Pink Peppermint Blogger

It occurs to me how much design work, particularly custom design work that you never get to see because it might not be the invitation my client chooses, or just because I’m moving so feverishly that I don’t take the time I should to show you. I’m going to try my best to show you what I’ve been up to and hope to sometimes share pictures of client parties when they are available.

I have a wonderful lady that I’ve worked with for a couple of years now. She came to me online after seeing Lauren’s son’s bug party. She is full of exuberance and fun ideas for celebrating her kids’ birthdays. Her enthusiasm is catching, and Lauren and I have had the pleasure of doing several party plans for her. The latest was for her daughter, Maddee’s 3rd birthday celebration. These custom design options may look familiar. They were completed around the same time as the vintage fishing invitations I worked on. They have some of the same design elements and a bit of a throwback feel.

We tossed around a few ideas all centering around a petting zoo. We had all but landed on a County Fair theme. The only hangup was that her daughter was hoping for some sort of princess element, as almost three-year-old girls are prone to do. Because it was in the fall, we were able to play around with angles like the party being a Harvest Festival, the party activities being things you’d do and see at a local fair, and the birthday girl being “crowned” the festival princess to satisfy that element of her party wishes. I also tried some poster-style versions, being the time of year the fair comes to town. Here are the invitation options I designed.

I can tell you which version of the invitation they went with for the party, but first I’d like to hear which is your favorite. I’m trying to decide which options to add to the online store. So let me hear about which you like best and why.

A few months back, Emily came to me through mutual friends I’d worked with. She had a fishing-themed birthday in mind to celebrate her son, Jack’s 4th birthday and their life-long love of the water. Her desire to use family photos and heirloom fishing items drove the vintage look and feel. After much searching, she decided she wasn’t going to find what she had in mind for invitations, so we talked about some custom options. Here are a few of the versions I created for her.

This last one was the one Emily decided on. She felt it best incorporated her “Hooked on 4″ idea.

Enjoy the pictures Emily shared and the party details as told by her!

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We have a pond in our backyard and we often walk down to feed the fish and just play around in the water. Jack loves being outside, playing in the dirt, picking up worms and of course “hooking” up anything he can scoop up in his net. I also share the same passion for being outdoors and close to the water. I am from the Coast, and my Dad’s parents always had us on the water!

When I began tossing the idea around as a possibility,  I thought it would be fun to incorporate some of our family heirloom pictures, cane poles and cast nets that belonged to both my Granddaddy and Papa. I started to think of colors and wanted to create a vintage, simple, classic look.

After shopping around on the internet and in and out of stationery stores, I remembered Pink Peppermint’s wonderful creations! Eleanor helped bring my idea to life and the party was fabulous! We had a fish fry to celebrate “our fly guy” and I put snack chips in an old fishing basket – “fish and chips.”

We also served boiled shrimp and smoked tuna dip. For our non-seafood guest, we served corn dip, party sandwiches and cupcakes, of course!

I had a galvanized oval tub and filled it with water and plastic fish. I attached a mini tin bucket to a cane pole with fishing line to scoop up the fish for a fun activity!

I decorated these mason jars with red raffia and had Swedish fish and gummy worms for their “fresh catch” or their “live bait”…This was a huge hit!  There wasn’t a fish or gummy worm left over!!!

Adorable party, Emily! Thanks for letting me be involved, and a happy 4th year to Jack! I think as the weather continues to warm up, this is a great theme to keep in mind for spring and summer months too!

I’m happy to report that despite the two weeks I had to put this party together, my daughter’s 4^th birthday was a smashing success! We invited some friends over to decorate candy houses.  Here’s the invitation.

I decorated the doors with paper medallions turned wrapped candy and made lollipops out of twisty balloons for the planters.

Inside, we set the scene with a candy house village made from cardboard gift boxes and decorated with candy.

I made the banner using scrapbook paper backed with felt and strung on candy necklaces. It read, “Happy 4^th Sweet Caroline.”

I used these cupcake wrappers topped off with peppermints to hide the hooks we hung it with! It turned out to be one of my favorite little details!

Now, goodness knows I am inclined to try some ridiculous things for party’s sake, but I know my limits. There was no way I was going to attempt to make 20 some odd gingerbread or graham cracker houses to decorate. No. Way. That is precisely the sort of effort that would have me in tears at 2 a.m. and wanting to pull my hair out.  Not gonna do it.

I bought these gable boxes from the bakery section at Michael’s, added a roof and lined the window with yellow tissue paper. Lauren put them together for me, God bless her. She adhered them to 10 inch cake bases decorated with Washi tape in our party colors—radish red, pale pink, lime green and sky blue–and she added silver pipe cleaner trim to the cardboard base. I thought they looked pretty cute even without the candy!  Having never worked with Washi tape before, I was thrilled with its ability to be repositioned and the ease of use. I can’t wait to figure out other party applications!  I ordered mine from leboxboutique on Etsy.

Each kiddo got their own bottle of royal icing, or as we called it Sugar cement.

There was an assortment of candy on each table. I tried to avoid overuse of Christmas colors because my daughter was born on Dec 27, so I try to be sure and make her birthday feel like a separate event. Given the time of year, I was able to find lots of candy in red and green. I added some pink and blue to the mix. We used M&Ms, holiday Lifesavers, pastel Starlight mints, pink and green peppermint sticks, spice drops, sugar wafers in vanilla, strawberry and chocolate, milk chocolate rocks, fruit loops, mini Nilla wafers, marshmallow ropes, lollipops, Hershey bars, gingerbread snowmen and trees, and even some gummy penguins!

Here’s the birthday girl hard at work on her candy house masterpiece!

If I ever host this event again, I’d either buy mini gumdrops or skip them altogether. They were heavy and wanted to slide off before the icing set. I’d also buy more sugar wafers. Lots more! The kids were funny. They’d each chosen their materials and then it was madness if they couldn’t finish that wall, door or rooftop like they’d started it. Here’s some of the kids’ handiwork.

They were all very proud of their work!

After they’d finished their masterpieces (and eaten way too much candy), we put the candy house aside to give them time to set up before our guests left. Then, we broke out the real food.

I am a fool for brunch foods, and since it was early on a Saturday, we did ChicFila chicken minis, sausage balls, pinwheels, mini cinnamon rolls, yogurt covered snowflake pretzels, sweet breads, and fresh fruit. We served coffee and, for the kids, a frothy pink punch made with raspberry sorbet, cranberry juice and gingerale.

Candy bracelet napkin rings!

These cups are my new go-to for beverage service.

Nothing Earth-shattering, but I think they are versatile for any theme, easy to dress up with straws like these I used from Shop Sweet Lulu or a themed cup wrap, and the lids makes them great for kids. It’s also fun to do a straw flag for guests to write their names on so drinks don’t get mixed up.

And then it was time for cupcakes! I ordered half chocolate and half vanilla from a local bakery, Cakes and Candles, and added these adorable fondant toppers from Edible Details. Brittany did an assortment of color combinations based on our party scheme. Love!

It was a great time! Everyone really did seem to have fun, and it made me smile to see how tickled each child was with his/her candy house creation! If you’ve always wanted to host a gingerbread house party but were hesitant to bake or buy all those houses, I highly recommend this fun and easy alternative. Happy 4th Sweet Caroline!

Last weekend some friends and I threw a sip and see for our neighbor, Christy, and her new baby boy, Bennett. Fall is her favorite time of year and since they both share October as their birthday month, I thought a Little Pumpkin theme would be fun! Here’s a sample of the invitation.

I whipped up this quick letter “b” wreath for baby Bennett’s debut. It was super easy to make with a letter form, a hot glue gun and some Spanish moss.

We had the party at our neighbor Sherry’s house. She made this fabulous diaper cake to be used as the centerpiece on the main buffet table. We used burlap and orange throughout.

Polka dot paper pumpkin lanterns hung above the table,

and a double-sided burlap banner reading “Welcome Bennett” hung in the archway.

The silverware came right out of the pumpkin patch!

In keeping with our Fall theme, we went mostly with warm and savory dishes. There were lots of hot dips on hand. We also had a great hot apple cider.

There were some tasty sweets on hand too like these pumpkin-themed petit fours and some crazy good pumpkin pie dip from Pinterest served with apple slices and graham crackers. Look it up. Seriously.

There’s the little pumpkin now! Sweet baby. So glad you’re here, Baby Bennett!

Another year has flown past and my first born is now six! This year was a big deal for us. We’ve always had birthday celebrations at home, but the birthday boy requested we have his party at a local bouncy house place, and after the pressure from last year of styling the party compounded with getting the house in order for entertaining, I readily gave in. I am used to having days (if I want or need) to hang things and play around with placement of party decor, but this year I’d have only 30 minutes. While I was making the decorations, I just kept repeating it to myself. 30 minutes. 30 minutes.

He wanted an Angry Birds party like his cousin had. Since there is not much available in the way of licensed partyware, I knew we’d be making a lot of it ourselves. I think this is what helped to make the party seem special and one-of-a-kind even though we were going the whole party package route. Here’s the invitation we used. You may know that I’m a sucker for a clever verse. This may be one of my favorites!

“Just who are these birds and why are they sore?

‘Cause those pigs stole their eggs! It’s happened before.

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

Come celebrate! Reese is turning six years old!”

The entry to the bouncy place is a little hard to pick out, so we marked the doorway with these mylar balloons, AB-style. I thought these might hold up better outside than the standard latex ones.

There are two party rooms and two gift tables, so we made sure everyone knew where to go with these Angry Birds balloons I made using these downloadable templates from The Party Animal.

The balloons were weighted with a nest full of golden eggs being guarded by the blue Angry Bird.

I made this sign for the party room with a small poster I scored at Dollar Tree.

We used bright Angry Birds colors for the paper plates chargers, napkins and drinks. The food went on smaller clear plates to let the birds’ and pig faces show through.

Polka dot napkins were done up Angry Birds-style with googly eyes, furrowed brows, and even a few pig noses.

Here’s the birthday boy’s special seat with a crown like the pig king’s.

At each place there was also a pair of Angry Bird or Pig glasses.

These turned out hilarious. The kids thought so too!

The party was mid-afternoon so we kept the food light, serving chicken nuggets, fruit skewers and these grody giant gummy fried eggs, the surprise hit of the party!

The fruit was skewered on these funny little guys.

They look more menacing in numbers, no?

Here’s our “Happy Angry Birdsday” banner above the main table.

The party table was set up with scenes from the game.

Here’s the awesome cake made by Kristen of Crumb Gourmet in Jackson.

There’s my big boy making his birthday wish. We found him a shirt with the black Angry Bird on it that said, “I’m the bomb!” Hehe. Angry Birds humor.

These were the other surprise hit of the day–WalMart bouncy balls that I drew Angry Birds faces on. We turned them loose in the jump area with these, and the kids were all over them!

We had an assortment of favors in these Angry Birds bags, which were also made with The Party Animal’s templates and printed on labels for easy application.

Each had some combination of the following favors included candy tubes filled with gumballs or mini gumball Angry Bird eggs, water bomb slingshots, wind-up toucans, stickers and golden egg silly putty. They also each got to take home their pair of bird of pig glasses.

Happy Angry Birdsday to my favorite 6-year-old!

If you like what you see here, check out this summertime Angry Birds Splash Party!

Well, I finally did it. I threw one of the MANY non-birthday related parties that I dream up.

Yea me!

This time, we were celebrating the addition of sweet Miss Buttercup to our family. Seemed like as good an excuse as any to have friends over and eat junky food, no?

I felt a bit of urgency to have the party quickly before we got swallowed up by fall commitments and she didn’t look like a puppy anymore.

She is gaining three lbs a week, and is already quite the hoss.

Anyhoo, I just bit the bullet and distributed invitations one Tuesday to force myself to kick things into gear. We had it on a Friday after school but before dinner time.

Here’s the invitation if you missed it.

Guests were invited to come “smooch our new pooch” and to please respond to “the alpha female”. (That’s me.)

Note: when folks at Milk Bones say, “Mini” they mean it. Are those the cutest, tiniest things you’ve ever seen?

Door sign: because our doorbell is pitiful and things were loud.

We had several small pawty tables set up on the back patio.

The kids used frisbees as plates and drank from these cute bone straw sippers.

I made these little tags for everyone’s cup so we could keep up with whose drink was whose. I think they kind of look like dog tags! Must be my subconscious keeping tightly to theme.

Inside we had all the pawty food set up. Here’s the doggy-themed topiary I made for the table. My husband balked at the use of the word “topiary” here, but you see it don’t you?

Never question the alpha female.

You know I love a thematic food selection, and our puppy is a yellow lab named Buttercup (who we sometimes call “Butter” because, let’s face it, “Buttercup” is a mouthful when you’re pleading for mercy with a puppy to let go of the very last pair of yoga pants you own that she hasn’t already bitten holes in).

We served Butterscotch Blondies and Puppy Chow, that yummy mix with Crispex, chocolate, PB and powdered sugar.

For a little something salty we had Cheese Nips and Buttered Popcorn. I made this super sweet and completely addictive Lemon Bark.

We also had Butter Cookies, which make me smile. As kids, we used to eat them off our pinky fingers in Sunday School. Anyone else?

Since my son is named Reese, and we sometimes use the word “peanut” around here as a term of endearment, I set out a bowl of Reese’s Peanut Buttercups! I wonder if I can make that her registered name. Hmmm…

Any finally, drumroll please…

My very first (and probably last) attempt at cake pops.

Or as we called them, “cake pups.” Not too shabby if I do say so myself. The kids really liked them, and my boy immediately requested I make some for his birthday. Whoa, there tiger!

The stand, if you can call it that, was a Wilton cardboard number that you can use to hold them during the dipping and drying process.

I reinforced it with some hot glue and dressed it up with a large lime green paw print cutout.

Confession time: I don’t care for the taste of a cake pop. Gasp! This is why I will likely never make them again. That and the sizable PITA it is to bake, cool, crumble, mix, cool, roll, cool, stick, cool, dip, cool and so on. And these were just regular plain ol’ balls of cake. I am in complete awe of all of you cake pop making phenoms out there even more so than I was before! I am very pleased with the fab tips from my FB fans on how to avoid cake pop disaster. Thanks, y’all!

Back to the pawty…

We served sparkling lemonade. I dressed up the drink dispenser with a ribbon and some D-rings to mimic a dog collar and threw on the new tag for Buttercup that we haven’t put on her yet.

And what’s a pawty without music? Not much of a pawty at all, if you ask me. Among other songs, we played:

George Clinton – Atomic Dog

Baja Men – Who Let the Dogs Out?

Rufus Thomas – Walkin’ the Dog

The Foundations – Build Me Up, Buttercup

George Thorogood – Bad to the Bone

Arrested Development – Wag Your Tail

Widespread Panic – Walkin’ (For Your Love)

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse – Hot Dog!

Here’s our girl on the prowl. Estimated number of Milk Bones consumed that day: 752.

I know that furrowed look on her brow. It can only mean one of two things:

1) I don’t like this at all.

2) You should run. I am going to eat you now.

This particular time, it was No. 2. Lucky me.

When guests left, they each took home a frisbee plate, bone cup, an XL bone cookie and a doggie bag of assorted goodies for their S, M or L pooches–a sWAG bag, if you will.

Terrorizing all those kids makes a pooch bone tired.

Welcome to the family little girl!

I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I plan parties in my head that I never get around to throwing. I also like to amass supplies for said parties, which paints for you a lovely image of my guest bedroom closet. And while time is always tight, on this one I just went ahead and distributed the invitations. So this time we are really having a party. Or a pawty, I should say. The honoree is a fat and sassy blonde.

Meet Buttercup, our new yellow Lab!

Honestly, looking at this picture of her with her fat little tum, I don’t know how anyone could resist her! And that’s coming from someone she uses as a human chew toy at 2am when she can’t sleep. Why, it almost makes me forget the 1000 assorted cuts, scratches and a possible case of poison ivy she has bestowed. The kids are simultaneously head over heels and terrified. Her teeth are beyond sharp, and while I’ve never been bitten by a shark, it’s the closest thing I can imagine. Ahhh…the joys of puppyhood. All that said, it’s nothing that a little training can’t fix. Fingers crossed.

Over these last two weeks she has been a very big girl, and I think she’ll be a wonderful addition to our family. All our neighborhood friends are excited when they see her and anxious to play with Princess Buttercup. So I decided to throw a puppy party play date after school next week.

Here are the invitations I whipped up.

Can’t wait to share pictures of Buttercup’s big day!

I love to share Lauren’s parties. They are so chocked full of thoughtful detail, and this one is no different. Her oldest boy just turned three, and he is a Buzz Lightyear aficionado. OK, that may be an understatement. Since his last birthday, The Children’s Museum of Mississippi has opened. There’s a retro rocket right in their logo, and the kids absolutely LOVE to spend a day there immersed in the hands-on activities. Plus, there is A/C, which in Mississippi in July, is a game changer.

Lauren already had the venue, the rocket theme and a color scheme in mind when we started talking birthday, so I whipped up this invitation.

The party was right at noon, so the idea was to get the kids in the party room first, knowing they’d all be chomping at the bit to play. We fed them some lunch, had cake and released them into the museum as they were ready to play until they dropped. I created some large-scale printable party signage, a Pink Peppermint first. The first stop was the Party Room.

When everyone arrived it was lunch time, so the boys and girls settled in and went to work at tables covered in dark blue butcher paper. They ate from silver star-shaped plates and enjoyed UFO PB&Js, star shaped graham crackers and fresh fruit.

To drink, there was Zimbi Super Alien Juice. It’s awesome, because not only are the bottles cool looking and shaped like rockets, but also because when the drink is gone they fly! Seriously? Yes!

The kids also got these awesome alien cake pops from Mom’s Killer Cakes.

I love the way these alien pipe cleaner napkin rings turned out. Super cute, inexpensive and right on theme!

UFO sandwiches were made using Uncrustables, alien finger puppets and the clear base from gumball machine containers. Adorable!

Here’s the fresh fruit skewered on these cute silver star picks.

And here’s one of my favorite elements–a little craft pack of stickers, crayons and glitter glue that invited guests to decorate their space. How creative is that? They went to town too. Right on the butcher paper. It was great because it gave those waiting for others to finish eating something to do before the cake was served.

And while the kids ate, moms and dads had a chance to fuel up too.

There were chicken nuggets, fresh fruit, chips and other goodies like Orbit gum, starbursts and starlight mints! Love it.

And since everyone was likely to stay and play in the museum for a couple of hours, they also got these awesome space age to-go packs of Black Holes (mini Oreos), Nuts and Bolts, Shuttle Smoke (popcorn) and freeze-dried Fruit in Space. The sign read “Take Me to Your Leader.”

And when they were done with their plates, they knew where to find the trash can, labeled “Space Junk.”

There was also a chance to play Pin the Tail on the Comet. I was excited about this one. It’s Pink Peppermint’s first ever printable party game!

Finally, the moment they were all waiting for. Cake. How cute! I love the cloud effect of the icing. The bakery matched it to the invitation.

And here’s the birthday boy making his wish! They turned out the lights while he blew out the candles, and the look of pure magic on his face watching everyone sing was priceless!

Only a couple more pieces of business to attend to before turning the kids loose on the museum. Party favors were made from these great, oversized candy capsules. We added some simple paper rings to turn them into goody-filled flying saucers.

Included were toy laser guns, starbursts, bite-size milky way candy bars, glow-in-the-dark stars, spring-loaded martians, suckers and other treats.

The message read “Hope you had a stellar time!”

Guests also got a sticker to wear and filled their pockets with take-home snacks before they left the party area.

Out in the museum the kids pushed, pulled, moved and squirted, loaded, built, digested and then did it all again.

What a great celebration! Happy 3rd birthday, buddy!

My nephew turned five in early June. My sister, who would have you believe she isn’t good at this sort of thing, whipped up a fabulous day of birthday fun. Jack’s latest obsession, one that is also sweeping my house and the rest of the globe, is Angry Birds. Here’s her invitation. Normally, I’d advise against mixing electronics and water, but since there’s a pool at the birthday boy’s house, guests were invited to take a dip in the bird bath.

She made balloons using the templates from The Party Animal

and laid out quite the spread of snacks for all the little piggies. Or birds, depending on whose side you’re on.

She served VERY angry birds (chicken nuggets) and VERY naughty piggies (bacon-wrapped hot dogs), pigs in a blanket, deviled eggs, worms and grubs (gummy worms and slugs), goldfish, bird’s nest cookies and bird seed (snack mix).

Here’s the birthday boy enjoying a tasty worm.

She made this awesome game with construction blocks and plush Angry Birds and pigs.

Just like the real game we all love, kids threw the birds and tried to knock the pigs off their pirches!

Water temperatures in New England in June not being what they are down here, not all of the guests chose to take a dip in the “bird bath.” There was still water play for those not quite ready to brave the pool temps. Guests could launch water balloons at the king pig. When the kids tired of taking it out on those thieving pigs, they turned on one another, and then ganged up on Jack’s dad.

Then, it was time to take a breather and cut the cake! And what an awesome cake it was!

After cake, they had a chance to cream some more pigs. How much do I love this goofy pig piñata?

Once the pig was bested, they filled these loot bags up with the candy.

And before they left, guests each grabbed one of these awesome cake pops

and chose from either a sling shot or a bird house they could paint! Awesome.

Not bad, sister dear. I’m taking notes. We scored a licensed tee for my son’s party that has the black bird on it and reads, “I’m the bomb.” If you like what you see here, check out this post!

As you may know, my family and I moved recently. And when I say recently, I mean right at a year ago. Why am I thinking about it now? Because after a mere 377 days on the market, we just sold our old house! WOO HOO! I know a lot of folks are in the same boat. Hang in there!

Lots of us are on the move during the summer months and scurrying to get settled in before school starts. Thought I’d share a few custom moving announcements I’ve done over the last year or so.

For a friend moving to a new home in their golf community, I combined some existing artwork to create this moving announcement.

This is one of my favorites. It was created in a round of options for another friend moving to a new ‘hood in Nashville. Not the announcement she picked for those keeping score. That’s OK, though. Totally need to add this one to the online store.

This is the one she picked. Bungalow style.

**Technical note** I’m crossing my fingers that these images look more crisp to you than they do to me. I’ve tried jpgs, pngs, various size compressions. Blurry images. It’s a mystery. If you have a clue as to the problem, help a girl out. When you click to enlarge, BTW they are crystal clear. Even more vexing.

And now for a couple that are more whimsical…

I laugh at this next one every time I see it.  My friend “Rose” (names have been changed to protect the innocent) had a vision of this one when she contacted me.

How hilarious is the dog? Boston Terrier. His name was not changed. Hello, Norbert!

We have moved three times in ten years, and only once have we avoided having to move in the heat of summer. July in Mississippi is like “fry your face off hot.” And don’t forget the humidity. But it’s the South. It’s where we come from, and we love it. Mostly. This last one is the announcement I designed when we moved last year.

It’s hard to believe we’ve been here a year! We’ve just now gotten some paint on the walls and still have no furniture in the entry way. Man, we’ve got some WORK to do!

If you’re on the move, here are some free printable moving announcements for you. Print single-sided as a 4×6 and add your personal info on the flip side or print double-sided and mail as a postcard! Three colors to choose from: chocolate, melon and lime. The font is cheap pine. Download below.

Enjoy and remember to lift with the legs.

Printable Moving Announcement Chocolate

Printable Moving Announcement Lime

Printable Moving Announcement Melon

Chocolate Back

Lime Back

Melon Back