Friday, December 28, 2012

Still to Come

 
Time to pack up the ornaments, wind up the lights and take down the tree. The rush and joy of Christmas is behind us for another year. It's bittersweet, like {SO} many things in life. I'm relieved to have all the Christmas shopping behind me and ready to "get back to normal", but I'm equally sad to see another season of traditions pass into history and moments of joy gone forever.



Perhaps that's the pessimist in me, perhaps the realist. I've blogged before about this nagging feeling that I'm missing each moment even while it is happening. It’s this very keen awareness that I only get this moment once. A somber realization of all it means to be mortal. It causes me to dive in as much as I can, but it also comes with an unavoidable sorrow.  



The holidays make these truths particularly stark. I see one Christmas with my kids gone, one morning of opening gifts and snuggling on the couch out of my grasp forever.  And so, memories are beautiful and bittersweet to me. I relish them, but in ways I despise them for the fact that they are only memories.

And in light of that, I cling to new beginnings!  I love the thought of getting to look ahead, with anticipation and hope for what’s to come. I find New Year’s to be the perfect anecdote to my post-Christmas blues. It refreshes me and reminds me that  while some moments are gone, many more are still to come. It does me such good to think of all the specific and abstract things {still to come} in life.
{Still to Come}

Celebrating one full year of surprises and joy with my little sunshine, Havyn
Celebrating a second year of laughter and learning with my adorable Ky-Bear
Turning 30 (lots more blogging to come about that celebration!)
Enjoying time with my husband during his first summer off
Exploring life with a 1 & 2 year old in each hand
Spending more time with family & friends
Growing my business & my blog
Celebrating births & birthdays
Planting a vegetable garden
Visiting old friends
Making new friends
Creating
Learning
Growing

Wishing you a year full of
                                       


Celebrating life, one day at a time


Happy New Year,

Noelle



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Friday, December 21, 2012

Party on a Penny


I blogged a few days ago about a Christmas party I got to throw for my nieces and my inspiration for it: wrapping paper. Earlier in December I showed you my own kids' Christmas party and once again the inspiration piece was: wrapping paper!

If you're like me, you browse Pinterest and drool at all the amazingly detailed events pinned on there. It's hard to imagine being able to come even close to that level of customization and detail, especially on a budget. 

Since I don't have an unlimited budget {far from it!} I've had to study those photos and try to figure out what it is that makes them look so darn amazing. Here are a few things that I've noticed:
  • Repeating Colors and Patterns - this doesn't necessarily mean everything is matching, but the same pattern and colors appear throughout the event

  • Order & Symmetry - I'm referring to the main food/dessert table here. Typically, things appear in rows and are almost always plated, even if it's not necessary (i.e. water bottles lined on a tray). And everything should have a place, so that it's obvious the layout was well-planned.

  • Details, Details, Details- This may seem obvious, but those amazing parties you see on Pinterest are full of details. Once you really start looking and dissecting each picture, it's like a new treasure is hidden around every corner. Which can be expesnive, but doesn't have to be. It may take a little more time, and certainly your *imagination*, but even on a budget you can get down to those little details and create a fabulous, affordable event.
     
  • Depth, Height, Variety - Chris Nease over at Celebrations at Home has a great post about how to create the perfect food table. I took lots of tips from her and reference the post when planning a new layout. She also has lots of other great basic party planning tips - a great website for the party planning novice!

Keeping those four points in mind, I always sit down with a good old-fashioned pencil and paper and brainstorm ideas along with a simple sketch. By simple, I mean {SIMPLE}. I don't end up with a final version until the day of the event, when I actually have all the decorations and food in hand, but my sketches at least give me a reference point and help me cover all the basics.

Knowing what looks great is one thing....doing that on a budget is a whole other story! I'm no where near being an expert on this, but I have learned a few tricks that I think will help you on your next Budget-Friendly Event! They are:
  • Package it! I don't have the money to buy all custom foods, but for a few dollars I can purchase cute packaging and keep the party looking professional and coordinated. These little red boxes were about $5 for two dozen from Oriental Trading Company. I housed generic fruit snacks and split up a bulk bag of freeze dried peas into each, added a little embellishment, and ended up with really cute, coordinating pieces for my food table!
  • Think Bulk - To accomplish all those repeating patterns, you need a lot of something. Rather than buying all sorts of individual decorations for parts of your party (which can also be really time consuming & frustrating), find an affordable wrapping paper or fabric that you love and develop your party around it. For the two Christmas parties I just threw, I started with wrapping paper because I can buy it in bulk at a very low cost, it's readily available, and there is a ton you can do with it. Such as....
*Drink wraps*  

*Food packaging*

This one goes back to the first tip...I used old paper towel rolls and put baggies of goldfish inside each, wrapped them in the coordinating wrapping paper and ended up with a great addition to my food table for almost nothing! 




*Embellishments*

I especially loved the deer silhouette on this wrapping paper, so I traced it and used a sheet of black felt to cut out some extra deer embellishments to use around the party.


  
*Cupcake Wraps*
 



*Framed Prints*
My backdrop consisted of a yarn wreath embellished with a felt deer silhouette and two white frames holding a piece of the wrapping paper, all hung by red ribbon.

*Favors*
Yes, I even used the wrapping paper to actually wrap something!

*Drink Labels* 
  • Splurge Once or Twice - My last little nugget of advice is to choose one or two details of the party to splurge on. This will add some of that WOW to the party that you want and will also help you not feel quite so bound by your pocketbook. I usually pick one or two resuable items to splurge on {such as a new serving tray, centerpiece decor, etc.} and one disposable item {such as a custom dessert}.  

I'd love to hear some of your party tips and tricks. Hope mine will prove to be helpful when planning your next event. Merry Christmas and don't forget to...

 Celebrate life, one day at time!

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Monday, December 17, 2012

Feathers & Fun Christmas Party

I got to help throw a Christmas party for my two beautiful nieces, Madi & Tatum, this weekend and had a blast. I mentioned this event a few weeks ago when I gave you all a sneak peak at my custom pennant banner. Now for the full reveal....hope you enjoy!



This was an evening event for mostly 2nd graders, so we added pizza as the main course and had lots of fun snacks and sweets to go along with it.
 
I loved using the seafoam green as my base color, along with red, rather than the traditional Christmas green. I thought it was just enough away from the norm to be fun and youthful, but still classy and clean!  


I saw the idea for these adorable North Pole cupcakes over on Kara's party ideas (which, btw, is an incredible website for event ideas!).



"Elf Juice" & custom labels that I designed.


"Melted Snow"...water bottle wraps are embellished with the wrapping paper that was my main decor inspiration.


"Santa's Workshop Toys"...iced animal crackers inside mini snack containers from Oriental Trading Company. These are also embellished with cutouts from the wrapping paper.


Details, details, details...




 
I used lots of wrapped boxes for trays and height on the food table - a very simple, very cheap way to get that coordinated look.

 
I'm not a baker or a candy maker, but these snowflake lollipops were easy enough and added a nice touch to the overall look of the table.
 


We had lots of fun activities planned for the girls. They all had a half dozen cookies to decorate, a Christmas necklace to make, ornaments to paint, plus crayons and music to keep them entertained. No bored children at this Christmas party!

 
Love how the feather Christmas trees turned out! I bought cones at Michaels and feather boas during Halloween season at the Dollar Store and was able to make this great centerpieces for just a couple dollars!

Gifts bags with activities and treats for the girls to enjoy now or later...



Merry Christmas!



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Sunday, December 9, 2012

Where's the hope? Part 2


Last week I finally wrote about something that has been bothering me for a while – the lack of parents of adult children that seem to be happy with their grown-up relationships. At least, that’s the impression I’m left with after nearly every interaction I have with a sales clerk when I’m out with the kids. If you’ve had kids, I’m sure you’ve experienced this, too. The “Oh, honey, enjoy it while you can!” line. 

Actually, it was exciting to me how many real-life conversations my silly little blog last week sparked. I’ve always been hesitant to blog about personal things because I don’t want to it replace meaningful relationships. It’s awkward feeling like I’m just writing to the Internet about things that really, deeply matter to me. But several of you read and related and we were able to talk, even if briefly, about this common experience. And that I love!

So this bittersweet conversation, it happened again this week. “Oh, honey, they just get so big so fast. Aren’t they so fun right now?!”, as I’m fussing at Kyler to sit on his bottom and searching for Havyn’s bincky. First of all, yes and no. I adore my kids…probably more than is healthy, but they are not always fun. My sister-in-law is dealing with a colicky two month old right now and when she gets these remarks, she responds with, “Well, ask me again at 2am!”. So true!

Second, yes they are fun sometimes, even really fun sometimes. But does that have to end? Or should I say, is it going to end? Is that just the way it goes? Fun today, gone tomorrow.

I’d like to think I love my kids unconditionally, but there must be something selfish in there, too, because I can’t help but think, “Is all this effort worth it?!” I mean, if they are going to grow up and go away and rarely talk to me again, what’s the point? See, I told you it’s selfish. And it’s not really how I live either, but it is something I think about. After one of those long nights with a screaming baby or long days with an obstinate child…it’s hard not to fall into bed and hope it all “pays off” somehow.

So, I’m trying to figure out, what would a “pay-off” look like? What would a satisfying adult child-parent relationship be for us and how can we work our way there now? (open to suggestions!!)

My initial thoughts…now and always I want to be emotionally engaged with my kids. For that matter, with anyone I’m in a real relationship with. I want transparency, honesty, vulnerability. Ultimately, I want to be able to talk and feel, openly and freely. I want my kids to tell me what’s in their hearts – I want to know them and they me.

I want traditions. I want to laugh together and cry together. I want memories and moments of remembering. I want time together.

Now, it’s one thing to see the vision ahead, it’s another to get there…


My father-in-law overheard some of us talking about all of this at our family-baking day last weekend and he became the one and only person to say, “I think this season is great!” (referring to life with his grown children and grandkids). Maybe a dozen more of those comments down the road and I’ll have some firm hope to stand on. For now, I’m still wading through the hundreds of “Oh honey” comments and wondering how it will all turn out.


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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Red & Black Christmas Party

Deer Christmas,

I've been excited to share this Christmas party every since I decided to throw it a few weeks back. Hope you enjoy seeing it as much as I enjoyed throwing it! 

I love finding one "inspiration" piece and then customizing an entire event around it. For Kyler & Havyn's first annual Christmas party (oh yes, we're definitely doing this every year!), I found a red, white and black print wrapping paper with cute little deer silhouettes all over it. Love!

Our invite list consisted of 6 mamas (2 expecting) and 9 children under the age of 2, plus my own two little tikes. Wait, am I crazy?! Well, this did require some strategic activity and menu planning. We covered  one whole wall in the basement with a roll of white paper for the kids to scribble on to their hearts' content. I also blew up some balloons and left around the floor for the kids to enjoy. And fortunately, our basement is basically one large playroom, so the kids were all free to run and play.

The menu was a bit trickier. I went with: shredded chicken sandwiches, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella and bread, penguin cheese crackers (off-brand of goldfish), fruit snacks, freeze dried peas (a new favorite sold at Target), water and juice. My goals: variety, little-to-no prep the day of the event and "mess-free" options for toddlers.

Dessert I went a little crazy with, because what's a good party without lots of sweets?! I had coffee, chai and hot chocolate available for the mamas, cupcakes, peppermint pops, candy canes, coconut balls, gingersnaps, chocolate pudding with whip cream and for the slightly more health concious, yogurt covered raisins! Mmmm...I'm still enjoying the leftovers! :)

I emailed the menu out in advance so that mamas could decide if they needed to bring additional options for their kids, which seemed to work out well. We bought each guest a new Christmas book and setup a miniature tree in the basement for them. Kyler enjoyed passing them out to his friends!

Here's how things turned out:



















 








    

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