party plans

When I first started hosting parties back in 2002, the glossy themed party planning book, Be My Guest: Theme Party Savoir-Faire by Rena Sindi was on my Christmas list. Luckily my mom always shops by my lists and on December 25th the shiny new book full of fabulous ideas was waiting for me under the tree. In the book, Rena invites readers to come party with her as she chronicles 14 of New York's high society themed parties - ones that she actually staged and planned herself. Not only are the photos of socialites - yes, that is a pre-famous Paris Hilton on the cover - and celebrities gorgeous to look at, but Sindi has plenty of amazing ideas. Similar to my party plans, she provides the details on all the major pieces of a theme party: the dress, invitations, venue, decor, menu, drinks, entertainment, and music. The food recipes - caviar on potato crisps with creme fraiche or goat cheese bundles with spring salad and yellow lentil vinaigrette - are not for novice cooks, but the cocktail recipes - white chocolate martinis or strawberry mojitos - are varied and exciting. Her musical selections are easy to enjoy and pair perfectly with each theme. This book has honestly inspired my career as a party planner!

Have you had a chance to flip through the pages? If so, what did you think?

I've spent many a wasted minute running around my parties in search of the bottle opener. It always gets lost, carried from one room to another, or absent mindedly pocketed by a guest. To ensure that you don't have to ask two thirds of your guests, have you seen the bottle opener?, hang it near the beer. With a hammer, nail a small nail at eye level above the beer cooler in an easy to spot place. Hang one or two bottle openers for guests to use to open their beer as they drink them.

A great way to cut back the costs of a wedding reception is to offer guests wine, beer, champagne, and one signature cocktail instead of a full bar. Signature cocktails have become quite popular within the last few years and more and more couples have decided to create their very own specialty drink. There are several ways to go about creating your big day's cocktail. Start by either choosing a drink color (green, blue, red, clear, etc), a liquor base (vodka, rum, gin, etc), or a cocktail type (frozen, shaken, stirred, etc). Once you have made these decisions, build your drink from there. Like every other aspect of the party, consider the season and style of the event. If you are having a beach bash with orange and hot pink as your accent colors, a raspberry mojito is a great cocktail option.
Change the name to feature your personalities or particular place memorable to you as a couple (the park where you had your first kiss, the restaurant where he proposed, etc). After you've figured out the name and components of the drink, decide the best way to serve the signature. Will bartenders be mixing up fresh batches all night or is it easier for guests to serve themselves out of large pitchers set on the tables? Stay with the tone of your wedding - if it's more formal, waiters passing around the drinks on trays is chic and if it's more informal, large punch bowls on the tables would be fabulous. To help you create your signature cocktail, check out the wedding section at Stirrings - they have cool downloadable, personalized garnish labels. Oh and if you are a fabulous and single (!) girl like me, and are planning a party in the future, why not fashion your very own cocktail? Party-Sugartini anyone?

While a baby shower is generally held to celebrate the upcoming birth of an unborn child, they are also thrown to shower gifts on the baby. I consider a baby shower to be the child's "first" birthday. Much like a wedding, guests are asked to bring essential gifts that will aid the parents in their new life with baby. Diapers, bottles, blankets, clothes, and toys can all be incorporated into the look of the baby shower. The theme colors, pale pink and sky blue in my case, should be used as inspiration for the party decor. Although I included the colors in the invitations, I did not work them into the food or drinks, so I definitely want to use lots of pretty pinks and soft blues in the decorations. To see how I'll do it, and to get some cute baby shower ideas, read more

Easter is this weekend and I know some of you have been asking me to help you plan your Easter dinners and brunches, so let's get started right away with making an invitation to an Easter themed meal. When I was deciding what kind of party to host this year, I was torn between Easter dinner and Easter brunch. I have recipes for both roasted marinated lamb and breakfast bread pudding that I've been wanting to try out... so I'm planning one fabulous party and offering you two menu choices. If you want to make a dinner use the dinner menu, and if you prefer to host a brunch follow my brunch menu suggestions. But before we can even think about the menu we must invite our friends and family. Come party with me, it's my favorite time of the week: invitation making time so, read more

A little while ago as I was browsing through the groups on TeamSugar I was surprised to see that there was no group devoted to highlighting images of your fabulous parties. Sure there are groups that discuss wedding party plans, recipes, and wines but what about one devoted to all things party? That's why I started the Super Special Occasions group! When I host a party I love to take tons of pictures of everything from the decorations to the food spreads to the floral centerpieces and beautifully lit candles. Now we can share our pictures with each other and get inspirations and ideas from parties that you've hosted in the past. If you're anything like me and have tons of photos of events you've hosted, attended, or seen, please share them with us in the Super Special Occasions. How adorable is this table setting for lickety split's daughter's 8th birthday? To check out more images of her party (and mine!) and to share your events with us, join the Super Special Occasions group.

I've decided to start my own wine club! Think Oprah is to book club as PartySugar is to wine club. Since 34% of readers fall into the I'm learning about wine category (like myself), I thought it would be a great way to get us all to increase our wine knowledge. So not only am I starting my own wine club, but I am inviting and encouraging you readers to create a wine club as well!

I'll help you plan it so you'll have nothing to worry about. Here's how it's going to work: I'll gather a whole bunch of friends (the more the merrier) to discuss, taste, and develop a flavor for wine. Each month we'll focus on a different type of wine. I'll ask everyone to please bring a bottle of the specified wine (example: Cabernet Sauvignon, French champagne, Spanish Alboriño, etc.), we'll cover the labels and fill out tasting sheets so we can develop personal tastes of the wine with open minds. First thing is first, I have to make and send the invitations. To host this party with me, starting with the invitations, read more

About every season or so, I enjoy throwing a party where I get all of my friends together to do something like compete in a pool tournament or partake in a pumpkin carving or contribute to a cookie swap (just standing around drinking and chatting does not count as "something"). I hate January and the cold darkness it brings, so to cheer myself up I'll host one of these types of parties.



I want to show my friends a fabulous time and a new skill, so I'm planning a knitting party for this Saturday afternoon. Yesterday I made booklet invitations complete with knitting instructions and today I'm figuring out what will be on the menu. To see what I'll be serving, read more

Lalalalala. (That's me attempting to sing.)

Everything is falling into place for my winter dinner and I am so excited I'm acting like my cocker spaniel. The invitations were sent (and everyone's already rsvped), the table and decorations are set, the vodka for my drinks is on ice, and I've begun to prep my make ahead dinner. There is only one thing left to do before my party begins (not including my before-party-beauty-regime of course) and that is figure out what tunes are going to be on rotation. To see the most divine dinner party music, read more

My winter dinner party is only 2 short days away and I have kicked into prep mode. National Dinner Party day is next Thursday but I'm hosting a dinner for myself and nine others this Saturday to celebrate. I've been planning all week as I want everything to go as smoothly as possible. The invitations were mailed on Monday and the menu selected on Tuesday. Yesterday I purchased the drinks and today I have to design the decorating scheme. For this type of party to succeed, it's crucial to get the table set and ready as early as possible. This way there's plenty of time to complete all of the cooking. For more on the decorations for my blue and green winter themed dinner, read more