party politics

One of the first things that surprised me when I moved to Washington was how seriously people took televised political events.  After a while, I too was quick to add State of the Union addresses, convention speeches, and of course, political debates as a reason to have a party! Today over at Fedscoop (and in advance of this week's Veep debates!) I'm offering a two-party system for making a fun night out of watching the debates! You don't have to live inside the Beltway to get in on party politics...read more about it here!

A Party: Life is Sweeter at 30

My friend Shannon turned 30 this month...

Paperless Post Invite

Jenni, Josh, and I couldn't let that milestone be marked without celebration!

Always humble, Shannon asked us to keep the party low key. So, we tried, by mostly just serving desserts...

and cocktails...

But 30 is a big deal (and we're not exactly a low-key people) so....

we had to light up the night just a little!

 Since we were going for a snowy, wintery look....

the 23,424,234 (or more like 50!) votives we used helped make things feel cozy, if not "low key"...

...as did the "snow" (it was just sugar) we sprinkled on the antique window panes used for serving up the sweets!

Just as I believe you can never have too much candlelight, you can also never have napkins that are too personalized - hee!

My favorite napkin vendor on ebay is Party Favors Plus.

These days, you can't have a party without some sort of Pinspiration. From Pinterest, I got the idea to hang balloons upside down...

It was perfect for framing the main food table, plus it was easy and very inexpensive (just toss in a marble before your hot air - no helium, obviously)! It's also a different way to use balloons without your affair looking like a child's birthday party, or a middle school dance.  I also saw this photo and knew I wanted to make pretty drink flags....

I used the same font from Paperless Post featured on all the party's papers, printed a page full of "Happy 30th Shannon!" lines on regular paper and just cut the "flags" down to size. Josh used a glue gun and attached the papers to drink stirs - so cheap to do and very easy!

We stacked the cupcakes on a cake plateau, which sat atop shiny fabric that covered a strand of white lights. With the main lights dimmed, it looked so pretty, as inpsired by this.  And finally, the sticks....

Or, as Dan - who oversaw the gathering, spray-painting, hauling from suburbs to city, and constructing - calls them, the *#!$ sticks! Though they didn't turn out quite like I'd Pinmagined, I couldn't not feauture them after all the curses, sweat and tears offered up by my wingman (we've been watching Top Gun at our house). This guy, however...

 

...he doesn't even need to mine from Pinterest. Josh made this pretty flowered "S" to hang above the fireplace all by himself!

Before guests left the party, everyone signed an empty recipe binder for Shannon, who loves to bake, with their ingredients for having a sweet, 30-something life...

It looks like the Birthday Girl is well on her way!

Happy 30th, Shannon!

Momtinis & Manicures - A Spa Day Baby Shower

Despite one uninvited guest, the Momtinis + Manicures baby shower celebrating my mom-to-be friend Megan went on as planned this weekend...

Not pictured: Hurricane Irene.

Megan didn't want lots of baby brew-haha, just a relaxing day with friends (half of whom are expecting or have just had a baby themselves!)...

The guest-of-honor sipping on a Pink Grapefruit Mock-a-rita

So, we opted to give a party that was more about mom....

than baby.

Margaret at GoodInvites was asked to model the invitiation off an OPI bottle, only using Megan's initials instead of "OPI", and she came up with the cute invitation above, and some other signage to match, like this card for the monogrammed cookie favors...

and these cupcake toppers, that were hot-glued to an emery board - theme devotion at all turns, people!

Because we knew our guests would be busy with the primpage...

...instead of a big food table...

the hosts passed bite-sized snacks to the ladies...

as they got their pedicures...

and manciures.

In between all the food and the Raspberry Momtinis...

Kathleen - bartender + gamer

we managed to play two really fun games. No melted chocolate in diapers for this crew...

We're more of the Hollywood A-list kind.

The prize for the winners? A bottle of nail polish, of course.

Irene did cut short our post-party plans for dinner, as afterwards everyone rushed home to hunker down...

 When there isn't a hurricane, the spa keeps its TVs on E!

but it was still a great day. What, afterall all, is a shower...without a little rain?!

Tomorrow, I'll share drink recipes! They were DELISH!