Archive

November 2010

Browsing
Thanksgiving is only 6 days away! 
I’ve been seeing a lot of great sources for 
Thanksgiving inspiration out in the blogosphere,
so I thought I’d share some of those sources with you. 
Everything you see here is something you can do in the next couple of days for little cost. 
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Printables
I love printables. I love how they are a fantastic way to pull together the look of a party with little cost and not too significant amount of time. I’ve found a TON of fantastic printables available on-line. 
I’ve picked some of my favorites to share with you.
Image Via At Second Street Blog
  This adorable banner is a made by with FREE printables from At Second Street. Not only are the printables available to you for free, but there is also a step by step tutorial. If you have all of the supplies on hand you can make this banner in about 20 minutes for free. 
Image via Hostess with the Mostess
This modern collection is one of my favorite collections out there. 
Not only is it a fantastically fun design it also is for a good cause. 
This HWTM “Grateful Mod” collection is available for free download on the HWTM site. 
Please note that while this collection is free for download it was created to in honor of Operation Give Thanks with the overall goal of benefiting military families. 
Please consider making an on-line donation if you decide to download this collection. 
Image Via Catch My Party
 Beautiful FREE printables featured on Catch My Party Blog and designed by Lindi of Love the Day. I just keep thinking about how gorgeous this set would look on the Thanksgiving table this year!
Image Via Smitten Blog
These adorable party circles are part of a FREE printable collection from the Smitten Blog. I think the little owls would look great on a kid’s table and the rest would give a mod edge to the adult table. 
Great Ideas
I’ve seen so many amazing tablescapes, dessert tables, kids tables and more while 
searching the web for Thanksgiving ideas. Here are a few of my favorite.  
Image via Hostess with the Mostess
 I really liked the look of this modern Thanksgiving table by Enchanted Events & Design featured on Hostess with the Mostess. But, what I liked even more? The place cards! From the post, “The place cards are actually envelopes that I tied to the back of each of the chairs with a ribbon. I attached each person’s name to the envelope in a cutout to match the menus. These serve a dual purpose as a place card and also as a Thanksgiving activity: Each guest is given some blank cards (one for each of the other guests). They can then write a brief little note of thanks and love to each of the other guests and place it in the corresponding envelopes (like a Valentine). At the end of the meal each person gets an envelope full of wonderful notes from their friends and/or family.”
Image via Entertain Exchange
Entertain Exchange featured a fabulous Thanksgiving table created by Maria Cooke of the Ritzy Bee Blog – designed for Southern Living Magazine
The whole look of the table was crisp, clean and inviting. 
The “favors” were really fantastic though. Since everyone wants to take home something from the meal leftover boxes make a great favor. Tied with a ribbon and stamped with the same silverware motif that is featured in the party these boxes are sure to be a hit. 
Oh, and the little tag reads, “I’m thankful for leftovers.” LOVE IT!  
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I hope you found something that inspires you for this year’s festivities! 

As promised here are some photos from my most recent party “Baby, Welcome to the Circus.” I had a lot of fun planning this party with my friend Jesse. She helped take care of all the activity details and spent several hours helping me prepare all the printables for the party. I really think this theme would be a lot of fun for a Look and See or birthday, as well as for the baby shower.

I thought the phrase, “Baby, Welcome to the Circus” tied together the circus theme with a baby meeting our fun, crazy world perfectly. We were on a very restricted budget (the holidays are on the way!) so nearly everything had to be DIY or super inexpensive. We used several rolls of crepe paper streamers, printables and a couple of choice purchases.

The sweets table had a few different, fun options for our guests. (I felt a little bad about the parents of our littlest guests because they got sugared up!) The sweets table had funfetti cake pops, cupcakes, animal cookies, cotton candy balls and popcorn.
These adorable bags were purchased from Shop Sweet Lulu. 
They turned out to be SO cute and was at my house exactly 1 week after ordering them!

The Drink station was a small bar area with pink lemonade and water bottles. We served margaritas in the kitchen for those drinking adult beverages. The striped straws were purchase at Shop Sweet Lulu and Powell’s Books. We attached printable flags on the straws to give them an extra special touch.

Then there was the FOOD! Yum! 
A local chef—just starting out with catering on his own— provided a DELICIOUS spread of food. If you live in the Portland area and are interested in hiring this fabulous new caterer just e-mail me at jenni@awellcraftedparty.com and I’ll pass you along!

The guest of honor had fun playing all the games and enjoying the array of delish food. 
Playing “Makin’ A Baby” Game

Sorry that I’ve been gone so long! I have a ton of new stuff coming for future posts just have to find the time to get it all in. Before rushing off to work this morning I wanted to give you a sneak peek into the newest Real Party feature that will be up later this week. The circus themed baby shower was a sweet little shower with fun printable details and a TON of streamers.

Sugar rimmed glasses with paper straws

It isn’t a circus without POPCORN!

Okay, off to work I go! Check back later this week for more photos of this party, 
a fall inspiration board and…. 
FREE Thanksgiving themed printables!