Pink Peppermint Blogger

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!

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 friend and party planning partner, Lauren, and her family have welcomed a new baby boy! We are hosting a Sip ‘n See Shower for them next weekend. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this kind of shower, it’s a get-together after the baby arrives, sometimes at the mother’s home, sometimes not. Presumably, quite Southern (although I am an Alabama girl born and raised and never heard of such until a few years ago when someone asked me to do an invitation for one). Guests are invited to drop by within a set range of hours, visit, see the new baby and enjoy some refreshments. Like a band-aid. Fast and all at once. I like it. I’ve never actually been to one myself, so I’m very excited about the shower and about our theme!

Here is the invitation.

I can’t wait to share with you how it all comes together!

Lauren and I recently gave our friend Sarah a little inspiration for her son’s first birthday. Her youngest boy, Caleb, just turned one, and mama had a sweet and simple clutter cutting celebration on the brain. Sarah introduced us to the Milk + Bookies Birthday Party, a concept that has party goers bring new books in lieu of gifts to donate to the charity of the host’s choice. I, for one, have always had a hard time choosing gifts for kiddos with older same gender siblings.

Sarah used a color scheme of brown, white and red and used children’s books throughout the party areas to tie in the Milk+Bookies element.

Look at these cutie pies in their milk and cookies shirts from the kizart Etsy shop.

Here’s the cute table she did using coordinating fabrics and featuring the main course–COOKIES! Chocolate chip, sugar, OREOS, animal crackers and more. What kiddo wouldn’t love a party full of cookies?

Next to the cookies, there were plastic “pints for your half pint” in 2% and chocolate from the local University dairy. And in a separate area, the milk bar had carafes of plain, strawberry and chocolate milk on ice.

Also hanging out at this station were the most fab drinking straw ’stache sippers–one of my most fave things I’ve seen in a long time! These cuties were spotted over at It’s Toile Good, and Lauren had the idea to use them as {swoon} milk mustaches for this event! So what’s it gonna be? Plain white milk mustache or chocolate milk mustache?

A purist, I see. An excellent choice! I beg your pardon, sir, but you seem to have a little something on your chin. Too funny!

There were cookies all over!

And even a few bookworms.

And here’s Caleb, the birthday boy, enjoying his smash cake, which was made by a local cake shop to look like a giant chocolate chip cookie.

Happy 1st Birthday Caleb!

My Caroline is the princess-loving tough as nails variety of little girl. A sweet jumble of contradictions. The kind of girl you only get from having an older brother in the house. It’s hard to predict what she’ll come up with next, but when it came to her 3rd birthday celebration, she and I decided we’d combine two of her current faves–princesses and snow!

In case you missed it, here’s the invitation. We handed out the majority of them so I got a little playful with addressing them. There were Ladies, Dukes and even Barons on the invitation list.

Here’s the glitter embellishment on the envelope.

Guests were welcomed to Castle Touchet with these grapevine wreaths spray painted silver and flocked with snow.

Inside where it was warm, the royal banquet table stretched out underneath a sky of falling snow.

We had snowflake crowns for the boys and tiaras for the girls.

Princess Caroline’s birthday throne at the head of the table was all wrapped up in a bow and set off with her royal portrait.

Laid out on a blanket of snow down the center of the table were snow globes filled with a different royal and snowy scenes.

A royal crown, a snowy church, a silver slipper, and a Victorian ice skate among others.

The princess one turned out to be my favorite!

After everyone checked out our stash of toys, it was time to eat!

Our centerpiece was made up of sparkly winter branches embedded in a vase of snow.

We had simple breakfast foods like sausage balls, mini muffins, pigs in a blanket and fresh fruit on these snowflake skewers.

The crowd favorites were these donut snowmen.

And look. There’s our dainty little princess enjoying one now!

The kids also really went for these marshmallow pops.

They had juice from these sweet little cups that come with snap on lids so they don’t spill.

I decked them out in royal fashion with some ribbon and scrapbooking embellishments.

And for the adults we had hot chocolate and coffee.

The mantle was decorated with a glittery snow village and castle.

And since it was a surprisingly mild January day {naturally}, we set up a play table of snow outside.

We had a few scoops and buckets and those kiddos went to town!

Then everyone headed back inside for cake. The birthday girl was feeling unusually shy as everyone sang.

Then there was more playing in the snow before everyone said their goodbyes.

As party favors, everyone got snow powder so they could make their own snow at home.

We had a great time celebrating with the birthday girl and a sweet group of friends for her first big girl party. Happy third birthday sweet Caroline!

Sources:

Large/Small Ripple Cups, Clear Favor Boxes – Think Garnish

Invitations, Paper Crowns, Cup Wraps, Favor Tags – Pink Peppermint Paper

Cake – Dream Cakes

It’s hard to believe it’s already time again for my Christmas baby’s birthday party! Really does seem like not that long ago we hosted the silhouette-themed birthday brunch for close friends and family.  We held the celebration on her birthday (December 27th) last year because we already had everyone in town for the holidays. With all the Christmas business I do on top of the typical holiday to dos, I decided that this year we’d wait until school was back in session, hand out invitations in early January and allow ourselves some time for holiday recovery before the party on the 29th. I am brilliant, no?

Well, let me tell you, we are ALL about some princesses this year. Princesses and snow, which we never have but she enjoys talking about. A lot. Making snowmen. Snow families. Snow angels. Catching snowflakes on her tongue. Sledding. I think she’s been watching too much Olivia. We had Kristen over at Crumb Gourmet whip up these sweet No. 3 cookies for her to share with her preschool friends. We did a little touch of the licensed character stuff for her classroom celebration, which made Caroline quite happy.

And now I get to plan something inspired by the season and devoid of anything Disney, which makes me quite happy! Here is the invitation.

I tried my hand for the first time at a glitter embellishment on the invitations. It’s just a touch, but I think it really adds a big of magic to them, and sets just the right mood. I haven’t played with glitter since 1994, when a friend nominated me (in my absence I might add) to hand glitter what had to have been over 500 names on date signs for prom. Glitter has come a LONG way since then.

Note: it is unreasonably hard to capture things that are glittered in a photograph. The process confirmed something that you all already know: I am no photographer.

I went with Blackmoor, a nice regal font for our wording “Let the trumpets sounds on the joyous occasion of Princess Caroline’s Third Birthday Celebration!” I’m happy to report a good many folks have already let me know that they are coming even ten days out! Our RSVP line was “The favour of a reply we hope you’ll make. The royal baker is requesting a count for the cake!” I thought it was playful while pointing out a hostess’ very real need for people to respond if requested.

We handed out the majority of the invitations, sending some home in school bags and delivering others personally to friends in the neighborhood. I decided to have a little fun with our royal theme. Lady Isabela of the House of Caudell, Sir Wright, Duke of Wallace, Sir Shep and Lady Katherine of the House of Kirchner. Everyone had a noble title and each envelope was embellished with a glittery snowflake. Suspect people may think I’m unbalanced, but I thought it was fun (and funny) so…

I am getting super excited! Lauren and I worked yesterday on firming up some ideas. I so love having someone to brainstorm with and bounce ideas off of. Plus, she and I feed off one another. It’s almost dangerous. Can’t wait to share pictures of the big day! I’d better get busy.

What a wild and crazy year for Pink Peppermint Paper! We finished our first full year of blogging and celebrated our fourth year in the stationery business both in late October. I worked with lots of great folks who make me feel so appreciated and creative even when I don’t always see those things in myself. Somewhere in there, Lauren and I started a party planning gig–Pink Peppermint Parties. Bought a house. Sold a house, and my family and I relocated to Mississippi. Well, all except for that “sold a house” part. Ugh. No worries. 2011 is the year. I can FEEL it!

I was taking a look back at all we’ve shared with you this year. Here are some of my faves (for one reason or another) with links back to the full posts if you’re new or just missed them the first go round.

Little Girl’s Birthday Brunch – silhouette artwork and party favors inspired by my favorite little girl

High-Flying Birthday Adventure - L.O.V.E. working this super creative mom (and my former boss). Airsick bags to hold party favors. “We’re sick to see you go”!?! Yes, we did.

Hole-in-One First Birthday – The cake. The activities. THE WHEAT GRASS. Seriously.

All in Due Time Couples Baby Shower – Eight or so hostesses all living in different cities. This had no real hope of working, but it did anyway! I love it when a plan comes together.

Backyard Birthday Carnival – Fun colors. Games. Carnival food. Yum! This post gets a LOT of hits. I think it’s because of this awesome ceiling drape!

Feather Her Nest Baby Shower – Lauren hosted this for a dear friend. Love the elements from nature as well as the pops of color inspired by the baby’s nursery. RicRac, how do I love thee?

ARTy Party Lots of colors. Fun invitation. All-time favorite themed regrets line. You’re welcome.

Lifesaver Party – Our first Pink Peppermint Parties customer celebrating a big grant for a small not-for-profit, StopSMA.org. Someone wants to pay us for this?! Yea!

Hungry for more? The bugs were too at this Bug Out Birthday – the fabulous Lauren schools us on throwing an uber creative venue birthday. Where to begin…

Heroes and Villains – I’m still tired from this party in early October–my boy’s 5th.

Setting the stage for a battle of good versus evil.

Good guys and bad stand defiant atop cupcakes, capes whipping in the wind. The industrial cupcake stand was made of dampers and such from Lowe’s gutter/roofing section. Score!

Some of the good guys watching carefully from above.

I like to include elements of fun for the adults, too. C’mon now. That’s good stuff.

Neighborhood Halloween Bash – a great mix of spooky and fun at my sister’s house!

Another Fab Golf ParTee – Here’s another fun golf-themed birthday with lots of creative touches including the sought-after Sippy Cup Trophy! Man, I love a pennant banner. And argyle. Don’t get me started.

And last are these recent bottle labels. Whip a few up for NYE!

In 2010, I also saw my business double, which is due, in no small part, to those of you who follow me, leave comments and share links with friends. Many thanks! I am truly blessed to do something I love. So looking forward to new and exciting things in the coming year! Happy New Year!

Eleanor

Can you believe Halloween is already upon us? Seriously. I don’t know where 2010 has gone. How could it be time already for my sister’s 4th Annual Neighborhood Halloween Party? She touched base with me several weeks back, and we used this Trick-or-Treaters invitation.

Little did I know at the time that I’d get to attend this year! I live outside of Jackson, Mississippi and my sister, Amanda, is waaaaaaaaay up north outside of Boston. Seems even more waaaaaaaay after air travel with two kiddos, but our Mother came too, and we had a great time!

They have a season there called “Fall.” Just the quaint sort of thing you’d expect from a small New England town. It was breezy and in low 60s. Sweet! {Please note that as I write this, now back at home it’s going to be 88 degrees. The Reese’s cup I just stole from my Halloween pantry stash was melted in the middle.}

You can imagine after three years of Halloween parties, that one would have amassed quite an assortment of spooky fun. Amanda had the house all decked out with ghoulish delights. Touches of Halloween were everywhere. This was one of the first things my five year old spotted.

This was the second. How fun!

And I was in love with the jack-o-lantern chandelier shades. Awesome.

We got to work stretching cobwebs over anything that would stay still and on planning the menu.

We made Bleeding Heart Brie, a delish dip with brie cheese and cherry preserves baked inside a crescent roll crust.

Also served were these adorable Crunchy Mummies made with celery, cream cheese mix and ham, and some adorable mummies on a stick–hotdogs wrapped in dough to look like mummies with mustard and ketchup eyes.

Amanda also served an assortment of dips including a yummy Cajun corn dip. Soooo good!

Amanda filled her cauldron punch bowl with Brew Ha Ha punch, complete with eyeballs and for the adults, there were soft drinks and Blood Orange Sangria!

It’s no wonder everyone asks for directions to the bathroom! Just follow the bloody footsteps!

And what Halloween party is complete without sweets?

There were witch hat cookies, ghosts in the graveyard–a tasty pudding dish decorated with ghost Peeps–brownies, candy, and a fantastic three-tier cake!

Lots of the neighbors brought goodies. One even whipped up this awesomely spooky candy house. How fab is that?

The kids had a blast in their costumes eating and playing in the Pirate-themed bouncy house. The neighbors had a chance to socialize while the kids were otherwise engaged, and enjoyed a sunny, but blustery Fall day. Amanda had just the right mix of spooky and fun.

Horror highlight of the party? Power goes out 30 minutes before the start time. Three dozen raw wieners on a stick and one deflated bouncy. We thought the bouncy had blown the whole house. Turns out it was the neighborhood, and power was restored a few minutes into the party. Good thing it was during daylight hours! Great job A on another fab year of Halloween fun!

Be a deary and leave a little comment, my pretties. I’ve got my eye on you.