More Themed Party Ideas

After I had to exclude so many great themes for my birthday party, because I have already been to or thrown these parties, I spent the past night online doing research on what other creative blogging people have done in terms of themed parties and here are my favourites so far:

Superheros – inspired by this great kid party by SugarSweet, but I could also imagine a great adult version of the theme, e.g. dressing up as your childhood hero

 

1920s – inspired by these wonderful girls , ahhhh, those hats, those lips, and those dresses – how chic, I think the 20s are my favourite past decade in terms of style, music and attitude

Circus – inspired by this Taschen book cover, I think cotton candy, popcorn, sequins everywhere, ballerina skirts...

 

James Bond – my all-time favourite movies, especially the ones with Sean Connery and the latest ones with Daniel Craig, their 50^th anniversary would be a great reason to use it as a party theme and there is nothing more glamorous than men in tuxedos and girls in golden bikinis J I am really inspired by Naomi’s party theme

 

Pirates – ever since I have been to a little girl’s birthday party with this amazing home-made pirate ship cake, I wanted  a party with eye patches and bare feet, with wooden swords and fake rum myself as well.  

What do you think? Any favourites of yours? Any great themed parties you have thrown or been to?

Themed Party Ideas

What makes me happy? Starting to plan a new party right after having cleaned up the mess of the precious one ;-) Seriously!!!

Well, maybe this is partly due to the fact that I haven’t thrown or been to a lot of parties since I had the little one.  But that is about to change.

Currently I am planning a big party for my birthday in February. Not because it is a special birthday. Just an ordinary 37^th birthday.

At the moment all I know is that...

... I want an all-adult party, so the grandparents are booked to take the little one overnight...

... I want to have lots of friends around me – both old and new ones...

... and I want a themed party with dressing up and motto decorations.

What the theme is, you ask? Oh well, that is a difficult question.

I have already been to a number of great themed parties. Especially in Australia people are very creative and enthusiastic about them, I have to say ;-) And I certainly do not want to repeat a theme.

I have been to a Bad Taste Party – very, very funny, but unfortunately:  I have been there, I have done that.

I have been to several Wig Parties – hilarious, but only if it is not too hot. These wigs otherwise kill you and your fancy make-up ;-)

I have been to a Sea Life Party – with male and female mermaids, pirates and odd sea monsters.

I have been to a Cowboys and Indians Party – where we all square-danced in the end.

I have been to a White Party for my friend’s hen’s night.

I have thrown a Breakfast at Tiffany’s – including turquoise petit fours and huge diamonds on the tables.

 

I have invited my guests to a Las Vegas Gambling Night – with big bucks and low lights and someone who actually stole the highest coupon.

We threw an Australia Party for our friends before moving to Melbourne.

 

My overall highlight was a Mafia Party which we have thrown for my husband’s 30^th birthday. Too many highlights to mention them all, but I just say 17 men with hats, a nun, lots of fake money and a shot man singing karaoke and a lot of other dubious folks.

Wow! I have to admit I have been to more great themed parties than I initially remembered. But after having gone through all the photos of the past few years, I have to say. A lot of great themes are already out of the race for my birthday theme ;-(

I guess I have to immerse myself into other people’s parties and steal some great ideas!

Quick & Easy NYE Decorations

I promised you a more detailed report of my freneticdecoration craze so here it comes ;-)

On December 30^th it suddenly began to dawn on me that the next day was NYE... and we were having a party...  at our place... and I had prepared absolutely nothing in terms of decorations.

ARGGGGHHHH!!!

No problem one might say, but I love party decorations.

I think they are vital for setting a party mood. For making guests feel special and welcomed. For getting the fun and the party started. For lifting all spirits especially on a slightly difficult night like NYE on which not only a few people feel a bit depressed due to the whole review and resolutions thing.

I would spend hours, days and weeks planning party decorations. And I could easily spend a fortune on decorations for one night only. And here I was, with no plan, no clue and no possibility to shop (it was Sunday and we still have the lovely tradition of one shopping-free day per week).

ARGGGGHHHHH!!!

After I stopped beating myself up and thought of all the good reasons for having more important things on my mind than party decorations (a number of Christmas parties, family Christmas in two cities, a flight with a toddler in between the two Christmases, lots of small and big presents to make and buy, my usual hurray-I-am-on-annual-leave-tonsillitis, my husband moving back to Berlin, a birthday party of a very good friend...), I started to get through my boxes and drawers... and I found pink. Lots of pink. I am not exaggerating. I found pink EVERYWHERE. And so I decided to make it a think pink NYE.

I made a few lucky bags out of pink paper and silver stickers...

... and filled them with little lucky symbols which I found around the house...

... a felt heart for love, a band aid for health, a shell for a journey, a piglet for luck, a cent for money,  paper clip for success, a balloon for fun and antlers for courage (I know, but I was running out of lucky symbols ;-))

Plus I cut out 2012 from plain paper and wrapped it around pink tea light holder...

... and blew up all the pink balloons I could find and hung them up...

... and I filled all my silver Christmas ornaments in glass vases of all sizes and shapes.

 

For the table decoration I stamped a pink 2013 on plain white napkins...

... threw a few small disco balls and used a piece of unhemmed fabric as table runner...

... put silver plates and pink tea light holder on the middle of the table. E voila!

Not too bad, but...

Quick – 2 hours max

Easy – no special skills needed at all and a colour-scheme really makes your life easier (I know I sound like a wedding planner ;-))

Cheap – if you have a helplessly overstocked decoration and crafting department like me :-)

So, now I can think about a new party, just to try out some new decorations and buy more glittering stuff ;-)

Happy Sunday!

Christmas Review

I know, I haven’t told you a thing about Christmas. It is always such an exciting build up until the BIG DAY and then... nothing. Well, not nothing, in our case it is more... relaxing... playing with new toys... reading new books...doing nothing...for once.

We did have a wonderful Christmas though. One with one family on Christmas Eve and the other one on Boxing Day with the other family! We had great food, beautiful presents and the little one was overwhelmed by the attention of the extended family, by all the presents and all the Christmas traditions:

The baby in the Kripperl

Our bad taste Christmas Tree Ornament competition

The nativity play at church with girls in white dresses and golden headbands as angels

The waiting for the Christkind (baby Christ brings the presents in southern Germany, not Santa, who is responsible for the north of Germany. You see, job sharing does work!)

The cramming of all the wrapping paper under the table

You see a lot to digest for a 2.5 year old. Nevertheless, I think it was the best Christmas ever. For her. For us.

Forget about baby’s first Christmas. The babies are just too small to see anything but maybe the lights. They are too tiny to understand anything of the Christmas magic. So, please leave them alone with Santa or presents or photos or Christmas trees ;-). Because that is all very frightening. All they care about is their usual milk and a clean nappy and somewhere quiet to sleep (maybe mum’s or dad’s belly?).

The year after the babies are starting to see more and understand more, but still it is all very confusing and way too much to cope with. So there is a lot of crying, bumping into Christmas trees, sitting on presents instead of opening them and all of that in the presence of a hundred burning candles. No fun, I can tell you ;-)

This year, however, it was fun. And it was magic. And exciting. And it was not frightening at all. Therefore the little one asked on Boxing Day: ‘When is Christmas again?’

Happy New Year!

Dearest readers,

I wish you all a very happy, healthy, successful, exciting and relaxing

We had a wonderful start of the year with some of our nearest and dearest friends!

 

 

Great food! Good music! Fireworks all around us. What else can you want? Well, maybe pink decorations. I will tell you a bit more about my frenetic decoration craze on December 30^th soon ;-) But for now, have a wonderful evening! And an even better New Year!

St.Martin’s Day

On Friday it is St.Martin’s Day. I know most of you won’t be familiar with this celebration. It is a very German thing, I thought, but after reading this I think it is a very European thing.

Anyway, in Germany it is not a super-duper important celebration either, except for Kindergarten kids. I still remember the excitement I felt when I was little. You crafted lanterns at Kindergarten before, and then you were allowed to go out at dark and run around with your friends (and parents). Sometimes there was even St.Martin himself on his horse accompanying the lantern procession. One lantern or other would always go up in flames. And in the end you got hot chocolate and a cookie. Kids adventure pure.

Now my little one is about to celebrate her first St.Martin’s Day. I am not sure whether she is ready for the whole adventure, but I cannot wait ;-). A few things seem to have changed in the past 35 years, however. First of all the lanterns are not crafted at Kindergarten anymore (or maybe just with children who are already able to either use scissors or a glue stick). Also candles are not allowed due to security reasons. You have to use LED-lights nowadays, so I guess the going-up-in-flames bit won’t happen anymore. I just hope St.Martin shows up, otherwise I will need a double shot of hot chocolate to overcome my disappointment ;-).

Anyway, since I have been raised with a new self-made lantern every year of my childhood, I just couldn’t buy a lantern for my little one. I had to make one. Since she is only 1,5 years, she wasn’t a great help, but she did pick up the waxed paper from my stash ;-)

I started off with a cheese box (as you do ;-)) and then just added waxed paper and some dollies (basically to cover the bottom bit since I didn’t had enough waxed paper and I didn’t want the cheese box to be visible). It is a bit more girly than I would normally like, but somehow I was in a sweet mood. And I guess it makes up for the lack of girly clothing on my little one. Maybe people then recognize that she is a girl even if she wears jeans and neutral colors day in and out.  And I cherish the years that I can get away without a Princess Lilifee lantern. Maybe it is just this year anyway ;-)

Ahhh, I cannot wait for Friday!

A Double Baby Shower – The Day

Today we had N.’s twin baby shower. It was a wonderful, relaxed celebration. The sun was shining – despite predicted thunder storms. The twin-mum-to-be and the guest were all in a great mood. Kids were running around in the yard. We had a picnic with lots of yummy food.

We had bright decorations in pink and turquoise...

... and snowflakes on our cups (made from a snowflake punch and white address stickers).

I managed to finish my little photo albums in time:

We had a book full of great tips from experienced mums and lots of help vouchers, e.g. for home-cooked food, baby-sitting for half an hour so that mum can take a bath ...

...plus the bath salt for the relaxation bath.

In short – it was a great day!

A Double Baby Shower – Food

I love parties! I love to go to parties! I love to throw them! I think there are many things to celebrate, not only birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas and Easter. Therefore I now dedicated my Friday posts to parties: to creative party invitations, to easy-to-make party food, to party decorations that make all the difference...  I hope you feel inspired by the festive atmosphere on Fridays and celebrate many small and big events.

Party food for a baby shower? Piece of cake was my first reactions. Cupcakes, sweet fruits, iced or hot chocolate...

... aehm, but never say easy too early. The mum-of-twins-to-be was diagnosed with gestational diabetes  last week. Which means no fast carbohydrate for her. Which means no sugar, no white flour, very little wholegrain pasta, no sweet fruits... actually at first sight nothing which you really enjoy eating :-(

Uhmmm, first I was clueless what to offer her on her own baby shower, but then the girls and I got together and worked on a gestational diabetes menu. Sounds horrible, but I am pretty sure it will taste very yummy.

Here is what we are going to have:

picture found here

Sticks and dips

picture found here

Mini meatballs

picture found here

Fruit crumble (with wholegrain crumble)

picture found here

Orange-fennel-salad

If you think about it and do some research for appropriate recipes, it isn’t that hard ;-)

A Double Baby Shower– Inspiration

I love parties! I love to go to parties! I love to throw them! I think there are many things to celebrate, not only birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas and Easter. Therefore I now dedicated my Friday posts to parties: to creative party invitations, to easy-to-make party food, to party decorations that make all the difference...  I hope you feel inspired by the festive atmosphere on Fridays and celebrate many small and big events.

My friend N. is expecting twins. Although baby showers don’t really have tradition in Germany, we still decided that we want to celebrate that she will soon be a mum of twins. Therefore I am currently trying to organise a baby party with a difference. No embarrassing games. Not just throwing presents at the mum to be. Just a lovely afternoon with all the girls, yummy food, baby task, ultrasound-picture admiring, tummy rubbing,...

I don’t know whether it’s a mum’s thing or a female thing, but I just get really excited when it comes to babies nowadays. So if you don’t feel the same, I strongly recommend that you skip this post and the posts on the next Fridays. Because I just cannot stop myself from telling you all about the details. ;-(

N. is calling the little ones snowflakes, because although they will be similar, they are also unique. I think this is beautiful and therefore I already made up my mind that snowflakes will be the theme of the baby party. Although it is June and therefore mid of summer in Berlin ;-) After setting the theme, I started to do some online research and these are my favourite ideas:

Onesies used as decoration (and present at the same time)

Idea and picture found here  

Wooden baby blocks as labels

Idea and picture found here  

Pairs of animals

Idea and picture found here

3D paper snowflake

Picture and tutorial found here

 Snowflake cookies

Idea and picture found here

 Snowflake garland

Idea and picture found here

 White flowers

Idea and picture found here

Well, let’s see how much of this fabulous inspiration I will be able to realise, but I give it a go anyway ;-)