Do Me A Favor

So, you got a dress and picked out flowers.  You tasted food and gorged on cake.  You asked your friends, you stamped the envelopes.  It is winding down - what is left?  Programs, napkins, ceremony & reception items, place cards, table cards, thank yous and ... oh, the favors.

Off to pinterest you go.  You type "unique wedding favor ideas" in the search bar and what follows is a barrage of images that fill your screen.  Tight, macro shots of almost any pocket-sized novelty item. Photographers are so talented and creative these days, you could probably zoom in on a box of Borax and it would look delicate and edgy.  So, how can you weed through all of these items and decide what is best for your blessed event?

I will spare you the cliche questions - (what is special about you and your groom? what are things you love? etc.) you know to ask yourselves these.  Gone are the days of match books and paperweights - people tailor their wedding favors to suit their event.  What you want to know is 1. How to package it so it is adorbs.  and 2. How to be responsible about it so the favors aren't running you 20 bucks a head.

I say there are three fab categories of faves & I will decode them below.

Do-Gooder Fave - This is the fave that makes the other faves jealous.  It sits on the table in all of its good Samaritan glory, mocking the mints and almonds - judging them and making them feel guilty.  This is the charity fave - when you donate to a cause on your guests behalf and then place a darling notice at their seat telling them what a good deed they did by coming to party with you.   It makes me feel warm and fuzzy as I am guzzling Pinot Grigio (so I can get up the gusto to go tear up the dance floor with the twenty year-olds) to know that my attendance at that event just might have helped a dog get adopted.  I definitely support this favor idea - but think that it is still important to make the note for your guests, lovely in content & detail.  Sure you don't want to blow $800 bucks on a business card that tells your loved ones that they donated to cancer research but don't put a sticky note there either.

At Your Seat Fave - This favor is waiting for your guests at their places.  Unlike the DIY Fave Station, individual presentation here, is key.  The containers should be as darling as they are practical and there should be a sweet note & wedding logo upon each for all of your guests to enjoy.  In the old days it was customary to give people match books, and while this {slightly dated} practice is still occasionally found, I dare say the American Cancer Society is probably delighted that we have moved onward and upward to sweets and spirits in exchange for matchbooks.  (The American Heart Association is likely less delighted.)  It is important to consider this as part of your table styling as these little lovelies can support the aesthetics of your table presentation.  A dee-darling pocket sized pillow pouch stuffed with candied marshmallow and covered in wraphia and your wedding logo can really add a lot to the visual styling of your event.  You can use this as a pop of color at the seats to really perk up the look.  A hash mark on the not-so-great chalkboard is that these can run a little more in terms of dinero but when you figure it into the decor, it's not so bad. You can even use them as part of the place card set-up (see succulent favor below).

The DIY Fave Station - This is where you treat your guests to a serve-your-self station. The power here is in the presentation of the table, not as much the individual containers.  Here you want to create a stunning visual feast of candies, or candy apples, or whatever your hearts delight.  Consider sticking with one color OR if you are doing hodge podge candy, support the set-up with consistency of displays.  The individual containers that your guests place the items in will not be as critical here - many guests will pick this up on the way out or cram it into their purse (so they can grab another and not look chinchy).  Sure candy bars are fairly standard these days and can be masterpieces in all of their apothecaried glory - but there is a new wave of DIY fave bars.  Hot chocolate, candy apples, ice cream sundaes, marshmallows and popcorn have busted on this scene - so move over personalized M&M's I might just dip an apple in some caramel and sprinkles and take the road less traveled.  Either way, you need a darling sign with a clever play on words that fits in with your wedding logo/brand to dazzle your guests with an over the top detailed presentation. Skip dumping cash into the containers they put the items into, they will not add to the beauty of the overall event!

Obviously, you want your favors to be personal and unique - something that your guests can enjoy in the coming days & weeks and think back to your nuptial shin dig and fondly remember 80% of it.  So, if you are marrying a pizza parlor owner, dole out the pizza sauce. If you and your lady are ski fanatics, pass out powdered sugar doughnut holes (snow balls), and of course don't forget the darling paper items to accompany!

If you need help coming up with favor ideas, my intellectual property is free.  My lovely paper goods that will compliment my dazzling idea are not, but they are reasonable and darling, so lets chat about it!

{all photos were retrieved from Pinterest by typing associated tags into the search bar}

Color Crave: Grey Series {LIME, CORAL, & YELLOW}

Here's how the color crave posts will work. I will pick a base color to do a series on (like Grey or Ivory or black) and then pick a few colors that are commonly paired with it.  Then I will scour the web for ideas and images (so you don't have to).  And you can get some great inspiration for beautiful color pairings for weddings all in one tidy little package!

{LIME}

Grey & lime is a refreshing, playful color combination! I love this combination for sweet summer weddings, for garden weddings and for urban chic weddings.  The beauty of lime green is that as far as florals go, it is almost a neutral.  You can layer anything you want on top of it.  On the flip side - it is such a punchy pop of color that when used in accessories it can really brighten up an event! Bonus: the groom won't be sweating a "girly" color combo for the nuptual event - and everybody knows that the only thing worse that an unhappy bride is an uncomfortable groom! Here are a few wedding ideas for grey & green wedded bliss!

{CORAL}

Grey & Coral is as darling as it is popular.  Here is what I love about coral - people say to coral - "what are you?" "Pink or "Orange" and coral is like - "its really none of your business".  Very feminine - but more of a bite than pale pink and the grey is a perfect balance for it! <PS Ruffle cake dead center? LOVE LOVE LOVE>

{YELLOW}

Yellow and Grey go together like peas and carrots.  Yellow has such a bright and hopeful disposition, it makes any event light and lovely.  The possibilities with flowers and decor are virtually limitless - but the bridesmaids better be in Grey. Yellow can wash a girl out real quick!

Tune in for more color craves! And happy hunting!

Hello Kitty Birthday

Hello Kitty Party! Fun colors and sweet little details - I had a lot of fun working on the invites & accessories for this event!

Cute little cupcake toppers made by Tulip!

Sugar Cookies & Brownie Cookies with Hello Kitty Decorations on top! You can get these at Party City

White chocolate drizzled popcorn and rice crispy treats!

The favors were mason jars filled with trail mix!

Sweet little name banner!

And The Winner Is: Vittas Style

Here is a new bit I will be doing! Usually when I work on something for someone I come up with a few designs and then they choose the one they love! Then sadly the other designs I made just live in a folder with their name on it indefinitely. So, I thought I would at least let them see the light of day just one time on my blog!

FIRST UP - the Vittas family.  It is a tricky way that I know this sweet family - and even thought we haven't spent a lot of face time together, I sort of love them.  Some of that is because they are excellent friends of people that I love dearly, and some of that is that they love baseball in a way that delights me. At any rate - I was lucky enough to do birth announcements for them - and these are they had to chose from. (How cute is this fam?)

 So, they picked a style the sort-of liked, and we revised and revised and came up with the final product!!

Sweet Inspiration

Ice Cream Socials - need I say more?

Summer is almost here! School is winding down, trips are being planned and the heat is already oppressive.  Pretty soon those summer parties will start cropping up and while pool parties are fun can you really beat and ice cream social?

I have had the fun, recently, of designing some darling invites and accessories for an ice cream social for a friend of mine and I scoured the web for some fun inspiration. Have a look at what I came up with - and if you are planning something icy, creamy, and delightful this summer - email me and I can create invites, cone wrappers, favor tags, thank you notes, etc. to go with!

She chose the last one and I whipped up some darling labels to go with them!

Check out more darling inspiration on pinterest!

Spiderman Baseball Mashup Party!

Ok - let's get this out of the way first, this is  a party that Tulip supplied the products for, but this is not  a party for another lovely customer.  This party was my  boys' party! I will post a picture of the invites soon as soon as I can get a non-washed out photo of them ( I am admittedly a terrible photographer ).

Another disclaimer, my boys are not twins.  They are 11 and a half months apart.  At this point in their life - it hardly seems practical to have two birthday parties 14 calendar days apart.  Since they are 3 and 4, the invite list is virtually identical - neither boy is school aged which might allow for friends of their own.  For now their friend list is, confined to the offspring of our friends and neighbors and we refuse to ask people to show up twice or worse, pick one!

But because my conscience has a booming voice I had to reconcile the fact that the boys each deserved their own party.  After all, it was not their fault that they were born so close together!  So, I decided to each let them have their own party, just on the same day, and at the same time.  I let each boy pick his theme - and tried not to cringe at the idea ... and that is how we ended up with a Spidey/Baseball Mash-Up Birthday Party. So if you are planning a spiderman party, grab ideas - if you're planning a baseball party help yourself.  Until the boys care, or they get their own friends I will have a yearly mash-up to report on! So enjoy!

Let's start with baseball - We decided to make the food table somewhat of a concession stand feel - think ball park! So we threw some ice and soda in one bucket and popcorn in another and fruit, fries, and mac salad stuffed in between! On the counter we had nachos & hot dogs and all the fixins. Grossly unhealthy, delicious fare!!  I bought crummy little foam baseballs and chopped of the bottom with a serrated knife (so they would sit flat).  Then I poked a hole in the top with a letter opener (the old-school kind) And voila, a darling stand for the food labels.

The husband made a darling stand to hang these on!

Tied with twine!

These buckets were from target for $15 and I am know I will get plenty of use out of them!

Bought these bags at Michael's with a coupon!

Green grapes & strawberries - fun, punchy color and most kids love em both!

Good shot of the stands AND this is a fantastic way to serve fries in clear cups, tad bit of ketchup in the bottom! So portable, so delicious!

I am still eating left overs!

These were a total hit!

Bought the hot dog wrappers on amazon for super cheap!

Onto the sweets - I called around to get sugar cookies, cupcakes & cakes made for the boys and GOOD GRAVY, people want a lot for sugar, flour, butter & a little elbow grease.  Couldn't bring myself to do it - so I rolled up my sleeves and managed to eek out a few sufficient sweet treats!

I bought this baseball cake mode 2 years ago, love it! (Michael's) And yes I had to build a nest of Twizzlers around it to hide the mediocrity of the bottom of the baseball!

These are not as gorgeous as the professional ones, but boy were they delicious!!

Oreos + cream cheese + white chocolate coating = tiny heavenly baseball treats!

What kind of baseball party would it be without crackerjacks! We even gave boxes away as favors!

Spiderman took up the left side of the table also was crouching by the door to dress up the entryway a little bit!  I did make a Spiderman cake (did a dry run the Friday before) and actually, it wasn't that hard! Followed the directions and it turned out ok! I had planned to make Spiderman cookies, but by the time I got the baseball cake, cookies, cake balls, candy, crackerjacks, pretzel sticks, and Spiderman cake out there - I thought it might be overkill. 

Streamers were from the 4th of July section at party city! And there are little Spiderman masks, napkins, and plats on the table!

This balloon was $11 but totally boss. And as for the boys' opinion of if? mind. blown.

Pretzel sticks - they had little spiders stuck to them but they fell off! (fail)

The kiddos got to keep these Spiderman toppers! Are they frosted to perfection? Well, no. But is that magically delicious Rainbow Chip vanilla icing on top? You better believe it. These were instantly gone!

Shout out to Rachel - cashier at Michael's who encouraged me to try this! It wasn't too hard and turned out pretty cute! 

Next time you have a mash-up, or any party for that matter, email me - I love to brainstorm and my intellectual property is free!!