Five Things You Should Do Before Every Party.

You may already know all of these things. But they are on our mental checklist for every single party we have. 

1. Buy ice. You will always need ice.
2. Lay all the serving plates out earlier in the day or the night before so you can plan where everything goes and be sure it's clean and ready.
3. Put a new trash bag in the trash can and have another one nearby. If guests go to throw something away and there's no room in the trash can, party fail. You'll have more clean-up later! And while you're putting out that extra trash bag, put an extra roll of toilet paper in a super accessible place.
4. Try to get as close to as an empty dishwasher as possible. This can take a little more planning, but it speeds up clean-up on the other side. And you'll be thankful.
5. Get your camera out. A party without pictures isn't really a party!

And if you already bought all the printables from us, your party is SURE to be a success. Check out what's new in the shop.

Read about all the foods from the party above over here!

Best Tools for Assembling Party Printables

We're often asked to print and assemble decorations for parties--and for those of you willing to spend a little more time to save a little money, we've assembled a list of our favorite tools for getting all your printables ready for your party. (You can click on all the images to be taken to their Amazon page.)



First up--the scallop punch. This is the quickest and easiest way to make your cupcake toppers look professional! You can also cut cupcake toppers out by hand as a circle, but they just look so cut as scallops!

Second... the paper trimmer. We literally use this for everything.  Invitations, water bottle wrappers, treat bag toppers, banners... anything with a straight edge gets cut with this! It will save you lots of time and hopefully some of your sanity. There's a bunch of paper trimmers out there, but I like this one because it has a wire guide to help you get as close as possible to where you want to cut.




Third... the hole punch.  This is the easiest way to punch the corners of your banner to string it on twine or ribbon. You can use a circle one of any size--but this is our favorite!

And for anything the paper trimmer can't do, I love these scissors. They are spring loaded so it makes the job a little easier on your hand! Cupcake wrappers are my least favorite thing to cut, but these scissors make it a bit easier. 

TUTORIAL: How to Make a Paper Medallion

I just LOVE the way medallions look--behind cupcake toppers, on garlands... pretty much everywhere. My photography partner in crime, Jenn, always harasses me to do tutorials of how to make things, so she snapped photos as I made this awesome cupcake backer.



So pretty, right? I mean, I know I'm biased but I really love the Gingerbread Party. So here's a picture tutorial of how to make a paper medallion, with directions below.  All you really need is paper, but a scorer certainly makes things quicker!

 

I used strips of paper that were 12" by 2" and made quarter inch folds. After the paper is accordion folded, glue the ends together to make a circle. Then flip the circle in to make it flat--this part is a little tricky. Put a dot of glue on the center to hold it in place and add a party circle (there are a bunch available in our Etsy shop!) and add a lollipop stick to the back. Ta da!

Modern and Bright Balloon Party

 When we think of traditional birthday parties--balloons and crepe paper are the first thing that comes to mind. Our goal was to take traditional birthday party elements and use them in a fun and modern way! This party was for a very special girl turning TWO! When planning the party, I wanted the house to be filled with something she'd recognize and love--and what little kid doesn't love balloons? (Until they pop, of course!)

I found so many cute types of crepe paper I didn't know what to do with it all!  I loved the impact this ruffled crepe paper looked behind the dessert table--so bright!  I wove plain crepe paper together for a pop of color on the white table cloth.  And the Italian Crepe Paper was a fun alternative to a table cloth--it really brightened the room!

We had so many delicious and adorable treats for the guests to munch on--chocolate covered popcorn, dipped marshmallows, gorgeous sugar cookies and Pop Rock cupcakes! We tried to keep the food "light" or "POP" related. (A little note on the cupcakes--the Pop Rocks can't be put on right before the party or they will all pop and melt!)  Our other favorite treats were Pop Tart Pops and Balloon Pops--both were big hits and tied in our party theme and colors well. Guests took home a bag of homemade gumdrops and some bubbles to pop later--as well as as many balloons as they could bear to take!

There was no shortage of balloons at the party--we loved the big balloons on either side of our dessert table and filled the ceiling with as many as we could! The balloon wreath was a great way to welcome guests to the party and set the tone for the event. And the crepe fringe was a fun way to string our polka dot balloons around the room!

 

We love setting a fun table for a party--just one more way to incorporate the theme! Our cookie artist did an AMAZING job of replicating the font from the invite and made this extra special cookie for the birthday girl. I just love so many aspects of our table--the cute paper balloon cut outs, darling wood cutlery in the chevron bags and the cute candy holder A!

We couldn't keep the fancy bow headband on the birthday girl--but the other party guests loved wearing them! The kids kept busy playing with small dart balloons and enjoying the balloon animals made by our resident balloon artist (the birthday girl's dad!) Such a fun theme for a kids birthday party--everyone had a blast.

Party Styling and Printables - RV Parties

Photography - Peanut Butter and Jenny Photography
Birthday Girl Onesie - Best Birdies Designs

Ruffled Crepe Paper - Party Creative

Fringe Crepe Paper - Tadpoles and Teacups

Italian Rolls of Crepe Paper - Quality Italian Crepe

Marshmallows, Popcorn and Balloon Pops - Miss Lulu's Treats

Sugar Cookies - JJ Bakeshop

Balloon Wreath - Little Crafty Cottage

Polka Dot Balloon and Balloon Table Decor - Whimzey

Huge Balloons - Bon Fortune

Bow Headbands - Coco Rose Couture

Sprinkles, Chevron Bags, Forks/Spoons - The Bakers Confection

Great Giveaway and Opportunity

I've really enjoyed learning about Emily Ley and her business--what an inspiring lady and such cute goodies in her shop!

They are currently giving away a spot to her Making Brands Happen webinar.  This is an exciting opportunity for any small business--go enter!

Monster Bash!

If you follow me on any other forms of social media, you probably saw previews of the big MONSTER BASH we threw a few weeks ago. We were waiting to post pictures because the party was going to featured on a popular party planning site... and the post went up yesterday! We were so thrilled to be featured with Kara's Party Ideas again and were so honored they chose us.







My friend Jenn's little boy was turning three and we sweetly convinced him he needed a monster party. And eventually he gave in. Jenn is a fabulous photographer and I was lucky she was willing to throw and even crazier party than I could have dreamed up. And then make it look so lovely through her lens! And her BFF Mandie made the prettiest cake I've ever seen... and cupcakes... and cruffle pops. Just gorgeous.









The problem with this party is that Jenn and I couldn't really tell each other no. Custom printed fabric? Yes. Googly eyes on everything? Sure thing. Large vinyl backdrop? Of course. Thousands of monster silhouettes for confetti and garlands? Obviously.





The favor table had so many of my favorite parts--I loved the silhouette banner with cut out letters so much!  We grabbed some cheap white frames from Ikea and stuck more monster silhouettes in them, obviously with googly eyes. The favor table had little jars of Gobstoppers, hand dyed monsters and a darling little monster gumball machine.







And my other favorite part (well, looks like the whole party was my favorite part...) was the fun photobooth. Braden really liked the the props. :)





And my final favorite part--the coloring wall.  Did you know you can print engineer prints at Staples for practically free?  Well not free, but less than $10.  Such a fun way to add some decor to a room and give the kids a fun activity to do.  Braden could color until the end of time, so he was in HEAVEN.



All printables are available here.  And stay tuned for a few tutorials about making some of the tissue paper decorations! Hope you enjoyed the party--we had a blast planning and throwing it!

These boy party ideas were also featured on Spaceships and Laser Beams.
- See more at: http://spaceshipsandlaserbeams.com/blog/2013/02/party-central/boy-party-ideas-add-yours-to-our-linky#sthash.T9DBSrWk.dpuf