Gingerbread Decorating Party

This week I hosted a small gingerbread decorating party for my sweet 4 year old, Annabelle, and 5 of her preschool buddies! I am sad to say that it was planned too last minute to ask Maggie Russo Photo to come take fabulous photos....and my photos are not even close to her gorgeous professional quality that we are used to! BUT....it was such a FUN FUN day I had to share! These 6 cute little girls had tons of fun creating colorful and whimsical gingerbread houses, eating goodies, listening to the story of the Gingerbread Man and having lunch together. It was really a great time!

I bought inexpensive aprons and had each girls name embroidered on and then just embellished with whimsical trims. They looked ADORABLE in them and it was a nice little keepsake for them to take home.

I purchased prebuilt gingerbread houses from Target so that each girl could get right to work decorating the houses and having fun....at this age (or any age) it is no fun trying to get the houses set up. I filled up baking cups with an assortment of candy and bought mini squeeze bottles from think garnish. The wrapper is included in my printable set and could be adapted to larger bottles.

 

 

 

And of course there were a few desserts.....I made cupcakes with gingerbread peeps on top and my awesome sister made fabulous gingerbread men and houses and also peppermint brownie pops.  YUM!

And of course there must be milk to wash it down!

During story time we set up a little boxed lunch for the girls.

Some of the cuteness......

 

 

How sweet are these girls?!

This whole printable set (or just the invitation) is now available in my shop! It is a great excuse to gather a few buddies for the holidays!

Cup of Cheer

I was so excited back in August when Ladies Home Journal contacted me and asked if I would contribute to the Holiday Entertaining bit in the December issue. Although getting my mind on Christmas when it was 95 degrees out was tough, I decided to just share some advice on using paper to spruce up any occasion. I also offered my Cup of Cheer labels to dress up inexpensive cups as a FREE DOWNLOAD. You will also snag my holiday phrase flags for straws, toothpicks, lollisticks and my patterned paper for lining trays. Go to www.LHJ/partyprints for the freebie!

If you are not one to download and print at home, you can still purchase the printed version here!

I am busy getting ready to entertain 6 four year olds {and moms}  next week at Annabelle's gingerbread decorating party! Stay tuned for photos and a whole line of party papers!

 

Christmas Cheer invite available in my shop!

 

WATER WAR - Celebrating Tyler's 10th Birthday

Seeing as this is the last official weekend of summer and it is 95 degrees here in Chicago, I thought it would be the perfect time to post pictures of my son's 10th Birthday Party last weekend. We celebrated with a Water War for he and his school friends. It was hot out and the boys had a great time playing in water!

Ty chose blue and green and I went from there. As always, I started with the invitation design and that made it easy to find everything to match. I shopped little by little all summer and by the end of August I had a nice assortment of blue and green water guns and water balloons! I set up a weapon table so that the boys could help themselves. This doubled as take home favors!

The dessert table was minimal...and as usual my sister came through for me with an amazing striped cake to match all of my paper designs and even water gun cookies in blue and green! I paired her awesome desserts with simple chocolate cupcakes, blue jello and an assortment of blue and green candy!

The boys enjoyed a small picnic box of chicken fingers and pasta salad before indulging in the dessert table of course!

 

The party was simple and tons of fun!

 

Fabulous Photos by Maggie Russo.

You can find the invites and matching printables in my shop!

Take me out to the Ball Game!

Last week my son Andrew turned 8! He LIVES for baseball so his theme was a no brainer this year! He invited his whole baseball team to a local park where I set up a concession stand in the pavilion while he and his buddies played baseball in the field. Luckily, Dad is coach so he did a great job putting a fun game together for the kids. We had a blast!

The concession stand was filled with sweets and treats....bats and balls, bubblegum, candy, popcorn, peanuts, cracker jacks and old fashioned bottles of cola! Next to that was the food table with concession stand style food....our kids favorites- Walking Tacos and Ballpark Hotdogs.

The picnic tables were set with cupcakes and cookies. Each place setting held a red gable box filled with a hostess baseball cupcake in a little baseball hat and a pack of trading baseball cards.

I am so thankful that Maggie Russo was there to capture all of the details for me (just weeks before she is due to have her baby)! Check out more photos on her blog here!

Here is my sweet birthday boy!

 This baseball printable collection and custom gable boxes are available in my shop. Thank for looking!

A Ballerina Party for Annabelle's 4th Birthday

My little princess turned 4 in May and upon her request we had a sweet Ballerina Party lunch! Thankfully Maggie Russo was there to capture all of the details for me!

 I will start with the favors. This party had a whole wall of them! The girls were pampered with tutus, pearls, flower hair clips, bracelets, ballerina soaps and sparkly rings. It was lots of fun for them!

Find the invite and party papers in my shop www.homespunhostess.com
 

We can't forget about the boys! My friend and I got together and made bow ties for all of the boys. They were placed on little kraft boxes that each had a chocolate cigar and stick on mustaches.

We served a light lunch of sandwiches, salads and pink lemonade!

And on to dessert....all of the desserts were made by my very talented sister!

They looked and AMAZING!!

Look at this gorgeous cake! I topped it with a vintage porcelain ballerina from Annabelle's room.

My favorite dessert were these gorgeous cupcakes!

Me with my Sweet Girl

Happy Birthday Sweet Annabelle!

It was a fun party on a gorgeous day!