Simple Backyard Bridal Shower

A few weeks ago I threw my baby sister a bridal shower. The shower was a small lovely little affair that I did in my backyard. The party was simple and fairly easy to throw together. I just needed a few staple themes/items to make this simple backyard bridal shower dreamy and breezy.

I used lots of flowers and plants. There was an abundance of white dishes and serving ware. I raided my mason jar stash and used them for vases and for drinking glasses. I may or may not have had enough mix and match chairs to cover seating for all the guests. That is a lot of chairs. Insert blush here.

I went for a farm vintage look.

For a bridal shower, I am much more about the food than party games. In fact, there wasn't a single game played. It was simply a very ladylike lunch.

The Menu:

Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Homemade Pita Chips
Strawberry Soup
Mixed Salad
Lemon Water

Then of course there was this...

I made my very first naked cake. I loved how it turned out and it was SO yummy. It was a simple vanilla cake recipe and Swiss buttercream frosting with raspberry filling.

The bride-to-be was lovely. The afternoon was lovely. So basically everything was lovely.

Have I mentioned before that I love to throw parties? Well I do. Love.

Batman Birthday Party

Parties are my love language. Well how I speak in love language I guess. I love to throw parties for my boys. The older two are past the age our family does big old birthdays every year. However, the younger two still get parties. In fact, this year was Bean's very first friend party. He has had a First Birthday Fiesta, a BYU Football second birthday party, and a Dinosaur party last year. This year he requested to have a Batman Birthday Party.

Which was a little funny considering I am not sure really how in to Batman he is. No other party theme I threw at him would do though. So Batman it was.

One of my party decorating tricks is to pick a color theme that coordinates with the party theme and then to go crazy with it. I incorporate the colors in just about everything from patterns, food, and decorations. This year the colors were the traditional Batman colors black, gray, and yellow.

I even found this perfectly coordinating Batman doll.

PS Who really has thighs like that???

Anyway, I digress. I like feeding a simple lunch and easy snacks at a toddler party. Using food is not only an easy way to decorate, but serving lunch (or dinner) is a great activity for a party.

Another easy way to decorate a party is to add posters and tags. I made all of my posters and tags using  PicMonkey. I made the simple and modern Batman head graphic using only geometric overlays. Once I had the head the way I wanted it, I saved it and then could simply insert it within other tags and posters.

Lunch was simple. However, I served it in and on these cute lunch boxes and plates.

Wrapping the stem of a banana with washi tape may have been a little unnecessary, but I couldn't help myself.

After lunch, we had a few more activities. Like coloring.

Cape and mask wearing.

We had a bat-shaped pinata of course.

We also blew some bubbles.

Before we sent off our friends with a thank you bag, we ended our party with a simple, but delicious Batman cake.

This party was SO fun to pull together, but it was slightly exhausting. Which honestly is why I have yet to throw my other March birthday boy a party. I still owe him one. Oops.

Here are the things I made--

Posters and Tags

Pinata

Cityscape Background

Chocolate-covered Oreos

Batman Capes

Tutus

Cake

What I purchased--

Batman- Walmart

Batman Masks- Walmart

Bubble Wands- Walmart

Balloons, Paper Fans, Tissue Balls, Honeycombs- Zurchers

Paper Plates, Napkins, Straws- Zurchers

Treat Cups- Zurchers

Plastic Cake Stands (spray-painted black)- Zurchers

Letters- Michaels

Fabric Banners- Michaels

Lunch Boxes- Hobby Lobby

Wrapping Paper (used as table runner)-Hobby Lobby

Milk Jar Glasses- Hobby Lobby

Mother's Garden Lunch

A few weeks ago, you know back when school was still in and the kids were occupied 6 hours of the day, I threw a little lunch for a few moms. A little way for us to enjoy that last day of peace.

My favorite way to decorate for something simple like this is to use 80% of what I have on hand and 20% bought. Those statistics are totally legit. You know what they say about stats you find on the internet.

But seriously, it is the best way to throw something together.

I used a combination of my dishes. I know you are all shocked that my dishes are all white. I pulled out my dining chairs and mixed them with my favorite folding chairs. Mason jars, white serving dishes, mixed-matched silverware, and a giant piece of fabric rounded out the decorations that I already had.

I basically just added some flowers.

Some of them I was even able to plant in planters on my front porch.

We had a light lunch.

There was lemon infused water, chicken salad sandwiches, and homemade pita chips.

Good lunch. Good friends. Good times. It was a good way to say hello to Summer.

We will probably have to do it again.

End of School Pizza Party

“This post is part of a social shopper marketing insight campaign with Pollinate Media Group® and TONY’S® Pizza, but all my opinions are my own. #pmedia #BigPizzeriaTaste http://my-disclosur.es/OBsstV”

School's out for the Summer, well for us it is almost out. We have 8 days left, but then who is counting. The end of the school year calls for a celebration.

This year we decided to throw ourselves a little pizza party.

An Hasta La Pizza School party. Oh gosh. I kill myself. After I laughed at how clever I was, I went to work making posters and decorations for our end of school pizza party.

Download HERE

If one is having a pizza party, one must have pizza.

When you have four boys with bottomless pits for stomachs, you have to have good pizza that is affordable. Good news for me is that TONY's®  Pizza is now 30% larger, comes in a variety of yummy crowd pleasing flavors, and they are super affordable.

I ran over to Walmart and I picked up a few of our favorite flavors of Tony's Pizza. We cooked them up and set them out to start our pizza party.

To make our party all fun with very little clean up necessary, I laid out butcher paper and served the pizza right on top of it. I labeled the butcher paper with which kind of pizza was on the menu.
  

 

Even the drinks were served up easy in paper cups with paper straws.

We can't forget the decorations. You all know how I like a good coordinated party. So to go with our pizza I made up pizza decorations.

A simple pizza banner.

I whipped up these banners using PicMonkey.

If you are feeling the urge to throw your kiddos an Hasta La Pizza School party, I have made this little pizza banner print out for you to use.

Download HERE

I also made up some invitations just in case you want to invite the whole neighborhood.

Download HERE

Time to load up the plates with all the yummy pizza. All that authentic pizzeria taste, made with real cheese, and lovely herby tomato sauce piled on a plate. My boys love pizza.

I completely lost track of how many pieces they each ate.

 

Pizza is always a good idea. Especially for a celebration. You can use these printables to throw your own Hasta La Pizza School pizza party. You can also load up with a COUPON for Tony's Pizzas: SAVE $.75 off of any TWO (2) Tony's Pizza (14.14 oz. or larger). The Walmart digital coupon is available until 6/30/15. (While supplies last)