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!

Are you addicted to Pinterest?

Because I am ;-) What a brilliant source of inspiration! Since I have discovered this website, my to-do-lists exploded. So many things I want to make, I want to cook, I want to decorate, I want to give as a gift...

Of course there are hideous things or stupid tipps (especially the whole weight loss which are actually ads), too, but overall I have to say: I am thrilled!!!

So in case you haven’t discovered it, yet, it is really worth a look: Pinterest

If you want to find out, what my fantastic finds are (which I keep rambling about), you can also click on the little Pinterest button in my right sidebar and it will take you straight to my folders:

At the moment I have 14 boards with topics ranging from Accessories to Yummy (Food). You see, all my favourite topics ;-)

Oh and just before you go, I have to warn you. Pinterest is highly addictive. You will forget to bring your children to bed, you will be late for work or dates, you will stay in your pyjamas all day, you will burn your food in the oven and stay up too long... but it is worthwhile ;-)

Cupcake Party – Doyleys Mania

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.

I have to warn you. I always spend a lot of time and effort on my party decorations. In my opinion they add a lot to the overall party atmosphere which is not always easy to achieve. If I had a lot of money, I would spend it on lavish props, custom-made posters, fabrics to decorate every wall and every table. Unfortunately I am not Elton John, who can spend millions of pounds on his garden party decorations. So my decorations are usually self-made, recycled or repurposed, versatile or affordable.

The last party I threw was a cupcake party for my 35th birthday. It all started with my birthday being a Sunday this year and this pack of 250 white paper lace doyleys:

It all reminded me of the good old German traditions of having coffee and cake on Sundays. So that was to be the motto of my birthday party. And the theme for the decorations was pretty straightforward: doyleys, doyleys, doyleys. Because sometimes more is more. And more of one thing is wonderful and just a little tongue-in-cheek. So there were doyleys everywhere:

... under the spoons, the sugar sprinkler and milk jug...

... under the candles...

... under cupcakes and on the cupcake description cards...

... and even in the windows.

I love the old-fashioned, yet unusual look of the doyleys. I bought the pack with 250 doyleys in my favourite paper and party shop in Melbourne (Astoria Paper Products), but I am sure you get them in every bigger department store around the world, too. Maybe not for the dirt-cheap price of $3/250 doyleys, but nevertheless they won’t break the bank. And you won’t believe it – after all the decoration I still have about 200 doyleys left ;-)

I’ll be back next Friday with more from my cupcake party, but for now I wish you a wonderful weekend full of celebrations!