Wednesday, July 2, 2014

DIY Hole in One Floral Arrangement

For that amazing moment when she gets a hole in one, make sure you celebrate! We recently did just that when one of our gal pals got hers. Dinner and an amazing hole in one inspired floral arrangement as the centerpiece of our table. 


We started at the local floral supply store to get a square vase, block floral foam, round floral foam and green wooden dowels.  Then a quick trip to the floral wholesale supply store to get green flowers for the base and white flowers for the ball.

Step one: I cut the block foam to fit the vase and soaked both the block foam and round foam in water.

Step two: Add the green floral that you have found that resembles grass or moss to the block floral.  Simply cut the stems so they are 1 to 2 inches long and gently push them into the foam.

Step three: Do the same with your white flowers and the round foam. We used daisies because they lay flat and you can overlap them to cover the green foam easily.

Step four: Use the green dowels to attach the ball to the base foam.

Now you have your replica golf green and golf ball and you can add your special touches. Here we have a monogrammed golf ball and tee from the course she played. You can add a flag that says hole in one or a myriad of other fun items. 

Don't forget to lightly spray with water so your arrangement will stay fresh!



Thursday, June 26, 2014

Overcome the Most Difficult Color Combinations for Graduation Parties

In Ohio, we are already starting to plan for graduation parties for next year.  If you think wedding color schemes are hard, try sticking to the traditional high school color combinations mandated across the U.S.  Our challenge?  Green and Yellow.

I know what you are thinking!  I love mint and light yellow color palettes.  Or how about black with touches of Emerald and Gold?  Wouldn't that be great?  It would but we are talking St. Patrick's Day green and goldish yellow for a daytime event.  You can imagine how quickly a party could start to resemble March 17th festivities or even Fat Tuesday.

But we didn't give up and after a week of looking at inspirational photos on Pinterest and Google, we found our answer.  SUNFLOWERS!

When designing your space, don't forget to design in levels including up!  These are great options and you can get silk ones wholesale for under $13.00 each at Save-On-Crafts.

Loving the idea of a striped runner as the base of the table design.  I wonder what our graduate will choose?

Use any items throughout your graduate's high school experience to add to the decor of the event.  This is a super cute graduation cap that is very DIY friendly!

Add graphics and printables where you can to add that extra pop of green to this color scheme.  I also love the colored straws with different designs.  Super fun and easy to find online.


Cut the stems of the Sunflowers close to the flower itself and place the flowers around the tables for extra decor or use smaller ones on the napkins at each place setting.  They stay fresh throughout the event because they are a hearty floral.  We also love the idea shown here of adding game tables for action stations.
We can't wait to start the planning process and will be sure to share the final product with you just in case you find yourself agonizing over yellows and greens for your next event.  If you have had success with these color combinations, we would love to see your ideas!


Friday, June 6, 2014

Watermelon BBQ - A Fun Way to Celebrate this Summer

I loved the idea of making a BBQ out of a Watermelon but kept thinking this would be so difficult to do.  A few weeks ago, I started to see this project posted on all my friends Facebook pages and decided that I could do it too!  Here are the results from my first try.  If you have been wanting to do this, don't be intimidated. It is super fun and adds a special something to that summer event.



I started with a mini watermelon.  It seemed like it would be so much easier starting with a miniature version.  You will also need a melon baller, a corer, skewers, a sharp pair of scissors, three celery stalks and assorted fruit,


Step One: Cut your melon in two pieces. The top should be a little smaller than the bottom.  Then you will want to scoop all the melon out using the melon baller.


TIP: A seedless watermelon is a good idea!  :)


I also used the melon baller to make rounds of cantaloupe in the same size as the watermelon to use later on the skewers.


Step Two: Use the corer to make three holes on the bottom part of the watermelon BBQ.  The holes will be used for the celery stalks that will become the legs of the project.


Step Three: For the celery, you want to use the biggest stalks so they will really fill in the space the corer created and will support the entire watermelon.  The celery should be similar in length and thickness.  Push them into the holes from the outside of the watermelon.  You will have to cut them so they don't protrude too far out of the top.


TIP: You can add blackberries to the inside of your BBQ to cover the tops of the celery.  They look like charcoal!


Step Four: Create your grill by pushing skewers into one side and out the other.  Here is where you will need those sharp scissors so you can cut off the excess skewers on the back side.


TIP: Have the ends of the skewers where you cut the excess wood facing the back of the BBQ.


Step Five: Add your fruit skewers.  You can use any fruit and make them small (to fit on the BBQ) or longer so they hang over a little bit.  I have cut my skewers in half here.  In this example, we used watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes and strawberries.


TIP: Play with the fruit combination. My girlfriend wanted to use the full range of colors and create a rainbow.  She made larger skewers and included watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, green grapes, blueberries and blackberries.  The only limit is your imagination!


Last Step: Add the lid.  I placed it off to the side but you can place it on the back and toothpick it into place.


Now that I have created my very own fruit art, I decided to see if there are any other projects out there that I could tackle.  My search for other watermelon creations led me to a great baby stroller that was created with fruit for a baby shower.  It seems like a level two project but I know I can do it!


If you have any other great ideas on how to create awesome fruit sculptures, we would love to see them and give them a go.  Share here or send us an email at partiesbyparis@gmail.com.


Happy Summer!

Friday, May 23, 2014

The Sound of Love


I've seen a lot of beautiful rings in my life but nothing as unique as Jen and Brad's rings.  On their quest to find something truly magical they located a gal in Brooklyn New York who cut the words I do into their special wedding bands. Both Jen and Brad love music. Music is a part of their every day, their jobs and their lives. How better to put their special stamp on their special day then to have the words "I Do" engraved on the rings in the form of a music wave. You can see that each engraving is different. On Brad's ring you see the voice of Jen as she says "I Do" and vice versa. Truly unique!  

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Hear Ye Hear Ye - You are Invited to a Knights and Dragons Birthday Party!



Welcome one and all to the world of Knights and Dragons!  We celebrated Gavin's 2nd Birthday in real style at a private residence in Las Vegas.

I started with a one of a kind invitation that I created in Microsoft Publisher.  I like to use publisher because I can save my document as a JPEG or a PDF.  We started by researching some free artwork on google for our images including the old paper background, the strips on the top and the bottom, our courageous knight atop his steed and the fun dragon at the bottom (the dragon was the hardest because I didn't want him to be too scary for this occasion).  Some tips for finding images: use google images and sort at the top by image size to get the biggest size for the clearest images; search for vector based graphics that are in PNG format as many of these don't have a colored background behind the image that you have to deal with; change up your search terms if you aren't finding what you need. 

Once you have found your artwork, then you need to download some fun fonts.  I did a google search for "knight font" and "dragon font" and came up with some great fonts on the web that were easy to download and mix in on my invitation.  I do suggest using a common and easy to read font for the most important text.

To give the invitations that extra touch, we burned the edges with a candle, rolled the invites into scrolls and tied them with a red ribbon before handing them out.  My husband discovered that you can take a stack of invites, roll them, and burn the edges all at once to make it super easy and consistent.  We even used the extras around the house for decor at the party.





 Want to see more of this amazing party?  Check out How to Celebrate with Knights and Dragons to see how it came together!

How to Celebrate with Knights and Dragons



Looking for the most amazing birthday party idea for a little boy?  Knights and dragons are pretty awesome! With the help of family, friends and some amazing vendors, Gavin's 2nd birthday was pretty darn special.

Learn how to make these amazing one of a kind knights and dragons invitations.
Gavin's Party was at a private home in Las Vegas.  We decorated the front yard with a left over invitation scroll hung by a nail on the tree with a shield and two crossed swords.  In the yard, we added blue and red balloons to the very large yard to add a festive touch to the entrance.  Tip: To create a field of balloons, use golf tees in the grass to hold your balloons in place.
To begin our knight training, each little boy and girl received a helmet, shield, blow up sword and a goblet.
The adults used their larger goblets for the specially prepared dragon juice.  Small goodie tote-bags with different knight emblems were used after the party to take home goblets, dragon eggs and other precious jewels.
All the wonderful decor was found at Chasing Fireflies, Oriental Express and Party City.

Of course, the party would not be complete without the movie viewing area inside.  I created a sandwich board from a large poster (just turned backside out) and pasted on some legal sized posters I printed of "How To Train Your Dragon".

We borrowed the rug and stuffed animals from Gavin's room since he happens to already love dragons.

You can use this idea for any movie (Cars is coming to mind with Gavin's recent infatuation with the series of Cars and Planes movies!).

No party is complete without food!  I found some great dragon stickers and attached them to some card tents I printed on heavy paper using a free font I found on google search (search "knight text").

Guests enjoyed dragon dogs (hot dogs in crescent rolls), dragon scales (assorted chips), dragon eggs (metallic easter eggs filled with fruit chews), and dragon wings (chicken wings).  For the adults, we made dragon fire juice with fruit and wine.



 Did I mention the cake yet?!?!?  My long time friend and wonderful baker, Brittany at Cravin' Cakes, came through with a beauty of a cake.  Inside this beautiful, kid friendly dragon is her famous confetti cake.  Although we don't know for sure, we think she uses fruity pebbles for her confetti (SO yummy).  We also had shield cupcakes in assorted flavors for the quick grab and eat guests (aka all the kids).


So cute trying to blow out those two candles from so far away!
A sure way to get your boys to sit down and eat!
Some other touches that we had to share:

  • Cardboard castle with custom signage that says "Sir Gavin" (Chasing Fireflies)
  • Floating dragon for the moat/swimming pool (WinCo) - *Note: Please have a full-time lifeguard on duty at any children's birthday party with a pool*
  • Knight's Changing Room Tent for everyone to put on those swimming diapers (Chasing Fireflies)

Thanks to all our vendors for helping out.  Please visit them to see more of their wonderful work.  For more information or inspiration, please visit us on Facebook!

Vendors:
Venue: Private Home
Castle and Dragon Decor: Chasing Fireflies
Giveaways and Small Decor: Oriental Trading and Party City
Party Planner: Parties by Paris






Friday, May 16, 2014

Say Something Derby

I love big hats and any occasion where I can wear one.  Sounds like the perfect reason to have a Derby themed event!  I have been inspired by so many wonderful ladies over the last few weeks and I wanted to share some of my favorites with you.

The Hats.  I have a beautiful, big, lovely hat without a darn place to wear it to.  How about you?  Take a look at these beauties and don't forget to tell your friends that your Derby Dinner is hat friendly!

When it comes to decor for your Derby Celebration, I am a fan of simple and clean white linens and the traditional red roses.  There is something to be said for classic decor.


Speaking of classic, these julep cups remind me of the classic Mint Julep!  It isn't the Kentucky Derby without one...  I found this great recipe at Bottoms Up.  Make sure to visit their site to see how they make this amazing beverage.


Classic Kentucky Mint Julep

newPostLabel_Ingredients
  • 2.5 ounces bourbon
  • 25–30 mint leaves
  • 1 ounce simple syrup
  • ice cubes
  • crushed ice
For the mint simple syrup:
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 large bunch mint leaves


I could go on and on but will leave you with one last inspired item that will make your tummy happy.  The prettiest little Benedictine Sandwich complements of Damaris Phillips.


Please share your pictures and stories of your Kentucky Derby inspired events!

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