Surprise 50th Anniversary Party

I decided early on to have my in laws a party for their golden anniversary, but with planning Presley's 2nd Birthday a month earlier, it didn't leave me much time to plan. I was on a budget so I decided to spend most of my money on food and entertainment and spend less on the decor. Since I hosted the party at the Historic Bank Lobby, the building is already gorgeous and doesn't need much decoration. Feel free to email with any questions about the details. 

I purchased the numbers at Hobby Lobby and painted them with black paint and sponged some gold paint on them. My mom put it all together on the bar with some gold mesh ribbon.

My Mom picked up some vases for less than $1 at a local dollar store and I spray painted them with a matte black spray paint. The gold twigs were purchased at a craft store. A very nice $2 centerpiece!

I used my white chair covers that I already had (purchased from eFavorMart.com) and I ordered black organza overlays, black sashes and round mirrors from eFavorMart.com. Their prices really can't be beat and they have a huge selection. I purchased the candles at Hobby Lobby and the gold flowers at a craft store. The centerpiece looked gorgeous and probably cost less than $5. Of course, my Mom put it all together!

 

The event was catered by Clint Neel at Your Grate Escape. I hate I didn't get more photos of the food but guests started arriving very early as he was putting the food out so it created some chaos! I decided to go with heavy hor d'oeuvres due to the fact that I didn't want to crowd the room with seating for 100 people to each sit  down and have a meal. My menu consisted of thai beef & chicken satays with peanut dipping sauce, stuffed mushrooms, cranberry meatballs, fresh vegetable display with ranch dipping sauce, hot spinach & artichoke dip with crackers & chips, shrimp cocktail shooters, mini twice baked potatoes, fresh fruit display with marshmallow dip and then later on int he evening we placed ham biscuits with herb butter & roquefort grapes out on the bar for guest to snack on. I didn't actually get to eat, but I was told the food was wonderful!

 

My friend Ben Baker from LKN Screenprinting Factory in Lake Norman, NC designed and printed up 16 oz. stadium cups for favors. He did such a wonderful job and it was so nice to work with someone with such outstanding customer service! I filled the cups with gold tissue paper and Hershey's nuggets and stacked them on a table near the door to make sure everyone took home a favor.

 

As an added touch my Mom came up with the idea to put champagne glasses filled with fun facts from 1963 scattered throughout the room. This was really a hit!

The cake was beautiful and tasty as always. It was by Renee McMillion of Renee's Cakes and Things. 

The band was Robotic Jive from Salem, VA. They are an awesome 80's band but they played all different eras of music and kept everyone dancing!

Here I am in full ordering someone around mode, I think Presley is calling me out on it lol!

Presley's outfit is from Janie and Jack. It's hard to tell in the photo but the bottom part of her dress is fur (faux, of course). She looked absolutely darling!

Here we are with the happy couple, wow 50 years is a long time!

Another shot of my girl looking gorgeous!

 Here I am looking completely exhausted!

 I think my mother-in-law, Gayle, was pretty surprised and very appreciative!

 

None of my party planning would be possible without the help of my gorgeous and talented mother, Cindy!

 

With my girl!

 

I ordered personalized water bottle labels from Announce it Favors on Etsy. I didn't get a great pic of them but I'll snap one and upload as soon as I can, along with pictures of the invites, which I ordered from Tiny Prints.

I didn't go on a huge shopping trip to find an outfit for this party, I actually threw together something I already had in my closet. I'm wearing a Cynthia Rowley leather trimmed tuxedo blazer that I got a TJ Maxx and Paige (similar) coated denim.

 

This is the only shot of my shoes so I decided to post it. I am so proud of the bargain I got on these Nine West founder platforms at 6pm.com, $39.99! And they are so comfortable and versatile!

 

With my gorgeous friend Courtney and baby River (see my baby shower post from June 2013)

 

 

 

All photography by  my gorgeous friend Jennifer (left) of Jen Farley Photography.

 

 

 

 

Presley is 2!

I was determined to approach Presley's 2nd birthday with more organization and less stress, I did better than last year but I still have some work to do in that department. I get so many ideas in my head, I have the hardest time narrowing them down to a reasonable amount that I can work with. I did decide early on in the planning process that she was having a Sesame Street party.That eventually evolved into a pink, red & orange polka dot strictly Elmo party. One of these days I might get burned out and turn into one of these moms that goes into Party City and grabs some character plates and balloons and calls it good, but this birthday, was not that day. I think at some point I even made an attempt to be that mom, because somehow I managed to spend several hundred dollars in Party City, for items that I either didn't use at all, or modified so far from their orginial state I should have just crafted them myself from the beginning. Ok, enough with my rambling, Happy 2nd Birthday to the light of my life, I hope you celebrate every birthday as much as you did this one!

The birthday girl with her sign her Dad made. I found her perfect birthday dress (along wih matching ballet flats and hair bow) at my favorite children's clothing store Janie and Jack. The happy birthday banner was part of the party pack I got from Dazzle Expressions. Balloons are from  Sweet Shop Lulu.

My blog post about her 1st Birthday party probably isn't as detailed as this one, but my blog was technically created after that birthday party and I went back and did that post later on. So with her 2nd birthday, I will start from the beginning.

The Invitations

I think the invites really set the tone for a party, so they have always been one of the most important details to me. This year I used Pinterest for inspiration and ended up going to Etsy to have them designed exactly as I pictured them. Renee with Dazzle Expressions was a dream to work with. She handled all my changes and specifications so well. The turnaround time is a little slower than I like, but I think she does clearly state that she has a 24 hour turnaround, plus I am the most impatient person on Earth. After getting my designs back from Renee, I just had to find a place to print my invites and that place just had to have pearl shimmer cardstock. Luckily while searching endlessly for a print shop with no minimums and the specific type of paper and finishing options I wanted, I found CatPrint. They have NO MINIMUMS and their prices are cheaper than I could have printed a pre-made invite on a site such as Tiny Prints! Don't get me wrong, I love Tiny Prints (see my November 2013 blog post) but when you already have a jpeg or adobe file, it's nearly impossible to find a printer!

Front

 

Back

 

The finished invite

I used UniqueScrapDesigns for the "peeking Elmo" address labels (which I had customized to match my colors) and I thought they turned out so cute and saved me a ton of time on addressing each envelope. I chose to add envelopes at CatPrint and the white shimmer envelopes went perfect with the paper I had chosen. I realize most people don't put the thought into invitations that I do, but this is a keepsake that will forever remain in her scrapbook, so it is very important to me.

The Party Details

Saw this idea on Pinterest and decided it would make a quick easy centerpiece.

 

I purchased these adorable Elmo cups from Signature Avenue on Etsy.

Red Kool-Aid made a great drink for my Elmo face drink container!

 

Personalized water bottle labels designed by Chickabug. 

The party pack I had customized from Dazzle Expressions included food tent cards.

Saw the Elmo face pom poms on Pinterest and decided to give them a try for some added decoration.

I picked up the hanging Elmo decorations from Party City before I decided to go with the polka dot Elmo theme, so this was just my effort to put those to some use.

More of my Party City purchase, the balloons entertained the toddlers, if nothing else.

I was so worried about the 3D Elmo looking like an actual Elmo, that I forgot to put dowel rods in top tier so Elmo didn't collapse my cake, it was too late at this point so the sticks are just holding him up long enough to get a pic.

I wouldn't get anything accomplished without my Mom helping me put all of my ideas together!

Edd & I with the Presley Street sign. We used the tutorial from My Simple Obsession for the sign. My outift details, Paige Manhattan baby boot (similar), Michael Kors Carla platform sandals, Michael Kors belt, Premier Designs bracelet, blouse from TJ Maxx.

Elmo's goldfish (with a number 2 candle for decoration)

Thank goodness Auntie Kim & Uncle Jason decided to go with a conventional gift this year, a pretend grill, which was by far her favortie gift!

Picks her nose when she gets tired of photos

Yep, photo cooperation is over!

Since we live in a rural area there aren't many party rental companies so I ended up purchased the Elmo costume on ebay. He was a little pricey but comparable with the cost of renting that I saw online.

The Birthday girl was not as thrilled that Elmo came to her party as I thought she would be.

 

For favors I put goldfish crackers in baggies and used a topper designed by Chickabug that I printed on card stock. A quick, inexpensive favor for guests to take home!

 

She enjoyed her cake and I guess that's all that matters!