Peony Gift-Wrapping

Opening a gift is a little party in itself, well to me it is, specially if the gift is nicely wrapped!

I came across the cutest new born gift; a small activity garland for carseat or stroller. It is too bad my daughters are bigger now, I would have loved to have this in my car!  I found this beauty at Saartje Prum! http://www.saartjeprum.nl/

I packed the gift in a box and added a big pink peony flower made out of tissue paper. 

Cute looking gift, quite easy to do. Here is how I did it:

First you make the peony.

1. You need tissue paper, scissors, some ribbon, pipecleaner, glue (I am a big fan of my glue gun). The box is packaging for food - take-out anyone? :-) No worries, it has never been used! a friend bought whole stacks once for a party...I did not use the tape or the paper punch
2. Cut squares out of the tissue paper and stack them. If you also use two colors, make sure you alternate the sheets. For this flower I used 8 squares
3. cut leaf shapes out of the green paper
4. fold the stacked squares like an accordeon
5. bind together in the middle with the pipecleaner
6. cut the end to create the flower petals
7. fold the sheets back gently one at a time
8. Voila! Pretty Peony!

Pack the gift in some extra tissue paper for an extra pop of color and place in the box

Glue the leafs and flower on top of the box.

Add the ribbon for the finishing touch and you are Ready-to-Party!

Happy Gift-Giving!

Love, B



Scouting Girly Bedrooms

AM is growing up... or her junior bed is shrinking ;-)

Lately she has been asking when she will get a "Big Girls Bed"... secretely hoping I will agree to buy it for her 6th Birthday! Here is some inspiration I have been collecting from the web.

I like this bed I found at "Saartje Prum". With lots of pillows I can even see myself reading a book or watching cartoons! The drawer holds a spare matras for friends who want to sleep over (another frequent request lately).

Another favorite is the pink tuffed headboard, I also really like the bedding. This pic is one I saved from Zara Home Collection.

I found this picture a long time ago on the web, unfortunately cannot remember where, but just look at this bookcase! Nice... 

...set against a floral wallpaper a white bookcase or closet would be perfect. I could even keep her current closet, which is already painted white.

Who knows... maybe coming spring/summer it is Redecorate-AM's room-Party Day! I cannot wait!

Flower treats

Hi There!

Here is an idea for give-aways! These cute flowers are really cups filled with treats. I used a box of raisins, marshmellows and a small gift (key chains and small bath toys) in each cup. I then wrapped the cups in tissue paper. Add a felt flower sticker in the heart of the flower for some extra color. Voila!

Since we left these at daycare for the little ones to take home I added a label to tell everyone L turned 2!

Our petite princesse was quite impressed with the result! :-)

Enjoy!!

Romantic roses Garden-party – part Three, Party day!

It is Party day! …..AM went to school with all the cupcakes. She was so proud!

Unfortunately it was raining a little bit so we decided to hold off decorating the garden until the last moment, hoping the weather would clear. Finally we decided to set up the table inside and do the activities in the garden. It is better to be safe (and dry) than sorry!

The paper poms were placed under the lampshades, garlands around the table, over doorways and on fireplace mantel. We used pink candles in candle sticks. The table was set with a white tablecloth and pink runner, lots of colorful napkins and plates and a whole lot of flowers, mostly pink roses! I hung a welcome sign in same layout as the invite by the front door with a big 5 so everybody knew where the party was!

My husband – who is the true chef in this family - made the requested chocolate cake and lots of little cupcakes. We had strawberries and whipped cream, lemonade in every color available, fruit, cookies and marshmallows on sticks. Placed in a jar they looked like a little bouquet of flowers and were the first to be eaten! J

The activities for the day were painting, “koekhappen” (trying to eat cake of a string while blindfolded) and we played some games (hide-and-seek is always a great hit!) I made the easels myself, so they could easily paint their canvas. Seeing the picture now I think I will paint them white and will surely use them again!

The girls loved the painting, some were really creative, much to the surprise of some parents who were treated to a real art show! Upon pick-up time we served pink sparkling champagne and rosé wine (to stick with the color theme J) so the parents could catch up over drinks and look at all the pretty paintings.

All in all we had a great day! I hope you enjoy the pictures and have a great weekend!

Love, B

40th Wedding Anniversary at the beach

Last November J&R celebrated their 40^th wedding anniversary. They rented a holiday home to spend the weekend enjoying quality time with family. Usually houses in holiday parks are not the most welcoming and cozy locations to celebrate in, so they asked me if I could provide some decorations! ….Well yes, I can! :-)

The house was located near the beach, next to a marina. To stick with that theme I choose neutral colors:  burlap, navy blue and gold. For a romantic scene I wanted lots of candles at the dinner table. The celebrated couple appreciate a good bottle of wine, so I decided to use wine bottles as candle holders. Some of those were spray painted in gold. I used a lot of tea lights in clear glasses to add to the shimmering effect. Balloons in gold, blue and ivory were hung in bunches right above the dining table. To filter the light I placed tule poms in the lampshades. Effective and it looked nice!

The menu was printed on thick ivory paper,  folded as a wrapper it also served as napkin ring and it left enough space to hold the cutlery. To minimize the cleaning up after dinner, we choose paper napkins. Not a big fan of those, but in this case the best option (and they come in almost any color possible!). A Paper punch in heart shape helped to create the sticks for picking up olives and other snacks. This is also really cute for cupcake toppers!

For a real personal touch the guests provided pictures of the couple from the last 40 years, they were used in a garland with pictures alternating with flags in neutral/blue stripes, their Initials and 40.  

Enjoy! and lots of love for the future...<3

Romantic roses Garden-party – part Two

Hi there! Back with more pictures of last summer’s Birthday party… J

We came up with ideas to decorate the garden and also to give to the guests as a give-away. We made bracelets from leather straps (pink and grey) with a heart shape bangle and fun coloured beads. I attached a little card with her initials on one side and a thank you message on the other side. These bracelets were inspired by the ones my friend C made for a party last spring, she used one leather strap, a ribbon and a small ribbon bow on hers.


give-aways



The bracelets turned out really cute. AM loved hers so much she wouldn’t take it off for a week!

Apart from the give-aways I set out to make cupcake toppers - for the cupcakes to give out at school - and garlands in the same design. The cupcake toppers were a small card which I folded and then glued on a stick. To the garland flags I added the picture we used for the invitation, Birthday girl’s initials and off course 5 for her 5^th Birthday!   

There really cannot be a girly-girl party without poms… And so we made poms!

Since we were going to hang them over the table on our terrace I decided to make a lot of small ones.  The idea was to attach them to strings and hang them under the parasol, as it turned out on the day of the party it was raining so we had to improvise…

….stay tuned…. more to share in the coming days!! Love, B

Romantic Roses garden-party – part one

Hi!

As a new-year’s resolution to get organized, I was sorting through my photos and decided to share some of them. Last summer we celebrated AM’s 5^th birthday. Being a real girly-girl, she wanted a party fit for a princess with lots of pink and roses! We decided on a real “grown-up” romantic garden-party/high-tea theme (but with lemonade, cause birthday-girl did not like tea J)

For the invitation we made pictures in the garden, dressed up like a real lady, pouring make-believe tea and sipping lemonade out of a wine glass. We had so much fun during the photoshoot and made tons of pictures! AM spend the whole afternoon playing at her little garden table.

After selecting the winning photo for the invitation and adding a few sweet photos for setting the scene, we were ready to invite our little guests!

Please join me in later posts where I will show you more photos for this party!

Love, Britt

Welcome to my blog

Hi there and welcome to my little blog!

I have always enjoyed entertaining but after my children were born, I developed a special passion for planning their birthday parties! I always try to make something special of each occasion. The standard decorations and invitations in the Dutch department stores do not really appeal to me so I started to make my own invitations and decorations, trying to create a special atmosphere to make both my Birthday girl and her little guests feel special.

My efforts did not go unnoticed and before long friends would ask to borrow my party props or ask me to share ideas for their children's parties.  I love the creative process and sharing in the fun!  Who knows there might be others out there looking for fun, out of the ordinary and stylish ideas for their kid’s birthday party or other celebrations…

Please join me as I take my first steps in the world of blogging, and join me for life’s little celebrations along the way!

Love, Britt

Feeling Outdoorsy today