Fiesta Friday- Fast Times

Last month my girl Christy had a totally tubular birthday roller skating party. Talk about a blast from the past! I had not been in a roller rink since high school (for a "retro" roller skating party) and I was rushed back like Martie McFly to Izod shirts, Vanderbilt jeans, grosgrain ribbon belts and penny loafers! Wow. The look of the concession stand, the smell of the old carpet, the sound of wheels on the rink, the hokey pokey totally brought me back. The only difference was this time, the keeper of the skates asked "roller or inline?" I suppose not many kids use roller skates anymore, because they were, like, practically brand new! I was totally relieved because I was not at all interested in putting my foot in some nasty 30 year-old skates. Gag me with a spoon!

We had soooo much fun. I wasn't brave enough to get on the rink, actually I was smart enough to stay off the rink. Note the picture of Diane in the middle-- she started with roller skates, but quickly figured out that she was safest on inlines. I wonder if in roller skating you are liable for pile-ups that you have caused accidentally like in snow skiing. Anyway, back to the party...

I was amazed at the number of wicked partiers who took to the wood like they slept with skates on. Then there was one poor guy who could barely stand up and kept falling over and over and over again. But, the dude was determined to "shake it all about!"

I helped Christy out by making the invitations and party favors. I looked all over for some roller skating party invitation ideas, but came up without a one. So, I found a photo of some rollers skates online and used that as a template to make a pattern. I added some legwarmers with different neon papers and a cute pom. I probably would have gone with a bigger one, but the invitation still had to fit into the padded envelope. Remember the giant poms that had a jingle bell in them? Those were totally kickin'.

We saved money by using some of my decorations from my 80s prom party. We created a photo booth with balloons and mylar curtains from the party. (Note to self, blog about 80s prom party.)

Christy wanted to give out a party cd with rad tunes to all her guests, so the hubster made them for her and used a scan of the invite for the cd sleeve. I was super excited to find these pencil pouches at Target in tubular colors and knew I had to have them for the cds. Then, I saw the pencils and the candy and before I knew it, we had wicked party favors!

The roller rink referee/dj played the greatest big hair and new wave hits and everyone looked so fine in their 80s gear. It was a regular Breakfast Club: the prep, the stud, the valley girl, the Square Pegs and the Jersey girl (direct from New Jersey in all her rad Lita Fordness!) I put together an outfit complete with slouchy black suede-ish ankle boots, white leather studded belt, black legwarmers and fingerless lace gloves. I bought everything but the lace gloves, not in a thrift store, but at Target, on the shelf, brand new in 2009. That's scary. I also found some really cute Betsey Johnson jewelry and narrowed the choices down to the animal print cross necklace and animal print heart and bow dangle earrings. I had a pair of earrings very similar to those when I was in jr. high.

It was a laaaate night, well past curfew, but Christy pumped us up with Mountain Dew, Capri Sun, Fruit Rollups, Sushi (calling Molly Ringwald!), giant pickles in a jar (a la roller rink concession) and tons of delicious candy and snack cakes! I personally enjoyed a PB&J Uncrustable, a pickle, some California rolls, Capri Sun, a Mountain Dew and some Pop Rocks. Let's just say I ate like a bird the next day!

Happy 35th, Christy! You're like totally rad and 2 cute 2 be 4 gotten! LYLAS!

Fiesta Friday- Breakfast at Melly's

It’s about time for a Fiesta Friday! This time I thought I would share ideas from the slumber party I hosted for my sister and her bridesmaids. The theme was Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I wanted to have a fun, non-shower, casual, girls-only night for Leti and her bridesmaids to have a chance to get to know each other and give Leti a much needed break from wedding planning. One of Leti’s (and my) favorite actresses is Audrey Hepburn, so it seemed only fitting that we should have a private screening of the fabulous movie based on Truman Capote’s book, Breakfast at Tiffany’s! Has anyone read the book? As many times as I have seen the movie, I am embarrassed to say that I haven’t! (Note to self—must pick up a copy.)

The invitation to the pajama party had to be fabulous, of course (one of my party-planning rules!) So, I came up with a trivia quiz invitation. I put as many Breakfast at Tiffany’s-inspired items on the invitation and challenged all the girls to email me with the answers. I forgot to mention to Leti that she couldn’t play, so I got a quick response from her with all the answers! Although, I did stump her on a couple. Hee hee. See if you can catch all the answers to the clues.

Moving on…When I have a theme party, I want to go all out. I decided watching the movie on our regular-sized tv wouldn’t be spectacular enough. So, I did a bit of research and rented a projector unit that we could hook up to our DVD player. Then, I pinned a king-sized white sheet to my drapes, and threw a bunch of pillows and blankets on the floor. Instant home theater! It was rad! I watched Star Wars on the “big screen” the next day with my husband… AWESOME!

For snacks, I served Cokes, wine, popcorn (in popcorn boxes, of course), Cracker Jacks (you know why if you’re a die-hard Breakfast at Tiffany’s fan) and other movie theater candy-- Jr. Mints, please! One of the girls brought a stuffed pizza roll, which was yummy, too.

Of course, there are ALWAYS party favors! Each girl got a little Tiffany-blue canvas tote with her name on it stuffed with a little tiara from Claire’s, a strand of “pearls” and a giant diamond blinky ring from Party City tucked into a Tiffany-style box (also from Party City). They were a big hit! And, to top it off, I made a little scrapbook for Leti to insert pictures of the festivities into. (Another note to self—must print out pictures for Leti’s album!)

If you don’t have an ultra-swanky home theater, try my bed sheet and projector combo. Wouldn’t it be so cute for a little girls slumber party…a Hannah Montana Movie premiere party complete with sunglasses and boas and a red carpet from the front door to the screening room! And, remember to arm your little paparazzi with disposable cameras! Whatever movie you premier, make sure to bring the Milk Duds!

Update: Breakfast at Melly's was featured on Tip Junkie and Not Just a Mommy!  Thanks, chickadees!

Fiesta Fridays- My First Invitation

Welcome to the first installment of Fiesta Fridays. Today is all about invitations! If you know me, you know that making invitations is one of my favorite things to do. I could go on and on about them and have dozens of ideas, but we’ll just start with the first handmade invitation that I ever made. It was for a Christmas party and that probably doesn’t help you all that much this month, but maybe you can bookmark this post and come back to it in November!

Rewind to the first party I ever threw, that is, the first non-birthday, non-gift-related party. It was in the 3rd grade and it was the premier event of the holiday season…a caroling party. I created the invitations, made the guest list and planned the evening with the help of my gracious mom. After gobbling holiday snacks and sipping hot chocolate on a less than frosty night, we went caroling at everyone’s houses. Then, when we returned, we worked on a puzzle while we waited for the girls’ rides home. This was my first dalliance into the world of social event planning. I’m telling you, I love this stuff. I think the party was a success because caroling is a novel activity that most people in Houston never do (it may have something to do with the 90% humidity and 70 degree weather). Here is the glorious invitation that I created from scrap paper and crayons. As you can see, I omitted one of the most important details: the location. But, I did consider the girls’ safety and encouraged them to bring their flashlights. Seriously, chickadees, I was in 3rd grade! Please to enjoy…


So. Invitations. Basically they bring all the boys (and girls) to the yard. You may get some gracious guests to your party, after all, you are fabulous! But if your invitation is boring, chance are you won’t get any blown-away, uber-impressed, I’ll-just-die-if-I-can’t-go-to-this-party revelers (not a real word, I know). Formal printed invitations are lovely, fill-in invitations are quick and email invites can be cute and practical, but I think a fun handmade invitation really sets the scene for fabulosity. Sometimes, I follow a mailed invitation with a fun email a week before the event. That way, people can access the party location with their internet devices if they’ve forgotten their invitations on the way over. At any rate, handmade invitations rock, in my party book.

You don’t have to be an artist or designer. Just do a bit of brainstorming to come up with your theme and some fun ways to give your guests a taste of what’s to come. If you’re throwing a birthday party, call it a “Birthday Blow-out” instead and put some balloons in the invitation. If you’re throwing a Valentine dinner, call it “Hearts Afire” and tuck a tiny folded invitation inside a matchbox. You get the idea.

Back to the caroling party. You are free to copy my super fab caroling invitation circa 1981, or you can try one of the following that I came up with just for you. If you are going to pass out the invitations at your child’s school, print the info out on a sheet of paper and mount it on a sheet of Christmas music, roll it up, then tie it with a pretty ribbon. You can find an inexpensive Christmas music book and tear sheets out of it. My sheet music is from my piano days when I was little. The second photo shows a cute invitation that you can easily make and pass out to friends. Just buy some hot cocoa mix and some inexpensive mittens and stuff them into a cute Christmas bag with the party invitation. Voila! A fun, you-don’t-have-to-be-an-artist way to create a Come All Ye Faithful invitation!

You can easily adapt the last idea with other party themes. Just head on over to Party City or the dollar store or shop online at Oriental Trading Company to pick out some trinkets to toss into your goodie bag or box. Ooooo, here’s an idea—have a mystery party. Use brown lunch bags, make a plain party invitation on white paper (have everyone meet at your house so they don’t know the final destination) and throw in some trinkets to give the guests hints of the theme…white socks, little kids’ plastic bowls and a packet of relish…you’re throwing a bowling party and serving hotdogs! The possibilities are endless! Have fun!

This party was featured on Tip Junkie!

Angel Party Turns Ten!

This is the first of two posts about the Angel Party, an annual shindig I throw with friends each year to celebrate the holidays and collect gifts for a local nonprofit. This year was the 10th Anniversary of the party! In honor of the momentous occasion, I wanted to add a few new goodies. Here they are in all their heavenly glory!





I created this door sign with a pair of giant angel wings, some chipboard letters, gold glitter and beautimous gold ribbon. So simple and really gorgeous. I love how it turned out.





I decided to use a white theme for the Angel Party this year. These snowball table decorations were super easy with Styrofoam balls in various sizes, craft glue, fake snow and a little glitter. I used a red table cloth and silver and white ceramic serving dishes. I also scattered some "pearls" that my friends, Christy and Jenny pulled off of some Christmas berry floral pics.





The first time a guest attends the Angel Party, she is given a pair of wings in the form of a cute little brooch. Every year she returns, she gets a little gold star to add to her wings. This year, everyone who attended also got a little gold bell in honor of the tenth anniversary.





Another Angel Party tradition is the party favor that each angel leaves with at the end of the evening. Every year, I give everyone an angel ornament for their tree. Sometimes, the ornament has a spot to write "Angel Party" and the year on it. I bought these plaster ornaments and painted and glittered them myself. I wanted to keep a white theme this year, so I painted them in white and pearl paint and sprinkled pearl glitter on them. I think they are super cute!


Tune in for more Angel Party fun!