a black and white shower for baby meyers.

this past saturday, my mom and sister threw baby meyers a sweet little backyard baby shower. the quite-possibly-most-un-baby-showerest-baby-shower ever. which, is precisely what i wanted seeing as how im just not into the typical baby shower routine. 

as always, my family never disappoints there was no pink and blue, no baby decor, no silly games, and no long, awkward present opening. since we dont know babys gender (and this is me were talking about) the theme for the party was black and white, with the main decor throughout the party being fabric buntings: 

square tablecloths, and dainty little flower arrangements (which my sister put together entirely from things that were recycled/from the local salvage fabric store): 

it was all so cute and perfect but also really simple and not distracting from the really important part of the party (the part that i, the pregnant woman, really cared about): the food. remember how my mom works at an olive oil store? (in case you didnt and you live in the los angeles area you really need to check it out), for drinks there was a sparkling water bar with fruit and flavored balsamic vinegars to make custom sodas: 

and a popcorn bar with assorted olive oils and fancy salts: 

(yes, we totally did the exact same thing at my birthday party, but the make your own fancy popcorn is ALWAYS a hit)

then once all the guests had arrived, we had lunch. which, again because this was me were talking about, was pizza. but keeping with the "make your own food" theme that kind of happened, it was build your own pizzas. my mom had par-baked a huge batch of individually sized crusts (and bought a few pre-made gluten free crusts for the few of us that required them), put out a huge spread of toppings: 

and then (why oh whyyyyyy do i not have a picture of this part?) GRILLED THEM ON THE FIRE PIT. as far as parties at my moms house go (which, are typically some very high quality parties) this was probably the best food to ever happen at one. 

since lunch was pretty exciting/ambitious, dessert was really simple, just cupcakes, BUT im putting this here to draw attention to the little flags: that i designed on illustrator to match the invitations even though it was really really hard to do without some kind of template:

ok, and i kind of lied about there being no activities. there was one activity. there was a gender pool, which my sister set up in the cutest way possible: 

heres how it worked: for $5 guests could place a bet on what gender baby meyers would be (hence the two jars, one for girl bets and one for boy bets), the bet slips also had a spot to fill in babys weight, and whoever guesses the correct gender AND weight (without going over, price is right rules over here), wins all the money bet on that gender. losing bets go to the house (in which case, is us and our soon to be endless need of diapers). 

now, i dont have much of an inclination (or preference, honestly) about this babys gender, so it was pretty amusing watching everyone discuss their theories about what the baby is and why, but... it DOES seem like the majority of the votes went into the "boy" jar: 

so, well just have to see about that. 

now, OF COURSE as soon as people started showing up i started to get super overwhelmed and distracted (it was hot, im nine months pregnant and i dont do well with parties, ok?), and i dont have any pictures of our guests enjoying the party (this is precisely why i am not an event photographer or professional journalist of any kind). BUT i do have some new family portraits of the three of us: 

and a few snapshots i stole from a variety of instagrams: 

via @mrswhitecandlesticklibrary

via @em.aee

via @sandsink

even thought the shower itself was short and sweet and mellow and fun, it was exhausting. but in the end, i (well, we) are very, very thankful. for my mom and sister for all the work they did to throw and host the shower, for all the friends and family (especially those that came from far away) who came to celebrate, and for the kindness and generosity that resulted in literally 908 diapers (among other gifts both thoughtful and practical):

ok baby, NOW you can be born...

easy diy weeping angels.

youre probably aware by now that i had a totally rad dr who themed birthday party last weekend. and whats a dr who party without some (fake, thank GOODNESS) webbing angels hanging around to scare the bejezzus out of everyone? not much of a dr who party ad all, if you ask me...

anyway, fellow whovian party planners may or may not have seen this incredible tutorial using barbies and stone texture spray paint. its amazing. and also, really really time consuming and potentially very expensive if you dont already have all those supplies just lying around. (if you havent seen the tutorial though, go take a look, its not one to be missed). 

now, i am way, way too broke and lazy to deal with that involved of a project. so i came up with my own cheaper, faster, easier, and still freaking terrifying alternative:

heres what you need: 

1. assorted angel tchotchkes (note: these are surprisingly difficult to find seeing as folks tend to collect them and not get rid of them, so be prepared to spend some time looking for them. though i did find what i needed at a fairly large thrift store)

2. krylon natural stone spray paint (available at craft and hardware stores, i made five weeping angels without using up a whole can, so you dont need a lot)

3. paper and tape to mask off a safe area for overspray (very important)

heres what you do:

step 1: pick a nice sunny spot outside and tape down some paper to protect everything around you from overspray (do NOT make my mistake of picking a spot in the shade because you think it will make the project more comfortable, because all it will do is make your angels take for-freaking-ever to dry):

step 2: thoroughly coat your angels with the spray. please note that the stone spray is a lot less like paint and a lot more like stuff with bits in it so make sure to turn your pieces upside down, spray the underside first, THEN turn them over and spray from the top:

step 3: let your angels dry for at least fifteen minutes in the sun (guess how many tries it took me to figure that one out...), before going back to fill in the nooks and crannies. dont worry about the paint getting thick, lumpy or drippy though, it just adds to the effect. 

step 4: let them dry (again IN. THE. SUN.) for a couple more hours until the stone finish fully hardens, and then YOURE DONE!

wasnt that easy? 

im really happy with how these came out, and i got a LOT of compliments about them at the party. mainly im happy that i got to still have my weeping angels for about $15 and an hour, instead of spending who knows how much on an all day project. 

please let me know if you try this out, id love to see what you make!

(p.s. this post was not sponsored in any way by krylon it just so happens that they make the only stone type spray paint i could find) 

a dr who grown up birthday party (hosted by bluff cove olive oil).

saturday night we FINALLY got around to officially celebrating my birthday. i say FINALLY not because the party was scheduled for a week after my actual birthday, but because ive kind of wanted to throw this party for, i dont know, about two years. 

i wanted to throw myself a birthday party. a fancy birthday party. for grown ups. with wine and cheese (but mostly just cheese) and tiny desserts and one heck of a theme. oh, and costumes. because a grown up wine and cheese party just isnt complete without costumes. 

like i said, id been mulling over ideas for this party for a long, long, long time. things just werent really right around my last two birthdays to pull it off. but this year, the stars and planets perfectly aligned so that when my mom asked me last month what i wanted to do for my birthday, i knew. 

we were going to throw the best damn dr who themed cheese party that was ever thrown. 

(assuming it wasnt the only dr who themed cheese party that was ever thrown, which it very well may have been)

within minutes i had basically all of the details worked out, what we would eat, drink, wear, etc., but what i didnt have immediately was a location. our apartment was DEFINITELY out because its tiny and gross and ugly, and my moms house is cool but, you know, every party ever is at my moms house. but then something amazing happened: the incredible jessica over at bluff cove olive oil generously offered to let us use the shop for the party. 

and it. was. perfect. 

I'm sure having a party at a store sounds totally weird and impractical but since bluff cove is a food store, it was already perfectly equipped: plenty of tables and chairs, multiple places to sit, and millions of olive oils and vinegars on which to base the menu. 

oh, and the stores already super cute, so i barely had to decorate. which was awesome because you probably know by now that decorating is NOT my thing. aside from the food (which in my opinion is the MOST important and attractive part of a partys ambiance), all i did for decor was display some dr who themed prints by nan lawson (that i bought at renegade):

and some homemade weeping angels so that everyone could be terrified (ill be posting a tutorial for these very soon):

(plus roses because i needed flowers AND WHAT FLOWER IS MORE APPROPRIATE THAN ROSES?!?!?!)

and then there were the costumes. ive realized recently that were slowly turning into one of those elaborate family cosplay families, which on the one hand is kind of embarrassing and makes it difficult to make friends with normal people (because its still widely believed that cosplay is for children/weirdos), but on the other hand, its super awesome. anyway, james dressed up as the war doctor, partly because hes the only doctor with a beard and partly because thats the doctor he relates too the most (correct me if im wrong, james, if you end up reading this), and i dressed as (bespectacled, hair inaccurate) clara oswald, because "impossible girl"? yeah, thats me. (even if clara is definitely not my most favorite companion). i think our outfits came out pretty great:

especially james. especially because the ONLY part of the outfit we bought/made were the gaiters. but my pride in our outfits was paled in comparison to the TINIEST. ROSE. TYLER. EVER:

but of course, as soon as i start feeling really good about our costumes, my friends shannon and stacie (cosplayers extaordinaire and purveyors of fine screen printed goods) showed up... and... well:

but enough about aesthetics. lets get to the important part. the food. 

my budget for the party was basically "whatever money i got for my birthday", and since almost everything we needed could be rounded up between stuff my mom and i already had. i spent basically that entire budget on cheese:

fifteen different varieties, to be exact (thanks trader joes!). all labeled with tiny little flags (thanks target $1 section!):

now, obviously i would have been thoroughly satisfied with just having cheese and crackers, but since there would be other people involved (some of which are lactose intolerant), we also had hummus, bread, fruit, olives, etc:

and to make sure that we took FULL advantage of being in a store full of flavored olive oil, we set up a little popcorn bar. with plain popcorn so that everyone could make their own special flavor (though mine will always and forever be truffle):

and in addition to the cheap peach wine and whisky (plus assorted beverages our friends that dont have such juvenile taste in alcohol brought) we stocked WAY up on mineral water to make vinegar sodas. remind me to do a post about vinegar sodas. because if you dont know about vinegar sodas you are missing out. 

and for dessert, we (obviously) had fish custard:

(pudding topped with swedish fish)

and adipose:

(freakishly huge marshmallows with faces)

it was a great party. so great, in fact, that i totally forgot about how i had set up my tripod (and even remembered to bring my shutter remote!) to take pictures of everyone that came. we were just all having such a great time that it really didnt make sense to interrupt several hours of this:

for pictures, you know? 

and with all that said, i just want to take a minute to say HUGE thank yous to everyone who helped make this magical party happened: especially my mom and james for helping with all the prep and shopping, and jessica at bluff cove for letting us use the shop, but also to all the friends (old and new) and family that came to hang out, the friends and family that couldnt make it but still took the time to make me feel super special. 25 has been pretty great so far. 

alices vintage star wars party.

on sunday, alice turned three. so obviously we threw her a party. on saturday. because saturday is a little more convenient and (also obviously) we wanted to spend sunday at disneyland and thats just how we roll. 

so yeah, birthday party. 

this year it was a little tricky to pick a theme, seeing as alice IS old enough to have interests and preferences (as in, now she has tons of friends and likes to play outside so the party HAD to be at a park), but shes NOT old enough to understand the gravity of picking a birthday party theme. wed ask her about all the different things she likes, "do you want a princess party? a my little pony party? an alice in wonderland party? a dr who party? a dinosaur party? a harry potter party?" and the answer was always "yes". 

so james and i agreed on star wars (disclaimer, alice DOES love star wars, and science fiction/fantasy in general), but since star wars is a pretty standard party theme (and i refuse to acknowledge the existence of prequel films), we went with a vintage star wars theme. 

because it was at the park (and we had QUITE an extensive guest list) we kept things simple with just treats and a piñata. i got a plain cake from costco, made pretzel lightsabers (which, by the way, is incredibly difficult without a microwave), and my brother just so happened to have a nice selection of actual vintage star wars toys to use for table decor:

oh, and there was the very, very important, not at all negotiable even though it was way expensive custom death star piñata: 

(sidenote: continuing last years tradition of birthday dress fiascos, i accidentally made alices dress WAY too big and had i had to make serious alterations the morning of the party, but thankfully no one noticed)

honestly since the majority of the kids at the party were preschool age, i was NOT expecting the party to last very long, but a friend brought some pool noodle lightsabers to share, and all the kids spent a good half hour playing contently with them:

 and totally ditching the party to go play on the playground:

but dont worry, everybody came back when we started painting cookies:

cookie painting was my moms idea, i had already bought these (also embarrassingly expensive) cookie cutters for the party: 

and with just a few jars of icing and a pack of paintbrushes, they were instantly transformed from just a snack into a super fun activity that all of the kids LOVED. seriously, my mom knows whats up: if youre having a party with lots of kids, cookie painting will always be a hit (thanks mom!). 

obviously since we had cookies, we were also going to need some milk to go with them. and whats a star wars party without BANTHA MILK!!!!

(pause for the like three people who know what im talking about appreciate what i just said)

after cookies and milk it was time to smash that piñata: 

sing happy birthday:

(btw, alice was SUCH a good sport about pretending to blow out the candles like six times so i could get a nice picture. i like her.)

and opening presents:

overall, this was a MUCH mellower party than last year (even though there WAS a similar jamess work fiasco for the two weeks prior to the party AND it was way too hot), despite the fact that there were about five times as many kids, which was totally awesome. and i dont think any of us could have been happier with how it turned out. 

especially alice, and thats what really matters. 

7 tips for throwing an awesome theme party on a budget.

honestly, i thought id be back to a (somewhat) regular writing schedule once school settled down (which it did a couple weeks ago), BUT it just so happened that finally settling into a school routine coincided perfectly with the craziness that goes along with planning/executing alices birthday party. and while i really, really do want to show you what ive been working on for alices party, i figured it would be best to wait until the official party post to share. 

instead, today i want to talk about throwing an awesome theme party on a budget. because, thats kind of my thing. i like to think of myself as somewhat of an expert in this department (not nearly as much as an expert as my mom, but shes thrown about 71 more kids birthday parties than i have so....), and really, whats not to love here? i mean, who doesnt love an awesome party? (actually, ive recently learned that there are some moms who really like to talk crap about the moms that throw theme parties but obviously i dont write this blog for them) but obviously not everyone has the budget to go all out with a pro party planner and everything (though if you do, i totally know one)

so without any further ado, here are a few of my (tried and true) tips to save a little $$$ on your party budget, without sacrificing an ounce of awesome. 

1. stick with re-usable decor. preferably things you already own. first off (obviously) buying new, disposable decor is basically just buying things to throw away almost immediately. might as well just be throwing away dollar bills while your at it. secondly, tablecloths, cake stands, platters, vases, etc. all look a million percent better when theyre the real deal. now you have two options here: utilizing things you already own, or investing a little more money in some reusable party decor. either way, your party will not only look more put together, youll also save yourself some money (either right away or in the long run). oh and youll also save yourself TONS of shopping time for when the next party rolls around. 

2. just skip the themed paper goods. i know the first place your mind goes with a theme party is to get the plates and cups and napkins and whatever to go with that particular theme. dont do it. just dont. theyre expensive, and theyre just going to be used for a minute and thrown right away. im going to be completely blunt here: paper plates are just glorified trash. you can get a bulk pack of plain dessert plates or napkins at smart and final for the same price as one little pack of hello kitty napkins, and nobody will care. i promise. 

3. schedule your party to avoid mealtime. think about it: if the party isnt at lunch (or dinner) time, you dont have to serve lunch (or dinner), and you can get away with just serving snacks. this not only cuts your food budget WAAAYYY down, but also keeps the party brief (majorly important when small children are involved), AND makes cute table set ups even easier. a win-win-win all around. 

4. cut your menu options in half. yes, literally half. if you were thinking "snacks and desserts" just do dessert. if you were thinking "hotdogs and hamburgers" just pick one. this saves you money by allowing you to buy fewer things in bulk, gives you less things to deal with on party day, and saves you from having to throw out that watermelon or veggie tray that nobody touched and nobody wants because it was left out in the sun all day. 

5. free printables. seriously, whatever theme you had in mind, the internet has millions of free printables for it. basically ALL of the decor for alices adventure time party last year was free printables. banners, tags, labels, games, all of that you can find as a free printable. 

6. diy your invitations. and no, you dont have to be a graphic design wunderkind to do this and still have it look great. last year i bought a custom invitation graphic on etsy for like $10, and got them printed at target (with a photo lab coupon, obviously), and paid a grand total of $14 for all of her invitations. this year i was a little braver and designed her invites in the a beautiful mess app, got them printed at target, and spent just under $7, for WAY more invitations than we bought last year. also, if youre not as old-school as i am, emailing invites is completely free. 

7. ditch the goodie bags. im sure theres some old outdated etiquette rule that says when you invite someone to a party you HAVE to give them a gift in return or else YOU ARE A HORRIBLE PERSON THAT HAS NO BUSINESS THROWING PARTIES. but lets be real here, unless youve got an idea for a favor that actually has some kind of use beyond the party itself (last year for alice i used free printables to design adventure time buttons, but no favors were involved in her first birthday or this one), that baggie filled with stickers and fruit snacks and a whistle is going to be eaten/lost/in the trash within the day. 

these are just a few of the tricks that ive used to keep all of alices parties on budget, without looking/feeling like were skimping on anything. 

i want to know, do you have any great tips for saving money on parties? let me know in the comments!6