Party Planning: A Bachelorette Bash October 4, 2011

One of my best friends is getting married in less than two weeks, and I am hosting Part II of her bachelorette festivities.  Part I took place in August, and we rented a cabin for the weekend.  It was quite the time.  Now, on to the sequel!

Her wedding colours are red and brown – or chocolate and cherry as I like to say –  (I shared some wedding inspiration Bash Boards with you a while ago) so I’m going to incorporate that palette, as well as white, into the party atmosphere.

This is the Bash Board for the event:

Lots of fun ideas and pops of colour.  I can’t wait!  I’ll be sure to share some images from the partay afterwards.

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Brilliant Bash: Ladies’ Afternoon Tea September 30, 2011

A friend of mine recently became a Mary Kay consultant.  To help support her in her new venture, and to find a fun way to get us girls together on a weekend day, I planned a Ladies’ Afternoon Tea.  And who am I kidding?  I just love entertaining!

This was a low-key afternoon affair, so I didn’t go all-out with decor and such.  I kept it simple with some tasty treats and colour coordinated flowers and napkins (pink, for Mary Kay, of course).

I set up my butler’s pantry with tea mugs and assorted teas.  The dining room table was the place to be, with tea biscuits, jams and spreads, cucumber sandwiches, fancy cupcakes, and buttercream dipped doughnuts (coloured in pink food colouring to go with the Mary Kay theme).

Tea Time

Assorted Delights

Tea for Five

Cupcakes and Tea Biscuits

DIY Dipped Doughnuts (Easy!)

Mary Kay Magic

Sunday Afternoon Splendour

It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon with friends: treats, makeup, lots of hot tea, and sun pouring in through the windows.  Maxin’ relaxin’.

Cupcake liners and napkins via Brilliant Bash.

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Featured in Occasions Magazine: Our Wedding! July 12, 2011

Wow!  I am so pleased to share with you that our wedding is being featured in Occasions Magazine.  So exciting!  You can check out all of the details here (mind a few typos).

I must say, it is a lovely way to celebrate our first anniversary!

Woo hoo!

Photo by Aaron Vincent Elkaim

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Brilliant Bash: Vibrant Bat Mitzvah July 5, 2011

And we’re back!

Well, the move from Toronto to St. John’s is still in progress, but I’m finally settled in enough to start the blog up again.  And this is a lovely event to help me kick off the summer party season.

Event planner Angela Zaltsman and event stylist (owner of Hazlitt Vintage Rentals) Selena Hazlitt sent along the details of this fabulous bat mitzvah that took place just a few weeks ago in Toronto.  This event is stylish, creative and inviting – what more could you ask for?

Welcome to the party!

 

Vibrant Table Settings

Gorgeous Spring Flowers

Candy Bar

Sweet Sweets

Pretty Pink Cupcakes

Stylish Refreshments (Straws from Brilliant Bash)

Marley’s family wanted to host her Bat Mitzvah somewhere unique and memorable, so they selected their very own backyard.  Inspired by Martha Stewart’s creativity, the team designed a fun, chic outdoor luncheon for 140 friends and family. 

A few notes from Angela and Selena on the bash:

A custom-built barn board directional sign greeted guests and welcomed them into the home. Hot pink and white balloons filled the front yard.

Touches of vintage decor set the relaxed, casual tone.   Clear vintage canning jars were used for the flower arrangements of Festivus Maximus peony blooms and table numbers.  More than 85 jars were over-flowing with peony blooms scattered throughout the tables. 

Place cards were attached to small jars of homemade strawberry-rhubarb jam for guest favours.  The jam, from a local farm, was homemade and fabulous.  The place cards were displayed on a pine harvest table stacked with wood soda crates and wicker picnic baskets. 

Guests were treated to signature drinks of lemonade from the “ol’ fashioned lemonade stand.”  The lemonade stand featured a custom sign with Marley’s name on it, a soda case for serving drinks and galvanized tubs for holding ice and wine.

White tents with white floors and linens looked crisp while gorgeous magenta table cloths brought the tent to life.  Marley’s Aunt Paula and mother pulled together a fabulous array of candy that was presented to guests.  There were line-ups to fill their magenta polka dot bags with goodies! 

All in all, the party was the talk of the neighbourhood!

 
Bash Location-  Backyard of Family Home in Toronto
Bash Planner – A to Z Event Management
Caterer- Encore
Decor Sources- Hazlitt Vintage Rental, Balloon Boutique and Brilliant Bash
Flower Sources – Lilium
Photographer – Hudson Taylor
Videographer – Redstone
Rentals – Advanced,  Exclusive  and Around The Table
Cupcakes – Short and Sweet
Entertainment – Mysterion
DJ – Magen Boys Entertainment
Gardens and Planters – Josh Martin

Brilliant Bash: Night Owl Pajama Party February 27, 2011

Anj Snow of the Snowy Bliss blog recently designed an out-of-this-world birthday for her daughter.  The theme of the bash was “Night Owl Pajama Party” and the amount of creativity and detail in this party is outstanding.

Check out this fabulous, functional table setting, the remarkable cake and decor, and the warm and fuzzy guest favours that Anj made all by herself.  She even created “adoption” cards for each of the pet owls she made for the guests – adorable!

Dream Birthday Table

Dreamy Details

Handmade Chandelier Ornaments

Vibrant, Personalized Table Settings

Owl Theme Cake

Fabulous Favours

Owl Adoption Cards

Movie Time with New Friends!

What Anj says about her party planning process:

I start with an idea about three or four months ahead.  I don’t make any specific plans at first; I just stick the theme in my brain and let it marinate for awhile.  Eventually, I work through the problems and new ideas start to come. I keep a folder in my car, in case inspiration suddenly strikes and I can jot it down.  When there are about two months to go before the party, I write down a party plan.  I give myself deadlines, etc.  I started the owls for this pajama party about three weeks before the celebration.  A big portion of the time was spent just coming up with the 13 different owls, their designs and what to write on the adoption cards.  I was even picky about the felt color combinations.  But that is the fun part of the creative process for me.

Way to go, Anj!  Your daughter and her friends are very lucky girls.

For Anj’s full blog post about this bash, including a link to a tutorial for the felt owls, please visit her blog here.

Photos Courtesy of Snowy Bliss

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Valentine’s Day Inspiration February 9, 2011

Over the past few weeks, I’ve seen some adorable ideas for Valentine’s Day weddings and home entertaining, so this is a round-up of my favourite heart-shaped inspiration:

From One Charming Party

Valentine's Pizza

From Martha Stewart Living

Heart-Shaped Cuteness

From Audrey’s Edible Creations

Pretty, simple way to use a heart on your wedding treats

Heart-Shaped Table Numbers

Creative Touch

And from The Sweetest Occasion

Lovey Dovey Whoopies

These are all very simple projects to create at home.  Please post your Valentine’s project pics on our Facebook page and share the love!

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Brilliant Bash: Game Night February 6, 2011

Last night, we hosted a Game Night for a small group of friends.  I had so much fun planning this one, as I didn’t get too crazy with the details.  For decor inspiration, I looked to one of my favourite entertaining books, InStyle Parties, which has a great section on game nights.

Game Night!

Stack 'o' Games

Cozy Times

The colour scheme was red, black and white, with a black and white polka dot motif throughout (inspired by dice).  My husband’s grandmother gave us a beautiful vase from Pottery Barn for our wedding that has a small vase within the vase, which allowed me to jazz up the flowers while incorporating the party theme.  I placed dice and domino tiles inside the outer vase, while flowers and water were inside the inner vase.  Strategic placing of Scrabble tiles, playing cards, poker chips, and black and white polka dot cupcake wrappers helped to pull the theme together throughout the room, without creating too much work.

Poker Pedestal

Fun & Prizes

We wanted a casual, laid-back atmosphere, so I didn’t go so far as to include any hot items on the menu.  Most of the food was purchased from a grocery store, with the exception of the gluten-free domino brownies that I baked and decorated.  I also decorated the chocolate-stuffed shortbreads with red cookie icing in order to tie in the game theme.

Tasty Delights

Queen of Candies

Treat Tower

Cookie Close-up

Chips & Dips

Doughnut Tower

Poker Chips & Polka Dots

From the Top

 

Domino Brownies

 

More Brownie Action

 

Cheese Please

 

Even the vases are in on the game action

 

Treat Table

My husband created a cocktail menu with a die next to each beverage listing.  Guests rolled the die to determine which cocktail he would create next.  Very cute idea.  He also mixed a hot drink of apple cider and Pimm’s Winter, garnished with a dried apple slice.  As a non-alcoholic alternative, we offered milk in cute little milk jugs with black and white polka dot straws.  Yum!

 

Polka Dot Milk

Fun Times!

Game Night was not a lot of work to design, but was so much fun to plan and participate in.  It’s also seasonally appropriate, as the weather in Toronto is brutally cold and snowy right now, so it’s a great time to cozy up by the fire and enjoy a few cocktails and boardgames with friends.  Hot toddy, anyone?

Photos by Brilliant Bash

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Brilliant Bash: Big Balloon Birthday January 27, 2011

Kori from Paper and Pigtails recently designed a gorgeous balloon-themed first birthday for her son Holden.  Wow.  What a fabulous party she created!

The cool blue hues, show-stopping desserts and huge round balloons make this a party that could work for children of many age groups and could be done at home – with help from Kori’s paper designs, of course.

What Kori had to say about her bash:

“I really wanted a sweet, simple, and traditional theme. You can’t get much more “traditional” than balloons, but I knew I should stick with a few colors to keep it sweet and simple. I created the invite first and built the whole party around it! I found large 36″ balloons online in our colors [you can find them here], used white and light blue table coverings, and did simple decorations throughout the house.  We cut large circles from scrap booking paper and added yarn to make it look like balloons sticking on the walls, and used yarn as the “balloon strings”.

It was mid afternoon, so we were able to keep the food to a few young age snacks and desserts (mostly). We played a game of pin the string on the large balloon circle cut outs and the kids loved it!

All in all, it was an amazing day with amazing friends and wonderful family and we have plenty of photos to show my little guy as he gets older.”

Vendors:

Photography – Courtney Vickers

All Paperie Designs – Paper & Pigtails

Large Balloon Cookies – Bees Knees Creative

Small Sugar Cookies – Better Bit Of Butter

Large Balloons – Balloon Dealer

Table Runners – Straight Stitch

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Brilliant Bash: Honey Bee Birthday January 25, 2011

Our latest bash submission comes from Magdalena, owner and creative director of Oh So Chic Celebrations, a boutique event styling and planning company based in Toronto, Ontario.  Magdalena created a honey bee theme for her daughter Maya’s first birthday.  When Magdalena was growing up, she loved the cartoon Maya the Bee, so she decided that a honey bee theme would be perfect for her daughter’s birthday bash.

Lovely Treats Table

The photos were taken by Magdalena’s husband Joseph, who happens to be a professional photographer.  You can visit his site here.

Adorable Cake

Sweet Bees

Love this colour combination

 

Beautifully done

Up close

The cupcakes and the cake were created by Cake Decors in Oakville, Ontario, and cookies for both the dessert table and guest favours were created by Artistic Cakes.

Marshmallow Pops

Fab Table Layout

Sweet Treats

Fabulous Packaging

 

What's the buzz?

All other confections were created by Magdalena, as well as the invitations and the packaging for the cookie favours, the goodie labels, all using papers and cutters from Michael’s.

 

Parting is such sweet sorrow

For me?

Great ribbon and labels

The bags, tissue and ribbon were from Creative Bag.  Inside the goodie bags were bee-themed colouring books, a poem, crayons, honeycomb cereal, and lemon jelly beans.

The polka dot balloons were from Polka Dot Market.

Thanks so much for sharing your fabulous party, Magdalena!

Photos courtesy of Oh So Chic Celebrations and Joseph Muscat Photography.

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Brilliant Bash: Custom Bagel Bar November 26, 2010

Kristi from Luna and Chloe Weddings recently created a custom bagel bar in her home as an homage to a favourite snack she enjoyed in her college days.  What a fun, simple, and inexpensive idea this could be for a breakfast/brunch event or business meeting!  And guests love choosing their own toppings.  Yum.  I love the idea of adding a small grill on the side of the table for guests who prefer to heat up their sandwich creations.  A toaster, freshly squeezed juices or smoothies,  and some bubbly mimosas would also be welcome additions to this breakfast spread.

Custom Bagel Bar by Luna and Chloe Weddings

Gooood Morning!

Fresh and Fun

B-b-b-bagels

Yummy Toppings

Eat your greens!

Tasty Savoury Pies

Deeelish

Kristi's College Fave

This is what Kristi had to say about her bagel bar:

When I was in college (in a small Southern Illinois town), we used to head down to the strip on Friday and Saturday nights.  Well, sometimes Thursday too.  Anyway, each night on the main corner of the strip was the Bagel Man.  Man, did we love this guy!  Even more so after a night of drinking and dancing.  He was always there with his charcoal Weber grill and a little stand that attached to the side of it with bagels for sale.  And not just any bagels – oh no – these were bagels that were thrown on the grill and topped with just about anything you could imagine.  One of my faves was a bagel with cream cheese, fresh chives, cucumber slices and sunflower seeds.  Makes me sound so healthy…not so much anymore.  To this day, I want to open a bagel cart!  What a money maker it would be – in the mornings head into the corporate area, and in the evenings to the bars.  I have even tried to talk Mr. Big into it…who knows, maybe one day I’ll be on the corner selling bagels (hehe).

So this is where my inspiration came from!  While my little set-up is inside, with no Weber grill in site, it still is a bagel bar.  How perfect would this be at the end of a wedding?  Or on the morning of the big day for the bridal party?  Or for an after the wedding brunch the next day…you get the picture.  Even though mine was quite simple, I would go bigger for a real event, and include bacon, pancetta, fresh mozzarella, scrambled eggs, ham, and more…and of course the bagels would be grilled.

See more of Kristi’s great ideas at Luna and Chloe Weddings.

Images Courtesy of Luna and Chloe Weddings

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