Friday, March 11, 2011

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!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Spring – where are you?

picture found here
I have been waiting for you so long! Incredibly long this year because we moved from the Australian winter into the German winter. Stupid I know!

So where are you now, lovely spring? When will you finally show up?



Wednesday, March 9, 2011

All together at a long table



On Wednesdays I share everything wedding with you: tips, projects, organisation, photos, faux-pas, fun things and golden rules I ‘learned’ from my own wedding. I feel I need to give something back to the fabulous blog community who helped me stay sane and enjoy every second of my ‘big day’.

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I think every wedding and every family celebration needs one big, long table. At some point – at the reception, at the rehearsal, on the night before or the night after the big day, at lunch time. With the closest friends and family. Share a meal, share stories,...

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Hey, Miss Airport


Dressed as air hostess at a company’s Christmas party. Me and 6 colleagues bought the same turquoise skirts, added black tops, golden ribbon and me made caps. What a show ;-)

Monday, March 7, 2011

Donna Corleone

Dressed as a Sicilian nun with a dark secret at a mafia party. I have never seen so many well-dressed men with white hats in my life ;-)

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Cowboys & Squaws

It is hard to get astonished looks in Berlin – a city where everyone can wear whatever he or she likes. But when my lovely husband and I walked down the street dressed as cowboy and squaw in October, we left a few people gawping at us ;-)

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Wig Party

Hi Madge! Isn’t it amazing how a new hair style can change you completely.