Ceiling Decor

Nothing says WOW! like a room decorated from the ceiling down. When it comes to large spaces bringing the ceiling down with decor is a great way to go. From fabric swags to Chinese lanterns or even air filled balloons the look is fabulous. I love doing ceiling decor, the impact is huge.

Party Invitations

Party Invitations! Where to start! There are so many great invitations out there it can be almost overwhelming. When choosing your invitation stick to your theme and guest's age bracket. The invitation should give guests a little taste of whats to come. It should be fun and creative, but even more important it should clearly spell out the party details. When looking for inexpensive but fun and current invitations I like to check out PeekaBoo Pumpkin first. They have a great selection and their invitations start out at $1.49 each and that includes printing. I know there are a lot of blank invitations available in retail stores but unless you are desperate and need it yesterday I recommend ordering them and having them printed. We all know how much fun (not) it can be trying to line up the printer so that the printing comes out perfect on the invitation. Not to mention how many are wasted because the printer decides to do tricks while you are printing the invitations. When it comes to invitations plan ahead and stay true to your theme and if you are not sure of the final theme choice pick something in colors that you know you will be using for your party. But be sure to order extra invitations just in case.

Child Friendly Restaurant

I discovered this wonderful child friendly restaurant through a magician friend of mine, Tim Mannix (who is a fabulous magician and great with kids) who performs here. Located in Los Angeles this restaurant caters to children while providing adults with great food as well. Adorably decorated, you know I'm all about the decor, with child friendly chairs and utensils and food that is also healthy. You won't get orange macaroni and cheese or greasy pizza here. Tired of going out to eat but dread the thought of your child behaving through the entire dinner process, than Giggles n' Hugs is for you.

The Chair(s)

Yeah I found the chair. It couldn't be more perfect for the hair and make up stations for our Diva parties. The little girls loved climbing up into it and putting on the smock and not only was it cute but it will save our backs. But the best part of finding the tall chair was finding the short chairs.

So much cuter than the folding chairs covered with chair covers and again more comfortable. Now it will just be more fun when the little ones "take a seat" at our Diva party stations.

Make Up What Fun!

Oh to be a little girl again. Playing with make up, looking at make up, touching the make up so much fun. Every time I go through the make up for the Diva stations I feel like a little girl again. Of course I wasn't allowed to wear make up but that didn't stop me from putting it on at a friend's house, using her Moms. I was addicted to blue eyeshadow, yes I was a 70's child and grew up in California : )

While I was sorting through the make up I decided to take some photos so that when asked I could show clients booking the party, but doesn't it all look so FUN! I guess I'm addicted to buying it for the Diva stations, because I think I counted 20 tubes of lip gloss, all in different colors of course. How fabulous to be a Diva. Diva Party Packages! DIVA'LICOUS

Shopping, Yeah

Today I get to go shopping, not for a client, not for a job, but for my own creativity. It doesn't happen much and I have been doing a lot of brainstorming and now I am ready to shop. I have a lot of new ideas for crafts and decor for my children's party packages, which are a great hit and booking like crazy. (hint hint if you are thinking of hiring us for one of our great party packages, you might want to book your date, we are filling up fast). I'm going shopping in LA, it doesn't get much better than that : )

I knew I wanted to look at new fabrics, table decor, craft ideas and little chotzkies, but while I'm laying in bed trying going to go to sleep a light bulb goes off and I'm thinking directors chairs. HOW FABULOUS for the hair and make up stations, i love it, the children will love it and my staff will love it. SO NOW I GOTTA HAVE ONE. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner.

Today I will be on many missions, and I am really hoping to find the chairs, you can order them online which is great for some things but I think for this I want instant gratification. We are doing a photo shoot at a party tomorrow night with the new Diva linens and I know the chair will look great. I hope I find it, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. A woman on a mission must be satisfied! :)

Happy Earth Day

Lets Luau!

Happy Birthday Amanda! This weekend we created Luau Fun for Amanda's 8th Birthday Party! This was my first chance to get photos for our Luau party packages and how cute are they. It was a great group of children and an absolute pleasure. The blue carpet runway and seaweed curtain backdrop were a great hit even the boys enjoyed it. These are photos for a deluxe luau party complete with a decorated sit down table. The pina colada smoothies were a great hit on this very hot day, but the seasonal fruit cups with whipped cream were a close second. And what could be more perfect on a 90 degree day than an ice cream cake. What a great party if I do say so myself. Happy Birthday Amanda and thank you for sharing your special day with us.

Pool Parties

Summer is almost here and the weather is warming up. If you have a pool you know that one of the best parties for children is a pool party. What could be easier, the pool is there, get some food, some pool toys a few games and you are ready to go. Right? Wrong? If you are entertaining your children's friends for a pool party the one thing you DO NOT WANT TO FORGET is a LIFEGUARD. And I don't mean your Great Aunt Sue. Hire a lifeguard that will sit at the pool the whole time of the party to watch and supervise all the children. There are so many children and adults in this country who cannot swim, which in itself is wrong.

You can find a lifeguard at any public pool, YMCA or online. They run between $20 to $40 per hour and are CPR certified, this is money well spent. Even if you are not having a pool party but a party with children and a pool in your yard you should still hire a lifeguard. Anytime we have an event whether it is a pool party or not and there are children we insist our clients hire a lifeguard. We have staff who are CPR trained to watch the pool areas.

Before the party you should discuss with your lifeguard what your pool rules are, how many children are coming and insist that they saftey check each child that gets in the pool. By safety check I mean have the child swim the length of the pool if they say they can swim. Some children think swimming is a dog paddle, you and I know that is not so. In a party environment with their friends children who cannot swim well, will lie and say they can so that they don't embarass themselves, this is not a risk you want to take.

Having a lifeguard will allow you to have peace of mind that the pool is being watched so that you can handle the food and the children who are not in the pool. Now you can relax and enjoy some summer pool fun.

P.S. DON'T FORGET THE SUNSCREEN

Happy Easter

Best Wishes for a Happy Easter! I hope you have had your fill of chocolate and sweets and yummy treats!

Inspired

I love seeing inspiration everywhere, only problem there is never enough time. This past weekend we were able to get out for the day and as always I can never just appreciate things I want to go home and do it. There was this great old train that had been turned into a giant flower pot, and it reminded me of when I used to have the time to create new things from something old just beacause. I love working in the yard and planting flowers, only problem is I never have the time to water and care for them like I used to, so they die and I get to start over when I have the time. {this probably isn't the best example since my husband would never let me bring a train wagon home, I can just hear him saying "what are you going to do with that?" and then I have to explain}

I guess thats why its a good thing that I do what I do because my head is so full of ideas I want to try that I just have to wait until the right event and client comes along so that I can implement them. I don't offer cookie cutter and I work within my clients budget, ideas and restrictions that it is the perfect profession for me, because nothing is ever the same. I am so lucky. So if you are looking for a western themed party I have a great idea for decor {look up}.

I hope you are having a great week.

I Love Sayings!

I Love Sayings, quirky, inspirational and so forth, they inspire me, they remind me and best of all they make me smile when they are so very accurate. Most of the sayings around my house and my office mean a lot to me, some I have bought for myself and some others have given me. Yesterday we had the chance to get out for the day, a Saturday, that doesn't happen very often. We went to Knotts Berry Farm for the day and took the kids and some of their friends. While my husband and I were poking in the stores, I found a lot of great items by Suzy Toronto that are fun, colorful and come with great sayings. I am hooked! I bought a great coffee cup that says on the outside of the cup "Life is all about how you handle Plan B!" and on the inside of the rim it says "Plan B.... the true test of character". How extremely appropriate LIFE you never know which way it will take you and how you are going to get there. Sometimes when life gets crazy and things go wrong...............................I always seem to discover that it happened for a reason. GO FIGURE!

So as I always like to say to myself "Put on your big girl panties and deal with it!" (have that on a sign in my office) So having said that I guess I'll get back to the bookkeeping AHHHH, I hate bookkeeping!!!

Getting Organized, April Fools!

I think someone has played an April Fools joke on me that has lasted 3 days. Have you ever found yourself in this predicament? You decide to get better organized and you make more of a mess than it was in the first place. Well I have done it this time. We run multiple computer programs that all link together with billing, contact information, client jobs, etc. and these programs then link to another program so that I can get all the new and updated contact information into my phone. Because my phone is my life line as an event planner. I need to be able to get anything, anytime, anywhere when I am working and especially when I am on a job site, so my phone is my life line for my work.

WELLLLLLLLL, somewhere, sometime when everything synced not only did they update but they created OHHHHHHH about 1, 000 new WRONG contact names by combining right contact names. WHAT A MESS! After going through them all for about 2 days I am now ready to upload them to my phone, so I clear out the mess in the program that links to my phone and try to bring my phone information (about 1, 000 contacts) into the program so that I can fix them. GUESS WHAT???????? My phone empties completely out and nothing transfers from my phone. AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Hopefully today I can get someone on the phone to help me fix my phone, since I work this weekend and need my life line.AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Its always something! I'm so frustrated I feel like going back to my day planner, sticking my head in the ground and pretending technology doesn't exist. But then it would be hard to get my day planner in my pocket. What a conundrum! Hope you are having a better day!