Cupid's Cocktail Valentine's Day Party

I just LOVE Valentine's Day, and this year was the best Valentine's Day EVER!

The theme of the party was 'Cupid's Cocktail' so everyone wore cocktail party attire. 

Here are some pics from before the party started:

Chris let me go all out which was awesome!  We rented a helium tank and blew-up 150 red and pink balloons.  I had wanted to do this for  party ever since I saw it on Sex and the City the movie!

We created a photo booth in my craft room, another thing I've always wanted to do for a party.  After the party I had the pictures printed and sent to everyone in homemade valentines.

Instead of a table cloth, I put red mylar gift basket stuffing all over the table to glam it up.

The dessert bar, complete with chocolate dipped strawberries,

 four kinds of homemade truffles, and mini cheesecakes.

We served cosmos to fit in with the cocktail party theme, and they're red so it was perfect!

Valentine's Day Decor

Here are some of the decorations I have up for Valentines Day! They'e all very inexpensive or free, most are just paper!  Swapping out my regular frames with seasonal printables saves a lot of money on decorations, and storage space!

 Free printables found here

 Cans of fake roses over the kitchen sink

 I made this by cutting paper hearts, folding down the center, and gluing the hearts into the shadow box along the fold.

 Free printable found here

 Just glitter paper hearts on a scrapbook paper background

 Tissue paper puffs

Entryway

Felt heart garland is from Pier1

 Free printables above and below are from this site

'LOVE' Letters cut out of glitter paper

S'Mores & Schnapps with your Sweetheart Party

A couple of years ago for Valentine's Day we hosted a 'S'Mores & Schnapps with your Sweetheart' Party.  

It was so much fun! We copied the idea off of ice bars. We had gourmet S'mores and hot chocolate 

with peppermint Schnapps.

Here is the S'more Bar!
Graham cracker and cookies for the outside
Regular and Strawberry marshmallows
White, milk, raspberry, and Caramel filled Chocolates!

 
Chris shoveled the backyard to create a snow hole for the fire pit

The fire area, complete with tikki torches and marshmallow sticks

Here is everyone drinking hot chocolate around the fire!  We had a secondary party with snacks, wine, and a fire inside too so no one got too cold.

White, Gray, & Yellow Couple's Shower

We threw a couple's shower for our friends Jesse and Patty who were married last year.  The theme was gray and yellow. I thought the yellow was feminine and the gray was masculine making it great for a couple's shower, but I love the color combo too!

Here are the details:

The invite, found here

Tissue Paper puffs for decor

Lemontini's--the perfect yellow drink!

The food table. I created a table runner by placing 12x12 scrapbooking paper in the center of the table

LOVE Cookies-just sugar cookies cut out with letter cookie cutters and decorated

Snack cones made out of coordinating scrapbook paper

Brownie pops in a styrofoam block wrapped with scrapbook paper

I covered my normal wall Art with 'Jesse & Patty' signs for decor

Soothing massage CD and lemon massage oil for couple's favors

Wine Tasting Party

A few years ago I had a wine tasting birthday Party for my Mom.  

Here are the details:

The invitation.  Printed vellum over wine themed scrapbook paper

I got wine in mini plastic wine bottles, made everyone drink white Zin for a week until they were all empty, rinsed them out, and used them to mail the invitations.  I rolled the invites to fit inside and sealed them with a fresh cork.

The food table decorated with fake grapes and vines

Christmas lights draped over empty wine bottles made for easy decorations, and look really cool when it's dark!

We kept the wine cold in a decorative punch bowl filled with ice.

I made wine glass markers by printing wine sayings on paper and tying them to the glass stems

Wine tasting bookets so everyone could mark their favorites

For Favors, I made wine glass markers using colorful beads and charms that said 'Thank you'.  I tied the charms to little individual serving bottles of wine.  Everyone got to pick out their favorite kind to take home.

Blue & Orange Baby Shower

I've decided to make January the month of parties!  I'll start with the most recent, a baby shower for my friend Alli who is expecting a boy in April!  The theme was blue and orange.  It was a lot of fun to throw, especially with help from my friends! 

 Here are the details:

The invitation, found here

Chocolate cup-cakes with peanut butter frosting, decorated with orange reeces pieces and topped with "It's a Boy" and ultrasound cup-cake toppers.  

I made the toppers but printing on paper and gluing the paper to appetizer pics (thick toothpicks)

Blue & White tissue paper puffs in the entryway

Christmas CD's and blue and Orange wrapped chocolates for favors (the shower was the week before Christmas)

Ultrasound photos on display for decor  

Baby banner made out of rosettes

I added blue and orange bulbs to my tree to tie it into the theme 

I found BABY goldfish crackers! They're baby themed and orange!

Blue and orange scrapbook paper rolled to make snack cones

The Food

Blue Christmas bulbs scattered on the table were fun & added color

Orange Izze and Champagne

My friend Lisa brought the "Guess the Baby Food" game

My friend Jena brought onezies to decorate with Jungle stamps,since the baby's nursery will be Jungle themed.