Posts by Arianna:
Modern Parties~ Little Man Baby Shower
March 20th, 2012
When an interior designer, cater, and her crafty friends get together to host a baby shower you can believe it is anything but ordinary. This “Little Man” baby shower was shared by Whitney, an interior designer by day. The special event was put together with love for a great friend, Stacey. Many details for the shower were inspired by the father-to-be. The airplane mechanic Daddy likes: beer, cigars, whiskey, and great food. The colors were pulled from the colors of the bedding in hopes that she could use any of the decor in the nursery if she wanted. Nearly everything was handmade for this shower from the accordion circles to the cupcakes stands. A time saving tip that Whitney shared with me was how the shower hostesses were able to use group Pinterest board to share ideas and brainstorm and google documents to organize details without having to meet up too many times. Thanks for the tip! The photos are provided by Sherfield Photography and party details can be found below the great photos.
Party Details
Invitations~ Designed by Whitney
Decorations~
The hanging accordion circles hung with twine, the banner, cupcake toppers, and cards were handmade. The vintage images were from Graphics Fairy. (Good to know for future design projects)
Motorcycle Cake~ I love this “manly” version of a diaper cake
Dapper onesies~ made by Audra
Ammunition cartons~ make a great chip container
Cupcake stands~ pizza pans and glass candlestick from the dollar store, spray painted silver. Crafty!
Stogie ‘Stache Party Favor~ chocolate dipped pretzel sticks that with coordinating sprinkles and some were drizzled with white chocolate.
Mustache Cups~ cups form the Dollar store with mustache stickers cut out with a Cricut machine. Brilliant!
Menu~ this is such a creative menu put together with help from Roaming Bird BBQ
Tri-Tip Sandwiches with BBQ sauce
Little Smokies
Bow-Tie Pasta Salad
7-Layer Mexican Dip
Fruit Salad
Yellow cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting
“Little Man Beer” (root beer)
“Whiskey Sour” (iced tea)
Modern Parties ~ Mardi Gras Birthday
February 21st, 2012
In celebration of Fat Tuesday we are featuring a Mardi Gras theme birthday party. This party comes to us from a good friend, Caroline. The Mardi Gras party was for her 11 year old daughter inspired by a mask from their recent trip to Italy. Caroline’s attention to detail from the menu to the cupcake toppers came together beautifully. The surprise of the evening was the Photo Booth (by Film Box Studio). Armed with masks and other photo props the kids (and adults) had a blast striking a pose for the camera. The guests got to keep the prints as a token from the celebration. Great job Caroline on a successful Modern Party for your daughter.
Party Details
Invitations, door sign, banner, and thank you tags ~ That Party Chick
Masks, Beads, party Favors ~ Oriental trading
Cupcakes ~ Clementine Cupcake Company
Cupcake Toppers ~ Caroline
Photo booth ~ Film Box Studio
Menu ~ Hurricane, Shrimp Canapes, Crab Bisque, Red Beans and Rice, Kings Cake
Kids Menu ~ Orange Soda, Bean Dip, Artichoke Dip, Jello Jigglers, Pigs in blanket
Inspiration ~ UNO Party
February 15th, 2012
My good friend, Cat, is planning her son’s first birthday. (You may remember the Yellow and Gray Baby Shower I hosted for her last year.) She has come up with the creative them, UNO. It is appropriate as she is a Spanish teacher and her sweet son will be turning UNO! Here are some creative ideas to help her create an Modern Party for her son.
Invitations ~ Luv Bug Design
More Inspiration ~
1. UNO Card Cake Centerpiece by Craftily Ever After
2. UNO Felt Garland by Heartfelt Handmade blog
3. Party Favor bags including mini UNO cards from A Little Drama Designs
4. Straws by Shop Sweet lulu
5. Mini UNO Cards Cupcake Toppers by Intentional by Grace
6. UNO Notebook Favors by Piping Hot Papers
7. Uno Card Banner over at Really Quite Lucky
8. Dot Cups by Shop Sweet Lulu
9. UNO Birthday Shirt by Birthday Couture
This is such a fun party theme. The primary colors of the game are perfect for a first birthday. I can’t wait to see what Cat creates for her son.
Smiles, Arianna
Valentines for the Boys
February 8th, 2012I’m baaaaack! This blog post marks the end of my maternity leave from Modern Hostess. I hope to be back in the swing of things but with a precious new little boy at home, I can’t make any promises. First on my to do list is Valentine ’s Day. I live in a house full of boys so girly hearts, pink roses, and anything “sweet” isn’t going to cut it around here. I have been hunting around the internet for inspiration and thought I would share the creative valentine’s geared to boys that are out there. The best part about these valentines is that they each have free printables to download so you can create them this weekend in time for the big day.
Light Saber Valentines by Brassy Apple
For the Star Wars lovers these are sure to impress. You can purchaser the glow sticks up from the dollar store.
Magnifying Glass Valentines by dandee
Paratrooper Toy Valentine over at Supermom Moments
Mustache Valentine Tutorial by the Craft Monkey
You all know how much I love mustaches and these are great!
Pencil Arrow Valentine printable at Sweet Muffin Suite
Love Bug Valentines by dandee
This is another creation by the talented dandee. I will be creating these over the weekend for Lil’ Gs class.
Pirate Valentine by Mer Mag
Pirates are always a hit with boys. Not to mention that I love to sew on paper.
I “Wheelie” Like You by Thirty Handmade Days
I don’t know about your boys, but around here you can’t go wrong with cars.
Happy Valentine’s Day to the boys!
Modern Parties ~ Harry Potter Party, part 2
December 14th, 2011
The journey at Hogwarts continues as I share more details from the Harry Potter Party. First, I have to share the wonderful graphics by Susan Acres of Opal and Mae. I have used her cupcake toppers for the Wonderland Party and really love her style. I contacted her to see if my chance she had any Harry Potter themed toppers. She didn’t have anything at that time, but had some Harry Potter on her mind. Susan’s Harry Potter creations were perfect for this party. I her designs everywhere; from cupcake toppers to water bottle labels to photo props. I even used the cupcake toppers for the tree garland. Thanks Susan for the great designs. (be sure to visit her shop and check out her work.)
One of the 2 water bottle wrapper designs by Opal and Mae
Water and “Butter Beer” were served to the guests. The water labels are by Martha Stewart and the Butter Beer labels and available to print here. The butter beer was actually cream soda, but don’t tell the kids.
Did I forget to mention that Hermione made an appearance at the the party? Yes, she did. She sorted the guests to each house with the sorting hat, tea leaf reading, face painting, and a little bit of magic. It was great entertainment and really created the feeling of being at Hogwarts.
Dry ice is always a great touch, especially at a Harry Potter party. Also check out the Mardauer Map water bottle labels by Opal and Mae.
I put together a little photo booth for the kids. I took pics with my camera and with a Polaroid camera. Funny, they had never seen one before, talk about magic! I used artwork by Opal and Mae to create the props on a stick.
Each guest was treated to a broomstick party favor. The cute Thank You tags by Opal and Mae
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That wraps up the Hogwarts experience. I probably had as much fun creating the party details as much as the kids did at the party. Happy Birthday to my niece and thanks to Brandy for letting me do my thing for this party.
~ Arianna
