would've known how flimsy the material was, I probably wouldn't have purchased. Guests seemed to enjoy taking pictures with it so it worked out.

As I mentioned, I wanted to keep the decorations simple so I went to Party City and picked up poker themed swirls that I could hang from the ceiling. Luckily, it came in packs of 12 so with 5 of them, I was able to decorate the entrance as well as the Great Room ceiling entirely. At $5 a pop, pretty affordable.

It was indeed a very special night for the hubby and I'm glad we decided to celebrate this way. It was intimate (as intimate a casino night can be), unique, memorable and fun for all.

Winter Wonderland Holiday Party

Even though I decorate the house for nearly EVERY holiday, Christmas is by far my favorite one of the year. It’s the time of year for special family traditions; where friends & neighbors come together to decorate the yards, and when all just seems a little more cheery and bright.

We host our annual holiday party with friends, neighbors and family where I display my beloved collection of Department 56 Original Snow Village homes for all to enjoy.  Over the years, I’ve collected over 100 ceramic homes and create a miniature village scene. Everyone really enjoys this tradition we've had and looks forward to it each year--and it’s just so much fun for my husband and I to put this together every year. 

Since our house is usually decked out in “all things holiday”, I don’t usually have a theme but this year decided on having a Winter Wonderland Holiday Party which decorations would included a 20' flower wall, 200+ 4-5’ mirror garlands hanging from the ceiling, over-sized snowflakes—and so much more.

Here are some pictures from our Winter Wonderland Party:

Since we had over 100 people in attendance, we had the hot chocolate bar, chili bar and the kids cookie decorating table all in our garage and the miniature village (Shae's Snow Village) inside where it was protected and away from the high-traffic areas.

We look forward to next years event!

It's a Girl! Baby Shower

Anticipating the arrival of our niece was a special time for our family. It was the first Grandchild for my parents and our first niece.  So…of course, her baby shower had to be FABULOUS!

I come from a big family so it’s pretty typical that any holiday gathering or birthday party brings anywhere from 50-70 people and sometimes more depending on the occasion. It’s chaos at times but FUN! Since so many people are expected, most of the preparation for these parties are in the food so all hands are on deck preparing dinner and leaving no time for decorations.  Perhaps that’s why I became so determined to “dress things up” when I grew older started to throw my own parties. For my sisters baby shower, I knew this was going to be a much more intimate gathering and this time around, I wasn’t going to let the décor get lost in such a special occasion.

I had many ideas on themes and how I hoped to execute this event. I wanted it to be special and memorable for my sister and brother-in-law and also very personable.  With the assistance of the mom-to-be and my other two younger sisters, we went to work coming up with not necessarily a theme but a color scheme and specific details my sister would want at her shower. She wanted different shades of pink and a hint of lime green in the décor. And since she loved butterflies, we’d incorporate that subtly in the décor.

Here’s the final outcome of the party planning:

Food Menu

Pasta Salad

Cucumber Tea Sandwiches

Curried Chicken Salad Tea Sandwiches

Egg Salad Tea Sandwiches

Mixed Fruit Salad

Crudités Platter: Celery, sugar plum tomatoes, cucumber, broccoli and cauliflower florets.

Drink Menu

Mango Iced Tea

Pink Lemonade

Table Decor

Chargers – Koyal Wholesale

Light Pink

Hot Pink 

 Table Runners – Linen Tablecloth

Fuchsia Satin Runner

Chair Sashes – Linen Tablecloth

Light Pink Satin Chair Sash

Fuchsia Satin Chair Sash  

Misc Decorations

Tissue Paper Flowers:
How-to Tutorial here.
Supplies Needed: Tissue, fishing line and scissors

Since I was planning to hang these from outdoor pop up tents, I used fishing line instead of the ribbon shown so it wasn't visible.

Note: I used 10 tissues per flower to make it look more full

Felt Circle Garland:
Supplies Needed: Felt Sheets, fishing line, glue gun and scissors.

1). Cut circles from felt sheets and line them up as shown below.

2). Take a glue gun and fishing line.  Place two felt pieces together with the fishing line sandwiched and centered in between and glue them all together. Be careful not to melt the fishing line with the hot glue.  I glued each felt piece 6 inches apart from eachother.  Note: Allow at least a foot at the beginning of the fishing line open for hanging.

3). Continue gluing pieces on the fishing line until you reach your desired length. Again, leave another foot open at the end of your garland for hanging.